Chapter 57 - Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Darren Callum, Battle Armor
Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Darren Callum, Battle Armor
Translator: 549690339
After dinner, leaving Glenn Clark to do the chores like washing the dishes, Jack Clark went upstairs to cultivate.
He practiced Dragon Elephant Power as usual, then sank his consciousness and focused on his Avatar.
In the pitch-black cave, the ferocious black Unique Beast opened its eyes and started moving its increasingly heavy body, leaving deep claw marks with every step.
Soon, the cave entrance underwater wavered as a dark shadow vaguely appeared in the river.
Bang! Under the deep water, water splashed as the Heavy Armored Beast tightly bit the neck of a mutated fish four meters long, its body covered in thick scales, and its dorsal fin like a spiky forest.
No matter how fiercely the mutated fish struggled, it could not escape the Heavy Armored Beast’s mouth, being held down firmly at the riverbed with its astonishing power.
Although the Heavy Armored Beast was half the size of that mutated fish, its weight far exceeded the mutated fish. With the talent to unleash a hundred-fold power, it completely crushed the fish in all aspects.
Finally, with a click, the mutated fish’s spine was bitten off, and the strong smell of blood spread along the river, making the black Unique Beast appear even more ferocious.
As the Heavy Armored Beast began to tear the fish meat and eat, Jack Clark was slightly distracted, weighing which genes to fuse in the Heavy Armored Beast next time.
An electric eel that could generate its electricity or focus on enhancing agility and speed?
As Jack considered, he gradually leaned towards prioritizing speed.
At the moment, the Heavy Armored Beast already possessed the talents of defense and strength, almost instantly killing all mutated creatures of the same size.
However, as its body grew larger, it exposed some weaknesses.
For example, its increasingly heavy body is affected by external gravity, making it slower and slower.
This was not a problem in the water; its speed was only slightly worse than that of the fishes. But on land, its deep footprints slowed it down further…
November 5th, in the morning.
“Teacher, I’d like to sign up for the trial.”
Upon arriving at the school, Jack Clark immediately signed up with Lori Parma.
Seeing the youth standing before him, Lori Parma had a deep impression of him because Jack Clark was the only freshman who broke into the top fifty of the grade with low-level martial arts.
Moreover, more than half a month after the ranking competition, he had already broken through the Second Layer Heaven.
This scenario could only indicate that his true martial arts talent far surpassed many so-called ‘geniuses’.
Unfortunately, the rule determining the access privileges based on initial cultivation talent came from higher-ups. Otherwise, with Jack Clark’s talent and the cultivation of advanced skill, his strength would have been even stronger.
In a reflective mood, Lori Parma spoke solemnly, “Are you sure you want to participate in the trial?”
Jack nodded, “Yes.”
“Alright, sign this agreement. It contains information about the risks of this trial, precautions, and some benefits offered by the school,” said Lori Parma, handing Jack Clark a document.
Jack took the document, sat down, and began to read it carefully.
The first page detailed the possible risks they might encounter, such as handguns, submachine guns, grenades, bombs, and even covert sniper attacks. Apart from the risk information, there was also a waiver for weapons and legal restrictions. All students participating in the trial could carry weapons, and officials would give a set of special full-body armor.
This equipment was similar to bulletproof vests, covering the entire body, with the inner layer made of special steel mixed with a flexible material and lightweight alloy on the outer layer to create a thin battle armor.
The weakest parts of the armor, like the joints, could block handgun bullets, while the front could resist rifle bullets. It is also resistant to puncturing.
Even if the bullet penetrated the surface alloy, it would be stopped by the flexible steel wires on the inner layer, penetrating at most into the muscles without causing piercing damage.
The strongest part of this armor was its helmet. Made of a thicker alloy, the helmet could withstand even sniper bullets, but couldn’t resist armor-piercing bullets.
Thus, it was only suitable for facing light firepower; one should still avoid heavy firepower like rockets and anti-equipment sniper rifles.
While the entire armor weighed about thirty kilograms, it was made specifically for cultivators, as ordinary people would have difficulty moving in it.
As for the lifting of legal restrictions on killing, as long as it involved rebels or cultists wielding weapons posing a threat, it was permissible to kill on the spot.
Simply put, it was a license for violence. Seeing this, even Jack Clark couldn’t help but be taken aback.
With the speed, power, and explosion of a Second Layer Cultivator, combined with the full-body armor that ignores ordinary firearms, a charge into the ranks of ordinary rebels would be overwhelming.
However, those who kill will eventually be killed.
The contract also included a life-and-death statement, stating that if a participating student died in battle, the school would provide some compensation but not assume responsibility.
After carefully reading all the terms, Jack Clark signed his name.
Lori Parma took the signed contract and reminded, “Cultivate well in the meantime. We’ll gather at the school on Sunday morning, and a special plane will take us to Koroya.”
“We? Are you going too, teacher?”
Lori nodded: “Yes, I am one of the teachers leading the team this time, and I will be responsible for dealing with the possible experts from the other side.” Hearing this, Jack hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t help but ask curiously: “Teacher, can I ask how many realms you have reached?”
“Why, are you curious?”
“A little.”
Lori smiled: “I don’t mind telling you. My realm is at the peak of Sixth-level Heaven, but I’ve been stuck there for years.”
“You haven’t broken through for years.” Jack was stunned.
Lori snorted: “Do you think breaking through realms is as simple as drinking water? You should know that many people are stuck in the Fourth Layer Heaven or Fifth Layer Heaven for their entire lives.”
Speaking of this, Lori got emotional: “Your generation is lucky. So many of you have broken through to Second Layer Heaven in Senior One.”
“If it was more than ten years ago, even in their twenties, those who could break through to the Second Layer Heaven were considered geniuses.”
Jack was taken aback: “That’s extreme.”
Lori speechless: “Of course, back then there was no Foundation Establishment method, schools didn’t have a lot of resources, and there weren’t even a tenth of the people who could directly cultivate True Martial and enter the door.” “Moreover, even if they successfully entered, their progress was extremely slow. Those who broke through one realm per year were super geniuses, while it was normal to break through to the Second Layer Heaven after two or three years of cultivation.”
“Back in the day…” After Jack opened the floodgates, Lori got more animated and shared with him the cultivation situation in the past decades.
Not only did Jack not find these stories boring, he was even more interested in them, and learned a lot of new information he hadn’t known before.
In addition to breaking through to the Third Realm and other cultivation experiences.
Among the nearly eighty ‘genius’ Second Layer Heaven students of the whole school, Jack included, some chose to sign up, but there were also those who chose to give up.
Not everyone has the courage to face the massacre directly; after all, they are still in Senior One and are just teenagers.
In the end, only around fifty of those eighty decided to participate.
In the afternoon, Jack arrived at Crystal and their club’s activity room.
In the rest area, Crystal, Justin, Freya, Matt, Mandy, and Maria were chatting. When Jack arrived, they greeted each other one by one.
Compared to Class 3, Class 9 has only had two people break through to Second Layer Heaven so far.
As the initiator of this gathering, Matt said: “Just yesterday, the Federation announced the suppression of the Koroya rebels and the beginning of economic and civilian recovery.”
Crystal nodded: “In contrast to the vast Human Federation, the strength of the Koroya rebels is nothing.”
“If it weren’t for the rules set when the Human Alliance was established, the Federation would have quelled the rebellion long ago.”
Matt cautiously said: “But we cannot take this lightly. It’s chaotic out there, so 1 suggest we form a small team.”
“That way, in battle, we have people watching our backs and helping each other, avoiding sneak attacks. What do you think?”
“Sounds good.”
“I agree to it…”
Jack didn’t object either. After all, having a little more security was better with these familiar faces than with other students.
So, everyone joined a chat group called South Sky Three Nine to stay connected.
As soon as Jack entered the group, he recognized everyone by their avatars, but his eyes became strange when he saw their usernames.
Crystal’s username was ‘Queen’, which suited her personality. The seemingly gentle Mandy’s username was ‘Gentle Sea Breeze’, which was quite girlish.
Freya’s was ‘Dream Catching Clear Song’, which matched her temperament.
But what kind of ghost was Justin’s ‘Super Chirpy Bully’?
And Matt, who seemed calm and wise, had a username of “If Youth Isn’t Wild We Are in Vain”..