High Above

In the 767th year of the Terra calendar, January 28.

Stormy day.

The clouds are like a churning black sea, converging above the coast of the Nanling Mountains, and the icy sea breeze brings heavy rain quickly. The rainwater floating all over the sky is like a shaking curtain in the sky, spreading along the wind and changing its shape.

Rain washes the shore.

Because of the terrain, the rainwater in the forests along the coast converges into temporary streams and trickles, which merge into the sandy beach. The temperature on rainy days fluctuating around zero degrees makes the most hardworking Terrans prefer to stay at home. In a daze by the brazier.

But there are two figures training on the deserted beach.

"You can only hit five times out of ten times, and you are still one time away from passing. Come again!"

In the rain, Hilliard's taupe eyes stared at the blindfolded child in front of him. The white-haired boy had a serious expression, his eyes were covered by a black cloth, and there were many marks of sand impact on his body.

"Let's start, teacher." Ian, who could not see anything, faced Hilliard head-on, holding a wooden stick in his hand, and said calmly, "I feel that I have mastered the trick."

Holding a clenched ball of sand tightly in his hand, the old knight said nothing, then suddenly raised his hand and threw it out.

The sand cluster should have dispersed halfway, but a force made it condense... Even, it could make it rotate in a non-linear direction and fly towards Ian with a spiral trajectory!

Snapped!

But Ian seemed to sense something. He waved the wooden stick in his hand, hit the sand ball, and smashed it to pieces.

Hilliard didn't stop, he threw sand balls one after another, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes the sand balls would strike from behind in an arc, and sometimes the sand balls would continue to rotate at a spiral angle just like before.

And every sand group is silent, without any warning, and the noisy waves brought by the downpour of rain hitting the reef and the sea surface even more so that all sounds are blocked.

But Ian kept swinging his stick one after another.

He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, but he could really sense every throw of Hilliard and respond accordingly.

Although because of the old knight's tricky throwing technique, he couldn't block it every time with a wooden stick, but even if he missed it, it was just that the angle was slightly wrong, and it was not unnoticed.

"good!"

After the throw was over, Hilliard's expression lifted, and he praised: "Seven out of ten hits, your talent of origin quality sensing is indeed quite sharp, keep it up!"

"Um."

Ian also breathed a sigh of relief.

In the past month, he couldn't catch it even once at the beginning, and gradually reached the point where he could catch most of it.

The sand-throwing training is at the seaside on a rainy day, when the world only has both water and soil. Hilliard throws sand balls, and then Ian, who covers his eyes and is affected by the sound of rain, only senses the presence of sand and sand. Training for intercepting sand balls thrown at you.

Through this training, Ian can exercise his sense of the earth and his ability to control his body. If this training is successful, then even if Ian loses his vision and hearing, he can still fight by relying on pure 'origin induction'.

Of course, Ian can't use psychic power—it's too shameful to use psychic power, and it has no training effect on himself, not to mention that as long as this sensory ability is trained, it will be good for Ian to control his own psychic sense in the future.

It sounds difficult.

But in fact, this is just a relatively simple one of the many trainings that Ian has done in the past month or so.

"Rest for three minutes, and then we start the next training session!"

Hilliard looked up at the rain clouds and confirmed that the rain would last for a long time, so he nodded with satisfaction: "Control the mud and sand to cover the body and not be washed away by the rain—five minutes is the pass line!"

"yes!"

Responding forcefully, after a short rest, Ian began to manipulate the gravel in the surrounding beaches, or in other words, manipulate the 'silicon dioxide' to cover himself.

The sand armor apprentice's response to soil and gravel is essentially his response to silica, or in other words, the 'silicon element'.

The silica content in the soil is about 60%, and other alumina, calcium oxide, and iron oxide are also important components, plus water, microorganisms, and various organic components. Generally speaking, the control is far less than purity Larger beach gravel is easier.

But even so, it is difficult to control the grit clinging to the body without being washed away by the rain. This tests Ian's source quality control, endurance and mental concentration.

It should be noted that even the mud shield of the swamp crocodile can't stop the rain from scouring, and it will be taken away.

It’s just that the amount it controls is too large, the mud is continuously replenished and repaired, and it’s okay to be impacted for a day, so it seems to have no effect.

But coincidentally, these are Ian's strong suits.

Obviously, it was more difficult training than hitting the sand ball blindfolded before, but Ian was able to easily control the sand and gravel from being washed away by the rain, and it was more than enough to maintain a pass in five minutes.

After Hilliard's test, Ian's extreme concentration time exceeded half an hour, which is beyond the reach of many adult sublimators.

After all, to change the concept, if Ian has enough source quality and a strong body, he can fight in full strength for more than half an hour without any rest or respite.

In addition, there is swimming.

Sounds simple enough - isn't swimming a breeze? As long as it is not difficult to master the skills, how can it be regarded as the training of sublimators?

But not to mention that the place where Hilliard took Ian to train was on the coast of Harrison Port, where the storms were frequent and the waves were turbulent.

If you don't use source quality, the fate of most sublimators falling into the water will not be much better than that of stones, at most there will be more bubbles.

As a sublimator majoring in soil, Ian's bone density has greatly increased after he advanced to the sand armor apprentice, and his spine gradually began to transform into "crystal bones"-how much more difficult it is for swimming and floating And metaphor.

Rather, Ian can actually float in the water without sinking because of his extremely superb balance of essence.

After floating in the water for more than an hour, Ian felt that he was indeed completely exhausted. After drinking the sea water and no more energy could be squeezed out of his body, Hilliard would pick him up.

The master and apprentice went to a small camp in the woods to eat some grilled fish and drink some fruit milk.

The fruit pulp is naturally several kinds of sweet and sour berries that are common in Nanling, red, yellow, blue, green, sweet, astringent, sour, and bitter. In terms of food, it is equivalent to adding food, and poison is also a substance, which can also be digested.

In particular, all the source matter organs in Ian's body have a certain degree of resistance, absorption, and ability to ignore toxins.

As for the milk, I have to thank the empire for its assistance. Eight of the twelve Bison giant cattle they sent were females, and three of them were pregnant. From this aspect, the aid from the imperial capital this time is really solid. Doesn't take any moisture anymore.

If it hadn't been for Feiyan to open up the mountain road and confront the western part of the empire, shifting the strategic focus of the empire, Harrison Port would have continued to receive assistance at this level, and I am afraid it would have become a large seaport city in seven or eight years.

Of course, on paper there are thirty-five giant oxen in the aid caravan, but in reality there are only twelve, everyone knows that.

After all, with such a long distance from the imperial capital to Port Harrison, there are still twelve left, which is considered very clean.

Needless to say, the nutritional value of giant cow milk is mixed with fruit pulp, which can supplement a large amount of protein and vitamins and restore physical strength. It was Elder Pude who obtained it for Ian through his own relationship, and Ian shared part of it with Elan. Others are used as nutritional supplements to assist exercise.

"For more than a month, the exercise has been quite effective."

In front of the fire in the camp, Hilliard slowly added firewood, and sparks flew around the campfire.

The old knight looked sideways at Ian who was silently eating fish, and seriously commented: "But don't be complacent, training is different from actual combat, not to mention your training is not perfect-even if I can't accompany you in the future, every day Also keep exercising and make sure you don’t fall behind in your progress.”

——This sentence is false.

In fact, Hilliard was secretly shocked by the progress of Ian's training, and even felt, 'This is actually eight years old? ! ’ It’s unbelievable—but it’s true. The old knight was also surprised, but he could only accept it.

"...Well, I will."

Swallowing the food in his mouth, Ian also answered seriously: "But teacher, didn't you say that the next time 'variation' and 'big storm' appear, it will be at least five or six years, and normally it will take seven or eight years? ?”

"The big storm is just the result. The real cause of the mutation is actually the ruins of the pre-epoch deep in the bottom of the sea... I have been looking for a way to get into it, but I have no way."

Raising his head, Hilliard stared at the distant sea. After Ian became a sublimator, he no longer concealed some news from Ian.

Staring at the depths of the distant blue sea, the old knight sighed: "Don't talk about it, Ian, Elder Purdue called you over a while ago, besides teaching you some knowledge about sublimators and psychic powers, what else did you say? ?”

With Ian's current knowledge, the knowledge taught by Elder Purdue is naturally a bit backward and one-sided.

But for Ian, this is also a process of repeated review, not to mention that Elder Pude is proficient in inscriptions and is also very competent as a teacher.

In recent days, in order to let Ian learn the knowledge about ether armament, he equipped Ian with a small carving tool kit, which is quite expensive.

In Ian's mind, the elder is also a very good teacher.

"Teaching normally, but Elder Pude took me to the Elder's Hall to meet a few elders."

After drinking the fruit pulp and milk in one gulp, Ian stared at the bonfire and said calmly, "Red, the vice-captain of the guard, Mining, the alchemist of the Viscount's mansion, and Badanli, the captain of the white room fleet—Elder Pude asked these Senior Bai Zhimin introduced me and announced that I was his formally accepted apprentice."

Obviously, these are the important leaders of Bai Zhimin in Port Harrison. They have been involved in military and business technology, and they are very smart and no one will become an official.

Unlike other parts of the empire, on the frontiers of the empire, when Viscount Grant's cronies alone controlled the military, political and financial power of Port Harrison, it didn't matter whether someone was an official, as long as he closely followed the interests of the imperial nobleman.

"oh?"

Hilliard didn't care how many teachers Ian had. He wished that Ian would learn as much as possible, and the deeper his connections, the better.

The old knight was mainly interested in interpersonal relationships: "These older white people, seeing you as an 'official disciple' who suddenly came in...wouldn't they be dissatisfied?"