Chapter 8: Rapid Growth
In City No. 1001, on a dilapidated street, Shen Mu, holding a long spear, moved through the streets. Various unknown wild grasses grew on both sides of the road, and some even sprouted from the cracks in the street. On the buildings on both sides of the street, one could still see some Latin characters, but Shen Mu did not recognize them.
"Roar" "Howl"
In the distance, various beast roars rose and fell. Shen Mu's eyes lit up, and he flew into the air with his shield, looking in the direction of the beast roars.
About 400 meters away, there was a rundown park where two groups of monsters were facing off. One group consisted of Tiger Cat monsters, and the other of Wolfdog monsters, both evolved from pets before the Great Nirvana. At a glance, there were over 400 of them.
"Six primary Commander-level, the rest are Soldier-level, just right for me to practice my spear technique." Shen Mu's figure turned into a stream of light and charged directly at the group of cat and dog monsters.
The black spear thrust forward, like a bolt of lightning, instantly piercing a Soldier-level Tiger Cat. At the same time, a flying knife shot out, also killing a giant black dog, instantly provoking the two groups of monsters.
The two groups of monsters were startled by Shen Mu's appearance, and then, seeing that he was alone and did not exude any dangerous aura, they immediately became violent. The ground of the entire rundown park seemed to tremble slightly as a large number of Soldier-level monsters pounced on Shen Mu.
The spear swept across, and every cell in Shen Mu's body was boiling. The force of 11,000 kg was amplified to 13,000 kg, approaching the standard of an intermediate Warlord. Facing a group of Soldier-level monsters, he naturally dominated.
Among the horde, the few Commander-level monsters did not rush forward immediately but instead watched Shen Mu cautiously.
"Awoo!"
In the next moment, several intermediate Warlord-level Wolfdog monsters pounced on Shen Mu. Shen Mu swung his spear horizontally, and the tremendous force directly smashed one Wolfdog away, but Shen Mu himself also staggered. Seeing Shen Mu reveal a flaw, countless monsters immediately pounced.
Three golden streams of light instantly shot out, and the sharp A9 grade flying knives broke through the sound barrier without making too much noise, piercing through the foreheads of the monsters one by one.
Five minutes later, in the park littered with corpses, Shen Mu sat on the body of a Tiger Cat monster, drinking water.
"This won't do. I can resist the siege of Soldier-level monsters, but for Commander-level monsters, I must use spirit force."
Shen Mu pondered slightly. It seemed that to hone his spear technique, he could only look for Soldier-level groups or challenge those more powerful intermediate Commanders. While resting, Shen Mu controlled the flying knives to dismember and collect the valuable materials from the bodies of the Commander-level monsters, then ventured deeper into the wilderness area.
In the air, Shen Mu stepped on his shield, overlooking the city. Dozens of flying knives danced around him, easily slaughtering a group of Commander-level black bird monsters, observing the entire city.
After a moment, Shen Mu locked onto an Iron Spine Dragon Lizard that was feeding. This was a giant lizard over five meters long, with black scales all over its body and a row of menacing bone spurs on its back, it was at the intermediate Commander level.
The Iron Spine Dragon Lizard was an extremely troublesome monster with terrifying defense. Almost no one at the same level could break through its defense unless they had a force amplitude of three or four times, which was perfect for Shen Mu's current level.
Shen Mu extended his right hand, and a section of wall over two meters long slowly floated up, then violently smashed towards the Iron Spine Dragon Lizard. The ruins fell, and the entire street seemed to roar.
"Roar" The Iron Spine Dragon Lizard, whose feeding was interrupted, let out a furious roar and immediately locked onto Shen Mu, who was already close to it. The giant lizard charged at Shen Mu like a sports car that had just started.
Shen Mu rushed forward with his spear, thrusting out like thunder. The spear struck the scales of the Iron Spine Dragon Lizard, emitting a series of crisp metal clashing sounds. The tremendous force made Shen Mu's hands go numb.
The Iron Spine Dragon Lizard's eyes turned red. Although Shen Mu couldn't break through its defense, it didn't mean he couldn't hurt it. The ferocity of the Iron Spine Dragon Lizard was fully aroused, and it completely targeted Shen Mu, its speed increasing again.
Boom! Boom! The spear and the sharp claws collided, and the entire ground shook violently, forming huge deep pits.
Shen Mu could only barely defend against the Iron Spine Dragon Lizard's attacks. The opponent's strength and defense were a level higher than his. In just half a minute, Shen Mu was almost unable to defend, his whole body aching and numb. In the next moment, the giant lizard's long tail swung over, and Shen Mu blocked it with his spear, sending him flying.
The red-eyed lizard was about to deliver a fatal blow when it realized that Shen Mu's figure had flown up and instantly escaped the lizard's attack range.
Then, before the lizard could react, whoosh whoosh, two streams of light directly shot through its eyes.
"Very good, this is the kind of opponent I need."
Shen Mu gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently from the physical exertion, his heart pounding. Unfortunately, his spirit force was too strong. To hone his spear technique, he couldn't choose powerful opponents. Without real pressure, it was still lacking.
"At least it's much better than sparring in the training camp. Let's continue."
In the evening, before the training ended, Shen Mu unleashed his full strength and hunted five advanced Commander-level monsters, earning 500 points upon returning to the training camp. Including other intermediate and primary Commanders, Shen Mu harvested a total of 684 points on the first day.
When combined with Shen Mu's terrifying 62-fold combat power amplitude, the points earned in a single day exceeded 42,000. Since it was just the beginning of February, everyone's points were recalculated, so Shen Mu directly topped the Black Dragon Ranking, leading the second-place Chu Qiang by more than 30,000 points, shocking the entire training camp.
As a result, Shen Mu's terrifying combat power amplitude was also exposed, and related intelligence was quickly spread throughout the global powers. On the same day, various powers sent people to contact Shen Mu, and they didn't waste words, directly offering benefits that were frighteningly high. If he was not satisfied, they were willing to negotiate.
***
At 9:30 p.m., in the courtyard of the Forbidden Purple Pavilion.
Beside the stone table under the big locust tree, Shen Mu stood up and looked at Candice in front of him.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Candice, and the HR Alliance for your kindness. I have already chosen to join the Limit Dojo."
Seeing Shen Mu reject him directly, Candice was not annoyed and still had a friendly smile on his face: "Alright, let's have a meal together when we have time."
After a few pleasantries, Shen Mu watched Candice leave.
"Finally, it's over." Shen Mu sat down at the stone table and drained his teacup in one gulp.
Chu Qiang walked over at this time, laughing: "There's no way around it. Who let Junior Brother be so sought after? Now you've been called the future number one spirit master in the world."
Shen Mu shook his head and did not continue the topic: "Senior Brother, do you think if I challenge someone to a duel, would anyone accept?"
Chu Qiang nodded slightly: "If you challenge as a fighter, definitely. After all, your force amplitude, spear technique, and body technique are basically at the bottom among the training camp students."
"That's good. Since I can't go out to train tomorrow, I'll challenge someone to a duel. Anyway, I have a lot of points."
The next day, as the second day of Shen Mu's joining the training camp, everyone witnessed Shen Mu's craziness. He kept challenging people to duels, using his fighter identity to spar in the virtual space, and then gave away points, 1000 points per match. He lost one match after another, and countless people were eager to have Shen Mu challenge them, until he used up all the points he earned on the first day.
On the third day, Shen Mu continued to hunt monsters in the wilderness area. This time, it was different from before. No one knew how many people in the training camp were paying attention to Shen Mu's movements.
Then they saw Shen Mu spend the entire day looking for intermediate and advanced Commanders to hone his spear technique, getting beaten up in various ways until he used spirit force to counter-kill at the brink of death.
That night, Shen Mu topped the rankings again, and the next day, he lost all his points again.
For the rest of February, Shen Mu continued in this manner, except that from the second half of the month, his challenges went from 1000 points per match to 100 points per match. The rankings on the Black Dragon Ranking still needed to be competed for, and he couldn't lose all his points every day.
Under such conditions, Shen Mu's martial arts attainments were also rapidly improving. In just one month, his spear technique reached the peak of the micro level, and his body technique also improved from the basic level to the micro level and stabilized there.
***
On the last day of February, the 28th.
In the Forbidden Purple Pavilion, inside the secret room. Shen Mu sat cross-legged, and in front of him, a green crystal resembling an egg was suspended by spirit force. It had fine root-like tendrils winding around it. The entire crystal was semi-transparent, and one could vaguely see the green essence liquid flowing within.
***
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