Chapter Summaries

Key plot points

• Jiang Yue defeats his fourteenth challenger with a precise strike to the neck, knocking him unconscious and ending the wave of attacks against Arena 34.
• His calm display and challenge to “Who’s next?” terrify the waiting recruits. They abandon their plan to overwhelm him and rush to challenge weaker, exhausted defenders instead.
• Jiang Yue remains unchallenged for the final twenty minutes, while battles rage across the other platforms.
• He watches the formidable Chu Lin and Zhan Feng, recognizing that the rankings are likely to become harder to change as top performers gain an early advantage.
• The defense period ends. Jiang Yue has secured a place in the top thousand and the right to learn a Federation Martial Arts technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yue shows precise control, stamina, and composure rather than relying on threats or intimidation. His confidence grows, but so does his determination to compete with the strongest.
• The challengers shift from greed and confidence to fear, then flee to seek easier opponents. Their reaction establishes Jiang Yue’s reputation as a dangerous defender.
• Chu Lin remains untouched on Arena 1, his dominance keeping challengers away.
• Zhan Feng displays brutal strength, killing a challenger with his bare hands.
• Jiang Yue observes these two rivals but responds not with fear, but with a stronger desire to fight.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: Jiang Yue’s skill alone turns his platform into a forbidden zone.
• Competition and opportunity: Each recruit has only three challenges, making every decision consequential.
• Unequal momentum: Early success can attract resources and widen the gap between competitors.
• Ambition beyond survival: Although Jiang Yue earns a place among the top thousand, he aims to preserve his rank and learn the higher-level secret art, Limit Breaking.

Key plot points and events

• The thousand recruits who survived the selection trials are ordered into a ten-round, one-on-one ranking tournament. Matchups are completely random, and each win earns a point.
• Jiang Yue is drawn against Tie Rong, a heavily built fighter known for powerful combat techniques and exceptional durability.
• Tie Rong rushes Jiang Yue with overwhelming force. Jiang Yue dodges and lands an internal strike, but Tie Rong absorbs most of its impact and attempts to trap him in a crushing grapple.
• Jiang Yue evades the grab and spends several minutes narrowly avoiding Tie Rong’s attacks while repeatedly targeting the same vulnerable spot near his liver.
• Exploiting the damage he has accumulated there, Jiang Yue delivers a final concentrated strike. Tie Rong collapses, giving Jiang Yue victory in the first round.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue demonstrates calm under pressure, precise control, and adaptability. When his initial attack fails, he studies Tie Rong’s defenses and wins through patience and repeated targeting rather than brute strength.
• Tie Rong is revealed as both formidable and tactically perceptive: he recognizes Jiang Yue’s evasive style and willingly takes an injury to create a chance to seize him. His resilience ultimately cannot withstand Jiang Yue’s focused follow-up attacks.

Significant themes

• Luck and survival: The random tournament draws make chance a major factor, even for skilled fighters.
• Adaptability over raw power: Jiang Yue’s movement, timing, and tactical adjustment let him defeat a physically stronger opponent.
• Endurance and calculated risk: Both fighters accept danger—Tie Rong to set a trap, Jiang Yue to stay close enough to counterattack.
• Precision and persistence: Repeatedly striking one vulnerable point turns a limited opening into a decisive victory.

Character interactions

• Iron Wrist warns the recruits that the tournament is a life-or-death test with random pairings, setting a tense, unforgiving tone.
• Tie Rong openly assesses Jiang Yue’s evasive technique and challenges it with strength and muscle armor.
• During their fight, Tie Rong attempts to overwhelm and grapple Jiang Yue, while Jiang Yue responds by evading, observing, and systematically exploiting Tie Rong’s injured side.

Key plot points and events

• After winning his first match, Jiang Yue faces two difficult opponents in quick succession. He defeats a grappling specialist by dislocating his own shoulder to escape a lock, then using his Roaming Dragon Stance and Mountain-Crushing Lean to break the man’s collarbone.
• His third opponent relies on speed and distance to exhaust him. Jiang Yue conserves his strength in an All-Rounder Stance until the recruit falters, then breaks his shin with a low sweep.
• Three victories propel Jiang Yue to roughly the top hundred. Though he appears battered, his Breath Regulation has preserved his Blood Energy, which is now helping heal and strengthen him.
• The examiners praise his technique, body control, and combat instincts, suggesting he may qualify for the Seed Sequence.
• In the fourth-round draw, Jiang Yue is matched against Zhan Feng, the tournament’s terrifying No. 5. Zhan Feng’s arrival shakes the arena, but Jiang Yue stands his ground and welcomes the chance to fight without restraint.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue shows adaptability, endurance, and tactical patience: he uses painful improvisation against the grappler, refuses to waste energy chasing the speed-focused recruit, and draws on hidden reserves despite his battered appearance.
• His controlled demeanor gives way to openly fierce anticipation when he faces Zhan Feng, revealing how eagerly he has awaited a truly demanding fight.
• Zhan Feng is established as a physically overwhelming and intimidating fighter, known for immense strength and a chilling presence.

Significant themes

• Endurance and resourcefulness: Jiang Yue succeeds through judgment and technique, not just force.
• Appearances versus reality: He looks nearly spent, but his stored Blood Energy remains available to heal and empower him.
• Chance and brutal competition: Random matchmaking offers no easy recovery and can pit rising fighters against the tournament’s strongest.
• Courage in the face of overwhelming power: Jiang Yue meets Zhan Feng’s menace with defiance rather than fear.

Character interactions

• Jiang Yue’s bouts with the grappler and the speed-focused recruit are contests of opposing styles, forcing him to change tactics in each.
• Examiners Iron Wrist and One-Eye discuss Jiang Yue’s talent and potential, while recognizing that his next performance will determine how far he can rise.
• Zhan Feng openly challenges Jiang Yue to make him go all out; Jiang Yue answers in kind, setting the stage for their high-stakes fight.

Key plot points and events

• Arena 34 draws the crowd’s attention as Jiang Yue faces Zhan Feng, a fifth-ranked fighter who has recently become a true Martial Artist.
• Zhan Feng attacks immediately with overwhelming speed and strength. Jiang Yue narrowly dodges the punch, but its wind cuts his cheek.
• Jiang Yue spots an opening and strikes Zhan Feng’s ribs with Inch Power, only to discover the gap was bait: Zhan Feng’s hardened skin, muscles, and frame absorb the blow.
• Zhan Feng counters with a devastating elbow, grazing Jiang Yue’s temple and leaving him bleeding, dazed, and unsteady.
• The fight turns into a one-sided beating. Jiang Yue manages several more attacks, but Zhan Feng evades or neutralizes them. Zhan Feng lands repeated blows that bruise Jiang Yue across the body, while remaining visibly unharmed.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue recognizes that his techniques cannot readily overcome the physical gulf between him and a true Martial Artist. Though injured and disoriented, he keeps fighting through instinct, quick thinking, and determination.
• Zhan Feng proves to be more than a powerful brawler: he is experienced, tactically cunning, and confident enough to use his apparent vulnerability as a trap.

Significant themes

• The chapter emphasizes the vast difference between a Quasi-Martial Artist and a true Martial Artist, whose strength and durability can make an opponent’s skill seem futile.
• It contrasts technique and ingenuity with raw physical power, while showing that experience and tactical awareness can make strength even more decisive.
• Jiang Yue’s resolve is tested as he confronts an opponent he may not be able to defeat through skill alone.

Character interactions

• Zhan Feng taunts Jiang Yue after absorbing his strike, then presses his advantage with relentless attacks.
• Jiang Yue studies Zhan Feng’s movements and exploits a brief opening, but Zhan Feng anticipates the attempt and turns it against him.

Key plot points and events

• Zhan Feng dominates Jiang Yue, whose refined technique and earlier success cannot overcome the gap between a Quasi-Martial Artist and a fighter at the Skin Tempering Realm.
• Seeing Jiang Yue’s reactions falter, Zhan Feng launches a seemingly unavoidable, full-force punch aimed at his chest.
• Jiang Yue cannot dodge, so he shifts his body to move his heart out of the punch’s path, taking the blow on his left shoulder and back. The impact sends him flying and leaves him motionless in a pool of blood.
• The arena falls silent, and Zhan Feng assumes he has won. But the medical drone does not remove Jiang Yue, and Jiang Yue’s finger twitches.
• Jiang Yue painfully rises and tells Zhan Feng, “Again.” The Smart Brain still considers him alive and willing to fight.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue reveals extraordinary resolve: even when badly injured and unable to rely on his footwork, he makes a deliberate defensive choice and refuses to give up. His Thunder Breath trait helps sustain his damaged organs by supplying oxygen and protecting his heart.
• Zhan Feng remains overwhelmingly powerful, but Jiang Yue’s survival shocks him and disrupts his confidence in what he thought was a decisive victory.

Significant themes

• Technique versus raw strength: Jiang Yue’s skill cannot erase the vast physical gap between the two fighters.
• Endurance and defiance: Jiang Yue’s refusal to surrender becomes a force in its own right, even when his body is nearly broken.
• Life and the limits of judgment: The crowd and Zhan Feng assume the fight is over, but Jiang Yue’s vital breath—and the system’s recognition of his will to continue—keeps it going.

Character interactions

• The instructors, One-Eye and Iron Wrist, initially agree that Jiang Yue’s defeat is inevitable because his skill cannot compensate for Zhan Feng’s strength.
• Zhan Feng treats Jiang Yue as defeated and turns away, but Jiang Yue’s return to his feet forces him to turn back in disbelief.
• The watching recruits and nearby fighters shift from fearful silence at Zhan Feng’s power to stunned amazement at Jiang Yue’s survival.

Key events

• Jiang Yue knows he has no realistic chance of defeating Zhan Feng, but chooses to keep fighting—not out of pride, but because Zhan Feng’s overwhelming strength has awakened his drive to reach the Physical Limit.
• Zhan Feng overwhelms him with repeated punches and kicks, hurling him into the arena railing and leaving him severely injured. A medical drone prepares to stop the match as Jiang Yue’s vital signs decline.
• Jiang Yue repeatedly forces himself back to his feet before the drone can intervene. The fight becomes a brutal cycle of Zhan Feng knocking him down and Jiang Yue rising again.
• Under the extreme pressure, Jiang Yue’s Skin Membrane begins tearing and reforming. The energy from the radiation fluid and Exotic Beast Blood Essence he previously consumed fuels this transformation, rapidly strengthening his body even as his injuries worsen. He realizes that winning no longer matters to him.
• The watching recruits and fighters shift from pity to fear and awe as Jiang Yue continues to endure punishment that should have finished him.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yue reveals the fierce ambition beneath his calm exterior. He accepts defeat as a likely outcome, yet embraces the pain because it is driving his body toward transformation. His refusal to stay down makes him seem almost inhuman to the crowd.
• Zhan Feng begins by treating Jiang Yue as an opponent to crush, but repeated failure to break his resolve changes his attitude. He acknowledges Jiang Yue’s toughness and says he is worth fighting with everything he has.
• Their interaction changes from a one-sided assault into a grim recognition between fighters: Zhan Feng still has the upper hand, but he now respects Jiang Yue’s resilience.

Significant themes

• Endurance beyond victory: Jiang Yue’s purpose shifts from winning the match to pursuing growth through hardship.
• Transformation through suffering: His body’s metamorphosis is triggered by life-threatening physical pressure, making pain both destructive and, in this moment, a catalyst for change.
• Respect earned through resolve: Jiang Yue’s determination unsettles the spectators and earns even his brutal opponent’s respect.

Key plot points and events

• Chief Instructor One-Eye notices Jiang Yue’s vital signs are barely holding on despite severe internal injuries. Realizing Zhan Feng’s next blow could permanently ruin him, One-Eye manually stops the match.
• Jiang Yue’s fighting resolve fades with the interruption, and he collapses unconscious. The official result gives Zhan Feng the win, but the watching recruits are deeply impressed by Jiang Yue’s refusal to stay down.
• The tournament continues through ten rounds and ends with the already-established Skin Tempering fighters occupying the top ten. Jiang Yue’s performance remains a major topic among the recruits.
• In the medical ward, doctors are astonished by Jiang Yue’s rapid recovery. After a day in an S-Class Medical Pod, his injuries are nearly repaired, and he wakes.
• A system notification reveals that enduring Zhan Feng’s extreme blows broke down and rebuilt Jiang Yue’s skin membrane to its limit, forming the new green trait Iron Armor.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue demonstrates extraordinary toughness and willpower, then benefits from unusually rapid self-repair while unconscious. His ordeal produces a significant advancement in his abilities.
• One-Eye shows that he values Jiang Yue’s long-term potential over the match’s outcome, stepping in to protect him from lasting damage.
• Zhan Feng wins officially, but the chapter emphasizes that Jiang Yue’s resilience—not simply the result—earns the recruits’ awe.

Significant themes

• Resilience and growth through adversity: Jiang Yue’s near-fatal punishment leads directly to a new trait.
• The cost of ambition: Extreme training and combat can threaten a fighter’s body and future, not just their immediate survival.
• Official victory versus earned respect: Zhan Feng takes the match, while Jiang Yue’s conduct leaves the stronger impression on many observers.
• Limits of understanding: The doctors can measure Jiang Yue’s recovery but cannot explain its extraordinary speed.

Character interactions

• One-Eye confronts the danger posed by Zhan Feng’s continued attack and overrides the match to separate the fighters.
• The recruits watch Jiang Yue’s collapse and come to regard him with fear and admiration.
• The medical doctors discuss Jiang Yue’s condition, marveling at his healing while remaining unaware of the process driving it.

Plot points and events

• Jiang Yue awakens in the Medical Pod after his devastating fight with Zhan Feng. His injuries have been repaired, and he gains Iron Armor, which toughens his skin and seals his body against blood loss.
• The treatment has drained nearly all his energy, including his stored Beast Blood Essence and radiation fluid. He is dangerously weak and ravenously hungry, but an assembly horn interrupts his search for food.
• At the Central Main Plaza, the ten thousand recruits who survived the thirty-day elimination assessment assemble. Iron Wrist announces that they are now Imperial Privates assigned to the G7 Legion on Floating Land No. 17.
• Jiang Yue’s final exam rank is 108th, earning him Core Elite status and access to an Intermediate Genetic Serum, the Limit Breaking secret technique, a choice of first Federation Martial Art, Standard Powered Armor, and 1,000 Points.
• One-Eye announces that Smart Brain will reorganize the recruits according to their performance and abilities, after which they will be assigned to official units and the G7 Legion will be formally established.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue has acquired a defensive biological trait, but the repair process leaves him temporarily weaker than an ordinary Quasi-Martial Artist. His immediate challenge is replenishing his depleted energy.
• Despite his fragile appearance, his strong exam placement confirms his standing as an elite recruit. The reward points also give him new means to develop and recover.

Character interactions

• The recruits notice Jiang Yue’s pallor and unsteady posture, recalling his impressive performance in the previous day’s fight.
• Iron Wrist formally grants the survivors their military status and emphasizes that they are entering real interstellar combat.
• One-Eye redirects the recruits’ attention from their rewards to the coming reorganization and unit assignments.

Significant themes

• Survival and transformation: The recruits’ passage through the brutal assessment turns them from frightened newcomers into hardened soldiers.
• Strength’s cost: Jiang Yue’s new defensive ability comes at the price of extreme physical depletion.
• Military hierarchy and utility: Rank, resources, and assignment are determined by measured performance, as the survivors become parts of the Empire’s war machine.

Key events

• One-Eye explains the five regular regiments: Combat, Support, Reconnaissance, Engineering, and Reserve. The Combat Regiment is the most dangerous but offers the fastest route to promotion and military merit.
• He reveals a hidden elite unit, the Special Combat Squad, whose members receive exceptional resources, freedom, and rewards. No recruits qualify yet; the Military will select candidates based on their future battlefield performance.
• The recruits receive their assignments. Jiang Yue is placed in the First Combat Regiment, based on his strong arena record despite his depleted condition.
• Jiang Yue reunites with Shen Qing, Li Tai, and Xu Bo. Li Tai is assigned to the Reserve Regiment after serious injuries, while Xu Bo joins the Engineering Regiment. Shen Qing and Jiang Yue are both assigned to Combat.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yue’s ambition is reignited by the prospect of joining the Special Combat Squad, even though his Blood Energy is depleted.
• Li Tai is disappointed by his Reserve assignment but remains determined to recover and return to the front.
• Xu Bo accepts his Engineering assignment confidently, seeing opportunities to make the most of his adaptability.
• Shen Qing is pleased to enter the Combat Regiment but notices Jiang Yue’s poor condition and asks about his recovery. Jiang Yue reassures him and points toward their next steps: registering, obtaining the next Gene Potion stage, and qualifying for Limit Breaking practice.

Significant themes

• Risk and advancement: The most dangerous assignments promise the greatest opportunities.
• Merit and ambition: Special privileges are reserved for exceptional performance, not granted in advance.
• Resilience and adaptability: Each recruit responds differently to setbacks, seeking a way forward within their circumstances.

Key plot points and events

• After thirty days of brutal combat eliminated half the ten thousand recruits, the top thousand Gu Kings are assigned to the G7 Legion’s First Combat Regiment.
• Jiang Yue finished 108th, an impressive ranking, but the ordeal has left him dangerously emaciated and seemingly close to bodily collapse.
• His Gluttony trait has intensified into a ravenous, nearly uncontrollable hunger. Jiang Yue struggles to keep himself from attacking another recruit, while Breath Regulation and Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound barely sustain him.
• At the regiment’s parade ground, ten guard captains begin dividing the recruits among their units. They choose according to their preferred qualities, and the top candidates are quickly claimed. The excerpt ends just as Jiang Yue’s name and rank are announced.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue has achieved a high placement but paid a severe physical price. His struggle now is not only to survive his injuries and exhaustion, but also to control Gluttony’s predatory hunger.
• Ba Lie, the imposing captain of the Third Guard, favors large, powerful recruits suited to leading charges.
• Lin Ying, the lean, intimidating captain of the First Guard, prefers recruits he judges promising by their performance and data. He clashes openly with Ba Lie.

Significant themes

• Survival and its cost: Success in the deadly exam leaves even high performers battered, and Jiang Yue’s ranking conceals how close he is to ruin.
• Instinct versus control: Jiang Yue must restrain a hunger so powerful it threatens to override his reason.
• Merit and military hierarchy: Rank attracts attention and resources, but a recruit’s future also depends on which veteran chooses him and whether their styles are compatible.
• Different forms of strength: The captains value distinct qualities, from physical power to tactical judgment and survival instinct.

Character interactions

• The recruits stand before the captains, whose selections signal both recognition and the prospect of better support.
• Ba Lie calls out physically imposing candidates for the Third Guard, while Lin Ying counters by selecting recruits he believes have potential for the First Guard.
• Their heated exchange reveals the captains’ rivalry and contrasting standards. Meanwhile, Jiang Yue remains isolated in his private battle with hunger as his assignment approaches.

• Jiang Yue’s condition: Despite his outstanding record—surviving Puppet Alley, excelling in the monthly free-for-all, and challenging the Martial Artist Zhan Feng—Jiang Yue is visibly weakened after exhausting his Blood Energy. The other officers worry that his depleted vitality may have damaged his foundation and made him unfit for the coming training.
• The Seventh Regiment steps in: Just as other regiments seem ready to pass him over, Lu Ming, captain of the Seventh Guard Regiment’s Third Squad, claims Jiang Yue as the regiment’s priority pick. The regiment’s stern captain, Yan Gang, challenges the choice, insisting that the priority pick should go to a top recruit.
• Lu Ming’s case: Lu Ming argues that Jiang Yue’s apparent frailty conceals rare resilience and technique. After studying his fight with Zhan Feng, he saw Jiang Yue instinctively unload force through his muscles as he absorbed severe injuries, then repeatedly rise to counterattack. He also points out that Jiang Yue remains rooted and balanced, with unusually steady, deep breathing despite his exhaustion.
• Decision: Yan Gang reassesses Jiang Yue and recognizes that he is not simply broken but has pushed himself to the edge while developing extraordinary toughness. Trusting Lu Ming’s judgment, he approves the pick: Jiang Yue is assigned to the Seventh Guard Regiment.
  Character developments and interactions: Jiang Yue remains focused on his hunger, barely reacting to the officers’ scrutiny. Lu Ming reveals a keen, analytical eye and strong conviction beneath his friendly manner, advocating for Jiang Yue under pressure. Yan Gang moves from skepticism to respect, while the other officers’ doubts highlight how easily Jiang Yue’s weakened appearance obscures his potential.
  Themes: The chapter contrasts outward weakness with inner strength, and raw talent with battlefield resilience. It also emphasizes the importance of looking beyond surface impressions—and of giving a damaged but determined recruit the chance and resources to recover.

Summary

• Plot and events: This is an author’s release-day announcement rather than a chapter of the story. The author says the book will go on sale at 12:01 a.m. on April 1, with several bonus chapters released at once.
• Character developments: No fictional characters appear. The author, Chenyue Jingzhe, acknowledges that the story’s pacing and worldbuilding are still developing and promises consistent updates, a complete story, and no padding, abandonment, or botched ending.
• Themes: The announcement emphasizes creative ambition, improvement through reader feedback, and commitment to finishing the story.
• Interactions: The author thanks readers for their comments, promises to consider their suggestions, and asks them to support the launch with first-day subscriptions and monthly votes.

Key plot points and events

• After the assessment, Jiang Yue joins Third Squad, led by veteran Lu Ming. The other new recruits introduced are Wei Han, a disciplined and ruthless fighter; Tong Meng, a massive, hearty physical cultivator; and Hou Ming, a cautious survivor skilled at reading people.
• Lu Ming welcomes the recruits with a squad dinner, emphasizing that they must depend on one another in battle. When offered food, Jiang Yue realizes his hunger is dangerously out of control and leaves rather than risk consuming everyone’s meal.
• He uses 100 of his 1,200 Military Points to order huge quantities of dense Exotic Beast meat. Back in the private room, [Gluttony] takes over: Jiang Yue devours the meat at an extraordinary speed, his body processing it almost instantly and visibly recovering from its wasted condition.
• The squad is stunned by his appetite and transformation. The meal breaks down some of the distance between the recruits and veterans, though their view of Jiang Yue shifts from pity to wary respect.
• At the barracks, Lu Ming explains that the squad’s top-ranked recruits—Wei Han, Jiang Yue, and Tong Meng—qualify for intermediate genetic serum, a dangerous treatment that can trigger an evolutionary leap. They must first build their strength and reach Martial Artist level.
• When Lu Ming pats Jiang Yue’s shoulder, he discovers that one meal has already restored substantial muscle and unusual resistance to pressure. He leaves shaken by Jiang Yue’s recovery speed.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yue remains weak in appearance but reveals formidable instincts and a body with extraordinary traits: [Biological Armor] disperses physical force, while [Gluttony] lets him consume and convert enormous amounts of energy. His restraint in leaving the dinner shows concern for his squad despite his near-overwhelming hunger.
• Lu Ming establishes himself as a generous, protective leader who values squad solidarity. His shock at Jiang Yue’s transformation adds to his growing awareness that the recruit is far more unusual than he seemed.
• Wei Han initially judges Jiang Yue as reckless and potentially burdensome, but the feast makes him wary of the strength hidden beneath the frail appearance.
• Tong Meng begins by offering to protect Jiang Yue, then discovers his body is unexpectedly dense and later watches in awe as he eats. His openhearted enthusiasm remains intact.
• Hou Ming approaches Jiang Yue with cautious friendliness, mindful of his ranking and influence. He watches the other promising recruits receive special attention.
• The shared dinner—and Jiang Yue’s spectacular appetite—creates a new bond among the squad, while also making him an object of fear and respect.

Significant themes

• Brotherhood and trust: Lu Ming frames the squad as people who must protect one another, and spends generously to help turn strangers into comrades.
• Hidden potential and appearance: Jiang Yue looks near death, yet possesses extraordinary defensive and regenerative abilities.
• Survival through discipline and adaptation: The recruits’ contrasting strategies—combat skill, strength, caution, and Jiang Yue’s unusual recovery—show different ways of enduring a brutal world.
• Power at a price: The promised genetic serum offers dramatic advancement but risks crippling pain or death, making preparation and resilience essential.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• The Third Squad assembles in the Seventh Guard Regiment’s underground training ground. Squad leader Lu Ming warns the recruits that, despite their tournament rankings, they are expendable soldiers facing deadly interstellar battlefields. Survival depends on teamwork and trust.
• Lu assigns squad roles: Zhao Wu and Li Yang as medics and logistics, Sun Ke and Zhou Yan as ammunition carriers, and Qian Feng and Wu Hao as communications and tactical support. He stresses that every member must still be able to fight.
• The four top-ranked recruits receive Federation Ripper-II powered armor. Tong Meng is assigned heavy weapons, Wei Han assault, Hou Ming reconnaissance, and Jiang Yue a flexible “Free Agent” role.
• During the neural-link test, Jiang Yue synchronizes with his armor almost perfectly, maintaining a steady 91% of its optimal load capacity. Lu Ming realizes that Jiang Yue’s bodily control and ability to withstand energy backlash are extraordinary.
• Lu Ming begins a three-day conditioning program, warning that armor amplifies a soldier’s body but cannot protect weak bones or organs from the forces it generates. In a brutal two-hour fight under threefold gravity, Jiang Yue withstands attacks with little effort, while the others are exhausted.
• Jiang Yue replenishes his recovering body by spending another hundred points on high-grade beast meat. He calculates that, with continued feeding and training, he may soon cross the thousand-kilogram force threshold and become a Skin-Refining Martial Artist—unlocking the military’s secret Limit Breaking technique.
• Worried that his points will run out before he can progress, Jiang Yue accepts the possibility of earning money through the underground fighting arena. His acquaintance Shen Qing reveals that the arena promoter Butcher previously offered Jiang Yue a guaranteed appearance fee for a high-stakes fight.
• That night, Jiang Yue and Shen Qing return to the arena. The crowd recognizes Jiang Yue as the fighter who previously won a string of brutal matches. Jiangue approaches Scar, a former arena regular he badly defeated, and calmly asks what fights are scheduled.

Character development and interactions

• Jiang Yue has visibly recovered from his near-starved condition and is becoming stronger, but his extraordinary appetite makes his progress costly. His focus shifts from training alone to urgently finding resources, and he accepts the risks of returning to the ring.
• Lu Ming emerges as a stern, pragmatic commander. He assigns roles according to each recruit’s strengths, takes personal responsibility for the squad, and tempers the recruits’ excitement about powered armor with a blunt lesson in physical limits.
• Tong Meng is thrilled by the heavy armor and Gatling cannon, while Wei Han is drawn to the lightweight assault suit’s reaction boost. Their excitement gives way to serious attention when Lu Ming explains the danger of armor-induced strain.
• Hou Ming takes on reconnaissance duties and struggles briefly with the armor’s information feed. The six support-role recruits accept their assignments, while being reminded they must also be capable fighters.
• Shen Qing recognizes Jiang Yue’s need for points and connects him with the arena opportunity. Their exchange is practical and trusting, with Shen Qing serving as a bridge between Jiang Yue and the underground circuit.
• Scar, once an arrogant fighter, is now visibly frightened and psychologically shaken by Jiang Yue. Their encounter underscores the lingering impact of Jiang Yue’s earlier violence.

Significant themes

• Teamwork and survival: Individual talent is insufficient on a battlefield; coordinated roles and mutual trust are essential.
• Technology depends on the body: Powered armor magnifies strength but also magnifies physical stress, making conditioning and resilience indispensable.
• The cost of advancement: Jiang Yue’s rapid recovery and growth require enormous resources, forcing him toward dangerous ways of earning points.
• Discipline versus ambition: Lu Ming imposes painful training to prepare the squad for war, while Jiang Yue’s hunger for strength pushes him to seek opportunities beyond official assignments.

Plot and key events

• Jiang Yue and Shen Qing discover the arena’s “Death God Marbles” challenge: contestants must dodge high-speed alloy marbles in a confined space. Using the precise evasive movements of the Roaming Dragon Stance, both excel where strength-focused veterans struggle.
• Over an hour, they clear the hardest stages and earn more than a hundred Military Points combined. Jiang Yue’s share is 80 points—valuable because his [Gluttony] Trait makes food and body-building resources costly.
• As they leave, Butcher, the arena’s Level 1 Martial Artist and powerful underground boss, summons them upstairs. He explains that their repeated easy wins are disrupting the arena’s betting and proposes a two-on-one match: both Recruits against him.
• Shen Qing objects that the Gene Lock creates a fundamental gap between Quasi-Martial Artists and Martial Artists. Butcher then offers to arrange their future opponents and betting lines himself—a seemingly gracious compromise that would put their earning opportunities under his control.
• Jiang Yue refuses to yield. He accepts the challenge but demands to choose the date. He and Shen Qing set the fight for ten days later, publicly turning Butcher’s challenge back on him.
• Butcher accepts, makes the match an official, potentially lethal event, and promises the winner the entire betting pool. The crowd overwhelmingly bets on Butcher, who believes his superior strength, experience, and transformed body make victory certain.
• Jiang Yue and Shen Qing accept the danger, banking on the ten days to improve their abilities. The chapter ends with both pledging to settle the match—and their survival—in the ring.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yue remains composed and resourceful: he recognizes that the dodging challenge suits his technique, values the Points for feeding and strengthening himself, and refuses to let Butcher control his income. His confidence rests on the possibility of rapid growth before the match.
• Shen Qing shows his directness and martial-arts idealism by openly challenging Butcher’s unfair framing. Though frustrated by the mismatch, he immediately backs Jiang Yue’s decision and shares his resolve.
• Butcher reveals himself as both a formidable fighter and a calculating businessman. He first tries to bring the pair under his control through a public challenge and a face-saving alternative; when they accept, he turns the fight into a spectacle and expects to crush them.
• Scar, still resentful of Jiang Yue, hopes Butcher will destroy him. The crowd likewise shifts from amazement at the Recruits’ skill to confidence that they are doomed.

Significant themes

• Skill versus brute force: Jiang Yue and Shen Qing turn a challenge designed to punish physical weakness into an advantage through disciplined technique.
• Power and coercion: Butcher’s offer is less a sporting invitation than an attempt to control the arena’s profitable matchups and the Recruits’ access to Points.
• Ambition and calculated risk: Jiang Yue accepts an apparently suicidal fight because he needs resources and believes ten days may change the odds.
• Determination in the face of a power gap: The coming match tests whether will, teamwork, and rapid development can overcome the perceived barrier between Quasi-Martial Artists and Martial Artists.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Yue and Shen Qing leave the Underground Gambling Arena committed to a ten-day deadline: they must advance far enough to face Butcher, a Level 1 Martial Artist, or risk being left behind. Both recognize the enormous gap between their current strength and his.
• Over the next three days, the Third Squad trains intensely in Ripper-II Powered Armor and a high-gravity chamber. Jiang Yue combines this grueling training with enormous quantities of high-energy exotic-beast meat, rapidly rebuilding his previously depleted body.
• On the fourth day, the recruits test their armor’s striking power. Wei Han scores 7,150 kg, Tong Meng 6,400 kg, Hou Ming just over 4,000 kg, and Jiang Yue 6,900 kg. Lu Ming is especially impressed by Jiang Yue’s force efficiency and ability to withstand the armor’s recoil.
• Lu Ming warns that armor only magnifies what the body can endure: a pilot’s physical strength must keep pace with the machine’s power.
• Wei Han misses afternoon training, and Jiang Yue infers that he has gone into seclusion to attempt breaking the Gene Lock.
• Jiang Yue, now at roughly 950 kg normal force output, spars with Tong Meng, who is at 980 kg and hopes to overcome his own bottleneck. Though their raw strength is close, Jiang Yue’s exceptional toughness, stamina, recovery, and footwork let him dominate the half-hour fight.
• The combat helps loosen Tong Meng’s bottleneck. For Jiang Yue, the fight burns through the remaining energy from his meals and drives his Blood Energy against the Gene Shackles. He senses them crack and resolves to become a Martial Artist that night.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue transforms from gaunt and depleted into a lean, powerful fighter. His rapid recovery reveals unusual digestion, Blood Energy, durability, and endurance. He grows from a promising recruit into a potential Martial Artist on the verge of crossing the Gene Lock.
• Shen Qing remains determined and committed to the ten-day challenge, though he has little direct involvement in the later training events.
• Wei Han is shocked and unsettled by Jiang Yue’s rapid physical transformation, but his pride and ambition remain intact. His near-threshold strength leads him to pursue his own breakthrough.
• Tong Meng begins confident in his superior body and endurance, but the spar exposes Jiang Yue’s advantages. Rather than becoming discouraged, he appreciates the experience and sees a path through his bottleneck.
• Lu Ming continues as a demanding instructor, but Jiang Yue’s Mecha performance surprises him. He recognizes Jiang Yue’s exceptional potential while stressing the danger of relying on armor without a strong body.

Significant themes

• Relentless effort and resource use: Jiang Yue’s progress comes through punishing training and extraordinary nutrition, not sudden enlightenment.
• The body as the foundation of power: Powered Armor can multiply strength, but physical resilience must withstand its recoil.
• Thresholds and transformation: The recruits are approaching the Gene Lock from different points, with training and combat pushing them toward evolution.
• Competition as mutual development: Jiang Yue’s sparring both tests him and helps Tong Meng advance.
• Potential versus experience: Jiang Yue’s short-term growth overturns expectations built on longer training and physical advantages.

Character interactions

• Jiang Yue and Shen Qing share a quiet, resolute commitment to their ten-day deadline.
• Lu Ming pushes the four armor trainees through adaptation and testing, praises their progress, and cautions them about the limits of mechanical power.
• Wei Han’s reaction to Jiang Yue’s new physique highlights how dramatically Jiang Yue has changed.
• Tong Meng approaches Jiang Yue for a fair, unarmored spar; the bout becomes a revealing test of their contrasting strengths and helps both men move toward their goals.

Key plot points and events

• After a brutal half-hour sparring session, Jiang Yue leaves Tong Meng exhausted but barely winded. The fight helps him absorb the energy from the Exotic Beast meat he has been consuming.
• That night, Jiang Yue meets Shen Qing in a secluded clearing. Both are close to becoming Martial Artists, and Jiang Yue is certain he will break through that night.
• Shen Qing teaches Jiang Yue the Six Harmonies Method’s core combat technique, the Six Harmonies Eight-Meridian Strike. Its power comes from coordinating breath, stance, and Blood Energy through eight meridians, but Shen warns that attempting it before becoming a Martial Artist can badly damage the body.
• Jiang Yue recognizes the danger and initially restrains himself. To accelerate his breakthrough, however, he exchanges 500 Points for a Star Core Fruit—an extremely volatile energy source that would kill most people.
• In a private training room, Jiang Yue attempts the technique despite the pain and damage it causes his undeveloped meridians. He repeatedly strikes a force-measurement target and consumes Star Core Fruit to repair his body, turning injury and recovery into a cycle of destruction and renewal.
• After exhausting his supply of fruit, Jiang Yue completes Skin Refining. His Blood Energy is contained within his body, and his Normal Force Output reaches 1,000 kilograms, confirming his breakthrough into the Martial Artist Realm.
• The next morning, the squad learns that Wei Han has also become a Level 1 Martial Artist. Captain Lu Ming offers to arrange an Intermediate Genetic Serum injection and access to the Military’s Secret Art, Limit Breaking.
• Jiang Yue reveals that he, too, has become a Martial Artist. Wei Han, Lu Ming, Tong Meng, and Hou Ming are stunned. Lu Ming decides that Jiang Yue and Wei Han will receive the same advancement opportunities.

Character developments

• Jiang Yue demonstrates extraordinary discipline, bodily control, and willingness to take calculated risks. Though he lacks Shen Qing’s natural insight into martial techniques, his Absolute Control lets him reproduce the form precisely. He uses his traits and resources to force a breakthrough at remarkable speed.
• Shen Qing acts as Jiang Yue’s mentor, sharing a powerful technique and warning him about its dangers. He is himself close to breaking through and looks forward to Jiang Yue’s success.
• Tong Meng admires Jiang Yue’s combination of talent and relentless work ethic. Their sparring leaves him exhausted but renews his determination to overcome his own bottleneck.
• Wei Han begins the chapter proud of his breakthrough, then confronts how badly he underestimated Jiang Yue. His surprise gives way to bitter respect.
• Lu Ming shifts from congratulating Wei Han to delight at discovering that both of his squad’s leading recruits have become Martial Artists.

Character interactions

• Jiang Yue thanks Tong Meng after their spar, but leaves before Tong Meng can ask about the unusual force he felt.
• Shen Qing and Jiang Yue speak as near-peers preparing for the coming Ten-Day Pact and their fight against Butcher. Shen teaches; Jiang Yue listens carefully and holds back from trying the technique too early.
• The squad congratulates Wei Han, while Tong Meng challenges him to a future match and Hou Ming praises him.
• Jiang Yue’s announcement interrupts Wei Han’s discussion with Lu Ming. Wei Han initially warns him about the serum’s requirements, then realizes Jiang Yue has already crossed the threshold.
• Lu Ming examines Jiang Yue’s hardened skin and, astonished by his progress, praises the squad’s two new Martial Artists and promises them further advancement.

Significant themes

• Discipline and effort alongside talent: Jiang Yue’s relentless training makes him formidable even without exceptional natural martial-arts insight.
• Risk, sacrifice, and transformation: His breakthrough comes through a dangerous cycle of damage and repair, framing progress as painful reconstruction.
• Control and judgment: Jiang Yue’s restraint around the technique shows that knowing when not to act is as important as courage.
• Competition and survival: The approaching fight with Butcher and the dangers of the battlefield make rapid growth a practical necessity, not merely a matter of pride.
• Reassessment and humility: Wei Han must acknowledge that his assumptions about Jiang Yue were wrong, while the squad’s reaction shows how quickly respect can change when ability is revealed.

• Plot and events: Jiang Yue and Wei Han receive carefully guarded doses of Intermediate Genetic Serum at the First Combat Regiment’s Core Medical Center. The serum breaks the Gene Lock by violently rebuilding their bodies, a process that can kill or permanently disable anyone who cannot endure it. Jiang Yue’s [Gluttony] Trait absorbs the serum’s energy, speeding his reconstruction dramatically: he finishes in under forty minutes, breaks through to become a Martial Artist, and raises his Normal Force Output to 1,100 kilograms. Wei Han completes the process about an hour and a half later, battered but successful. Lu Ming congratulates them and urges them to use their new strength to fight—and, above all, survive.
• Character development: Jiang Yue’s unusual Traits again distinguish him: [Calm Spirit] gives him confidence in withstanding the ordeal, while [Gluttony] turns the serum’s energy into rapid growth. Wei Han proves his resolve by surviving the painful transformation, but his pride in becoming an elite is challenged. Lu Ming shifts from proud mentor to stern instructor as he explains the responsibilities and risks that come with power.
• Interactions and conflict: On the way back to the barracks, Lu Ming explains why the Military restricts genetic serum: its dangers make careful selection necessary. He then asks why the powerful Limit Breaking Secret Art is reserved for a few elites. Wei Han answers that it is a privilege earned by the strong. Lu Ming rebukes him, concerned that selfishness and rigid hierarchy could make a soldier brittle in battle. Jiang Yue reasons that the art’s extreme physical demands—not mere favoritism—explain its restricted use.
• Themes and turning point: Lu Ming reveals that Limit Breaking forcibly disrupts the newly established Gene Lock, unleashing severalfold greater strength by reversing Blood Energy. But the power is difficult to control: it can tear apart the user’s organs, sever their Meridians, or kill them outright. Wei Han’s excitement gives way to shock, and the chapter ends with both recruits confronting the true cost of extraordinary power. Its central themes are strength and responsibility, sacrifice for survival, and the danger of treating elite status as simple privilege.

Plot points and events

• Over three days of intense training, Jiang Yue raises his normal force output to 1,200 kg and gains confidence that he could now challenge the Zhan Feng who once defeated him—while recognizing that Zhan Feng is likely growing stronger too.
• Squad leader Lu Ming announces a five-on-five Powered Armor simulation to test teamwork. Jiang Yue leads Red Team; Wei Han leads Blue Team. The goal is to seize a token from a central building and return it to their starting point.
• Jiang Yue plans a direct, armored advance, while Wei Han uses Hou Ming’s reconnaissance and a diversion to set up an assassination strike.
• Wei Han exploits a gap in Red Team’s formation and kills communications trooper Wu Hao. Jiang Yue pursues him, while Tong Meng’s heavy cannon pins down Blue Team’s support troopers and Hou Ming harasses Tong Meng from cover.
• Jiang Yue and Wei Han fight to a stalemate, then both use Limit Breaking in a final clash. Each fatally strikes the other, removing both teams’ strongest fighters.
• Tong Meng kills Hou Ming but runs out of ammunition and is eliminated by Blue Team’s support troopers. Red Team’s remaining support personnel kill Blue Team’s Qian Feng. The four surviving support troopers cannot safely reach or retrieve the token, so the exercise ends in a draw—both teams fail.

Character development and interactions

• Jiang Yue’s training shows his rapid growth and renewed determination to surpass Zhan Feng. As Red Team’s free agent, he understands his role as a flexible responder, but his plan leaves the rear line vulnerable.
• Wei Han proves a dangerous, resourceful assassin, but his decision to use support personnel as bait and then trade his life for Jiang Yue’s reveals poor command judgment.
• Tong Meng’s powerful suppressive fire makes him a formidable defensive anchor, but he becomes vulnerable once his ammunition runs out.
• Hou Ming’s scouting and hit-and-run attacks shape the battle, while the support troopers’ actions ultimately determine its final stalemate.
• Lu Ming harshly criticizes both leaders for prioritizing individual combat and failing to protect and coordinate their teams. Jiang Yue and Wei Han accept the lesson and resolve to improve.

Significant themes

• Teamwork over individual strength: Even exceptional fighters cannot accomplish a mission without coordinated support.
• Leadership and responsibility: Commanders must protect their whole team, including support personnel, rather than pursue personal glory.
• The cost of tactical mistakes: Poor positioning, broken communications, and reckless trades can neutralize an entire unit.
• Growth through failure: The draw is a painful lesson that pushes Jiang Yue and Wei Han toward better judgment and further training.

Plot points and events

• After a brutal first simulated combat exercise, squad leader Lu Ming privately concludes that his ten recruits showed impressive grit and are beginning to develop teamwork, despite their rough tactics.
• Guard Commander Yan Gang asks for the squad’s performance data. Lu reports that Wei Han and Jiang Yue have both become Level 1 Martial Artists and mastered a brief Limit Breaking burst. Jiang Yue’s rapid recovery and progress surprise Yan, who admits he was wrong to doubt Lu’s decision to recruit him.
• Yan advises Lu to focus on the Individual Extreme Contest rather than risk the squad’s resources in both championship events. Lu refuses: he wants to develop all ten recruits into a cohesive team, not use the others as expendable support for one star. Yan reluctantly grants him the chance, warning that failure could send him to Logistics.
• Jiang Yue goes to a secluded clearing to prepare for his wager fight against Butcher, now only three days away. There, he finds Shen Qing, who has just broken through to the Martial Artist Realm. Shen demonstrates the Six Harmonies Eight-Meridian Strike, helping Jiang Yue grasp how martial techniques efficiently channel existing strength rather than increase it.
• Jiang Yue reveals that he can sustain Limit Breaking for about 0.5 seconds and use it repeatedly with far less fatigue than Shen. The two train together, increasingly confident about their coming fight.
• Over the next three days, Lu intensifies squad coordination drills. On the Ten-Day Pact’s final day, four armor-equipped recruits test their striking power: Hou Ming reaches 6,300 kg, Tong Meng reaches 8,500 kg and reveals that he has become a Martial Artist, and Wei Han reaches 9,700 kg.
• Jiang Yue’s punch overloads the measuring target at 10,000 kg, proving that his true output exceeds the instrument’s limit. The display astonishes the squad and drives the others to train harder.
• Lu announces that he will accompany Jiang Yue to the Underground Gambling Arena that night. Jiang Yue realizes his captain is supporting him and may also be guarding against cheating or trouble.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ming emerges as a committed leader who values every recruit and prioritizes squad-wide survival over the quicker route of cultivating a single champion. His open support for Jiang Yue reinforces their trust.
• Yan Gang shifts from skepticism to respect, acknowledging his misjudgment of Jiang Yue and allowing Lu to pursue both championship events.
• Jiang Yue remains focused on personal strength, believing responsibility without power is hollow. Yet he is also moved by the support of his squad and captain.
• Shen Qing reaches the Martial Artist Realm and becomes a training partner for Jiang Yue. Their exchange shows both his enthusiasm and his competitive resolve.
• Tong Meng’s breakthrough adds a third Martial Artist to the squad. Wei Han, Tong Meng, and the others respond to Jiang Yue’s extraordinary result with renewed determination rather than resentment.
• Lu and Jiang Yue’s final exchange marks a shift from captainly oversight to active solidarity: Lu does not forbid the dangerous wager but chooses to stand beside Jiang Yue.

Significant themes

• Teamwork versus individual strength: Lu argues that one elite fighter cannot hold a battlefield alone; the squad must learn to fight together.
• Leadership and responsibility: Lu refuses to treat recruits as disposable, while Jiang Yue sees strength as necessary to protect others.
• Growth through discipline and rivalry: Shared training and Jiang Yue’s rapid progress push the whole squad to improve.
• Technique and efficiency: Martial arts do not create strength from nothing; they coordinate and apply it more effectively.
• Courage and loyalty: Jiang Yue accepts the risk of facing a stronger opponent, while Lu’s decision to accompany him turns loyalty into action.