Wasted Talent

Bai Li walked inside and the first thing that came to him was the smell of hard work.

"Hey! It's rook!"

Everyone responded to what he said and came to look in the direction of the door.

All but a few kept crowding him, most of the fellows in the Bright Star Dojo were all new soldiers or those with some experience. They had access to the Genius Dojo with the level of equipment sprawled on there, but not quite enough.

The soldiers would usually talk about their times in the field and try to pass down some wisdom to the others of the generation.

All went well and he continued to one of the training equipment.

It was a rather large machine that had many purposes due to it being MPCA standard equipment. The Multipurpose Combat Analysis Machines were given by the government and to cycle the credits in the land, one could purchase much more higher grade equipment.

The rich could quickly advance but those with talents drifted to the side, only allowing around 40% of the people to have their skills wasted.

It was a harsh reality but money has its usefulness in the beginning of a soldier's life to buy genetic solution drinks and the proper equipment.

Both the number one and the number two had the ability to put their preferences so that they could easily handle the calibrating of the equipment.

He began his punching routines.

The equipment would erect some targets to strike and areas where you would have to block.

The difficulty setted on the machine was just Hard and three more topping each other off.

The projectiles and punching made Bai Li look as if he was flying at random intervals.

The flashing sign near the machine was rising ever so slightly and it stopped, which ended the training immediately after receiving the same score for about two minutes.

The number on it was a hefty 8.2.

The unit of measure was just the strength of one man on earth, which was kept in the experimentation of the intake of soul crystals.

Which meant he had the strength, speed, and perception of about 8 men.

The genius dojo doesn't usually accept people with that type of physique and usually went with those in the 9 regions, but two factors came to his election.

The generation was running stale with fewer number 9s and so they took on some prominent 8s.

And second, they didn't usually treasure strength but the growth of it.

Bai Li was a unique case when he grew up, he barely had the physique of 1 man.

This was extremely weird since with the hundreds of generations of soul crystal intake, the standard citizen who rarely does any exercise or warm-ups had two.

But his astounding growth from 1 to 8.2 shows how truly talented he was, and if he were to intake a soul crystal now, the changes would be more noticeable.

It was like starting at a low score but having an extremely high multiplier instead of the other way around, he would naturally surpass them in tens of years.

The lifespan for humans had also approved with the average for normal citizens being 173.

But it didn't apply to the warriors; to that variant, they could intake many medicines and monster meat to revitalize and strengthen their cells, improving their looks and youthfulness.

Normal warriors had an average of about 599 with numbers fluctuating on both sides.

The Dojo was given six modified Arts of the Body that could be used to strengthen the body and for training purposes.

Two for strength-focused fist arts, two for agility-focused leg arts, and two for endurance-focused body arts.

Every standard person usually practiced one of the two fist-focused arts and take one of the other four of either defense or agility.

Leg arts are usually looked down upon for being generally used by scouts to run and flee.

However, looking at analytics, the survival rate of scouts who run straight in front of danger had a slightly higher survival rate than those in the vanguard and main units.

Bai Li had chosen one of the leg arts and body arts.

The Swift Leg Arc was a simplified version of Feather Feet which holds only about 5% of its power.

And the body art was Tempered Body, a weaker form of Tempered Will.

One of them promoted quick leg movements while the latter promoted a good tone body which promotes both endurance and strength just a tad bit.

It was just simpler to say he was more focused on speed and with some importance to the overall body.

Those that did learn the standard fist-focused art and one of the four others would generally have an unbalanced body, with no hooks with the foundation. Most soldiers would find out about it in their first combat on their weaknesses and are usually silent about it.

But the soldiers in the dojo all unhitched in front of Bai Li since he came to the dojo frequently compared to others who came only about once a week.

The relationship between them allowed the soldiers to give some tips to him.

Soldiers usually didn't want to give up information since the newer generation never witnessed what the frontlines were like and would ignore them.

A form of jealousy almost.

He continued to practice his leg arts, which actually improved speed of the fist as well with the emphasis on speed over strength.

Though his body was unbalanced from the foundation, those with just foundations won't go anywhere as their bodies would be generally weaker to those who specialize.

So it was just okay to focus on one of the arts that either focused on speed or strength and just try to maintain body conditions.

The physique number of 8.2 was just an average of every part of his body.

His speed was just nearly about 50 kilometers an hour or 13.8 meters a second if he were to run consistantly and if he were to sprint. He would break about 70 km/h or 19 meters a second.

Soldiers generally had about 100 km/h when they intake a soul crystal to further catalyze their growth in their first two years or so.

So with him having a consistent 50 as of now showed he was exceptionally talented in what he did.

He was finished with his routines of regular arm workouts not focused on power building and limited squats.

It was good to have a flexible body in times of trouble and a well toned body to keep at that.

He was prepared to leave and go back to the library after a quick shower when the door opened.

Some looked to the door with eyes of disdain and continued on with their work outs.

Three men walked in, two with extremely sturdy strongly built bodies that was the same height of the soldiers wearing slick black suits and the one in the middle wearing a small light armor over a simple shirt and pants.

The thing about it was though someone who had two bodyguards on par with soldiers as well as the distinct small chestplate connecting with the gauntlets and shin guard was a Civillian grade power armor.

Using the resources from the Soul Realm, construction of powerful armor could be used from the drops from dead monsters.

Those who don't belong in the military can't buy any armor above Civillian Grade and the prices are almost doubled, which showed how wealthy this young man was.

He was looking over the dojo when his eyes landed on Bai Li.

He smiled a grin with a defiant look in his eyes over his brazen short black hair.

"If it isn't Bai Li! Why don't you accept my challenge? Are you too scared?"

He was the person who was third, the level of funds and resources to each of the number is significant and many peope battled over who was better than the other.

Bai Li didn't really have any hard feelings for thirdie.

"I will tell you again, I will not accept your challenge if you're gonna continue wearing that safety harness of yours."