The Other Students' Methods
Principal Smith said that they would stay in the forest for a week, during which time they would have to raise the weight of the weighted battlesuit by at least 250 kg.
Since Adam hadn't changed to a weighted suit in front of Principal Smith and kept it at the original 750 kg, his target goal in the principal's mind was 870. However, he was already at that weight, and it was barely even an itch to him.
The feeling was like he had a kid hanging on his neck, a nuisance, but not nearly enough to immobilize him.
Wanting more of a challenge, Adam quickly found the dial again and started to spin it.
Slowly but surely, Adam began to spin the dial, going from the original 870 kgs all the way to 920 kgs, before he felt the same feeling. It was just like he was walking through a swamp. It was challenging and annoying, but by no means was it impossible.
Nodding with acceptance, Adam quickly started a little stretch to get used to the new weight. Spinning his neck around, tossing a few jabs, and waving his legs like swords, Adam quickly figured out his limits with the latest weight.
Feeling great, Adam quickly ran back into the darkness. There was still much to do!
—
While Adam looked for his third beast to hunt and kill, the other three students in the forest were doing the same, but there was a varying degree of success.
Yan Xiaonan's strong suit was her speed and dexterity, but such abilities were much better used against other humans. When she was faced with tank-like opponents like the demonic beasts in the forest, she was significantly suppressed. Even more so when she had the weighted battlesuit on and had her speed suppressed by another fold.
So, of the four students in the forest, she was having the worst time. It was not because she was the least talented or anything; it was just a bad matchup.
Because of this, when Adam had hunted and killed two beasts, Yan Xiaonan hadn't even found one.
Actually, those weren't the right words. She had found a few beasts, but without her speed and a potent weapon to break through their defenses, Yan Xiaonan wouldn't provoke a beast she wasn't confident in beating.
As such, she had been forced to give up on a few beasts.
So, it would've been better to say she hadn't found a suitable beast, not one in general.
Still, she wasn't idle. Rather than continue her futile efforts, she decided to give up hunting for now and train arduously in the forest.
Even without intense fights and high-grade Body Refining Pills, Yan Xiaonan could have a more effective and worthwhile training session in the forest than at home just by using the weighted battlesuits.
The Body Refining Realm was all about the mortal shell, the physical body. You had to work, stimulate, and push your body to its very limits. Only then would the body become strong enough to withstand the Spiritual Qi of the universe and continue to evolve endlessly.
Plus, while she didn't have high-grade Body Refining pills, like Adam did, she did have middle-grade ones. She was the child of a pill merchant. How could she not have pills on her?
So, just like Adam, Xiaonan trained until she was exhausted, took a pill, and trained until she was broken. Then, rinse and repeat.
These two factors brought Yan Xiaonan into a cycle of creation and destruction, allowing her Vitality Index Score to grow much faster.
All Yan Xiaonan needed to do was rinse and repeat this cycle until she was strong enough to beat a beast herself.
Sadly, Yan Xiaonan was running out of pills. She only brought 5 pills with her, and she had already gone through 2.
Soon, she would have to stop training and find a beast to fight, whether she was prepared or not.
Thankfully, even though she didn't have a status screen like Adam and, therefore, couldn't see her Vitality Index Score whenever she wanted, her progress was so visible that she could easily tell she had grown a lot.
—
Moving on from the female speedster a few miles away, Sam was doing a little better than her petite friend.
Unlike Yan Xiaonan, Sam didn't have a speed talent that she was far too reliant on. Of course, this also meant she didn't have anything special or helpful in combat, but someone lacking something was good.
Yan Xiaonan had a speed talent, but she foolishly avoided improving her strength and focused her entire being on her speed. She rarely weight trained and spent all her days at the track field.
Usually, such a move would be fatal in combat, but Yan Xiaonan was young. Like Adam and Sam, she was only 16 this year. She had more than enough time to make up for her shortcomings.
Back to Sam, though, since she didn't have a physical talent, she was forced to train in a well-rounded way. Her strength, speed, and defense were all average, giving her new, visible shortcomings.
She was a jack of all trades but a master of none, basically.
Thankfully, though, she didn't need to be the best at any one thing to be good. Even with the weighted battlesuit on and weighing her down, thanks to a bit of luck, Sam could find a beast near her level and beat it head-on.
Like Adam, Sam also had a talent for alchemy. It was just at a much lower level.
So, she trained the same way Yan Xiaonan did, but Sam would fight whatever beast she could find instead of training by herself. Once she was done, she would swallow a middle-grade Body Refining Pill and refine it.
Without any rules or responsibilities to hold her down, Sam was a free bird in the forest and was enjoying her time inside.
Otto was having a similar time.
By using his unique talent and the tough military training his father forced him into, Otto was having the easiest time in the forest behind Adam.
However, since he didn't have any prepared pills like his peers, Otto's training speed was much slower compared to the rest. All he was doing at this point was just more combat training than anything.
Thankfully, though, there were six more days for him to train. So even if Otto didn't have any advantages or hidden knowledge, Otto's hard work would prevail in the end.
Maybe his Vitality Index Score wouldn't skyrocket much compared to the other students, but such was fate. It was random and favored others. Otto simply drew the shorthand here.
—
As the sky grew darker, time passed slowly, and before any of the four students knew it, the sun began to set.
Unlike Earth in humanity's original solar system, where days were 24 hours long, Planet Eagle's days were much longer.
Planet Eagle was a much larger planet with a much higher gravity and a bit further out in its solar system than Earth.
All these put together made days on Planet Eagle about 35 hours long in the summer and 33 in the winter. In the spring and fall, it fell somewhere between the two numbers.
Beyond the chronological facts of Planet Eagle, more than ten hours had passed since the students entered the forest, and by now, all three of the students had done their own thing.
Whether it was training in preparation for a first big fight, hunting sporadically, sneak attacking beasts, or full-on sprinting around the forest for a fight whenever he wanted to, everyone had stopped.
Nightfall had come, and while martial artists had much stronger and more resilient bodies and could, therefore, go longer without sleep, the students were still too weak. Principal Smith and Percy could go days without sleep, food, or water, should they wish to, but the students couldn't.
So, wanting to get a good night's sleep, they all thought back to Principal Smith's lessons from their last excursion and found various safe sleeping spots.
All options were available in canopies, caves, or the middle of tall dead trees. And soon, they all slept peacefully, happily waiting for the next day.
—-
Morning soon came, and each of the students in the forest began to wake up. Otto was the first to wake up, followed soon after by Sam and Adam, and last was Yan Xiaonan.
It was a small note that only Principal Smith and Percy noticed, but it was something to consider.
As someone who trained under a commander in the Federation's army, Otto would wake up at 7 am religiously, no matter how much or little sleep he got. It was almost an instinct at this point.
Sam and Adam were somewhat similar, as their physical alarm clocks would wake them up at around 8 to 8:30 a.m., depending on the day.
Of the four, though, Yan Xiaonan was the laziest. It was nothing to her character or anything; it was just that she had the best background of them all and was coddled a lot by her father growing up. It was a habit she was slowly trying to get rid of, though. Whether or not she did, only time would tell.
Beyond their wake-up time, every student continued to do their version of training. They all had different training methods, but no matter how different they were, the end results were the same, and by the time the week truly ended, each student would emerge a different person entirely.
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