Enemies Are All Nourishment for My Fungi..

Chapter 26: Chapter 26 The Feeling of Being Valued is Great (1)

The coach suddenly began to doubt his own professional experience. His heart rate had soared to 155 just from tutoring a child, yet now, after running for so long, the numbers were fluctuating within the range of a leisurely walk.

When the test was finished, Ye Nai stepped off the treadmill, and the coach circled around her.

“Have you trained in long-distance running before?”

“No.”

“You should try marathons in the future.”

“Oh.”

...

The coach was becoming increasingly perplexed. Even though Awakeners were known to have better physical condition, it usually took a lot of time to gradually enhance that, and he had never seen a newcomer who had just awakened to be this strong.

“Come on, let’s test your strength.”

The coach took Ye Nai to the chest press machine, increasing the weight bit by bit. When the chest press reached 70 kilograms, a crowd of men and women had already gathered around to watch the spectacle.

“Not bad, you’ve hit 70. Can you go up to 80?”

“Those muscles are looking good. Where did this master come from?”

“Nice strength! Which team are you with?”

“Look at her calves, long and robust; her jump strength must be excellent.”

“She must be an athlete in the making, right?”

“Such a young girl? Does she just look young, or is she actually young?”

“What master? She’s a newbie, a newly adult newbie. This is a free test,” the coach stated while keeping an eye on Ye Nai and glancing disapprovingly at the crowd.

“…Really?!”

“So she’s not with a team yet?!”

The surrounding crowd instantly became excited.

This was promising talent!

Scout her, quickly scout her.

“Go away, be quiet, don’t disturb the test.”

The coach waved them off with disdain and watched as Ye Nai pushed to 90 kilograms. She managed it, but compared to earlier, she began to struggle, so he didn’t push her to test her limit. He had her relax her muscles and then took her to try deadlifts next.

Ye Nai, who was used to lifting bags of garbage weighing over a hundred jin, found deadlifting effortless, easily pulling 70 kilograms. Moreover, judging by her performance, she still had the capacity to lift more, despite being a total beginner.

However, at this moment, Ye Nai finally showed some fluctuations in her breathing and heart rate, her face flushed, breath heavy, and forehead sweating; she looked more like an ordinary person.

By now, the crowd around her had grown even larger. The men and women standing in the front row were all fit and robust, eyeing Ye Nai and each other with a competitive spirit that was hungry to recruit her.

“That’s enough,” a woman stepped forward, stopping the coach from adding more weights to the bar, “Basic training is no longer suitable for her. We vouch for her to be promoted to Training Level 2 and start combat and firearms training.”

“Alright, Captain Cao, you guys talk.”

Ye Nai took off her heart rate monitor and handed it back to the female coach. The coach left the scene, and she stretched her wrists while facing the group that had approached her, all fierce yet smiling.

Compared to them, Ye Nai looked like a little pity, surrounded by huge creatures, but in reality, her stature was not at all inferior to theirs—it was just the aura that was weaker.

“Young lady, are you interested in enlisting?”

“No.”

Ye Nai rejected the offer without a second thought and also understood why the others were so intense—they were soldiers, after all.

“Why not?”

“I don’t take well to discipline.”

“…Huh?!” The other party didn’t expect this to be the reason.

“For real?”

“Yeah, I finally left home so I could live a life free of restraints and do whatever I want; I don’t want to be constrained again.”

“But it’s tough to go it alone.”

“So what if I die? Living another day just brings us one step closer to death anyway.”

“Stop, stop, stop, it doesn’t have to be like that. Don’t harbor such negative thoughts.” Captain Cao, who had spoken earlier, came forward and put an arm around Ye Nai’s shoulder. “Come on, let me take you somewhere else.”

The others followed, quickly changing locations.

Taking the elevator straight up to the fifth floor, they arrived at a sign for the Combat Training Ground.

When they passed the coach’s station, it was empty; everyone was already on the training ground.

Upon their appearance, several resting coaches approached. Their eyes lit up when they fell on Ye Nai’s face and body.

“Nice, when all the captains show up together, it must be something big. Did you find a promising newbie?”

“How old is she? What has she trained in before?”

With a proud expression, Captain Cao patted Ye Nai, “Just of age and a pure newcomer, just finished the newbie test below.”

The coaches showed expressions of “Holy shit!”

“Seriously?”

“Why would I lie to you guys? We watched her finish and personally brought her up here. She doesn’t have any martial arts foundation.”

“So you’re planning to skip Training Level 1 and start from Level 2?” The coaches instantly understood and when they looked at Ye Nai again, they had already laid out a list of combat training tailored for newcomers in their minds.

“Level 1 is no challenge for her. We saw her deadlift 70 kilograms with our own eyes.” Captain Cao nudged Ye Nai again, “Did you bring your phone? Have a look at the list of combat programs and try whatever catches your eye.”

Ye Nai pretended to reach into empty space, and her rugged dual-network phone landed in the palm of her hand. She quickly opened the training hall app and saw an unread message that her training level had been updated directly from Level 0 to Beginner Level 2. When she clicked on the details, she saw that not only had she scored full marks on all the newbie test projects she had done, but she also had full marks on several projects she hadn’t even attempted.

“So, I get promoted as long as I score enough?”

“Yeah, it’s a scoring system. You can check your scores at any time and raise any objections on the spot if you have any,” the coaches explained as they stepped forward, intentionally or unintentionally squeezing the captains aside.

“I can actually skip levels like this?” Ye Nai was a bit gleeful looking at the perfect scores.

“Coaches alone don’t have the authority, but with these captains as your guarantors, there won’t be any problem.”

“For combat training, do I have to practice every single item?”

“There are many different martial arts disciplines. Boxing, Sanda, traditional martial arts, military combatives, international fighting—there’s a lot under each category. If you’re willing, you can try them one by one and pick whichever one you enjoy or find that you’re good at.”

Ye Nai went back to the homepage to check what programs were available under Training Level 2 martial arts, and indeed it was just as the coaches had said. There were several major categories, and even after scrolling down four or five screens under each, she hadn’t reached the end. There were all sorts of different ones, with clear pricing, from a few hundred for trial fees to open-ended but periodically charged formal training fees.

This was understandable. How far one could go depended on oneself and the coach. East Ridge City was so small; the cap on a good coach’s skills was limited. It wasn’t possible for a renowned coach to hustle here for that little salary.

As she was checking her phone, the captains squeezed back in.

“A Space Awakened? How much volume?”

“For gigs, a thousand cubic meters. Any of you captains interested? What’s the going rate now?”

“A thousand? That big?”

The captains’ eyes brightened even more; those in the know understood that if the working space was a thousand cubic meters, the overall volume was even larger. They silently rejoiced, thinking it must be their lucky day, and decided that they certainly had to go out for a drink to celebrate later.

“It’s also on this app. It lists reference prices. Put up your availability for gigs, then keep an eye on your private messages and pick someone you can get along with to work with,” they explained.