Next to the yellow-bricked dark green tiled Drug Lord Hall was precisely a railed off cliff. A silverthread zipline rested on a stone pillar, connected to an unknown valley in the distance.
Because the ten minutes rewind ability was already used up today, Lin Xi decided to head to a clean boulder that was quite far from the railing, sat down, and then opened the porcelain pill bottle in his hands.
The pill medicine inside was roughly the size of a soybean, the color a bit green, lacking radiance. However, there was a unique, cool fragrance that continuously wafted out.
"Apologies, I obtained a course point before you… I wonder if you are down there?"
While looking at this pill medicine in his hands, he recalled Qiu Lu who challenged him to a faceoff in the training valley. Lin Xi revealed a faint smile, directly swallowing this Fragrance Concentrate Pill.
The precious pill turned into a stream as soon as it made contact with his throat, disappearing into his internal organs like wisps of warm energy.
"This really is extravagant…" Lin Xi mumbled to himself.
According to what the Self Defense Department's Xia Yanbing said, two course points were roughly equivalent to one to two hundred gold worth of goods.
This meant that this Fragrance Concentrate Pill was worth at least fifty gold… in Deerwood Town, this was enough to cover all of a middle class family's expenses for who knew how many years! Moreover, this fifty gold was merely the production cost.
There were some ingredients that could be purchased, while some were grown only in Green Luan Academy, unique items. That meant that the production costs the academy calculated only included some basic labor costs, while the ingredients whose yields were limited to begin with were completely priceless.
That was why the academy's pills, even though they had their own value, couldn't be bought in the outside world, nor were there any in circulation.
Lin Xi waited patiently, deciding he might as well close his eyes. Soon afterwards, he sensed that the stream in his dantian became significantly thicker. As that stream flowed about, the warm feeling that spread through his body also became greater.
When he recalled how the female associate professor raised her thumb, what she said in relation to boulders of different weights, the corners of Lin Xi's lips curled up. He couldn't help but grab the boulder he previously sat on, forcefully raising it.
The rock was easily raised.
"Sis… turns out your old bro actually already became a muscle fiend…" When he saw that this rock that was at least fifty jin in weight was easily raised, Lin Xi shocked himself. If his sis from Deerwood Town saw his originally delicate and weak self easily raise this type of huge boulder, her jaw would definitely fall off.
"What are you doing?" A curious voice sounded.
Lin Xi turned around, but he immediately became a bit dizzy, almost dropping that boulder on his own feet.
Gao Yanan, that tall and slender young lady who made his heart rate shoot up, was currently looking at him out of curiosity, her face bathed in the golden brilliance of the rising sun.
"I…" Lin Xi immediately felt a bit tongue-tied. Only after lowering the large rock in an embarrassed and somewhat lost manner, did he turn around slightly and look towards the gray-robed young lady, "I was just seeing if I could raise this rock or not."
"Oh." Gao Yanan smiled. "You're Lin Xi right? I'm Gao Yanan, we met before during the heaven's choice selection."
Lin Xi took a deep breath, "Of course I remember you."
"Are you heading down to the training valley too?" Gao Yanan nodded, and then waved towards Lin Xi, "I'm going first."
"Okay." Lin Xi inadvertently nodded, watching as Gao Yanan slid down the silverthread zipline. He didn't say anything else.
Even though the young lady wore the ordinary gray-colored academy uniform, it was as if she was soaring between the mountains, her rear figure wonderful, indescribably moving in his eyes.
"Sis… your old bro, this muscle fiend, definitely looked quite stupid just now." When the young lady disappeared, only then did he sigh, mumbling to himself in self mockery.
He never expected the first conversation between him and Gao Yanan to actually be in this type of setting. Unfortunately, he couldn't use his time rewinding ability, or else Lin Xi would definitely go back, make himself look a bit better.
Because he didn't want to coincidentally have to fight Gao Yanan so bitterly immediately after entering the valley below, Lin Xi waited a bit longer before following the silverthread zipline down.
This silverthread zipline was extremely long, passing through several peaks before entering a giant verdant and lush valley.
What left Lin Xi a bit shocked was that at the end of this silverthread zipline was a shrine-like building, the silver zipline connected to a great hall with many white pillars.
After stopping heavily against the similarly heavily padded wall inside this building, landing stably in an experienced manner, a white-haired black-robed stooped elder appeared like a ghost from behind a left gate.
"Lin Xi, follow me." This specter-like black-robed elder directly called out Lin Xi's name, leading Lin Xi into a small and windowless changing room.
"Wear this mask, and then put on these clothes." This outwardly ordinary elder didn't seem fond of conversation. After opening this room's only cabinet, he produced a silver mask and a set of black leather armor, handing them to Lin Xi.
Lin Xi accepted the voice changing face mask and black leather armor lecturer Mu Qing had previously told him about with curiosity. The mask covered his entire head, the face part woven out of layers of silver thread. There seemed to be a silk screen where his eyes were, slightly affecting his eyesight, but breathing underneath the mask was smooth and unhindered, the air flow shockingly good, not making him feel stuffy at all.
As for the black leather armor, it tightly covered his entire body, the sturdy armor not exposing anything, the inside covered in a thick layer of fur. It took quite a bit of effort before Lin Xi was able to learn how to put on this black leather armor under the elder's help.
After fastening some black buckles, Lin Xi discovered that his figure looked much more tall and imposing. Forget about Lin Xi, even if it was Meng Bai who wore this set of armor, others wouldn't be able to recognize who he was.
"So this is the voice changing mask?"
After putting on everything, the now black-armored silver-masked Lin Xi gave off a somewhat chilling loftiness. He couldn't help but want to test things out. What left him stunned was that his own voice became rough, as if there was a viper hissing from the distance, completely unlike his own voice.
"When the air that comes out of your mouth passes through the unique weaving method, the voice will be changed." The black-robed elder carefully examined Lin Xi's attire, and then said strictly, "I will now tell you some matters to note, you must remember all of them carefully. Otherwise, if you do something wrong in the training valley, depending on the severity, one to five course points will be deducted!"
"This student will remember with reverence." Lin Xi nodded. The strange voice that came out made him feel rather uncomfortable.
The black-robed elder seriously explained, "This training valley is divided into two parts, the free battle area and martial skills training area. Apart from the martial skills training area surrounded by yellow stone perimeter walls, all of the remaining areas are free battle areas."
"In the free battle area, anyone you encounter will be your enemy, the only choice you have is to either run or fight." The black-robed elder said, placing three golden pentagon shaped badges into the three notches on Lin Xi's black leather armor right shoulder region. "If you cannot get away and end up being defeated by your opponent, the opponent will take one of your golden pentagon emblems. Conversely, it is the same, after you defeat an enemy, you can also remove a pentagon emblem from the opponent, place it into the grooves on your left shoulder. As soon as you have four or more golden pentagon emblems on you, you may end the training at any time, you just need to reach the free battle area's wooden path. The wooden paths are safe regions, representing that the training has already ended, fighting on the wooden path is not allowed. You do not need to worry about where the lecturer is, when the time comes, there will naturally be lecturers who will lead you out, and then your training results will also be recorded. However, as for those who do not have four or more golden pentagons, if they wish to stop the training, they must have all of their golden pentagon emblems stripped first. Their results will similarly be recorded afterwards. Are there any areas you do not understand?"
Lin Xi frowned, "What if the other party is not a match, yet also unwilling to acknowledge defeat, not letting me seize a golden pentagon emblem?"
The black-robed elder sneered, "No one will obediently hand over their golden pentagon emblem, so you naturally have to seize the emblem when the other party has no way of resisting any longer."
Lin Xi took in a deep breath. This answer wasn't something completely unexpected. Originally, he thought that when he entered the training valley, he only had to fight once, but now, it seemed like the martial skills produced in Green Luan Academy, the martial skills obtained through life and death tempering… were indeed a bit more cruel than he had originally imagined.
"The black armor and voice changing mask on you must never be taken off while inside the training valley, cannot be removed even on the wooden path. All violators of this will directly have two points deducted!" The black-robed elder said with a serious voice. "There are many weapons scattered throughout the training valley, you can select what you find most suitable. Moreover, the weapons inside are all true standard issue weapons in the army, which is why if you don't want to have two points directly deducted or have your head removed, you should properly heed this warning!"
"They are all real weapons?" Lin Xi immediately laughed bitterly, he couldn't help but recall the movie Battle Royale.
The black-robed elder then continued with a serious voice, "The mask and armor can ensure that you all are not injured by these weapons, but if you are struck… I can promise you that it will definitely not feel good. That is why when taking action, you must not show mercy, treat this like a true battlefield. Remember, if one has five success records of withdrawing with five or more emblems, then there will be a point of reward, while if you withdraw five times in a row with all of your stars stripped, then you will have a course point deducted!"
Lin Xi couldn't help but say, "Then if one has strength surpassing their peers, wouldn't seizing points always be extremely easy?"
"Every single set of black armor is the same, but you all have your unique symbols." The black-robed elder tapped Lin Xi's chest, and only then did Lin Xi see that there was a silver fox marking made from silver dye. "The name of your armor is Silver Fox, in the future, each time you enter the training valley, you will wear this set of armor. Trust me, not exposing your identity is definitely better, preventing you from feeling uneasy after accidentally hurting your good friends… also, believe me when I say that all of these students who are pursuing glory won't easily allow another to cut down their honor and dignity."
Lin Xi carefully thought about the meaning of this, seemingly understanding somewhat. At the same time, he muttered to himself, "Then what about the martial skills special training area?"
The black-robed elder looked at Lin Xi, "After you decide to leave the battlefield, you can choose to either enter the martial skills special training area or end the training. The martial skills special training area has many ways to train your reaction speed, agility, precision, and other arrangements. When you go inside, you will understand all of this. If you can break any of the records left by new students of the same department… each broken record will grant you a point of reward."
"Then isn't this a great place to rake in points?" Lin Xi thought to himself, and couldn't help but mutter this.
The black-robed elder gave Lin Xi a strict look, saying coldly, "As long as you have the ability… now, repeat all of the rules I told you back to me, and then prepare to head out!"