Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Unknown Energy
"Holographic Strategy at your service, Student Gu Yue. Please select the assessment difficulty." A slightly stiff mechanical voice clearly resounded in Gu Yue's mind. Simultaneously, a softly glowing suspended screen slowly appeared before her eyes, displaying neatly arranged difficulty options, from one-star to six-star, each seemingly challenging her.
Gu Yue curiously examined the screen, her eyes shimmering with exploratory light.
She was very interested in this new assessment system. After a brief thought, she extended a finger and gently tapped the one-star difficulty.
She planned to start from the lowest difficulty to gradually familiarize herself with the rules and features of this Holographic Strategy.
"Holographic Strategy is generating an opponent for you. Please wait." The mechanical voice sounded again.
No sooner had the voice faded than a pinkish-white light appeared in the center of the plaza. The light quickly converged, gradually taking shape.
Appearing before Gu Yue was an extremely peculiar mosquito.
This mosquito was enormous, about a meter in size, its body covered in a layer of pure white, jade-like shell. The shell's surface was incredibly smooth, reflecting a faint light, and was covered in strange pinkish-purple patterns, appearing mysterious and dangerous.
Above its head, a pinkish-purple halo floated like a crown, adding to its eerie aura.
Looking at this never-before-seen "soul beast," Gu Yue couldn't help but show a puzzled expression.
As the co-lord of soul beasts, she considered herself to know all the soul beasts on the Douluo Continent like the back of her hand, but this strange mosquito completely exceeded her cognitive range.
Just as she was pondering, a sharp buzzing sound suddenly broke the silence.
Gu Yue instinctively felt a strong sense of danger rushing towards her. Without time to think, her body subconsciously shifted to the side.
Almost at the same instant, a fierce gust of wind whistled past her. The strange mosquito, like a white bolt of lightning, swept past where she had just stood. The sharp stinger on its head nearly pierced Gu Yue straight through.
"So fast!" Gu Yue exclaimed inwardly, her eyes instantly sharpening.
She realized that she absolutely could not underestimate this seemingly lowest-difficulty opponent. Although she still couldn't identify what kind of soul beast this was, she no longer hesitated.
She saw a ball of scorching flame rapidly surge in her palm. The fireball continuously spun and condensed in her hand, emitting waves of intense heat.
With a soft cry, Gu Yue fiercely hurled the fireball towards the white mosquito. The fireball, with a whooshing sound, shot towards its target like a small cannonball.
However, the white mosquito displayed astonishing agility and bizarre abilities.
It rapidly flapped its wings, leaving trails of afterimages, and astonishingly ignored the high temperature of the flames, directly crashing into the fireball.
With a muffled "bang," the fireball instantly shattered into countless sparks, scattering in all directions. Yet, not a single trace was left on the white mosquito's white carapace.
Gu Yue's brows furrowed tightly. She murmured, "It seems this thing has strong elemental resistance. How about this, then!"
Before her words faded, the ground beneath her feet suddenly shook violently. Several hardened earth spikes, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, rapidly shot up from underground, stabbing towards the white mosquito at an incredibly fast speed.
The white mosquito evidently did not anticipate this sudden attack. Unable to dodge, it was instantly impaled by the earth spikes.
With a sharp insectoid screech, its body transformed into countless pinkish-white light particles and dissipated into the air.
What surprised Gu Yue was that these light particles left behind after the white mosquito's death did not completely disappear. Instead, they quickly converged towards her and merged into her body.
Gu Yue looked amazed as she felt the changes in her body. She clearly perceived that her mental power and soul power were slowly increasing, and even her physical strength had an almost imperceptible growth.
"What is this? What kind of energy? It's so advanced!" Gu Yue's pupils involuntarily contracted, her heart filled with shock.
She could deeply feel that this energy integrating into her body was extremely peculiar and of incredibly high quality, far surpassing the soul power of a Soul Master itself.
Moreover, while the rewards for defeating opponents in the Simulated Universe could only increase mental power, this Holographic Strategy could actually provide her with comprehensive enhancement.
But more than these power improvements, Gu Yue was more curious about that mysterious energy.
She had a faint premonition in her heart that if she could acquire more of this energy, the injuries to her main body might soon be healed.
Thinking of this, Gu Yue could no longer suppress the urgency in her heart and impatiently applied for a higher-difficulty assessment.
As the pinkish-white light reappeared in the center of the plaza, three white mosquitoes, identical to the previous one, appeared before Gu Yue.
Gu Yue already had a clear judgment of the white mosquito's combat power: extremely fast, strong defense, and certain elemental immunity, but their movement patterns were somewhat rigid. An average two-ring Great Soul Master, if skilled, could contend with them.
However, with three white mosquitoes appearing simultaneously, an ordinary Great Soul Master would probably find it difficult to cope.
Yet, Gu Yue didn't pay them any mind.
The corners of her mouth slightly curved upwards, revealing a confident smile, and a powerful aura instantly surged around her.
As sharp wind blades condensed in her hand, she fiercely waved her arm. The wind blades, like sharp knives, whistled and sliced towards the white mosquitoes.
With a few crisp sounds, the white mosquitoes' carapaces were sliced apart by the wind blades. Their bodies once again transformed into pinkish-white light particles, merging into Gu Yue's body, allowing her to feel her strength improve once more.
After successfully passing the two-star difficulty, Gu Yue didn't stop for a moment, directly challenging the three-star difficulty.
This time, as the light dissipated, what appeared on the plaza was no longer white mosquitoes, but a gigantic, imposing monster.
This monster was three meters tall, resembling a knight on a warhorse, holding a white spear. Its entire body was also covered in a white shell adorned with strange pinkish-purple patterns, exuding a chilling aura.
As soon as the white knight appeared, it immediately raised its spear and charged at Gu Yue.
The warhorse beneath it galloped rapidly, making muffled sounds and kicking up a cloud of dust.
The giant knight, three meters tall and six meters long, rushed towards Gu Yue like a heavy tank, carrying terrifying momentum.
At the same time, purple energy fluctuations rapidly condensed on the spear in its hand, and its body was instantly covered by a purple shield, indicating extremely high defense.
Facing this white knight, which possessed both offense and defense, Gu Yue felt no fear.
She keenly noticed that the white knight's only weakness might be its relatively slow speed.
At least, with her agility, she had enough time to react.