Chapter 126: Forced Conscription

The blade carefully ran across the skin’s surface, causing fresh blood to spurt out and spill all over the table.

A pair of nimble hands quickly snuck into the body, pulling out an intact heart.

Even though Chu Yingwan had killed many Ferocious Race soldiers before, she was still not yet used to this scene. She frowned and said, “I don’t understand what benefits this could possible have.”

“The Ferocious Race have two hearts, which allows their bodies to output immense amounts of power. However, power doesn’t just come from one’s hearts……They obviously have one extra heart, but their power is much greater than ours, by over twice the amount!” Su Chen replied with a slight smile.

After meeting up with the Heavenly Might Battalion, the Ferocious Race captives were no longer as useful. As such, Su Chen continued to unsparingly perform research on his targets, causing his research progress to take off.

The brutality of his opponents or the foreignness of the Ferocious Race were all supplemental information. Merely the hatred between them was enough for their relationships to be irreconcilable.

As such, Su Chen didn’t spare his opponents any pain or show them any mercy.

Because he had taught everyone the Hemolytic Totem, the Heavenly Might Battalion became interested in Su Chen’s research topics and would come over every so often to take a look.

However, the bloody nature of his research still made people uncomfortable.

“Isn’t it because of those totems?” Chu Yingwan asked.

“The totems are just supplementary — their powerful physical bodies act as their foundation, and the totems are just a tool to help them unleash the hidden potential in their bodies,” Su Chen said as he inspected the heart in his hands with his microscopic eye. “The true source of their strength is Origin Energy.”

“Origin Energy?” Chu Yingwan was stunned. “Don’t the Ferocious Race have a terrible affinity for using Origin Energy?”

“That’s a big misunderstanding that we have about the Ferocious Race, and it’s something that even I only discovered a few days ago,” Su Chen replied. “I found that even though they can’t utilize Origin Energy that well, it doesn’t mean that Origin Energy is totally useless for them. On the contrary, they have a very unique microscopic substance in their bodies that constantly converts Origin Energy into raw physical power.”

“You’re saying……” Chu Yingwan said in shock.

“Yes, their raw physical power actually stems from converting Origin Energy. We absorb it, store it as actual energy in our bodies, and then unleash it via different Origin Skills. They absorb Origin Energy and convert it into lifeforce instead, resulting in extremely powerful physiques.”

Humans absorbing Origin Energy was almost like increasing one’s mana — once the mana reached a certain level, it could be manipulated and converted into another physical substance. The Ferocious Race’s absorption of Origin Energy, on the other hand, was more like increasing their health.

In theory, once enough health was added, there should also be a resulting physical change.

However, these changes were hard to notice for two reasons. Firstly, the Ferocious Race was powerful but only used simple attacks; secondly, they had very simple brains and didn’t like to think too much, so they also didn’t play around with trying new techniques.

Any person who possessed this secret technique for increasing their combat power had received it as a merit-based reward, but Su Chen’s view of converting Origin Energy into lifeforce was obviously not so simple.

He said, “If we can unlock the secrets of how the Ferocious Race converts Origin Energy into life force, then there will be a day where perhaps we humans can also develop bodies as powerful as the Ferocious Race!”

As soon as he said this, everyone was present was stunned.

“Is that really possible?” Li Chongshan hurriedly asked.

“Yes, but this requires time and luck,” Su Chen replied. “No one can say what the end result of research will be. Behind every success is a mountain of failures. I have been researching for over twenty years, and the only three systematic successes I have developed up are the Hemolytic Totem, Soul Armament, and Primordial Blood Incarnation. If I am able to make enough progress on researching the Ferocious Race, then that would be the fourth. I’m planning on calling it…… body cultivation since you’re tempering your physical body.”

Throughout the history of human cultivation, many Origin Skills had been developed that could increase a human’s physical strength, such as the Flowing Wind Body Technique that Su Chen currently cultivated.

However, the increase in strength brought about by these techniques couldn’t compare to that of the Ferocious Race’s physique.

If Su Chen could allow humans to cultivate their physical bodies, or even develop a system of cultivation for it, then that would truly be another grand invention under his belt.

A sincere smile appeared on Shi Kaihuang’s face as he gazed at his disciple. “You will succeed.”

“I hope so.” Su Chen maintained his normal skeptical attitude. “Right, how have the Ferocious Race’s movements been looking lately?”

“They’re like a pack of wild dogs, searching over the place for us all. Should we start moving out?” Lin Shaoxuan replied.

The Ferocious Race’s territory was large and sparsely populated, making it possible for the Heavenly Might Battalion to hide in many different locations. This was yet another reason why the Ferocious Race weren’t able to easily catch them.

However, despite the large amount of territory, much of it was desolate, and the available resources were low. The Ferocious Race had a hard time even keeping themselves alive.

This made it so that rations were the most pressing problem for the Heavenly Might Battalion.

The past few months, the Heavenly Might Army had been pressured greatly by their lack of rations. As such, they had paid a heart-wrenching price to stay alive. There was no point in going into exactly what kind of price they had paid, but that didn’t mean that this price didn’t exist.

If it weren’t for the rations that Su Chen had brought, the Heavenly Might Battalion wouldn’t have been able to hold on for much longer even if they were able to avoid the Origin Beast crisis.

Everyone turned to look at Su Chen in unison upon hearing what Lin Shaoxuan had said.

Su Chen was a bit startled. “What are you all looking at me for? We’ve already talked about how to get out of here, and I’ve made the preparations I can. Exactly how to move is up to you.”

Li Chongshan laughed, “To pass through the Limestone Mountain Range successfully, we’ll need to make extensive preparations and plunder vast quantities of resources from the Ferocious Race’s territory. What we attack first and what we attack later is a big issue. I want to hear your thoughts on the matter.”

“Me?” Su Chen was stunned. “I’m not one of the Heavenly Might Army’s commanders. It might not be appropriate for me to comment, right?”

“You are starting from right now,” Li Chongshan said as he patted Su Chen’s shoulder. “From today onwards, you are the Heavenly Might Battalion’s Hidden Mountain Garrison’s deputy garrison chief. You have the authority to attend all military meetings and offer your insights!”

Becoming a deputy garrison chief so quickly would have caused almost anyone to beam with happiness.

Su Chen, however, didn’t appear happy in the slightest. Rather, he said, “I’m not interested. I prefer to stick to my experiments.”

Li Chongshan said, “You can’t refuse. The Heavenly Might Battalion is in trouble and is lacking personnel. Consider yourself drafted.”

Su Chen’s expression changed. “This is forced conscription!”

Li Chongshan guffawed, “That’s right, you’ve been forcibly conscripted!”

Su Chen turned around to appeal to Shi Kaihuang. “Instructor!”

Shi Kaihuang sighed and said, “He’s the battalion commander, and these are the military’s laws. I can’t refute him either.”’

Li Chongshan’s delighted appearance, as well as the furtive smiles from Chu Yingwan, Lin Shaoxuan, and the others, told Su Chen that he wasn’t going to be able to wriggle his way out of this one.

He sighed. “Hm, it seems as if I ran all those kilometershere just to run headfirst into a net.”

Chu Yingwan laughed as he said, “I know that you have no interest inattending to military matters. Don’t worry, this deputy garrison chief is an empty title of sorts. If you want to exercise your authority with it, you can. And if you don’t want to then no one will make trouble for you. However, the benefits that come with the title won’t be withheld either. The commander has made a lot of effort for you.”

Upon hearing this, Su Chen nodded. “That’s more like it.”

“So now what? Give us an idea. Where should we go to?”

Su Chen thought for a moment, then replied, “Crimson Army Peak.”