I Will Grind My Way To Godhood

“Bang—Bang—Bang——”

Next to the large swimming pool on the deck, Xue Jing was lounging on a deck chair, wearing only a pair of beach shorts. His body, absolutely perfect for a human, had no flaws and was entirely exposed under the sun, shaded by sunglasses.

The sound of crew members repairing the yacht filled the air. It had been half a day since the attack of the sea bee swarm, and the time was now ten in the morning of the next day.

After having dealt with the sea bees last night, due to the late hour and the exhaustion from fear, the crew had only plugged the leaks in the hull to prevent further water from entering before resting.

The actual repair work began the next morning.

During this time, several rescue boats cautiously approached. After some exchanges with the management of the Infinite Nova, they took away many passengers who were mentally distressed or severely injured during the ordeal.

Xue Jing had planned to board a rescue ship as well, but none were heading to Feng City, all instead transporting passengers back to Qing City or other nearby locations.

The Infinite Nova was originally set to return, but upon learning that Xue Jing, the great benefactor who saved the entire ship, was headed to Feng City, the captain decided to give Xue Jing a ride and have the Infinite Nova sailed to Feng City for repairs.

And so, it came to the present moment.

Picking up a freshly squeezed juice from the small table beside him, Xue Jing took a sip, stretched lazily, and sat up, removing his large sunglasses.

“Splash——”

Water splashed from the pool in front of him as Ning Fengwan's slender figure emerged from the water. She reached for the pool ladder and climbed out.

The cat-eared girl wasn't wearing her glasses and was instead in a black-and-white, backless, sexy one-piece swimsuit, which accentuated her curvacious figure to its fullest.

As soon as she was out of the water, she tipped her head and patted it, as if trying to shake the water out. Her cat ears twitched in response.

Then, mimicking a cat shaking off water, she started flailing wildly, turning her long black hair into a flurry of shadows in the air.

Countless water droplets and mist exploded from her body, drenching Xue Jing in front of her.

He wiped his face and gave her a look of speechless bemusement.

“Hmph~”

Ning Fengwan tilted her chin up proudly and snatched the glass of juice from his hand, taking a sip.

She glanced around.

“...There's really no one else here except us.”

The vast water park on the deck was emptily spacious, with only the two of them remaining.

Without the sound of repairs in the background, the entire yacht would feel like a ghost ship.

Xue Jing waved his hand and sighed softly, “I don't understand what those passengers are thinking.”

Although many passengers had been taken away by the rescue boats, there were still at least two thousand people remaining on this ship.

Even with the sea bee attack yesterday, it seemed excessive for there to be no one around.

In fact, when Xue Jing initially arrived at the water park, dozens of passengers had been present, playing there.

However, upon seeing him, all the passengers quieted, bowing respectfully in his direction.

Some even made prayer-like gestures towards him, appearing as if they were worshipping a deity.

Subsequently, everyone left the water park area in succession, leaving only Xue Jing and Ning Fengwan behind.

“This enchantment skill...,” Xue Jing muttered, checking the panel.

【Allure Lv10】

【Sublimation Conditions:

First, ?????

Second, Level reaches Lv10

Third, Required Divinity: 1000】

Last night, after finishing off the soldier bees, he was posing on the deck, playing the expert. Suddenly, notifications flooded in.

【Someone has developed an admiration for you, allure experience +89】

【... allure experience +102】

【... allure experience +133】

【... encha—】

A cascade of alerts shot his allure skill from Lv9 to Lv10. Shortly after, it triggered a sublation prompt akin to his 【Fitness】 skill.

Unlike the still-mysterious ‘first condition’ for fitness, allure’s first condition, though marked with question marks, was already marked as fulfilled.

Now, only the last condition of gaining a thousand divinity stood between him and the skill’s sublimation.

However... it left him feeling uneasy.

Xue Jing shook his head, having always felt a particular aversion to this allure skill. He didn’t like it much.

But paradoxically, it was his skill with the fastest growth in experience. Just like yesterday, when putting on his expert act had so many passengers watch him and instantly brought his allure to Lv10.

So much experience amassed, and how he wished it could benefit any of his other skills besides 【Cooking】.

“To be fair, allure is indeed useful,” Xue Jing pondered.

Since he obtained the panel post-traversal, he had unknowingly benefited a lot from allure. Many people's goodwill and favor towards him were due to it... While he hadn't thought too deeply about it, he recognized the skill had brought many advantages.

Still, he couldn't warm up to this skill.

How to put it... It just didn't align with his aesthetics.

It lacked that kind of pure strength beauty he admired.

This skill is indeed powerful, but it's a kind of ‘strength that lacks purity.’

Put simply, it's kind of like a shortcut or trickery, just... very unappealing.

The purity is too low.

Even understanding that this skill, once transcended, is sure to become more formidable and bring more benefits, he still doesn’t want to use his divinity on it.

It's like when you're playing a game, there's a skill that's really useful but just isn't cool enough; you don't like it, you don't want to use it.

“Let's just leave it for now. Maybe one day when I have so much divinity I can't use it all, I'll consider its transcendence.”

Xue Jing looked at the experience bar behind the glamour skill level on his panel.

The experience required for upgrading had turned into a question mark. Surprisingly, experience points could still be gained, though it was unclear what that meant.

Is it that the current level has reached its cap, and it needs transcendence to continue upgrading?

Or has it simply become invisible?

While he was pondering, Ning Fengwan beside him yawned.

“...Those two from the 'Giant God Brigade' we encountered yesterday.”

The young woman spoke.

“These two people might not actually be dead.”

Xue Jing was startled out of his thoughts, a bit surprised.

“Weren't their bodies still on the ship? One was cut in half, and the other one you sliced into six pieces...”

Ning Fengwan perched on the armrest of Xue Jing's lounge chair. Her lush backside left a slight mark where her swimsuit pressed against her skin, making it appear more pronounced with her posture, her slim waist accentuating her astounding allure.

“To say they’re not dead... though whether they truly are is another matter.”

The girl tucked her wet black hair behind her ear, a motion bearing an indescribable feminine charm. From Xue Jing's angle, the whiteness of her exposed neck was clearly visible.

“You've heard of 'mind uploading' in science fiction, right?”

Xue Jing arched an eyebrow:

“That's quite cyberpunk... Has our technology advanced to such an extent?”

Ning Fengwan shook her head:

“If it's just our human technology, there're still many unsolved issues. It's not something we can achieve yet.”

“However, there's a company called 'Deep Blue Network' that, through some method, has successfully mastered 'mind uploading' technology.”

Xue Jing asked curiously, “What method?”

Ning Fengwan combed her fingers through her long hair and replied casually, “Don’t know.”

“That’s their company's most fundamental core secret, not something they're likely to reveal... However, many speculate that the Deep Blue company might possess a boundary-dwelling creature existing in the form of an 'intellectual lifeform', hence their mastery of 'mind uploading'.”

“In any case, ever since Deep Blue gained this technology several decades ago, many have chosen to upload backup copies of their minds to the Deep Blue Network.”

“Of course, it’s expensive.”

She twirled a lock of her long hair around her fingers, gazing at Xue Jing.

“The Giant God Brigade, a hunter group on the frontier, takes on tasks normal people can’t handle. Though their lives hang by a thread every day, each member is quite wealthy, so affording mind upload expenses is feasible for them.”

“I checked the bodies of those two men yesterday and discovered that in their thalamus, there was a small, deep-blue sphere connected to countless nerves.”

“I looked it up on the forum of the inner world and found that these spheres are used to upload their consciousness and memory data to the Deep Blue Network constantly.”

Xue Jing rubbed his chin. “No wonder those two seemed unaffected by the fear of death…”

Especially that woman, who stared at him with love-struck eyes even in her final moments.

Initially, it seemed like it was due to their constant dance with death, but it turns out there’s more to it.

“But when you think about it, whether the digitized version of oneself after a mind upload remains the original self is a tricky question.”

Ning Fengwan crossed her arms, lifting the European Cup. “That’s one of humanity’s perpetual dilemmas, the Ship of Theseus?”

Xue Jing sipped some juice and casually asked, “Is Deep Blue Network the only entity handling ‘mind upload’ right now? Does that mean they have access to countless secrets?”

Ning Fengwan replied, “They certainly sign rigorous non-infringement agreements regarding client privacy... but whether they honor them is another matter.”

“True secrets are only known to the greats, aren't they? As it stands, it seems no ‘great’ person has uploaded their consciousness to the Deep Blue Network yet... After all, the technology is only a few decades old. Many considerations surrounding beliefs, ethics, and various aspects have kept mind uploading from becoming a hot trend. Thus, Deep Blue Network ranks low in value among major corporations.”

She paused, then continued:

“Moreover, mind uploading isn’t the only way to extend life... Only the likes of the Giant God Brigade, who frequently face life-and-death situations at the physical level, have a need for such methods and can’t access other means of prolonging life, would opt for mind upload.”

…

Xue Jing chatted with Ning Fengwan for a long while and gained lots of new insights. At noon, he went for a meal.

He then returned to his suite.

Ning Fengwan had reverted to her cat form and was curled up fast asleep on the bed.

He opened the glass door to the balcony, stepped outside, inhaling the salty sea breeze and listening to the constant crash of waves.

With eyes closed, he sank into a deeper state.

In his consciousness space, countless pixel blocks spun and emerged, constructing the Infinite Nova in its full glory, identical to reality.

Soon, his own body appeared on the ship too.

Yesterday, he had been too exhausted and went straight to sleep without testing how much stronger he had become.

With a thought, numerous pixels gathered in front of him, forming an exaggerated dumbbell.

The large black plates on either side were packed full, clearly indicating a tremendous weight.

Xue Jing stepped forward, grasped the barbell’s handle, and with a tensed muscle, lifted it.

“One ton... not too bad.”

He lifted the dumbbell over his head, the alloy bar almost unable to bear the weight of the plates on each side, bending into a bow and emitting a strained metallic creak.

He couldn’t remember the last time he tested his physical strength values accurately.

Xue Jing rotated the barbell in his hands and forcefully flipped it upwards.

"Creak—"

The alloy barbell rod bent to its limit before snapping with a resounding crack.

"Frankly, the specific measure of strength doesn’t mean much, not when it’s entirely misaligned with actual combat prowess…" Xue Jing pondered, rubbing his chin.

Powerful martial artists can influence their reality through sheer mental strength, achieving combat capabilities that surpass their physical limitations.

In pure physical terms, Xue Jing estimated that his strength would allow him to lift maybe one to two tons, at most not exceeding five.

This level of strength might sound impressive, but in truth, it would barely lift a steamroller.

With the added force of momentum, perhaps he could exert seven or eight tons of force. Still, it wasn't anything extraordinary nor indicative of true combat effectiveness.

Yet, what were the actual results of his combat ability?

A single slash could send a blade aura arching over ten meters away, and with the addition of shadow flames, dark tornadoes could spring forth, creating whirlpools on the ocean's surface.

Setting aside the power, the extent alone was mind-boggling, far beyond the capacity of just a few tons of force.

Xue Jing concentrated, pixels swirling before him coalesced into a robust silhouette.

"Come on, Senior Brother, it has to be you."

Xue Jing clenched his hands into fists, their knuckles lightly colliding.

The figure of his Senior Brother Meng Boxiang materialized, casting Xue Jing a calm glance before nodding, as if extending a greeting.

Xue Jing was briefly taken aback.

It seemed that with the upgrade of his mental projection, the semblance of life in his conjured characters had significantly increased.

"Whirlwind Thunder·Extreme—"

"Boom!"

Meng Boxiang stood with hands behind his back, taking the punch directly with his chest, causing his clothing to explode, revealing a formidable chest packed with dragon-scaled imprints, far more refined and detailed than the dragon scale armor Xue Jing employed.

"…It seems even his personality is somewhat replicated; he used to block this move with his arm," Xue Jing mused, somewhat at a loss.

It felt like he had inadvertently been overshadowed by his Senior Brother's cool demeanor.

With a thought, he restored his injuries.

"Speaking of which, I’ve mastered the final technique of Eye-Point Stream, absorbing all five killer moves of Hidden Dragon Stream."

"Next, I need to delve into the realm of integrating these five combat techniques."

"The Ultimate Art·Eye of Wisdom… but how to proceed?" Xue Jing reflected deeply.

……