The thirty-kilometer march ended, but the unit was not dismissed.
At One-Eye's order, more than twenty thousand recruits dragged their heavy feet to the Individual Combat Tactical Testing Center in the middle of the Floating Land.
It was a vast hemispherical metal building with a dome a hundred meters high. Inside, more than a hundred alloy Force Measurement Targets stood in neat rows, gleaming coldly.
"Eight days until your first assessment."
The instructor stood at the main control console, his voice cold. "I know some of you crawled out of the slums, while others were born with silver spoons in your mouths."
"But in the eyes of the Federation military, you have only one identity right now—recruits from Cloud Mountain Star."
"Here, there are no nobles from the core star systems and no clans whose influence spans galaxies.
You all breathe the same air and bear the same gravity. The only things that will set you apart are the resources you put in your stomachs and the grit you forge into your bones."
The instructor tapped the desk. "Today is your first basic assessment. We'll test your explosive strength and neural reaction speed."
"This is the carrot the military is dangling in front of you. Those who rank near the top, based on how much they've improved since enlistment and their current strength, will receive Basic Military Merit Points."
At the word "points," the exhausted crowd instantly stirred.
On this sealed Floating Land, points meant everything. They meant meat in District B, medicine, even the means to stay alive.
"Begin the test!"
At the order, the unit split up and headed toward the rows of Force Measurement Targets.
In this age of powerful martial arts, an ordinary adult man with no systematic training could throw a punch of roughly 100 kilograms.
To break past the limits of the human body and reach the threshold of a Level 1 Martial Artist: Skin Refining Realm, a person had to punch with more than 1,000 kilograms of force and project his vital energy through his skin to form a protective layer.
Boom!
A loud crash drew everyone's attention.
A burly recruit stood with his fist withdrawn. A bright red number had appeared on the Force Measurement Target's display: 712 kg.
"That's Third Zhao, the one whose family owns a mine in the East District..."
Li Tai muttered nearby, his voice sour. "That guy's been drinking Low-Grade Repair Serum like water since he was a kid. He's got one hell of a foundation."
Several more recruits from well-off families stepped forward. Most of their results fell between 500 and 600 kilograms.
They were still short of the 1,000-kilogram threshold for a Level 1 Martial Artist, but that already put them among the stronger recruits in the Recruit Camp.
When Shen Qing's turn came, the atmosphere grew tense.
The martial arts fanatic who had collapsed from exhaustion only yesterday wore the same cold expression now.
He walked up to the target without even winding up. He merely twisted his hips, and a sharp crack ran up his spine.
Bang!
The alloy target shook violently.
782 kg.
A wave of sharp breaths passed through the crowd. This was what talent and obsession could produce. Shen Qing's scores placed him firmly in the camp's top tier.
"Next, Li Tai."
Li Tai took a deep breath and stepped forward. He complained all the time, but his family was reasonably well-off, and he had never gone without supplies.
With a roar, he used his forward momentum to drive a punch into the target.
315 kg.
"Phew..." Li Tai wiped his brow and looked at the result. It was nothing spectacular, but it was respectable.
"Next, Jiang Yue."
The mechanical voice called Jiang Yue's name.
Eyes converged on him. Yesterday's brutal sparring match had made his name somewhat known around the camp—though more for his ability to take a beating than for his fighting strength.
Jiang Yue calmly stepped out of line and stood before the enormous Force Measurement Target.
He knew exactly where he stood.
As the orphan of a fallen soldier, he had suffered years of malnutrition that had left his body badly depleted.
His enlistment physical had recorded a pitiful punching force of just 85 kilograms.
He had not even met the passing standard for an ordinary adult man on Cloud Mountain Star. By any measure, he was an inferior recruit.
But that had been four days ago.
Jiang Yue lowered his eyes slightly. At the edge of his vision, pale gray text appeared without a sound.
[Action: Exerting force (recording)] [Status: Smooth Breath locking the body, Tough Skin drawn taut.]
He drew a deep breath.
As he inhaled, the Smooth Breath entry locked the pressure in his chest and abdomen, making his thin frame swell slightly, as if inflated.
Then the Tough Skin entry activated.
The skin membrane across his body pulled tight like a fully drawn oxhide bow, binding his loose muscle fibers together. In an instant, his whole body became a single compact unit.
There was no spectacle of vital energy bursting through his body, no deafening roar.
Jiang Yue simply planted his left foot, twisted his waist, and drove his shoulder forward.
His right arm, shattered by a comminuted fracture only yesterday, struck the center of the target like a precision hydraulic piston. No flourish, just force.
Thud.
The sound was deep and heavy.
The punch landed solidly. Not a trace of force was lost to poor form.
The numbers on the screen raced upward before finally stopping:
286 kg.
The room went quiet.
Beside the standout recruits throwing punches of five or six hundred kilograms, that number looked painfully ordinary.
Among thirty thousand recruits, it barely put him in the middle of the pack—a result that would vanish into the crowd.
"That's not bad, Jiang Yue!"
Li Tai came over and patted Jiang Yue's shoulder, his consolation sincere. "You broke a bone just last night, and today you nearly hit three hundred kilograms. Your recovery is incredible. Once you're healed, you'll definitely break three hundred next time."
As far as Li Tai knew, Jiang Yue had tested while injured. Getting this result was already a miracle.
Jiang Yue nodded without explaining.
He looked at the unremarkable "286" on the screen, but a brilliant spark had kindled deep in his eyes.
Others saw mediocrity.
He saw a miracle.
From 185 kilograms to 286 kilograms.
In just a few days, without a single bite of Exotic Beast meat or a single Gene Potion—relying only on Gray Nutrient Paste and everything the Food Digestion entry could squeeze from it—his raw strength had risen by that much!
This was the terrifying foundation the panel entries had built for him through days and nights of "breathing," "sleeping," and "taking hits."
Up on the platform.
One-Eye glanced at Jiang Yue's result, a glint flashing through his lone eye.
He held Jiang Yue's enlistment physical report.
"Over a hundred kilograms of improvement in such a short time..."
The instructor repeated the figure to himself.
An absolute figure of 286 kilograms was still low, but it showed that Jiang Yue's body was adapting and evolving at a pace that defied reason.
He swiped across the light screen and gave Jiang Yue an overall rating of "Excellent."
"The test is over."
"Points have been issued to your Personal Terminals."
At the instructor's announcement, Jiang Yue's wristband vibrated faintly.
He raised his wrist. A line of dim blue text came into view.
[New Military Merit Points: 15.] [Source: Basic Aptitude Assessment Reward (improvement bonus).]
Fifteen points.
On this Floating Land, where everything cost a fortune, that was not enough to buy even the cheapest Gene Enhancement Serum.
But it was enough.
At noon, in the cafeteria.
The crowd surged. Most recruits, still looking sickly, headed for District A to collect their free, revolting Gray Nutrient Paste.
Jiang Yue stood where the paths split.
He touched his still-empty stomach.
As the intensity of his Body Forging rose and Tough Skin demanded ever more energy, the meager calories in the paste were gradually becoming insufficient for the bottomless pit his body had become.
The Food Digestion entry rumbled in his stomach with an almost desperate hunger. It was his flesh instinctively crying out for energy-rich food.
Jiang Yue turned his back on the gray stream of people heading toward District A.
This time, without the slightest hesitation, he walked toward the place he had been eyeing for four days.
To his right lay District B.
Beneath the red lights, the air was thick with the rich, overpowering aroma of meat.
Jiang Yue walked up to the counter and looked at the great pot bubbling with steam.
"One serving of Black-Armored Scaled Ox Meat Soup."
Jiang Yue calmly spent the fifteen points he had just received. "With extra meat."
Before you continue