Chapter Forty: Climbing the Heavenly Ladder

Fifteen days had passed in the Dao Ran World, and Li Dao Ran had already spent nearly a month studying on Azure Water Star. At this moment, he reopened the basement and climbed into the login capsule.

This time, he logged onto the intranet with confidence, selected the Eighth Generation Leaper mecha, and entered the Ranked Ladder.

The first battle began swiftly. His opponent’s name was Autumn’s Cat.

As soon as the fight started, Li Dao Ran’s hands moved with astonishing speed—partly thanks to the innate talent of his body, and partly due to his relentless practice of the Phantom Hand technique. At this point, his hands seemed to blur with illusion, reaching fifty actions per second, meaning he could press fifty keys in a single second. He first activated the energy shield, leapt high, and released two Bee Drones; on his sixteen split screens, the two farthest to the left immediately shifted perspective.

“Screen Six, ten o’clock, high and behind you—Sixth Generation Falcon mecha, built for speed and aerial combat, specializes in long-range strikes,” Chen Ming’s voice sounded in his ear.

Li Dao Ran thought to himself that his leap had been a bit rash. Looking at screen six, he could only make out the vague shadow of a mecha, and let out a breath of relief. It was still far away, and thanks to Chen Ming’s sharp eyes, they had spotted it—perhaps the opponent hadn’t even noticed him yet.

After landing, Li Dao Ran maneuvered his mecha to take the massive sniper rifle from its back. The Leaper’s long-range attacks were limited, basically just this one rifle, unlike heavy assault mechas that could unleash a variety of firepower systems for multiple long-range strikes simultaneously.

However, the Leaper’s sniper rifle was an external attachment, its energy system separate from the mecha’s own, meaning it could fire without draining the mecha’s energy—a distinct advantage. And, being an energy weapon, its rate of fire wasn’t slow. In fact, all ranged weapons in Dao Ran World had quick rates of fire.

He linked the main screen to the sniper’s sixteen-times magnification, and quickly located the moving Falcon.

One hundred eighty kilometers away, wind speed sixteen kilometers per hour—the smart aim assist provided data, but Li Dao Ran had never learned sniping. Even with the numbers, he couldn’t calculate the lead needed for a fast-moving Falcon. Thankfully, Chen Ming and the others were there.

“Shift left eighteen kilometers, up five kilometers. Fire at one minute thirty-five seconds.”

Li Dao Ran followed the instructions, watching the timer in the assist system. Two seconds left—at thirty-five, he fired. On screen, the Falcon mecha crashed directly into the energy beam unleashed by Li Dao Ran. Since the Falcon hadn’t activated its shield, and the Leaper’s sniper was set to maximum power—which meant it could only fire this one shot—the Falcon was instantly blown apart.

On the intranet, energy shields were limited: each match allowed only one minute of shielding. Li Dao Ran had activated his right away, as advised by Chen Ming, for safety’s sake. Clearly, the Falcon had no such awareness and was immediately eliminated.

At that moment, in a villa in the capital of White Deer Star, a twin-tailed girl in a miniskirt, sitting in a login capsule identical to Li Dao Ran’s, burst out cursing, “Docked six points? Despicable scoundrel, shameless sneak-shooter, huh? I’ll remember you, you and your billion-credit backers. Just you wait.”

The twin-tailed girl opened her friend list, where Cold Wind’s name stood out. She deftly sent a group message.

“I’ve been bullied—anyone out there?!”

Li Dao Ran, meanwhile, was oblivious to the hornet’s nest he’d stirred up. Delightedly, he watched his score jump from minus one to five points. Because Autumn’s Cat had twelve points, and by the rules, the lower-ranked player gains half the points of the higher-ranked, Li Dao Ran received half her score.

He glanced at the leaderboard: first place had 36,845 points, second place 27,598, third 27,186—all anonymous. He himself was ranked outside the top million, with no rank at all.

The last match had clearly been a mere warm-up, ending in less than two minutes. Li Dao Ran didn’t give it a second thought and promptly started another round.

This time, his opponent was even less skilled—a fifth-generation heavy assault mecha. At the outset, the enemy unleashed all its energy in a frantic attempt to flush Li Dao Ran out, not realizing Li Dao Ran hadn’t moved at all. When the energy was spent, the opponent surrendered. Li Dao Ran, a bit speechless, earned one point; this player was already at minus thirty.

Yet Chen Ming cautioned that this person shouldn’t be underestimated: to expend all energy in two minutes required talent, and according to Chen Ming’s observations, the opponent’s firepower deployment was very precise. Charging in headlong would not have worked otherwise, which was why Chen Ming had told Li Dao Ran to stay put.

Afterward, Li Dao Ran played several more matches, none lasting over three minutes, and none providing much challenge. At best, they thoroughly familiarized him with operations, and he felt increasingly at ease.

His points had reached twenty-six. Just as he was about to queue again, a challenge letter filled his view.

“Hey, you fiend! How dare you bully our little cutie? Prepare to die!”

The letter came from someone named Cat is the Cutest, who had 150 points.

Li Dao Ran had been lamenting the meager points per match. Not caring who this ‘little cutie’ was, he accepted the challenge without hesitation.

His opponent piloted the seventh-generation Titan mecha—a massive, melee-focused machine, more than twice the size of the Leaper.

“First, find his location and fire a probing shot,” Chen Ming instructed.

Following Chen Ming’s command, Li Dao Ran released two Bee Drones. This time, he didn’t leap; Chen Ming had already explained that such a move, while offering a better view, made one an easy target. This opponent had 120 points and couldn’t be taken lightly.

The battlefield was a desert—vast and open, with nothing to block the view. Sixteen split screens showed no sign of the Titan.

A minute passed. Li Dao Ran still hadn’t found the opponent. It felt as if his Bee Drones had scoured the whole map, yet there was no sign of the Titan.

“Something’s not right.”

Li Dao Ran responded, “I know, something’s off. We’ve almost covered the whole map and still no sign. Where could he have gone? He’s huge, yet nowhere to be seen.”

“Don’t panic. Think about it: he can’t be in the air, and he can’t keep circling your blind spots. The only possibility is—he’s hiding underground.”

“Hiding underground? What’s the point? Can he really pop out and ambush me from below?” Li Dao Ran was baffled.

Chen Ming offered no answer—they couldn’t figure out the point of hiding underground either.

“Miss, are you spectating? See? To deal with those sneaky snipers, you have to hide. Soon enough, they’ll be completely at a loss—‘Can’t find the enemy, is there a bug, am I alone on the map?’ I’ve got the most experience dealing with newcomers. Just watch, they’ll quit out of frustration.”

Meanwhile, Cat is the Cutest was messaging Autumn’s Cat, explaining his strategy. The moment he saw it was a desert map, he stood still and sank into the sand—thanks to his massive size, he disappeared quickly. This was a hidden mechanic on desert maps, only accessible to large mechas, and one that newcomers generally didn’t know about.

On the other end, Autumn’s Cat was amused, watching as the Leaper on screen seemed utterly lost, standing motionless in apparent existential doubt.