Special Training

Chu Kuang looked at the ranking data, a hint of anticipation appearing on his face.

Chu Kuang

School: Tian Heng Third Middle School

Rank: 769

After reading the panel, Chu Kuang decisively exited the Virtual Training Ground and immediately opened the ranking tournament to continue matching.

Martial artists who could enter the top thousand were basically elites from the Key Classes of major schools. Their innate talent was at least Seventh Grade or above, and most had mastered at least two martial arts to the Great Accomplishment Stage.

With that kind of strength, no one in Class Seven of Tian Heng Third Middle School could even contend with them except Lin Shuyao.

Yet Chu Kuang still won more often than he lost against them. His ranking steadily climbed until it finally stopped at 583rd place.

After that, he fought several more matches, but he mostly lost more than he won. His ranking fell all the way back to 621st before stabilizing.

"I can't climb any higher."

Chu Kuang muttered, realizing that entering the Top 500 was still extremely difficult with his current strength.

The martial artists in the Top 500 of the Tian Heng Ranking Tournament were basically true elites, not even the bottom-ranked sort within the Key Classes.

These people had generally reached Great Accomplishment in both advanced internal and external martial arts, while their movement techniques and combat martial arts had also entered the Great Accomplishment Stage.

"At least four martial arts at the Great Accomplishment Stage, and they've all gone far in those realms."

"Getting into the Top 500 is actually this hard?"

Chu Kuang muttered, his heart sinking.

If he wanted to enter the Top 500, there were only two simple methods. The first was to cultivate the Iron Armor Technique to perfection. With its ultimate defensive power and the extreme defense granted by his traits, charging into the Top 500 would be effortless.

The second method was to cultivate Blood Battle in All Directions and Thousand Jun Formation Breaker to Great Accomplishment, then see if he could break into the Top 500 with the movement technique Blood Battle in All Directions.

But that would actually be difficult as well, because the gap was not merely in Life Level. Their martial arts basically had no weaknesses.

"If I want to bring the Iron Armor Technique to perfection, at my current cultivation speed, it'll take about another twenty days."

"But my Basic Internal Martial Arts has already reached a bottleneck. If I can't obtain a Source Energy Potion, I'll waste twenty days of cultivating Basic Internal Martial Arts for nothing."

Chu Kuang pondered it inwardly. After thinking it over, he decided to end today's training.

But the moment he exited the virtual pod, he discovered Mother Chu waiting in the living room.

"You're out. Have some medicinal soup first."

Mother Chu pushed a bowl of medicinal soup toward Chu Kuang, then opened her Smart Wristband and transferred a sum of money into his account.

"Thirty thousand Federal Coins?"

Chu Kuang opened his wristband and took a look, his expression somewhat surprised.

Mother Chu nodded. "Your father successfully started his new job, and his income will be much higher from now on. So he applied for a loan from the Federation. Use this for now."

Chu Kuang fell silent. Father Chu had only been at work for a few days, yet he could apply for a loan of thirty thousand. That was practically impossible.

Moreover, with Father Chu's strength, an ordinary job could never earn that much money. The only place where he could earn that much so quickly was the Dark Domain.

And it was most likely not an ordinary Dark Domain, but one that humanity had not fully brought under control. Only the treasures in such Pioneer Dark Domains were ownerless.

In those Dark Domains fully controlled by humanity, the treasures they produced belonged to someone, either the Federation or private individuals. Others picking them without permission was illegal.

Only in these Pioneer Dark Domains that humanity had yet to control were the treasures inside ownerless, but they were often far more dangerous as well.

Thinking of this, Chu Kuang could not help asking, "Did Dad go to a Pioneer Dark Domain?"

Mother Chu was silent for a moment, but she still said, "Don't overthink it. Just train well and don't let him bleed and shed tears for nothing."

"...Sigh."

Chu Kuang closed his eyes and slowly took a deep breath.

He did not ask any further questions. He merely rose calmly and returned to his bedroom.

"The Dark Domain is extremely dangerous. With my current strength, I can't help Dad with anything."

"Only by increasing my strength as quickly as possible and obtaining more investment from the Federation can I keep him from working so hard."

"..."

"You received it?"

In the depths of the vast starry sky, five martial artists clad in alloy armor gathered on an asteroid more than nine hundred miles in diameter.

Father Chu sat in a metal hall, panting heavily in crimson-gold armor covered in claw marks.

At that moment, he looked at the Smart Wristband in his hand with a smile. A burly man in armor beside him patted his shoulder and asked.

Father Chu nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Brother Li."

"Before you were injured, we were brothers who fought side by side. There's no need to be so polite."

Li Gang smiled, then continued, "We got lucky this time and killed a heavily injured first-rank Source Energy Fierce Beast. But we still need to be more careful. We only managed to hunt it because we picked up someone else's leftovers."

"If we encounter a Source Energy Fierce Beast next time, don't risk your life like that."

"I understand."

Father Chu smiled. He had never expected his luck to be so good. On his first trip into the Gushen Star Dark Domain, he had encountered a first-rank Source Energy Fierce Beast that someone had severely injured.

Source Energy Fierce Beasts were immensely valuable, but also extremely dangerous. Yet he had risked himself by charging at the front, which was why he received thirty thousand Federal Coins.

Because he had contributed so much, he had narrowly escaped death this time and nearly lost his life in there.

"Alright, we've expended quite a bit this time. We'll set out again in three days."

"Next time, we'll go to Phoenix Valley. Phoenix Valley is rich in source energy, so it must have nurtured quite a few treasures."

Li Gang patted Father Chu on the shoulder, then rose and left with the others.

As they departed, several figures wearing green armor emerged from the Domain Gate nearby.

All five were covered in wounds. The leader's armor was shattered, and there was a claw wound on his shoulder so deep that bone could be seen.

"Damn it, we worked so hard to severely wound that Blazing Mane, only for someone else to steal our kill."

"Don't let me find out who it was, or I definitely won't let them off."

A tall, thin man among the group spoke, his face filled with unwillingness.

The leader said nothing. He merely looked grimly at a man beside him. "A Lie, go investigate."

"The Blazing Mane was so large. Someone must have seen them carrying it out."

A Lie nodded, speaking coldly. "Don't worry, Brother Snake. If they aren't strong enough, I'll make them understand that the Azure Fang Squad's things aren't so easy to take."

"Remember, don't alert them. We'll wait until our injuries heal before doing anything."

Brother Snake spoke, baring his teeth in pain as he looked at the wound on his shoulder.

Early the next morning, Chu Kuang went to school as usual. But this time, the moment he arrived at the classroom, he heard waves of discussion.

Jiang Feng was surrounded by several students, his face glowing with pride. Only when he saw Chu Kuang arrive did his smile fade, a trace of coldness flashing through his eyes.

"Jiang Feng's Brute Ox Fist reached Great Accomplishment. I heard he fought his way into the top thousand of the Tian Heng Ranking Tournament yesterday?"

Zhang Ming walked over and spoke at just the right moment.

Chu Kuang nodded and asked calmly, "His Brute Ox Fist was still some distance from perfection. How did he break through so quickly?"

"I heard he used a Source Energy Potion," Zhang Ming said.

The corners of Chu Kuang's mouth lifted. Using a Source Energy Potion just to bring Beginner External Martial Arts to Great Accomplishment was truly a waste of resources.

After all, with Jiang Feng's talent, he only needed to wait another month to cultivate the Brute Ox Fist to Great Accomplishment.

"Be careful. I heard he took out another loan to buy a Source Energy Potion and plans to cultivate the internal martial arts portion of the Brute Ox Technique to Great Accomplishment too."

Seeing that Chu Kuang did not care, Zhang Ming gave him a grave reminder.

Chu Kuang nodded and committed Zhang Ming's words to memory before returning to his seat to continue training.

There was a major advantage to training martial arts at school: the school had Medical Robots assigned by the Federation, so even if something went wrong during training, they could provide emergency treatment immediately.

Chu Kuang had not trained for long when Xu Yue arrived.

Bang! Bang!

The moment Xu Yue entered the classroom, he picked up a wooden stick and knocked on the desk.

After everyone looked over, he smiled and said, "Our class has been doing quite well lately. We've produced three elites in the top thousand of the Tian Heng Ranking Tournament in a row."

"Among them, student Chu Kuang charged all the way into the six hundreds. You should all learn from him."

The students in the class all looked over, clearly surprised that Chu Kuang's ranking had risen so quickly.

Chu Kuang did not care about their gazes. He merely looked at Xu Yue with a trace of inquiry in his eyes.

He had the feeling that Xu Yue had gathered them today because he clearly had something to announce.

Sure enough, Xu Yue knocked on the desk again. Only after stopping the students' chatter did he say, "In another month and a half, it'll be time for the final assessment."

"The rewards for this assessment will be a dividing line, determining whether you can enter the Dark Domain."

"Moreover, starting from your second year, you'll gradually begin coming into contact with the Dark Domain. Tian Heng Third Middle School has decided to hold a three-day Special Training session for you in advance."

"Special Training?"

Upon hearing this, everyone could not help exchanging glances.

Xu Yue nodded, then said, "This Special Training will be held in an abandoned Dark Domain, allowing you to enter and adapt to the environment."

"This can also be considered a small opportunity, and it will be quite beneficial to your cultivation."

The moment Chu Kuang heard this, he immediately understood the destination for this Special Training.

A so-called abandoned Dark Domain referred to a Dark Domain whose source energy had been absorbed clean. Such Dark Domains were generally very small, and the celestial body in their primary universe might only have a diameter of a few dozen kilometers.

There was not much danger in such Dark Domains. They were generally used by the Federation to cultivate Gene Warriors, or by major high schools as training grounds for second- and third-year students.

However, because the celestial bodies were too small and their source energy was extremely limited, they would basically be exhausted after several decades, eventually becoming abandoned Dark Domains without source energy.

Of course, even if they were said to be abandoned, it was impossible for all the source energy to be absorbed completely. Some Source Energy Spring Eyes formed from gathered source energy would remain inside.

These Source Energy Spring Eyes were extremely weak. They were utterly useless to martial artists whose external martial arts had reached perfection, but for high school students like them, they were still decent small opportunities that could significantly increase cultivation progress.

"For this Special Training, aside from the Key Classes, more than five thousand students from our other forty-eight ordinary classes will all participate."

Xu Yue explained unhurriedly, then added, "Those Source Energy Spring Eyes can be considered no small opportunity for you."

"As long as you can seize even one, your chances of breaking through to Great Accomplishment in external martial arts will greatly increase. You may even shorten the time needed to cultivate your external martial arts to perfection."