Chapter 85-1: The Water Valley Attack (1) |
At the foot of the snowy mountain.
The reserve trainees, all wearing suppression bracelets, had their physical aptitude compressed to roughly the same level.
This was done to ensure fairness in training and to increase the difficulty for those who were naturally stronger.
The innate talents between different races varied tremendously. Without the restriction of the suppression bracelets, races would start to show a significant disparity right from the beginning.
The first-phase training camp placed greater emphasis on the willpower of the reserve trainees.
However, even with similar physical aptitude, different races still showed clear differences in their performance during the strenuous physical training of climbing the snowy mountain.
Among them, the Four-Eyed race and the Night Hawk race performed the best. Each time they began the warm-up climb, they would be the first to reach the summit and descend at the fastest speed.
The worst performers were undoubtedly the player race.
During the climb, they gasped heavily like oxen, cursing nonstop as an invisible aura of resentment radiated from them.
When they first arrived at the first-phase training camp, Li Zheng and the others were met with contempt and disdain. The other races made no attempt to hide their disgust at the weak strength of the player race.
However, after a week of grueling training, their attitudes toward the player race had completely changed.
They had come to understand that this race was not to be provoked.
The Four-Eyed race was the best example. If Mad Sand hadn’t recently forbidden inter-racial brawls during meal times, the Four-Eyed race’s trainees might have already been carried back to their homeland in pieces.
When it came to resisting hunger, the player race was, in the eyes of the others, unquestionably the best in the training camp.
The price of provoking them was preparing for days of extreme hunger endurance training.
“My god, my legs are shaking. These beasts can really climb.”
“This is more exhausting than going to work. The only thing keeping me going is the cafeteria. Once I’m done, I’m going back to eat a ton of food.”
“Quit whining, keep climbing. I don’t want to get eliminated in the first-phase training camp.”
—
After morning training, and following recovery treatments in the medical room and nutritional meals at the cafeteria, Li Zheng and the others assembled at the training grounds.
Chief Combat Instructor Mad Sand announced a new training module.
Mental Endurance Training.
Mad Sand explained that in the future, when facing the terrifying Black Tide, it was inevitable to suffer the corruptive damage of the Black Tide’s power.
This was a cruel form of curse erosion. If one couldn’t endure it, they would be completely corrupted and reduced to a walking corpse.
To survive the Black Tide’s corruption, in addition to medical intervention, one also needed tremendous willpower.
Because one aspect of the corruption directly attacked the mental level.
After introducing the training, Mad Sand led them to the camp’s Mental Impact Chamber, where each race entered one by one to undergo the test.
While waiting at the end of the line, Li Zheng and the others listened to the agonizing screams coming from inside, their feelings complicated.
In the game’s settings, senses like taste, smell, hearing, and touch provided 100% feedback, but pain could be lowered to as little as 10%.
This setting allowed them to dramatically reduce pain feedback when receiving any kind of damage.
One player had even posted a detailed forum thread analyzing this 10% pain reduction through real-world tests.
According to his report: for minor cuts or scratches, which even normal people could easily endure, players with reduced pain sensitivity barely felt any feedback at all.
For muscle strains or minor sprains, which typically involved slight tissue damage, players could keep functioning, feeling only mild discomfort.
For minor burns or scalds limited to the skin surface, players could tolerate them relatively well. The pain felt as if it were insulated, similar to the sensation of a tooth extraction under local anesthesia, present but bearable.
However, for serious stab wounds, bone fractures, internal injuries, or hits to vital organs, players could clearly feel the pain feedback, this marked the upper limit of what players could endure.
The most extreme pain players had endured so far was documented by a forum player who underwent gene seed enhancement.
In his account, even with 90% of the feedback suppressed, the pain made him feel as if every cell in his body was burning.
Making it to the end of the enhancement nearly cost him half his life.
What Li Zheng and the others didn’t know was what kind of pain feedback they would experience in this mental impact training.
As they anxiously waited, a trainee from the Brass race exited the chamber looking utterly drained.
Under Mad Sand’s watchful eyes, Li Zheng and the others nervously stepped into the Mental Impact Chamber.
The room wasn’t large. Complex runic formations in two different colors were etched into the floor and ceiling. Multiple purple energy crystals were embedded into the floor and walls.
As the metal door sealed shut, a symbol appeared on the wall in front of them.
Guide translated the symbol: it represented the number: 1.
The formation beneath their feet lit up, its radiance enveloping Li Zheng and the others.
But during this process, they felt no discomfort whatsoever.
A few seconds later, the number changed to 3, yet they still sensed no obvious change.
As time passed, the number kept rising.
When it reached 38, Li Zheng and the others suddenly felt as if an invisible palm was lightly stroking their consciousness, sending waves of tingling numbness.
The number climbed to 68.
The tingling sensation turned into a faint stinging pain, but it was still within the tolerable range.
Outside the Mental Impact Chamber, watching the numbers displayed on the wall, both Mad Sand and the other freshmen from various races looked somewhat surprised.
A pain level of 68 was already quite distinct. Since it directly affected the mental level, the pain felt even sharper and more intense than physical pain.
Yet not a single scream of pain came from inside the chamber.
The numbers continued to rise. When the number reached 90.
The pain was now extremely pronounced, shifting from mild stinging to waves of intense pain, as if an invisible sledgehammer was pounding on their heads.
With each wave of pain, Li Zheng and the others trembled.
“Brother Li, should we give up?”
“Don’t chicken out, just hang on a bit longer. We’ve already got 90% pain reduction, at least we should surpass the Four-Eyed race’s 148.”
“Brothers, hold on. Don’t forget why we named our group the Grind Kings.”
Hearing these words, the willpower that had started to slacken tightened up again.