The Robot That Played Dirty

After one Strangulation, the Tiger Mastiff Dog crashed to the ground. This time, it was truly dead.

Su You walked over to the Tiger Mastiff Dog's corpse, cut open its tail, and removed the tendon, stowing it in his backpack. It was worth at least half the price of his flight home, so he couldn't just leave it behind.

The other five members of the team saw Su You kill the Tiger Mastiff Dog and came over as well.

Standing to one side, Xing Huaiguo smiled. "Very good. You've completed your assessment. We'll wait here for a few minutes, and a fighter jet will come pick us up soon."

Now that the assessment was complete, they didn't need to spend two or three days traveling back the way they had come.

While they waited, Xing Huaiguo began commenting on each of their performances in the battle.

"Su You, your swordsmanship has become second nature. Keep training hard once you're back, and you should reach the proficient level within a month at most. Don't slack off, understand?"

"A month?" Su You nodded. "I understand, Teacher Xing."

"Good." Xing Huaiguo gave a slight nod, his gaze full of approval.

In his view, Su You would enter the Elite Training Camp within a year or two at most. As long as nothing unexpected happened, he was sure to become a War God someday.

"Hmm? It's here!" Xing Huaiguo looked up at the sky, and Su You followed his gaze.

A streak of deep-blue light rapidly approached. Once it was above them, it slowed down and descended, stopping just over ten meters away. The cabin door opened.

"Come on, get aboard." Xing Huaiguo called out, and Su You and the other five hurried after him into the Flying Fighter Jet.

The Flying Fighter Jet quickly climbed into the sky, turning into a streak of deep-blue light as it headed toward Hongning Base City.

A few minutes later, the deep-blue Flying Fighter Jet reached the sky above the Basic Training Camp and slowly descended. The cabin door opened automatically, and Su You and the others followed Xing Huaiguo as they jumped out.

On a path in the Training Camp, Xing Huaiguo looked at the six trainees before him and said in a stern voice:

"All right, you can go back now. Take it easy for the next couple of days. Starting next month, you'll be competing with the other trainees for rankings. Give it everything you've got. Don't disappoint me."

"Yes, sir."

After returning to his loft and washing up, Su You treated himself to a hearty meal. They'd eaten high-energy food every day out in the wilderness, and he was sick of the taste.

Only after filling his stomach did Su You go to the study and open his laptop.

After passing the combat assessment, he had officially become a trainee at the Basic Training Camp. His trainee number was 594 on the Black Dragon Ranking, putting him eighteenth from the bottom and second among the new trainees.

The top-ranked new trainee, meanwhile, was a Spirit Reader. His physical fitness was only at the Intermediate Warrior level, but his Spirit Power had already reached the Junior War General level. He was as strong as an average Intermediate War General, and his combat strength ranked among the top fifty at the Basic Training Camp.

Spirit Readers at the Basic Training Camp could generally enter the Elite Training Camp; the only difference was how quickly they got there.

Spirit Readers had a period of rapid growth in strength. Most had the talent to quickly raise their mental power to the Advanced War General level, and combined with their uncanny abilities, their combat strength was enough to rival a Low-level War God.

That was why all sorts of factions fought over Spirit Readers. After all, as long as nothing went wrong, almost every Spirit Reader could become a War God.

"My physical fitness is only at the Advanced Warrior level. The Imitation Gravity Room should still be pretty useful for me." Su You looked at his laptop and thought to himself.

The Basic Training Camp didn't have an Ancient Civilization Gravity Chamber, but it had a full ten Imitation Gravity Rooms. Access time was assigned according to rank.

Those ranked below two hundred would get only two hours to train in the Imitation Gravity Room next month. The Sword Technique Training Room was more generous, allowing ten hours of practice.

Two days passed in a flash, and before long it was October 1. Starting that month, Su You and the others would officially compete for rankings in the Training Camp.

Since the previous month's ranking was an even-numbered month, for the first twenty-eight days of October, Su You could go to the Wilderness Zone to hunt monsters and earn battle points only on even-numbered days. On odd-numbered days, he had to study and train at the Training Camp.

Early that morning, Su You left his loft and arrived at the entrance to the Sword Technique Training Room on the second floor of the Small Nine-Story Tower.

A light swept over Su You's face. With a beep, the door opened.

Su You stepped inside and immediately spotted a Metal Robot holding a longsword. It stood about two meters tall and was black all over, save for the red crystals that served as its eyes.

According to the trainee handbook, the Metal Robot's strength and skill level could both be adjusted.

At its strongest, it had the physical fitness of a peak War God and reached the Artistic Conception Level. Its body was also incredibly tough; not even an SS-Rank weapon could leave a mark on it.

Su You stepped forward and set the Metal Robot's strength to the Low-level War General threshold and its skill to the Subtle level. He also set it to start after a five-second delay.

(Fist and sword skill levels: Basic, Proficient, Perfect, Artistic Conception; movement skill levels: Basic, Subtle, Perfect, Artistic Conception. Proficient = Subtle, Perfect = Perfect. No idea why Tomato went out of his way to set up two separate systems back then.)

Five seconds later, the red crystals in the Metal Robot's eyes lit up. It raised its sword and charged at Su You.

Su You relied on Lingbo Microsteps to circle around it as the two swords clashed again and again.

"Clang!"

The Metal Robot's swordsmanship was clearly a level above his. After a few exchanges, it knocked the sword from Su You's right hand, then followed through and pointed its blade straight at him.

"Again!" Su You shouted. The Metal Robot took several steps back, then attacked once more.

Once, twice...

Using Lingbo Microsteps, Su You defended and attacked again and again. In strength, speed, and swordsmanship, he was far inferior to the Metal Robot.

Even with 1.2 times his normal force, he could only match its speed; he still fell short in strength.

However, Su You's movement technique had reached the Advanced Subtle level, slightly surpassing the Metal Robot's current level. That was the only reason the robot hadn't defeated him in a single blow.

As they clashed more and more, Su You managed to hold out for longer each time.

He and his sword seemed to have become one. His moves flowed naturally, each following the last as he attacked the Metal Robot without a single defensive move.

Su You was completely immersed in the state. His moves had no openings, and his whole body flowed like water.

Under his attacks, the Metal Robot gradually struggled to keep up, and Su You had even managed to suppress it.

"Beep. Trainee Su You, you have thirty seconds remaining. Please prepare to finish."

The Metal Robot's voice pulled Su You out of that state. But it didn't pause for a moment. Its sword slipped past Su You's guard and pointed straight at his chest.