Military Secrets

The moment Jiang Yue stepped into the training ground, his pupils contracted.

The vast arena held no equipment. Only the deafening sound of metal being torn apart echoed through it.

Chief Instructor One-Eye stood at its center, bare-chested, his muscles knotted like dark golden stone.

Facing him was an Iron-Skin Puppet over three meters tall, cast entirely from high-density alloy!

Alloy of this grade was extraordinarily strong, practically indestructible.

Yet under One-Eye's relentless assault, the massive Iron-Skin Puppet let out a piercing metallic shriek.

One-Eye twisted sideways and lashed out with his unmodified left arm. A visible ring of white vapor burst through the air around his punch!

Boom!

A deep fist-shaped crater caved into the costly Iron-Skin Puppet's chest. Then it fractured piece by piece, spraying alloy shards in every direction like bullets before its massive frame crashed to the ground!

A Level 3 Martial Artist...

Jiang Yue stood at the edge of the arena, shaken to his core.

He knew the stages of martial cultivation well.

Once a fighter passed Skin Tempering and Flesh Tempering and reached the Bone Tempering stage of a Level 3 Martial Artist, Blood Energy would have forged his bones until they were as hard as steel.

A fighter at that level could exert a terrifying five thousand kilograms of force without even pushing himself. At full power, his destructive strength reached inhuman heights.

Before the Martial Era, in the old world, the thickness and defensive strength of this alloy Puppet's armor would have rivaled a weapon of war called a tank.

On the battlefields of that age, it would have been a devastating weapon capable of flattening anything in its path.

Yet One-Eye had reduced that weapon to scrap with nothing but his flesh and blood!

"Well?"

Seeing Jiang Yue enter the arena, One-Eye grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his body. His remaining eye turned toward Jiang Yue, and his voice rang with undisguised bravado.

Jiang Yue took a deep breath. Genuine longing showed in his eyes as he nodded. "Flesh and blood rivaling steel and heavy artillery. The path of martial arts really is something to aspire to."

The Empire had no use for idlers, much less false modesty. In the military, openly showing ambition for strength was the way to survive.

Sure enough, One-Eye laughed at his answer and tossed the towel aside.

"Good! None of that empty nonsense. With a hunger for power like that, you might just grow stronger on this meat grinder of a path!"

As his laughter faded, One-Eye walked over to the heap of alloy scrap. He nudged a broken armor plate with his military boot and spoke in a low voice.

"My ordinary physical strength is closing in on ten thousand kilograms."

"But if you go strictly by the numbers, that's only ten tons of force. Even accounting for an instantaneous burst, it shouldn't be enough to punch through Special Protective Armor of this caliber with bare hands."

One-Eye turned and fixed Jiang Yue with a hard stare. "But you saw what happened. I smashed this lump of metal to pieces. Do you know why?"

Jiang Yue frowned slightly. His gaze fell on the exposed edge of the broken alloy, and he shook his head.

He truly did not know how ten thousand kilograms of force could produce such a drastic leap in destructive power.

By the numbers, that much force should not have been enough to shatter the armor.

Seeing him shake his head, One-Eye did not keep him guessing. His mechanical eye glinted coldly as he enunciated four words.

"This is a military secret technique called—Limit Breaking!"

"A Martial Artist's ordinary strength is one thing. The instantaneous power unleashed by making Blood Energy resonate with the bones is another!"

One-Eye's voice boomed in Jiang Yue's ears.

"The difference isn't obvious in the early stages of martial arts. But the further you progress, the wider the gap becomes! Strength on paper and actual combat power have never been the same thing!"

"That's why I called you here today. To tell you about this secret technique."

Jiang Yue's heart gave a sudden thump. The desire lying dormant inside him flared to life. He looked up and asked, "Instructor, do you mean I can learn it too?"

"Don't get excited yet."

One-Eye gave a cold laugh and doused his hopes. "Only someone who has fully completed Gene Optimization and unlocked the shackles inside his body can attempt to control and use a technique that drains his cells' potential."

"And the higher the degree of Gene Optimization, the shorter the adjustment period and the better the fit for this technique!"

"At its core, Limit Breaking is an all-out burst of power after unlocking the Gene Lock!"

"So for anyone who hasn't been injected with a Gene Potion, his body is like a sealed iron barrel. It's utterly impossible for him to do it."

One-Eye strode up to Jiang Yue and looked down at him, his gaze sharp enough to see through everything.

"But you—you're an exceptionally good fit!"

One-Eye had not mentioned the astonishing record outright, but those words made it clear that nothing Jiang Yue had done in the Medical Pod had escaped the veteran officer's notice.

"So I'm setting you a goal!"

One-Eye thrust out his mechanical right arm and brought it down heavily on Jiang Yue's shoulder. "New recruits face an assessment every ten days and a major exam every thirty."

"The Monthly Grand Exam in twenty days will be far harder than today's assessment, and far more recruits will be eliminated!"

"I want you in the top five hundred! Earn a place in the next round of deep Gene Optimization! Then you can formally learn this technique and gain what it takes to hold your own on the Interstellar Battlefield!"

The top five hundred!

The gap might not have looked large, but everyone else was improving too.

To overtake them, he would have to do better and improve faster.

Far from feeling afraid, Jiang Yue sensed the Gluttony trait within him almost trembling in anticipation of the pressure to come.

"I'll give it everything I have." Jiang Yue wasted no words and nodded firmly.

"Good." One-Eye withdrew his hand. As if something had occurred to him, a rare, peculiar smile tugged at his lips. "Oh, right. I heard from the medical officer and the people in the mess hall that you can really eat?"

Ding!

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Yue's Military Terminal chimed on his wrist.

He looked down. A notification showed that 100 Points had been credited to him!

"Those 100 Points are a little extra investment in your training."

One-Eye casually switched off his terminal's glowing screen, turned away, and waved a hand. "Go on. Don't disappoint me."

Jiang Yue clenched his fists and looked long and hard at One-Eye's back.

With those 100 Points and what he had left from before, he could buy plenty more Exotic Beast meat!

He had only just advanced Gluttony to green grade and desperately needed vast amounts of energy to build up his Skin Membrane. This gift could not have come at a better time!

"Thank you, Instructor."

Jiang Yue gave a crisp military salute, then turned and strode out of the training ground.

The Pressure Door closed behind him, and silence settled over the arena once more.

One-Eye turned to the veteran from the Supervision Team who had been standing in the shadows and beckoned him over. "Go on. Keep calling them in, one by one, according to the list."