Enlightenment: Attaining the Dao at Age 8

”If you can’t even handle me, then you’ll be nothing but a liability against the Insect Race.

I don’t need liabilities. I need a squad that can complete its mission!”

”Don’t worry, Captain!”

Sun Yang raised his hand, his face serious. ”We might have been a mess today, but we’ll definitely improve! Next training session, you’ll be impressed!”

”I’ll be waiting.”

Li Chang’an sneered. ”I hope your actions are more reliable than your mouth!”

Han Ruoxi lowered her head and chuckled, patting her Electric Gloves. Her voice held a hint of teasing. ”Sun Yang, if you keep making a fool of yourself, you should really apply for a transfer!”

”Miss Han, can you stop picking on me all the time?”

Sun Yang looked exasperated. ”You know I’m the core of our fire support. The team needs me!”

”Let’s see how you do next time!”

Han Ruoxi shrugged and turned toward the dorms. ”I’m going to go work on my gear. And don’t let me catch you out of position again!”

That afternoon, the Insect Hunter Squad had a free training session.

Everyone split up to work on their individual weaknesses.

Han Ruoxi stood in a corner of the training ground, tinkering with her Electric Gloves.

She set up several holographic targets, continuously adjusting the intensity and release angle of the electric arcs.

With each attempt, the precision of the arcs gradually improved.

”Electric Grid coverage increased by 15%. Not bad!”

She glanced at the display on her gloves with satisfaction, then threw herself back into training.

Meanwhile, Shen Qiuyue was engaged in combat practice in a battlefield simulation.

Her Dueling Sword carved sharp, clean arcs through the air, each swing precisely striking the vitals of a holographic enemy.

”Still not fast enough!”

She muttered to herself, adjusted her breathing, and swung her sword once more.

Bai Lin sat before a console, simulating a complex signal intrusion environment.

His fingers flew across the keyboard as strings of complex code filled the screen.

”Jamming-clearance time reduced by 0.8 seconds. It still needs optimization!”

He muttered, continuing to adjust the program.

Sun Yang stood in the center of the firing range, his Pulse Gun unleashing streams of energy.

He muttered to himself as he fired, ’Positioning... positioning... what the Captain said about positioning... I absolutely can’t screw up this time!’

The free training session continued for two hours that afternoon, with every member of the Insect Hunter Squad completely absorbed in their practice.

The atmosphere in the training ground was tense and focused. Even Sun Yang’s usual wisecracks had vanished, replaced by an expression of almost unnatural earnestness.

”Captain!”

Sun Yang suddenly shouted, shattering the silence of the grounds.

He raised his Pulse Gun and pointed at a string of targets on the range, his voice tinged with a little pride. ”Take a look, Captain! How’s my accuracy now? Big improvement, right?”

Li Chang’an walked over to stand beside him, his eyes scanning the scoring screen.

Several targets were hit in critical zones, the score a significant improvement over his previous attempts.

”Not bad.”

Li Chang’an nodded, but his tone remained even. ”However, your stance is still unstable. Those few shots that veered left were because you didn’t adjust your footwork properly.

Again.”

”Ugh, he’s making me practice more!”

Sun Yang grumbled with a grimace, but immediately reset his stance. ”Fine, Captain! I’ll master my positioning today! I’m not going back to the dorms until it’s perfect!”

”Then train hard.”

Li Chang’an clapped him on the shoulder and walked away.

Han Ruoxi’s training with her gloves was also entering its final phase.

She set several training targets to a high-difficulty mobile pattern and activated a simulated Insect Race attack trajectory.

”Come on, let’s see what’s faster,” she murmured, and the electric arcs on her gloves instantly flashed, striking the first mobile target with precision.

As the targets sped up, her reactions grew quicker. But just as the final target zipped past, her electric arc was a beat too slow and missed.

’Still not fast enough!’

Han Ruoxi frowned, took a deep breath, and began recalibrating the arc-release frequency of her equipment.

Shen Qiuyue walked over, her Dueling Sword still dripping with practice lubricant. ”Han Ruoxi, your gloves seem more powerful than the last version, but why are you always just a fraction of a second too slow?”

”It’s an issue with the release frequency!”

Han Ruoxi didn’t look up, continuing to make adjustments. ”The core in my gloves needs to be optimized. I’ve already tweaked it three times, but it’s still not quite right.”

”Need any help?”

Shen Qiuyue set down her Dueling Sword and leaned in beside her.

”No need!”

Han Ruoxi kept her eyes on the gloves, a faint smile touching her lips. ”I’m used to figuring things out on my own.”

Shen Qiuyue nodded. Without another word, she stood to the side, quietly watching Han Ruoxi work.

Elsewhere, Bai Lin was still at his console, the screen flickering with complex data streams.

His terminal was running at full capacity, radiating a faint heat.

”Bai Lin, you’re going to fry that console, aren’t you?”

Sun Yang walked over and peered at the screen. ”That’s a lot of code. You can actually understand all that?”

”What I need to adjust are the device’s reaction speed and signal processing capabilities.”

Bai Lin’s tone was calm, his eyes never leaving the screen. ”If I can reduce its delay by one second, our squad’s success rate in battle will increase by 5%!”

”Damn, man. You’re not a soldier, you’re a scientist!”

Sun Yang clicked his tongue in wonder. ”But is that 5% you’re talking about really worth all this?”

”On the battlefield, a 1% advantage can be the difference between life and death,”

Bai Lin replied flatly.

”Alright, that sounds reasonable enough.”

Sun Yang scratched his head. ”Well, I won’t disturb you then. Carry on!”