Before Leaving

After November began, Su You's ranking from the previous month—42nd—raised his allotted time in the Sword Technique Training Room to 75 hours. As long as he wasn't out hunting monsters, he could practice there for four or five hours almost every day.

By mid-November, his swordsmanship still hadn't reached the advanced mastery stage, but he had mastered the second form of the Dripping Water Sword, and his strength multiplier had reached 1.8.

Meanwhile, his time in the Imitation Gravity Room was increased to 30 hours in November.

Although the Imitation Gravity Room had become much less effective as his physical fitness improved, he still reached War General Rank in late November.

The improvement in his strength multiplier and physical fitness greatly boosted his abilities. By the end of November, he had climbed to 26th in the Training Camp rankings, though that was partly because he had only broken through in the middle and latter part of the month.

But he was still only second among the students from Kyoto Courtyard. Zhang Yue, the top-ranked student from Kyoto Courtyard, had been 14th the previous month and rose all the way to sixth this month. Shi Jiang, who had also made an impression on Su You, ranked third.

At eight o'clock on the evening of December 2, Su You got off the vehicle reserved for the Training Camp and walked through the gates. As soon as he entered, he looked toward the rankings carved into the Black Dragon Sculpture.

"NO.1 Shi Jiang ()"

"NO.2 Zhang Yue ()"

"NO.8 Su You ()"

"The competition is fierce!" Su You exclaimed.

From what Su You knew, competition among the students grew especially intense every December because that month's rankings determined their cultivation resources for the following three months.

The Basic Training Camp closed for vacation in January and February each year, but that didn't mean all the students had to leave during those two months. After all, leaving the facilities unused would be a huge waste.

In fact, most students only went home for a day or two. Students from Huaxia Country generally returned just for the New Year, staying at most a week or two before coming back to the Training Camp.

And they wouldn't miss out on using the various training rooms, either. There were no rankings during those two months, so they didn't have to go monster hunting every other day.

That was why competition among the students grew particularly fierce every December.

After returning to his loft, Su You opened his laptop. First, he had a video call with He Yourong that lasted nearly an hour, then he chatted with Tang Yongqing over video.

Both were daily must-dos for a pond keeper like him, and they were also when he felt most relaxed.

On the morning of the 28th, in the urban area of City 1002.

Su You moved through the horde of beasts, blending seamlessly into his surroundings. Though the horde included one Intermediate Beast General and five Elementary Beast Generals, he had complete control of the battlefield.

That was what it meant to have Perfect Level footwork: to control the environment. He had only reached this level the day before, while sparring with a robot. The breakthrough in his footwork had also pushed his swordsmanship forward once more, to advanced mastery.

"ROAR—" The Intermediate Beast General Tiger Cat let out an angry bellow. Hundreds of surrounding soldier-level Tiger Cats scattered, leaving only the five Elementary Beast General Tiger Cats to surround Su You alongside it.

As a Beast General-level monster, it was intelligent. When it had fought that human just moments ago, the soldier-level monsters hadn't been able to hurt him. Instead, they had repeatedly gotten in its way.

Seeing this, Su You smiled. He had only been testing his footwork. Otherwise, those Beast General-level monsters would have already died by his sword.

After his breakthroughs in footwork and swordsmanship, his strength was already on par with that of an ordinary Advanced Beast General. He didn't take these monsters seriously at all.

The six Beast General-level Tiger Cats bristled, their roars shaking the sky as they charged at Su You together.

Su You didn't flinch. He held a Baihong Sword in each hand, his figure flickering like an illusion as his swordplay flowed with effortless precision.

He dodged the Intermediate Beast General Tiger Cat's attack with a sidestep, then kicked off and leaped high into the air, avoiding the pounces of the other five monsters. His two swords struck at once, slashing out to either side.

Two Elementary Beast General Tiger Cats were struck in the neck almost simultaneously, spraying blood into the air.

Using the force of his slashes, Su You landed steadily. Without pausing, he darted forward, sweeping one sword and thrusting the other. In an instant, two more Elementary Beast General Tiger Cats were dead.

The Intermediate Beast General Tiger Cat seized the opportunity to pounce at Su You from behind. But Su You had anticipated it. He slid beneath the last Elementary Beast General Tiger Cat, dragging his sword along its belly and ripping it open.

"WOO—" Seeing that things were going badly, the Intermediate Beast General Tiger Cat let out a furious roar. The surrounding soldier-level Tiger Cats swarmed in and attacked Su You.

"Trying to escape?" Su You immediately understood what the Tiger Cat was up to and didn't waste time tangling with the soldier-level monsters.

He kicked the head of a Tiger Cat charging at him. The two forces combined, sending him straight above the Intermediate Beast General Tiger Cat. Then Su You thrust his sword, piercing through the Tiger Cat's neck.

The soldier-level Tiger Cats scattered in every direction, leaving behind the corpses of six Beast General-level Tiger Cats and more than ten soldier-level Tiger Cats.

"Ah, time for the tedious harvesting again." Su You pulled out his Baihong Sword, then squatted down and leisurely began collecting materials.

Over the past month or so, his physical fitness had steadily improved. His punching strength had now surpassed 10,000 kilograms, and his speed exceeded 120 m/s. He was hunting monsters more and more efficiently, and by December his ranking had stabilized at sixth in the Training Camp.

His abilities had improved at an astonishing pace during his time at the Training Camp: a punching strength multiplier of 1.8, advanced mastery of swordsmanship, and Perfect Level footwork.

His physical fitness was the one area where he still lagged a little, but it was improving quickly. It only seemed weak because he'd been training for such a short time.

Still, his improving abilities were only one reason he was happy at the Training Camp. Another was how things were progressing between him and Zhang Yue.

He certainly wasn't going to do something as foolish as putting his meal money on her card. She had saved his life, after all—how could he not repay her by offering himself?

Of course, he couldn't rush things. He had to take it one step at a time. After more than a month of effort, he had managed the initial milestones of having meals with her and going to the movies.

For someone with Zhang Yue's personality, getting that far already counted as a small victory.

At midnight that night, the Black Dragon Ranking was finalized. Shi Jiang took first place and earned an opportunity to try out for the Elite Training Camp. As long as he passed the Grade A Trial, he could officially join.

Zhang Yue ranked second, so she would have to wait for her chance next March.