Chapter 30: Debriefing at the Outpost
The temporary outpost was built against a protruding rock formation, surrounded by barbed wire and simple earthen fortifications. Small Sea of Consciousness early-warning detectors were mounted on the walls; the moment a large-scale psychic fluctuation approached, the alarms would sound immediately.
The outpost was small, only large enough to garrison a single platoon. The air was thick with the smell of diesel, metal machinery, and a faint, putrid stench. As the squad stepped inside the fortifications, their taut nerves finally relaxed slightly, but no one dared to completely drop their guard.
The medic immediately stepped forward, conducting quick Sea of Consciousness screenings and treating external injuries for everyone.
The veteran whose shoulder had been struck by the scaled beast's tail whip had his wound disinfected and bandaged. His Sea of Consciousness was only slightly overdrawn, with no structural damage. Su Qing's Sea of Consciousness was in decent condition; she had merely consumed a large amount of mental power and would slowly recover after sitting in meditation for a while. When it was Lin Yan's turn, the detector's screen lit up with a steady, pale white light pattern.
"Second-tier peak. There are minor new contusions on the surface of your Sea of Consciousness, but they aren't severe. They will heal on their own after resting for a few hours," the medic said, putting away the instrument and casually advising, "Don't forcefully mobilize your psychic perception to avoid secondary damage. Your Sea of Consciousness has excellent toughness. Very few new recruits at the same level can endure the continuous, long-range pressure of a high-level scaled beast while maintaining mental stability."
Lin Yan nodded slightly, walked to a wooden stool in the corner of the outpost, sat down, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.
Turning his awareness inward to inspect his Sea of Consciousness, he saw that the pale white barrier was covered in a crisscross of both old and new cracks. During the retreat, he had to resist wave after wave of psychic stings from the low-level scaled beasts while continuously enduring the psychic pressure emanating from the distant third-tier scaled beast. The compounded impact of two different types of psychic forces was an experience that the training ground simulations could hardly replicate.
The psychic impacts in the training ground were standardized and followed a fixed rhythm. But on a real battlefield, the pressure would fluctuate, accompanied by environmental noise, the exhaustion of combat, and the psychological stress of potential ambushes at any moment.
He slowly extended and retracted his mental tentacles, experiencing bit by bit the secrets of long-range psychic perception. Previously, he had only been skilled at short-range early warnings. But after being trailed from afar by the third-tier scaled beast this time, he gradually learned to distinguish the faint, heavy psychic signals from a distance, isolating the unique psychic imprint of high-level scaled beasts from the chaotic psychic noise mixed with the rocks and the rift.
There was no breakthrough; the core remained calm, stuck at the second-tier peak. However, the sensitivity of his Sea of Consciousness perception and his ability to distinguish signals at long range had taken another solid step forward.
A moment later, Instructor Zhou gathered all members of the squad in the outpost's makeshift operations room to review the patrol mission.
A hand-drawn topographical map of the Black Mountain area was spread out on a wooden table, marking the five beacon deployment points from this mission, as well as the squad's route during the ambush and the subsequent tailing by the third-tier scaled beast.
"For this mission, all beacons were successfully buried, and the monitoring data was completely transmitted back to the bastion command center. The mission objectives have been achieved," Instructor Zhou said, his finger resting on the location of the rocky ambush, his voice steady. "However, there is an anomaly that must be reported as a priority. The behavioral pattern of that third-tier scaled beast this time does not match the archive records."
He raised his eyes to look at everyone. "In past records, third-tier scaled beasts either attack proactively or, if they assess that they cannot win, they immediately retreat to their rift nests. But this time, it trailed us from a distance, driving low-level scaled beasts to attack in batches, continuously draining our physical strength and Sea of Consciousness reserves. It was not eager for a frontal decisive battle; it was more like it was observing and collecting data on our squad's combat habits."
A veteran frowned. "Could it be an individual mutation? The intelligence of high-level scaled beasts is inherently higher than that of low-level ones."
"The research institute can currently only tentatively classify it as an increase in individual intelligence," Instructor Zhou shook his head. "But this kind of planned probing is far too close to organized reconnaissance behavior. Write the report truthfully, submit all the psychic wave data together, and let the war zone research institute analyze it."
Everyone assumed this was merely the tribal wisdom that the scaled beasts had evolved themselves. No one could have imagined that this series of probes was not decided autonomously by the scaled beasts, but rather a reconnaissance experiment completed by the subterranean Lizardmen deep within the rift, using the scaled beasts' Seas of Consciousness. This secret remained buried deep beneath the earth, with a long time still to go before humanity discovered it.
Instructor Zhou continued to comment on the performance of each squad member, his gaze finally landing on Lin Yan.
"Lin Yan, during this mission, your flank early warning and suppression were excellent. Under the continuous coverage of the third-tier scaled beast's long-range pressure, you could still stably capture the psychic signals of low-level scaled beasts launching surprise attacks, without your mind collapsing. Your use of your Sea of Consciousness already far surpasses that of ordinary second-tier peak new recruits. Remember, keep your foundation solid, wait for the right opportunity, and do not forcefully try to break through the bottleneck."
"Understood," Lin Yan replied in a low voice.
There were still a few hours of rest time after the debriefing. The outpost was equipped with an old Sea of Consciousness training device for soldiers to consolidate their cultivation during their free time. Lin Yan walked over and got in line to use it.
The machine could simulate long-range psychic pressure, replicating the heavy, slowly expanding psychic field of the third-tier scaled beast from earlier. Sitting in front of the machine and wearing the induction headband, Lin Yan began to practice repeatedly.
He tried to maintain low-consumption, long-range perception while keeping the core of his Sea of Consciousness stable.
At first, when the simulated pressure hit, he subconsciously contracted his Sea of Consciousness tightly, causing his external perception to drop drastically. After trying many times, he slowly found the balance point: keeping the core completely stable and only extending extremely fine mental tentacles outward to probe. This allowed him to capture distant psychic anomalies without quickly draining his mental power.
This was the greatest harvest from this mission.
"That's a very smart way to train," the outpost's non-commissioned officer on duty said, looking at the data on the instrument's screen. "Many new recruits, when faced with high-level psychic pressure, will blindly contract their entire Sea of Consciousness, which essentially makes them blind. Knowing how to retain a small number of perception tentacles is the key to survival in actual combat."
Lin Yan stopped his training and nodded slightly.
Soon, the whistle for the return assembly sounded. Everyone packed up their gear, inventoried their supplies, and boarded the military off-road vehicles.
The convoy drove away from the temporary outpost, traveling along the mountain dirt road toward the bastion city. The gray, hazy wilderness receded outside the car windows, and the massive rift in the distance was hidden in the shadows of the mountains, as quiet as if nothing had ever happened. But everyone knew in their hearts that the hidden dangers beneath that darkness were far more complex than human cognition realized.
Inside the cabin, Su Qing leaned against the seat with her eyes closed to rest, while the two veterans discussed the abnormal intelligence they had just reported in low voices. Lin Yan leaned against the cabin wall, once again calming his mind to turn his awareness inward and inspect his Sea of Consciousness.
Second-tier peak. The bottleneck still loomed ahead. But his foundation in the Sea of Consciousness continued to settle and thicken through practical combat with controlled risks and repeated debriefing training. As the war zone instructors had said, after he broke through to the third tier, if he wanted to continue advancing, he would have to step into true, life-and-death extremities to temper himself.
The vehicles continued westward, and the thick outline of the concrete bastion gradually appeared on the gray horizon.
End of Chapter
The outpost was small, only large enough to garrison a single platoon. The air was thick with the smell of diesel, metal machinery, and a faint, putrid stench. As the squad stepped inside the fortifications, their taut nerves finally relaxed slightly, but no one dared to completely drop their guard.
The medic immediately stepped forward, conducting quick Sea of Consciousness screenings and treating external injuries for everyone.
The veteran whose shoulder had been struck by the scaled beast's tail whip had his wound disinfected and bandaged. His Sea of Consciousness was only slightly overdrawn, with no structural damage. Su Qing's Sea of Consciousness was in decent condition; she had merely consumed a large amount of mental power and would slowly recover after sitting in meditation for a while. When it was Lin Yan's turn, the detector's screen lit up with a steady, pale white light pattern.
"Second-tier peak. There are minor new contusions on the surface of your Sea of Consciousness, but they aren't severe. They will heal on their own after resting for a few hours," the medic said, putting away the instrument and casually advising, "Don't forcefully mobilize your psychic perception to avoid secondary damage. Your Sea of Consciousness has excellent toughness. Very few new recruits at the same level can endure the continuous, long-range pressure of a high-level scaled beast while maintaining mental stability."
Lin Yan nodded slightly, walked to a wooden stool in the corner of the outpost, sat down, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.
Turning his awareness inward to inspect his Sea of Consciousness, he saw that the pale white barrier was covered in a crisscross of both old and new cracks. During the retreat, he had to resist wave after wave of psychic stings from the low-level scaled beasts while continuously enduring the psychic pressure emanating from the distant third-tier scaled beast. The compounded impact of two different types of psychic forces was an experience that the training ground simulations could hardly replicate.
The psychic impacts in the training ground were standardized and followed a fixed rhythm. But on a real battlefield, the pressure would fluctuate, accompanied by environmental noise, the exhaustion of combat, and the psychological stress of potential ambushes at any moment.
He slowly extended and retracted his mental tentacles, experiencing bit by bit the secrets of long-range psychic perception. Previously, he had only been skilled at short-range early warnings. But after being trailed from afar by the third-tier scaled beast this time, he gradually learned to distinguish the faint, heavy psychic signals from a distance, isolating the unique psychic imprint of high-level scaled beasts from the chaotic psychic noise mixed with the rocks and the rift.
There was no breakthrough; the core remained calm, stuck at the second-tier peak. However, the sensitivity of his Sea of Consciousness perception and his ability to distinguish signals at long range had taken another solid step forward.
A moment later, Instructor Zhou gathered all members of the squad in the outpost's makeshift operations room to review the patrol mission.
A hand-drawn topographical map of the Black Mountain area was spread out on a wooden table, marking the five beacon deployment points from this mission, as well as the squad's route during the ambush and the subsequent tailing by the third-tier scaled beast.
"For this mission, all beacons were successfully buried, and the monitoring data was completely transmitted back to the bastion command center. The mission objectives have been achieved," Instructor Zhou said, his finger resting on the location of the rocky ambush, his voice steady. "However, there is an anomaly that must be reported as a priority. The behavioral pattern of that third-tier scaled beast this time does not match the archive records."
He raised his eyes to look at everyone. "In past records, third-tier scaled beasts either attack proactively or, if they assess that they cannot win, they immediately retreat to their rift nests. But this time, it trailed us from a distance, driving low-level scaled beasts to attack in batches, continuously draining our physical strength and Sea of Consciousness reserves. It was not eager for a frontal decisive battle; it was more like it was observing and collecting data on our squad's combat habits."
A veteran frowned. "Could it be an individual mutation? The intelligence of high-level scaled beasts is inherently higher than that of low-level ones."
"The research institute can currently only tentatively classify it as an increase in individual intelligence," Instructor Zhou shook his head. "But this kind of planned probing is far too close to organized reconnaissance behavior. Write the report truthfully, submit all the psychic wave data together, and let the war zone research institute analyze it."
Everyone assumed this was merely the tribal wisdom that the scaled beasts had evolved themselves. No one could have imagined that this series of probes was not decided autonomously by the scaled beasts, but rather a reconnaissance experiment completed by the subterranean Lizardmen deep within the rift, using the scaled beasts' Seas of Consciousness. This secret remained buried deep beneath the earth, with a long time still to go before humanity discovered it.
Instructor Zhou continued to comment on the performance of each squad member, his gaze finally landing on Lin Yan.
"Lin Yan, during this mission, your flank early warning and suppression were excellent. Under the continuous coverage of the third-tier scaled beast's long-range pressure, you could still stably capture the psychic signals of low-level scaled beasts launching surprise attacks, without your mind collapsing. Your use of your Sea of Consciousness already far surpasses that of ordinary second-tier peak new recruits. Remember, keep your foundation solid, wait for the right opportunity, and do not forcefully try to break through the bottleneck."
"Understood," Lin Yan replied in a low voice.
There were still a few hours of rest time after the debriefing. The outpost was equipped with an old Sea of Consciousness training device for soldiers to consolidate their cultivation during their free time. Lin Yan walked over and got in line to use it.
The machine could simulate long-range psychic pressure, replicating the heavy, slowly expanding psychic field of the third-tier scaled beast from earlier. Sitting in front of the machine and wearing the induction headband, Lin Yan began to practice repeatedly.
He tried to maintain low-consumption, long-range perception while keeping the core of his Sea of Consciousness stable.
At first, when the simulated pressure hit, he subconsciously contracted his Sea of Consciousness tightly, causing his external perception to drop drastically. After trying many times, he slowly found the balance point: keeping the core completely stable and only extending extremely fine mental tentacles outward to probe. This allowed him to capture distant psychic anomalies without quickly draining his mental power.
This was the greatest harvest from this mission.
"That's a very smart way to train," the outpost's non-commissioned officer on duty said, looking at the data on the instrument's screen. "Many new recruits, when faced with high-level psychic pressure, will blindly contract their entire Sea of Consciousness, which essentially makes them blind. Knowing how to retain a small number of perception tentacles is the key to survival in actual combat."
Lin Yan stopped his training and nodded slightly.
Soon, the whistle for the return assembly sounded. Everyone packed up their gear, inventoried their supplies, and boarded the military off-road vehicles.
The convoy drove away from the temporary outpost, traveling along the mountain dirt road toward the bastion city. The gray, hazy wilderness receded outside the car windows, and the massive rift in the distance was hidden in the shadows of the mountains, as quiet as if nothing had ever happened. But everyone knew in their hearts that the hidden dangers beneath that darkness were far more complex than human cognition realized.
Inside the cabin, Su Qing leaned against the seat with her eyes closed to rest, while the two veterans discussed the abnormal intelligence they had just reported in low voices. Lin Yan leaned against the cabin wall, once again calming his mind to turn his awareness inward and inspect his Sea of Consciousness.
Second-tier peak. The bottleneck still loomed ahead. But his foundation in the Sea of Consciousness continued to settle and thicken through practical combat with controlled risks and repeated debriefing training. As the war zone instructors had said, after he broke through to the third tier, if he wanted to continue advancing, he would have to step into true, life-and-death extremities to temper himself.
The vehicles continued westward, and the thick outline of the concrete bastion gradually appeared on the gray horizon.
End of Chapter