Useful Ranking

January 31st, afternoon.

A light drizzle fell—a rare occurrence in this part of Central East Asia.

"Ji Yun, this is my aunt, Teacher Jiang Fang," Jiang Chuan introduced.

"My aunt is a High-Level War God, skilled with dual blades. She's been at the Elite Training Camp for nearly ten years."

Jiang Fang was a well-known figure in the global War God circle.

She came from a humble background, born during the most turbulent years of the Great Nirvana outbreak. Her fate could be called ill-starred; her husband died saving her during a hunt in the Wilderness Zone. From then on, Jiang Fang abandoned all factional strife and romantic entanglements, devoting herself entirely to the martial path—and achieving remarkable success.

"Skilled with dual blades?"

Ji Yun was puzzled and couldn't help asking, "But I use a spear."

"Don't rush," Jiang Chuan explained. "The training camp knows you've been studying War God Chen Qingzhi's manual, Fierce Wind. Worldwide, only War God Chen Qingzhi himself has mastered it. He's in seclusion, trying to break through to a realm beyond War God, so he can't come to the camp to teach."

"My aunt, Teacher Jiang Fang, came to assess your spear technique and report back to the camp, so they can decide who your future teacher will be."

Ji Yun looked thoughtfully at the tall young woman in a purple training uniform before him—this was War God Jiang Fang. "So, I'm supposed to spar with Teacher Jiang Fang?"

At that, Jiang Fang smiled slightly. "Come on. Situ Ye said you passed the B-level test easily, so your realm must be solid. I'm just here to gauge your level. I definitely won't be the one teaching you."

"Let's go. Bring your spear."

They found a training ground. Jiang Fang swiped her authentication and led Ji Yun inside.

"Alright, Ji Yun... use your spear technique against me! I'll match my strength and speed to yours!"

"Good," Ji Yun said in a low voice.

Ji Yun stood still, holding his spear and holding his breath, his eyes fixed on the position of Jiang Fang's dual blades. Suddenly, he took two quick steps forward, thrusting his spear out. The spear tip shot forward like lightning.

Jiang Fang kept her right-hand blade still, while the back of her left-hand blade rose to meet the spear tip, as if to deflect it. But the expected result didn't come. Ji Yun's spear tip seemed to vibrate, completely disrupting Jiang Fang's block and throwing off her next move.

Ji Yun also felt something was off. When Jiang Fang blocked, it gave him a strange sensation of meeting no resistance. If his spear technique hadn't been so profound, she might have closed in on him.

"Oh?" Jiang Fang looked at Ji Yun with surprise, a hint of hunter's delight in her eyes. "Again."

Ji Yun didn't move. Instead, he widened the distance and began circling Jiang Fang in small steps, as if searching for an opening.

Jiang Fang's blade technique was truly superb—nearly divine. She had advanced very far in the artistic conception of the blade, almost reaching the limit of close-quarters combat. But Ji Yun sensed that her conception and his own Spear Path conception were on the same level, at most she had more accumulated experience.

Ji Yun's heart settled. After creating some distance, he stopped, then dragged his spear and ran forward, the spear scraping against the ground with a tearing sound.

As he closed in, Ji Yun swung Wind Lifter in a full arc, smashing it down at Jiang Fang. A long weapon against short ones meant leveraging reach and weight. This strike was heavy and forceful, a departure from Ji Yun's usual light and agile spear style, carrying instead a hint of battlefield slaughter!

Jiang Fang retreated two steps and called out, "Good!"

She raised her right-hand blade and used its back to tap the spear shaft just below the tip. Using the momentum, she spun along the shaft, her left-hand blade driving toward Ji Yun's center.

Ji Yun leaned back, arching his spine, and guided the spear shaft to follow Jiang Fang's body. They circled each other once, neither touching the other, then separated again.

"Haah, haah," Ji Yun panted slightly. Sparring with a blade master of Jiang Fang's caliber was mentally exhausting.

"Excellent spear technique."

Jiang Fang sheathed both blades at her lower back. "No need to continue. Your spear technique is already legendary—a Unity of Heaven and Man Spear Path, worthy of teaching a class. Compared to me, at least in terms of realm, you're not inferior. I really don't know how you cultivated this at just eighteen."

"But I noticed something," Jiang Fang said, puzzled. "Your spear technique should be swift and sharp. Why was that last strike so overwhelming, with a flavor of breaking through by sheer force?" She knew that Wind Lifter was a speed-and-agility weapon, which didn't match the strike she'd just seen.

"Some time ago, I held back a sea beast tide," Ji Yun explained in a low, heavy voice. "I was determined to die. I led a Lord-level beast into an artillery barrage and fought hundreds of General-level beasts on the beach. I nearly died from my injuries."

"It was then that I understood: the spear path has no fixed way—only different styles. What matters is a single, killing strike. That's the best Spear Path. In that instant, I finally understood what the Spear Path is."

Ji Yun spoke slowly, his tone heavy, tinged with guilt. These insights had, in a sense, been bought with the blood of soldiers. Though greater strength could save more people, the memory of those fallen soldiers still pained him.

"A beast tide..." Jiang Fang sighed, her voice wistful.

"What's your force output level?" Jiang Fang asked. "Given your Spear Path, there's no need to find you a weapon teacher. Let me see if I can find you a teacher specializing in force training."

"3.2."

"Heavens! Just entering the camp, with such a high spear realm, and your force output is this high too?" Jiang Fang was stunned.

"I'll report to the camp right now. In the entire Elite Training Camp, the only one who can teach you in the Spear Path is Hong. But Hong's time is precious; he won't have much to teach you. Everything has to follow the rules."

"This is the Gravity Room, discovered in the Ancient Civilization Ruins," Jiang Fang said. Ji Yun carefully examined the room. The walls, floor, and everything else were made of a strange alloy of yellow and black. The entire room felt unique because of this material.

"At your current strength, only hard physical training like this can improve you in the camp. After reporting to the higher-ups, the Inspector's opinion is that I'll guide you for now. Once your ranking changes, we'll make other arrangements. So I brought you straight here. Don't forget to challenge the Trial Tower—it'll reward you greatly."

"From the 1st to the 30th of each month, trainees enter the Trial Room and Gravity Room for training. Every day from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM is a rest period. Usually, if there's a new reserve trainee assessment, it's held during this hour," Jiang Fang explained.

"Beep!" Jiang Fang pressed a switch nearby.

"Your physical fitness is at the Mid-Level War General level. 12 times gravity should be near your limit." As she spoke, she quickly pressed an increase button. The number on the display kept changing—

2, 3, 4, 5...

Thump.

An invisible force instantly enveloped every part of his body. He couldn't even exhale. The gravity value quickly rose from 11 to 12. Ji Yun's vision went dark. He couldn't help but brace himself against the floor. His heartbeat thundered like a drum, and the sound of his blood flowing was like a rushing river—everything was painfully clear.

"How is it?" Jiang Fang smiled, a hint of teasing in her voice. Seeing a genius whose only weakness was his physical condition struggle amused her.

Ji Yun forced himself to stand, pale and swaying. "My whole body feels heavy. My heart is pounding terribly. Breathing is hard. Every part of me hurts."

"Ji Yun, why is the gravity room so effective?"

Ji Yun's eyes showed confusion.

"The gravitational pull of the gravity room acts on every part of you—your bones, blood vessels, internal organs, down to the cells, and even molecules and atoms!" Jiang Fang explained. "Gravity is everywhere, so it naturally works on the most minute levels."

"Thus, inside the gravity room, especially at your own limit of gravity!" Jiang Fang smiled slightly. "Even if you stand there without moving, every cell in your body is subjected to gravity, resisting it, consuming energy! This is far more effective than any training you could do on your own."

"Then if I train in the gravity room every day, wouldn't my strength quickly reach the High-Level War God level?"

"What are you thinking?" Jiang Fang shook her head, chatting and laughing easily under 12 times gravity.

"There's only one gravity room like this," Jiang Fang continued. "Even the Elite Training Camp of the Thunder Dojo doesn't have one. One training room, shared by 183 trainees. How much time can you get?"

"So the higher your rank, the more time you can use," Jiang Fang went on. "The 'gravity rooms' our Earth scientists have copied have a gravity range of 1x to 3x. That means the maximum is only 3 times gravity. Training in the gravity room works best the closer you are to your own limit."

"So you can train in the copied gravity rooms normally, and the results are still decent, just not as astonishing in improvement."

Rank 1, for February, can use the Ancient Civilization Gravity Room for 90 hours and the Trial Room for 90 hours.

"Rank 2, for February, can use the Ancient Civilization Gravity Room for 60 hours and the Trial Room for 60 hours."

That evening, Ji Yun returned to Yanjing Pavilion and was reading a basic plan sent by Jiang Fang, formulated by the Elite Training Camp.

Ji Yun was ranked 182, on even-numbered days. So on even-numbered days in February, he would need to follow the other trainees to the Wilderness Zone to hunt monsters! Earn merit points. On odd-numbered days, he would train at the camp.

Ji Yun had already used his 1-hour gravity training for January, but today was the end of the month, and it would reset tomorrow.

"Then I'll go challenge the Trial Tower tomorrow and get a decent level."

The Trial Tower level assessment was a privilege every new trainee had in their first month at the camp. The time spent on the Trial Tower assessment was not counted against the allocated time quota.

Ji Yun went down to the training room and began familiarizing himself with using leg strength to unleash the same force output as his arms. Every trainee's residence had an underground chamber, its walls made of Kro Alloy, allowing the trainees to go all out.

He turned on the light, which shone through countless pinholes in the alloy steel plates, illuminating the entire underground chamber. The chamber was about two and a half meters high, five meters long, and five meters wide. The walls and floor were a deep green, clearly indicating the alloy wasn't pure Kro Alloy but mixed with other materials.

On the alloy floor and walls, faintly indented fist prints and footprints could be seen, left by past trainees.

Ji Yun casually punched, his arm unleashing 3.2 times his base strength, the total force already breaking through the War God level!

"Boom"

A mark about three centimeters deep appeared on the alloy wall. This level was even deeper than some of the existing marks.

In truth, with Ji Yun's current third-level mastery of Fierce Wind, it was easy for his legs and feet to achieve a full 3.2 times explosive force. Because the Spear Path differed from sword or blade techniques, it demanded more coordination between footwork and arms, but reaching this level still required practice.

One had to remember that in battle, the body constantly changed direction, requiring a burst of 3.2 times power repeatedly in an instant—this was far harder than unleashing it just once. Moreover, repeatedly bursting with power still placed a burden on the body; if the leg muscles lacked the endurance, they couldn't accurately release the force. In combat, power that couldn't be controlled was better left unused.

Soon, Ji Yun fully adapted to the 3.2 times force output level, and his speed soared to around 500 m/s.