Chapter 71 - 68: The Experts of the Countermeasures Bureau

Chapter 71: Chapter 68: The Experts of the Countermeasures Bureau

The Countermeasures Bureau’s Baijiang Headquarter oversees twelve action teams, each responsible for a specific district.

Among them, the first team is perennially stationed outside Baijiang City.

For the strategy to shatter the Nightmare this time, the Countermeasures Bureau has mobilized a full six action teams.

The second, third, fourth, sixth teams...

The captains and deputy captains of the action teams are often veteran Refining Realm powerhouses. However, precisely because they are so experienced, their descents now take them to the deeper layers of the Sea of Nightmares. Even with the aid of items and a fixed camp as an anchor point, they aren’t guaranteed to be able to descend to the shallow layers.

The distance between the deep and shallow layers can no longer be described in simple terms of length.

When the time comes, if the Captain Level powerhouses cannot descend to the shallow layers, they naturally won’t be able to participate in any assaults or raids.

For this reason,

"The Bureau has selected you few to act as the tip of the spear. If we captains cannot reach the battlefield in time, the heavy responsibility of breaking through defenses and confronting the aberrations will fall to you."

Li Yunfeng, the captain of the third team, spoke.

He was a tower of a man, carrying a black Great Sword on his back. His gaze, full of pressure, swept over the several people before him.

There were six people in total.

Four at the Peak Control Stage, and two who had newly reached the Refining Stage.

These six were the core of the Countermeasures Bureau, elite warriors who had been heavily cultivated by the Bureau and were exceptional in their own right. They were active on the front lines against the aberrations, having faced them head-on in direct combat at least eight or ten times.

They were also the six strongest individuals among the personnel who, according to the Countermeasures Bureau’s calculations, were guaranteed to reach the battlefield.

Among them, the strongest was the deputy captain of the twelfth team—"Returning Stream" Chen Baichuan.

He was a young man with a boyish face and very little experience.

He had only been a Dream Descender for three or four months.

But for him to have become a deputy captain at such a young age, besides the fact that the previous one had fallen in battle, was a testament to his own immense power.

His time as a Dream Descender was short, and his time to reach the Control Stage and Refining Stage was even shorter.

Yet, "Returning Stream" Chen Baichuan had already learned two Curse Arts. One was a Universal Curse Art from the Headquarter, and the other was a Lifebound Curse Art he had developed himself.

Moreover, he was already quite proficient with the latter, able to use it with ease in the heat of battle.

He was, without a doubt, the strongest genius of the Headquarter’s younger generation.

The others were no slouches either, each having at least reached the Entry Level with one Curse Art.

For someone at the Control Stage to reach the Entry Level with a Curse Art was an incredibly difficult feat, yet the Countermeasures Bureau had four such individuals right here.

"However, Entry Level isn’t quite enough."

"An Entry Level Curse Art is prone to errors when used in combat. Over the next few days, the Headquarter will put you through special training, with myself and the captain of the fourth team, Lu Qing, as your instructors. The Bureau will also provide a batch of precious Treasure Medicines. There is only one requirement: you must get stronger in a short amount of time! Understood!"

"Understood!!"

Li Yunfeng continued, "This time, you’ll also have a few ’classmates’—geniuses our Headquarter has borrowed from other organizations. They will train with you and join you on the battlefield. Don’t let them show you up."

Soon, Lu Qing, the captain of the fourth team, arrived with three other Dream Descenders.

Lu Qing was a tall woman with a cold, stern expression. She was also one of the strongest individuals Below the Extraordinary in the entire Countermeasures Bureau, and even in all of Baijiang.

She had mastered a full seven Curse Arts, some of which she had trained to the Peak of Perfection.

She was more than qualified to teach a group of Curse Art novices.

The three who followed her were...

First, "Rakshasa Sword," the fifth direct disciple of the Extreme Intent Martial Arts Hall’s Master.

Second, "Alchemist," a young genius from the Wizard’s House, mentored by the second seat.

Third, "Wan Xie," a disciple of Dean Luo from the Baijiang Research Institute.

All of them were Dream Descenders who had already entered the Refining Stage.

Instantly, the six geniuses from the Countermeasures Bureau felt the pressure mount.

The two captains, Li Yunfeng and Lu Qing, felt the pressure as well.

It was pressure from the great battle that was soon to come.

’We’ve never assaulted a Nightmare Core before. According to our analysis, the assault team will inevitably encounter aberrations—multiple aberrations—and a direct confrontation is guaranteed.’

’To defeat aberrations in a head-on fight, even with the help of various items and equipment, mastering a Curse Art is the bare minimum requirement.’

’But after searching high and low, among the Bureau personnel who have been Dream Descenders for a shorter time, only six have even reached the Entry Level with a Curse Art.’

’It can’t be helped. Curse Arts are just too difficult to learn.’

...

’Curse Arts... actually... don’t seem that hard to learn?’

Inside Training Room Two, Hair Ghost sucked in a sharp breath.

He had never been what you’d call a genius.

Even though he had now stepped into the Refining Stage and had completely refined his Curse Object, the Wet Hair Ghost, creating his own Lifebound Curse Art should still have taken him months.

Learning a Universal Curse Art would have likewise required at least a month or two.

And that was assuming he had a place to learn and someone to teach him.

Most independent Dream Descenders, even if they were lucky enough to reach the Refining Stage, never managed to acquire a Curse Art. They were completely incomparable to the Refining powerhouses from major organizations, ultimately becoming little more than a benchmark for combat power.

But today, within the "Training Ground" area created by the Manager, his practice with his Curse Object felt divinely inspired.

He had only been practicing for a few short hours, but he’d already had an epiphany and constructed the prototype for his exclusive Curse Art.

With a few more hours of practice, Hair Ghost was confident he could directly comprehend his own Lifebound Curse Art.

It gave him the illusion that he was already a genius.

’It really is an illusion.’

’Or rather, as long as you’re training in the Safe Zone’s Training Ground, anyone can be a genius.’

...

’Am I a genius? I think I am.’

Inside Training Room Three.

Strands of Xi Xue’s silver hair twisted and intertwined, forming a sharp, silvery-white spear that pierced straight through a metal target set up more than ten meters away.

This was the exclusive Curse Art she had developed based on her Lifebound Curse Object.

But she had now mastered more than just one Curse Art.

She tapped her toes on the ground, and her entire body shifted sideways three or four meters, defying the laws of physics.

This was the Universal Curse Art ’Light Feather Step’. When trained to a high level, it allowed for continuous side-to-side hops, greatly increasing one’s survivability.

This was the very Curse Art that Xi Xue had been trying, and failing, to learn for the past several days.

And yet, less than an hour after entering this training room, it was as if her meridians had been unblocked—she had directly reached the Entry Level with the Curse Art.

"This is the result of my ultimate talent, my diligent hard work, and... a teensy bit of help from the Manager."

Not far from Xi Xue, in the same training room, was another person.

Peaches, from the Wizard’s House.

The two of them were sharing a training room, not to save money, but because there were no other rooms available.

At that moment, Peaches was even more excited than Xi Xue.

"No side effects! There are absolutely no side effects!"

Her Lifebound Curse Object wasn’t the Acidic Gastric Bag that others saw, but the plain, unremarkable Magic Staff in her hand.

And right now, she was continuously waving and activating the Magic Staff’s Ability, sending out wave after wave of invisible ripples.

Ten times! Twenty times! Thirty times!

She activated it again and again, comprehended it again and again, developed it again and again.

Finally, at a certain moment, without needing to rely on the feedback from conquering a Nightmare, just through her own practice and use of her Curse Object, she naturally broke through into the Control Stage.