N-M Chapter 235 One month of intensive training produces two Tier 2 powerhouses.
Chapter 235 One month of intensive training produces two Tier 2 powerhouses.
A month is neither a long nor a short time.
But enough to turn a group of people inside out.
The gray sky in the secret realm has been punched with seven or eight holes.
It wasn't caused by a monster; it was caused by an energy overflow during training.
The fourth squad's melee group is hunting down a three-meter-tall frost elite monster.
No one gave tactical commands.
The swordsmen cut in from the left flank, the spearmen blocked their retreat, and the mages' control skills landed precisely during the gaps when the monsters raised their claws.
three seconds.
The ice armor shattered, and the monster fell to the ground.
Clean and neat.
There were no unnecessary skill casts, and not a single drop of mana was wasted.
A month ago, this group of people were fighting the same monster, and things were going to get really chaotic.
Mages rushed to unleash their ultimate abilities, melee fighters huddled together to block each other's attacks, and archers' arrows often ended up stuck in their own teammates' shields.
Lu Yan stood on a high rock platform.
On his panel, the training data for seventy people was being updated.
Second-tier Awakened: Twenty people.
First-tier peak threshold: Thirty-one people.
Nineteen people remain.
This figure was twice as high as Qin Wangshan's expectations.
"The Last Lesson".
Lu Yan spoke, and his voice spread across the entire plain through the amplification array.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up in unison.
"Simulated battle".
"You seventy people are fighting against seven of us."
There was a two-second silence on the plain.
The third squad's vice-captain—now a second-tier awakened one—smirked.
"Seventy against seven?"
Zhao Leiguang poked his head out from behind the rock, the two Taotie shields clanging loudly on his back.
"What, you think it's not enough? How about you gather a hundred and forty?"
No one laughed.
Because everyone knows what these seven people in front of them represent.
Lu Yan jumped off the rock.
"The rules are simple."
"We suppressed our strength to the peak of the first tier."
"Your objective is to break through Zhao Leiguang's double-shield defense."
"You did it. Training complete."
Zhao Leiguang took the two shields off his back and stuck the spikes at the bottom of the shields into the ground.
The Earth Pulse suit's halo was reduced to its lowest brightness.
But those two shields standing there were like two small city walls.
"bring it on."
Zhao Lei patted the shield.
"Here you go, brother."
---
The first minute of the battle was extremely ugly.
The charge of seventy men was thwarted twice by Wen Yue's scatter grenades.
Xiao Qianyu's flash attack eliminated the four assassins who were flanking her.
Lin Chuxue's magic array forced the mage formation in the middle lane to dodge left and right.
Zhao Leiguang stood motionless at the center of the formation, his two shields crossed, poised for a savage charge—come on, I'll charge you.
The deputy leader of the third squad squatted behind a pile of rubble, panting.
The aftershock of his probing attack still lingered on his blade.
A sword struck Zhao Leiguang's Taotie Shield.
The shield didn't break.
His tiger's mouth was split open.
"How do we fight this?" The female mage of the seventh squad lay prone in the mud, her hat askew.
Use your brain to fight.
The one speaking was the captain of the fifth squad, a taciturn shield guard.
He is one of the second-tier awakened ones.
This month's training taught him one thing—don't look at the panel, look at the person.
"Instructor Zhao's double-shield defense has a rhythm."
He drew a simple formation on the ground with his hand.
"Savage Charge is an active skill; after activation, there is a shield-retracting animation."
"Just a fraction of a second."
That's enough.
The deputy captain of the third squad gripped his sword tightly.
Are you sure?
"I've been watching him for a month."
---
The second wave of the attack.
The formation has changed.
It's no longer a case of everyone rushing in headfirst.
Twenty second-tier awakened individuals were divided into five groups and pressed forward simultaneously from five directions.
The firepower from the fifty men in the rear was no longer a mindless barrage—they were playing a rhythmic game.
Three rounds of spells were fired simultaneously, spaced one and a half seconds apart, precisely timed to match the frequency of Zhao Leiguang's double shields blocking.
Zhao Leiguang's eyebrows twitched.
"That's interesting."
The first group met the attack head-on. Four heavily armored shield guards clashed with the Taotie shield, the sound of metal colliding echoing across half the secret realm.
The second and third groups circled around from both flanks to the rear.
Wen Yue's crossbow bolts blocked the right flank, but the people on the left flank bravely charged forward despite Lin Chuxue's magic array.
The female mage—the same mage who trembled even when using her staff as a stick a month ago—with half of her robe charred, slammed a second-tier binding spell at Zhao Leiguang's feet.
The ground is cracked.
Zhao Leiguang's feet were frozen in place by the magic array for 0.3 seconds.
Just 0.3 seconds.
The fifth squad leader led the fourth group to crash into it.
He transformed into a living battering ram.
The edge of the shield emitted the golden light characteristic of second-order energy.
He crashed into Zhao Leiguang's left-side Taotie shield.
A crack appeared in the animal pattern on the shield.
Zhao Leiguang's foot slid back half a step.
This was the first time in a month that someone had asked Zhao Leiguang to move.
"good!"
Zhao Lei shouted, his voice overly excited.
The deputy captain of the third squad charged in from the front.
The blade was enveloped in the faint light of second-order laws.
His target was not Zhao Leiguang's body—it was the point where the two shields intersected.
The sword tip pierced the crevice.
The weight of the whole person pressed down on it.
A three-inch gap was pried open on the surface of the Taotie Shield.
It's only three inches.
But three inches is enough.
The two spearmen who followed behind then inserted the tips of their spears into the gap.
The spear tip pressed against Zhao Leiguang's breastplate.
stopped.
The entire room fell silent.
Zhao Leiguang looked down at the tip of the spear in his chest.
He looked up at the third squad's vice-captain, whose face was covered in blood but who was grinning.
"OK."
He put away his two shields.
"You passed the test."
A roar erupted across the plain.
---
Dragon Guard Headquarters. Deep Monitoring Room.
Qin Wangshan threw the cigarette he had been holding for a month into the trash can.
On the holographic projection, the data of seventy people were clearly summarized.
Second-tier Awakened: Twenty people.
Organized as a unit.
The first organized second-tier backbone force in the history of China.
Qin Wangshan took off his glasses and pressed his thumb against his eye socket.
The staff officer next to me handed me a tissue.
He didn't answer.
"Notify logistics."
Qin Wangshan's voice was somewhat hoarse.
"Allocate the second batch of S-class standard equipment there."
"Twenty sets. Not a single one less."
---
Exit of the secret realm.
The main force has assembled and is ready to withdraw.
Lu Yan stood by the exit magic circle, his gaze sweeping over every face.
Some were laughing, some were cursing, and some were so exhausted they collapsed on the ground, not wanting to move.
The air was thick with the smells of sweat and burnt food, a mixture that was unpleasant but invigorating.
His gaze swept past the back of the crowd.
Li Mu kept his head down and followed at the back of the eighth squad.
The soldier who crouched behind the dead tree a month ago, clutching a white crystal.
He was one of the nineteen out of seventy people who had not yet broken through to the second tier.
His behavior was strange.
Not bad—quite the opposite, his fighting instincts have improved rapidly, and his reaction speed ranks among the top three among those who haven't broken through.
But it just gets stuck at the critical point and can't get past it.
It's like something inside him is struggling with the awakening energy.
Lin Chuxue sidled over from the side, still holding the Blood Pool Howling Staff in her hands.
She tugged at Lu Yan's sleeve.
The expression on his face was somewhat strange.
"team leader."
"That person."
The dark red crystal at the tip of her staff spun half a circle, aligning itself with Li Mu's direction.
"His shield value is increasing."
Lu Yan turned his head to look at her.
"No one has given him a shield."
Lin Chuxue's voice was very low.
"I know Su Yunqing's healing range. In the last simulation battle, she was healing the front row the whole time and didn't cover him at all."
"But he now has an extra layer of shield."
"It's very thin. The growth is very slow."
"If only I had so little health and wasn't so sensitive to shield values—"
"It's impossible to detect."
Lu Yan's gaze fell back on Li Mu.
The man was walking towards the exit with his head down.
His shoulders were slightly hunched.
His fingers unconsciously clenched around his chest.
Lu Yan lifted his foot.
"Li Mu".
Li Mu paused for a moment.
He turned around, a stiff smile on his face.
"Instructor Lu, what is it?"
Lu Yan walked up to him.
Raise your right hand.
A black petal, about the size of a fingernail, was held between the index and middle fingers.
The edges of the petals swirled with a dark light that seemed to flow with the laws of the void.
The fragment of the black lotus trembled slightly as it approached Li Mu's chest.
Li Mu's pupils contracted.
"What have you been up to lately?"
Lu Yan's tone was cold.
"Did you eat something you shouldn't have?"