"General Zhang, good morning."
"You're quite lucky. Someone upstairs mentioned you. They're making you the direct deputy captain of the First Squad."
"Mhm."
"Aren't you going to wonder why they're making you the deputy captain?"
"Asking won't make me the full captain, so there's no need to trouble myself with it," Bai Mo said quite naturally.
Things that couldn't be changed, he never questioned.
"Young man, you have a good mindset. I'm here today to introduce you to the captain of my ability user unit—Wen Jian. You two should exchange pointers often." During this time, Zhang Jin Qu had recomposed his inadvertently shaken composure, once again assuming his position as a high-and-mighty senior.
Compared to the budding belief in power, the belief in authority was more deeply rooted in his mind.
"Hello," Wen Jian extended his hand to Bai Mo.
Bai Mo gently clasped Wen Jian's hand.
His impression of Wen Jian had been good from the start, as Wen Jian, with his strong military aura, seemed more trustworthy than the middle-aged man whose face was practically emblazoned with the word "bureaucrat."
Both were taciturn individuals, and after shaking hands, they fell into an awkward silence.
After more than ten seconds of silence, Wen Jian finally broke the ice.
"Let's go down and spar a bit."
"Just as expected from a warrior... But it could also be that old man's instruction, a pawn sent to probe me," Bai Mo thought, a hint of helplessness in his mind, but his face remained expressionless.
He had originally intended to politely refuse; he had very little interest in time-wasting sparring matches, especially when it might be a test from the other party.
However, after realizing he could take the opportunity to acquire some of the opponent's physical data, Bai Mo still agreed.
Probing was unavoidable regardless, so he might as well get it over with here.
...
The two arrived at the combat training ground on the top floor, followed by numerous ability users eager to watch.
The entire twentieth floor of the building was divided into four combat rooms. Along the edges of these rooms were various recording devices, comparable to World Cup broadcasts, allowing both combatants to review the process after the fight and also providing training data for the entire Dao Academy.
The specially heightened ceilings, twenty meters high, were designed specifically for body-enhancement ability users who could easily leap several meters with a casual jump.
Moreover, the surrounding walls, floor, and ceiling were constructed with multi-layered materials, painstakingly designed for shock absorption and force dissipation.
The outermost layer was also covered with a disposable material, meant to simulate normal ground soil, while simultaneously striving to contain any damage within this layer, thereby reducing repair costs.
"It's quite hard to imagine all this was put together in just one month."
"It's just a matter of whether the nation has the resolve," Zhang Jin Qu said.
After the surrounding spectators had moved to a safe area, the two assumed their stances, ready to begin their spar.
...
Though they said "assumed stances," Bai Mo was actually in his usual state. He wasn't some kind of super soldier; in fact, one could say he hadn't even experienced a single true battle.
With his efforts during this period, at most, he could gradually control his rapidly escalating power, no longer ripping his clothes when stretching, crushing water cups when drinking, or twisting off doorknobs when opening doors.
As for anything like combat or strategy, they were too far removed from him.
Bai Mo had always believed that the existing martial arts, such as domestic martial arts, or foreign karate, taekwondo, and Muay Thai, were all tailor-made for humans. However, for an extraordinary being like himself, whose physical qualities far surpassed those of ordinary people—to be honest, his various stats could no longer be considered human.
At this point, he found very few reasons to study martial arts designed for ordinary human bodies.
Especially after the emergence of the Life Field, the defense of all parts of the body tended to be uniform, completely eliminating the concept of so-called vital points like the eyes or groin.
Compared to human martial arts, what Bai Mo truly desired was a set of combat techniques genuinely suitable for transcendent life forms.
Yet, to design such a classic, how could it truly be completed in just a year or two?
...
Wen Jian immediately charged straight at Bai Mo, his five fingers pressed together, stabbing directly at him.
"A Force Lightsaber???" Under his divine sense, Bai Mo discovered that Wen Jian's entire forearm, as he attacked with his right hand, was filled with Spirit Energy, stabbing towards him like a laser sword.
Without exposing his psychic abilities, it was unknown whether he could withstand this Spirit Energy shuriken with just the strength of his Life Field alone.
Bai Mo used his psychic abilities to move himself, evading this "shuriken" with an anti-gravity, almost uncanny movement.
...
"According to the table, his second ability is to see the special energy consumed when an ability is used.
This auxiliary ability allows Wen Jian's invisible sword to become visible, subtly weakening his greatest advantage; a visible sword is much simpler to defend against.
It's just that near-anti-gravity movement method..."
Neither side was one for unnecessary talk, so naturally, there was no meaningless chatter like "If you can take this move from me, you'll have reason to be proud."
Giving an enemy a heads-up before unleashing a powerful move was an idiotic thing they would absolutely never do. Ultimate moves and trump cards were always deployed secretly; it was best if the opponent died without understanding what hit them, with no lingering mess.
As for the military-minded Wen Jian, everything served the completion of the mission.
...
Neither side dared to directly confront the other's moves. Wen Jian's hand-sword possessed destructive power comparable to a laser sword, so Bai Mo naturally wouldn't foolishly use his body to compete in hardness. But Wen Jian also didn't dare to take Bai Mo's punches head-on; after all, his body enhancements weren't that significant, and taking a five-ton punch would likely incapacitate him for the most part.
Thus, the battle immediately stalemated. Bai Mo possessed overwhelming speed and strength, but lacked the techniques to control such a level of power.
He didn't want to sustain even a minor injury, so he kept a respectful distance from Wen Jian's arm.
Wen Jian, on the other hand, hailed from special forces, possessed rich combat skills, and had the ability to transform his arm into a hand-sword. However, he couldn't do anything against Bai Mo, who was much faster than him and intent on evading.
After another 10 minutes of high-speed stalemate, Wen Jian felt his stamina, continually depleted by using his abilities, had reached a dangerous threshold. He decided to risk it all and use a new application of his abilities against Bai Mo, one he had only recently discovered.
He charged at Bai Mo once more, and instinctively began predicting attack paths, attempting to avoid the enemy's highly lethal hands.
But this time, Wen Jian didn't attack Bai Mo directly. Instead, just as he was about to reach Bai Mo, he rolled on the ground. Suddenly, a vibration emanated from the floor, and the surface layer of simulated ground material cracked open, generating a large amount of dust and smoke.
In Bai Mo's divine sense vision, Wen Jian, taking advantage of the dust obstructing sight, summoned a sword composed of the very materials from the ground layer.
The dust-sword's structure was forcibly held together by Spirit Energy, flying through the air like the legendary flying swords of sword immortals.
"Ten steps, a man slain; a thousand li, never a trace!"
Wen Jian intended to catch Bai Mo off guard, but Bai Mo, having already predicted its trajectory with his divine sense, easily dodged the sword.
The flying sword failed its strike, and quickly disintegrated, returning to dust and earth.
...
Bai Mo looked at Wen Jian's emotionless face, feeling that he likely had another trick up his sleeve.
Sure enough, Wen Jian simply abandoned the tangible sword, directly using his ability to forcibly condense the air with Spirit Energy into an invisible sword and slash it towards Bai Mo.
The surrounding onlookers were utterly bewildered. Since they couldn't see the air-sword, they just saw one person pretending to attack with a sword and the other pretending to dodge, like they were putting on a play. It immediately gave them the feeling of "The Emperor's New Sword."
"Condensing all things into a sword, Wen Jian's ability has ascended to another level."