Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

[Resilient Mind: In preparation for future resistance against mental assaults, your instructor is testing your limits with a Spiritual Energy suppression pod to solidify your willpower, requiring you to persevere for at least 30 minutes to achieve extraordinary growth. Mission requirement: Remain consciously aware and persist for at least 0/30 minutes. Mission completion reward: Mystery +0.1.]

Bai E had no time to consider the mission's description and reward, as the pod assailed his consciousness with a continuous barrage of lights, sounds, and an indescribable spiritual oppression.

Self-suppression was still reliably in effect, prioritizing its protective role against mental onslaughts over its secondary function of hormonal regulation.

But it wasn't enough!

Nowhere near enough!

Bai E's capabilities at this moment were entirely different from when he faced the Bug Race's dominator.

Back then, he was on the battlefield, his blood boiling with fervor.

In the heat of battle, the mind naturally ignores certain external psychical impacts; the reason Helen accepted his determination to stand firm because of his mission was precisely because it was the truth.

Now, without such conditions, no matter how prepared he felt internally, the training during peacetime hardly compared to the sheer battle-driven will on the field.

More crucially, his artificial traits had shifted—from Thought Dullness to Sensory Acuteness.

The prohibitions placed upon artificial beings were limitations as well as protections.

Previously, whether facing the Bug Race's dominator or the demon known as the Fear Lord, it was the trio of heated battle spirit, self-suppression, and Thought Dullness that allowed him to act freely.

Without just one of these, he might have met the same fate as the other warriors.

But now, with one taken away and another added...

The protection offered by Thought Dullness disappeared altogether, replaced by Sensory Acuteness, which made him extremely sensitive to every minute change in his body as it responded to various lights, sounds, and tightly linked spiritual afflictions.

The assault applied by the pod was, for a time, far more difficult to bear than what he had previously encountered with the Bug Race dominator or the high-dimension demons.

He knew he was standing in place, but even maintaining his stance required real-time muscular adjustments throughout his body.

He reeled, his head and eyes dizzy, not even sure how to coordinate his body to ensure he wouldn't fall.

Yet, he was trying hard to maintain it.

Confronting this kind of psychological pressure training for the first time, Bai E had no known tricks to rely on.

Perhaps there were no tricks at all.

The purpose of the training was to obtain mental resilience or, in other words, to strengthen one's spiritual will.

Maintaining his chosen state could perhaps help him pull through.

Bai E didn't know the correct approach, but setting a minor goal and striving with all his might to achieve it could perhaps enable him to last longer.

Was his body moving?

Swaying?

About to fall?

Indistinguishable...

The overwhelming spiritual onslaught restricted to the mind robbed Bai E of any perception of his surroundings.

Perhaps he had already fallen, but it felt like he had not.

The tactile sensation of his body hitting the ground would undoubtedly be different from what he was experiencing now, not to mention the distinct feeling of the ground's support if he were to actually fall.

Don't move...

Don't move!

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Hold on!

In a turbulent sea of consciousness, these brief tenets echoed relentlessly.

...

"Thud~"

"Thud~"

Sounds of warriors collapsing occasionally reached his ears; the abnormal noises emitted by the pod were perhaps insignificant irritants to Franca, but they posed a tremendous challenge to those soldiers unaccustomed or less trained in Spiritual Energy.

Although they might have been conscious, the complete sensory loss of control over their bodies was undoubtedly more distressing for these warriors, so used to dictating their every move.

And there could be no compromise!

In real combat, the intensity of psychic assaults one might face is constant, but in training, that intensity continually increases.

The spiritual assaults simulated within the pod grew stronger by the second, with no such thing as getting progressively accustomed to it.

One needed to remain resolute from the beginning to barely stay undefeated in this struggle of spirit.

Those who fell too easily would just as readily be completely vanquished.

Franca's amber eyes shone as they swept over each figure before her.

She did not know how the previous instructor had taught these warriors, nor did she intend to reveal fundamental strategies on their first meeting.

For some of these soldiers, it was their first time in training, and many firsts often reveal much more.

Those still standing... regardless of future achievements, showed a firmer will in this moment.

And among them... that particular individual was present.

Standing upright, his body trembling slightly yet with a posture hardly different from before the pod was activated.

Indeed, it was the same individual who faced demons with unshakable courage, leading everyone out of demonic control—a luminary leader.

Artificial being?

What did it matter if he was an artificial being?

Aglaya still clung to that rigid mindset of prioritizing Spiritual Energy users alone.

In facing Spiritual Energy, those with Spiritual Energy would confront it head-on, like warm and cold currents in the sea battling and blending with each other.

Artificial beings may struggle to comprehend the mysteries of Spiritual Energy, but their natural resistance to it was like the steadfastness of rocks amid raging seas.

All they had to do was to deepen and polish their foundations, becoming resistant rocks capable of becoming a central force against demons.

In this era, every life is insignificant, yet every life can also be grand.

Franca never underestimated the power of any being, as in their singular moments, each could create miracles.

This warrior named Bai E had already demonstrated his remarkable combat will and strength. As for now... considering how he fared against demons, it might take an hour to reach his limits.

So... let's just wait and see.

...

The world twisted into distortion.

A diffuse white light and a buzzing, distorted sound filled all that Bai E could perceive.

And it became ever more distorted.

The semi-illusory, semi-real nightmare scenes of his teammates' spiritual worlds that he had encountered previously at the domain of the Lord of Fear seemed to churn up all at once at that moment.

In a pitch-black world, deep and dark purple cross-shaped fissures emitted bizarre flashes before his eyes, and numerous tiny gray-white tentacles seemed to creep and grow inward from the edges of his field of vision.

Cold pine needles rubbed against his skin, slowly piercing into his body from all angles, while fierce flames rose up from beneath his feet, the heat causing his back to grow damp and clammy.

The intertwined illusions, both formless and with form, overlapped with reality, making for an utterly chaotic and bewildering sensation that left Bai E feeling waves of faintness.

Time would not heal all that he was experiencing.

["Sub-quest——Resilient Spirit" current progress 28/30...]

["Sub-quest——Resilient Spirit" current progress 0.8/30...]

["Sub-quest——Resilient Spirit" current progress 388/30...]

How much is it?

Just how much is it?

Even the progress displayed on the panel could not be truly understood by his current consciousness.

Bai E's body suddenly staggered, and he quickly stepped forward with his right foot to stop himself from falling.

Relaxation at his task's imminent completion nearly became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Realizing this, Bai E almost instantaneously re-established his spiritual defenses.

Although he had been in this world for only a short time, after enduring several crises and ordeals, he was no longer the corporate drone who loved gaming.

All his experiences transformed into the foundation of his soul, only revealing their true magnificence in such moments.

...

'Losing stability?'

It's been less than half an hour?

Franca, with crossed arms, furrowed her brows as she watched the warrior named Bai E.

Just now, there was a violent shake in his body, his right foot attempting to move, but in the end, it was just a slight bend of the knee that halted his descent.

Temporarily stable, but the increasingly chaotic aura of the person indicated that the pressure exerted by the chamber was pushing him close to his limits.

But given his combat record, it shouldn't be like this.

With the intensity of this chamber, it would be difficult to match the pressure exerted by the Bug Race master they encountered before within the first hour of starting the mental assault, let alone the authority of the source demon.

Is it because he's not on the battlefield?

This disparity in performance is too great.

Larger physical movements indicate an imminent breakdown.

In the struggle of the spiritual world, a moment of inattention can lead to instant defeat, to say nothing of doubting one's own abilities?

31...

32...

35...

Franca silently kept time.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Thunk!"

The figure in the simple training attire collapsed heavily to the ground.

His mind was a blank, his vision dark.

["Sub-quest——Resilient Spirit" current progress 35/30, task completed.]

[Task Reward: Mystery +0.1, issued.]

"..."

Watching the fallen figure, Franca remained silent, inevitably feeling some disappointment.

Bai E wasn't the first to fall, as the ground was already littered with warriors rolling their eyes back, foaming at the mouth, convulsing, and even some who had lost control of their bladder and bowels, waiting for his addition.

The fallen Bai E had a determined expression, and his posture could be considered the most upright of them all... However, compared to what she had expected of him, it was too much of a discrepancy.

Was this really the invincible War God who carried Morphie and Kiro Lan through the source demon, the one who was described as full of leadership by them?

Was it simply that the source demon was too weak? Or was it just that Morphie and Kiro Lan's impressions were excessively amplified by their personal subjective wills?

Indeed... Aglaya had already confirmed his talent.

Although that woman upholds the supremacy of Spiritual Energy users, she seldom neglects true talent.

After her contact with this man-made warrior, there had been no follow-up, perhaps because these accomplishments happened to coincide, rather than because of extraordinary strength.

"..."

Disappointment.

She had thought she would see an extraordinary individual climbing up from the grassroots, only to realize it was a name without substance.

"Sigh~"

Franca exhaled lightly, feeling lackluster.

The greatest joy of coming to the barracks was gone.

Bai E's training performance was actually quite good; prior to this training and even currently, only three others persisted.

But dashed high expectations always lead to weariness.

With a sense of duty, Franca continued to monitor the status of the remaining three warriors.

38...

41...