NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 163 - Training Exercise 11
Although Instructor Li and Instructor Shan didn’t know how to enhance their own mental strength, they had valuable insights into how to improve their students’ cultivation levels.
Since Mai Dongzi took on the role of captain of the Phantom Team, she had been selflessly helping the team members enhance their abilities.
Therefore, when they saw her repeatedly having the Phantom Team members expend large amounts of mental energy and then using sound healing techniques to help them recover, it was clear that this was intentional, leading them to speculate about her motives.
In theory, this unverified training method should have been stopped as soon as they noticed it, to avoid potentially harming the mental seas of the Phantom Team members.
“Their physical fitness data is excellent. We can wait and see how this plays out,” Instructor Shan said decisively.
As the commanding officer, it was up to Instructor Shan to make the decision for the Phantom Team, which consisted of students from the command department.
Instructor Li did not oppose Instructor Shan’s decision and comforted him, who was somewhat worried, saying, “When it comes to mental cultivation, that girl knows more than we do. Plus, she is a wood-type ability user, so this kind of training shouldn’t cause any issues. Just trust her.”
Instructor Shan felt reassured by Instructor Li’s confidence, which lessened his concerns considerably.
……
The Phantom Team had been traveling for three days and still had not left the hilly area. No matter how far they looked, all they could see were hills.
On this day, after resting and holding a debriefing meeting, they discovered something very unfavorable to them.
The members of the Phantom Team initially wanted to calculate how many kilometers they had covered.
Before they set out, they had calculated the distance to their destination on the star map, which was approximately 4,500 kilometers.
Based on their walking speed, they estimated that they could cover about 200 kilometers a day, which meant they could reach their destination in about 25 days at most.
However, upon recalculating, they realized that things were far more challenging than they had thought.
According to the star map, they had only traveled 120 kilometers that day. The previous two days were even worse; they had only walked over 90 kilometers yesterday and just over 80 kilometers the day before.
“According to our speed, we should be covering at least 230 kilometers a day. How can the star map show such a low number?” Zhuang Huaiya said, looking deeply disappointed.
“This is hilly terrain. We may have walked over 200 kilometers from one hill to another each day, but the star map value is likely based on straight-line distance,” Yu Guangxi said, quickly coming to an understanding.
“So that 4,500 kilometers is the straight-line distance on the star map, not our actual travel distance. If that’s the case, our real journey could be over 5,000 kilometers,” Zhuang Huaiya concluded.
“That makes sense. I was wondering why it seemed so easy; now I see where the catch is,” Durant said.
“We need to adjust our travel schedule,” Yu Guangxi said.
After he spoke, the Phantom Team turned to their quiet captain.
Mai Dongzi listened quietly to their discussion. From her experience, she had noticed this issue on the second day of their journey. However, she didn’t rush to mention it; she wanted to wait for the Phantom Team to discover it themselves.
Fortunately, they were quick to catch on.
“Let’s increase our travel time by an hour each day and also speed up our pace,” Mai Dongzi had already formulated a plan.
She had been keeping an eye on everyone’s condition. Five days ago, when they first landed on this planet, the lower-ranked team members could barely stand in the strong winds.
But in just five days, despite facing similar strong winds, they had not noticed that their steps had become much steadier and their pace had increased significantly, thanks to supporting each other along the way.
It was time for them to speed up.
Under the pressure of completing their mission and with Mai Dongzi’s leadership, the Phantom Team walked for a full ten hours on the sixth day without any breaks.
When Mai Dongzi finally announced a stop for rest, not only the other members of the Phantom Team but even Yu Guangxi and Durant felt exhausted, wrapping themselves in beast skins to shield against the wind and sand as they sat on a small hill, devouring food.
Since their captain had forbidden them from taking breaks, they had to eat while walking, grabbing food from their spatial devices when hunger struck.
In such a sandy environment, it was easy to get sand in their food, so they could only satisfy their hunger with what little they could manage.
Now, finally able to sit and use the beast skins for shelter, the hungry members of the Phantom Team ate quickly.
Only Mai Dongzi, not needing to shield herself from the wind and sand, sat there calmly eating.
“Being a spirit energy user is great,” Wang Yiyi said enviously, while Yu Lan and Chen Xinhe looked at their captain with similar admiration.
Since leaving the lake area, they hadn’t seen a drop of water along the way.
If it weren’t for their captain finding a way to carry so much drinking water for each of them, they would have had to rely on beast blood for hydration over the past few days.
However, without water, they couldn’t clean themselves. Although their battle suits had some self-cleaning functions, their faces and hands were still dirty from being out in the elements.
Only the captain, who had been using her spirit energy to shield herself from the wind and sand, remained relatively clean.
As soon as Wang Yiyi and the other two girls finished envying their captain, they saw her turn around and say with a serious expression, “You have five minutes to fill your stomach.”
Seeing the captain’s intense gaze, the Phantom Team immediately sensed that something was wrong—seriously wrong. Without asking questions, they quickly increased their pace to eat.
Five minutes later, just as they finished their food, the Phantom Team spotted a large group of beasts charging towards them in the distance. They were very relieved they hadn’t asked what was going on.
“There are one hundred thirty-three beasts in that group, including fifteen level-five, three level-six, and one level-seven beast,” Mai Dongzi said steadily to the group.
The expressions on the faces of the Phantom Team darkened.
“We need to run!” Yu Guangxi immediately stood up and urged.
The captain could handle a level-six beast without breaking a sweat, but there were three in this group. Yu Guangxi was confident that he and Zhuang Huaiya could take on one level-six beast together, but the others wouldn’t be able to handle the second one.
Moreover, the most frightening part was that the leader of the beasts was a level-seven beast, which was beyond their capability to confront.
“We can’t escape; our speed isn’t a match for these beasts,” Mai Dongzi replied.
Mai Dongzi had initially thought about leading everyone away, but after estimating their pace, she realized they wouldn’t be able to outrun the beasts. That’s why she had them eat and drink quickly—to prepare for the hard battle ahead.