Chapter 48: Radar
In the evening, Fatty found Su Hao.
And the moment Fatty got closer, Su Hao suddenly understood what the runic ‘sensation’ was all about.
On top of detaching from visual and auditory senses, he seemed to have gained an additional sense space.
He was at the center of this sense space, constantly emitting an inexplicable ripple outward. When Fatty approached, it was as if water waves encountered an obstacle, immediately letting Su Hao at the center know that something was approaching.
Isn’t this just like radar?
Fatty appeared in front of Su Hao, excited and a bit nervous, saying, “Xiangwu, the annual grand competition is tomorrow. I’ve been assigned to the seventh group. What about you?”
Su Hao shifted his gaze away from Fatty, closed his eyes, and could still accurately sense Fatty’s location. It was like having an infrared imaging device. When he opened his eyes to look at Fatty, his visual and sensory perceptions merged seamlessly, without feeling unnatural.
While experimenting, Su Hao casually replied, “Ah, about that, I don’t really care.”
Fatty exclaimed, “What? You don’t care about this? I heard that the first place in the annual competition will receive a very powerful step technique, ‘Rooster’s Tread,’ with your strength, you can definitely secure the first place. If you don’t participate, you’ll miss out!”
Su Hao shrugged, “You already know I’ll secure the first place. Whether I go or not doesn’t matter. I don’t want to bully others and give them some hope, you know? Can’t always be focused on personal gains.”
Fatty thought for a moment and nodded, “You make a good point.”
Then, full of excitement, he continued, “Xiangwu, my strength has already reached the level of an intermediate martial artist. Our class teacher said I’m also a genius! I’ll be competing in the morning tomorrow, and I’ll definitely perform well and strive for a good ranking. Xiangwu, you must come and watch my performance.”
Su Hao nodded, “Sure thing, but what about Qingqing? Which group is she in?”
“Huh?”
Su Hao suddenly sensed someone approaching rapidly, as if running all the way. The intensity of the waves in his perception was stronger than Fatty’s.
Su Hao turned to look, and it was He Qingqing.
“Xiangwu!” When He Qingqing got closer, she noticed Fatty was also there. Her initially nervous mood relaxed, and she greeted them with a bright smile, “Xiangwu, Fatty, you’re both here!”
Fatty immediately asked, “Qingqing, we were just talking about you. Which group are you in for tomorrow’s preliminaries?”
He Qingqing replied, “For tomorrow’s preliminaries, all of us girls are in the last three groups. I’m in the 11th group. How about you guys?”
Fatty said, “I’m in the seventh group, and Xiangwu said he’s not participating in the competition, which is a bit of a shame. If Xiangwu had won first place, he could have shown us that ‘Rooster’s Tread’ technique.”
Su Hao chuckled, “If I participated, to be blunt, the annual competition would lose most of its fun and become my personal stage.”
He Qingqing, looking forward to it, asked Su Hao, “Xiangwu, will you come to watch my match tomorrow?”
Su Hao straightforwardly nodded, “Of course!”
Since the last time he single-handedly took on all the third-level students, He Qingqing had changed so much in front of Su Hao. He had thought she held a grudge from their childhood, but now, she seemed to have returned to her childhood self.
Upon hearing Su Hao’s reply, He Qingqing immediately became lively.
Fatty added, “Qingqing, I’ll definitely come to watch your match too.”
He Qingqing nodded and smiled at Fatty, “Thank you, Fatty!”
Su Hao asked, “While there’s still time, do you need me to help you with some training?”
He Qingqing immediately declined, “No, I want to rely on myself. I can do it! I’ve worked hard this year.”
“Then I wish you both the best of luck in tomorrow’s competition.” Su Hao nodded.
Youngsters eager to prove their abilities; Su Hao understood that. But if it were his choice, he would never reject the help of others. Other people’s assistance could accelerate progress, so why miss out on the opportunity to learn new knowledge? All he needed was to approach knowledge and its conveyors with sufficient respect.
After Fatty and He Qingqing left, Su Hao started to study the blood energy network again.
Although the amount of blood energy now was still less than half of his body’s capacity, it was a substantial improvement compared to before.
If he were to unleash such a massive amount of blood energy instantly, the power it could unleash was beyond his imagination.
“The newly acquired sensory ability can only detect blood energy. Lifeless objects without blood energy can’t be sensed at all.”
“After Fatty and Qingqing leave a range of 100 meters, I can’t sense them anymore. According to this calculation, my sensory range is roughly 100 meters, but it’s not entirely accurate.”
“Fatty and Qingqing have slight differences in their sensory ranges. Qingqing’s blood energy is stronger than Fatty’s, and my sensory range for Qingqing is farther than for Fatty. So, it can be assumed that my sensory range will fluctuate with the strength of blood energy. The stronger the blood energy, the larger the range I can sense.”
“Moreover, I can notice that everyone’s blood energy gives a different feeling. Fatty’s blood energy feels bulky and loose, characterized as soft and lacking explosiveness. Qingqing’s blood energy feels sharp and restless, characterized as active. In other words…”
“A mobile map!”
Yes, Su Hao thought of the online games he used to play, like League of Legends and King of Glory. They all had a mini-map in the top left corner, allowing players to observe the movements of teammates or enemies at any time.
His runic “sensation,” combined with the “Little Light” system, could easily achieve the effect of having a private map.
Su Hao quickly entered the virtual space and started writing the corresponding map program.
First, he established a character database and a creature database, automatically categorizing all encountered individuals and creatures with blood energy and recording them in their respective databases.
Then, he located the blocks in the virtual space that recorded sensory information and created a separate program called “Radar” to coordinate and synchronize his sensory perception with the radar.
Next, he added notes and gave different blood energy levels names, directly using the classification of martial artists in this world: novice, intermediate, advanced, non-threat (gray font); elite novice, elite intermediate, elite advanced, non-threat (white font); master novice, master intermediate, master advanced, potential threat (yellow font). Higher levels would be added as needed.
Finally, he continuously updated the surrounding map in real-time. This was a bit challenging, but Su Hao didn’t require high-quality graphics. Simple blocks and lines to represent major obstacles would suffice.
Su Hao first input Fatty’s and He Qingqing’s data into the radar and began a trial run.
At this moment, the radar was empty.
Su Hao got up and walked outside.
He wanted to take a walk and gather more information to fill the database.
Soon, Su Hao encountered the first person.
“Inclusion, name: Student 00001, novice.”
Following Su Hao’s command, in his perception, that person transformed from a red pattern into a circular face icon, reminiscent of the mini-map in games like League of Legends. On the circular icon, there was gray text that read: Student 00001. The circular icon moved in real-time as the student moved.
“It works!”
Su Hao realized that this 100-meter range was by no means his limit. As he gradually adapted and filled his blood energy, this range would expand further.
Su Hao was overjoyed and began to wander around the academy grounds, collecting information from anyone within a hundred meters, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Little did Su Hao know that his unusual behavior, wandering aimlessly within the academy, and engaging in a series of bizarre actions had caught the attention of all the students.
As a result, a strange piece of gossip quickly spread throughout the entire academy.
“The Impulsive Vigilante Wu Xiangwu exhibits abnormal behavior tonight, roaming the academy aimlessly. It appears as if he’s searching for a target. Everyone, exercise caution and keep your distance. Stay safe.”
