Doriki

The trickiest person in this training camp was probably the fat man beside him. Thanks to his cheat ability, Louis's senses were exceptionally sharp. Whether it was Stuart, said to have the highest Doriki Value in the entire camp, or Yerika, who radiated killing intent, neither gave Louis as great a sense of danger as this fat man.

But it was true that this fat man valued him highly. After arriving at the camp, he had not sought out anyone else and had instead come to build a relationship with Louis. His regard for Louis was definitely genuine.

The small talk ended, and chefs pushing food carts piled enormous platters before the two of them. The wide table was quickly covered with food.

"Alright, start eating. The afternoon training session will be long, meow."

Xiluo chuckled, then lowered his head and began stuffing himself. Only when he opened his mouth did Louis notice that the man's mouth was full of sharp teeth. Seemingly noticing Louis staring at him, he grinned at Louis. His eyes narrowed slightly, and with those long, narrow pupils and that mouthful of pointed teeth, he looked extremely unsettling.

Shaking his head, Louis began eating as well.

Very quickly, he ate at an astonishing speed. Both hands became like phantoms as they grabbed food from the table and stuffed it into his mouth without even looking. After only a slight chew, he swallowed it.

There was no need to chew it thoroughly. Under deliberate control, his esophagus kept writhing, easily sending large chunks of food into his stomach. Then, the copious gastric acid secreted there immediately began breaking down the food, rapidly completing the initial stage of digestion.

Next came bile secreted by the liver and pancreatic juice secreted by the pancreas, further digesting the partially broken-down fats, sugars, and proteins. Finally came intestinal absorption.

Louis's digestive process was extremely fast. Although he had not yet mastered his entire digestive system, through Life Return he had gained preliminary control over his stomach and liver. He could already digest most food quickly. The powerful, abundant gastric acid meant that as soon as he swallowed something, before the next batch of food even arrived, what was in his stomach had already been mostly digested.

The unfortunate part was that overly powerful gastric acid also caused considerable damage to the stomach. Even though Louis could freely control his stomach, it was not some extraordinary organ beyond the ordinary. Even while eating, he had to meticulously control his gastric acid to avoid burning himself.

He could clearly feel a stream of energy spreading from his stomach and intestines throughout his body. Eating replenished energy, but the process was normally slow and difficult to notice. But Louis was different now. He had accelerated the process dozens, even hundreds of times over, and coupled with his incredibly sharp perception, he could sense it perfectly.

I'm getting stronger bit by bit, Louis thought. His body constantly absorbed nutrients, converting energy into strength.

"Wow!! That's incredible, Brother Louis!"

After letting out a satisfied burp, Xiluo looked at Louis in amazement. Louis was still eating heartily, yet his stomach had not bulged in the slightest. "Such a slender body, yet such a huge appetite, meow!"

"Is this also the power of Life Return?"

That was what he said.

"Can I take that as a provocation?"

Louis did not even raise his head.

"Hahaha, sorry, sorry, Brother Louis."

Xiluo laughed awkwardly. "I didn't mean anything by it, meow. I just think Brother Louis is so capable that we could work together, meow."

"Oh? How so?"

"About this training camp's elimination system."

Lunchtime quickly ended. Under Xiluo's astonished gaze, Louis ate enough food for twenty people all by himself. In terms of appetite, he certainly had the bearing of a protagonist.

After resting briefly following lunch, Xiluo led Louis to the training grounds to assemble.

Each training camp around the world had recommended six people, while the CP9 Training Camp itself had thirteen remaining trainees, making a total of nineteen people. All of them had gathered here.

Eighteen men and one woman—the gender ratio was wildly uneven. But it did not matter. No man would want to find a girlfriend within the CP system.

Although the CP9 Training Camp trainees were deeply divided, with several people united around Stuart and separated from the others, the divide between them and the trainees from the other bases was even greater. That much was obvious from where they stood, clearly split into two groups.

"Six more pieces of trash?"

The Instructor was a middle-aged man who looked to be around fifty. Bald, wearing a coat with his chest exposed beneath it, he was covered in especially conspicuous scars.

"You six, come attack me."

That was what he said.

"Whoosh!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Louis saw the woman named Yerika shoot forward. Swift as a panther, her finger was already thrusting toward the Instructor's head, killing intent overflowing from her.

"Oh? Finger Pistol?"

The Instructor smiled with faint mockery.

"Clang!"

Yerika's attack struck him directly, but his body did not move in the slightest, let alone suffer any damage.

"..."

Yerika's eyes widened slightly.

"Smack!"

With only a casual, gentle shove, the beautiful woman spun in midair and flew away in an arc.

"Thud."

Louis took a step back as Yerika crashed heavily into the spot where he had just been standing.

"Hm?"

Louis saw a pair of eyes filled with anger, hatred, and killing intent. Yerika was looking at him that way, as though he had seen a secret she could never let anyone see, and she wanted to kill him to silence him.

"Let me finish speaking before you attack again! The Six Powers are forbidden."

The Instructor spoke casually without even looking at Yerika.

Louis nodded slightly. This was a Doriki test. The Six Powers had many derivative techniques, one of which was called Six Powers Amusement, which could measure Doriki. All one had to do was take a hit.

"Instructor, here I come, meow!"

Xiluo chuckled. Despite his fat body, he burst forth with even greater speed than Yerika. In an instant, he had driven a kick into the Instructor's stomach.

"Hm!"

The Instructor was kicked back two steps. He nodded slightly. "Xiluo, seventeen years old. Doriki: 970. Very good."

Louis was slightly surprised. This guy's Doriki Value was already close to a thousand—truly astonishing! He noticed that when the Instructor announced the number, Stuart, the man among the original CP9 Training Camp group, began staring fixedly at Xiluo. The trainees beside him were even more shocked. In terms of Doriki, only Stuart surpassed Xiluo among them; the others were far behind.

But Louis knew that Xiluo definitely still had hidden cards. That was far from all he had.

At the same time, three figures shot forward, fists and legs striking the Instructor's body.

"John, twenty years old. 460."

"Jack, eighteen years old. 490."

"Brown, twenty-one years old. 480."

"Tsk, three more pieces of trash."

The three trainees returned with gloomy faces. This was the normal standard of the Sihai Training Camp.

"Ha!"

Yerika, who had been lying on the ground, climbed to her feet and rushed forward. She lashed a roundhouse kick at the side of the Instructor's head, but he still did not move.

"Yerika, twenty years old. Doriki: 730. Oversized trash."

The Instructor's tone was full of disdain, but the original CP9 trainees beside him did not see it that way. Even among them, a Doriki Value like that was considered top-tier.

"The last one."

The Instructor looked at Louis.

Louis hesitated no longer. He launched himself forward, clenched his right hand into a fist, and threw a midair punch straight into the Instructor's forehead.

Hard. Incredibly hard.

This guy's Tekkai had been trained to a terrifying level.

"Hmm, Louis, twelve years old. Doriki is..."

The Instructor looked at Louis and grinned. "640. There are geniuses after all."

"As expected of Brother Louis, meow."

Xiluo narrowed his eyes, then opened them slightly. The look in his eyes as he watched Louis was rather strange.

The other trainees looked even more incredulous. They could not believe Louis was only twelve, nor could they believe that a twelve-year-old Brat had a higher Doriki than most of them.

Only Yerika stared at Louis with frost in her eyes. This woman did not seem to be targeting anyone in particular—rather, everyone seemed to be someone she wanted to kill.

Louis gave the Instructor a slight nod and returned to the line. He was also somewhat surprised. His last Doriki test had been half a year ago, when his Doriki had been under five hundred. It had risen by more than a hundred in half a year. That was a fairly significant improvement, but from here on, he was confident he could improve even faster.

"The test is over. Now, formal training begins."

The Instructor said, "The six newcomers will go to the fifth training ground. Someone there will teach you..."

"All of the Six Powers."