Preparations for the Strength Trial

“Alright, this comrade, please sit down first.”

Motioning for the boy to sit, Guang Hongfang casually added, “A boy sitting in the Tian Du University area.”

Huang Xiu still had some impression of this boy.

The number one in Shanxi Province, a young man with bleached blonde hair.

On the night of registration, using fire-type powers similar to the Flame-Flame Fruit, he successfully killed a soldier-grade Dragon Abomination and stood out among the crowd.

With his formidable strength, persistent activity in group chats, and frequent attention-seeking behavior, he had gained some fame among the student body—even Huang Xiu knew his name: Jing Shuai.

But apparently mindful of the military training regulations, he had dyed his hair back to black this time and sported a slightly longer crew cut.

At first glance, Huang Xiu almost didn’t recognize him.

“And you? What’s your question?” Guang Hongfang walked to the edge of the stage.

“If the destruction is too severe, is that okay?”

Jing Shuai didn’t hide his sharpness, his face full of confidence.

“Also, the casualty quota should apply to them, right? My ability is hard to control; I’m afraid I might accidentally hurt them.”

“No problem, you just go all out.”

Guang Hongfang seemed to appreciate Jing Shuai a bit. After speaking, he even praised him, “This very confident classmate, I look forward to seeing you shine.”

Upon hearing this, Jing Shuai’s confidence grew even more. He glanced around challengingly before sitting down leisurely.

As he sat down, he was immediately pushed down by some of his miserable-looking classmates around him.

“Brother Jing, don’t be so flashy. Be careful—the military training might make an example out of you!”

“Yeah, Brother Jing, haven’t you realized? This competition is partly against the garrison, but partly against the other institutions too!”

“What’s there to fear? I’m not afraid of bullets or explosives.” Jing Shuai rubbed his nose, a bit displeased, but under the persuasion of his friends, he finally nodded and agreed to be more careful later.

“Sir, my question is: can we attack other people nearby during this competition?”

In the Special High Academy area, a boy with a cold expression asked.

“Yes, you can. If you want, you can even eliminate others before the garrison acts, helping your academy secure victory.” Guang Hongfang looked like he was enjoying the show, as if he wanted the competition to become chaotic.

After answering a few more questions from the Administrative Bureau people and calling out to all four major institutions, he waved his hand to dismiss them.

“Alright, the Q&A session is over. You can follow your instructors back to the dorms and prepare. Oh, and one more reminder: remember it only starts after midnight.”

“Otherwise, sneaking in early will be punished!”

Led by instructors, the trainees from the four institutions returned to their dorms in batches.

Since there was plenty of preparation time, no one complained about the time spent leaving.

Female Dormitory Phase 2, Building 3, 6th Floor.

Huang Xiu pushed open the slightly ajar iron door and entered the dorm first.

Behind her, the other roommates filed in. Wen Zhan walked in last and closed the door behind her.

For this Strength Trial, since there were no communication devices, it was hard to contact friends and classmates.

Everyone basically planned to act as a dorm unit.

As the only person in the dorm who could convince everyone, Huang Xiu naturally took command.

She pulled over a stool and sat in the middle of the room. “Let’s all sit together and discuss this.”

“Okay.”

With a screech of chairs against the floor, six wooden chairs with backs were arranged in the center of the dorm.

Huang Xiu’s gaze swept around, then she spoke first. “In this Strength Trial, cooperation is very important, so I think we need to introduce our abilities first.”

“Starting with me: my ability can mutate plants, giving them different properties. It’s very strong in combat and has reconnaissance capabilities, but I need to set up the field in advance.” She held back almost nothing.

“Then I’ll go second!”

Chi Xue followed, introducing her ability—which could enhance the potential energy of objects in contact, called [Great Momentum].

“Oh, and I brought a slingshot for this military training. I can serve as the team’s ranged attacker,” she added.

Huang Xiu and the others nodded. Against the garrison, which mainly used firearms, a ranged attacker was necessary.

“My ability is quite special. I can abstract the body’s functions into three-dimensional attributes and convert them proportionally.”

Zhong Zimei sat beside the ladder between two beds, her right hand gripping the white-painted iron railing.

“Three-dimensional attributes? Can you elaborate?” Huang Xiu asked.

“The three attributes are Strength, Physique, and Agility. Strength and Agility are self-explanatory. Physique relates to physical toughness and recovery.” Zhong Zimei thought for a moment, then added, “If it helps, you can think of me as a tank. If I convert Strength and Agility into Physique, my physical toughness and recovery become very strong.”

“Even ordinary bullets find it hard to break through my defense.”

“A tank? Got it!” Huang Xiu nodded.

With limited time, they couldn’t discuss in detail how to best use each person’s ability. In the end, how to use it and where to position everyone would become natural during combat.

After Zhong Zimei finished, everyone’s gaze naturally shifted to Wen Zhan beside her.

“I, my ability is… gulp.”

The girl with the bun hairstyle was a bit nervous, as if she hadn’t prepared how to introduce herself yet.

Just as she said a few words, she choked on her own saliva.

This kid really has social anxiety… Everyone found it amusing yet helpless, so they let her go last and think it through first.

“Can I go first?” Jiang Qing turned to ask Qianrou, who nodded noncommittally.

“My ability is called Strong Luck. It allows me to overdraw or accumulate luck in advance to improve my fortune for a period of time.”

She pressed down her fishing hat and said no more, but that was enough for everyone to grasp the gist of her ability.

“Improving fortune—a very esoteric and special ability. But not useless; it can work wonders at critical moments.” Huang Xiu commented, and the others nodded in agreement.

Luck—whether it matters or not is debatable. But often, success is just a bit of luck away.

Seeing that everyone’s abilities could be useful, Huang Xiu felt pleased.

She then looked at Jia Qianrou, a bit expectant.

Interestingly, she had been roommates with Qianrou for ten weeks, yet she still didn’t know what Qianrou’s ability was.

It wasn’t that Qianrou intentionally kept it a secret. Rather, Huang Xiu wasn’t in the same class as her and had never actively asked about her ability.

After all, abilities involve personal privacy.

So unless necessary or someone volunteers, few people ask directly.

“My ability—you must be curious about it too, Ah Xiu.” Jia Qianrou smiled faintly. “My ability is similar to psychokinesis, but it’s better suited for moving metallic objects. It can move other substances too, but that consumes more void energy.”

“So it’s telekinesis…”

Huang Xiu felt a bit envious. This ability was powerful in any superpower work.

And it was often both cool and convenient to use.

“My ability is Shadow Lurk. It lets me quickly traverse through shadows or hide within them.”

Having mentally prepared and thought ahead about how to say it, Wen Zhan no longer stuttered, though her speech was a bit fast. But everyone heard clearly.

“Can you bring others with you?” Huang Xiu asked seriously.

It was early morning, and shadows were everywhere.

If she could bring others, this ability would be crucial, potentially key to their victory.

“Yes, I can!” Wen Zhan nodded with a flushed face. “I can bring at most one person at a time. But if I do, my void energy consumption will be severe—I can only use it twice at most.”

“Twice is pretty good.”

Huang Xiu praised her, then turned to the others.

“Let me first share my thoughts on this competition. If anyone disagrees, feel free to speak up.”

“I’ve fought alongside the garrison before. They’re formidable. Five of them working together can suppress a Gold-rank specialist. For us half-baked specialists, defeating them is basically impossible.”

“So I think our best bet is to focus on evasion and concealment, prolong our survival time to score points.” She was completely serious.

“There’s no mistake in what Guang Hongfang said. In this competition, we’re the underdogs.”

Male Dormitory Phase 4, Building 1, Room 203.

Jing Shuai, along with his four friends and five other roommates from Room 203, formed a ten-person team.

They were now gathered together, discussing strategies for the competition.

“I think to score high, we need to take the initiative and attack. Because we’re the strong ones,” Jing Shuai said first.

“Brother Jing, isn’t taking the initiative too risky?” a roommate quickly advised.

“Yeah, even though they’re ordinary soldiers, they use all sorts of modern weapons. That’s not good!” another chimed in.

Modern weapons versus abilities—to be honest, they had no confidence.

“What’s there to fear? As long as I activate [Fire Body], unless they have void weapons or void energy devices, they can’t break my defense.” Jing Shuai didn’t care. “Trust me, I’ve seriously considered this.”

“I don’t think I’m being blindly overconfident. I’ve thought it through.”

“If everyone chooses to hide, the Administrative Bureau has the most numbers. They can piece together a few abilities suitable for concealment.”

“And if Guang Hongfang isn’t stupid, he’ll definitely target Tian Du Academy and the Special High Academy—the two strongest institutions on the surface.”

“By then, with one side growing weaker and the other stronger, the final outcome is really uncertain.”

“But taking the initiative is different.”

“If I can unexpectedly eliminate as much of the garrison’s effective strength as possible, then whether I choose to hide or attack personnel from other institutions, everything will go much smoother.”

“If you want to go on the offensive, go ahead. We’re not going to die with you.” A thin, gaunt boy sneered.

Not everyone in the dorm recognized Jing Shuai’s authority. He and his friends couldn’t stand this guy.

But since they had to be roommates for a month, they held back for now.

Now this guy wanted to lead them to their deaths—they couldn’t take it anymore.

“Fine, then we’ll split up.”

Jing Shuai didn’t care about others’ hostility. He turned to his four friends.

“What about you? Will you go with them, or with me?”

The four smiled wryly.

They were Jing Shuai’s friends.

How could they abandon him over something like this and choose others?

Besides, though this guy was arrogant, he was good to his friends. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have stayed friends with him for so long.

“I wouldn’t mind if you stayed with them.” Jing Shuai smiled confidently. “But then you’d miss out on your chance to shine.”

“Brother Jing, don’t say that. We’ll go with you!”

The four couldn’t be bothered to think anymore.

It was just a competition. Worst case, they’d get eliminated early and go to sleep.

Tian Du University had so many talented people, and an S-rank was there too. No matter what, they couldn’t end up last.

“Without communication devices, too many people and eyes make us a big target. I think our team shouldn’t be too large—ten people at most.” Huang Xiu replied seriously. “And for better treatment, we must insist on quality over quantity.”

Just now, Zhong Zimei had asked if she could invite her friends to join the 606 dorm squad.

“So it’s best if the abilities are helpful to us and don’t overlap with ours.”

“I see…” Zhong Zimei responded dryly. “Then forget it. My friends’ abilities are also pure attack types.”

“Good!” Huang Xiu turned to the others.

“If you, Jiang Qing, Wen Zhan, also want to bring friends into the team, the conditions are the same.”

“I’ll pass. Calling others is too troublesome…” Wen Zhan lowered her head. She didn’t dare go to a dorm full of strangers to find her friend.

“No need. Too lazy to look.”

Jiang Qing also didn’t plan on inviting her few friends. They had probably already formed teams with their roommates.

“Should I call Xiao Yu?” Jia Qianrou asked. “Her ability can help me with my luggage problem.”

“Sure. Do you know which dorm she’s in?” Huang Xiu nodded.

Ying Zhiyu’s ability wasn’t strong offensively, but it was versatile. At times, it could produce unexpected results.

“I know her dorm. I’ll go ask her what she thinks.”

After saying that, Jia Qianrou immediately pushed open the door and left.

“The competition only starts after midnight, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look for teammates in the dorm building beforehand.”

“I’m not planning to bring friends either. I think our team composition is already complete,” Chi Xue said seriously.

She felt that with Sister Xiu around, anyone else would just be extra baggage and cause trouble for her. So it was better not to call anyone.

“Alright, let’s stop here for now. Everyone, go prepare according to what we’ve discussed.”

Huang Xiu reiterated their conclusions. “After midnight, we’ll head toward the underground cave mountain. As long as we can fully set up the field, we’re sure to win this competition.”