Chapter 133: Lightning Training

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The academy's elemental training grounds also varied in quality. Now that the Constellation club was wealthy and had more points than they could possibly spend, they naturally headed for the best facilities available.

In truth, the key to Constellation's abundance of points lay in their small headcount, meaning a high number of points per capita. Points could accomplish a great deal at Bancroft. For instance, the functional beverages Huoye and the others consumed after training contained ingredients that promoted the circulation of Esper energy within an Esper's body, proving exceptionally effective when used after physical and elemental workouts.

However, these drinks were far from cheap. The original formula was held tightly by the colony, and the beverages were produced exclusively by colony-owned enterprises. The market price was high, and their value in Bancroft points was equally steep. Ordinary large clubs could hardly afford to supply such drinks to all their members.

Yet, Huoye had generously declared that they would have an unlimited supply. It wasn't that Constellation's point reserves were already wealthier than those of other major clubs; rather, it was because Constellation had so few members! What did a small headcount mean? It meant a high per capita share! Major clubs easily boasted hundreds of Espers, all possessing the same elemental affinity. With resource consumption high and members numerous, it would be a miracle if the per capita share wasn't pitifully low!

And what about Constellation? Eight members, hundreds of thousands of points, and every single one of them a powerful elite. In recent days, they had gone around raiding other major clubs—killing and plundering... No, conquering territories. Through VRF battles, a massive influx of points had poured into Constellation. During the days Huoye had spent hospitalized, Constellation's reputation had only grown louder and more resonant throughout the academy.

To say nothing of Jiang Feng, who had once been the weakest but had continuously grown, even Xiaojia, a first-year student, boasted formidable battle records. Of course, Constellation couldn't possibly win every single match, but as long as their victories outnumbered their defeats, a steady stream of points was guaranteed. The only one in Constellation who maintained an unbroken, undefeated streak was Huoye himself.

The Little Grim Reaper, the Calamity Eater—an entity who had single-handedly fought and defeated a Calamity-grade threat right after being promoted to S-rank. This was the leader of Constellation.

The finest elemental training center in the entire academy was located right next to the club building. People in the academy referred to it as the Elemental Building. Though called a building, it actually only had four floors. Among the seven major elements, only four—Wind, Lightning, Ice, and Fire—allowed Espers to strengthen their elemental attributes by perceiving the corresponding elements.

The remaining three systems were far too abstract; where could one possibly find elements to perceive? Holy Light and Darkness required one to perceive the positive and negative emotions within oneself, while Space... Eddie himself was a Darkness-affinity Esper and genuinely had no research regarding the Spatial system, nor did Huoye know how to train spatial abilities. Thus far, the only spatial abilities he possessed were the supportive sound-seeking localization and the indiscriminate AOE "Wailing Ghosts and Howling Gods."

It didn't matter, though. Huoye was proficient in all seven systems. For the past dozen years, he had concentrated solely on training his Darkness affinity, so discrepancies among his attributes were completely normal. He could simply spend the coming days closing those gaps.

The first floor belonged to Lightning-affinity Espers. Here, Huoye parted ways with the other three members, remaining behind to train alongside Leilimi.

Upon entering the small training chamber, Huoye's primary sensation was a deep tingling. His skin felt numb, as though his entire naked body had been coated in prickly ash oil. It was an exhilarating yet slightly unsettling pins-and-needles sensation that Huoye had never experienced before.

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Leilimi explained, "This place features a unique bio-magnetic system, which can stimulate the magnetic fields, nerves, and glands within a Lightning-affinity Esper, causing their Esper energy to spontaneously convert into flowing electricity inside the body. The intensity isn't massive, but it is far greater than bioelectricity. Through this kind of stimulation, we can imperceptibly raise a Lightning Esper's upper limit for voltage tolerance, vastly increasing the destructive power of the lightning they can wield."

Huoye nodded and said, "Espers are still human, and humans have limits. I've never been able to use explosive-type lightning techniques. I tried it once in the past, and ended up getting electrocuted to numbness, lying paralyzed on the ground for a full ten minutes before recovering. It was only then that I realized even a Lightning Esper has a tolerance threshold for voltage. The voltage required for 'Lightning-Fast Speed' isn't actually that high; it mainly demands meticulous and sustained control over electricity. In fact, I find that much easier than explosive power."

Leilimi laughed and said, "Training methodologies differ, after all. At the end of the day, Big Brother, you are primarily a Darkness-affinity Esper, so it's completely normal that you can't withstand high voltage. Bancroft has the best training environment, so you should seize this opportunity to raise your limits quickly."

"Mm, what you say makes sense."

The lightning training facility was remarkably simple. If Huoye had to compare it to a familiar environment, only three words came to mind: sauna room.

That was right, a sauna room. To allow the magnetic field here to reshape the physical body, it was best to wear nothing more than a pair of shorts, as clothing would obstruct the magnetic field.

When Espers entered primary school, they were required to take a class on how to transform their clothing into defensive armor. This didn't mean literally making their garments as hard as plate armor, but rather imbuing them with resistances exceeding material limits—cold resistance, heat resistance, explosion resistance, magnetic resistance, and every other kind of defense.

This unnamed Esper technique was quite simple. Its principle relied on the dissipation of Esper energy and the fabric fibers of the clothing. An Esper's energy was generated through the chemical reaction between nitrogen and the body following respiration, and during breathing, a portion of this energy would inevitably escape into the air. Skin respiration counted, of course. While ordinary people could not master methods to measure or train skin respiration volume, it was effortless to channel that Esper energy leaking from the pores into the empty spaces between fabric fibers, which were far larger than the fibers themselves. It was as simple as pouring water into a cup.

Once learned and practiced diligently, it could become a habit. Putting on clothes would automatically enhance their defensive capabilities, increasing one's survival odds. The limit of this defense enhancement depended on the individual's Esper strength and the quality of the garments. As for the Hunting Corps uniforms crafted specifically for combat, under the reinforcement of this technique, even C-grade Calamities might struggle to scratch them with their spatial abilities.

The two of them changed in the locker room into loose, oversized shorts, leaving their upper bodies naturally bare. Although it was purely for the sake of improving their Esper levels, they were still stripped to the waist, and even though the men's and women's sections were separate, a certain awkwardness remained. Thus, each training room contained only three seats.

"I feel like the voltage in this room is a bit low," Huoye remarked.

Leilimi frowned, nodded, and said, "Indeed. Shall we turn up the pressure?"

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"Alright," Huoye replied, casually twisting the dial located on the armrest of his seat. Every seat was equipped with one—these were the regulators used to adjust the voltage within the room.

Right now, the sensation the two of them felt was merely a mild tingling; clearly, neither had reached their limit. But reaching one's limit didn't mean there were no physical symptoms beforehand. What was the most obvious reaction when a person was electrocuted? It was that after the nerves within the body were interfered with by electric current, even without any command issued by the brain, the reflex arc still stimulated the muscles to contract. Simply put: spasms.

These spasms weren't confined to a single spot; they wracked the entire body, because the force stimulating their muscle contraction was the very electricity generated by their own Esper energy.

The facial muscles of both youths twitched continuously, yet they managed to converse amidst the spasms.

"Big... Big Brother, I want to ask you a question."

...You... go ahead and ask."

"During the fight against the Calamity-grade earlier, why didn't you... why didn't you take a bite out of him? Aren't you able to consume Calamities?"

"I wanted... to, but most Calamities I bite have a hard time recovering... recovering. Still, I just didn't find the opening. Besides, consuming Calamities does absolutely nothing... nothing to restore my stamina or energy. I can only recover energy by eating regular food. From my perspective, it's just... just a form of attack, and I won't use it when the timing isn't right. If eating a Calamity could accelerate my recovery, then I'd truly... truly be invincible, able to roam the ruined wilderness without restraint. No Calamity could compare to me then."

"I... I see," Leilimi said, suddenly enlightened.

At that very moment, a heavily muscled man walked into their room.

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