Chapter 18.1 - Beginning of Ruin
The following days included endless physical training.
The first lecture only had three sentences of rubbish, making those cadets that possessed considerable fundamental knowledge think quite a few things. However, the following physical training program made them completely understand where part of the captain’s fame came from.
Curtis formulated a different regimen based on each cadet’s abilities. If their willpower was sufficient, then it would be just enough for that person to be entirely spent. Apart from climbing onto a bed and sleeping, they wouldn’t want to do anything else. As for those that were of the Combat Domain, their training was several times that of the others. Even though each cadet still more or less concealed some of their abilities, the captain didn’t ask, but still gave out training that perfectly reached each individual’s limit, not any more, not any less.
Su did not strengthen any combat domain abilities, but the amount of training Curtis gave him was equivalent to that of a second level Combat Domain individual, moreover focusing on strengthening training. In terms of physical power, Su’s endurance level was especially high, and the way he allocated strength to his body was extremely meticulous, allowing him to draw out the last drop of strength. This might have originated from the many years of survival in the wilderness, and making the most out of every bit of strength seemed to have become a type of instinct. However, Su’s strength and defensive power were comparatively weaker, barely equivalent to a single level of strengthening. Unknown whether it was by coincidence, Curtis’ training contents perfectly aimed at Su’s weak spot.
Only at midnight did Su complete 200 repetitions on the training equipment. When he returned to the barracks and tossed his body onto the bed, he didn’t even have the strength to eat anything. The excessive training had made every piece of his flesh heat up, and the data sent back from various parts of his body were a terrible mess. Due to fatigue, most of his muscles didn’t obey his control and continuously contorted.
Su gasped for air and resisted his urge to collapse and sleep. Only after a long time did he crawl onto his bed.
The metal table by the barracks window had special nutrient-filled food and water. Su grabbed the nutrient-filled food. His arms were shaking all the way to the fingertips, and even taking off the cap was extremely difficult. Only after trying several times did he succeed. He sent the bottle to his mouth and squeezed it. The gray nutrient-filled food slid into his mouth like toothpaste and was swallowed down with difficulty.
The nutrient-filled food was obviously not comparable to that of N958’s. This special nutrient-filled food was balanced, comprehensive, and high in calories. There were also quite a few fatigue relieving and injury suppressing hormone drugs inside. However, unknown whether it was intentional or not, the nutrient-filled food provided by the training camp was both bitter and dry at the same time. It made his mouth so dry it felt like he was chewing wood shavings.
After experiencing extreme fatigue, one’s appetite was already not good. Then, this blend of nutrient-filled food that was clearly not designed to please taste buds immediately gave one the feeling of throwing up. In addition, this type of nutrient-filled food needed large amounts of water to counteract its dryness. If one didn’t drink water immediately after swallowing it, their mouth would immediately feel like they had trudged along a desert for a week. After several gulps of water were drank, there would then be a sense of cramming that was extremely uncomfortable.
Each container of nutrient-filled food placed in each person’s barracks was in fact for three days of use. After completing the captain’s demonic training, most people would immediately sleep after crawling to their barracks. Only a few people persevered on and ate a few mouthfuls of the nutrient-filled food before submerging into sleep. This was only the third day, yet there were already two who couldn’t endure the tremendous amount of training. After one last breath, they weren’t able to complete the assigned amount anymore.
The captain didn’t waste time with words. As punishment, each person were given two strikes. When the first landed, the two individuals’ faces were pale, but they still managed to hold in their cries. Then, when the second strike descended, the suffering together with their fatigue exceeded the limits of their restraint, and they immediately released blood-curdling screeches. The two continuously squirmed around on the ground and howled for an entire 5 minutes before stopping. Among them, one was particularly weak, yet he still ultimately endured it and climbed up. The other one completely collapsed onto the ground, his body continuously twitching as he continuously laughed foolishly. It was clear that the excessive suffering had caused his will to collapse.
The captain spat towards the one on the ground and cursed, “Weakling! Bring him away!” Two robust soldiers ran over from the darkness and carried the cadet that had gone mad away.
This was the first time someone received a taste of the captain’s rod after Su. From their miserable shrieks, the cadets finally understood that the captain’s rubber rod’s true strength was completely different from the amount of strength that seemed to be applied. Their opinion of Su who was able to endure six strikes suddenly seemed to change a bit. Even though these two cadets’ strength had been exhausted under the bitter training, decreasing their tolerance to pain, these two strikes compared to the six previous strikes definitely weren’t things reasoning could explain.
It took half an hour for Su to swallow all of the nutrient-filled food. The nutrients were carefully allocated to the various parts of his body with astonishing speed, and the effective drugs inside were quickly delivered to the damaged muscles. Strands of muscle fibers began to squirm about one after another upon ingesting the nutrients and medication. They began to become thick and firm at a visible speed, ready to respond to the new trials they were going to be put under.
Under the darkness, Su opened his eye again. He felt an extreme hunger. The nutrient-filled food had already been sucked dry by his muscles at an astonishing rate, and the two days worth of food that had been accumulated in advance was used up.
Su lied on top of his bed. The flickering number on the wall told him that it was only 1 o’clock, quite a bit before the 4:30 scheduled waking time. However, his stomach burned like a flame, his hunger completely erasing all sleepiness he had. Su had no choice but to sit up. Then, he noticed with a start that the two evolution points that he had just obtained had been used up. Moreover, he could clearly feel that he had gained two new abilities in the Combat domain: a level of strength and a level of defensive power.
This type of autonomously birthed abilities were what the captain had said previously, the so called abilities obtained in the wilderness. Su understood this, and he wasn’t unfamiliar with the abilities he had produced himself. In reality, the abilities he had weren’t produced on his own and instead originated from the genes of mutated creatures, so he had never depended on injections to obtain abilities. However, the problem lied in that because he would always first invest evolution points into a certain Ability Domain he would set a certain restriction on the direction the ability evolved before going into battle to try and give birth to the new ability. As for what kind of ability they will ultimately become, most of it relied on luck. However, this kind of situation had never happened before. His body was unconsciously distributing the evolutionary points. Could it be that he unconsciously sensed danger, and as a result his mind carried out evolution by itself?
Su sat up. He was still a bit unaccustomed to the two new abilities, and so his coordination was not as good as before. However, what suppressed everything was hunger.
He stood up and walked to the door. He pressed on the speaker switch. A gentle and beautiful voice sounded from the speaker, “This is assistant director Susan. My dear Su, may I ask what it is you need?”
This was the first time Su used the military system. Originally, he was still a bit worried that no one would reply in the middle of the night. He never expected that someone would immediately reply, let alone such a pleasant individual. Only, apart from the few female cadets, Su had never seen any other women. Where did this assistant director come from? However, right now, he was so hungry he couldn’t be bothered to deal with anything else. Without any intention of chatting a few times with the assistant director, he directly said, “I wish to add a portion of nutrient-filled food. I need it right now.”
The intercom went silent for a few seconds, and then the gentle and beautiful female voice continued, “My dear Su, right now, there are 41 types of strengthening nutrient-filled foods. There are 33 types of special application foods and 15 types of medical foods. I am not sure which type you want.”
His hunger began to grow greater and greater. Su could clearly feel every muscle fiber in his body cry out for nutrients. The muscles that still had nutrients continued to expand and strengthen. He suddenly had an urge to strangle this gentle and delicate sounding assistant general to death. Only after restraining himself to the limit did he maintain a calm voice and say, “I would like the nutrient-filled food that is allocated out each day.”
“Please wait a moment…” After a full five seconds that seemed to drive Su mad, the assistant director’s voice finally sounded. “Sir is speaking about foundation nutrient-filled food. These are free rations and do not require additional payments. However, this type of food contains an extremely high calorie count and the amount of nutrients is too high, and as such wouldn’t be good for your health. The other aspect that I have to emphasize is that this type of nutrient-filled food does not taste very well, and in fact, tastes rather terrible…”
Su took a deep breath, and his muscles continuously wriggled up and down. His voice suddenly became exceptionally gentle. “That is the one I need, right now.”
Su didn’t understand why the more angry he became the more gentle his voice became when speaking. However, he truly wanted to smash the intercom in front of him to pieces as well as the comparatively delicate little face of the assistant director. Starvation would at times truly drive a person crazy. Fortunately, Su kept his most fundamental reasoning. He knew that disobeying the captain’s prohibition of leaving would most likely result in another six strikes.
The room to the barracks suddenly opened, but the weak light of night did not enter the room at all. The entire barracks’ door seemed to be completely crammed by Curtis’ enormous square body.
“I heard that a single bottle of nutrient-filled food isn’t enough for you?”