103: Chapter 103 The Intensive Training Camp
Over the next three days, Wang Pingan practically lived, ate, and slept on the "seagull."
He became completely addicted to this god-like piloting experience of "man and ship as one."
Mentor Murphy, acting like the strictest and most professional coach, drew up a crazy intensive training plan for him.
"Your spirit strength and control precision are far beyond my imagination. But you lack experience, especially in dealing with various sudden cosmic disasters."
Mentor Murphy pulled up a virtual training program.
"This is a simulation training system I wrote based on more than 17,000 different types of cosmic storm data collected by the Sky Dome Observatory over the years."
"Starting today, your task is to pilot the 'seagull' and survive within these virtual storms."
Thus, Wang Pingan's journey of "suffering" began.
Day one.
He was thrown into a simulated "G-3 Level Asteroid Storm."
Countless meteorites of varying sizes, moving at speeds too fast for the naked eye to capture, whistled toward him from all directions like dense raindrops.
At first, Wang Pingan relied on his freakish reaction speed and control ability, handling it with ease.
But he soon realized he was wrong.
The flight paths of those meteorites had no pattern whatsoever.
Moreover, there was a strange gravitational field between them that influenced each other and changed their orbits.
Often, just as he dodged one, another would slam into him from an unexpectedly tricky angle.
Bang!
In the first simulation, Wang Pingan lasted less than three minutes before being smashed into cosmic dust by a house-sized meteorite.
【Simulation ended. Survival time: 2 minutes 47 seconds. Overall evaluation: Fail.】
The cold system prompt rang in his mind.
"Damn it!"
A strong sense of refusal to admit defeat surged in Wang Pingan's heart.
"Again!"
In the second simulation, he lasted five minutes.
The third time, ten minutes.
...
On the seventeenth simulation, he finally passed through the deadly asteroid belt without incident, relying on the 【Eye of Truth】 to accurately predict the gravitational field and his increasingly proficient extreme micro-maneuvers.
【Simulation ended. Survival time: 29 minutes 13 seconds. Overall evaluation: Excellent.】
"Whew..."
Wang Pingan took off his helmet, feeling as if his head had been hollowed out; he was both tired and in pain.
Although it was just virtual training, the consumption of spirit was real.
"Not bad. To be able to clear the G-3 difficulty level within six hours on your first attempt... You kid are a natural pilot."
Mentor Murphy handed him a bottle of blue spirit recovery potion that emitted a cool aura.
Wang Pingan downed it in one gulp and felt the mental exhaustion instantly relieved quite a bit.
"Don't be happy too soon," Mentor Murphy said, his face devoid of any smile. "This was just an appetizer."
"The Subspace Storm we are about to face is ten thousand times more dangerous than this asteroid belt!"
After saying that, he directly adjusted the training difficulty to the highest level.
【Loading virtual scene...】
【Scene name: Subspace Storm (Simplified Version)】
Wang Pingan's vision went black again.
When he "opened his eyes" again, he found himself in a dark red, chaotic space-time filled with an aura of destruction.
Countless tiny spatial rifts, like black lightning, constantly flashed and annihilated around his "seagull."
Waves of violent, unpredictable energy tides, like invisible giant waves, squeezed toward him from all directions.
Wang Pingan felt his ship was like a tiny boat in a category 12 typhoon, ready to capsize at any moment.
He didn't even need to perform any maneuvers; just maintaining the stability of the ship almost exhausted all his mental energy.
"This... this is the simplified version of the Subspace Storm?"
Wang Pingan felt a chill in his heart.
The slight complacency he had just felt from clearing the asteroid belt was shattered at this moment.
Sizzle—
A barely perceptible spatial rift, only as thick as a strand of hair, appeared silently in front of his left wing.
Wang Pingan didn't even have time to react.
The rift, like the sharpest knife, easily sliced off a large chunk of his wing, which was forged from "Void Black Gold."
【Warning! Left wing severely damaged! Ship balance system failure!】
The piercing alarm sounded frantically in his mind.
Immediately after, before he could steady the ship.
A much larger energy tide crashed down!
Bang!
【Simulation ended. Survival time: 17 seconds. Overall evaluation: A rookie among rookies.】
Wang Pingan: "..."
Over the next two days.
Wang Pingan spent his time in this infinite loop of "being abused—recovering—being abused again."
His survival time went from 17 seconds, to 1 minute, to 5 minutes, and then to 10 minutes...
Every bit of progress was accompanied by dozens, or even hundreds, of "deaths."
His spirit, through these repeated extreme strains and recoveries, became increasingly refined and resilient.
His understanding and application of the "Star Sea Contemplation Diagram" and "Phantom Gods Eye" also reached a whole new level.
Mentor Murphy, like the most competent logistics chief, spared no expense in using various treasures he had treasured for years, capable of quickly restoring spirit, on Wang Pingan.
Watching Wang Pingan's freakish learning ability and speed of progress, which was like a sponge absorbing water.
Mentor Murphy's heart, which had become calm as an ancient well due to years of scientific research, was shocked into numbness time and time again.
He knew he had found a monster.
A true monster, one in ten thousand years, born for flight!
...
Meanwhile.
In the office belonging to Instructor Shi Yan at the Sky Dome Observatory, which had the highest level of authorization.
Instructor Shi Yan was quietly watching the huge holographic screen in front of him.
What was displayed on the light screen was the entire process of Wang Pingan "dying" and "reviving" again and again in the virtual training ground.
Every one of his extreme maneuvers and every mistake in response was recorded and analyzed by the system with the most precise data.
There was no expression on Instructor Shi Yan's face.
But in those sharp eyes, like a falcon's, a brighter and brighter light full of appreciation and expectation flickered.
"Murphy, that old madman..."
"This time, it seems he really bet correctly."
Instructor Shi Yan whispered to himself.
He slowly stood up from his seat and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window of the office.
Through the window, one could overlook the entire panoramic view of the new recruit special training base.
His gaze pierced through layers of clouds and mist, finally landing on that inconspicuous maintenance platform located at the Seventh Star Port.
"Kid, I hope you... don't let me down."
After a long silence, he finally opened his personal terminal.
He sent an encrypted message on it.
【Target: Wang Pingan, Murphy. Operation code: seagull.】
【Authorization granted.】
【Classified as an 'S-Class' top-secret observation project.】
【All relevant flight data to be synchronized to my terminal in real-time.】
【Additionally...】
Instructor Shi Yan paused, his face showing a rare, fatherly, and kind smile.
【Secretly fill their ship with the highest grade 'Dragon Blood Fuel'.】