Chapter 323 - 318: A Path Revealed by a Dirty Joke

Two days later, in a village in eastern France, the former Death Illusion Barrier Containment Zone.

The danger of the Death Maze Zone was a thing of the past, but the number of troops stationed here had increased from the original 3,500 to 12,000, a number that included many combat engineers.

Negotiations for cooperation within the World Alliance had already gone through three rounds. What was certain was that, in the spirit of the alliance, France was willing to provide its allies with a certain number of training opportunities, but the exact figure was still being contested.

The training zone plan was crucial.

Right now, none of the countries felt secure. Strengthening their war readiness involved not just equipment and infrastructure; the quality of their combat personnel was, naturally, of the utmost importance.

The incident that had previously occurred in the capital of Hua Country had indeed tempered a large number of soldiers, but that was all. Such opportunities were both rare and dangerous.

Meanwhile, ordinary paranormal incidents were mostly handled through the coordinated efforts of special agents, police forces, and the military. Most of them were much ado about nothing, at best only honing their reaction speed.

But this situation in France was different.

The Dawn Sage himself had confirmed it, so it was naturally extraordinary. This was not only the historical site where the Otherworldly Ancient Demon Jilian had been sealed, but a massive number of mutated monsters had also been eliminated here in the battle two days ago.

Even now, the French had not finished clearing away the remaining corpses. For the various research institutes of the Super Research Department, it was like a harvest festival. Materials they previously had to handle with extreme care could now be used with abandon.

Of course, in return for the technological aid France had received from other nations after the alliance was formed, large transport planes from various countries had been frequently landing at and taking off from nearby military airports, carrying the corpses of the Ancient Demon Remnants back to their home countries.

There was no other way. The sheer quantity was one thing, but some of the individual specimens were so large they had to be cut into many pieces.

Even though the blood from the purest bloodlines had already been collected by Dawn, there was still much more left over. Most of the land in the original village had been stained a dark, bloody red by the Ancient Demon Blood.

Besides the formal six-nation summit, back-channel contacts were also constantly taking place.

Meanwhile, experimental analysis of the area had not stopped.

What was currently known was that being inside the zone gave soldiers a dual sense of burden, both mental and physical, yet it also made it very easy for them to concentrate.

The final plan was finally settled upon this afternoon.

According to current estimates, the effective area of the training zone was slightly less than two square kilometers, or nearly 500 acres. That might not sound small, but the sheer number of soldiers from all the different countries had to be taken into account.

All told, their combined armies numbered in the millions. Furthermore, nearly every nation in the World Alliance had already begun planning to recall retired veterans and increase future recruitment.

At that rate, the total number could easily surpass ten million, and it might not even stop there.

Leaving aside the question of how to develop a scientific training regimen for now...

For this area of nearly 500 acres, based on phased training calculations, preliminary studies indicated that the number of soldiers who could train inside simultaneously during any given phase was approximately 30,000 to 40,000.

Training programs would last a month at minimum. How the hell was that supposed to be enough?

No one would accept a permanent allocation, so in the end, they could only implement a rotational plan. This meant that before each new training cycle, each country's share of the slots would be different, determined by their contributions to the World Alliance and other factors.

The host nation, France, would permanently be guaranteed no less than 30% of the slots. With that, a standard was finally, if reluctantly, established.

As the owners of the land, they were only getting 30%? Had Kodell and the top brass of France's military and government gone mad?

In truth, they hadn't. Among the informed nations, France was at best a second-tier power with a significant lack of technical knowledge. This was a golden opportunity for them to absorb what they could, especially from China and the United States. Only those two countries knew the true extent of their own technology and research.

Besides, France's total military strength was only around 300,000 to 400,000 troops, so ceding some of their share still left them with more than enough slots.

...

While the top brass negotiated, the army continued its cleanup of the containment zone.

Jilian's body had crushed large swathes of the village's land, pressing it down nearly ten meters. At this moment, a company of soldiers was inspecting one particular location.

They anchored grappling hooks to the high ground at the entrance, then began driving support struts into the compacted, hardened earth, preparing to set up ladders later.

After another two hours of work, the company of combat engineers finally reached the bottom.

Within the training zone's area of effect, the soldiers were all a bit tense or overexcited, and their stamina drained rather quickly. As a result, it was common for them to chat among themselves to stay alert and relieve stress.

A few soldiers stood at the bottom of the deep pit they were in and spoke in a teasing tone.

"Look where we're standing! This must be where Jilian's tits were!"

The surrounding soldiers roared with laughter.

"My god, those are some huge knockers!"

Someone looked up at the "sinkhole" they were in, feeling like an ant looking up from inside the bell of a trumpet.

Other areas had sunk by ten meters at most, but the bottom here was at least seventy or eighty meters down.

"A monster this terrifying... just standing in front of it would be enough to scare you to death, right?"

"Heh, if it were me, I'd have to look up right before I died!"

The others paused for a moment.

"Look at what?"

The soldier let out a lewd chuckle.

"Hehehe, I heard the Otherworldly Ancient Demon Jilian had a humanoid female form, and she was naked. So what do you think I'd look at? If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die knowing. I'd check if she was hairy or not!"

"Hehehe..." "Hahahaha..."

"You're a real genius, Minni!"

Dirty jokes were always the lubricant for soldiers' banter and stress relief, and they did much to ease the mental pressure.

Amidst the raucous laughter, the soldier who had started the joking suddenly felt a jolt in his mind. For a moment, the people around him blurred into double images before quickly returning to normal.

His laughter stopped abruptly. The others gradually fell silent, watching as Minni flailed his arms around.

"Minni, what's wrong with you? Don't tell me it's still dangerous here."

They all raised their service pistols.

"No, it's just... I suddenly feel like I can't wave my arms fast enough. No matter how I wave them, it feels too slow."

As he spoke, he kept waving his arms frantically until they grew sore and he passed out.

...

Two hours later, Minni was sent to the camp hospital for a full examination. Twelve hours after that, the specialized term for the training zone, "Spiritual Breakthrough Point," was proposed for the first time.

The preliminary theory was that, under the mental pressure of the training zone, an individual could fully adapt and overcome it. Due to the residual Spiritual Power from Jilian and her offspring, the trainee's mind would undergo a compressed tempering, resulting in a minor breakthrough.

Because the leap in enhancement occurred over a short period, the person would experience a sense of discord between their thoughts and actions, always feeling that their movements were too slow. This would gradually be adapted to within approximately 24 hours.

Without a systematic training plan in place, Minni's case was an accidental and fortunate one, but it unexpectedly pointed the researchers in a new direction.

The degree of this enhancement might not be dramatic, but it was unclear how many times it could occur. And if there was a Spiritual Breakthrough Point, could there also be a Physical Breakthrough Point? After all, stamina was also depleted very quickly in the training zone.

PS: Third chapter for Monday.