Of course, Latham knew he couldn’t tell anyone this, so he came up with an answer that he himself didn’t quite believe: "I’ve never played any mecha games. Hmm, I’m not really interested in them."

  "Not interested?" Schneider looked at him with an expression as if examining a prehistoric monster, then suddenly smiled and pulled him toward the elevator of the experimental building, saying, "Come on, give it a try. I’m sure you’ll get hooked, just like falling for a beautiful and captivating woman."

  Latham struggled a little but didn’t refuse any longer. Not only did he have a huge curiosity about it, but even if he didn’t want to try, with his level two physical strength, once Schneider—who was level five—grabbed hold of him, there was no escaping.

  The experimental building had high-end testing cabins, but on the 18th floor, it also housed the most luxurious game cabins on Millard Planet.

  While connecting to SkyNet could be done with a simple sensor, to experience a high-simulation environment that felt just like reality, such game cabins were indispensable.

  Clearly, Schneider was a regular here. He led Latham directly into the VIP room on the 18th floor.

  Compared to the lower floors, this room was filled with a neat row of one hundred game cabins, most of which were unoccupied. Two people were sitting in the nearby lounge area, chatting away.

  Schneider greeted them, and Latham quickly recognized them as prominent figures from the academy.

  Since it was Latham’s first time in such a high-end place, he felt a bit awkward. However, Schneider, who knew Latham’s mental strength was level seven, didn’t mock him at all. Instead, he carefully guided him through the process.

  After fumbling with the game cabin, Latham swiped his card, but a pleasant synthesized female voice suddenly rang out: "Sir, we’re sorry, but your card balance is insufficient by 1,000 credit points. You cannot use this game cabin at the moment. Please forgive us."

  Latham’s face immediately flushed red. He was taken aback by the high cost. 1,000 credit points—he muttered to himself—was the equivalent of his living expenses for an entire month. Wasn’t this just a blatant money grab?

  Schneider, already lying in a nearby game cabin, saw Latham outside, smiling and waving at him. He quickly reopened the cabin, which hadn’t been closed for even half a minute, and asked in confusion, "What’s wrong?"

  Latham lowered his head and, in the softest voice possible, said, "Schneider, I forgot to bring my credit card."

  Schneider paused, clearly surprised by this situation. He quickly said, "Oh, sorry! I should have treated you. Don’t worry, go ahead and use it."

  Smiling in satisfaction, Latham returned to the game cabin. Sure enough, the card slot next to him slowly retracted, indicating that the payment had been made for the cabin.

  Latham lay down, adjusted his position to a comfortable one, and put on the sensor.

  Although the game cabins provided standard sensors, most people who came here brought their personal devices. As long as the sensor’s connector was plugged into the game cabin, everything would work just fine.

  The familiar scenery reappeared before his eyes, and Latham knew that he had successfully entered the virtual world of SkyNet.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  While a sensor alone could allow him to see the same sights and be in the same place, using the game cabin was an entirely different experience. It was like comparing the earliest 12-inch black-and-white televisions to today’s high-definition plasma TVs—the difference was vast.

  He waved his hand, and it felt as if the wind was blowing. Taking a deep breath, he could almost smell the faint fragrance of jasmine. He silently marveled, "This is indeed extravagant!"

  No wonder so many people preferred to use game cabins to log into SkyNet. After experiencing the difference, trying to log in with just a sensor was almost unbearable.

  "Hey... so, how is it? Stay here, or go to the intermediate zone?" A hand rested on his shoulder. Without asking, Latham knew it was Schneider.

  "Intermediate zone?"

  "Yeah, if you want to have fun, that’s where you need to go," Schneider shrugged. "The people here are all newbies, it’s boring."

  "Intermediate zone? Right, I can enter the intermediate zone now," Latham muttered to himself. If Schneider hadn’t reminded him, he might not have thought of it.

  With technological advancements, human development had reached its peak. Thousands of years of survival of the fittest had widened the gap in human physical condition, reflexes, and mental strength.

  Among them, humans with high-level mental strength had an overwhelming advantage when using computer devices.

  A powerful mental strength allowed them to withstand the intense shocks caused by high-speed operations of light brains. To put it more simply, they were like the latest Pentium computers, while the majority of humans with mental strength below level five were like old 286 systems.

  If these two computers were connected to the same network, the only possible outcome would be either the Pentium user couldn’t stand the snail-paced speed and destroyed the computer, or the 286 would collapse under the stress of high-speed operation.

  To address this issue, the United Human Alliance tried many solutions and eventually decided to adopt a ranking system.

  Although this system was heavily criticized by politicians, especially those representing the common people, it remained in place due to the lack of better solutions.

  SkyNet was the largest wireless network for humanity, and its largest area was the ordinary zone, where people with mental strength or physical abilities between levels 2 and 5 resided—these were the majority of the population.

  The next tier was the intermediate zone, for people with mental strength between levels 6 and 10, followed by the advanced zone with levels 11-15, and the legendary special zone, for levels above 16.

  Level 16 was the dream of all humans. Once someone’s physical or mental abilities reached this level, they could no longer simply be called human.

  People who reached this level, when equipped with appropriate gear, would be strong enough to take on a battleship by themselves. Once a person’s power reached this level, a single battleship could no longer deal with them.

  However, the comforting thing was that very few people reached this level. It was so rare that it could be described as a phoenix feather or a unicorn’s horn.