Arrival at the Training Camp

At 6:00 AM the next morning, Wei Wen's Smart Fighter Jet arrived on time to pick up Chen Yuan.

"Hey, why does it look like you're not in such great spirits, kid?" Wei Wen noticed that Chen Yuan seemed a bit fatigued. "Don't tell me you were training too late last night. You brat, I told you to get some rest today, but you wouldn't listen."

"I'm fine." Chen Yuan shook his head. "I just spent some time in the Trial Tower within the Virtual Space yesterday."

In truth, his body wasn't exhausted; it was just that he had spent the entire night in the Trial Tower, leaving his mind feeling a slight sense of weariness.

However, this level of fatigue would fade quickly as time passed, especially since Chen Yuan was essentially in a state of deep sleep at every waking moment.

"The Trial Tower, huh? That's a great place to hone your skills." Wei Wen chuckled, then asked, "Yesterday was your first time entering, right? How did it feel?"

"How did it feel..." Chen Yuan said, glancing at the 26.17% proficiency level of his Gale Sword Art and his Force Exertion Level, which had risen to 3.5. He gave a faint smile. "It felt pretty good."

"Is that so? Then what level did you reach in the Trial Tower?" Wei Wen asked, curious.

Chen Yuan answered truthfully: "4.8."

"4.8? The C-stage of the fourth floor!" Wei Wen stared at Chen Yuan in shock.

"Yeah." Chen Yuan sighed. "The fourth floor is too difficult, especially once you enter the C-stage. You have to face a full 300 Bloodthirsty Tanks, all of which are at least Intermediate Beast General Level, and there are even 50 High-level Beast Generals among them."

"Plus, the Bloodthirsty Tanks in the C-stage coordinate perfectly; they aren't just mindless brutes like in the first two stages." Chen Yuan shook his head. "Even when I fought with everything I had, I only managed to kill a little over a hundred before I was trampled to death by a High-level Beast General."

According to Chen Yuan's estimation, without using illusions, passing the fourth floor of the Trial Tower would require him to master the Gale Sword Art to perfection or raise his Force Exertion Level to at least 5.

Of course, if the Trial Tower were willing to equip him with a Grade 7 Battle Sword, he could clear the fourth floor right now.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

However, Chen Yuan's goal wasn't just to clear the tower, but to engage in high-intensity combat to sharpen his Gale Sword Art.

"My god, is the fourth floor really that savage?" Wei Wen was stunned by the difficulty, then, as if realizing something, he suddenly burst into laughter. "Haha, I remember you haven't officially entered the Elite Training Camp yet; you're still just a Probationary Trainee."

"That's right." Chen Yuan nodded; his personal information stated it clearly.

"Heh, then there's going to be a good show to watch soon." Wei Wen wore an expectant expression.

Soon, the Smart Fighter Jet arrived at the Luo Family Castle. Luo Hai had been waiting for a long time, so once the jet picked him up, it flew toward the location of the training camp.

The Elite Training Camp was located in the "Hongning Base City" in western Asia—the base city governed by Hong—which also served as the global headquarters for the Limit Dojo.

Of course, following Hong's departure from Earth, the Limit Dojo and the base city were now managed by a Round Table Conference composed of "Inspectors" from the Limit Dojo.

At the speed of Wei Wen's Smart Fighter Jet, it would take less than an hour to reach the training camp.

However, Wei Wen didn't fly at maximum speed; he set it to a cruising speed, timing their arrival for ten minutes before the scheduled meeting.

Since they still had over two hours to spend on the jet, a helmet appeared out of thin air in Luo Hai's hand. He looked at Chen Yuan with excitement: "We've still got time, want to head into the Virtual Space and spar?"

Chen Yuan's gaze swept over the ring on Luo Hai's finger, then he nodded and pulled his own helmet from his backpack: "Sure."

"You aren't allowed to use illusions." Luo Hai quickly set the condition.

Chen Yuan happened to want to feel the gap between them as well, so he smiled: "Fine."

For the next two hours, Chen Yuan and Luo Hai sparred continuously in the Virtual Space.

Luo Hai was delighted, as Chen Yuan's decision to forgo illusions meant he could finally win against him.

The facts proved him right. Facing Luo Hai at full strength, even with Chen Yuan's improved Force Exertion Level, he was no match and could only rely on maneuvering to find openings.

But Luo Hai's secret techniques were truly powerful, easily keeping pace with Chen Yuan's speed. Fortunately, Luo Hai's agility wasn't quite as high, giving Chen Yuan some room to maneuver.

But as soon as Luo Hai unleashed his third secret technique, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Hundred Fierce: Thousand Calamities!

This was Luo Hai's third secret technique. Unlike the explosive power and extreme speed of the first two, this "Thousand Calamities" represented an endless, continuous barrage of blade strikes.

In the span of a single second, Luo Hai slashed over a hundred times, immediately forcing Chen Yuan into a desperate defense.

Because at this moment, Luo Hai's blade speed had exceeded the limit of what Chen Yuan could handle, even with the speed bonus from his Gale Sword Art!

After barely managing to withstand a hundred strikes, Chen Yuan discovered that Luo Hai's blade speed hadn't slowed down at all—in fact, it was only getting faster.

Finally, as Luo Hai swung his 187th strike, Chen Yuan's sword speed failed to keep up, lagging for a split second. "Whoosh!" The blade light swept across Chen Yuan's neck.

The battle ended; Luo Hai was the victor.

Chen Yuan exclaimed in admiration: "What a powerful secret technique."

"Of course, this technique comes from my blade master. Once learned, it's enough to roam freely at the Planetary Level, second only to those with a Domain." Luo Hai said, full of pride. "You should know, my blade master is a Universe Level 9 powerhouse, and his strength is considered top-tier even among the Universe Level."

"Universe Level 9, is that Mr. Di Fan?" Chen Yuan asked curiously.

"No." Luo Hai shook his head. "Although Di Fan practices the blade, in terms of pure strength, he is no match for my master."

"My master is named Baikaluo, and he belongs to a human race in the universe called the Blade Race. Every member of the Blade Race is a natural master of the blade." Luo Hai continued. "Later, Master Baikaluo was subdued by my father. Because his blade skills were so formidable, my father arranged for him to be my blade master."

"This 'Hundred Fierce Blades' of mine was learned from Master Baikaluo." Luo Hai sighed. "It's just a pity that my talent is only average. After practicing for many years, I've only reached the minor success stage of the Hundred Fierce Blades."

So that was it. Chen Yuan had an impression of the "Baikaluo" Luo Hai mentioned; he was one of the soul slaves Luo Feng had subdued early on, originally belonging to the Nolanshan Family.

No wonder this Hundred Fierce Blades was ridiculously strong. Baikaluo's strength was comparable to that of Nolanshan, and Nolanshan was a Universe Level giant-axe warrior.

The power of the Hundred Fierce Blades made Chen Yuan covetous. Combining strength, footwork, and strike speed into one—wasn't this exactly the future direction for his Gale Sword Art?

Therefore, Chen Yuan felt not a shred of discouragement from his failures; when faced with Luo Hai's renewed challenge, he accepted without a moment's hesitation.

Because Chen Yuan knew that the more times Luo Hai used the Hundred Fierce Blades in front of him, the more data the Optimization System would gather from it.

He had already set the Hundred Fierce Blades as the future direction for the optimization of his Gale Sword Art, and the more data he acquired now, the stronger the sword art would be once optimized.

Thus, Luo Hai and Chen Yuan were both willing participants, fighting in the Virtual Space for over two hours until the transport craft neared the Training Camp and Wei Wen called them out.

As the two exited the Virtual Space, Luo Hai looked at Chen Yuan with a very strange expression: "Tell me honestly, were you hiding your strength at the beginning?"

Chen Yuan smiled and said: "Could you not tell whether I was hiding my strength or not?"

Chen Yuan naturally knew why Luo Hai asked this, because after these two hours of intense combat, his proficiency in the Gale Sword Art had already risen to 31%, and his Force Exertion Level had reached 3.6.

Beyond that, his footwork and sword speed had both improved, so his overall strength had naturally increased significantly.

Luo Hai felt this deeply; from being easily defeated at the start to the back-and-forth exchanges later on, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Luo Hai would never have believed that anyone could possess such a level of talent.

Consequently, Luo Hai exclaimed in admiration: "As expected of a genius recommended by Uncle Wei, this talent is truly formidable."

"You're the one who's truly impressive, Luo Hai." Chen Yuan smiled. "Facing your Hundred Fierce: Thousand Calamities, even with my improved strength, I still couldn't escape the fate of being cut down."

"Alright, enough with the flattery, both of you." Wei Wen, standing to the side, walked over to interrupt them. "We've arrived at the Training Camp; let's prepare to disembark."