Chapter 239: Stars Falling on My Head
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
"Sister Ling, today is my 11th day in the training camp.
"After three days of hard training, I can catch 23 miniature beast puppets in the air in one minute.
"In fact, the game is not as boring as it sounds. Although I'm exhausted and my head feels like exploding after each training session, I consistently catch one more miniature beast puppet than the previous time.
"It feels good knowing that I'm getting the hang of it, one step after another.
"You're crazy at training, too. So, you must know what I'm trying to say, right?
"Then, the chief instructor Mao Feng probably discovered that I was happier than I was miserable after training. Therefore, he increased the difficulty of the game.
"Now, among the hundred miniature beast puppets that I need to capture within one minute, there are 5 different puppets called 'Bombers'. Once I touch them, they will unleash strong electricity that often overpowers me.
"I have to observe and distinguish the five Bombers from the rest of the miniature beast puppets in order to avoid them!
"It's really hard!
"But why am I so excited?"
…
"Sister Ling, today is my 17th day in the camp.
"I finished my first agility training session this afternoon. In a crystal suit with a power system which was in disarray, I caught a hundred fleeing miniature beast puppets and avoided 21 Bombers!
"The feeling of being king of the world couldn't be more fantastic. All the sweats, pains, and passion in the past half month all paid off!
"You must've felt the same when you grasped a new skill due to hard work and perseverance, didn't you?
"So, you definitely understand how I feel.
"This is just the beginning. There are dozens of other training subjects in agility training. Many of them look interesting. The more I learn, the more excited I get. Sometimes, too excited to even sleep.
"Besides agility training, I also started strength training.
"In strength training, I was asked to use a specially modified crystal suit.
"Crystal suits can double the abilities of the Exos, or even enhance them three times.
"But this damn crystal suit for strength training, on the contrary, sealed my strength and suppressed it to 30%.
"Even if I punched with my full strength and soul, I'd only deal 30% percent of the damage that I would've before.
"What's more, many ballast modules were added to this crystal suit, which are basically useless iron balls. They made the weight of the suit to over seven tons.
"Since the anti-gravity rune array and the power rune array are both greatly diminished, I basically need to carry most of the seven tons by myself. It's more like I am wearing a giant, super-heavy battlesuit.
"And I need to complete almost 100 training exercises, including deep squat, dead lift, sprint, and so on, in such a strength training crystal suit.
"It sounds… amazing!"
…
"Sister Ling, today is my 23rd day in the training camp.
"In the day, I train my strength, agility, and speed.
"During my training, video clips of the experts of the Thunder Training Camp fighting demon beasts are played in the crystal processor, which are brilliant!
"I have to multitask. While I'm training, I'll need to understand the combat videos and analyze the tactics employed in them because I need to submit a battle analysis report later.
"At night, I'm summoned to the crystal suit warehouse of the Outer Camp and maintain the hundred or so crystal suits under the guidance of two experienced Refiners.
"Although they're not the latest models, the crystal suits are still functioning well under the discreet maintenance and modification of the Thunder Training Camp. Crystal processors, crystal reactors, core magical equipment… everything's there. The precision of these crystal suits are ten times higher than the wrecked ones that I talked about before.
"In the beginning, I was so dumb that I couldn't even reintegrate a single crystal suit over an entire night. My fingers were worn down so much that I could see my bones.
"But the world of crystal suits is too amazing for me to care the abrasions.
"The Thunder Training Camp has very advanced medical equipment. Together with my secret ointment, the injuries can be completely healed within a couple of minutes.
"When my fingers are worn out, I use the medical equipment and the secret ointment to accelerate the healing. Worn out again, healed again. After about a hundred times of repetition, my speed of reintegrating a crystal suit is getting faster and faster and almost equal to the speed of the two experienced Refiners.
"Right now, they view me as a supernatural.
"I also gained an additional benefit from this incident.
"Since my fingers were broken and fixed so many times, the skin on them is much more tender than before, which has significantly improved my sensitivity.
"With a single touch, I am able to tell whether or not the curve of a component is precise and absolutely smooth. Even a 0.01 millimeter flaw can't escape my attention.
"That's about everything. I'm going to the warehouse now.
"Maybe because my performance during the maintenance of the crystal suits was so crazy and the two experienced refiners were so shocked, they decided to hand over some simple repair work to me.
"Repairing the crystal suits!
"Even though they're antique models from a hundred years ago, even though the problems are the simplest of all, it is still an arduous and challenging job for me!
"My blood is boiling. The path of a future Armadominus commences now!"
…
"Sister Ling, today is my 29th day in the training camp.
"First, I'd like to tell you something super awesome.
"I have advanced to another level!
"At four o'clock this morning, I went out in the training crystal suit to do some overtime because I felt that the training subjects that Mao Feng set up were too easy and not satisfactory enough.
"But the moment I was exhausted and on the verge of crumbling, I sensed something mysterious and fascinating.
"It was the boundary of night and day, the grand finale of the darkness before dawn.
"Over my head, most parts of the sky were black, with galaxies glaring and stars shining. But the horizon to the east were blooming in red.
"For a moment, it seemed that all the stars in the sky were raining upon my head before they crushed my body from the top of my skull.
"In the meantime, the morning glow embraced me like ribbons.
"The sky, the earth, stars, and clouds reverberated with my blood, muscles, nerves, organs, and soul, cheering for me and encouraging me!
"I've finally reached the 7th level of the Refinement Stage!
"Hahaha. But you might not be as glad as I am, because the gap between us is smaller by a little bit now. It won't be long before I surpass you!
"The first elimination match of the Thunder Training Camp will be held tomorrow. Of the hundred students, only fifty will stay.
"Other students have been training crazily, too.
"Although I never saw it with my own eyes, I know that none of them will be easy to deal with, based on the scratches on their crystal suits.
"Besides, their abilities were higher than me before. Many of them are in the 10th level of the Refinement Stage or even higher.
"If we are equally skilled at driving crystal suits which give us equal enhancements, they'll be stronger than me!
"If I want to stay, there is only one way—do the best of my best!"
…
"BANG!"
"BANG! BANG!"
Two crystal suits, one in red and the other in black, were both moving fast, locked in brutal combat over a moor full of toxic smog.
The collision of the spiritual shields triggered strong blast waves that twisted the rays of light within the hundred square meters, making everything look like a scene from a movie.
Suddenly, after an irritating noise of metal being torn apart, the red crystal suit exploded and fell down into the moor with a big splash like a kite whose string had been cut off.
Some instructors who were watching close immediately rushed over in their crystal suits. They rescued the student in the moor and took him to the mobile med bay.
"No. 57 wins!
"No. 39 fails. Eliminated!"
Excited screams came from the black crystal suit.
This was the first elimination match of the Thunder Training Camp.
The hundred students were divided into two groups according to their ranks.
Those whose rank were above fifty would draw lots and select a student whose rank was below fifty randomly. The two of them would fight until one was defeated.
Winners would be able to stay in the Thunder Training Camp, receive more strict training, and learn more about the arts of crystal suits.
Losers would have to pack up and leave.
But before they were dismissed, the training camp would provide a detailed analysis report, compiled by the formidable Training Planners according to their performance over the past month, on their advantages and disadvantages, as well as a future training plan.
The analysis report and the training plan alone were worth the expensive tuition fees.
It was also one of the reasons why the Thunder Training Camp had been popular over the decades and praised by so many Exos.
Underground, in the preparation room.
Before each match, the participants were given a secret room to warm up and adjust themselves.
They could also watch the brilliant performances of other students through screens.
Li Yao was doing push-ups, not on the ground, but on the ceiling.
Like a giant lizard, he attached himself to the few gaps on the ceiling that were thinner than his air with the strength of his fingers and toes, which allowed him to do the unimaginable 'upside-down push-ups'.
"Tick tack. Tick tack."
Li Yao's sweats flowed in the hollows between his sharply cut muscles and congregated on his spine, before they dropped to the ground where a small lake was formed.
"122, 123…"
Li Yao felt he was not enjoying himself enough. He jumped down and looked around. Several dumbbells that weighed a couple of hundred kilograms caught his attention. He bound them to his waist, leaped back to the ceiling, and continued his upside-down push-ups.
"124, 125… 327… 431…"
This was what Mao Feng saw when he entered the room.
He was stupefied for a second, before he retreated quietly.
Outside the room, he took a deep breath and rubbed his face hard to change the surprise on it into fury.
He re-entered the room and screamed at the top of his voice,
"Li Yao, what are you—"
Li Yao jumped down and walked before Mao Feng. He looked at Mao Feng straight in the eyes and asked carefully, "Chief instructor, may I propose a minor revision?"