Testing His Abilities

Zhang Anzai nodded. "Nothing major. There was a little contamination, but it's all cleared up now."

As he spoke, he took the training room key card from Lin Zhao.

The personal training rooms were where most employees came to spend their time here.

They were fully enclosed and highly private, with adjustable training scenarios. Employees could use them to practice with the items and skills they'd bought from the company's internal store.

Zhang Anzai had come here to try out his newly acquired skill, as well as the Weakness Break enchantment attack he had just unlocked through his inheritance.

Neither of these was like paper cutting; there was no way to practice them in the dorm.

"Glad it's nothing. Keep an eye on the time, okay? It's almost time to start work. Don't let that doghead catch you." Lin Zhao waved and walked into the elevator.

Zhang Anzai nodded, then headed in the opposite direction from the gym.

A long corridor lined with countless small rooms. In a way, it reminded him of the simulated scenarios in the consciousness space he'd just experienced.

He found the training room corresponding to the number on his key card and went inside.

The interior had a distinctly sci-fi feel. Everything from the walls to the ceiling was a silvery white, and when the door shut, the whole space seemed seamless.

Zhang Anzai tapped his key card against his phone, and a message immediately appeared on the screen: "You have entered Personal Training Room 307."

"Training time remaining: 15:39."

"Available training programs: ..."

"Available training scenarios: ..."

The company's equipment really was so mysterious, so advanced.

With a few adjustments, he could choose from a company, an alley, a forest, underwater, even an airplane or a shopping mall. Almost any setting could be simulated.

The training programs were just as varied: shooting, sports, combat, even driving and operating machinery, medical procedures and magical rituals.

He'd often heard other rookie administrators complain that they should let the players use this facility instead. Rookie administrators hardly ever got the chance to get hands-on. Letting the players practice properly would be a huge help; maybe they'd cause fewer problems for the administrators during missions.

But Zhang Anzai didn't think the facility was pointless. At least for him, it was pretty useful.

"Who says players can't use it? I'm using it right now, aren't I?" Zhang Anzai looked over the many special scenarios and training programs. As expected, a lot of them cost money, and they weren't cheap.

Only a few basic options were free. They were barely any different from a blank slate, just enough to give him a feel for things.

Still, it didn't matter. He didn't have any particularly powerful or special skills yet, so the basics would do.

"There's no purchase history, so Lin Zhao must have been training with a basic program. I wonder which one? She just got out of the shower. Surely she doesn't come here to work out every day at noon..."

The company uniforms were all standard issue. They fit well, but didn't do much to show off anyone's figure. Even the women's clothes weren't suits, but a choice of several business-casual outfits. Zhang Anzai still couldn't tell what kind of physique Lin Zhao had.

"Forget it. Everyone has their own opportunities." Zhang Anzai selected a basic wooden dummy striking program.

In other words, it was a human-shaped wooden target.

The setting didn't change. A white wooden dummy simply descended into the room.

Zhang Anzai didn't foolishly attack it with punches and kicks he'd never trained in. Instead, he warmed up while using the panel to summon a free weapon: a steel pipe.

"Pipes aren't hard to find in missions. I'll try this one, so I have a better idea of what to expect later." Zhang Anzai twirled the pipe, stepped forward, gripped it with both hands, and swung with all his might.

"Clang!" The pipe struck with a loud crash. Zhang Anzai hadn't put much force into it, so his hands didn't hurt too badly.

In turn, the dummy barely reacted. Only its outer layer of wood had cracked.

The dummy was much tougher than a human body. An ordinary person would definitely have broken bones if they'd been hit that hard with a steel pipe.

Zhang Anzai shook out his hands, then called on his skill.

"Phew..." Zhang Anzai took a deep breath and swung the pipe again.

This time, though, the shadow cast by the pipe under the lights seemed to twist for a moment.

Something seemed to appear behind it, like a giant hand snapping its fingers against the pipe and sending it shooting forward.

"Crack!" Zhang Anzai saw the spot where the pipe had struck split open with far more force than his swing should have produced, as if it had taken an extra blow somewhere invisible to the naked eye.

The wooden dummy hadn't shattered, but he leaned closer and examined it. "The crack's deep... It really is Weakness Break."

The blow hadn't just increased the damage; it had also carried the impact deeper into the target.

"Now that I know that much, I've got a pretty good idea..." Zhang Anzai estimated that the blow had done three to five times as much damage as one of his normal attacks, and it could pierce through the surface as well.

"With an effect like this, I'll call this move World Breaker."

The attack worked well, but it came at a steep cost.

The skill was supposed to drain his stamina, and after using it, he really was exhausted. Zhang Anzai planted the steel pipe on the floor, feeling as if he'd just given it everything he had for ten straight swings.

"I could only use it four or five times at most before I'm completely drained. I really can't use this move carelessly."

Thinking this over, Zhang Anzai sat on the floor, picked up his phone, and switched the surrounding scenario.

Next, he naturally had to test the Ghost Wall-Building skill, which still seemed ridiculous even now.

He chose a construction site.

It was basically an empty white space, except for a small mound of dirt, an unfinished brick wall with a doorframe, and some cement, rebar, and other materials piled on the ground.

As soon as he made his selection, the objects appeared out of nowhere. He had no idea whether they were holograms or some other kind of technology.

The training room was only a little larger than an ordinary double room, and all these objects made it feel cramped.

But it was perfect for testing his ability.

At a glance, Zhang Anzai had spotted the unfinished doorframe in the scene. His ability seemed to have a limited range, and having an object like this as a reference point would help him better gauge its limits.

"Click..." Zhang Anzai picked up a loose brick beside the unfinished wall. It felt solid and completely real to the touch.

The skill he'd acquired was like an inherited ability. It had suddenly become an instinct he knew well.

Still, he could only use it naturally. He didn't yet know exactly what it did.

"Click!" Zhang Anzai placed the gray brick inside the doorframe.

In the blink of an eye, the scene before him changed.

Brick after brick suddenly filled the doorframe, from the bottom where he'd placed the brick all the way up to the unfinished edges.

The entire process was silent and practically instantaneous.

"That works pretty well..." Zhang Anzai looked it over. The details were complete, the edges joined smoothly, and there were no obvious flaws.

He even pressed a hand against it and felt the solid touch of a brick wall.

"But..." Zhang Anzai turned around and pulled a length of rebar from the ground.

"Whoosh!" He instantly swung the rebar through the doorway. It seemed to meet no resistance at all, and the illusion vanished.

All that remained inside the doorframe was the single brick.

Zhang Anzai tossed aside the rebar and looked at the other construction materials in the scene. "I'll try some other things..."