Sirius system, Yunshan star.
The light of the stars was obscured.
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Jiang Yue raised his head, his gaze passing through the one-way glass of his helmet. What he saw was not the sky, but a densely packed interstellar fleet like a swarm of locusts.
Those massive black warships silently hovered above the clouds, the blue exhaust plumes from their engines forming the only starlight in this celestial realm.
This was the outer space of Yunshan star, the seventeenth military floating land.
"The 782nd batch of citizen reserves has been conscripted."
A cold, mechanical synthesized voice echoed across the vast steel plaza, shrill and flat.
"Everyone, line up. Anyone who makes a disturbance will be treated as disrupting military discipline and will be killed on the spot."
At the edge of the plaza, hundreds of Federation Overwatch soldiers wearing exoskeletons and powered armor stood silently, the explosive pistols in their hands gleaming with a chilling light.
Jiang Yue stood in the gray formation, his figure somewhat thin.
Even in the baggy training uniform issued to him, it was clear he didn't possess the robust physique of a wild beast.
Yet, he stood firmly.
At this moment, Jiang Yue's gaze passed over the crowd, looking into the deep universe.
This was the best of times, and the worst of times.
To reclaim lost territory in the Great Expedition, the Human Federation had implemented a total war rationing system.
Every second, hundreds of peripheral planets were conquered by alien races, reduced to scorched earth; every second, countless Federation fleets planted their battle flags on ruins, asserting sovereignty.
Before this colossal cosmic meat grinder, there were no civilians.
All adult citizens served the war.
"Hoo..."
Jiang Yue exhaled softly.
This batch of reserves wasn't sent directly to the front lines as cannon fodder; that was something done centuries ago when the Federation's manpower was exhausted.
The current Federation valued efficiency more.
Three months.
They had a three-month basic training period.
If he could break through the limits of human endurance and become a Level 1 Martial Artist within these three months through intense training, he could don the Federation's power armor and become a respected member of the Federation's regular army.
If he failed…
Jiang Yue's eyes narrowed slightly.
Those who failed would have other destinations, being assigned to heavy industrial forging planets or mines to engage in production.
Making the best use of resources and talents.
Within the surrounding formation, the commotion was subtle yet real.
To the left, a pale-faced youth was trembling uncontrollably, the sound of his teeth chattering clearly audible in the deathly silence. It was fear of the future; joining the army was glorious, but also cruel.
To the right, several burly, clearly well-nourished men were relatively calm, their tension tinged with anticipation.
Jiang Yue wasn't trembling, nor was he fanatical.
He was simply breathing.
In this chaotic world full of uncertainty, as the orphan of a martyr, he had no one to rely on.
His only support was the semi-transparent panel visible only to himself.
In the corner of his retina, a panel appeared:
[Behavior: Breathing]
[Status: In Progress]
[Current Attribute: Regulating Breath (White)]
[Description: Your breathing rhythm is slightly better than average, and your cardiopulmonary function is stable. Each breath subtly calms tension and slightly improves endurance.]
[Accumulated Progress: Slowly Increasing…]
Months ago, along with Jiang Yue's coming-of-age ceremony came his conscription notice and this panel.
All his actions were recorded on the panel, and as the actions accumulated, [Attributes] were unlocked.
His constant breathing, for example, unlocked the [Regulating Breath] attribute.
Every action has its effect.
Suddenly—
BOOM!!!
A terrifying sonic boom instantly shattered the deathly silence above the square.
All the recruits instinctively looked up, only to see a pitch-black assault boat hovering like a meteorite a hundred meters directly above the formation.
The hatch suddenly sprang open, and a figure without any cushioning device leaped straight down!
That was a hundred meters in the air! It was a floating continent where gravity had been adjusted to 1.5 times the standard gravity!
The steel-cast deck emitted a dull thud.
As the smoke cleared, a man in a black Federation-issue long overcoat slowly straightened up.
He had only one eye; the other eye socket had been torn apart by some kind of claw, leaving three gruesome scars that extended to the corner of his mouth.
He carried no weapons, but the moment he stood up, a terrifying, suffocating heatwave swept across the entire area.
Jiang Yue's pupils constricted sharply.
It was blood energy.
So dense it was almost visible to the naked eye, blood energy like a furnace!
A level three martial artist!
In legends, such a powerful individual could withstand small-caliber machine gun fire with their bare body and survive for a short time in a vacuum.
"Good afternoon, fellow rookies about to enlist."
"I think you are all clearly not yet worthy of the title of sergeant. Let me introduce myself; you can call me One-Eyed."
The instructor's voice wasn't loud, but it seemed to drill directly into everyone's brains, carrying a stinging sensation.
His single eye coldly swept over the tens of thousands of new recruits, and no one dared to meet his gaze.
Several recruits in the front row, whose mental fortitude was weak, even collapsed to their knees under the oppressive, almost tangible killing intent, retching.
It was the instinctive fear brought about by the suppression of their life level.
Jiang Yue felt it too.
His skin felt like it was being pricked by needles, and his heart pounded violently due to the pressure.
But he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to regulate his breathing.
Inhale... exhale...
The [Regulate Breath] skill activated, and a weak but cool current flowed through his lungs, allowing him to barely maintain his balance under the pressure, unlike the others who were in such a sorry state.
The one-eyed instructor seemed to notice something, his gaze lingering on Jiang Yue's area for half a second before shifting away with a cold smile.
"I don't care where you come from, or how illustrious your families are."
The instructor raised his hand, pointing to the towering warships overhead.
"The Federation doesn't support useless people. Anyone who doesn't reach the first-level martial artist standard in three months will be sent to the Forging Star to eat furnace ashes! Only true martial artists are worthy to wield their swords and reclaim humanity's territory in the starry sea!"
There was no incentive, only the naked law of survival.
"Now, everyone!"
The instructor's voice suddenly rose, like a thunderclap:
"Run twenty kilometers around the edge of the floating continent! Those who don't finish will not get dinner tonight!"
"Move!!"
Accompanied by the sound of the supervisors' rifles being pulled back, the massive force of tens of thousands began to run sparsely.
Complaints, panting, and footsteps mingled together, like a chaotic tide.
Jiang Yue mingled in the crowd, neither charging at the front nor lagging behind.
He was finding his rhythm.
Although his body appeared somewhat thin due to long-term malnutrition, with the blessing of the [Qi Regulating] skill, his breathing maintained a strange rhythm.
Three steps, one breath in; three steps, one breath out.
The cold wind, like a knife, scraped against his cheeks.
Heavy military boots pounded against the cold, steel ground.
One kilometer… three kilometers… five kilometers…
The panting around him grew heavier, many had fallen behind, their faces flushed, their lungs heaving like bellows.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on Jiang Yue's forehead, a metallic taste of blood rising in his throat.
But he didn't stop; in fact, his eyes shone even brighter.
He glanced at the edge of his retina as he ran.
There, with his steady breathing despite the intense exertion, the line of text that had been crawling like a snail had changed.
[Action: Breathing]
[Status: High Load Operation]
[Accumulated Progress: ++]
The progress bar was moving slightly faster than when he was standing still.
"It seems the action accumulation on the panel can be accelerated..."
Twenty kilometers.
For ordinary people on Earth in their previous lives, this was a half-marathon distance that would break their legs, and most people wouldn't be able to finish it.
But on this floating continent of Yunshan Star, where gravity is multiplied, this is the first line of defense between life and death.
Even though Federation youths intentionally train before enlisting, coupled with the improved physical fitness brought about by advancements in medical technology, this intensity is still considered extremely high.
Ugh—
the moment the ranks stopped, a chorus of vomiting drowned out the edge of the plaza.
Thousands of recruits, as if their souls had been ripped out, collapsed haphazardly on the cold alloy ground.
The air was filled with a strong smell of sweat, and even a faint trace of blood—the blood and foam coughed up from alveoli that couldn't withstand the high-pressure air.
Several hovering spherical medical robots silently glided by, extending their mechanical arms and quickly dragging away several recruits who had already fainted from shock.
Their fate was sealed: upon waking, they would be directly crammed into transport ships bound for the logistics area.
At the front of the line, the boys with slightly better physical condition, though their faces were flushed and their chests heaving, could mostly still stand.
Some even pulled out vials of reagents with a bluish sheen from their pockets and gulped them down.
A few seconds later, their rapid breathing subsided considerably.
Jiang Yue mingled in the crowd, his hands gripping his knees tightly, sweat dripping from his nose onto the dark deck, evaporating instantly.
Pain.
His lungs felt like they were on fire, his legs as heavy as lead.
But he didn't collapse.
Inhale—exhale—
that strange breathing rhythm continued.
At the edge of each retina, the line of grayish-white writing flickered slightly.
[Entry: Breathing Regulate (White) in effect... Physical recovery speed increased... Lactic acid buildup alleviated...]
...
Half an hour later, the recruit camp.
It was arranged in a honeycomb pattern, built primarily for efficient occupancy.
Inside the massive gray buildings, tens of thousands of individual capsule pods, each two meters long and one meter wide, were densely packed.
There was no privacy here, only efficiency.
The one-eyed instructor stood on the high platform of the canteen, slamming his alloy whip against the table with a deafening clang.
"That's your kennel, that's the toilet, and this—"
he pointed to two enormous metal windows behind him, a cruel smile playing on his lips:
"This is where you'll decide whether you survive these three months."
Jiang Yue followed the instructor's finger.
The left window had a green light above it, reading "[Sector A: Basic Rations]".
Piles of gray, toothpaste-like tubes were stacked there—most people were familiar with this; it was nutritional paste.
The right window had a red light above it, reading "[Sector B: High-Energy Meals]".
Even from several meters away, the irresistible aroma of meat filled the air, enough to make anyone's mouth water.
This wasn't ordinary livestock; it was the flesh and blood of a truly alien beast, imbued with cosmic energy!
"Window A, Federal Standard High-Energy Nutritional Paste, free, all you can eat,"
the instructor said coldly. "The nutrition is enough to meet your daily needs, enough to keep you from dying during training."
"Window B, Dragon-Elephant Pig Ribs, Special Beast Bone Broth, Gene Enhancement Fluid."
He paused, his one eye sweeping over the hungry, greedy faces:
"Want meat? Use your points to exchange for it!"
"A small test every ten days, a big test every thirty days. The bottom 10% of trash will be sent straight to the mines! Only the top 10% of geniuses are qualified to eat meat! As for the middle..."
The instructor scoffed, "Just eat grass and live."
The crowd instantly stirred.
Jiang Yue rubbed his empty stomach, a strong hunger surging through him.
Eating only that toothpaste-like nutritional paste wouldn't kill him, but expecting a surge of energy and a breakthrough to the martial arts realm was a pipe dream.
To become stronger, he had to eat meat.
And to eat meat, he had to compete with everyone else.
After a twenty-kilometer run, and a short recovery period, everyone was starving.
The mess hall had no tables or chairs, only long, rectangular alloy countertops running east to west.
Tens of thousands of new recruits stood in formation, each with only two slots in front of them for their military rations.
Jiang Yue stood in the ranks, the burning sensation in his lungs slowly subsiding under the influence of the "Smooth Breath" skill.
He received his two tubes of nutritional paste.
It was an iron-gray color, cold to the touch, and even had a slightly synthetic plastic smell.
At this moment, regardless of their family background, on this seventeenth floating continent, everyone was swallowing the same gray substance.
Jiang Yue unscrewed the seal, squeezed it into the slot, and then silently swallowed.
The instant it entered his throat, a slightly fishy and bitter taste exploded on his taste buds.
This product, created for extreme energy efficiency, clearly hadn't considered taste.
The viscous paste slid down his esophagus into his stomach like a heavy lump of lead.
Buzz.
At the edge of the retina, the panel sensed the energy intake, and words silently appeared:
[Behavior: Feeding]
[Status: In Progress]
[Current Term: Digestion (White)]
[Description: Stomach peristalsis accelerates, squeezing out the meager essence hidden deep within coarse food, reducing waste accumulation, and improving energy replenishment efficiency.]
[Accumulated Progress: Increasing...]
Jiang Yue felt the reaction in his stomach.
As the [Digestion] term was activated, the heavy pressure on his abdomen was lessening.
The originally cold nutritional paste was crushed in his stomach, turning into wisps of warm light that spread to his tired limbs.
Beside him, a boy choked on the smell of the nutritional paste, gagging, tears welling in his eyes, but he could only forcefully swallow the filth back down.
Jiang Yue expressionlessly quickened his swallowing.
Being able to eat was essentially a screening process; without sufficient nutritional replenishment, how could he train?
...
Half an hour later, they reunited in the square.
The one-eyed instructor had removed his black federal overcoat, revealing a bright red tight-fitting vest.
His arms were extremely thick, the skin a dull, dark blue-green, which, under the light, seemed to exude a heavy, aged quality, like old iron.
"You've eaten your fill, it's time to move around."
The instructor's voice echoed across the empty square, carrying a chilling resonance.
*Federal Basic Body Tempering Technique, Ninth Edition*.
"This is the strongest foundation-building technique developed by the Federation using the 'Deep Blue' supercomputer, by combining the expertise of three Martial Gods and twelve thousand martial arts masters."
"Today I'll teach you the first stage—[Skin Tempering]."
He stepped into the arena, his body suddenly sinking.
"Watch closely!"
With a low shout, his muscles bulged like the roots of an old tree. His movements were extremely slow, yet carried an overwhelming pressure.
This was the eighteenth form of the Skin Tempering chapter.
The first form was called "Bell Ringing."
The instructor brought his arms together, his body slightly arched, his entire being seemingly transforming into an ancient bell.
Driven by his vital energy, his dark blue skin began to vibrate rapidly.
A series of muffled rumbling sounds filled the air—the strange phenomenon caused by the skin rubbing against the atmosphere.
"The key to training the skin isn't strength, but grinding."
"Use your vital energy to grind this layer of skin. Grind until the calluses are gone, until your flesh is like iron, only then can you enter the gate."
The instructor's figure was like a moving steel statue, unfolding eighteen bizarre and twisted postures one after another before tens of thousands of recruits.
Each posture defied normal human anatomy; some required the spine to coil like a dragon, others required limbs to intertwine like vines.
With the instructor's demonstration, the entire square was enveloped in a scorching aura of blood.
"Move!"
At a command, tens of thousands of new recruits began to imitate.
Jiang Yue calmed his mind, replaying every subtle point of force exerted by the instructor in his mind.
Following the requirements of the first movement, he slowly brought his arms together, trying to find the feeling of skin vibration.
However, it was difficult.
Extremely difficult.
His movements were stiff and awkward, and his joints creaked under the strain.
The warm blood and qi in his body were like a stubborn donkey, unable to follow the predetermined route to impact the skin.
At the edge of his retina, the panel lit up again.
[Behavior: Body Training]
[Status: Entry in progress...]
[Current Progress: Accumulating...]
[Evaluation: Posture deviation is too large, blood and qi conduction is blocked, and the true meaning of skin and qi has not yet been reached.]
Jiang Yue was not discouraged.
He adjusted his breathing again and again, coordinating with the [Qi Circulation] entry, forcibly suppressing the soreness in his muscles, and repeatedly forcing himself into that contorted posture.
The one-eyed instructor stood with his hands behind his back on the high platform.
His single eye was like a cold scanner, quickly sweeping across the formation.
He was searching for that spark of inspiration.
In martial arts training, willpower is important, but comprehension often determines how far one can go in those three months.
Not far away, a well-proportioned young man caught his attention.
After only a few attempts, the young man's skin was already faintly glowing with a reddish light, his movements fluid and graceful, clearly perfectly suited to the technique.
The instructor nodded slightly and noted the young man's number.
Then, his gaze swept over Jiang Yue.
Jiang Yue had performed reasonably well during the previous twenty-kilometer run.
But at this moment, the instructor's brows furrowed slightly.
In his eyes, Jiang Yue's movements were far too "dead."
Because the movements were overly focused on standardization, they appeared stiff, lacking the fluidity of qi and blood circulation.
Especially his slender frame, which seemed somewhat powerless when performing those expansive body-stretching movements.
After watching for three seconds, the instructor looked away, the glimmer of expectation in his eyes vanishing, replaced by a predictable indifference.
"His willpower is decent, but his natural talent is mediocre, and his comprehension... is merely average."
He concluded in his heart.
In this massive war machine, there are too many ordinary people with willpower, but those who ultimately survive are often monsters who possess both willpower and talent.
Jiang Yue didn't notice the instructor's disappointment, or rather, even if he did, he didn't care.
He was repeating.
A monotonous and mechanical repetition.
Every time his posture deviated even slightly, a faint afterimage of the instructor's demonstration would appear on his retina.
He was using this most rudimentary method to forcibly calibrate every inch of his flesh and blood.
The sky gradually darkened.
The lights above the floating land illuminated, their pale glow falling on everyone's sweat-covered faces.
"Everyone, disperse."
The instructor's voice rang out with mechanical precision in the last second before the training ended.
"Go back to your kennels. Tomorrow at dawn, anyone late will have half of their monthly points deducted."
The crowd dispersed, dragging their heavy bodies.
Jiang Yue returned to the camp and entered his designated capsule.
The space inside was extremely small, barely enough for one person to lie down. The moment the hatch closed, all surrounding noise was shut out, except for a faint hissing sound from the ventilation vents.
His skin burned all over, a lingering effect of the forced cleansing of his vital energy.
Jiang Yue lay in the darkness, staring at the metal ceiling just centimeters above him.
During the day, his cultivation was practically nonexistent.
"Once the [Body Tempering] attribute is unlocked, things should get much better."
"Perhaps... it can bring a boost to my comprehension?"
"In any case, if I want to improve my efficiency in doing something, the most crucial thing is to practice it itself."
So, instead of sleeping, Jiang Yue got up and began training again.
The capsule was cramped, shaped like a coffin.
It was two meters long, one meter wide, and no more than three feet high.
The walls were all made of thick alloy plates, with only the faint sound of breathing piercing the silence.
Jiang Yue sat cross-legged inside.
An ordinary person, after enduring the torment of a twenty-kilometer gravitational run during the day, coupled with the excruciating pain of their skin being forcibly flushed by their blood and qi, should be utterly exhausted and asleep.
However, Jiang Yue's eyes were deep
and unfathomable. He knew that so-called "comprehension" was destiny for ordinary people, something that couldn't be forced.
"Only through practice can one break free from fate,"
Jiang Yue thought to himself.
Due to the cramped space, he couldn't unleash wide-ranging martial arts stances, so he transformed the eighteen forms of the [Skin Training Chapter] into internal stances and instantaneous movements.
[Action: Body Forging]
[Status: Entry in Progress...]
[Progress: Slowly Accumulating...]
Jiang Yue began attempting the first form, the Bell Ringing.
During the instructor's demonstration, this form required the skin and membranes to resonate like an ancient bell.
At this moment, Jiang Yue crossed his arms, not actually exerting force to strike the alloy bulkhead, but instead employing a static tempering method.
His muscles tensed, and his blood and qi surged continuously from his stomach under the influence of the "Digestion" skill.
Pain.
The skin that had been burning hot now felt as if thousands of steel needles were piercing it under the pressure of his internal energy.
Jiang Yue's face contorted slightly with pain, and cold sweat instantly soaked through his gray training uniform.
At the edge of his retina, the afterimage of the instructor's martial arts demonstration quietly appeared.
It was a dark blue phantom, vibrating in Jiang Yue's sea of consciousness in perfect form.
Every slight deviation in Jiang Yue's point of force would cause the afterimage to emit a faint red light, forcibly guiding his soul to calibrate his muscles.
"Left elbow down half a point, spine slightly raised."
Jiang Yue adjusted his posture slightly in the darkness.
Click.
A soft sound.
The moment his posture completely overlapped with the afterimage, his previously stagnant blood and qi suddenly flowed smoothly.
That sliver of blood and qi, like molten lava, precisely struck the skin on his chest.
[Evaluation: Posture calibration in progress, Qi and blood conduction efficiency improved.]
Jiang Yue's heart skipped a beat.
This wasn't a sudden burst of enlightenment, but rather the ultimate "micro-sculpting."
Ordinary geniuses rely on their senses to grasp the true meaning, while Jiang Yue, with the forced assistance of the panel, used his physical body to relentlessly pursue every geometrically perfect coordinate.
Jiang Yue honed his skills repeatedly in the cramped single-soldier pod.
At this moment, a warm current flowed through his abdomen.
It was the nutritional paste he had swallowed during the day.
With the blessing of the [Digestion] attribute, this coarse food was thoroughly squeezed out.
Impurities that were originally considered dregs were emptied, and pure energy was transformed into wisps of fine essence, flowing along the meridians and finally converging beneath the skin.
[Behavior: Eating] Progress moved slowly.
[Behavior: Breathing] The rhythm remained steady.
Two quarters of an hour.
One hour .
Two hours.
Jiang Yue's skin had turned a strange dark red.
That was an anomaly produced by the high concentration of Qi and blood and the repeated friction against the skin.
If an ordinary person were to manipulate things like this, their skin would have already ruptured and turned them into a bloody mess.
Yet, every burst of Jiang Yue's vital energy struck precisely at the coordinates marked by the afterimage.
This was walking a tightrope.
[Action: Body Tempering]
[Progress: ++]
Jiang Yue felt a profound, arid exhaustion deep within his soul.
Several hours of intense, relentless training had taken a toll on his mind far beyond his imagination.
But he didn't stop.
He was waiting for that critical point.
The [Skin Tempering] stage has three levels: the first is "Seeing Red," meaning the vital energy surges upwards; the second is "Chocolate Formation," meaning the skin thickens; the third is "Like Iron," meaning the skin glows.
Jiang Yue's dark red had faded, revealing a sickly pallor.
This was the result of his vital energy being squeezed to its limit in an extremely short time, all seeping deep into his skin.
"With daily practice, I should be able to unlock the next skill soon..."
It was one in the morning.
The air inside the Hive barracks was thick and murky, a mixture of carbon dioxide exhaled by tens of thousands of people and the rusty smell of oxidized metal.
The cacophony of snores sounded like a low, rumbling thunderstorm, causing the thin capsule walls to tremble slightly.
In the shadows of the farthest corner of the barracks, however, a faint, grinding sound could be heard.
"Crack...crack..."
Jiang Yue, shirtless, was soaked with sweat, which had already drenched the alloy floor beneath him.
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 𝓽𝔀𝓴𝓪𝓷.𝓬𝓸𝓶 (for the most comprehensive Taiwanese novels).]
He was currently maintaining the "Drawing the Bow" posture of the first form of the "Federal Basic Body Tempering Techniques," but his movements were already distorted.
His spine was groaning; the tendons that should have been taut like a bowstring were now spasming and twitching uncontrollably.
Every muscle fiber was sending a "collapse" signal to his brain, as if it would snap like an old rubber band at any moment.
But Jiang Yue didn't stop.
His gaze was fixed on the slowly ticking progress bar at the edge of his retina.
As long as it was ticking, he couldn't bear to stop.
In this era where even air was rationed, such visible progress was mesmerizing.
"Hey."
Just as Jiang Yue was about to grit his teeth and persevere for another five minutes, a partition in the capsule next to his suddenly opened.
A pair of slightly swollen eyes lit up in the darkness, carrying a hint of helplessness: "Dude, stop. If you keep training like this, you'll be finished tomorrow."
"It's not just about putting in extra effort. There's training tomorrow, and if I don't recover, the risk of elimination is considerable."
Jiang Yue froze, the suffocating breath in his chest finally dissipating.
He slumped down like a lump of mud, panting heavily, his chest heaving violently, the frantic pounding of his heart audible.
The speaker was a new recruit sleeping in the bunk next to his; they had chatted briefly on the way back to the barracks, but weren't close.
The man's name was Li Tai. He wasn't tall, but he was sturdy. His family was said to be small merchants in a peripheral star system, making a living by buying and selling goods.
While not exactly a noble family, they were far wealthier than an orphan like Jiang Yue.
"Thanks," Jiang Yue said with a smile, accepting the spray.
"No need to thank me, I was just reminding you,"
Li Tai sighed, pulling a small, dark blue spray bottle, no bigger than a thumb, from under his pillow. After a moment's hesitation, he tossed it to Jiang Yue.
"Here. Blue Cloud brand muscle-relaxing spray. It's a cheap, civilian version, but it's better than you enduring it."
Jiang Yue caught it instinctively, the cold metallic touch making him slightly startled.
He knew this stuff; even this so-called cheap spray cost several hundred Federal Credits on the black market, equivalent to half a month's food expenses.
"Why?"
Jiang Yue didn't mince words, immediately uncapping it and spraying it a few times onto his aching, swollen spine.
A cool, piercing chill instantly seeped into his flesh, suppressing the burning pain.
"Because you're ruthless enough."
Li Tai leaned over the edge of the bed, lowering his voice. "There are tens of thousands of people in this barracks, and several hundred of them just did extra training, but you're the only one who almost crippled yourself like this."
He pointed to his temple.
"But it's useless. Brother, have you ever heard of gene overdraft?"
Jiang Yue paused. "What's that?"
"It's the poor man's incurable disease."
Li Tai sneered, his tone mature beyond his years. "Without high-energy meat to replenish your energy, without restorative baths, the harder you train, the greater the deficit."
"It's like driving a sports car without gas. If you floor the accelerator, it's not gas that's burning, it's the engine."
"That's why many ordinary geniuses suddenly die or become permanently disabled while training."
Li Tai stared at Jiang Yue's thin shoulders. "There's training tomorrow. Go with these hidden injuries; don't think you can get away with it." Jiang Yue
fell silent.
He looked at the half-empty spray bottle in his hand, feeling the pain in his back gradually subside.
Li Tai was right; this was a survival wisdom he couldn't learn in this isolated orphanage.
In this world, hard work doesn't always guarantee luck.
"Got it, Li Tai." Jiang Yue tossed the spray back and nodded seriously.
"Jiang Yue."
The simple exchange of names was a silent understanding between two ants struggling at the bottom of this massive meat grinder.
"Sleep, Jiang Yue."
Li Tai yawned and burrowed back into the covers. "In this hellhole, sleeping is part of the training. If you can sleep, you'll live longer."
The barracks fell silent again.
Only the occasional distant rumble of patrol robot engines reminded them that this was a heavily guarded military floating island.
Jiang Yue struggled back to his cramped capsule.
Every cell in his body screamed; the bone-deep pain made even turning over difficult.
An ordinary person would be unable to sleep in this state, suffering until dawn.
But he was different.
Jiang Yue lay flat, hands clasped over his stomach, closed his eyes, and silently recited a mantra.
[Behavior: Sleeping]
The next second, lines of data on the retina refreshed instantly.
[Current entry: Tranquility (white) in effect.]
[Effect: Enters deep sleep, brain waves calm down, growth hormone secretion efficiency increases, and the speed of mental fatigue clearance is greatly improved.]
In that instant, Jiang Yue felt as if his brain had been unplugged.
There was no tossing and turning, no wandering thoughts, not even fear or anxiety about tomorrow.
Darkness surged in like a tide, gently enveloping his consciousness.
If there were instruments monitoring at this moment, they would find that Jiang Yue's heart rate plummeted from 90 beats per minute to an extremely low level of 45 beats per minute in just three seconds.
His breathing became long and deep, each inhalation lasting ten seconds.
Inside his body, the tiny muscle fibers that had been torn due to overtraining, the knee cartilage that was about to swell with fluid, and the nerves that were taut and on the verge of breaking, were beginning to repair and reorganize themselves at a speed beyond that of ordinary people under the rule power called [Tranquility].
For ordinary people like Li Tai, sleep is rest.
But for Jiang Yue, sleep is evolution.
...
Beep—!!!
At five in the morning, the piercing assembly whistle, like a demonic siren, instantly shattered the entire Hive barracks.
"Ah... damn it..."
"My legs... my legs won't move..."
"Someone help me, I feel like throwing up..."
The once quiet barracks instantly transformed into a cacophony of groans.
The near-torture-like physical exhaustion of the previous night hadn't dissipated with sleep; instead, after a whole night of lactic acid buildup, it manifested as even more intense aches and pains.
Even Li Tai, his face contorted in agony, struggled to sit up, rubbing his stiff neck and grimacing, "Damn it, it feels like I was run over by a heavy truck all night... when will this ever end..."
He turned his head, instinctively glancing at the bunk next to him, wanting to see if the reckless madman from last night was still alive.
However, the next second, Li Tai froze.
Amidst the groans filling the room, a figure silently rolled off the bed.
It was Jiang Yue.
His movements were light and silent, his joints making no sound of strain.
Jiang Yue's eyes were clear and bright, without a trace of bloodshot, radiating a calm and vitality that was almost unsettling.
The weakness he felt last night was completely gone, replaced by a resilience akin to steel after being tempered.
Jiang Yue cracked his neck, feeling completely refreshed, as if the suicidal extra training session of the previous night had never happened.
Four hours of sleep wasn't usually enough, but he slept exceptionally well, so his recovery was naturally faster than others.
"You…"
Li Tai, still clutching the unused spray from last night, stared wide-eyed, his mouth agape:
"Did you sleep last night, or did you spend the whole night in the medical pod? Are you made of iron?"
He knew very well how bad Jiang Yue's condition had been last night; he was on the verge of collapse.
How could this guy, who had only slept for four hours, look more energetic than him, who hadn't even had extra training?
As Jiang Yue straightened the collar of his training uniform, he turned to Li Tai and gave him a very faint smile.
"Maybe it's because I sleep well."
With that, he opened the hatch and stepped into the cold, hard steel corridor.
A new day had begun.
Before the frost of five in the morning had even condensed into dew on the alloy floor, the entire floating continent awoke to a deafening roar of electricity.
The gray formations converged once more on the steel plaza.
"Yesterday's twenty kilometers were merely an appetizer,"
the one-eyed instructor stood atop the platform, his long black trench coat fluttering in the morning breeze.
His single eye held no emotion, only a razor-sharp scrutiny. "Today, thirty kilometers. Latecomers will be punished; those who fall behind will be expelled."
No more words were exchanged.
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Under the cold gaze of the supervising team, the massive steel column once again embarked on this almost torture-like march.
The sound of 30,000 pairs of military boots striking the ground converged into a muffled thunderclap, reverberating across the empty floating land.
Thirty kilometers.
In an environment with 1.5 times the standard gravity, this had already touched the red line of mortal flesh.
Jiang Yue mingled in the crowd, his figure rising and falling with the rhythm of the march.
Today's thirty kilometers was a full ten kilometers longer than yesterday's.
For most of the new recruits, these extra ten kilometers were the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Especially since some people's muscle soreness had not yet fully recovered, it would further affect their condition today.
"Huff... puff..."
Jiang Yue stared straight ahead, not paying attention to his pale-faced, sweat-drenched comrades beside him.
At the edge of his retina, the [Breathing] entry was flashing a faint gray light.
[Current entry: Smooth breathing (white)]
[Description: Your breathing rhythm is steady, and the opening and closing of your lungs can greatly calm the turbulence of qi and blood.]
[Accumulated progress: Continuously increasing...]
As the march deepened, Jiang Yue could feel a faint burning sensation in his lungs.
But whenever this anger surged, the stable rhythm brought by [Soothing Qi] would act like a clear spring, suppressing it forcefully.
Compared to yesterday, Jiang Yue's steps were much lighter today.
That was the result of the [Calming the Mind] spell performing microscopic repairs on his damaged muscles during his deep sleep last night.
Even with only four hours, its repairing effect far surpassed that of ten hours of light sleep for an ordinary person.
To his left, Li Tai was clenching his teeth, his muscles trembling.
"Jiang... Jiang Yue, you really are a monster."
Li Tai's voice was squeezed out from between his teeth, tinged with fear.
He had originally thought that Jiang Yue would be as weak as a rag doll this morning, and had even prepared to see Jiang Yue dragged away by the medical puppet.
But now, Jiang Yue not only ran steadily, but even his breathing was more even than that of someone from a wealthy family like himself.
Jiang Yue did not reply.
In such a sprint, speaking meant the leakage of vital energy.
Ten kilometers, twenty kilometers...
When the distance crossed yesterday's finish line, the entire team began to collapse in droves.
Thump.
The sounds of heavy objects hitting the ground echoed one after another.
A civilian boy, his eyes bloodshot, took another large step before the excruciating pain from torn muscles caused his mind to shatter, and he collapsed straight onto the deck.
Seconds later, a medical puppet precisely captured him and dragged him away like trash.
Jiang Yue's knees began to groan and creak; every inch his foot touched felt like stepping on a red-hot iron plate.
[Current term: Qi Circulation]
[Status: High-load operation.]
Jiang Yue desperately held onto that last breath.
He could feel that with this extreme exertion, the dormant Qi and blood within his body were being awakened little by little, like the slow melting of ice in winter.
Thirty minutes later.
When the last step crossed the finish line, Jiang Yue's body swayed violently.
He pressed his hands to his knees, sweat pouring down, soaking his gray military uniform.
"Today I wasn't quite at my limit...it must be due to the physical enhancement brought about by body tempering."
...
After morning classes, it was back to the familiar gray cafeteria.
Two tubes of cold nutritional paste, as usual.
Jiang Yue expressionlessly squeezed them into his mouth. His stomach was empty, the intense hunger threatening to devour his internal organs.
[Current term: Digestion (white)]
[Effect: Accelerates conversion, replenishes vital energy.]
As the nutritional paste entered his stomach, Jiang Yue could feel his stomach's peristalsis suddenly accelerate.
The crude energy was stripped away and compressed, transforming into streams of warm energy that rapidly repaired the meridians damaged during his run.
For Jiang Yue, eating was no longer about survival, but about adding fuel to the furnace called his physical body.
After the meal,
a quarter of an hour of rest followed.
Then came the tedious and arduous practice of the "Federal Basic Body Tempering Technique."
On the high platform, the one-eyed instructor stood with his hands behind his back. He didn't personally guide the practice, but coldly watched tens of thousands of people in the formation perform the distorted eighteen forms.
Jiang Yue had practiced for half the night in that cramped capsule, and now, as he practiced, his movements were no longer as sluggish as yesterday, appearing methodical and disciplined.
But in the instructor's eyes, it was still mediocre.
Among these 30,000 new recruits, there were many with astonishing comprehension.
Some could already resonate with their skin with each breath; others moved as smoothly as flowing clouds, with subtle signs of blood and energy emanating from their skin.
Jiang Yue, however, was simply steady.
As steady as a stubborn rock by the roadside.
The instructor's gaze swept over Jiang Yue and settled on a well-bred young man.
The young man's posture was agile, his arms swinging with a hint of wind and thunder, clearly having already grasped thirty percent of the true meaning of the "Striking the Bell" style.
The instructor nodded slightly, noting down the list of winners. As for Jiang Yue, he categorized him in the "Strong Will but Limited Talent" column and didn't look at him again.
Jiang Yue didn't care.
At the edge of his retina, the panel faithfully recorded every correction to his posture.
[Behavior: Body Training]
[Status: Proficiency Accumulating...]
[Note: Movement accuracy has reached 90%.]
After practicing for a while, the one-eyed instructor once again stepped onto the platform.
He slammed his alloy pointer on the table, the crisp sound jolting everyone awake.
"Silence."
The room fell silent.
"The adjustment period is over. Starting tomorrow, you will officially enter the intensive training and assessment period."
The one-eyed instructor's single eye swept across the room, his voice cold and unyielding:
"The Federation's Great Expedition doesn't support idlers. Every resource the Empire possesses must be used on the most valuable warriors."
"There's only one rule: every ten days, there will be a full-scale assessment."
"Assessment content: physical strength. Including but not limited to qi and blood perception, pure strength burst, and burst speed under load."
The instructor held up one finger. "Those who don't meet the standard will be stripped of their military status and sent to the Forging Star. Don't think I'm joking; the first batch of eliminations will be at least ten percent of you."
Ten percent.
A subtle murmur rippled through the crowd.
This meant that out of 30,000 people, 3,000 would become the lowest-ranking mine slaves in ten days.
"Of course."
The instructor's tone shifted, a hint of enticement in his voice. "Those who remain aren't all destined to eat grass." "
After the assessment, you'll be awarded [points] based on your overall score."
"Points are your lifeline in this camp. With them, you can exchange them in Area B for beast meat, medicine, and the gene-enhancing fluid that will truly get your blood pumping."
"Want to become stronger? Want to fight your way out of this starfield? Then fight for it!" "
Fight for rankings, fight for points, fight for that sliver of hope!"
"Disperse!"