Intensive Training

-

Early in the morning on the next day.

Everyone in the boot camp gathered at the training ground together with their teams. Each team formed a single line.

While they were waiting for the chief instructor to appear, Wang Dong approached Su Hei.

"Where did you go yesterday? The restaurant held a welcoming ceremony for recruits at night. There was an unlimited supply of dire beast meat and even meatloaf made from Spirit-level dire beast meat. The food tastes absolutely divine!" he said.

The flesh of dire beasts contained great power in it, providing martial artists with great nourishment.

Su Hei did not feel pity for the fact that he missed that dinner. After eating the dire beasts' meat, if the combat strength of Wang Dong and the rest increased, his would also increase.

He shook his head.

"I didn't know about it. Once I got to my dormitory, I've been cultivating," he said.

Wang Dong patted Su Hei's shoulder.

"I understand that with great power comes great responsibility. However, don't put too much stress on yourself, thinking that everyone depends on you for their safety. We will work hard to improve our strength so that we won't become your liability," he said.

By now, Li Hua had already returned to the team. She fixed Su Hei with a puzzled look.

"I went to look for you at your dormitory last night. I knocked for a long time, but no one answered."

Su Hei was stunned. He hurriedly smiled.

"Perhaps I was too focused on cultivating and didn't hear it," he said.

He was not lying. He had been so focused on mastering Elemental Possession that he blocked out all sounds from the outside world.

Su Hei changed the topic.

He asked in surprise, "So what brings you here? How is your wound?"

Li Hua patted her belly. There were no signs of pain in her face.

"There are plenty of Priests and Medics in the medical team, so my wound has completely healed after one night."

Su Hei was still worried about Li Hua, so he repeatedly rejected her request to participate in the training.

However, Li Hua kept insisting on joining them. Ignoring the looks of everyone around them, Su Hei reached out to check on Li Hua's wound. Her stomach had been ripped open, but there was not even a scar left now. Su Hei heaved a sigh of relief to see that.

-

All of the recruits were still chatting when a few burly figures appeared in front of them. Those muscular men were wearing combat uniforms.

Their leader was the chief instructor of the City Defense Team, Sikou Nanbo!

There were five other instructors apart from Sikou Nanbo. All of them were in charge of the training for the five teams.

The moment the six instructors appeared, a wave of pressure swept through the training ground.

The boisterous crowd immediately quieted down to an inaudible hush.

Sikou Nanbo swept his sharp gaze across the crowd.

He shouted solemnly, "Starting from now, the boot camp's devil training will begin. This special training will be more intense, rigorous, and demanding than anything you've been through. In one month, I will turn you all from losers into qualified soldiers of the City Defense Team."

"I want to give you guys a heads-up first. Just like its name, my devil training will be accompanied by pain and misery. Furthermore, the City Defense Team has given me two percent of the death quota."

"In other words, I won't have to bear any responsibility if two out of 100 losers die."

"I'll give you a chance. If you're afraid, you can scram!"

The crowd exchanged glances with one another, but no one stepped out.

Martial artists revered becoming stronger after overcoming obstacles and finding a way out of predicaments.

If they could be so easily daunted, they would not be able to achieve much in their lives.

Moreover, these recruits were elites who had survived the Forest of Death. They would not get cold feet.

"Very good! I hope that in the days to come, you'll enjoy the training process!" said Sikou Nanbo.

With that, he waved his hand.

Right on the heels of that, a team of City Defense Team soldiers appeared. All of them were in their combat uniforms, and they were in groups of five. Each group of soldiers pushed a small cart toward a team respectively.

"These are specially-made uniforms that you will wear during training. There are synthetic metal plates inserted in them, and they weigh a total of 1,000 pounds. From today onward, you have to wear this training suit 24 hours a day."

"If I discover anyone resorting to petty tricks and removing the metal plates from your training suit, you will be kicked out of the City Defense Team. You will be blacklisted by all of the survival bases around the world! None of them will recruit you!" Sikou Nanbo warned.

"How ruthless!" everyone thought.

The blood drained from their skin.

If none of the survival bases in Zosteylor would recruit them, it was equivalent to their lives being over.

No one dared attempt that after hearing Sikou Nanbo's threat.

Hundreds of small carts were parked among the recruits.

When the recruits put on their training suit, they could not help but tremble.

The training suit was too heavy!

A beginner-level martial artist had at least 1,000 pounds of strength, but that was when they released an instantaneous burst of power.

Most of the recruits' legs were wobbly, and their knees bent under the weight of the thousand-pound training suit.

24 minutes were torturous enough, not to mention having to wear this training suit for 24 hours a day.

The recruits whose combat strength had reached the intermediate-level martial artist had it slightly easier, and it was not as unbearable for them. However, their visibly tense expression betrayed the difficulty they were experiencing in wearing that training suit.

Out of more than 1,000 recruits that had taken part in the boot camp, only so-called geniuses like Li Burou, Bai Tiantian, Zhang Xiaofan, and Cao Guangning could wear the training suit effortlessly. All of them had breezy expressions.

Su Hei was about to put on his training suit when he heard Sikou Nanbo speak.

"Take out the training suits we prepared for them."

Following that, each of the five instructors held onto a special type of suit that looked very thin. They walked toward Su Hei, Li Burou, Bai Tiantian, Zhang Xiaofan, and Cao Guangning.

Thud!

There was a loud thud when they dropped the training suits on the ground. It sounded as if a massive rock had fallen to the ground.

All eyes were immediately drawn to them.

"F*ck, that is for them to wear?"

"I was more than 10 meters away, but I felt a slight tremor under my feet."

"Those training suits weigh at least 10,000 pounds, right?"

"Even Su Hei—who has a combat strength of 59,000—can't effortlessly wear a 10,000-pound training suit and participate in daily training. This is impossible!"

All of the recruits stared at Su Hei and the other four geniuses dubiously.

They wonder if these geniuses could handle the weight.

Sikou Nanbo was expressionless as he stood with his hands behind his back.

"The five of you performed outstandingly in the previous recruitment examination, so I promoted you to section leader," he said.

"However, I can very frankly say that I don't have a good impression of geniuses!"

"Because of how gifted they are, these geniuses are complacent and think that they're superior to others. In addition, everyone revolves around them and reveres them."

"I don't care what your life was like before you came here. In the boot camp, you'll be treated the same as everyone else. If you refuse to listen to orders, rest on your laurels, or fail the boot camp, you will be eliminated, regardless of your caliber."

Sikou Nanbo bent down and picked up a 10,000-pound training suit. He swept a glance at the five geniuses before walking toward Su Hei.

"Put it on," he ordered.

Cao Guangning, who was standing at the side, was delighted.

He wanted Su Hei to make a fool of himself in front of everyone. "I concur with Instructor Sikou's thinking!" he thought happily.

However, when the chief instructor finished speaking, he handed over the training suit to Cao Guangning.

"Huh? Me?"

Cao Guangning looked stunned, blinking as if in shock.

Seeing that Sikou Nanbo had a solemn expression, Cao Guangning could only chuckle awkwardly and reach out for the training suit.

"Damn it!" cursed Cao Guangning.

He had just held onto the training suit when shock crossed his face.

His combat strength was only 9,331. It had not even reached 10,000.

He could not lift the training suit and put it on.

The next instant, there was a loud sound.

Thud!

The training suit was so heavy that Cao Guangning fell on his face.

"Pfft!"

They could faintly hear the sound of a recruit trying to hold back a laugh.

Instantly, everyone burst into laughter. Their mocking laughter resounded around the training ground.

Within seconds, the contagious laughter infected Su Hei, and he smiled.

"Stop laughing! Damn it! All of you, stop laughing!" hollered Cao Guangning.

He got up from the ground. A deep flush of humiliation overtook him. Seeing that Su Hei was also laughing at him, raw anger shot through him.

"You don't really think you're much stronger than me, do you?" Cao Guangning asked.

"It's impossible to wear this training suit for daily training unless you're a Grandmaster!"

"That's impossible. I'm sure of it!"

"Oh? Is that so?" asked Su Hei.

He snorted. "If that's the case, I should really give this a try."

Even though he did not understand the reason for Cao Guangning's behavior, it was true that the latter did hold resentment against him.

As martial artists of the Quilton Base, sooner or later, everyone would become his subordinates and work for him.

That was Su Hei's point of view. Hence, he did not harbor a grudge against Cao Guangning.

"Now it looks like I don't have to do that anymore," he thought.