Matthew Atkinson & Natalie Russell
Oxford, United Kingdom
On February 14th, Matthew invited Natalie to a Valentine's Day date.
They spent the day together, without training, simply enjoying each other's company.
For Natalie's safety, they didn't leave campus, but the University of Oxford campus offered plenty of places to go.
So, they had no trouble finding places to spend time.
In the evening, they cuddled and watched a movie together. But towards the end of the film, Matthew's focus shifted from the movie to Natalie, his hands playfully caressing her curves.
And although Natalie wasn't as daring as Matthew, she didn't resist his playful advances, occasionally reciprocating.
The night ended with Matthew and Natalie's workout in Natalie's bedroom.
Although they had said they wouldn't be training today, it was a different kind of workout, and neither of them complained.
As a result, they both lost their real V-cards. They had previously taken their relationship to home-run level in the virtual world of OASIS. But that was a virtual world, and they had virtual avatars.
On February 15th, Matthew's fifth book in the Harry Potter series, "Order of the Phoenix," was published.
The series was now receiving far more attention than when it first came out, but Matthew left all the work to the publishing house. After all, he couldn't hold a book signing event while there was a bounty on his head.
The publishing house had been requesting at least an online event from Matthew for a long time, but Matthew had no intention of accepting.
If he were to hold an online event, it wouldn't be a video stream, but an event held in the world of OASIS. A real virtual reality world.
When Matthew woke up from the sunbathing machine on this day and opened his eyes, he saw many prompts popping up in his left eye:
[Your Constitution attribute has reached 3000, and the amplification effect of your Steel Body has been increased once again...]
[Your Strength attribute has reached 3000, and the amplification effect of your Super Strength has been increased once again...]
[Your Agility attribute has reached 3000. Innate skill of the Kryptonian Bloodline activated: Super Speed]
[Super Speed: One of the innate skills of the Kryptonian Bloodline. Once activated, it generates the Speed Force, greatly increasing speed, with a maximum limit of the speed of light.]
[The Speed Force, which emerged with the Super Speed innate skill, led to the evolution of another skill. The Flight Skill evolved into the Super Flight Skill and became able to benefit from the Speed Force amplification.]
When these prompts appeared, his body also changed according to his new powers and skills.
Matthew was overjoyed and immediately opened his attribute panel.
......
Race: Human
Trait: Ageless
Constitution: 3000 (↑130)
Mental: 884 (↑39)
Strength: 3000 (↑130)
Agility: 3000 (↑130)
Ability: Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Kryptonian Bloodline [Steel Body (5), Super Strength (5), Super Speed (5), Super Flight (5)]
Skills: [Fist/Galaxy Impact], [Haki (Supreme)], [Demon God's Descent], [Inventory], [Danger Sense]
Attribute Points: 2370
......
When Matthew stepped out of the sunbathing machine and stood on the ground, the powerful vitality and surging strength within his body gave him a burst of energy.
Initially, his goal for this Global Layer competition was to be in the top five.
Now, he is fully confident he can compete for the championship. Because at this moment, Matthew felt that he was terrifyingly strong.
No matter how strong that "One-Punch Man" was, he's confident he could compete with him on equal ground.
Even if he didn't win the championship, Matthew thought he at least had second place in the bag.
But Matthew wasn't one to settle for second place, so he looked at the expendable attribute points waiting on his panel.
Matthew had already decided what to do with them. He had only waited until today to see what effect his other attributes would have once they reached 3000 points.
If the expected effect didn't occur, he might change his plans, but as he expected, 3000 points was another threshold for his powers, and Matthew's powers had increased even more by reaching this point.
Moreover, he had also gained the innate Super Speed skill. Now, just as his defense and attack had, his speed had also reached a completely different level.
Therefore, without hesitation, Matthew added all 2370 expendable attribute points waiting on his panel to his Mental attribute.
And suddenly, new prompts appeared in his left eye:
[Your Mental attribute has reached 1000. Innate skill of the Kryptonian Bloodline activated: Super Mind]
[Your Mental attribute has reached 2000, and the amplification effect of your Super Mind has been increased...]
[Your Mental attribute has reached 2000. Innate skill of the Kryptonian Bloodline activated: Super Senses]
[Your Mental attribute has reached 3000, and the amplification effect of your Super Mind has been increased once again...]
[Your Mental attribute has reached 3000. Innate skill of the Kryptonian Bloodline activated: Heat Rays]
[Super Mind: One of the innate skills of the Kryptonian Bloodline. Once activated, it amplifies the mental attribute and also increases the brain's capacity, enabling faster data processing and storage.]
[Super Senses: One of the innate skills of the Kryptonian Bloodline. Once activated, the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste—are greatly enhanced. The power of these senses depends on mental attribute.]
[Heat Rays: One of the innate skills of the Kryptonian Bloodline. Once activated, the eyes emit high-temperature red beams of light converted from stored solar energy. The power and range are adjustable. Maximum power and temperature depend on mental attribute.]
'Jackpot,' Matthew thought.
He had anticipated that reaching the 3000-point level at his Mental attribute would awaken a new innate skill, but he hadn't expected to awaken three innate skills at once.
Thanks to Super Mind, Matthew's brain now worked faster.
This skill didn't make him smarter, but it allowed him to perceive and process information more quickly. It wouldn't be wrong to say his brain now worked like a supercomputer.
And thanks to Super Sense, his five senses had reached a superhuman level. He could hear and distinguish sounds even from miles away.
His vision was now clearer, and he could zoom in on distant objects, even down to the level of a microscope if he wanted.
And his other senses had developed similarly.
Normally, such a sensory boost would be enough to make a normal person's brain melt, but Matthew wasn't normal.
Besides possessing the Kryptonian Bloodline, the sensory boost he was experiencing, thanks to the Super Mind innate skill he had just acquired, felt normal to him.
He could even focus on a specific word, ensuring his attention would only be drawn when that word was uttered.
Kal-El probably used this method to weed out those who called him Superman and asked for help.
And Heat Rays. Matthew didn't even need to mention them. They were one of his most frequently used skills when using the Superman Hero Template on the fourth layer.
While the Kryptonians' strongest weapon might have been their fists, their most useful long-range attack was undoubtedly Heat Rays.
Thanks to this, Matthew gained another attack skill and added long-range attacks to his attack style.
Next, Matthew quickly reopened his attribute panel.
......
Race: Human
Trait: Ageless
Constitution: 3000
Mental: 3254 (↑2370)
Strength: 3000
Agility: 3000
Ability: Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Kryptonian Bloodline [Steel Body (5), Super Strength (5), Super Speed (5), Super Mind (5), Super Flight (5), Super Senses, Heat Rays]
Skills: [Fist/Galaxy Impact], [Haki (Supreme)], [Demon God's Descent], [Inventory], [Danger Sense]
Attribute Points: 0 (↓2370)
......
Matthew's mental attribute had reached the same level as his other attributes. In this way, he had eliminated one of his weaknesses and could now fully utilize skills like Observation and Conqueror's Haki.
Matthew no longer believed anyone could stand against him in the Global Layer, at least not within Division 1.
Matthew's total attributes had now reached 12,254 points, and with the boosts from Super Mind, Super Strength, Super Speed, and Steel Body, his base attributes alone totaled 61,270.
If he also considered skills like Supreme Level Haki, Matthew's power could reach an entirely different dimension.
Matthew thought that with his current power, he would probably be at the very top, even among seventh-rank supernaturals.
After washing up, Matthew went out to find a secluded spot and tested his speed.
The results were amazing. His speed was lightning fast, beyond calculation.
Especially his flight speed.
Originally, Matthew's flight speed was linked to his agility attribute. If his agility attribute were 3000 points, his flight speed would be Mach 3.
That was three times the speed of sound.
With the addition of super speed and speed force, his flight speed also increased fivefold, reaching Mach 15.
Such a flight speed surpasses all aircraft on the market, as well as most missiles.
Superman's Physique was truly amazing.
Matthew also tested the power of Heat Rays.
While not as powerful as his fists, as he experienced in the fourth layer, Heat Rays were ideal for pinpoint and long-range attacks.
At the end of his experiments, Matthew realized that the maximum temperature of Heat Rays could reach 3254 degrees Celsius.
This meant that his mental attribute limited the temperature of Heat Rays.
But even at this temperature, Matthew could melt almost all metals. The only exception seemed to be Tungsten, which melts at 3400 degrees Celsius.
But as his mental attribute developed, the maximum power and temperature of Heat Rays would increase as well. Then there would be no metal that could stand in Matthew's heat rays.
Except perhaps for legendary and alien metals. After all, Matthew didn't yet know the melting points of metals like Vibranium, Adamantium, and Uru.
...
Time flew, and March 1st finally arrived.
It was a little after eight in the morning.
Matthew left his dormitory and went to the cafeteria for breakfast, only to find it unusually quiet today.
Few students came to eat breakfast.
The cafeteria seemed to have received a notice as well, and the breakfast portions were not large.
Matthew knew the reason. Today was the day of the Global Layer.
This layer of the Supernatural Realm was open to every supernatural, and there were no restrictions on forming a team except for divisions.
Therefore, it was easy to guess that most students had found other teams outside the university and had left the campus to join them.
Matthew took his breakfast, found a seat, and began to eat.
He ate while checking his phone. Compared to the deserted cafeteria, the internet was a much livelier place.
It was only a little past eight o'clock, but countless people were already discussing the Global Layer.
"Holy crap. We're about to enter the Global Layer. I'm so nervous."
"What's there to be nervous about? I've even prepared my speech for the championship."
"Who's this dreaming fellow? Please wake up this person, they're dreaming in broad daylight."
"Speaking of which, who do you all think will win the championship in this Global Layer event?"
"I don't know about Division 2, but for Division 1, it should still be that guy nicknamed 'One-Punch Man,' right? That guy will probably win the championship for another two or three years before he leaves."
"What about domestically? Who are the top contenders for the championship?"
"Two teams from the military, one team from the Royal Guild of Supernatural People, one team from the Round Table... these should be the top seed teams."
"I wonder if Natalie Russell can pull off another phenomenal performance this time."
"Dream on. Unless she joins a strong team, with her current strength, she'll have a hard time even making it into the top 500."
"Indeed, Natalie Russell is still within the boundaries of a freshman. The stage of the Global Layer is a bit too early for her right now."
---------------
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.171: Entering the Global Layer
Ch.172: An Unfavorable Competition Format
Ch.173: The First Champion – Spider-Man