Chapter 18 Strategies

　　"297..."

　　"298..."

　　"299..."

　　"Three hundred!"

　　Alan's hands went limp and his whole body was plastered to the ground, sweating like a pig. He was in the middle of physical training, three hundred one-handed push-ups was a normal training in the surface training camp, but considering that he was doing it in twice the gravity, then the intensity of the training was only higher than before.

　　The 20 square meter gravity room was capable of simulating the earth's gravity about 10 times, which could be adjusted according to the user's needs. This was a special room used as a physical training room for the contestants, and in Babylon, ten times gravity rooms were not rare. As mentioned in Hughton's ramblings earlier, the military or those great nobles' own private gravity chambers could simulate up to 50 times the earth's gravity.

　　Conducting training in a gravity chamber was difficult to accomplish by relying solely on the physical abilities of ordinary humans, and only by allowing the source power to fill the entire body was it possible to counteract some of the gravity's suppression. Therefore conducting physical training was also a process of refining source power.

　　Alan rolled over and said to the ceiling, "End of training."

　　Suddenly the whole body was light, that was the result of the room's brain stopping to simulate the earth's gravity. In the training building, almost all the facilities could be controlled with voice control. Allen had now begun to get used to this brand new mode of life, even if it had only been most of a day since he had arrived in Babylon.

　　Looking at the ceiling, the silvery metal dome reflected Allen's figure. The teenager remembered what Hughton had said earlier, and his mood was as overwhelming as his body under the weight of gravity.

　　The source power confinement was far more complicated than he had imagined, and Alan remembered the previous conversation, and when he pressed Hughton on whether there was a way to undo the confinement, the old drunk suddenly fell silent. It was only after a moment that he said to him, "Of course there is a way to lift it, and there are two. But whichever one is not easy, the first method is the simplest and most difficult, and that is to have the person who fastened this lock himself unlock it for you, with hundreds of combinations of source power. Even if you use your intelligence brain to perform logical calculations, it would be difficult to calculate the real answer. Different attributes, strengths and weaknesses of the source power, and so on, would produce countless possibilities. That's why this password is only clear to the person who imposed the source power confinement ..."

　　"What about the second method?" Alan pressed.

　　Instead of answering directly, Hughton looked at him and said, "Child, why are you so persistent. Let's put it this way, even if I can't form a genetic circuit, I have some tricks that can help you, and perhaps, win."

　　Alan shook his head, the look and admonition in Lenny's eyes as he made his decision flashed through his eyes. He said firmly, "Major General, for my end will never be some death ring."

　　Gazing at Alan's brilliant red pupils, Hughton looked like he sensed something. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, it doesn't matter if I tell you. The second method has to depend on you, in fact, your luck is not bad, that person imposed three layers of confinement at your heart. I felt it, the first layer of confinement is the weakest, perhaps with the source power of the nine vortexes it can be forcibly destroyed from the outside."

　　"It's like if you don't have a key, you'll have to open the lock violently. But I have to remind you that the source force confinement is like a barrier, and that barrier is in your heart. When the force forcibly impacts it, even if it manages to break through the shield, it will cause unavoidable damage to your heart." Hughton patted him on the shoulder and said, "My advice to you is that if you want to use the second method, then roll on over to the gravity room now for a series of physical training. Only a stronger physique and source power will be able to withstand the damage that will come from punching through the barrier."

　　"Thank you, Major General." Alan grinned, then ran for the gravity chamber without saying a word.

　　Hughton looked at him and shook his head straight, "Stupid, stupid guy ..."

　　"I kinda like the brat, though." He lowered his head again to continue the work at hand.

　　Now Allen had four source power vortexes, but he was still five short of the basic requirement for impacting the barrier. Calculating the time, there was still one month left to hammer five source power vortices in thirty days. Any normal person would know how difficult this was. Allen gritted his teeth and asked the room's brain to continue turning on the gravity simulation, followed by a whole set of physical training.

　　Even though it was difficult, Allen would not give up. He had already lost a lot and didn't want to lose even the chance to avenge his mother and White Fang.

　　Outside the gravity room, Hughton had finished his work. He stared at a light screen on the wall that showed Alan training himself. Hughton took a sip of his drink and fell silent.

　　As Allen walked out of the gravity room almost trembling on his legs, he fell to the floor with a weak leg. Right now, every muscle in his body was trembling, and some tendons had even been damaged. Allen now didn't even have the strength to move a single finger, and could only barely keep his eyes open. Hughton walked over and picked him up and said, ''It's good for young people to fight for their lives, but it's not wise to fight for your life before the match. You can squeeze your potential, but you can't squeeze it all at once, that will kill you, kid."

　　Hughton carried him back to his room and threw him onto the bed as soon as he could. Leaving for a few moments he brought an injection and stuck it directly into Alan's arm, pressing the liquid from the injection in. Hughton patted his face and said, "Don't think about anything right now, just get a good night's sleep."

　　The world gradually became blurry, and when even Hughton's face could not be seen, Allen finally fell asleep. By the time he woke up, it was early the following morning. Allen took a shower and changed into clean clothes. When he came to the hall again, Hughton didn't seem to be up yet, and the hall was quiet.

　　The Mad Butcher was laid out on the table, Allen walked over and picked it up. The black steel greatsword had been reassembled and complete, Allen swung it a few times and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Behind him Hughton's voice suddenly sounded, "You can try sending source power into the blade and see what happens."

　　The old drunk spelling a flask was standing behind Allen, Hughton was disheveled and his eyes were bloodshot, almost like a drunk who had been up all night. Allen followed what he said and used his will to drive the source power in his body and channeled it towards Mad Butcher. When the source power entered Mad Butcher, Allen suddenly felt like a black hole in the great sword, immediately draining his pitiful source power.

　　A sense of emptiness floated over the teenager, barely standing. But the Mad Butcher changed, first the dark lines that turned on either side of the blade gradually lit up, and finally a 20CM length of energy blade popped out from the front. The energy blade was dark red in color and hummed and quivered like a curtain of light, the light illuminating the teenager's face as Allen looked at Hughton excitedly.

　　He could finally drive the Berserkers!

　　After lasting 30 seconds, the energy blade flashed and retracted again. Allen couldn't hold Berserk Slaughter any longer, and the greatsword fell to the floor with a clank. Hughton picked it up and put it on the table, looking at Alan, who was sitting on the floor with a white face after having his source power squeezed out, he said, "Look, you can already use this toy. That's the good news, the bad news is that to use it skillfully, you still need more source power support. Otherwise it would only be a joke if you just activated the energy sharpness sequence and turned into a limp noodle yourself."

　　On this day, Allen was physically aware of the pain of the source power draining out of him. A great emptiness as filled his soul, while his heart drummed unheard like a bellows. His heartbeat was like a drumbeat, constantly ringing in his ears, reminding him to be careful and more careful next time.

　　Allen sat on the ground for the entire morning, during which Hughton just drank and ignored him. It was only after Allen had recovered a source vortex of his own that the feeling of emptiness receded and the teenager had the strength to get up. By the afternoon, Hughton threw him into the gravity room again. The next two days were nothing but physical training and physical training, and Alan almost had to think that the old drunk was being lazy, that he hadn't instructed him in anything else up to this point.

　　During that time Tonisoff came twice, met him once and then did not leave, it looked like Ensign Siren was quite busy.

　　On the fifth day, Allen had breakfast and was already heading toward the gravity room out of habit without Hughton's orders. Instead, Hughton called out to him, and Alan looked at the Major General quizzically as the drunkard gestured toward his side, signaling Alan to come over.

　　"I've already looked at the other contestants' profiles, and these little guys aren't easy. Alan, what are you going to do once the match starts?" Hughton asked casually in a chatty tone.

　　Alan thought for a moment and swung his fist around and said, "Take everyone out, wouldn't that be a win?"

　　As soon as he had finished speaking, he gave Hughton a knock on the head from the flask. This tin wine pot knocked Allen's teeth grinning, Hughton shook his head and said in a bad mood: "Ron is teaching you all these things to exercise your muscles into your brain? You idiot, did I not make myself clear enough just now. Your competitors will not be too far apart in strength, at least most of them are similar to you. If you don't use your brain to work hard, I bet you won't last more than two days."

　　"So what am I supposed to do?" Alan asked, rubbing his head.

　　Hughton in the nostrils "hum" said: "to have a strategy, understand? A man with force but no strategy is just a martial artist. Only with courage and strategy can you hope to become a famous general like me!"

　　Looking at the so-called "famous general", Allen really doubted how much water there was in Hughton's words. Huiton coughed dryly and said: ''Don't look at me now, when I was young, when I was on an expedition to the outer regions, you still don't know where you are. If not, how do you think that the rank of Major General came about? That's all from fighting!"

　　"Now listen to me, every day you have a period of free time. During this time you can go anywhere except you can't leave the building. My suggestion is to use this time to hang out in the training hall on the top floor. Meet some friends and if the conditions are right, form a temporary alliance that will help you in the death ring."

　　"Child, you must remember. One person's power is limited, in the Death Ring, or on your future path. Whether it's the soldiers under you, or your friends, you have to find a way to combine the resources that you can use, and you will find that this force is far more powerful than you as an individual." After thinking about it, Hughton added, "Of course, personal force is also important, it is the virtue and core of your gathering resources."

　　"Finally, read these books when you have time, they will help you." Hughton pulled three books out of his coat and tossed them into Alan's hands.