All Promoted to Junior Warriors
The Hydra base had been completely looted—a harvest beyond imagination.
Weapons, equipment, over a dozen researchers, and nearly five hundred soldiers had been secured. More importantly, epoch-making technologies were now in Xu Mo's hands.
The most valuable among them was energy shield technology.
The scientists had dismantled Hydra's defensive equipment and reassembled it on Death Island. The shield's size could be adjusted according to output power, and now the entire island was protected beneath its dome.
According to Baron Teslak, even missiles would fail to breach its defenses.
With Hydra's resources integrated, the island's development was finally back on track.
Xu Mo also summoned Sauron and the other nine who had first followed him. Strengthened by the flesh of ferocious beasts, their physical condition had transformed. Each one had reached the quasi-warrior level, with punching power exceeding 900 kilograms.
Xu Mo's plan was simple: once they officially became warriors, they would serve as instructors for the Hydra soldiers. The most talented would be selected for specialized training to form a killer organization—dedicated to hunting villains and earning Xu Mo system points.
Through trial and error, Xu Mo had finally confirmed the system's definition of a "villain":
Anyone who had committed evil would qualify.
That meant nearly ninety percent of people could yield points upon death—the only difference being the amount rewarded.
With ferocious beast meat accelerating physical transformation, these men and women would soon become warriors. Promotion to general would only be a matter of time.
The less-talented soldiers would be formed into special operations teams tasked with cleansing evil organizations. Even if they could not rise to great heights, with enough beast meat it was easy for them to reach the level of a primary warrior.
At that point, with over 900 kilograms of punching power, they would already far surpass so-called "kings of the military" in the outside world. A squad of them could obliterate entire armed battalions.
---
On the east side of the island, a training ground had been cleared.
The nine sat cross-legged in a row as Xu Mo faced them.
"Do you understand everything?" he asked calmly.
It had taken him considerable time to drill the [Gene Energy Cultivation Method] into these mercenaries' skulls. Their battle instincts were sharp, but their understanding of meridians and acupoints—concepts rooted in traditional Chinese medicine—had been abysmal at first.
At last, they all nodded.
"Good. Then begin."
At his order, the nine shut their eyes and entered meditation, attempting to sense the cosmic energy. Xu Mo himself sat down as well. With his warrior's strength already at planetary level, his spiritual cultivation remained at the peak of War God. To ascend further, he needed to condense another star core in his sea of consciousness.
That required tempering his mental strength.
Half an hour later, he found the [Spirit Tempering Technique] within his inheritance. Activating it, his sea of consciousness boiled as a mysterious totem appeared. Streams of spiritual power passed through it again and again, each cycle refining them into something more condensed.
Progress was slow. After hours of training, less than one percent of his total mental strength had been refined. But Xu Mo was patient. At this rate, in one or two months he could complete the transformation.
---
By early morning, changes began among the nine cultivators.
The first breakthrough came from a short-haired woman in her thirties—Vanessa. Energy gathered toward her body in visible streams.
Xu Mo opened his eyes, surprise flashing across them. "Vanessa?"
It was unexpected that one of the only two women would be first, but not impossible. Talent was not determined by who sensed energy first—it lay in how much one could absorb and refine each day.
Vanessa's breakthrough seemed to spark a chain reaction. Within half an hour, four others began absorbing cosmic energy. By the end of an hour, all nine had succeeded.
Xu Mo was not surprised. These were hardened mercenaries, veterans who had crawled out of piles of corpses. Their perception far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Vanessa was the first to complete her initial absorption. Opening her eyes, she leapt to her feet, face alight with excitement. Xu Mo silenced her with a gesture, then pointed toward the river.
Only then did she notice the layer of black impurities coating her skin. She hurried off to cleanse herself.
One by one, the others awoke, each rushing to wash away their own impurities.
Only Sauron remained seated, still absorbing. As the second to begin, he had lasted the longest, proof of his greater talent.
At last, more than half an hour later, his eyes opened.
"Boss," Sauron greeted firmly.
Xu Mo patted his shoulder. "Good. Go clean up. We'll gather here afterward."
---
An hour later, the nine stood assembled again.
Beside them were two new machines: a dynamometer and a tachometer. Xu Mo had just exchanged them from the system store for two hundred points—simple technology, but essential for testing.
"Step forward in the order you awakened," Xu Mo instructed.
Vanessa, eager and confident, approached first. She clenched her fist and struck the target with full force.
Boom!
The target reeled backward two meters. Numbers blinked across the display.
1520 kg!