After about half a month, there were enough mid-ranked adventurers recruited for the purpose of this experiment.

  A total of 49 was recruited—Sui Xiong felt that his value as a “commander” was definitely not a match for Lennard, so he slashed the number he recruited by half. At the same time, he felt that “49” seemed more superior than “50,” so again, he reduced the number by one.

  Compared to nearly 500 applications, this admission rate, that was less than one-tenth of the total number who applied, was simply…… a matter, of course. Neither the applicants nor the staff of the Republic of Northwest felt anything was wrong.

  When a Legendary Master recruited a student with requirements that were lowered to the level of middle rank, the selection should be relatively more demanding. It would not be right if the selection was carried out without appropriate discrimination between the good and bad.

  If that was the case, the applicants would be somewhat worried instead. Because that would mean this senior master did not have his heart in this matter and was just casually selecting a few people.

  Now, judging from how this senior did not even recruit a whole number of 50 people, it could be seen that he had certainly made the selections very carefully. Out of all the applicants that had been selected, some were outstanding in their own right, and some were not as outstanding; but most likely, they would possess some kind of undiscovered potential. In short, there was definitely not a single applicant who was recruited just for the sake of making up the numbers.

  This made the selected applicants swell with confidence instantly while those who were not selected were filled with envy.

  As for those who protested or had their suspicions…… the standard of living in this world was much lower than that of Earth. A relatively harsh society would not be able to cultivate selfless and hopelessly kind people who were brimming with sympathy. If the weak ones were not humble enough before the strong ones, people would see them as asking for a good beating. No one would show them any tinge of sympathy.

  No one would shower any fool who had a mind block with something as precious as sympathy. Like some people on Earth who would climb over high walls and cross barbed wires, run all the way to face a tiger just to deliver something right to the doorstep, in this world, there was no way anyone could get even a little bit of sympathy. On the contrary, people would doubt if this fool had eaten something that would lead him into a state of extraordinary excitement, or if this fool was mentally unsound in the first place……

  \r \r \r

  Benevolence and philanthropism were possible on the premise of comfortable living conditions. This was why in developed areas, the caring Virgin Mary, who loved every living creature, was commonly seen. But in the poor and barren areas, there were only tough men who had to clench their teeth to stomach all their blood and tears. This was nothing acquired or nurtured. It was merely an outcome of being eliminated through a cruel process of natural selection.

  As compared to these applicants, the staff of the Republic of Northwest did not put in as much thought. They were just filled with respect for the senior masters from their own countries. From their point of view, it was reasonable for the senior masters of their country to have more demanding requirements when recruiting students. Honestly, an admission rate of about 10% was in fact, quite high.

  There was nothing wrong with the way they thought. Assuming a mid-ranked adventurer was the equivalent of a common undergraduate from an ordinary reputable school, then a Legendary Master would be the equivalent of a Nobel Prize winner or the heavyweights in the world of academia who ran large research institutions. When such a person wished to recruit researchers, he ought to select from the top students of a reputable school. And now, since he had lowered his requirements, then the selection should be slightly stricter. This was a matter, of course.

  Sui Xiong did, however, felt some sympathy for those who were not selected. After a brief consideration, he decided to give everyone who came to submit their application for some traveling expenses. The reimbursement for traveling expenses was not a lot, just the amount they required to travel from their hometown to the Void City and back again. It was just the expenses for the round-trip journey.

  This windfall was a pleasant surprise that made the disqualified applicants overjoyed, while the selected ones were simply elated. It seemed like this senior was a very generous and kind man. To them, this was obviously a good thing.

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  Soon, they would realize that they were wrong.

  Sui Xiong was indeed a generous and kind man, but that definitely did not mean that he could not transform into a devil instructor.

  To avoid being recognized, whenever he appeared before these trainees, he would transform himself into someone with a height of nearly three meters and a weight conservatively estimated to be around five to six hundred pounds. He would be fully-bodied with muscles and looked as ferocious as granite. Only his face would bear some resemblance to that of a normal human so that at least he would not be seen as a monster.

  This appearance was inspired by a comic that Sui Xiong had read before he traversed worlds, but he had forgotten the name of the comic. He remembered there was a very handsome young villain with a buzz cut who wore a pair of sunglasses on normal days. But the moment there was an outbreak of combat power, his muscles would undergo an exponential expansion, even to the extent of becoming something like armor.

  In that comic, this villain was not actually considered to be particularly strong. According to the later plot of the comic, it seemed he did not even make it to the second line. But his stance as a master was certainly admirable. As compared to another villain who was just as powerful and handsome, but with a split personality, his “power” had a clear positioning. Whether physically or mentally, he was an unassailable character. The feeling people would have upon seeing him would be like “Ah! That’s what a powerful villain should be!”

  “Hello,” Sui Xiong greeted. In the guise of an extremely burly man, Sui Xiong looked at the group of trainees who had changed into the same uniform with a ferocious look. Managing to show a trace of “amiable” smile on a face with cheeks that seemed to be bulging with muscles as well, he said, “I abhor nonsense. Whatever you all should know, I will naturally tell you in due time. So, let us first do some warm-ups.”

  With that, he did a few stretches of his neck and made a distinct crack sound.

  “Follow me, I’ll take you all to the warm-up grounds.”

  The so-called “warm-up grounds” was an integrated open-air gymnasium. Sui Xiong had put a few sets of every kind of fitness equipment that he ever had an impression in this gymnasium. And along with it, there was running track that was well-made with even finishing and elasticity.

  “Start training the way you all are accustomed to, and stop only when you have practiced to the point where you feel exhausted,” Sui Xiong said. “This is a good way for me to see how you all usually train.”

  This request was not demanding. For warriors who had relied on their own efforts to reach the mid-ranked level, warming-up would mean nothing more than practicing to the point of profuse perspiration. This was nothing out of the norm.

  The limit of an ordinary person was only up to the junior level. Wanting to break through this limit and comprehend one’s fighting spirit, one would have to experience the tough training. The purpose of the training was to seek out and uncover the internal potential of one’s body when in times of extreme exhaustion or to fight in life-or-death battles to stimulate one’s potential. Generally speaking, the vast majority were in the former situation. Even for the latter situation, there was no lack of tough training. An achievement of such a level had to be extremely tough, even for an aristocratic family.

  So not a single trainee made any complaints or raised any doubts. They went straight to the fitness equipment.

  The various fitness equipment was generally not complicated. Just by studying them for a while, it was easy to figure out a way to use them. So the trainees soon fell into full swing of their training and were all in high spirits.

  The physique of Earthlings was much weaker than that of the warriors in this world. So they paid more attention to the details and comfort of the fitness equipment. As compared to the fitness machines in this world were quite effective but were more cumbersome, the Earth-style machines did not seem to work particularly better in any sense, but their comfort level was completely different.

  The moment the trainees began to use the equipment they could feel the quality of these things right away. More than one of the wealthier trainees began to carefully study the equipment as they intended to put together such a set of fitness equipment in the exact same way when they returned home after the training ended.

  Naturally, their thoughts were transparent to Sui Xiong and made him laugh. Inwardly. He had already contacted the church staff and given them a set of blueprints for them to make a few samples to be placed in the stores of the Void City. He wanted to see if these samples could be sold or not.

  It would be interesting if something like this could be made popular……