Chapter 15: The First Night at the Camp
The transport vehicle drove away from the old ruined defense zone, passing through layers of checkpoints and fortifications. Looking out through the armored windows, the outline of the city gradually became clear. This was not the modern society Lin Yan was familiar with. Although the architectural styles were similar, metal shielding nets designed to resist psychic turbulence were everywhere. The roadside bulletin boards were plastered with early warning notices about near-shore scaled beasts, and the patrolling garrison soldiers carried specially made Sea of Consciousness protective gear. Every detail exuded the unique, oppressive undertone of this dimension.
After about forty minutes of driving, the vehicle entered a training camp surrounded by high walls.
The camp was vast, internally divided into training grounds, Sea of Consciousness practical training cabin buildings, a medical testing center, dormitories, and a cafeteria. The exterior walls were wrapped in high-density psychic shielding mesh, isolating the scattered psychic residue drifting from the outside to ensure that the personnel inside would not experience meaningless, continuous depletion of their Sea of Consciousness. Lights came on one after another throughout the camp, casting cold white illumination across the concrete roads. Garrison soldiers in training could be seen everywhere, their low, intermittent commands drifting on the wind.
The vehicle stopped at the bottom of the cadet dormitory building. The nine newly admitted cadets got off one by one, receiving the standard-issue gray training uniforms, toiletries, and personal Sea of Consciousness monitoring wristbands. The wristband could monitor Sea of Consciousness fluctuations in real time, issuing warnings once severe turbulence occurred; it was the most important piece of personal equipment during the training period.
The dormitories were double-occupancy. Su Qin was assigned to a room with another female cadet, while Lin Yan was given a single room. After the assignments, everyone first headed to the medical center for a full set of deep Sea of Consciousness scans and physical examinations.
The medical staff placed the Sea of Consciousness detection helmet on Lin Yan's head, and the instrument slowly scanned his core of consciousness. On the screen, the outline of his Sea of Consciousness was clearly presented. The core was stable, with only slight fatigue fluctuations on the surface layer, and there was no damage whatsoever.
"Your Sea of Consciousness status is excellent," the physician operating the instrument remarked casually, looking at the screen. "After enduring high-intensity psychic impacts, many people are left with long-lasting, hidden fractures in their Sea of Consciousness. You practically have none. Your underlying mental foundation is very special; it's as if you were naturally gifted at guarding your true heart."
"It's just a habit of staying calm in a crisis," Lin Yan replied lightly.
After the examinations, everyone returned to their dormitories to rest. Dinner was served uniformly in the camp cafeteria. It consisted of simple nutritional meals, designed to balance physical recovery with the special nutrients needed for Sea of Consciousness stability. The cafeteria was mostly filled with veteran garrison soldiers. Their gazes occasionally swept over this group of new faces, but no one actively struck up a conversation. They had seen batches after batch of newcomers; some survived the training and rushed to the defense lines, while others suffered Sea of Consciousness collapse midway and dropped out.
During dinner, Su Qin found Lin Yan and sat at the table opposite him. The indicator light on the Sea of Consciousness wristband on her wrist was still pale yellow, indicating that her Sea of Consciousness was still in a fatigued state.
"Classes officially start tomorrow," Su Qin said in a low voice, taking a sip from her water cup. "I've already got the schedule. In the morning, there's Sea of Consciousness theory and fortification training; in the afternoon, physical fitness, scaled beast behavioral studies, and equipment practicals. I heard the Sea of Consciousness practical training cabins are the most torturous. They simulate psychic impacts from scaled beasts of varying intensities. Many newcomers faint directly from Sea of Consciousness turbulence their first time in the cabin."
"Just take it step by step," Lin Yan replied.
"Speaking of which, I've always been curious." Su Qin raised her eyes to look at him. "In the underground ruins, facing the psychic tidal wave of that sub-high-level scaled beast, I was almost instantly suppressed to the point of collapse. Yet you remained steady. Did you specifically practice Sea of Consciousness fortification before?"
Lin Yan paused. He couldn't reveal the secret of dimension-hopping, so he could only find a reasonable explanation: "Consider it another form of mental training. I'm used to steadying my mind in life-and-death situations, which happens to align with the principles of guarding the Sea of Consciousness. It's just that I lack the systematic methods for applying the Sea of Consciousness in this world. I can only endure impacts through brute force; I don't know how to actively guide and mobilize its power."
Su Qin suddenly understood and nodded gently. "I see. We've been taught since childhood that the Sea of Consciousness is the foundation, practicing how to gather and release consciousness. But many people only passively defend. Once the intensity of the impact exceeds their tolerance limit, their Sea of Consciousness collapses directly. Your innate mental fortitude is a very rare talent."
The two briefly chatted about more rumors regarding the training camp. They had heard that in previous classes, some students with outstanding Sea of Consciousness potential were directly transferred to special forces teams dedicated to combating large-scale beasts after graduating. Others couldn't withstand the continuous psychic pressure in the practical cabins, suffered permanent Sea of Consciousness damage, and had to be transferred away from the front lines to logistics positions.
After dinner, everyone returned to their respective dormitories.
Lin Yan's dormitory was simple and clean, featuring a single bed, a desk, and a Sea of Consciousness monitoring terminal placed in the corner of the room. The walls were embedded with a shielding layer that almost completely isolated external psychic fluctuations. It was so quiet that he could only hear his own breathing.
He didn't rest immediately. Sitting at the desk, he began to review the entire process of the ruins trial.
Scene after scene replayed in his mind: the low-level scaled beast lurking at the corner, the sudden surge of psychic turbulence at the garage entrance, the frenzied assault of the sub-high-level scaled beast in the underground main control room, as well as every dodge and counterattack during the fierce struggle, and the two crises where Su Qin's Sea of Consciousness nearly collapsed.
He slowly sorted out the underlying logic of the Sea of Consciousness in this dimension.
The Sea of Consciousness was the vessel of consciousness. External psychic turbulence was essentially external conscious fluctuations forcibly impacting and disrupting one's own core of consciousness. Ordinary people in this world practiced fortifying their Sea of Consciousness by gathering their consciousness inward, constructing a mental barrier to passively resist impacts.
What Lin Yan had cultivated through years of life-and-death battles in the Jianghu was an immovable true heart. The goals of the two were identical, but the paths were completely different.
Passively constructing a barrier meant that once the barrier was breached by the impact force, the Sea of Consciousness would immediately destabilize and collapse. But with a stable true heart, no matter how many impacts washed over it, the core remained unmoved, with no distinct barrier to be shattered. The shortcoming was that he could only defend; he didn't know how to actively mobilize the power of the Sea of Consciousness, nor could he release psychic impacts to interfere with opponents.
This was the shortcoming Instructor Lu Ling had mentioned. He possessed top-tier defensive mental fortitude but lacked the systematic means of applying the Sea of Consciousness in this dimension.
Closing his eyes, Lin Yan attempted to combine the Sea of Consciousness theory he had heard tonight to re-practice the method of fortification. Instead of solely relying on his true heart to endure, he tried to actively gather his consciousness, forming a soft mental barrier on the surface of his Sea of Consciousness. One layer, two layers.
He tried repeatedly. At first, the two methods conflicted somewhat. Being accustomed to purely guarding his heart, deliberately constructing a barrier felt stiff and awkward. Adjusting it over and over, he slowly merged the two. Using his true heart as the core, he constructed a barrier on the surface of his Sea of Consciousness, achieving dual stabilization.
He didn't know how long he practiced before the Sea of Consciousness wristband on his wrist lit up with a faint green glow, indicating that his Sea of Consciousness was stable and in good condition.
He stopped practicing and opened his eyes. The lights of the camp outside shone in through the glass window. Faint shouts from nighttime training could be heard in the distance.
The training had only just begun. In two months, those who qualified would be dispatched to the coastal defense line. Deep within that boundless ocean, scaled beasts were continuously bred. Larger, more terrifying giant beasts were lurking in the dark depths, waiting to make landfall.
And the wishful mission that had brought him to this dimension was still hidden somewhere in this perilous world. Only by continuing forward could he find clues.
Lin Yan lay on the bed and slowly closed his eyes, conserving his energy to face the first lesson of tomorrow.
End of Chapter
After about forty minutes of driving, the vehicle entered a training camp surrounded by high walls.
The camp was vast, internally divided into training grounds, Sea of Consciousness practical training cabin buildings, a medical testing center, dormitories, and a cafeteria. The exterior walls were wrapped in high-density psychic shielding mesh, isolating the scattered psychic residue drifting from the outside to ensure that the personnel inside would not experience meaningless, continuous depletion of their Sea of Consciousness. Lights came on one after another throughout the camp, casting cold white illumination across the concrete roads. Garrison soldiers in training could be seen everywhere, their low, intermittent commands drifting on the wind.
The vehicle stopped at the bottom of the cadet dormitory building. The nine newly admitted cadets got off one by one, receiving the standard-issue gray training uniforms, toiletries, and personal Sea of Consciousness monitoring wristbands. The wristband could monitor Sea of Consciousness fluctuations in real time, issuing warnings once severe turbulence occurred; it was the most important piece of personal equipment during the training period.
The dormitories were double-occupancy. Su Qin was assigned to a room with another female cadet, while Lin Yan was given a single room. After the assignments, everyone first headed to the medical center for a full set of deep Sea of Consciousness scans and physical examinations.
The medical staff placed the Sea of Consciousness detection helmet on Lin Yan's head, and the instrument slowly scanned his core of consciousness. On the screen, the outline of his Sea of Consciousness was clearly presented. The core was stable, with only slight fatigue fluctuations on the surface layer, and there was no damage whatsoever.
"Your Sea of Consciousness status is excellent," the physician operating the instrument remarked casually, looking at the screen. "After enduring high-intensity psychic impacts, many people are left with long-lasting, hidden fractures in their Sea of Consciousness. You practically have none. Your underlying mental foundation is very special; it's as if you were naturally gifted at guarding your true heart."
"It's just a habit of staying calm in a crisis," Lin Yan replied lightly.
After the examinations, everyone returned to their dormitories to rest. Dinner was served uniformly in the camp cafeteria. It consisted of simple nutritional meals, designed to balance physical recovery with the special nutrients needed for Sea of Consciousness stability. The cafeteria was mostly filled with veteran garrison soldiers. Their gazes occasionally swept over this group of new faces, but no one actively struck up a conversation. They had seen batches after batch of newcomers; some survived the training and rushed to the defense lines, while others suffered Sea of Consciousness collapse midway and dropped out.
During dinner, Su Qin found Lin Yan and sat at the table opposite him. The indicator light on the Sea of Consciousness wristband on her wrist was still pale yellow, indicating that her Sea of Consciousness was still in a fatigued state.
"Classes officially start tomorrow," Su Qin said in a low voice, taking a sip from her water cup. "I've already got the schedule. In the morning, there's Sea of Consciousness theory and fortification training; in the afternoon, physical fitness, scaled beast behavioral studies, and equipment practicals. I heard the Sea of Consciousness practical training cabins are the most torturous. They simulate psychic impacts from scaled beasts of varying intensities. Many newcomers faint directly from Sea of Consciousness turbulence their first time in the cabin."
"Just take it step by step," Lin Yan replied.
"Speaking of which, I've always been curious." Su Qin raised her eyes to look at him. "In the underground ruins, facing the psychic tidal wave of that sub-high-level scaled beast, I was almost instantly suppressed to the point of collapse. Yet you remained steady. Did you specifically practice Sea of Consciousness fortification before?"
Lin Yan paused. He couldn't reveal the secret of dimension-hopping, so he could only find a reasonable explanation: "Consider it another form of mental training. I'm used to steadying my mind in life-and-death situations, which happens to align with the principles of guarding the Sea of Consciousness. It's just that I lack the systematic methods for applying the Sea of Consciousness in this world. I can only endure impacts through brute force; I don't know how to actively guide and mobilize its power."
Su Qin suddenly understood and nodded gently. "I see. We've been taught since childhood that the Sea of Consciousness is the foundation, practicing how to gather and release consciousness. But many people only passively defend. Once the intensity of the impact exceeds their tolerance limit, their Sea of Consciousness collapses directly. Your innate mental fortitude is a very rare talent."
The two briefly chatted about more rumors regarding the training camp. They had heard that in previous classes, some students with outstanding Sea of Consciousness potential were directly transferred to special forces teams dedicated to combating large-scale beasts after graduating. Others couldn't withstand the continuous psychic pressure in the practical cabins, suffered permanent Sea of Consciousness damage, and had to be transferred away from the front lines to logistics positions.
After dinner, everyone returned to their respective dormitories.
Lin Yan's dormitory was simple and clean, featuring a single bed, a desk, and a Sea of Consciousness monitoring terminal placed in the corner of the room. The walls were embedded with a shielding layer that almost completely isolated external psychic fluctuations. It was so quiet that he could only hear his own breathing.
He didn't rest immediately. Sitting at the desk, he began to review the entire process of the ruins trial.
Scene after scene replayed in his mind: the low-level scaled beast lurking at the corner, the sudden surge of psychic turbulence at the garage entrance, the frenzied assault of the sub-high-level scaled beast in the underground main control room, as well as every dodge and counterattack during the fierce struggle, and the two crises where Su Qin's Sea of Consciousness nearly collapsed.
He slowly sorted out the underlying logic of the Sea of Consciousness in this dimension.
The Sea of Consciousness was the vessel of consciousness. External psychic turbulence was essentially external conscious fluctuations forcibly impacting and disrupting one's own core of consciousness. Ordinary people in this world practiced fortifying their Sea of Consciousness by gathering their consciousness inward, constructing a mental barrier to passively resist impacts.
What Lin Yan had cultivated through years of life-and-death battles in the Jianghu was an immovable true heart. The goals of the two were identical, but the paths were completely different.
Passively constructing a barrier meant that once the barrier was breached by the impact force, the Sea of Consciousness would immediately destabilize and collapse. But with a stable true heart, no matter how many impacts washed over it, the core remained unmoved, with no distinct barrier to be shattered. The shortcoming was that he could only defend; he didn't know how to actively mobilize the power of the Sea of Consciousness, nor could he release psychic impacts to interfere with opponents.
This was the shortcoming Instructor Lu Ling had mentioned. He possessed top-tier defensive mental fortitude but lacked the systematic means of applying the Sea of Consciousness in this dimension.
Closing his eyes, Lin Yan attempted to combine the Sea of Consciousness theory he had heard tonight to re-practice the method of fortification. Instead of solely relying on his true heart to endure, he tried to actively gather his consciousness, forming a soft mental barrier on the surface of his Sea of Consciousness. One layer, two layers.
He tried repeatedly. At first, the two methods conflicted somewhat. Being accustomed to purely guarding his heart, deliberately constructing a barrier felt stiff and awkward. Adjusting it over and over, he slowly merged the two. Using his true heart as the core, he constructed a barrier on the surface of his Sea of Consciousness, achieving dual stabilization.
He didn't know how long he practiced before the Sea of Consciousness wristband on his wrist lit up with a faint green glow, indicating that his Sea of Consciousness was stable and in good condition.
He stopped practicing and opened his eyes. The lights of the camp outside shone in through the glass window. Faint shouts from nighttime training could be heard in the distance.
The training had only just begun. In two months, those who qualified would be dispatched to the coastal defense line. Deep within that boundless ocean, scaled beasts were continuously bred. Larger, more terrifying giant beasts were lurking in the dark depths, waiting to make landfall.
And the wishful mission that had brought him to this dimension was still hidden somewhere in this perilous world. Only by continuing forward could he find clues.
Lin Yan lay on the bed and slowly closed his eyes, conserving his energy to face the first lesson of tomorrow.
End of Chapter