[NR] Why No Preparation? - Chapter 649

After their chat, Jenny doesn’t stay long. She is technically still on the clock, after all. Got to get that information! Jason was certain other companies his mom had worked for or applied at are all green with envy, even if her current place would not be getting all that much. Just the fact his method came about because of using Energy and knowing about the lines early on.

Now alone in the house, Jason settles down in the living room to meditate and cultivate. The meditation goes fine without anything of note. Which was not the expected result as Jason had thought any change would be obvious at that point.

It was during cultivation that the change became clear. Jason honestly wasn’t sure exactly what had changed? Then again, he had been nowhere near strong enough to even dip his toes into knowledge of the soul and that was the likely vector.

What he did know was that clearing his meridians had gotten easier. Somehow. Jason couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. Maybe it was everything being improved by a near insignificant amount. Whatever the case, the result was a very noticeable difference that was likely to bring forward his completion of this cultivation rank by months.

Jason was honestly sad to have to get back to NeoRealm, but back he must go. He had sorted out what he could of the irl changes and now it was time to find out how much the System screwed him in game. Well, it didn’t mess with him on purpose. As his mom said, once you remove the lines, you also remove the System’s ability to tweak your internal skill use.

Now, he wasn’t afraid that his cultivation technique or the War Stomp skill would fail him. Both were designed with the idea of being in control. His technique was created that way because he didn’t know better. While War Stomp had likely been retrofitted by his teacher to work like that to prepare for her to do what he had. After all, what good is going beyond the System if taking the training wheels off instantly made you fall over?

However, that left everything else. Jason could only breathe a sigh of relief that he had never picked up one of the weapon skills. In theory, they were meant to be exactly training wheels. After all, it isn’t like people grew up learning to swing a sword.

Which was kind of odd to Jason. Like, with how important NeoRealm was, you would think they would at least have more irl classes on fighting with weapons. If only to figure out which weapon fits you best.

Then again, it isn’t like there aren’t more than enough chances. Some would say there was a Renaissance when it came to various weapons based martial arts. Jason, on the other hand would roll his eyes. The various forms all seemed to suffer from the same problem facing the empty hand styles. That of being competition based.

You train not to fight, but to win in a tournament. This isn’t even hidden. Part of why he hadn’t actually bothered learning a weapon based style was because they all advertised based on the tournament performance of their students. It was shockingly similar to how schools used to be based around test scores.

Jason is honestly shocked when they had VR that is as realistic or as unrealistic as you could want, there basically wasn’t a single true school of lethal combat. Well, he had to admit that isn’t entirely true. There were true schools of Martial arts, with a capital ‘M’.

They just are not available to kids. Even the rich kids don’t get in. Though from the snippets he had heard around the campfire with Rosha and Courtney, the rich kids did get some of a leg up. It was simply in the arena of things like crafting. Even things like alchemy which they couldn’t replicate irl.

Jason pauses. Right, alchemy wasn’t impossible, just not likely to match how it worked in NeoRealm. If only because of different ingredients. Something to look into later on. Not for him personally, of course. Jason didn’t want to touch alchemy with a ten-foot pole.

Anyway, the rich got to do arts and crafts. Which was kind of backwards to how you would think it would work? Like, in the past, it was always the rich that got to become knights and what not. After all, they’re the only ones who could afford to train all the time and pay for the upkeep of their stuff.

At least it seems that manipulating Mana and Qi (and Energy) in NeoRealm wasn’t replicable in a normal VR instance. So no one gets a leg up on that. Not that everyone uses them. After all, most players never reach level 100 and form a core, so what does it matter if they dabble in Mana, Qi, or Energy?

There are even some benefits. Well, more like apologies from the System. After all, who wouldn’t want to use magic or be like one of those old school anime characters? Still, the lack of a true training program to prepare people for NeoRealm kept feeling stranger and stranger, the longer Jason thought on it.

Yes, he understood that before 18, the governments all tried as hard as they could to make sure people form a connection with the world. There was a reason they pushed the scifi games so hard. While technology was pretty good right now, someone needs to keep pushing those boundaries!

“Faster than light” anything isn’t going to find itself. And with the continued lengthening of the human lifespan, those in power couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t be around when something finally did in everything on the planet. So, better to make sure people are working on a way out.

Though Jason has to laugh at that. He loves technology and does hope it advances. It’s just that cultivation provides a more personal method of planetary escape. All you have to do is advance far enough and traipsing between planets becomes possible. After all, on the low end, all you really need is to be free from needing water, food, and air. All while being able to get off the planet and live long enough. Of course, having some manner of long range sense and the ability to course correct is also quite important if you don’t want to accidentally fly into a sun or some such.