Chapter 91-1: Utterly Shameless (1) |
Snow Valley Training Camp.
Snow was falling heavily from the sky. Li Zheng and the other Grind Kings Player Chat Group members stood on the training field, bare-chested, striking the crystal wall in front of them repeatedly with stone hammers.
“Eighty! Eighty! Eighty!”
“So tired. I’m starving. What’s even the point of smashing this thing?”
“I’ve never done this much manual labor in my entire life. This training camp is treating us like livestock. When will this ever end?”
Complaints filled the voice channel. At this moment, Li Zheng spoke helplessly.
“Stop whining, everyone. We have to finish it anyway, might as well get it done and rest.”
“Hope the reward is worth it this time, or I’ll lose my mind,” Dirt Poor couldn’t help but complain again.
This round of training assigned by Mad Sand required them to shatter the crystal wall using stone hammers.
To continue the mission, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and persevere.
Their palms cracked and bled, sweat streaming down their foreheads.
Looking around, the trainees of various races were diligently hammering away, completely disregarding physical injury, the crystal walls in front of them resounding with “clang clang” noises.
However, amidst the hammering, occasional growls from their stomachs could be heard.
This was a side effect from the Hunger Resistance Battle at the cafeteria, also a way for the Snow Valley Training Camp trainees to welcome the Water Valley Training Camp newcomers.
They had added an extra, unofficial training module: hunger resistance.
After three consecutive days of hunger resistance training, the Poro race had lost their earlier arrogance but still refused to yield, insisting on following the Water Valley Training Camp’s rule of strength-based meal rankings.
Only after the Poro finished eating would trainees of other races get their turn.
Li Zheng and the others didn’t accommodate them.
Their strategy was to sneak bites behind their backs, while in front of others, no one ate anything.
In the eyes of the other races, their hunger resistance talent was maxed out.
However, after several group brawls, Li Zheng and the Grind Kings still felt a sense of regret.
In their eyes, free spiritual food was equivalent to free body tempering experience. Every extra bite was a gain, an opportunity the starter village could never offer.
But to resist bullying, they chose to persist like real men.
They had also considered secretly stashing spiritual food into their inventory during the chaos and eating it back in their rooms at night.
However, after consulting Guide, they realized this wasn’t feasible.
Several regulators in the cafeteria were monitoring their brawls. The moment spiritual food was stored in the inventory, it would be detected.
One of the cafeteria rules was that no spiritual food could be taken out. Otherwise, the fixed 15-minute meal time would lose its meaning.
The point was to make every second count.
According to Mad Sand, this time limit would continue to shrink as they progressed into the second and third phases of the training camp.
After graduation, the front lines would be even worse.
The front line Anti-Tide Legion’s war against the strong races was extremely brutal, sometimes leaving no time to eat at all.
While explaining the rule, Mad Sand smiled and said that back in his most miserable time on the front line, he had fought the ‘Soul Return race’ for ten consecutive days without rest or food, eventually collapsing from exhaustion and being carried back by his comrades.
The gradually increasing regulations of the training camp were meant to prepare them in advance for the high-intensity battles ahead.
The no-food-removal rule crushed any cheating plans Li Zheng and the others might have had. They could only survive each night by gnawing on canned food bought from the shop.
Occasionally, if they were lucky, spiritual fish meat would be listed in the Trading House. Whenever that happened, the brothers would scramble to divide it up.
By now, Li Zheng and the Grind Kings felt bitter.
The high-intensity training was depleting them far beyond what canned food could replenish. Without spiritual food to offset the excessive consumption, the hunger never left them.
This reminded Li Zheng of what the God of Wealth had once said: the food in the cans was meaningless, even inferior to cultivating and absorbing heaven and earth spiritual energy.
He hadn’t understood it then, but now he knew why.
Once the body reached a certain strength, ordinary food barely replenished it anymore.
It was foreseeable that as players leveled up, spiritual food would become the primary means of addressing hunger, and the one sacrificial power point canned food would gradually be phased out.
Despite the suffering from training and hunger, there were still moments of happiness for Li Zheng and the others in the camp.
For instance, the medicinal bath every two days.
Each medicinal bath brought over 7,000 points of body tempering experience.
This gain far exceeded hunting Evil Entities and monsters outside.
More importantly, the increase in body tempering experience also boosted all base attributes of the primary form.
Every player in the Grind Kings had reached level 3, with Li Zheng’s body tempering level even reaching level 5.
This meant five monster souls could be embedded into the Star Vein, allowing his primary form to inherit all attribute bonuses from five monster souls.
Unfortunately, the training camp didn’t allow them to hunt and raise the level of embedded monster souls, so the initial monster souls they embedded provided only limited attribute bonuses.
Evening approached.
The last rays of dusk quietly disappeared beneath the horizon, replaced by a deep and tranquil blue-violet sky. A thin layer of energy veiled the training camp.
It was mealtime again.
Led by Instructor Mad Sand, Li Zheng and the others entered the cafeteria.
The moment they stepped inside, the rich, mouthwatering aroma of food rushed into their nostrils.
Li Zheng’s gaze swept over the food counter. The meat and bones, along with various vegetables, were steaming, blending into a rich aroma. The scent of spices added a unique fragrance, and just by smelling it, one could already anticipate the delightful taste of the broth, brimming with energy particles.
His eyes moved to the counter on the other side, where fresh spiritual fruits emitted a refreshing fragrance. His gaze seemed able to capture strands of sweetness from them, causing Li Zheng to instinctively swallow, his mouth watering.
Further back on another counter, spirit roots resembling noodles were paired with sizzling roasted meat, with various sauces laid out beside them, radiating an irresistible allure.
Inside the cafeteria, the interweaving aromas of various spiritual foods formed a unique ‘culinary symphony,’ not only awakening the hunger of all trainees but also stirring a sense of bitterness in their hearts.
Because they were destined to have none of this food.
At this moment, Li Zheng glanced not far away at Ghost Eye.
This nemesis, who had arrogantly asked what race they belonged to upon arrival, now gazed at the food with undisguised greed, like a hungry wolf, flames burning in his eyes. His desire for food was like parched earth longing for rain.
Just by staring, the trainees’ stomachs began to rumble with deep, continuous growls, starting a rising and falling pre-meal chorus.
But everyone knew that no one would be eating this meal.