Chapter 26: Mad Training
“DNA assessment complete, Access Granted for Entering Extinction Site Level 1.” The system said as the heavy, metal alloy gates opened.
There was a very long passage going down to ground level, where a car running on tracks took the passengers to the first level, where the extinction site was.
After Han got on, the electric car started moving automatically. After around 5 minutes, Han got off and came to the first transfer platform. Continuing straight ahead would be the entrance to the actual Extinction Domain, where the secret of this administration lied, and Han wasn’t authorized to enter yet.
Two esper soldiers were on the night shift. The blonde one that smiled a lot was named Charlie, and the guy with a big nose and black hair was named Fo Liman. Both of them were veterans in their 30s that had worked for a long time at the administration.
Although their job was just to protect the entrance to the extinction domain, they still worked hard with no complaints. In their eyes, if they were not qualified to go into the domain, standing outside to guard it was still a great honor.
Dusk approached, Wu Di had introduced them to Han before so they all knew each other. Han greeted them, then went on a side track beside the entrance.
When the Extinction Site Administration was exploring this site a few years ago, they found a miraculous pool of water near the entrance. The temperature of the water was below 0 but it wouldn’t freeze. When Han said he wanted to find an extremely cold place for training, Li Yu immediately thought of this place.
This pool of water was outside of the Extinction domain so even if Han was not some important personnel at the administration, training near the domain shouldn’t be a problem.
After discovering this pool, the administration installed a trail of lights near it, and Han followed them.
The pool was like a terrace, divided into different layers, with each layer being a different temperature. Starting from the highest layer of 0 degrees Celsius, every layer going down was a 10 degrees Celsius decrease in temperature.
With a total of 24 layers, the deepest layer of water reached -230 degrees Celsius! You must know that even absolute zero is only about -273 degrees Celsius.
At this place, even the air was unbearably chilly. The pool’s two sides had steps left behind by the pre-historic civilization. It seemed like a pre-historic intelligent species also frequently visited the pool.
Unfortunately, the administration investigated the pool for a long time and still couldn’t make sense of the purpose this extremely chilly pool served… If it could be used for Han’s training, then it can be counted as useful.
Pathless Origin told Han to start from a temperature of -10 degrees Celsius first, so Han went to the second layer, and put down the 46 Ensemble Training’s frequency spectrograph on a piece of rock.
46 Ensemble Training was accepted by the Milky Way Galaxy as the most effective foundation training. Apparently it was found when exploring an extinction domain. It was a type of aggregated training that enhances source energy, physical body, martial arts, and reflexes.
Just like its name, it was composed of 46 sets of movements of increasing difficulty, from easy to tough. All the espers in the entire Milky Way all started their training with this with almost no exceptions. As well, they only started to learn other skills or techniques after learning the 46 Ensemble Training.
As for the frequency spectrograph used for training and studying purposes, it was a fully automatic holographical projecting system. After turning it on, it was like a half intellectualized virtual teacher that helped students practice. They pointed out the areas that were lacking and needed improvement during the training.
Han didn’t need anyone to give additional pointers when he trained and that was because, in this era, the foundational training was completely intellectualized, it’s pretty convenient.
Aside from those extremely rich families that would still hire personal trainers, the majority of the espers started their training with instructional programs, and meeting teachers to learn usually happens after learning the 46 Ensemble Training.
Han forced his hands down into the -10 degrees Celsius water, and the chilly water felt as if it was piecing through his skin, entering through the pores into the body. But Han was an esper after all, so the source energy could help him cancel out a portion of the cold he felt.
Standing up, Han pressed the combat sized medicine kit on his left wrist. It was the gift from Night Walker, a type of small metal box that could contain all sorts of drugs. All you needed was to put the box close to your mouth and drugs will automatically pop out. This could run on either voice command or touch screen control.
It was designed this way to improve convenience during battle, since during a fight that decided life and death, no one really had the time to take out a handful of drugs, pick out the ones they wanted and then put them back into their pocket. Intellectualized drug containers allowed soldiers to take drugs within the shortest time so it enjoyed a high popularity in the market.
Han placed his square, watch sized medicine kit near his mouth.
“Source Energy, 3 pills.”
Pa~
Right after the words came out of his mouth, the kit automatically shot out three blue pills, and these high-tech training drugs melted immediately in Han’s mouth, showing their effects right away.
Han felt his own energy and power quickly increasing. After 20 minutes later, the drug will reach its maximum effect and will continue until the training ends.
Han took off his clothes, turned on the frequency spectrograph, closed his eyes and jumped into the icy cold water.
Experienced people all know that cold water was a lot more merciless than cold air. Cold water could pierce through skin and muscles and quickly suck out all the heat energy from the human body.
Shua~
The frequency spectrograph started working, projecting two holographical human shadows, one in front of Han, a virtual instructor, another one identical to Han. Whenever Han made a wrong move while practicing, there will be a deviation between him and his hologram. The hologram will turn from white to red so that Han was notified when his movements were not proper.
“Now beginning with the 1st Ensemble.”
“Up”
“Stretch”
“Preserve Strength”
“Transfer”
The 46 Ensemble Training frequency spectrograph was a very advanced system. It will adjust the speed based on the status of the user, and will repeat moves whenever the user fails to perform it correctly.
When Han was back home he watched some online videos and scratched the surface, but it was his first time using a legit frequency spectrograph. He carefully practiced with the hologram and tried his best to stay focused.
But trying to focus in a -10 degrees pool was not an easy task. Han lost an incredible amount of heat energy every second, and his inner source energy started feeling the challenge of the harsh environment. It started to actively help Han fend off the cold, which was surprising and reassuring for Han.
“No wonder Pathless Origin consistently emphasized the importance of the cold environment. Source energy and zero-degree brain region are all reacting as a self-defence mode. In such a cold environment, the zero-degree brain region probably thought that my life was in danger so it started to operate faster, and pushes source energy around my body at a faster speed to keep me warm.” Han thought to myself.
When the cold temperature approaches lethal levels, every organ inside Han’s body started to operate like crazy. Putting up a great struggle in the face of death was a special property about humans, and it was also a property of the zero-degree brain region.
Han had never experienced this feeling before, it was as if every cell inside his body was trying to fight for survival. But, after a while, the struggle began to lose effect, the cold was not only draining his heat away, but also his life.
At the verge of collapsing, Han suddenly thought of what Pathless Origin said.
“Fight to kill! Hit every punch! Trade eye for eye! Only surrender in death!”
“Without such a mindset, it is impossible to become elites.”
Han was completely affected by the sheer force of those words. The cold environment was like a battle field! If he chooses to run away from the cold, what will happen if he joins the battlefield? Where could he run?!
Practicing martial arts was just like practicing your will to live, and training was like a battle!
Without realizing it at first, Han started to feel a small yet miraculous change within his body. The more persistent he was to continue the training, the more the zero-degree region of his brain was influenced by that determination, releasing waves and waves of source energy. This energy entered Han’s body and became the power that supported Han to continue the training.
It’s like a positive feedback loop, only madmen that were persistent to push themselves to the verge of death could really unleash this off-the-chart amount of potential!
It’s just, Han’s potential was a bit different, his zero-degree brain region didn’t belong to him, but from succeeding an unknown ace esper.
