Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

"Perfect timing." From a distance, Hamilton smiled when he saw the assembly of warriors gathered in front of a massive square cabin-style device, "It hasn't started yet, you can still make it to this training session."

After taking a couple more steps and getting a clear view of the slender execution officer from Arbitration Place, "the instructor", Hamilton paused slightly in surprise.

Continue your adventure at empire

"A new face?"

He muttered softly to himself, but Hamilton didn't care too much.

The goings-on of Arbitration Place weren't their concern, and personnel changes there didn't need to be reported to him; as long as someone was present, that was all that mattered.

"Go on," he patted Bai E on the back and stood with arms crossed, waiting to watch the show.

The city's resources were limited, and although they claimed to provide support for the armored battalion, up to now, only one training pod had been built.

It was certainly not enough for every warrior in the battalion, so only the reserves of Titan-class armed mecha were qualified for training.

And during each training, the spectacle provided by the warriors was varied and highly entertaining.

Bai E carefully made his way to stand at the very back of the last row.

He saw a familiar face...

The young lady on the stage was none other than the officer from the Arbitration Place he had seen in Black Street with Gong Yan.

This made Bai E feel a subconscious twinge of guilt.

But then again, he thought there wasn't much interaction between them besides that one time... except for the incident in the sewer.

After all, in the sewer incident, he knew it was her, but she didn't know it was him.

It was just a fleeting encounter, and the young lady probably wouldn't even remember him.

The warrior standing next to Bai E glanced at the newcomer, but seeing that their superior officer, standing next to the instructor from Arbitration Place, hadn't said a word, he paid no more attention and focused on listening to the noble-looking lady who seemed so out of place yet was addressing them.

"I don't know how my predecessor demanded of you..." Franca's large, clear black-and-white eyes swept over each warrior with an effortful authority, striving to make a compelling first impression.

The figure who had suddenly joined from the back was undeniably eye-catching; Franca's gaze lingered for two or three seconds on the face of the straight-standing, expressionless warrior but could not recall where the familiar visage came from.

She decided not to dwell on it.

"But listen! I have only one demand for you! When you think you can't hold on any longer, endure for one more second! Whether you enter standing up or leave carried out horizontally, you are the city's most elite soldiers! The responsibility for protecting this city lies on your shoulders! You are meant to be the city's sharpest sword, its most sturdy shield!

I've heard how your predecessors fell in battle, and I'm sure you're not unaware!"

In that moment, the tall lady appeared surprisingly reliable. With her pale fingers posed like a blade, she pointed towards the south of the city—

"There! Where they were sliced in two by the vermin without any resistance! We won't stumble at the same spot a second time! Next time, the next time we face that creature, I want each one of you to strike it with your blade! This is our vengeance! This is the only way we can honor our fallen comrades!"

"Remember the shame of that day, and repay it twofold tomorrow!" Her crisp, slightly childish voice, like a young tiger reaching maturity, roared for the first time to the world, "Now... let go of your hearts, step into the training pod, pit your will against the world!"

Franca stepped aside, and the doors of the pod slowly swung open to the sound of pneumatic valves.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The dark interior of the training pod was shrouded in darkness, like a beast in flood waiting for the naive to step into its trap.

The warriors stepped firmly, lining up instinctively as they entered the pod.

The warrior walking in front of Bai E whispered with others.

"Passion, it's flaring up..."

"The new instructor is much more passionate than the last one..."

It wasn't just passion...

Free from the dulling order of mourning, Bai E's now exceptionally sensitive senses could feel an invisible force that had, unbeknownst to him, started to surround him.

It was like a mischievous and elusive sprite... pushing his body forward from behind.

Could it be... the effect of Spiritual Energy?

The practical application of Spiritual Energy?

Bai E pondered secretly, keeping pace with the queue ahead.

However, as he neared the entrance, a small foot clad in a brightly-colored combat boot gently lifted and blocked his path.

Bai E stopped in his tracks and looked up with a puzzled face at the young female officer who blocked his way.

"Instructor?"

Franca's eyes were lively and aggressive, sizing up Bai E's face in a way that was somewhat elusive, "Have we met somewhere before?"

"I don't remember, Instructor."

His voice was gentle, yet filled with strength.

'Such a familiar voice.'

A fleeting inspiration crossed Franca's mind as she stared into Bai E's eyes with even more curiosity, "We must have met somewhere... You don't usually talk like this."

Now this... is too humble.

You shouldn't be like this.

"You might have mistaken me for someone else."

"Perhaps..." Franca said noncommittally, but then her words took a turn as she asked casually, "What's your name?"

"Bai E."

"Bai E?" Franca's delicate body shuddered, and her eyes fixated on the familiar warrior before her, "Are you the one who brought back over four hundred... refugees?"

"If Instructor is referring to the four hundred and five refugees from yesterday... then I was involved."

"..."

With the answer in hand, Franca's lips curled into a fleeting, somewhat wicked smile.

'So it's you, huh.'

She stepped aside and gestured for Bai E to proceed, "Please enter, our great hero."

[I've been noticed...]

I was told not to spread the word, yet it seems like the whole town knows.

Bai E sighed inwardly and stepped into the cabin.

Inside was not pitch-black; once everyone entered, soft milky-white lights illuminated at the edges of the cabin wall.

The interior was quite spacious, allowing the twenty-six-member reserve mech pilots to stand apart comfortably, yet everyone still instinctively lined up and waited.

Franca followed at the rear with her hands clasped behind her back, walking in slowly.

As she fully entered, the operator on duty, upon receiving the command, pressed the switch and the expanding doors of the cabin slowly closed again.

"Some of you might be here for your first training session."

Franca's voice grew more distant, ethereal and hollow.

"I have only one requirement for you, endure at least thirty minutes. Those who don't meet the requirement will be considered for extra individual training~"

The world spun around.

An endless humming sound arose from nowhere, entering their minds like tangible characters, mixing with Franca's voice that came in sporadic bursts, yet clear enough for everyone to hear.

Those milky-white lights twisted into vortexes before their eyes, shrinking and boring into their pupils.

A blinding white light surged into their minds, turning the world into tangled chaos.

Caught in the midst of it, Bai E felt himself upended, unable to distinguish left from right...

No! It was as if he had lost all sense of spatial orientation as well as the perception of time in relation to changing events.

The space-time around him became utterly confused in his perception.

In his dazed state, the only thing that echoed unreal in his mind was the voice from the panel—

[Side mission triggered—Resilient Spirit.]