Chapter 104: Training Begins!
Translator: KurazyTolanzuraytor Editor:
Early morning the next day at the Iron Blood Army Campsite.
The 98 youths from Swallow Mountain County gathered once again.
After a night’s rest, they were all brimming with vigor and vitality.
Everything that happened yesterday was completely forgotten… And they started a new chapter in their lives.
Before long, the Captain that was in charge of presiding over the Genius Camp yesterday walked over quickly along with five young generals.
The Captain went straight to the point the moment he arrived. "First of all, congratulations on passing the test and becoming members of the Genius Camp. I’m Yang Da, a Captain of the Iron Blood Army and the person in charge of this year’s Genius Camp training. In ordinary times, the five Centurions behind me will be your instructors and will bring you along for training. Now, I’ll let you all freely form five groups, where each group may not have more than 20 people."
Immediately, the group of youths on the drill grounds started getting into action.
Most of the people moved over to four different directions.
In each of these four directions stood a single person.
Duan Ling Tian, Su Li, Tian Hu, Yu Xiang.
Obviously, as far as they were concerned, relying on them would be the most sensible choice…
Duan Ling Tian, Xiao Yu, and Meng Quan stood on the spot.
More than 20 people quickly gathered around them.
In the end, with the help of the Captain, Duan Ling Tian’s group was left with 20 people.
The same happened for Su Li, Tian Hu, and Yu Xiang’s groups.
Only the remaining 18 people had bitter smiles as they stood at a side with slightly helpless expressions and with a sense of loss.
"Alright, now that the groups have been divided… Next, I’ll briefly introduce the rules during the training for the next year. The first round of training will last for three months. Each group will face different challenges, and survival of the fittest will occur until only half of the people remain… In other words, after three months, only half of the people in each group shall survive," Yang Da said slowly.
As Yang Da finished speaking, the eyes of the isolated group of 18 young geniuses all shone brightly.
"Haha! So that’s how it is… Looks like my luck isn’t that bad; at least my group doesn’t have any freaks."
"Yeah, but they are going to have a hard time… Especially the groups with Duan Ling Tian and Yu Xiang. Duan Ling Tian will surely help his two companions. In other words, in the first round of training, only seven people will survive from the remaining 17 people."
"Hahahaha…. Yu Xiang’s group is even worse. Yu Xiang has four Yu Clan members with him, which means only five people can survive from the remaining 15 people."
...
Different from these youths’ delight, the youths of the other four groups all had slightly unnatural expressions.
Especially Duan Ling Tian’s and Yu Xian’s groups.
These youths had extremely ugly expressions.
"F**k! Is something wrong with us? Why did we choose this group with Duan Ling Tian!?"
"Forget it. Our luck is still good; the people who chose Yu Xiang’s group have the worst luck."
...
"Dammit! Why did I choose Yu Xiang’s group? What lousy luck!"
"Yeah, even Duan Ling Tian’s group is better than this one."
...
Hearing the surrounding discussions, Yu Xing’s face sank as he growled, "If you all think Duan Ling Tian’s group is better, then f**k off over to him!"
Instantly, the surrounding youths went silent…
They didn’t dare to offend Yu Xiang at this moment…
If Yu Xiang had any qualms against them, they would most certainly die.
"The current five groups will be considered small squads. The squads will be led by a Centurion instructor and begin the three-month-long first round of training."
Yang Da’s voice echoed out once again.
Su Li’s group was Squad One.
Tian Hu’s group was Squad Two.
Duan Ling Tian’s group was Squad Three.
Yu Xiang’s group was Squad Four.
The final group was Squad Five.
The five Centurions each stood at the front of a group…
A Centurion around the age of 30 with a medium stature stood in front of Duan Ling Tian’s squad and said, in a loud voice, "From today onwards, I will be the instructor of Squad Three. Call me Fan Jian!"
"Fan Jian?"[1]
Some of the youths were stunned.
The corners of Duan Ling Tian’s mouth twitched. This Centurion’s name was really…special…
"Pfft!"
Instantly, someone couldn’t hold back their laughter.
"Is it very funny?"
Fan Jian’s face sunk as he reprimanded him.
Instantly, the entire squad went silent.
"Follow me. We’ll hike to the Dawnshroud Mountain Range!" Fan Jian shouted in a low voice as he took the lead and started running out of the Iron Blood Army’s campsite.
Meanwhile, the other four squads and their instructors followed from behind as well.
The group of youths from the Genius Camp followed their five instructors out of Iron Blood City and headed towards the Dawnshroud Mountain Range.
In the beginning, there was still chatting and laughter amongst the group of youths…
But by the time noon arrived, no one had the strength to continue idle conversations.
All of them were both hungry and thirsty.
"Instructor, where are we having our lunch at?" one of the youths in Squad Three couldn’t help himself from inquiring.
"Humph! There’s no lunch. If you want food then wait till we arrive at Dawnshroud Mountain Range and you can make some yourself! Based on our current travelling speed, it will be at least dusk before we arrive at Dawnshroud Mountain Range… All of you, keep your spirits high for me!"
Fan Jian coldly grunted.
"What? We need to run until dusk?"
The youths were stunned.
They had only run for half a morning and they were already tired and hungry…
If they were to run until dusk, wouldn’t that mean being exhausted to the point of fainting?
Behind the group of youths in Squad Three, three youths followed at a steady pace. Meng Quan wiped the sweat off his forehead as he asked, "Duan Ling Tian, aren’t you tired?"
Presently, even Xiao Yu was breathing heavily…
Only Duan Ling Tian remained unfazed.
The corners of Duan Ling Tian’s mouth contained a smile.
Tired?
Not to mention that this level of training would be nothing to him in his past lifetime.
In this lifetime, his body was even stronger, so even if he had to run an entire day and night, he still might not even feel a bit tired…
"Meng Quan, your breathing is too erratic… Inhale every three steps and exhale every two steps, maintain a rhythm. Try it."
Duan Ling Tian smiled as he passed on his secret technique to Meng Quan.
Meng Quan did as he was told. After a short moment, he looked much better; he even stopped sweating, and his entire person seemed much more revitalized and full of energy.
"It really works." Meng Quan’s eyes shone.
"Hmm?’
Xiao Yu was slightly surprised. He couldn’t help himself from trying it out. After doing the same, he noticed that he didn’t feel so exhausted anymore.
He glanced deeply at Duan Ling Tian.
He realized that the more deeply he got to know Duan Ling Tian, the more shocked he would be…
"Duan Ling Tian, I really admire you." Meng Quan sighed.
Before long, some of the others noticed that not only was Duan Ling Tian’s group of three not slow, they were unfazed, causing them to all be stunned.
Even the five instructors were slightly moved.
"Hmph!"
Yu Xiang’s breathing had started to become hurried as well, and his face sunk when he noticed Duan Ling Tian’s current condition.
Even Su Li and Tian Hu both deeply glanced at Duan Ling Tian.
Presently, besides the five instructors, only Duan Ling Tian’s group of three seemed to be on a casual stroll; it didn’t even look like they had been running.
As the sun set, besides Duan Ling Tian’s group of three, all of the youths including, Su Li, Tian Hu, and Yu Xiang, couldn’t help themselves from heaving a sigh of relief when a continuous mountain range appeared before them.
"We’ve arrived so quickly? Heh, so not challenging," Meng Quan said sarcastically.
Instantly, it attracted plenty of scornful gazes…
Before long, the five instructors exchanged gazes before they simultaneously ordered, "Halt!"
When the five squads of youths halted, some of them bended down and fiercely gasped for air.
Finally they could rest.
After a short moment, they were all stunned on the spot, as the five instructors searched them one by one and confiscated all the fire pistons that the youths had brought along with them. [2]
"Interesting."
As Duan Ling Tian thought of something, a smile appeared in the corners of his mouth.
The five instructors gathered all the fire pistons before burning them altogether.
"Instructor, this…"
Some of the youths questioned.
"Now, the Captain is already waiting for you all at the Dawnshroud Mountain Range’s entrance…. The first person amongst you to arrive at the entrance will obtain a fire piston from the Captain. That will decide whether you’ll be able to eat cooked meat or raw meat tonight," One of the instructors slowly said.
After a short moment, the group of youths seemed as if they had awakened from a dream. They couldn’t even be bothered to rest before they madly ran towards the entrance…
In the air, a myriad of ancient mammoth’s silhouettes dashed across, their imposing manner piercing through the sky!
Before long, only Duan Ling Tian’s group of three remained as they slowly walked over.
Duan Ling Tian had an unperturbed expression; however, Xiao Yu and Meng Quan beside him had puzzled expressions…
"Duan Ling Tian, aren’t we going to go fight for it?" asked Meng Quan.
"If we don’t have a fire piston, we’ll have to eat raw meat for the remaining days in this mountain range."
Xiao Yu had a bitter smile as he spoke.
"Who said you must have a fire piston to start a fire?" Duan Ling Tian asked indifferently.
Not to mention he had fire pistons in his spatial ring, even without a fire piston, he still had many methods to easily start a fire…
four out of the five instructors followed the group and ran off to the entrance.
Only Duan Ling Tian’s squad instructor, Fan Jian, glanced at Duan Ling Tian before frowning, but he didn’t say a word.
"How do you start a fire without a fire piston?" asked Meng Quan curiously.
"Forget it, We probably can’t catch up now anyway… At most, when we need a fire, we can borrow it from the person who has the fire piston." Xiao Yu shook his head. He didn’t quite believe what Duan Ling Tian had said.
The three of them slowly walked forward and eventually arrived at the entrance to the Dawnshroud Mountain Range. Upon arrival, they realized that only Captain Yang Da and the other four Captains were present.
Whereas the other youths had all vanished.
"What’s going on?"
Yang Da frowned as he glanced at Fan Jian, who was following behind Duan Ling Tian’s group of three.
"Captain, Sir, they seem to not care about the fire piston, so I didn’t force them," Fan Jian said in a matter of fact tone.
Yang Da glanced at Duan Ling Tian’s group of three before shaking his head. "Forget it. The three of you can now go hunt for some wild animals and prepare your own dinner."
Duan Ling Tian nodded and entered the Dawnshroud Mountain Range with Xiao Yu and Meng Quan.
"They’re probably thinking of borrowing the fire piston."
Looking at Duan Ling Tian’s group disappearing figures, Fan Jian grunted.
"Then they’re going to be out of luck…"
Yang Da had a weird gaze.
"Huh?"
Fan Jian looked at Yang Da with a questioning gaze. "Captain, why do you say so?"
"Haha! Fan Jian, do you know who got the fire piston?" another one of the Centurions asked as he laughed.
"Who?" Fan Jian asked curiously.
"Yu Xiang!"
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[1]TL note: Fan Jian’s name similarly sounds to another phrase in Chinese which would mean to "commit something despicable."
[2]TL note: The actual item used here was something like a fire piston but was blown with force to ignite. Fire piston is used here as it’s the closest English equivalent without needing to make changes to the author’s original writing.