Beyond the Zenith

Lao Jian addressed the recruits, “You’re all supposed to be on your field exercise. Simulated combat training is meant to come after that, but that schedule has been disrupted, so we’ll be moving into simulated combat training early, in the next couple of days.”

“Yes, sir!” The response was eager.

After all this training, everyone wanted to actually swing a blade. Han Qingyu’s spar with an instructor that very morning had only pushed that anticipation to a fever pitch.

“I never want to be like I was at District 1123 again. All I could do then was run. I could only watch while the instructors fought Sharpies to the death.”

The words came from somewhere in the crowd, and in an instant, everyone went silent. Fists clenched.

There was a long silence before another voice chimed in, heavy with regret and grief, “Yeah. We were all wearing our devices, and we all had blades, but we just...”

The person never finished their sentence, but the meaning was clear.

“Six hundred of us carrying blades, and yet...”

Another sentence left unfinished, yet fully understood.

Lao Jian gave a solemn nod. “I understand how everyone feels right now. The reality, though, is that the vast majority of you aren’t ready for simulated combat drills yet.”

“What?” The recruits stared at him, deflated and confused.

“Your source energy control isn’t smooth or fast enough for it. It’s easy to fumble the timing. In that situation, even an ordinary iron blade can cause real injuries or death,” Lao Jian said frankly.

“Then what do we—”

“For now, you’ll do one-sided attack drills,” Lao Jian cut in. “You’ll use this phase to learn how to manage source energy in combat. Only after that can you move on to sparring.”

Basically, their training targets would only defend and dodge, never strike back.

“Your targets for simulated combat attacks, your dummies, will be us instructors, including me.” Lao Jian gestured toward the new instructors standing beside him. After a pause, he added, “Han Qingyu. Step forward.”

Gasps swept through the crowd. Han Qingyu stepped to the side. “Here.”

At the same time, metallic clanks rang out as a metal figure lumbered over and stopped not far from the formation.

“Oh, right. There’s also this. A simulated combat robot that the military is still testing. It’ll be part of your training too.” Lao Jian motioned toward it and thought for a moment. “I believe it’s called... S-19.”

A real robot? A source energy robot?! Does that mean robots could eventually go to the front lines?! Every recruit’s eyes locked onto the metal figure instantly.

S-19 stood there motionless, apparently on standby.

“It looks kind of old, doesn’t it? Is it really brand new?”

“Yeah, there are a few spots on it that look kind of rusty.”

“Then it’s not entirely made of dead iron.”

“Obviously. Dead iron doesn’t rust. From what I can see, only the key parts are dead iron. The rest is probably alloy at best. See that piece on its face? That’s just a slab of thick black glass, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right... So how does it spar?”

“How it spars doesn’t matter, bro. The real question is whether we have to pay for it if we accidentally smash it.”

Lao Jian’s voice cut through the chatter. “Attention, everyone. All recruits B-rank and above, your simulated combat target will be S-19. Give it everything you’ve got.”

There was another wave of commotion.

Han Qingyu raised his hand at the same time. “What about me? My attack drills?”

“As for you...” Lao Jian mulled it over for a moment. “How about this? After this training ends, I’ll give you ten minutes for a private session with S-19.”

A girl, no older than fourteen or fifteen and seemingly the robot’s handler, came running over with quick little steps.

“Extra time? That’ll cost extra energy cores, you know,” the girl said with the utmost seriousness.

Her penny-pinching expression made quite a few people laugh.

She spun around, her sharp eyes narrowed in a glare, chin lifted in righteous indignation. “What’s so funny? The-the military’s robot uses energy cores too, you know.”

The laughter grew louder. Even Lao Jian joined in.

“Fair enough. How about... fifteen minutes of extra paired training per day, and we settle at one energy core per seven days,” Lao Jian said with a nod before pointing at Han Qingyu. “Just collect it straight from him. He’s got plenty.”

Han Qingyu was speechless.

Lao Jian was almost certainly getting back at him. Being a punching bag for free was one thing; at least then he still got to practice his defense and evasion. The issue was that he was a recruit too. Why did he have to pay out of pocket for his own training?

One energy core every seven days? On what grounds?!

It stung so badly that he nearly coughed up blood himself.

As the afternoon wore on, Han Qingyu got to both serve as a training dummy and watch from the sidelines. It was during this that he realized that S-19 was genuinely powerful.

If Lao Jian hadn’t gone to talk to the handler girl midway through and asked her to have S-19 hold back, even every B-rank-and-above recruit from all the regiments combined probably wouldn’t have landed a single hit.

Han Qingyu couldn’t help but look forward to training with S-19.

At last, the afternoon training session ended. Recruits began to leave, though some with nothing better to do stuck around to watch.

The handler girl marched up to Han Qingyu and asked in a bossy tone, “Hey, you. Do you want to rest for a few minutes first?”

She didn’t react like a typical girl meeting a good-looking guy, instead seeming more like a tiny businesswoman with no mind to care about anything but energy cores.

“Does your robot need a rest?” Han Qingyu asked back, amused.

“Um, sure, a rest is fine. Three minutes,” the girl said decisively, then thrust out her hand, bossy as ever. “Pay up first.”

“I, uh, didn’t bring any today. I didn’t expect to need them. Can I pay you tomorrow?” Han Qingyu asked.

Inwardly, he thought, This is public property for us to use anyway, so I should use it today. If today’s trial run is no good, I’ll just skip out on the bill tomorrow.

The girl studied him for a moment, and after thinking it over, nodded. “You’d better not try to skip out.”

During the three-minute break, Han Qingyu sat under a tree, wiped his sweat, and loaded his own energy cores into the combat case. He Tangtang and Liu Shiheng had stayed behind to watch. Wen Jifei had also come by. From the looks of it, he’d been watching for a while.

“This time slot with the robot is reserved for you, right?” Wen Jifei asked, eagerly rushing to Han Qingyu’s side.

Han Qingyu nodded.

Wen Jifei was wearing his device and had picked up one of Han Qingyu’s blades, admiring it with eyes full of longing.

“Let me have a go first, Little Qing.” Wen Jifei couldn’t tear his eyes away from the dead iron blade in his hand. “I’ve never swung a blade before. Never cut anything. I probably won’t get another chance to use one.”

Han Qingyu understood his situation and naturally sympathized. Nodding in agreement, he turned to go talk to the handler girl, but Wen Jifei had already run over himself.

Wen Jifei’s people skills had always been better than Han Qingyu’s, and it only took a few words for him to convince the girl. The robot walked over from the side, taking its position about fifteen meters away, facing him.

The maneuvering device lit up with a hum, its blue light flickering. Wen Jifei’s face was alight with excitement as he gripped the blade with both hands.

“Ready... here!” he shouted, breaking into a stiff, lumbering run. He launched himself into the air and brought the blade down in a leaping chop.

The spectating recruits laughed. They had spent all afternoon watching B-rank-and-above recruits flail uselessly at the robot and were all thinking the same thing: Don’t jump, Equipment Officer. It’ll be a miracle if you land that.

Bam.

The overhead strike connected solidly with S-19’s right shoulder. The robot had been an immovable wall all afternoon, but the strike sent it skidding backward until it slammed into a wall.

“What the—”

Stunned silence, then uproar. That’s ridiculous! An equipment officer is stronger than all of us?!

The female equipment officers watching from a distance were absolutely delighted.

They probably arranged for him to land the hit? He probably flipped to A-rank for this strike, Han Qingyu thought.

S-19 steadied itself.

Wen Jifei was riding high. He closed the distance and unleashed a flashy spinning slash.

Bam.

Another hit. Only this time, the robot didn’t budge. It stood there, immovable, then tilted its head in an uncannily human-like way, though its expression remained stiff and blank.

That devastating first blow had probably caused S-19 to adjust its defense level. It was unclear, however, if the second strike had landed because it was following orders not to dodge, or whether Plague Chicken’s constant flipping through ranks and erratic blade movements had genuinely thrown off its tracking.

Meanwhile, Wen Jifei stood in a daze.

Then the dead iron straight blade clattered to the ground as Plague Chicken cradled his right arm with his left, and slowly turned around.

“Little Qing,” he hissed.

Han Qingyu jumped to his feet. “Yeah?”

“I think I fractured my arm.”