The sky was dotted with white clouds, and a gentle breeze rustled the lush green grass, stirring the youthful passion of the young men and women in the distance.
They were sweating, their shadows lengthening under the sun.
Only the students' panting and the physical education teacher's shouts echoed across the entire sports field.
After what felt like an eternity, the high school students, who had run loop after loop, finally stopped, their hands on their knees, gasping for breath. Some simply collapsed, lying spread-eagled on the grass, their chests heaving, unwilling to get up.
This was Jiangnan Base City, the Third Satellite City, Baijiang First High School.
Although Baijiang City no longer existed, reduced to a desolate ruin, the base cities were established and mass migrations occurred in an orderly fashion. Naturally, most schools like Baijiang First High remained, continuing to educate with similar teaching staff.
Baijiang First High was Baijiang City's most outstanding high school. It held a prominent position in this Jiangnan Third Satellite City, with a spacious sports field and numerous training equipment.
However, the difference now was that high schools were divided into two major categories: liberal arts and martial arts.
The martial arts track strengthened the body, developed innate potential, with the hope of one day wielding immense power to protect their families and nation.
Many of today's physical education teachers possessed genuine skills, and the school had also hired professional awakened individuals as training instructors.
The physical education teacher approached the students sprawled on the ground, his eyes narrowed, emitting a dangerous glint.
"Get up."
"I said, get up, all of you! If you can't overcome this small obstacle, what right do you have to be in the martial arts track, what right do you have to embark on the path of awakening!"
"Ah—!"
"Do you think awakening is a game!"
"You, you, you, and you! One more unqualified performance, and you're going straight back to liberal arts!"
They were the first batch of martial arts students on Blue Star.
Initially, a great many people chose the martial arts track, all yearning for extraordinary power, for the ability to soar through the skies, move mountains, and drain seas. Thus, a portion was screened out in the initial physical fitness tests. Subsequently, during repeated training sessions, many more couldn't endure, either being persuaded to leave or giving up on their own.
Extraordinary power was not easily attained.
"But... I heard some people awaken overnight, in a daze, and gain extraordinary power?"
A boy of ordinary appearance struggled to get up from the ground, panting, his eyes somewhat vacant.
Like the vast majority, he had initially been enthusiastic. However, after countless exhausting training sessions that left him feeling like a beaten dog, his burning passion gradually cooled. He had asked himself countless times if he could persevere.
"That's different."
The boy with the crew cut next to him spoke. He hadn't collapsed but was adjusting his breathing, seizing the opportunity to recover his stamina.
He paused before continuing, "Extraordinary power gained by chance will also become uncontrollable without proper training and stabilization. Only by continuous training, by taking solid steps forward, can one reach great heights and witness different scenery."
"That may be true, but it's tiring!"
Seeing the students complaining of hardship and fatigue, the physical education teacher snorted.
"If you only have this much resolve, don't even think about getting stronger. If you want to get stronger, use this time to perform the second set of body-tempering exercises. Push yourselves to your limits!"
"This second set of body-tempering exercises was created with the collective opinions of many strong individuals and has been continuously improved. It is the most suitable training method for you students to build a foundation. If you practice this set of exercises day and night, your physique will improve significantly in no time."
"You feel tired and heavy now, but this is the best time to perform these body-tempering exercises."
"Come, do it with me, teacher."
The physical education teacher slowly completed a set of body-tempering exercises, comprising sixty-four movements.
Afterward, he surveyed the group, observing the students' conditions.
Most students couldn't finish all sixty-four movements. He didn't force them at this moment, as the exercises became increasingly difficult towards the end. Without proficiency and sufficient physical fitness, some movements couldn't be performed correctly.
However, even just performing the initial parts to the limit would bring significant benefits.
The physical education teacher was targeting those who clearly had the strength but complained of fatigue and performed the exercises sloppily and inaccurately.
He snorted coldly.
Then, shaking his head, he stopped paying attention to these few individuals and instead drew a prominent 'x' next to several names on his roster.
"You must understand that without the advent of this new era, you wouldn't have such favorable learning and training conditions."
"It was the sacrifices of the previous generation of warriors, who risked their lives to forge ahead, that have created your present!"
Just over ten days ago, the Blue Star Alliance was officially established.
While it seemed abrupt to ordinary people, the process was very smooth on a global scale. For the vast majority, the changes came with the several decrees issued after the alliance's establishment.
The establishment of the martial arts track and the development of the second set of body-tempering exercises were among them.
In addition, there were other major events, such as the establishment of agricultural zones and the formulation of standards for awakened individuals' assessments.
Blue Star's development had entered a fast lane, visibly transforming. People bathed in sunlight, enjoying a long-lost peace, as if trying to forget the past.
But forgetting was impossible, of course.
The young men and women were unaware of how the investigators had cut through thorns and forged ahead in the past, but they could not forget the disasters that had occurred on Blue Star.
The terrifying global Red Moon disaster a month ago.
The arduous migration a month before that, and so on.
Thinking of this, many young men and women gritted their teeth and persevered, stretching their bodies to their limits, pushing through the body-tempering exercises step by step until they truly couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed onto the soft grass.
That was the end.
Returning home exhausted, they continued to practice body-tempering exercises while also studying textbooks. This was the life of martial arts students in the new era.
"Ah Feng, do you think we can persist and become awakened individuals?"
On the way home from school, several young men and women pushed their bicycles, merging into the bustling world outside the school.
There was both longing for the future and anxiety about their own capabilities.
Liu Junping, an ordinary-looking boy, was one of the many students in physical education class who had almost given up.
He turned to the crew-cut boy, asking not only his good friend but also himself.
The chubby-faced girl beside them interjected,
"Classmate Xu Feng works much harder than us. He's already cultivated up to the 46th movement of the body-tempering exercises, and the teacher praises him. He will definitely become an awakened individual. As for us..."
The chubby-faced girl lowered her head, gazing at her toes, and lost her confidence.
Seeing this, the crew-cut boy, Xu Feng, encouraged his classmates.
"Don't be discouraged. As long as you're willing to work hard, everyone can have a bright future."
"If you have any questions about the body-tempering exercises, you can ask me. Let's become awakened individuals together!"
"Ah Feng is right!"
Liu Junping shouted, his whole being seeming to ignite with passion, but after a moment, his head drooped again.
"I heard from my neighbor's granddaughter that practicing the body-tempering exercises is just the first step. After we can complete all 64 movements, we'll need to combine it with medicinal baths and nutritional meals for training. Only then can we meet the body's demands."
"But nutritional meals and medicinal baths, especially the medicinal packets for the baths, are not cheap. It's difficult for our family circumstances to afford them."
This was a sorrowful story.
Entering this new era, they were fortunate to have a path leading directly to the extraordinary, but this path was not easy to tread.
Xu Feng shook his head, "It might not be so. It's difficult for our families alone to afford it, but if we can enter the elite class, we'll receive a training subsidy. And if we perform exceptionally in certain subjects, there will be additional scholarships."
This was the first year of the martial arts track, and the martial arts students had only been training for a little over ten days. The elite classes had not yet been established.
Only after the first comprehensive examination for all martial arts students in a few days would the elite class 1 and elite class 2 be officially formed. It was rumored that the teachers in the elite classes included many veterans who had served on the battlefield.
"Not only that..."
Xu Feng paused and revealed a piece of gossip.
"Old Chen from physical education class told me that above the elite class, there's a special training camp. If you can be selected for that training camp, you won't have to bear any training expenses yourself. Not only that, but you can also progress rapidly there. For example, our Donghuang's number one hunter, the 'Cracking Fist Martial Saint' Elder Xing, is rumored to have come from that training camp."
"That is a place that everyone in our entire Blue Star, across all sixteen major base cities, wants to go to."
Xu Feng imitated Old Chen's tone from physical education class. However, he had no idea what magical qualities this training camp possessed. He himself felt somewhat lost about how to proceed in the future.
He simply felt that if he couldn't achieve anything in the martial arts track and become an awakened individual, he would be confined to the base city for his entire life.
Xu Feng was unwilling. He wanted to venture out, to experience a wider world.
Not just the wilderness of Blue Star; he had heard that beyond Blue Star lay even vaster and more mysterious worlds.
"Outside..."
As they spoke, the group of teenagers and young women rode their bicycles to the majestic embankment of the satellite city.
Looking back, they saw rows of tall buildings packed closely together, with people flowing like a river or an ant colony. Looking outward, the land stretched vast and desolate. However, along the roads stretching into the distance, discarded vehicles and cracked ground were visible everywhere. In some places, one could still see gigantic monster claw marks and residual craters from explosions, silently testifying to the great battles that had once occurred here.
One side was civilization, the other was desolation.
However, civilization was merely a corner of the world, and the dangers outside were even more extensive, attracting countless people to rush forward.
This was the new era, the era of the Blue Star Alliance—perhaps the worst, but also the best of times.
Xu Feng gazed at the vast expanse of the world outside, and after a long while, suppressed the yearning in his heart.
"Let's go, back to training. One day, I will surely venture into that mysterious and vast world!"
"Ah Feng is right."
The group turned around.
Suddenly, a shrill alarm pierced the air from the distance. Red lights flashed from the observation tower. This scene registered in the eyes of the young men and women, and they quickly reacted.
"Is it a ghost attack?"
"Yes! And not just any ordinary ghost; this is a Level Two alert! We need to find a safe place to hide quickly."
Xu Feng said urgently.
As he spoke, he looked into the distance and was astonished to see a small black dot in the sky rapidly enlarging in his field of vision.
It was a ghost!
With four wings on its back and a ferocious face, its size was easily dozens of meters.
It was flying towards the base city at an extremely high speed. Even though Xu Feng and the other teenagers were still far from this four-winged ghost, and even though the base city was protected by the "Dawn Light," they still felt as if they had fallen into an icy abyss. They trembled uncontrollably, almost unable to move, let alone escape to a safe area.
What kind of monster was this!
The ghost was not targeting them, these small fries, but the threat of death still loomed, growing closer. Their hearts pounded in their chests.
Closer! Even closer!
A nauseating roar sounded in their ears. Suddenly, a booming shout echoed through the sky.
"Scoundrel!"
A powerful figure ascended into the air.
The newcomer's muscles bulged, his arms coiled like dragons and snakes, and his legs pounded, creating sonic booms. Visible waves of air burst forth. This powerful individual actually ran on air, soaring hundreds of meters into the sky, and extended his palm towards the four-winged ghost.
With just one palm strike, Xu Feng and the others saw a golden light.
It was like chants of Buddhist sutras, dissolving all evil.
When they came to their senses, the giant four-winged monster had fallen from the sky, its wings tattered, and half of its body torn apart.
Looking up again, the powerful individual stood above the heavens. In the sunlight, his forehead shone with a brilliant radiance, as if reflecting a golden halo.
Like a god, like a saint.
In a few more blinks of an eye, this powerful individual had stepped on air and departed. Xu Feng, Liu Junping, and the others only came back to their senses. They were no longer trembling; their bodies were boiling with excitement.
"Is this what a true powerhouse is like?"
"To be able to tread the clouds and soar through the nine heavens, and with a flip of their palm, strike down a monster that could bring great disaster."
"So training can truly lead one to such heights, it's incredible!"
The figure was imprinted in their minds. The young men and women, who had been somewhat lost, found their resolve to become stronger solidify.
They had to become strong and awaken, to tread that true world!
...
...
Although a Level Two alert had sounded in Jiangnan Base City's Third Satellite City, for the on-duty experts, it was a common occurrence.
As for those who were surprised...
"That was just three moves, right? Defeating a disaster-level ghost in just three moves, Master Mingdeng's strength has grown again!"
Inside the Hearth camp, several awakened individuals watched the surveillance footage in awe.
They were also on duty, but their strength was far from that of a "Four Awakenings." Against enemies like disaster-level ghosts, only Master Mingdeng could handle them.
Of course, in emergencies, they could also deploy ghost crystal cannons, sprout towers, or request reinforcements.
Since the establishment of the base city, no ghost had ever breached its defenses.
"Our current shift ends in three days, right? What missions will you take then?"
"I've taken a short-term mission, a newcomer assessment mission."
"I wanted to take that mission too, but my academic and skill levels weren't high enough, so I can only take a mission to explore the agricultural zone."
"I heard Master Mingdeng is preparing to form a team to explore the ghost realm. If my strength were sufficient, I would definitely stick close to the master."
"It's not bad. The master ventures into the ghost realm, and you'll serve as a novice assessor. You'll explore the agricultural zone. Everyone has a bright future."