Zhao Ming looked distressed as he followed the Iron Hammer Brothers to the training camp.
After all, the Iron Hammer Brothers were big shots, and it was hard to refuse them. But his dream was clearly to be a couch potato... A capable couch potato who could grow stronger without training.
Zhao Ming felt that the next few hours of his life would be gloomy.
The three of them arrived in front of the third layer's gate, the door tightly locked. Previously, they had to exchange for a one-time access card at the employment center, which was troublesome. Now it was convenient, the three of them took out their cards, swiped them in sequence, and entered the third layer of the training camp.
Zhao Ming had been here before, naturally. After joining the Patrol Team, under Captain Luo's leadership, he had visited once. He tried a training facility called the rapid runway, which left an indelible shadow on his fragile heart.
Meanwhile, the Iron Hammer Boss, Ma Jiafeng, had already stepped forward, arriving at the training facility of the adaptive space.
This facility was a hemispherical space, covering a relatively large area. Awakeners entering it needed to evade attacks coming from all directions.
This was a facility testing reaction skills.
Ma Jiafeng patted Zhao Ming's shoulder, "I'll go in first to demonstrate, watch carefully, kid."
He entered, and the facility door closed, sealing the entire space.
Although the space was closed, a part of the facility's outer wall was transparent, allowing a clear view of the interior from outside.
Ma Jiafeng took a deep breath and gently said, "Start."
In an instant, red lights flashed throughout the adaptive space. The portion of the facility's inner wall that wasn't transparent extended a few gun barrels, and energy balls suddenly shot out from them.
Ma Jiafeng's expression didn't change. He slightly leaned sideways and dodged the first energy ball.
This was the adaptive space, where the goal was to minimize the damage you took within the allotted time.
This one energy ball was just the beginning. Soon, more and more gun barrels extended from the inner wall, one energy ball after another shot toward Ma Jiafeng in the center.
Ma Jiafeng focused, his eyes scanning all around him, and his body quickly darted back and forth, left and right, constantly dodging the incoming energy balls.
with a buzzing sound, a purple-red laser beam shot across to the opposite inner wall and slowly moved towards Ma Jiafeng.
His movement space was gradually being restricted!
Sweat began to trickle down Ma Jiafeng's forehead.
Suddenly, another purple-red laser shot out, landing beside him. He was instantly startled, the previously planned evasion spot was now occupied by the laser, forcing him to twist his body awkwardly but still get hit by an energy ball.
At that moment, Ma Jiafeng's expression tightened.
This type of energy ball wasn't highly lethal, far from life-threatening, but it had a special effect. Those hit by it would experience pain and numbness. In this adaptive space, once you lost your defense, it wasn't just a matter of losing some points. Sometimes, those with less endurance wouldn't make it to the end of the session.
Ma Jiafeng didn't give up. Relying on his strong willpower, he overcame the numbing sensation and narrowly avoided the next attack.
Finally, the minute ended, the blinding red light disappeared and became a soft green glow.
"Training complete, trainee Ma Jiafeng, simple difficulty, hit once, movement radius 2.5 meters, rating B-."
The screen next to the adaptive space immediately displayed the assessment results.
Ma Jiafeng looked utterly disappointed, "Ah, I can't even reach a B. When will I ever get an A grade? And this is just the simple difficulty."
Zhao Ming stood aside, his lips twitching.
It was true that this was the simple difficulty, yet not many other Patrol Team members could achieve a D-pass rating, let alone a B-!
The adaptive space training wasn't advantaged by strength alone, it trained everyone's reaction ability, including the speed of the energy balls, their number, and more, all of which varied with the trainee's strength.
Being in the third layer of Awakening didn't give much of an edge over those in the first layer.
Yet Ma Jiafeng was way ahead of the other Patrol Team members.
Zhao Ming looked at Ma Jiafeng with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth as a sign of respect. Of course, it was said that the higher-ups at the Sanctuary had even higher scores. He had heard of Captain Luo's record, achieving a B+ in hard difficulty.
Director Tang was even harder to imagine.
The high-ranking members of the Sanctuary were probably monsters, something he had grown accustomed to.
When Ma Jiafeng came out of the adaptive space, he was drenched in sweat, but his expression was quite exhilarated.
"Zhao Ming, it's your turn. Given your current strength, it's best to train your reaction skills. Fighting the Demonized Beasts mainly relies on quick reflexes, since human strength can hardly withstand the impact of Demonized Beasts, go on." He gave Zhao Ming a push on the back.
The force was enormous, and Zhao Ming staggered forward into the adaptive space.
The facility door closed, and the last thing he heard was Ma Jiafeng's laughter, "Go on, once you adapt to the training, you'll find it's a very enjoyable thing."
The red lights gradually lit up, and Zhao Ming swallowed hard.
An energy ball shot out, and he flinched, sidestepping it. But as soon as he landed, his eyes caught sight of another energy ball flying his way.
The energy ball grew larger in his pupils, and Zhao Ming leaned back, barely dodging it as it grazed his cheek.
His heart was pounding, "Lucky, lucky, I can dodge—"
Suddenly, he let out a scream. Somehow, an energy ball smashed into his back. Zhao Ming felt half his body go numb as his eyes widened at the increasing number of energy balls flying toward him, but his body struggled to move.
Soreness and tingling shot through every part of his body.
Zhao Ming's face contorted, and his mouth involuntarily let out a series of plaintive cries.
The sound probably echoed clearly throughout the entire third level of the training camp.
Luckily, besides him, only the Iron Hammer Brothers were present, and they were experts, so he didn't feel too embarrassed.
"Yeah, not embarrassing!"
Thinking this, his eyes suddenly caught sight of some people walking onto the third layer—other Patrol Team members had arrived. Every evening, the training camp became very lively, and even though the third layer required spending contribution points, quite a few people would come up to train.
Those arriving were the only female Awakeners in the Patrol Team, all quite young.
They had heard the screams and looked over with curiosity.
As soon as Zhao Ming's eyes met theirs, his face fell, overwhelmed by both physical and mental trauma.
He felt as though his reputation had just been utterly destroyed.
More Patrol Team members gradually arrived on the third layer for training, with some of the more popular facilities even requiring forming a line.
Zhao Ming stared listlessly, looking utterly disheartened.
Suddenly, a commotion arose not far away.
"Director Tang is here."
He lifted his head in surprise and saw Director Tang, Captain Luo, and Vice Captain Shay coming up from below.
Such a lineup was indeed quite rare.
Especially Director Tang, who had never been seen on the third layer before.