It had been only a couple of days since Xilin planted the Giant Foot Climbing Tiger when Long came flying into the dormitory courtyard. He nearly shot straight into the dormitory itself. After hurriedly stopping his flyer, he circled the building several times, looking the Climbing Tiger up and down in amazement.
"Xilin, you have to sell me the cultivation method for this plant!" Long said, his eyes shining.
Xilin shook his head. "There's nothing special about its growing conditions. I used ordinary Nutrient Solution that costs 100 Star Coins a bottle, and I only used one bottle."
"Bullshit. Even if you only used one bottle of ordinary Nutrient Agent, you must have some special method. Otherwise, why haven't those people in the Research Department figured it out after all this time?" As he spoke, Long fiddled with the leaves of the Climbing Tiger creeping up the dormitory wall. It really was growing well.
Xilin spread his hands, indicating there was nothing he could do. "Maybe this plant needs to be soothed."
Long looked doubtful, but then he smiled. "That's actually possible."
There were things they didn't need to spell out. They were both smart people, and who didn't have secrets they couldn't share? But Long took Xilin's words to heart. Xilin didn't make things up for no reason. He might fob other people off, but he wouldn't do that to Long, because he'd already promised to sell him the cultivation method first.
Xilin himself hadn't expected the plant's growing conditions to be like this. If it had been a matter of mixing Nutrient Solution, he could have sold the recipe. But this method...
Seeing Long turn over the leaves to examine them, Xilin continued, "Imagine a child forcibly taken from its mother, then made to eat by a stranger holding a knife. Even if the child opens its mouth and eats, how could it grow well? That's even more true of plants with a more stubborn disposition."
Long nodded in agreement. "Makes sense."
What happened next clearly proved Xilin's point.
It was only a matter of time before the plant was seen by others. So when Xilin simply deactivated the Light Screen, word about the mutated Giant Foot Climbing Tiger soon reached the Science and Research Department.
Xilin and Long gave the same simple answer: they didn't know.
The people at the Botany Institute in the Research Department suspiciously clipped a branch from the Climbing Tiger and took it back to the department to grow. They tended to it carefully, but it died in less than two days. Instrument readings showed that Xilin's plant and the institute's sample were identical. Soil analysis yielded no conclusions, and the results confirmed what Xilin had said: the only nutrient in the soil was from ordinary Nutrient Solution worth 100 Star Coins.
Around that time, the people who had gone to collect samples from the planet where the parent plant had grown returned with a small but intact Climbing Tiger. After a great deal of care, the little plant barely survived, but it was clearly growing nowhere near as well as Xilin's.
The people at the Botany Institute could puzzle over it all they wanted, but Xilin didn't have time to deal with them. He had plenty of classes to attend.
Xilin's Military Training Class was still in its initial stage. They trained only in the Teaching Zone, and each class focused on physical conditioning. If they couldn't improve their fitness, going to the Training Zone would be nothing but an exercise in getting beaten up. They wouldn't be allowed to move on to the next stage of training with the Training Department until they improved.
For once, Knight showed up to class after skipping three times. He stood there with a stony face, looking as if he couldn't care less. The Instructor ignored him. Everyone knew who Knight was, and they knew what he could do, so they let him be.
"Today's training is ten laps around the track with a 100-kilogram load. Ten laps is the passing mark. If you make it to fifteen, you can move on to the next stage, and you won't have to run with weights for the next few classes. If you can run twenty laps, you can go straight to the Training Zone. No need to waste time here."
The Instructor said it lightly, but quite a few students gasped. The track was one kilometer per lap. Ten laps meant ten kilometers, and with a 100-kilogram load, they'd be panting like dogs by the end.
Xilin strapped 25-kilogram Weight Blocks to each arm and leg. After thinking it over, he added another 50 kilograms to his back. Otherwise, it wouldn't do much to improve his fitness.
Knight lit up when he saw this. "Xilin, you're a real man!" As he spoke, he added 50 kilograms to his own back. He'd originally planned to finish early and head to the Training Department, but a little extra challenge sounded good too.
The Instructor and the assistant instructors nearby took an interest in Xilin. He'd done well in the first three classes, but he'd stopped as soon as he met the requirements each time. They wondered if running alongside Knight today would bring out what the kid was capable of.
Everyone knew they should keep a steady pace, but when so many people started running at once, competitiveness took over. Some got carried away and started faster than planned. The effect was contagious: when the people behind saw themselves falling too far back, they sped up too...
The Instructors sat chatting leisurely nearby. One pointed at the running students and said, "Most of these guys have B-class gene types, but they're not even as good as the C-class soldiers in the military. What a waste of genetic resources."
"That's because they need a good whipping. We don't have to hold them to military academy standards, but they can't tarnish our reputation either. Those of us assigned to non-military schools are still listed in the Star Alliance military headquarters' records. If these guys get knocked down by students from other schools, how could we ever face the military again?"
"That's why I had Boss Huo force Knight to come here. I wanted to knock those arrogant bastards down a peg during this class."
"Heh, you have to admit, Knight's a real tough one."
"Of course. Do you know who his father is? Could a man like that raise a weakling?"
While the Instructors chatted, Xilin and Knight were talking as they ran. They were near the front of the pack, and Knight was bored, so he talked to Xilin as they jogged. The people around them stared as if they were seeing rare animals. They were chatting while running with weights?!
They weren't paying any attention to their breathing rhythm or anything. They looked as if they were just walking and talking!
Damn, just wait until you've done two laps. You'll regret it! some people thought.
Xilin knew Knight hated coming to class, but he'd still underestimated how much. For Knight, a class like this really was a waste of time.
"Then why did you come today?"
"Couldn't help it. We have to swipe our cards to check in, and attendance counts toward our final grade. Uncle Huo... I mean, the Head of Training Department, said he could take care of that, but I still had to show up here every now and then. By the way, how's the Climbing Tiger in our dorm doing? I heard the people at the Botany Institute are so frustrated they're nearly pulling their hair out."
When Xilin sent images of the Climbing Tiger to Ci Jincheng and Knight, everyone had been astonished.
"Pretty well. People from the Research Department came by again yesterday to collect soil samples."
"Tch. Those guys are hopelessly narrow-minded. They get stuck on one thing and can't think past it..."
The two of them went from talking about the Climbing Tiger to the upperclassmen's training at the Training Department, then to military academy training. From the sound of it, those were nothing like the training here. No wonder Knight looked down so much on the people around him who complained about how tired they were.
The two of them kept chatting without paying attention to how far the other students had run. Before they knew it, they'd taken the lead. The students behind them, panting for breath, watched the two of them chatting away as if it were nothing and genuinely wondered if their weights were made of foam.
"That kid Xilin's pretty good," the Instructor said, pointing toward them.
"Seventh lap, and he still looks like he hasn't broken a sweat. He's carrying the same 150 kilograms as Knight, and he only has a B-class gene type."
"He's got potential."
Xilin and Knight just kept talking as they ran, without paying any attention to the people behind them. Knight didn't even keep track of the laps. In the past, he'd always run until he hit his limit before stopping.
Little by little, they pulled more than a lap ahead of the others. Some of the less fit students had fallen behind by more than three laps.
"Have we done ten laps?" Xilin asked.
"Who cares? Let's keep talking. Where were we?"
"Sure, let's keep talking. We'll do twenty laps, and next time we can report straight to the Training Department."
"Haha, that's the spirit!" Knight slapped Xilin on the shoulder, delighted with the suggestion. Then he continued talking about the Training Department. When he brought up the ridiculous things Pride had done there, he got even more animated. He loved seeing Pride make a fool of himself.
And so, in the huge field, all anyone could hear was Knight's laughter.
"Oh, man, you should've seen the look on his face! I was dying! Hahaha!"
The students gritting their teeth as they ran nearly blacked out. They wished they could just pass out. Was this guy trying to kill them?! He still had the energy to laugh and joke around! He'd run so many laps, yet his laughter was still loud and hearty. How could anyone expect them to live up to that?
Some students thought the two of them had just run past them. Before long, they went by again, then again, and again...
By the time Xilin and Knight finished twenty laps, several students were still running. They hadn't even finished ten. The Instructor had just shouted that they had to finish those ten laps even if they had to crawl, or they'd lose Credits.
It was enough to make anyone furious.
That was what the students were thinking at the moment. After Xilin and Knight finished, a few students personally checked their weights. They were real, and they even exceeded the required amount. Those who'd always thought they were pretty fit nearly spat blood.
After finishing twenty laps, Knight dragged Xilin over to the Instructor, gave him a formal salute, and said smugly, "Look, this is my buddy. Not bad, huh? We're dormmates! Instructor, a promise is a promise. Next time, we're not coming here. We'll train directly at the Training Department."
After twenty laps, Knight and Xilin were only a little winded, and they still seemed to be in great spirits. It looked as if they'd recover soon.
The Instructor didn't hold Knight's tone against him. Besides, this wasn't a real army. Given Knight's foul temper, saluting and calling them Instructors was already a generous gesture. The Instructor waved them off with a smile. "Go on, then. Keep working hard over there!"
After the two of them had gone, one of the assistant instructors said, "I've heard people from the Security Team talk about that kid Xilin. He doesn't look like much, but he's been hiding his abilities well! His stamina's definitely on par with Knight's."
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