Chapter 366: Zodiacs ( Part 4 )

Kai didn’t waste any time after making his decision. If he was going to choose a Zodiac Trait that directly enhanced his combat abilities, then the best way to understand it was to test it himself.

He stepped out of his room and immediately found himself in the familiar sight of his Shop. The store was relatively busy, with several survivors browsing through the shelves while Farrah stood behind the counter. Xinyi and Xian were also helping around the store, carrying products from one shelf to another and assisting customers whenever Farrah was occupied.

Farrah noticed Kai almost immediately.

"You came out?"

Kai nodded. "I want to test something."

Farrah raised an eyebrow. "Your new Zodiac Trait?"

"Yes."

She immediately understood what he wanted.

"Then you should use one of the Aries Faction’s training rooms."

"Training room?"

"Yes. The Aries Faction has several training facilities nearby. Renters and affiliated survivors are allowed to use some of them as long as they pay the required fee." Farrah said.

"The basic training room costs two C-Grade Cores for thirty minutes."

Kai nodded.

"That’s cheap."

"Compared to the cost of repairing something you accidentally destroy, it is."

Kai glanced at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Farrah smiled innocently. "I’m just reminding you to be careful."

Kai could only shake his head before walking toward the entrance.

Farrah called after him one last time.

"Leave the shop and turn left. Keep walking straight for about three blocks. You’ll see a large building with the Aries emblem above the entrance. That’s the training facility."

"Got it."

Kai stepped outside and followed her directions.

The streets of Cameron City were as busy as ever. Survivors moved through the roads carrying supplies, merchants pushed carts between the buildings, and several people could be seen returning from the outer areas of the city with weapons still strapped to their bodies.

Kai had become familiar with this part of Cameron City during his time here, so it didn’t take him long to reach the building Farrah had mentioned.

The Aries emblem was prominently displayed above the entrance, making it impossible to mistake the building for anything else.

Kai walked inside.

The interior was much larger than he had expected. Several reception counters occupied the front area, while signs directed visitors toward different training facilities.

There were basic training rooms, advanced training rooms, combat simulation chambers, and even specialized areas for testing ranged and defensive abilities.

Kai approached one of the reception counters.

"I’d like to rent a basic training room."

The employee behind the counter looked up.

"For how long?"

"Thirty minutes."

"Two C-Grade Cores."

Kai took out the required cores and placed them on the counter.

The employee accepted them and handed him a small access token.

"Room 17. Your thirty minutes will begin once you enter."

Kai nodded and took the token.

"Thanks."

He followed the signs deeper into the building until he finally reached Room 17. After placing the token against the scanner beside the door, the entrance opened.

Kai stepped inside.

The room was considerably larger than he had expected, with reinforced metal walls and a thick floor designed to withstand powerful attacks. Several mechanical training targets stood at different positions throughout the room, each one capable of moving and responding to attacks.

Kai looked around before smiling,,,

"This should be enough. Let’s see what Aries can really do."

After confirming that the door was locked, he raised one hand and gathered Spirit into his palm. The energy quickly condensed into the familiar shape of a spear.

"Spirit Lance."

The spear shot forward and struck one of the mechanical targets directly in the chest.

Boom!

The impact sent the machine sliding backward, and Kai immediately looked toward the damage display.

[ Target Damage: 280 ]

Kai paused as he saw it... He didn’t expect that they would have this kind of technology here.

’Is this A.I. Civ’s tech?’

In any case, he wasn’t sure if the damage was impressive...

The moment the first Spirit Lance was fired, Kai confirmed that his new Zodiac Trait was already triggered...

[ Reverb Activated. ]

The cooldown of Spirit Lance was immediately ignored.

Kai didn’t hesitate...

"Spirit Lance."

A second spear appeared in his hand almost instantly and shot toward the same target...

Boom!

The second impact struck the machine before it had even recovered from the first attack, so he was able to get 560 points in total...

Kai stared at the result for a moment.

"So it really works."

There was no need to wait for the normal cooldown, and he hadn’t consumed any additional Spirit for the repeated activation.

That alone made Reverb far more useful than he had initially imagined.

Kai didn’t stop there.

He activated Shadow Dash, and his body instantly disappeared from his original position before reappearing several meters away. The training machines immediately began tracking him, but Kai had already activated Titan Step.

His body accelerated forward with explosive force, and the floor beneath his feet cracked slightly from the sudden burst of strength.

Kai’s expression became more focused.

He then activated Neural Acceleration.

The change was immediate.

His surroundings didn’t actually slow down, but his perception became significantly faster. The movements of the machines became easier to follow, and he could process their attacks almost before they had fully begun.

A projectile suddenly shot toward him.

Kai turned his body and avoided it.

Another projectile came from his blind spot.

He immediately activated Shadow Dash and vanished from its path.

The attack passed through the space where he had been standing only an instant earlier.

Kai reappeared behind the machine and raised his hand.

"Spirit Lance."

The spear pierced the machine’s rear armor before exploding inside it.

Boom!

The training target was thrown forward.

Kai watched the result with a faint smile.

His individual abilities weren’t necessarily overwhelming on their own, but when combined, they created an extremely flexible combat style. Neural Acceleration was just something he had obtained recently... He had tried it in VR World, but only tried it now...

"This is incredible..."

It allowed him to process the battlefield faster... Then, Shadow Dash gave him instant repositioning while Titan Step provided explosive movement, and finally, the Spirit Lance gave him a powerful offensive option.

Just like that, he began imagining different combinations in his mind.

What if he used Shadow Dash twice in succession?

What if he used Titan Step to close the distance and immediately repeated it with Reverb?

What if he used Spirit Dominion and then activated Reverb before the enemy could recover?

However, would he fight against humans or machines?

The possibilities continued to appear in his mind.

However, Kai still hadn’t tested the drawback.

He turned toward another training target and raised his hand.

"Spirit Lance."

The spear struck the target.

Kai immediately activated Reverb.

"Spirit Lance."

The second spear followed almost instantly.

This time, Kai didn’t attack again. Instead, he waited for the cooldown notification.

A few seconds later, the system displayed the result.

[ Spirit Lance Cooldown Initiated. ]

Kai looked at the timer.

[ Remaining Cooldown: 19 Seconds ]

"So the drawback really is double..."