Chapter 230: Chief Instructor's Got His Eyes on You
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
"Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!"
198 pairs of curious eyes were fixed on Li Yao.
Li Yao frowned and knew it was not good.
It was clear that Mao Feng was trying to teach every student a hard lesson and establish his absolute authority by staring at them and destroy their pride.
But as it turned out, Li Yao's soul was too solid to surrender after ten seconds of direct eye contact, which made him looked bad.
That's why the chief instructor set him up as a target for everyone!
With a fake smile, Mao Feng said, "Li Yao, age 20, in the 6th level of Refinement Stage, also known as 'Vulture', a cruel man of your generation from the Grand Desolate War Institution.
"His cultivation is not very deep, but his records are quite impressive.
"Before his spiritual root was awoken, he defeated a mutant demon beast that was almost as strong as a demon soldier. The day he awoke his spiritual root, he beat a Cultivator in the 3rd level of Refinement Stage into a heap of blood and bones which barely looked like a human after the fight. Within the next year, he reached the 6th level of Refinement Stage. He was in the battle of Verdant Tarn City too, where he killed a demon general even though he was only in the 5th level of Refinement Stage at that time.
"After that, he was engaged in a fight against 2,000 freshmen from the Combat Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution. Through his smart tactics, he managed to make the opponents attack each other and broke through their encirclement in the end. His name has been rife since then.
"Lastly, he also happens to be a hybrid-type Cultivator, with talents both in fighting and refining, and he's just passed the Refiners' Registration Examination!
"Although he may lack experience in using a crystal suit, he definitely knows a lot about its structure and will quickly learn about its maintenance.
"The reason I'm telling you all this is to let you know that you shouldn't assume you're someone extraordinary here. There are many more extraordinary people in the Thunder Training Camp. This weakest student is already so remarkable, and the rest will only be better!
"And in the following three months, they will be your opponents!
"The only path in front of you is to crush them by training hard.
"Or you will be crushed by them like the ants below their shoes."
What the instructor said turned the curiosity in their eyes into pure hostility; their eyes were aimed at Li Yao as if they were guns.
Some students were indifferent.
However glorious Li Yao's past might be, he was still just a college student in the 6th level of Refinement Stage, while they were all experts of high-rank Refinement Stage Cultivators: in the 10th level or higher.
"Just some random college student."
Many of them were mocking him.
"Little boy, quite arrogant of you, isn't it? Cruel man of the new generation from the Grand Desolate War Institution? And a f*cking 'vulture'? How interesting. We'll eliminate you as soon as we get a chance and teach you a lesson about the difference between school and real life!"
More students grinned hideously while warming themselves up.
Beads of sweat appeared on Li Yao's forehead, and his back was cold, too. He cursed the instructor silently.
'What a petty man this so-called chief instructor is!
'I was simply staring at him for a few seconds longer than the rest. There was no need to put me in the line of fire like this!'
He glanced at Mao Feng, and found Mao Feng looking at him, too.
Mao Feng patted his shoulder, in a malicious smile, and whispered, "Congratulations, Li Yao. You've attracted my attention. My eyes will be on you in the next three months."
Before Li Yao had a chance to reply, Mao Feng suddenly roared, his beard lifting upwards as if two battle blades, "Everyone, gather in the testing field and get your capability measured first!
"The training camp will provide you with a tailor-made training plan based on your capability and fighting style and arrange different instructors for you accordingly.
"Remember, in the three-month training, there will be an elimination test at the end of each month.
"50 people will be left after the first month.
"20 after the second.
"At the end of the third month, a competition among the remaining 20 will take place and no more than 10 winners will make it to the end before receiving their 'Thunder Exo' badges.
"For those who get the badge, after you enter into the Building Foundation Stage, you will be able to be instructed in the Inner Camp by Lei Tingwei who's in the Core Formation Stage!
"What are you waiting for? The testing field is 50 kilometers away. Get your asses moving now!"
Mao Feng jumped onto the skeleton-like shuttle, throwing dust everywhere after a burst of spirit energy.
He screamed while driving the shuttle,
"Faster! Faster! You're all Cultivators yet you can't outrun a shuttle? Those who fail to reach the testing field within half an hour will be eliminated immediately."
In the smoke, the students gazed at each other in confusion. Suddenly, someone dashed forward. Almost simultaneously, various colorful spirit energies burst out from everybody as they started chasing the shuttle like lightning.
And thus, the competition began!
Rushing 50 kilometers in a desert under the boiling sun at a speed close to a shuttle, even the high level Cultivators felt tired and were sweating over.
But they were all men of determination. Pushed by their desire for victory, they stood straight with an indifferent look, showing no weakness at all.
The testing field had a coverage of couple of square kilometers and boasted state-of-the-art magical equipment for testing. Twenty students were allowed to take a test at the same time.
Beside the testing field were a hundred giant dark iron boxes with murderous runes carved on the surface that brought a strong sense of blood.
"Crystal suits!"
"Not training suits. They are real crystal suits!"
"Although they're models from 100 years ago, they're still authentic battlesuits that were worn in battlefields and wielded to kill monsters before!"
"Using real battlesuits at the beginning test, the Thunder Training Camp is really rich. It deserves its name as one of the four top training camps. This trip is definitely worth all the trouble!"
Many students were delighted.
Most of them had received preliminary crystal suits training before. But what they'd worn during training were simple testing crystal suits, which had a huge difference from the real ones.
Seeing the grandeur scene where 100 crystal suits lined up in a row, everyone was passionate and ready for a fight.
Mao Feng roared, "According to your profile, the Thunder Training Camp has prepared a suitable crystal suit for each one of you. You may find your own crystal suit by the names floating above the boxes.
"Remember, this is going to be your last chance to use your name in the Thunder Training Camp. Later, you will be ranked according to your capability from 1 to 100, and your rank will be the only reference to you in the coming three months.
"001 stands for the strongest!
"100 represents the lousiest, weakest, and worst!
"Devote every last bit of your strength into the training if you don't want to be '100'!
"Those of you who have zero experience don't need to worry. These crystal suits have been adjusted and have its sensitivity reduced to 30%, which means the difficulty of using them is only 30% of the difficulty of normal ones. It is the easiest mode designed for beginners.
"If you find yourself unable to rein the crystal suit under the 30% sensitivity, get your ass out of here quickly, because it means you have no talent for using crystal suits whatsoever. I don't want to train losers!
"Alright, that's about enough. Those who have worn crystal suits before come up first. The rest of you, find an empty place and try to get familiar with your suit. There are tutorials in the crystal processor. Warm yourselves up a little."
Hearing that, all the students jumped joyously towards the crystal suit that had their name on it.
Other than Li Yao, the other 99 students had all handled a crystal suit before, more or less.
Even the students most unfamiliar with crystal suits had done perfectly accurate simulations in professional simulators before.
Unlike them, for Li Yao, who had grown up in the magical equipment graveyard, his life was nothing but training and fighting. He had never even played any of the popular crystal suits games, let alone perfectly accurate simulations.
After he went to college, he spent all of his time and energy on refining and combat training.
Even if he had spare time, he would use it to learn about the forging and maintenance of crystal suits.
He knew absolutely nothing about how to wear a crystal suit.
Li Yao was thrilled, like a young man who was going to be on his first secret date with his lover. He swallowed to ease his dry throat and walked towards his suit box.
Sliding his fingers over the coarse runes, he felt a deep breath in the box, as if a dormant monster was waking up.
The breath echoed in Li Yao's brain and resonated with its vibration wave, making him unable to control himself.
The uneven runes put on a crimson color as if soaked in blood.
With a cracking sound, the panel on one side of the box split.
An intense, animalistic scent of death crashed into Li Yao's face like a giant hammer. He shivered.
Although it was a 100-year-old ancient crystal suit, it had reaped the lives of thousands of demon beasts, which endowed it with a bitter cold air completely different from new crystal suits.
When the box was opened, Li Yao even seemed to hear the desperate screams of the demon beasts.
Inside the box, supported by an anti-gravity rune array, a two-meter tall crystal suit was floating in the air.
The suit appeared light and agile, covered by scales made of a special alloy that looked like a grey rock.
The arms of the suit were long enough to reach the knees. Both hands were in the shape of a viper's head.
Four teeth-shaped blades were folded on the back of the hands, lurking in the darkness, deadly.
All in all, this crystal suit felt like a serpent that was hiding in the crevice of a rock and ready for its victim.
"Seven-step Rock Snake!"
Li Yao gasped. An awfully dangerous name occurred to him.