Mystical Journey

He hesitated for a moment and decided to invest in the training method since it was the root of all things. In this world, the difference in the level of training method had an effect on status, power, etc.

Even though his Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon seemed to be at a high level, it was actually only parallel to the Level Two of other people’s top training methods. The only edge he had was a greater amount of Willpower and nothing else.

His sight fell on the Attribution pane. After gazing for a number of seconds, the Unnamed Training Method ability blurred for a moment. When it became clear again, it had leaped to another level.

It jumped from Level One to Level Two.

‘Forbidden Training Method: Level Two achieved (a total of five levels, Incomplete), Reflexes advanced to Level Two, Endurance advanced to Level Two, Self-repairing advanced to Level Two. Involving the back, both legs, and the head.’

Garen felt the changes of the attributions after they had advanced, not just from those that were indicated, but also from those that were not marked out. A whole new Willpower had condensed in his inner body core within the Willpower of Crouched Eagle Talon. It was slowly moving in a circular flow by itself, like the nature of rivers.

“I don’t think Level Four of Crouched Eagle Talon can be concealed as it would be noticed by many of the practitioners who are above Level Four. But with its Willpower enveloping the forbidden Willpower, the latter should be able to remain hidden,” Garen knew in his heart that because there was no conflict in this nature of enveloping, the force field emanated by the Forbidden Training Method willpower could be kept hidden. People would think that he had the outer layer Crouched Eagle Talon willpower and neglect the other willpower on the inside.

Five potential points had vanished due to the advancement.

Garen looked at the remaining fifteen points and decided to use them all up in a go. He pored over the Forbidden Training Method.

Hiss…

The icon of the training method instantly blurred. This time, it did not clear up even after a number of seconds but remained hazy.

After half a minute, the icon of the training method finally became visible once more. It was not the former pitch-black patch anymore but a fluttering four-winged bird. Similar to an eagle, the four-winged bird had sharply curved claws and looked as if it was diving to catch something.

Garen gazed at the progress.

‘Forbidden Training Method: Level Five (a total of five levels, Incomplete), Reflexes, Endurance, and Self-repairing Level Five, resulting in special derivative strength: Heart of Endurance – greatly improving the effects of Self-repairing, level of amplification reached level one. The strength of Self-Repairing is now at Level Six standard.’

“Heart of Endurance?” Garen frowned a little as he thought of a vague possibility. “Does this mean that for better quality training methods, arriving at a certain level would yield this kind of derivative strength?”

Due to the lack of information in this area, he could not compare it with other higher level training methods. Nonetheless, the power shown by the training method given by the Forbidden Core had surpassed his expectations.

If this training method focused on one of these attributions: explosiveness, speed, or strength, reaching this level would be terrific because the force produced together by three Level Fives was unimaginable.

After standing on the training grounds for some time, Garen let out a small breath. Around him, there was a sudden burst of faint air-waves. If someone were to inspect closely, they would realize that those were not air-waves but a pure energy field that was spreading out towards the surroundings. This could only happen when the Willpower had reached a certain level of purity. It was also the hallmark of a Level Five pilot. Someone at Level Four might be able to master the energy field and spread it out all over their body surface to fight against the enemy. However, it was a different case for Level Five. The most formidable strength of the Level Five pilot was that the energy field could be dispersed through the mech. Every type of Willpower Energy Field had its own unique special effect, just like Internal Force, where both had exclusive corrosive power. And so, when used by itself, even the gentlest Willpower would have an effect on the enemy although its properties would be different.

Garen paid close attention to the feeling of the flow, immense amount and purity of Level Five Willpower.

After releasing it for a while, he swiftly collected it back and enveloped it using Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon’s Willpower.

To advance from Level Four to Level Five, the common pilots would usually need a couple of years to break through to another level because this involved the matter of will. Garen, however, did not need to worry about it because from the Soul Will point of view, Garen was still stronger than the common pilot in this area even though he was not of the same system.

“Looks like I’ll need some time to adjust to this new strength,” Garen opened his palms. There were still strands of willpower force field that he could not contain emanating from the edge of his palms. This was due to the unconscious dissipation of the sudden spike in Willpower.

It was just like when a person gained Herculean strength all of a sudden; when he lifted a cup with the same amount of strength he usually used, the cup would instantly be shattered.

As he quietly practiced the control of Willpower, Garen was able to hold in the force field of the new Willpower. People generally would need years of work to arrive at this step but Garen did not have this issue.

A few days passed by in a flash.

Garen completed his patrolling assignment. Since he was conferred with the rank of Captain, it came with many privileges such as being presented with special commodity facilities not just for him but his family as well. Formerly, he and his family were unqualified to purchase these things but now they could do so. There were products such as gene enhancement fluid, all kinds of nutritional fluid and mixed essence to prolong lifespan and boost the body’s constitution, a platform for repairing mechanisms and… he could purchase his own Mech!

Garen’s life became a routine of going to the academy for a while every day and spending most of his time at the provisional encampment to train the members. He would send some of the members off one after another because they were still students and would not stay here permanently. There were also some who came from lower-level academies and poor family backgrounds, and they would persist in signing the agreement of joining the military service formally; thus, becoming a member of the unit.

Garen also officially gave a name to the unit. Since the mechs were generally configured as a double-edge type of humanoid Mech, he succinctly named the unit as Double-Edge Unit.

The remaining five members were not a patrol unit tasked with patrolling anymore but had become a standalone special unit that could accept independent assignments. This was also the main type of teams in the Blackboard Region.

Many of the scholars would use this way to accumulate military credits after they had graduated. The military would give out assignments and various parties would go and complete them. Later on, members who had performed outstandingly and served for a period of time would be chosen to join the military’s Black-Clothed General Army.

Everything went smoothly for more than half a month without any problems.

Besides training the five members every day, Garen would practice familiarizing himself with his newly obtained training method Willpower and take note of the whereabouts of the Forbidden Core through various channels.

The everyday training caused the five members to complain about the hardship. Alexander, who liked to shirk work, contrasted sharply with that short red-haired girl who would complete the training tasks more than necessary. The other three who did not have a good family background and came from the lower quality academies in Blackboard Region were randomly assigned to be here. Even though every day they would cry out in misery, they would still complete the training tasks without slacking.

Garen was satisfied with this development. Since the higher-ups had bestowed upon him the authority over this unit, he wanted to build this team and made it into his own force. He followed Celine’s method by halving their training so that they could really develop their battle skills and improve their combatting achievements. Though they were unable to reach the level of elite in this short amount of time, at any rate, there would not be any incident like the last time where only Alexander responded and acted rashly.

At least in terms of boldness and discipline, these five were not rookies anymore.

More than half a month had passed in the blink of an eye.

The Eagle’s Nest martial arts computer simulation that Garen had applied to use had finally been approved and a timetable had been drawn up. In order to avoid clashing with other people’s time, he was scheduled for the weekend, on Sunday afternoon.

Garen had always wanted to have a look at the Eagle’s Nest Simulation Computer. After receiving the notice, he hastily arranged everything on hand and hurriedly drove over to the Eagle’s Nest headquarter on Sunday afternoon. He had not been there for a long time.

**********

The Eagle’s Nest appeared to be as deserted and quiet as it was before. It looked like a silver bird nest from afar. There were not many people going in and coming out of it since it was a weekend. Most scholars either had some business to attend to or they would go home to spend time with their families and rest. Some would be working, so there were not many people who would come here to train.

After all, there were designated places for training. The only thing to be done here was to refine one’s martial arts through simulation, interact with other Eagle’s Nest members and receive external assignments.

For the first two items, there would only be a greater number of people at specific times. Regarding the external assignments, there would not be suitable ones available all the time.

Garen got down from the school bus and hurried towards the Eagle’s Nest.

The gatekeeper on duty was a retired old man who smiled and greeted him.

“I haven’t seen you for a long time, Nono,” the old man was sipping a rich wine, sitting with his legs crossed. He knew all the famous scholars in Eagle’s Nest. This old man had once been a member of Eagle’s Nest when he was young, but he’d gotten into an accident and broke his leg. He’d become depressed even though he had a prosthetic leg. That was one of the reasons that many Eagle’s Nest scholars, who prided themselves as elites, looked down upon him.

But Garen did not discriminate him in any way.

“It’s been long, Abel,” he smiled and waved. He had always felt that this old man did not appear as simple he seemed to be. No one had ever seen him drive a Mech in the past few decades he had been a gatekeeper.

As he entered Eagle’s Nest with big strides, the inside was rather empty. Only a dozen or so people were leisurely training with one another in the training hall located at the center. The simulation combat rooms were also vacant with hardly anyone inside.

Only the entrance to the Assignment Room had some people. There would always be someone waiting there so that they could snatch away any high-value assignments that became available.

The top battling teams in Eagle’s Nest would usually send someone to keep watch here. The model of these teams was akin to the model of Garen’s current unit whereby the teams were established after they had completed assignments and performed deeds of merit.

Garen headed over there and had a quick glance.

Hornet Battle Team, Stinger-net Battle Team, Bell Ring Battle Team, Love-me-leave-me-not Battle Team…

These four were the strongest among the Eagle’s Nest teams. Their capabilities were not known but it was said that there were elite students in all of them. Those elite students who could resonate strongly with their Mechs were rising stars and had great hopes of attaining Level Five and above. Naturally, they would have powerful capabilities.

The top four battle teams would station themselves in the Assignment Room all year round. Inside, there was also a counter to recruit people at the same time.

Garen’s presence attracted the attention of a few as they recognized Garen’s identity. This Nonosiva, who had created a commotion when he had first joined Eagle’s Nest and was once the Freshmen’s First Seat, had naturally acquired quite a reputation for himself.

Nono did not pay any attention to them but walked past the Assignment Room and headed towards the martial arts simulation room on the utmost left. He swiped his student card and opened his eye wide.

Two red lights moved slightly, aimed at his pupils and flickered for a split second.

“Appointment found. Student Nono, wishing you a pleasant abuse,” the female computer voice sounded in a mischievous manner.