Chapter 939: An Ordinary Youth
The Blood Skull Arena’s recruit training camp was a foundry workshop in another sense.
Countless rat people whose homes had been destroyed and whose bodies were burning with hatred had gone through a life-and-death struggle in the dark dungeon. They had vented the hatred that should have been vented on the warriors of the clan on each other.
After layers of screening, the rat people who could still climb up to the ground and join the recruit training camp had all become the best ‘Steel Billets’.
Here, they could enjoy ten times more food than in the depths of the dungeon.
They could also apply secret medicines that had been added with totem beast ointment.
Not only could it speed up the healing of wounds, but it could also make their bones as tough as steel and their flesh as tough as shields covered with leather.
Then, they threw themselves into the cruel training day and night.
They repeatedly lifted stone locks that weighed hundreds of pounds; launched the fiercest strikes against the iron walls that were stained with blood; walked past the red-hot iron chains, which were full of traps with sharp blades; climbed over the fishing nets that were full of barbs, the slightest carelessness would cause the barbs to pierce into their flesh and be tightly wrapped in the fishing nets..
Even though these rat people were the strongest after layers and layers of selection.
Many of the rat people’s figures were no different from the warriors of the clan, and were even stronger than the warriors of the clan.
It was just that they did not have the qualifications to wear a gorgeous tattoo that represented the glorious deeds of the clan’s bloodline and ancestors.
However, the power that was hidden deep in their bone marrow, and besides the mandala fruit, which required them to devour a large amount of the flesh and blood of totem beasts from a young age to acc.u.mulate, was far inferior.
Many strong-looking but weak-looking rats could not withstand such high-intensity training.
Either the stone lock left their hands and smashed into the instep of their feet, shattering the bones of their feet.
Or, in the process of crashing into an iron wall, they smashed their heads and blood, breaking their tendons and bones.
They even fell into a pit filled with sharp blades and were pierced with thousands of holes.
There were also people who did not have the time to untie the fishnet that was full of barbs and had their major arteries torn apart. Fresh blood sprayed to the height of three to five arms, and they died from excessive blood loss.
These people were like defective products when forging weapons.
Very quickly, they were dragged away by the expressionless rat civilian servants.
They were dragged to the Colosseum that was full of totem beasts.
Immediately, more rat civilian recruits were replenished from the depths of the dungeon.
The next round of “Forging”and “Casting”began.
The arrival of the ice storm attracted everyone’s attention.
As the ace of the Blood Skull Colosseum, although she had lost three rounds in a row in the group battle, she was always judged to be defeated by the adjudicator. She had never really been defeated by her opponent, and she did not suffer too much loss in the battle against the opponent’s main general.
In fact, because the opponent had the advantage in numbers, she was often the only one left after she defeated the opponent.
In her fury, she had even performed the grand feat of “One horse against a thousand”and put on a marvelous show for the audience.
When she summoned the mithril Ripper and raised a storm of frost that sent hundreds of rat subjects flying, no one dared to regard her as a loser.
Therefore, the ice storm still enjoyed high prestige and worship.
Many rat militia were eager to serve under her.
Seeing her appearance, the exhausted rat militia recruits cheered up again.
They bared their fangs and brandished their claws while screaming in an effort to make themselves look fiercer.
The two disabled gladiators who were responsible for training the recruits quickly stepped forward and welcomed the ice storm with a smile.
However, ice storm did not have the slightest smile on her face.
She had always suspected that Casava had done something to her.
She had not selected the best recruits during the first three times she had selected new recruits.
This time, she had to open her eyes wide and search carefully.
Ice Storm crossed the middle of the training ground with her hands behind her back and wagging her tail.
However, she did find a few strong fellows.
Many clan warriors born in military n.o.ble families were banished due to the failure of family battles and battles. They were reduced to rat people and had no choice but to marry other rat people.
Therefore, “Rat people”was never a concept in the sense of bloodline.
The so-called “Dirty blood”and “Glorious blood”were not fundamentally different.
If these st.u.r.dy fellows were able to devour a large amount of totem beast flesh since they were young and had a gorgeous tattoo on their body, who would be able to differentiate them from the real clan warriors?
Ice Storm understood this point better than any of the Tulan people.
However, she had to admit that even if there were no fundamental differences in their bloodlines and the education they received since they were young were different, there was a huge difference in the fighting strength between the rat people who had grown up and the Clan Warriors.
The simplest thing was that when she gazed deeply at these seemingly strong fellows, her icicle-like eyes lightly poked their bodies.
They began to panic, their movements distorted, and they made mistakes one after another.
In the first three times she had selected recruits, she had picked a lot of strong-looking and strong-looking fellows.
When she personally trained them, their performance was barely satisfactory.
However, in the real arena, in front of tens of thousands of warriors of the clan, they were surrounded by deafening roars.
These peasant soldiers, who came from a remote village and had never seen so many masters of the clan in their lives, often collapsed at once.
The same thing could not happen again.
She only had one last chance.
She had to choose a better soldier.
But what kind of soldier was “Better”?
Ice storm frowned as she thought about this question.
Suddenly, she stopped.
She looked at a rat youth at the side of the training ground with some surprise.
Compared to those big, muscular adult rats, this youth was too skinny.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that his streamlined body and limbs were also covered with steel-like muscles.
However, because his limbs were too long, one would feel that they would break if one were to grip them lightly.
How could such a ‘skinny and weak’teenager survive from his hometown to Black Horn city and climb to the recruit training camp step by step from the deepest part of the dungeon?
And the youth’s figure was not the reason why ice storm was surprised.
What surprised her was..
“He actually fell asleep?”Ice storm muttered to herself, somewhat in disbelief.
It was said that he trained hard day and night, so of course, it was impossible for him not to sleep.
But the place where the recruits slept was next to the training camp, and it was a stinky shack.
On the training ground, there was at most a short break of one meal after ten or twenty sets of extremely difficult high-intensity training.
Moreover, the surroundings were filled with deafening shouts, screams, and the sound of stone locks and stone axes colliding. It was comparable to a real foundry.
How could he fall asleep in such an environment?
Ice Storm narrowed his eyes and seriously sized up the youth.
He saw that both of the young man’s hands were covered with thick calluses, and the skin next to the calluses had been rubbed and torn until it was dripping with blood.
It was obvious that he had just held a stone lock or a stone axe and had undergone ultra-high-intensity training.
However, there were no injuries on his body.
There were no abrasions, bruises, or falls, nor were there any wounds that were cut by sharp blades or barbs.
This was impossible.
When they arrived at the recruit training camp, all the rat subjects had to undergo the same training. The content of the training was modeled after the military n.o.bles who trained the clan warriors who were around ten years old.
No rat subject could withstand such tough training without leaving a single scar on their body.
Judging from his even breathing and calm expression, this youth did not lie down because he was tired. Instead, he took the initiative to fall asleep.
From the looks of it, the training content that was enough to make most of the rat people mentally collapse and die from exhaustion did not make him feel too much pain and fatigue.
He was still able to handle it with ease!
Perhaps it was because the ice storm’s gaze was too sharp.
The youth’s eyelids trembled slightly in his sleep.
Before he opened his eyes, he wiped his hands under his legs, creating two bone blades as thin as cicada wings.
Neither of the two bone blades had a hilt.
It was extremely difficult for anyone to notice it when it was sandwiched between two fingers.
Even ice storm might have missed this fatal move if he had not been observing the youth.
“What a brilliant hiding knife technique!”
Ice Storm became more and more surprised. “This is an exquisite technique that can only be mastered by a clan warrior who is used to killing. How did a mere rat youth learn such a skill! ?”
The ice storm could feel that the rat teenager had woken up.
However, he did not open his eyes and continued to pretend to be asleep.
The flesh and blood all over his body was like a winch that was wrapped around a rope. It was tightening bit by bit, and he could escape, defend, and attack at any time.
The ice storm retracted her gaze and walked past the teenager, continuing to move forward.
She could feel that the teenager was slightly relieved.
Behind her, he opened his eyes slightly and secretly observed her.
“What an audacious little fellow.”
Icestorm smiled slightly in his heart and asked the Disabled Gladiator who was in charge of the training camp, “That little fellow just now had long arms and long legs. He looked a little thin and weak. Did he just crawl out of the dungeon? How was his performance?”
The disabled gladiator was slightly startled. It seemed that he did not expect icestorm to take a fancy to this thin and weak youth.
He did not dare to offend the ace of the Blood Skull Battle Arena, and hurriedly said, “He just climbed up the day before yesterday. I heard that his performance underground was not bad, and his attacks were ruthless enough. Every time he entered a new cage, he would sneak attack the strongest and most powerful fellow, instantly stunning the others.
“But after he climbed up the ground and came to the training camp, his performance… was not too bad. It was neither up nor down, nothing special.”
“Nothing special?”
Ice Storm was stunned for a moment.
According to her observation, this young man was the most special rat citizen that she had seen in the blood skull arena.
After thinking for a moment, she asked, “In two days, many gladiators should have come here to choose servants, but they didn’t choose him?”
“Choose him?”
The disabled gladiator said, “It’s strange to say that although this kid’s training is not outstanding, it’s not so bad that he needs to use a whip. All the training content can be barely completed at the last moment.
“However, every time a gladiator comes to pick a servant, everyone has to be alert and try their best to perform. However, he is always fl.u.s.tered and makes mistakes. One time, he even fell off the iron chain and almost fell into a pit full of sharp blades. He was so scared that his face turned pale and he was shivering.
“It seems that he is too weak to withstand the pressure.
“In addition, he looks so thin and weak, as if he hasn’t been weaned yet. Why would a gladiator waste a precious spot and choose him as a servant?”