Chapter 680: Marching orders (2 in 1)

“If you’re rusty, just head back to the Prodigy Society!” Ma Dong said with a merry smile. “Go take a look at our new training facilities! Qian Duoduo, that fellow, has really invested his hard-earned capital. Didn’t I say I’ll make our training room similar to Stuart’s? It was just a joke, but that fellow has really done it! It’s definitely in the same class as theirs! In fact, our gravity training room is created after analysing Stuart’s gravity room, and can go over 50 times in strength!”

Over the past few days, Ma Dong had already regained some of his usual splendour, with the matter concerning Milami being buried in his heart. After all, he was no longer his past reckless self, with many important responsibilities now resting on his shoulders. On the other hand, the businesses he had been conducting had really been very successful. The Assassin Family had never been treated with this much importance, especially in their goal towards opening a spatial passageway! They had already gotten the attention and assistance from the relevant authorities to deal with the largest issues they faced regarding the process of opening the passageway. Furthermore, they had obtained favourable treatment from various parties, making it difficult for them to feel unhappy about their situation.

Both Wang Zhong and Scarlet’s eyes lit up upon hearing Ma Dong’s words. However, before they could give any further reaction, they heard a light knock on their door.

Present before the door was a rather youthful-looking Federation official dressed in the uniform of the mechanized battalion.

“How are you, Mr Wang Zhong? I’m Lieutenant Will.” Walking into the room, the youthful-looking lieutenant extended his hand in a cordial manner: “It’s a real honour to meet you!”

“What’s the matter?” Wang Zhong asked as he shook the fellow’s hand, with everyone feeling doubtful about this visit.

“It’s like this,” Lieutenant Will took out a letter with the 7th Regiment’s badge printed on it, before replying with a smile. “The Federation has decided to reward those soldiers with outstanding performance in this CHF with the opportunity for special training. This training will allow all of you to obtain the greatest advantage in casting your Heroic Soul. This is your enlistment letter.”

The trio exchanged glances. All of them knew that this opportunity would come sooner or later, but they didn’t expect it to be so coincidental. Wang Zhong was still planning on staying in Tianjing for a few more days.

The most outstanding soldiers of the past CHFs would always obtain special treatment from the Federation. Laura had mentioned that there were blessed areas within the Hyperdimension that had been specially designated for casting Heroic Souls and for the creation of the Dharma Idol. The special training was basically a ticket to enter this place, and even the genius younger members of the various great aristocratic families would suppress their Heroic Soul casting to obtain a good ranking in the CHF, precisely to obtain this chance.

It had been ten days since the end of the CHF. With regards to the timing, it was more or less time for the special training to start. Yet, none of the other outstanding soldiers had received this notification. Furthermore, this just so happened to be the day Wang Zhong was being discharged from the hospital.

Laura read through the letter from Lieutenant Will with considerable caution. Only after verifying that it to be devoid of any issues did she ask in curiosity. “Is this special training an entry to the blessed land?”

“I’m not too sure about it. With my rank, I’m only qualified to deliver this letter.” Lieutenant Will replied with a smile. “However, I’ve recently heard rumours about the legends of those blessed lands in the army. Not every CHF would present these opportunities to the outstanding soldiers who had participated, so it’s completely based on luck.”

Laura did not make any further inquiries, as it was not difficult to understand why she didn’t receive this order. In accordance with the past CHF, only the top 2 or 3 most outstanding soldiers would receive this order, as both the parliament and the Federation Armed Forces were extremely particular about this matter. Both of them loved to divide people into ranks, and had established rules with extremely strict regulations to deal with this matter. Being the official number one person for this CHF, Wang Zhong would definitely receive special treatment. In the style of the Parliament and the armed forces, it was perfectly normal for Wang Zhong to be to first person informed.

After a short period of questioning, everyone within the room started to become excited.

Victory was always accompanied by honour and glory, and naturally followed by rewards and benefits. The rewards and benefits Tianjing City had obtained, had already made the entire city go mad with happiness. However, to the CHF participants, the special pass to enter the blessed lands was only reserved for the most outstanding soldiers, and was also the greatest motivation for victory. After all, this opportunity could not be traded for with money.

“Congratulations, Wang Zhong.” Laura felt happy for him. In fact, this year’s CHF was a special case, as the slots for entry into the blessed lands were almost all hogged up by the various aristocratic families. At the very most, the Parliament would only be allocated a few slots, which wasn’t even enough for all of their inner disciples, with the ordinary commoners having no chance at all. “If there’s no sudden changes, I’ll be going in there sooner or later. Let’s meet up when we’re there!”

“Good luck! I’ll wait for you guys on the outside.” Scarlet said with a hint of envy in her voice. With her level of strength, it was impossible for her to obtain a slot, even though she was part of the runner-up squadron. Other than Wang Zhong, Grai was the only person with the Tianjing squadron who held the possibility of obtaining a slot. Barran would have to depend on luck, while it was impossible for Emily. After all, she was still far from the peak of the Casted Soul Stage. It would be a complete waste of an opportunity like this if she had yet to reach the stage needed to cast her Heroic Soul and condense her Dharma Idol.

“When you come out, you’ll be a Heroic Soul Stage powerhouse, bro! Your experience and realm would be extraordinary!” Ma Dong said with a grin as he gave Wang Zhong’s shoulder a light punch. ” When that happens, if you discover any cultivation arts that can speed up one’s cultivation, and isn’t tough, you definitely have to pass it to me, okay!”

“Being a Heroic Soul Stage, and a once-lazy person, I have to take responsibility and inform you,” Compared to Lieutenant Marcus, who had previously taught everyone, Lieutenant Will was much more genial. This was most probably due to him being posted to the logistics division of the armed forces, causing him to lack the vicious aura that those frontline soldiers would radiate. Clearly, he was an extremely cheerful person. After completing his mission, he started to chuckle as he teased Ma Dong. “If you’re hoping for speedy cultivation, you should just hope for the sun to rise from the west.”

Everyone laughed upon hearing his reply. Indeed, upon reaching the Heroic Soul Stage, one would be in a new realm. As for the cultivation art that was speedy and easy to cultivate, that was just a fantasy existing in Ma Dong’s mind.

“Good luck, brother! Leave the family to me! You just need to focus on being a supreme expert!” Ma Dong finally revealed his original intentions.

Wang Zhong was also filled with anticipation for the blessed lands. He had long known from Laura about the legends of the blessed lands that existed in the hyperdimension. They had a miraculous effect on enlightenment, and comprehension towards the casting of the Heroic Soul and the formation of the Dharma Idol. Although he had already condensed his Fate Roulette Dharma Idol, it wasn’t stable, with his understanding and usage being exceedingly superficial. If he could enter the blessed lands, he would definitely reap huge benefits for his comprehension and control over his Dharma Idol.

With the arrival of the order, Wang Zhong’s journey had immediately changed course. Present outside of the hospital doors was a large cross-country vehicle that brimmed with wildness, with its roaring engine sounding just like the roars of a mutated beast.

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After saying his goodbyes to Ma Dong, Laura, and Scarlet, and deciding on a meeting time to chat on Skylink, the gasoline-powered vehicle with the emblem of the 7th Regiment rumbled away. Unlike the southern cities, where mutated beasts were able to move about unhindered, the triangular region formed by Stuart City, Grozny City, and Martial Ghost City was considered safe in comparison.

After all, other than the 3rd, 6th and 7th Regiments that were controlled by the Federation’s Parliament, there were also the private armed forces of the 3 great aristocratic families, as well as their accompanying police forces, that were governing this area. Their combined might far exceeded that of any ordinary city, and naturally, they also had the support of massive amounts of troops to purge the entire area of dangers.

Speeding across the wilderness, a cool breeze blew through the vehicle, as herds of ordinary herbivores were spread out everywhere across the grass plains, showing a scene of rich fertility and peace.

While taking the armored train from Tianjing over to Stuart, he had seen many instances of destruction left behind by mutated life forms in the various garrison camps, as well as the unhindered movements of various kinds of mutated beasts along the wilderness. In comparison, there was a sense of cleanliness here that could never be found anywhere else in this world. Although the great aristocratic families were always overbearing and dictatorial in their actions, and had suppressed a lot of people, they had, in fact, made undeniable contributions to the continuation and progress of mankind.

Being a chatterbox, Lieutenant Will’s voice never once stopped even after getting onto the vehicle.

“I’ve seen every single one of your fights in the CHF, and I must say that they are too spectacular!” exclaimed Lieutenant Will, with admiration clearly present in his voice. In fact, one could even feel a little bit of worship in there. “You’re really awesome, to be able to cast your Dharma Idol while in the Casted Soul Stage! When I heard from my colleagues that instructor Mo Wen was able to condense his Dharma Idol while being in the Casted Soul Stage, I didn’t believe it. It’s extremely rare even for a Heroic Soul Stage to successfully condense a Dharma Idol, what more a Casted Soul Stage?”

“I’ve heard that it’s extremely difficult to condense the Dharma Idol even in the Heroic Soul Stage? However, I’m a bit confused about this. Without a Dharma Idol, how do people condense their Heroic Soul?” Wang Zhong was indeed curious about this, as the Federation had maintained a considerably strict restriction on the various information pertaining to the Heroic Soul Stage. With there only being a handful of books covering this topic circulating in public, ordinary people would basically have no idea about this. Despite his A-ranked clearance and some rough descriptions from Laura, the best Wang Zhong was able to establish was a bunch of half-truths and no precise answers.

“Casting the Heroic Soul is a completely different matter from condensing one’s Dharma Idol.” Lieutenant Will replied with a chuckle. Wang Zhong, who was able to condense his Dharma Idol, could be considered as one of his idols. In an instant, all of his 38 thousand pores across his entire body felt as though they had opened up, causing a comfortable feeling to gush out of his body. “Simply speaking, a Heroic Soul is intrinsic, while a Dharma Idol is extrinsic. Although both of them are projections of a soldier’s core being, the visualisation within one’s self and the projection towards the outside world are on 2 completely different realms and levels.”

Wang Zhong nodded his head in agreement. Compared to Mo Wen, all of his knowledge towards the Heroic Soul Stage was just a bunch of half-truths. Although he had gained some of them from Laura over these past few days, those were just opinions and expressions from others, as Laura herself also didn’t have a good understanding of the matter.

“Under usual circumstances, the Heroic Soul would generally be casted before a soldier condenses their Dharma Idol, just like starting from the bottom and going towards the top. The Heroic Soul is just like an embryonic form of a Dharma Idol. The embryonic form is required, to have the possibility of a successful condensing of the Dharma Idol. This is an almost iron-clad rule for a soldier’s promotion. However, both you and Mo Wen are gods!” Lieutenant Will clicked his tongue in astonishment. “Both of you have flipped the process around! I really don’t know how you guys did it! Do you know that it’s already pretty good for 2 to 3 among a 100 Heroic Soul Stage soldiers to condense their Dharma Idols?”

“The success rate is that low?” Wang Zhong was slightly astonished by that. Although he knew that condensing a Dharma Idol was harder to accomplish than casting the Heroic Soul, he had assumed that it would be twice as difficult, at the very most. However, the success rate was an appalling 2 to 3 %!

“What do you think? Heroic Soul soldiers who have condensed their Dharma Idols are on a completely different realm of strength when compared to us normal Heroic Soul soldiers.”

There were, in fact, too many soldiers within the armed forces like Will, who had “Dharma Idol dreams”, and wanted instant success.

Heading north through the wilderness, they had traveled over 300 to 400 kilometers since leaving Stuart.

Wang Zhong didn’t have the cheek to continue digging away at Will’s wounds. In reality, an ordinary soldier like Lieutenant Will only had an incomplete understanding of Dharma Idols. Therefore, Wang Zhong wouldn’t get much on any understanding of them from him. In fact, Will also had a rather superficial understanding of the Heroic Soul Stage. If not, he wouldn’t have been relegated to the logistics department after serving in the armed forces for a dozen years.

The 2 of them proceeded to converse about other issues. Clearly interested in the structure of the Federation, Wang Zhong continued to probe Will with more questions on this matter.

The Federation’s armed forces were split into 3 divisions: the mechanized battalion, the wilderness battalion, and the Federation security battalion.

The mechanized battalion was a higher ranking battalion as compared to the other 2, as they were stationed within the Hyperdimension to undergo combat, and was comprised of the most elite soldiers from the Federation. Their entry requirements started from the Heroic Soul, and it was the cradle in which heroes were born. Of the frequently mentioned heroic figures within the Federation, most of them had been from the mechanized battalion. Therefore, they had become the place that countless Federation youths dreamt of entering.

The security battalion was where the elites of the elites were situated, resulting in the size of the force being exceedingly small. They weren’t really considered to be part of the armed forces, though they possessed considerable authority within the Federation. They covered various international activities, information gathering, spying and infiltration, and naturally, counter-espionage against the various great aristocratic families within the Federation.

It was said that there were genuine supreme figures of the Heavenly Soul Stage personally overseeing this battalion, making it the most terrifying battalion in terms of firepower, with their shocking reputation known by the various powers and influences. Despite this, there was extremely little that was known about them, as they were too mysterious, to the point that even the intelligence network of the Mo Family found it difficult to collect any intelligence about them. In fact, within the core of the Parliament, only the speaker knew the full roster of this battalion, meaning that he had almost total and private jurisdiction over them. Furthermore, they did not need to listen to orders from anyone else, and had total autonomy over their movements and missions. The majority of their members were hidden within the commoners, never to reveal their real identity. In the end, this resulted in the outside world only knowing about this battalion’s name and nothing else.

Compared to the other 2 powerful battalions, the wilderness battalion was much closer to the people, and was much more understood by the people.

Their main role was to be defenders within the cities of the Federation, protecting establishments like the armoured railways and garrison camps, as well as using military deterrence against the various disloyal powers and influences. After all, it was a different kind of confrontation, with their opponents being mostly ordinary mutated beasts. Although there were also quite a few elite officials within this battalion, they were still a bit weaker than the mechanized battalion in terms of complete combat power. Other than the difference in the number of elites, a considerable portion of their manpower consisted of ordinary Casted Soul Stage graduates from the various Heroic Soul academies.

The rest of the battalion was filled up with a large amount of ordinary people. If they didn’t have any special exemptions, all the ordinary citizens of the Federation would need to enlist in the Federation’s wilderness battalion when they turned 18. Among them, the majority would be allocated to the armored railway garrison camp, which had a relatively high mortality rate. Therefore, every family’s 18-year-old would always be sent off with a face full of tears and snort.

Nevertheless, there was absolutely no exception to this, as, after all, this was an era of slaughter. If ordinary people wanted to live in this world, they would need to bet their lives to fight for a place to live. If lucky, one would come back home and be blessed for 3 generations. If not, they would die outside. At the very least, their family members would be able to continue enjoying the right to Federation citizenship. However, if they were unwilling to comply, or went AWOL… they would end up like the seas of “refugees” present outside the city walls. In reality, a considerable portion of them were there due to them being afraid to serve or having gone AWOL. Once they lost their citizenship in this manner, their entire family would never be able to regain their citizenship.

The 7th Regiment was part of the Federation’s wilderness battalion, with their strength being ranked near the top of the 19th Regiments of the Federation.