Chapter 18: Cyberspace Transmission Hub

Ain could already feel a slight strain just from the failed attempts. But only after practicing the technique correctly did Ain finally feel the true burden it placed on his body.

On his first attempt, Ain only lasted for twelve minutes, and this was due to his accumulated foundation since childhood. He didn’t think most students could even last five minutes.

The technique required him to hold the Prowling Tiger stance while also circulating his spirit energy until he collapsed from exhaustion. If he could last for thirty minutes without collapsing, that would signify Ain’s mastery of the technique, and it would no longer provide any meaningful improvements to him.

The Prowling Tiger Technique’s limit was Advanced Rank-1, meaning upon mastery, one’s physique would be equivalent to the average Advanced Rank-1 Spirit Beast. But reaching mastery was difficult because one’s progress would slow to a crawl as they approached the thirty minutes.

If it was just this stance alone, Ain believed that he could’ve held on longer. But the spirit energy circulation paired with this technique increased the burden on his body, resulting in him tiring out faster.

Ain didn’t rest and immediately moved on to the next part of the technique, which was to train martial arts in that exhausted state.

The following training included some basic martial arts familiar to Ain, with punches, elbow strikes, kicks, etc., and throughout all of this, Ain still needed to continue with the spirit energy circulation.

As he did so, Ain realized that the spirit energy circulation actually had an opposite effect from before and increased his endurance this time.

After about an hour of training, Ain lay on the soft grass, panting heavily. He had never felt this type of exhaustion before. Every cell in his body seemed to throb, and his body was abnormally hot.

He wasn’t too concerned about the heat. The Prowling Tiger Technique would result in this state after successful practice. So Ain knew he had indeed been correct in his comprehension.

He now understood why Teacher Hayes recommended practicing this only after reaching Rank-1. Body tempering techniques needed to consume spirit energy, as it was used to temper the body.

At this moment, Ain’s spirit energy reserves were almost depleted.

Although meditation techniques also consumed spirit energy, the amount was minuscule, enough to be offset by Ain’s natural recovery rate combined with the meditation technique’s characteristic spirit energy absorption.

It would inevitably delay the student’s progress if they were to practice these techniques simultaneously.

Gazing at the setting sun, Ain shelved his plan to study the new core spell, Spirit Impact.

He dragged his tired body home. He would just meditate to recover his spirit energy while conducting his spirit tamer training.

After washing away the dirt and sweat from training, Ain took a seat on his bed to meditate.

He glanced at Nox, who was playing with the cat. He could sense that Nox was constantly absorbing spirit energy, similar to when Ain was meditating.

He had learned that spirit beasts could instinctively absorb spirit energy and circulate it for their training. And Nox was no different.

Ain sent a mental message to Nox, telling it to come over.

Nox turned around and looked at Ain after it received the message, before quickly floating over to him.

Ain tested the feasibility of complete mental communication, unlike before when he verbally communicated with Nox while mentally deciphering its replies.

After settling his curiosity, he asked Nox a question, “Do you train faster in the spirit ring or outside?”

“Wooo…” Nox replied after some thought.

From Nox’s reply, it didn’t seem to make a difference, unless Ain had food for it outside. Ain knew that the food Nox referred to was ghost-attribute resources.

“Just wait a few more days, I’ll have lots of food for you,” Ain promised his spirit pet.

When he researched ghost-attribute resources, he had found the prices for Rank-0 Ghost Stones and Grim Barks. Both were priced over 6,000 star coins. Ghost attribute was uncommon, so the prices were higher than resources for some common attributes like fire, water, earth, etc.

He could only leave it until after his trip this weekend.

Ain meditated until midnight before resting. He planned to scout out the Cyberspace transmission hub after school tomorrow.

...

The next day, as soon as school ended, Ain did some research on Cyberspace transmission hubs before heading to the closest one.

Ain realized that there were only a few transmission hubs throughout the entire city. Duskfield City was very large, with a population close to eighty million. There were a few transmission hubs concentrated near the central region, while the rest were closer to the outskirts of the city.

This distribution aligned with the distribution of spirit tamers in the city.

Since the edges were closer to the wilderness, it made sense for spirit tamers to be concentrated there, while the central region was the heart of the city, with most government entities, private organizations, and powerful families congregating there.

Therefore, transmission hubs were sparsely found in the region in-between.

Ain’s residence was closer to the central region than the periphery of the city, so his destination was in the central region.

His goal was to scout the transmission hub for his business plan. Accepting missions from the Spirit Tamer Association was only a temporary fix for Ain. He still hadn’t forgotten about his Deduction ability.

He would need a large number of meditation techniques if he wanted to deduce a better technique for himself. It would also build a foundation for his future.

Moreover, he could do the same with body tempering techniques and even martial arts.

His thirst for knowledge had never been greater. And this plan had the potential to fulfill his needs.

Soon, Ain’s hoverbus landed nearby, only a short walk away from the transmission hub.

Upon arrival, what entered Ain’s vision was a slim, black, and white skyscraper, with minimal windows. It seemed more like a technological device than a building.

Ain couldn’t help but compare it to a virtual gaming console he had once seen in an advertisement.

The scene was thriving, with numerous people entering and exiting the building. Many would either enter or leave with packages in their arms.

Ain was somewhat surprised at the crowd of people. One needed 3-star access to Cyberspace to unlock Cyberspace transmission. Ain had only gotten his 3-star access through a gift. His original one had only reached 2-stars.

But upon further thought, Ain also found this to be normal. He was, after all, just a fledgling spirit tamer. The youngest in this crowd were in their twenties. There should be plenty of opportunities to upgrade the access level after a few years, even if one's rank as a spirit tamer didn’t increase.

Upon approaching the building, Ain could sense a clear surge in spirit energy fluctuations in the vicinity, whether it be from the large number of spirit tamers or the operations of the transmission hub itself.

Ain quickly made his way inside and found himself in a large hall with numerous service windows. In front of every window, there was a long queue of people. Off to the side, there was a row of information desks and kiosks.

Ain approached the information desk and picked up a small booklet with detailed information on the transmission hub.

After reading through it with rapt attention, most of Ain’s questions had been answered.

Taking another look at the hall, he saw a clear division between the service windows for incoming and outgoing packages.

The first few floors of this building were a similar sight to what was before him. Going further up would be private rooms and VIP rooms.

The fee for the transmission depended on various factors and was calculated by the staff upon receiving the package. The factors considered were things such as spirit energy fluctuations, mass, spatial fluctuations, etc.

The last one caught Ain’s attention. In the booklet, it was stated that storage devices emit spatial fluctuations, which can affect the transmission.

Ain was aware of these storage devices, but they were out of his league for now. It was almost impossible to see such devices in the hands of ordinary people. Even low-rank spirit tamers found it difficult to obtain one.

Ain didn’t linger on it for too long.

Other than the fee, it was also stated that the transmissions take only a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the distance. But considering the processing time, it increased to at least half an hour.

Although he was unable to find exact prices due to the large number of variables involved, Ain wasn’t worried about his ability to pay for the service. The transmission hubs offered credit as well. Ain would deduct the transmission fees from any payments he received before paying for the transmissions.

He stayed to observe the process for a little longer before leaving the building.

On his journey back, Ain fiddled with his hololink the whole time. All the pieces were in place; he only needed to set up shop.

As soon as Ain discovered his ability to measure attribute traces with his innate talent, he had considered providing an attribute traces measurement service.

Since the current Attribute Measurement Devices, or AMDs, couldn’t measure in the decimal range, Ain’s ability to measure attribute traces up to three decimals was a huge advantage.

With his 3-star access to Cyberspace, Ain could utilize the Cyberspace transmission and the option for anonymity.

It would be for the best if he could avoid revealing his identity or else, he might just become a live AMD in someone’s hand.

Although Ain was unaware if his information could somehow be tracked by others in Cyberspace, he was willing to take the risk, seeing that he had no better options.

Now that everything was in order, Ain finally set up shop and posted his service on a popular trading forum in the Emerald Garden.

[Providing attribute traces measurements with accuracy up to one decimal place!]

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