Skills that required mental power or bodily energy to activate couldn't be used—but abilities that could be activated purely through consciousness still worked?
It was similar to techniques like unarmed combat or swordsmanship. As long as he knew how a technique was used, then even after switching to a different body, he could still perform it naturally.
Nolan quietly sensed whether he possessed any abilities of that kind.
In the end, he discovered that the affection skills from Fischl and Yae Miko could be used. Activating these two affection skills neither consumed internal energy nor mental power.
As long as he could see the target, he could obtain information about them.
There were quite a few other affection skills that were also cost-free abilities—for example, Kuki Shinobu's passive counterattack skill, Ring of Narukami Grass, or Dehya's ability to convert damage into true damage, Lion King's Will.
However, those abilities acted upon his own body and soul.
They couldn't function the way Fischl's or Yae Miko's affection skills did, which only required him to "see" the target to take effect.
Even less so could they take effect on his virtual body inside the "Simulated Universe."
For damage to be reflected, an attack had to actually land on Nolan's real body. And to convert attacks into true damage, it had to be an attack carried out by his real body—or by the "Sword God," which had a direct connection to it.
Although these were merely information-gathering abilities, for Nolan, that was already enough.
Combined with his superb swordsmanship, advancing far along the Path wouldn't be a problem at all. Once he obtained more Path blessings and grew stronger, he could still massacre enemies freely within the "Simulated Universe."
For now, the main thing was to test whether defeating enemies in the "Simulated Universe" really worked the way he thought—whether it could truly grant him Adventure EXP.
The "Simulated Universe" had been created by several top-tier geniuses of the cosmos. It wasn't an ordinary virtual world.
It was a simulation of reality. The laws of physics were reproduced with extreme fidelity, and the intelligence, habits, and behaviors of the virtual lifeforms within were also modeled after reality.
It was essentially no different from the real world—a super-dimensional space entirely constructed from code.
Such a "Simulated Universe" was real enough that there was hardly any difference from the real world.
As long as a lifeform wasn't freshly loaded or spawned, and had existed for a period of time, it should have accumulated its own "life experience."
It was only a matter of how much.
At the same time, the more powerful an existence was, the more "life experience" it could accumulate—and the higher the quality of that experience.
This was the reason why defeating higher-level enemies granted more Adventure EXP.
Controlling a virtual character to defeat enemies was essentially the same as wielding a weapon called a "virtual character" to fight them.
It should be no different from personally defeating the enemy.
Based on the principles behind gaining Adventure EXP, there shouldn't be any surprises—he should be able to obtain Adventure EXP from the virtual lifeforms of the Simulated Universe as well.
However, if the Simulated Universe's virtual lifeforms functioned like those in ordinary virtual-reality games in the galaxy—only being loaded when a specific stage was entered—
Then it likely wouldn't be possible to gain Adventure EXP.
"Alright, that's everything I needed to explain. From here on, you can act on your own. I'll be monitoring the Simulated Universe's testing status from the outside."
While Nolan was thinking, Herta had finished explaining all the points that required attention.
"No problem."
Nolan looked ahead as a map popped up in his field of vision, displaying the locations of those virtual Company employees.
This was an auxiliary tool added for the convenience of testing.
Aside from the map, the auxiliary tools also included something similar to teleport waypoints—"Space Anchors"—which allowed Nolan to move quickly between different regions.
After all, testing the "Simulated Universe" wasn't meant for sightseeing. The goal was to push as deep and as far along the Path as possible, to see whether an Aeon could be drawn out—
And then observe its behavior for research purposes.
Naturally, this meant Nolan couldn't be allowed to waste time searching for monsters or traveling back and forth. If not for the need to simulate the feeling of gradually stepping onto a Path,
Herta would have loved to just flip the switch for him—give him a bunch of instant-kill abilities so he could farm monsters at lightning speed.
After all, even the Aeons simulated within the "Simulated Universe" possessed intelligence.
Being able to forcibly simplify "practicing the Path" into killing monsters was already pushing it. If she went a step further and outright let Nolan cheat, those Aeons would start to suspect that something was wrong with the world itself.
What kind of behavior they might exhibit at that point would be completely unpredictable. In the worst case, the "Simulated Universe" could collapse entirely, causing all their time and resources to be wasted.
"Every time you complete a test task, I'll give you a 'Herta Bond' as payment. If you successfully meet an Aeon, you'll get two.
"You can use the bonds to exchange for curios, Light Cones, and the like with me. Those are the things I have the most of!"
Herta said this with her hands on her hips, looking rather pleased with herself.
Are you a child? What's there to be proud of… Nolan muttered inwardly. Still, he was genuinely interested in curios and Light Cones.
"Then many thanks, Boss Herta. I'll work hard."
Nolan said with a smile.
"Hmph!"
Herta crossed her arms, ignored the clowning guy, turned around, and dissolved into data.
"Wait, aren't you giving me a weapon?"
Nolan suddenly remembered something and hurriedly called out.
Without a decent weapon, his swordsmanship would be severely limited.
"Figure it out yourself," Herta's voice came from outside.
Alright then.
Nolan felt a bit regretful, but his unarmed combat was solid as well, and his swordsmanship didn't strictly require a sword to function.
He checked the map, chose a low-level area, then located a nearby "Space Anchor" and teleported there directly.
This was a mining zone, with many of the Company's grassroots employees stationed here.
Since the Company was the main sponsor of the "Simulated Universe" project, even though this was a virtual world, Herta couldn't exactly assign them the role of villains outright.
So a setting had been added: these employees had been controlled by strange entities within the mine. Only by eliminating them could they be freed.
Pretty half-baked, honestly.
Nolan complained internally for a moment, then casually picked up a tree branch and walked toward the camp.
The average level of the Company employees in this area was only around twenty to thirty. With his swordsmanship, they were easy prey.
Nolan activated the ability of the "Preservation" Path, placing a shield on himself.
Among the initial abilities, he felt the second one—the shield—suited him best, so he had chosen it.
With his swordsmanship, as long as he wasn't injured, he could carve his way in and out without issue.
Nolan didn't bother hiding himself. As he appeared, those Company employees wielding double-headed halberds and wearing uniforms—
As if truly influenced by something—charged straight at him.
Nolan didn't rush. He activated Fischl's and Yae Miko's abilities. His real body outside had eyes that turned golden, but this virtual body showed no visible change:
[Level: 22]
[Data Lifeform · Company Employee: A virtual lifeform within the "Simulated Universe," affected by a simulated "Stellaron," having lost its sense of self and become a puppet.]
(End of Chapter)
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