Chapter 10: Heading into the Wilderness

In addition to learning about evolvers, Zhang Ran’s understanding of mutated creatures in the wilderness was steadily expanding with each lesson. According to the instructor’s explanations, even those mutated organisms that had merely been observed and recorded numbered in the millions—so many as to be countless. These mutated creatures were mainly divided into five categories: mutated beasts, mutated plants, aberrant humans, walking corpses, and phantasmal beasts.

Among these five categories, the first four possessed physical forms, but the fifth—phantasmal beasts—were unique. They existed as spiritual entities, able to ignore most physical attacks and possessed the power to directly assault the human soul.

Even powerful evolvers found phantasmal beasts extremely troublesome and deadly, but fortunately, they were very rare. Unless fate was particularly cruel, hundreds of evolvers might live their whole lives without ever encountering one.

Furthermore, every mutated creature was assigned a hunting level according to its strength. Level 1 hunting creatures matched the power of a first-level evolver, and so on, increasing with each level.

In the subsequent courses, the instructor introduced the appearance, hunting level, weaknesses, habitat, and valuable parts of over a thousand typical mutated creatures in detail. Zhang Ran carefully recorded all this precious information in the chip’s database. However, most of the creatures the instructor discussed were those with hunting levels from 0 to 3. More advanced beings were usually only mentioned by name, without in-depth explanation.

Days of physical training, combat drills, and knowledge sessions passed swiftly; before he knew it, another two months had flown by. By now, Zhang Ran had spent three months in the wasteland world.

Compared to his scrawny and short stature upon entering the camp, Zhang Ran's height had grown from 1.2 meters to 1.5 meters, and his weight from thirty to fifty kilograms. His body was now packed with solid muscle, making him appear robust and strong.

As for his physical attributes, they had risen to strength 1.6, constitution 1.5, agility 1.5, and spirit 1.5—one and a half times that of an ordinary person. He had firmly secured second place among all trainees, just barely trailing the first by about 0.05 points.

The primary factor behind Zhang Ran’s rapid improvement was, naturally, the gene-enhancing medicine. Since Zhang Ran consistently ranked among the top ten in his company, he always received extra first-level gene-enhancing doses.

With the aid of the gene medicine, Zhang Ran’s physique advanced by leaps and bounds each day. Combined with deep sleep, the Eight-Form Body Tempering, and a balanced diet, each of his four attributes increased by about 0.01 points daily.

Of course, this pace only lasted for the initial period. As time went on, the effects of the gene medicine began to diminish. According to chip analysis, this was due to Zhang Ran’s body developing a certain resistance to the first-level gene medicine.

He was somewhat disappointed by this, but it was a common issue for all trainees. Zhang Ran’s use of the Eight-Form Body Tempering allowed him to absorb more of the gene medicine than others, so resistance set in sooner for him.

On the first day of the fourth month, at six in the morning.

A sharp assembly whistle once again roused the trainees from sleep. Reflexively, they leaped from their beds, dressed, and rushed to the training ground. But this time, instead of starting their drills, two instructors led them to the hall where they had assembled on their first day.

In the hall, all five companies of the Black Hawk Youth Training Camp had been gathered. Instructor Colin made another appearance. While waiting in formation, Zhang Ran discreetly used his chip to scan the physical attributes of those around him.

After three months of training, the number of trainees in Zhang Ran’s company had dropped from one hundred to fifty-one. Those with weaker constitutions had been eliminated by the grueling regimen. The remaining trainees, even the weakest, averaged 1.2 in their attributes. The other companies were much the same.

“Excellent. Congratulations to you all for surviving the first three months of basic training! The good news is, you’ve earned preliminary recognition. Every trainee will receive dedicated support—even the last-ranked among you will be given resources sufficient to advance to evolver status!”

Looking at the trainees before him, Colin smiled with satisfaction and clapped his hands in congratulation.

“But don’t think your days ahead will be easy—because you’ll soon realize that the real training hasn’t even begun! In the next three months, you’ll learn wilderness survival skills, become familiar with firearms, and personally battle some common, weaker mutated creatures!”

“Three months from now, you’ll leave the training camp and enter the forward base in the wilderness. There, you will hunt mutated creatures, accumulate evolutionary energy, and strive to earn your first evolution point, advancing to first-level evolvers! Of course, in this process, there’s a high chance some of you will be killed by mutated creatures.”

“I can tell you clearly,” Colin proclaimed, raising his voice, “only a quarter to a third of those standing here today will be lucky enough to advance successfully. As for the fate of the rest, I needn’t elaborate. If you wish to survive, you’d better work hard in the coming three months—the knowledge you acquire will be your best safeguard!”

After a brief pause, Colin suddenly increased his volume, sternly warning the trainees.

“So we’re finally heading into the wilderness? I can’t wait!” Amidst Colin’s words, while some trainees still showed signs of anxiety, a sharp glint flashed in Zhang Ran’s eyes and his heart beat a little faster.

Compared to the training camp, the wilderness was far more dangerous, but it offered faster evolution. With his wealth of combat experience from a previous life, Zhang Ran considered staying in the camp a waste of time. The wilderness was his true stage.

“All right, take your companies back and resume training.” Seeing the varied expressions of the trainees, Colin said no more, merely gesturing for the instructors to lead their companies away to continue training.

That morning, the trainees’ task remained physical training. However, their drills were no longer simple or lightly equipped; whether for endurance or strength, each trainee had to carry seventy-five kilograms during the exercises.

After completing their physical training and lunch, the two instructors did not have the trainees continue with drills. Instead, they led the group out of the training ground and headed north at a brisk run.