20: Chapter 20 Pre-match Preparations

The day after registration ended, Qin Shu called Shen Ye to Third Training Ground.

It wasn't Room No. 9, which they usually used, but the largest one at the end of the corridor—Room No. 0.

Shen Ye froze for a moment when he swiped his access card.

Room No. 0 was several times larger than Room No. 9, and the Simulated Rift device in the center wasn't a standard model; it was a significantly larger military-grade piece of equipment.

The military emblem of the Northern Divine Realm was printed on the casing, and beneath it was a line of small text: "Independent Pioneer Sequence · Training Only · No. 0047."

That was Qin Shu's own equipment.

He had brought it with him from the military when he retired.

Qin Shu stood beside the device, debugging the parameters.

He didn't even look up. "The City-level Competition is different from the school assessment."

School assessments are one-on-one duels, but in the City-level Competition, from the preliminaries to the finals, the opponent in every round is different.

Divine Kingdom attributes, kin types, tactical styles, and combat rhythms—you have to readapt for every single match.

Your kin's individual combat power is very high. Jin Lin's Deflection Sword, Mu Sheng's Differentiation Vine Net, and Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain are almost invincible at the same level in one-on-one or three-on-three scenarios.

"But what about large-scale battles?"

Shen Ye didn't speak.

"Large-scale battles aren't about three kin fighting their own separate battles."

Qin Shu finally looked up. "It's thirty, three hundred, three thousand kin fighting in coordination."

Vanguard, flanks, rearguard, reserves.

Offensive echelons, defensive depth, fire coverage, and filling the gaps.

No matter how strong Jin Lin is, he alone cannot block a simultaneous charge from three hundred Void Tribe Scouts.

No matter how dense Mu Sheng's vine net is, it cannot cover the entire battlefield.

Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain can protect one direction, but not all directions.

He pressed a few buttons on the control panel.

The light screen in the center of Room No. 0 lit up, projecting an open wasteland.

At the end of the wasteland, a dense mass of Void Tribe Scouts was gathering.

It wasn't just three; it was a dark, overwhelming swarm.

"Today's training content: Large-scale combat."

All of your kin will be deployed.

Number of Void Tribe Scouts—three hundred.

Shen Ye looked at the dark mass of Void Tribe projections.

Three hundred.

The most he had ever fought at once in the Simulated Rift was five Warrior-level Void Tribe members.

Three hundred scouts was dozens of times more than before.

"I'm not asking you to win."

Qin Shu's tone was flat. "I'm asking you to lose."

After you lose, you'll know where you failed, and then you'll fight again tomorrow.

Fight until you stop losing.

Shen Ye took a deep breath and connected his consciousness to the Cultivation Divine Kingdom.

Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Elder Quan were in front.

Behind them were the three thousand kin of the Cultivation Divine Kingdom—Gold Spirit Root Sword Cultivators lined up in front, Wood Spirit Root Vine Net Handlers flanking on both sides, Water Spirit Root Cultivators in the center for support, while Fire Spirit Root Artificers and Earth Spirit Root Miners were temporarily assigned to logistics, responsible for transporting spirit stones to replenish frontline consumption.

The battle began.

When the first wave of Void Tribe Scouts charged over, Shen Ye discovered the problem.

His commands were too slow.

Every one of the three thousand kin needed instructions—where Jin Lin's sword cultivator team should hold, which section of the defense Mu Sheng's vine net should cover, which direction Elder Quan's water curtain should protect, whether the flanks should push forward or pull back, and when the reserves should be deployed.

He could command Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Elder Quan with ease, but facing three thousand people, the speed at which his consciousness switched back and forth between the Divine Kingdom and the battlefield couldn't keep up.

In the first wave of the charge, his left flank was breached.

Mu Sheng's vine net covered the front and the right flank, while the left flank was only assigned a few new Wood Spirit Root Kin to weave simple vine nets.

The bone blades of the Void Tribe Scouts tore through the vine nets and rushed into the array of Water Spirit Root Cultivators.

Elder Quan's water curtain turned hastily, barely protecting the retreat of the Water Spirit Root Cultivators, but the left flank's battle line was already in chaos.

Jin Lin's sword cultivator team had to split half its members to reinforce the left flank, causing the frontal defense to loosen accordingly.

The second wave of Void Tribe Scouts took advantage of the opening and tore a gap in the front.

The battle ended.

Shen Ye's three thousand kin were completely wiped out, while nearly two hundred Void Tribe Scouts remained.

Qin Shu stood behind the observation deck, his data pad glowing.

Problem one: Command hierarchy. You're commanding three thousand people the same way you command three, issuing every single command down to the individual.

Your divine sense can't process three thousand commands.

Problem two: Defensive configuration. You put the strongest, Jin Lin, at the front, and Mu Sheng's vine net covered the front and right flank, leaving only novices on the left.

The Void Tribe Scouts aren't idiots; the projection's tactical AI will automatically look for weaknesses based on your defensive configuration.

The left flank was the weakness, so they charged the left flank.

Problem three: Reserves.

You didn't keep any reserves.

All kin were pushed to the front line; when the defense was breached, you had no mobile forces to plug the holes.

Shen Ye stood at the edge of the light screen, drenched in sweat.

It wasn't physical exhaustion, but the overextension of his divine sense.

Processing three thousand commands simultaneously made his consciousness feel like a string pulled to its limit.

"Again."

He said.

Qin Shu glanced at him and didn't say, "Practice again tomorrow."

He restarted the projection.

Round two.

Shen Ye organized the three thousand kin into five companies of one hundred.

Jin Lin led one company, consisting entirely of Gold Spirit Root Sword Cultivators, acting as the frontal blade.

Mu Sheng led one company, all Wood Spirit Root Vine Net Handlers, responsible for the left flank defense.

Elder Quan led one company, all Water Spirit Root Cultivators, responsible for supporting the right flank.

Of the remaining two companies, one was a mixed unit of Fire Spirit Root Artificers and Earth Spirit Root Miners responsible for logistics and supplies.

The other served as a reserve under Shen Ye's direct control, to be deployed wherever a breach occurred.

Commands were no longer issued to individuals.

Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Elder Quan each commanded their own hundred-man companies, and Shen Ye only gave orders to the three of them.

On the defensive line, Mu Sheng's company on the left and Elder Quan's company on the right were equal in strength, with no obvious weaknesses.

The reserves stayed behind the battle line, on standby.

The second round of battle lasted much longer than the first.

Jin Lin's sword cultivator company blocked continuous charges from the Void Tribe Scouts at the front, while Mu Sheng's vine net company wove three layers of vine net defenses on the left flank—as soon as the scouts tore through one layer, another was waiting.

Elder Quan's water curtain company deployed Spiral Water Curtains on the right flank; instead of hard-blocking, they used the water currents to entangle the scouts' forelimbs, slowing down their charging rhythm.

Finding no obvious weakness in the defensive line, the Void Tribe Scouts began dispersed assaults.

A gap was breached on the left flank as Mu Sheng's vine nets were torn open by over a dozen scouts simultaneously.

Shen Ye's reserves immediately moved up—Fire Spirit Root Artificers scattered Caltrops forged in Earth Fire Furnaces across the gap, and Earth Spirit Root Miners raised simple rock walls to block the following scouts' impact.

Jin Lin pulled a ten-man sword cultivator squad from the front to flank them, surrounding and killing the dozen or so scouts that had entered the gap.

The battle ended.

Shen Ye's three thousand kin lost over half their number, but the Void Tribe Scouts were completely annihilated.

Qin Shu made a note on the data pad: "Round two, over half lost, enemy completely annihilated."

Changing the command hierarchy from individuals to companies was effective.

Defensive configuration was balanced, with no obvious weaknesses on the left or right flanks.

Timing for the use of reserves was accurate.

Problem: Coordination within the companies is not yet proficient. When Jin Lin's sword cultivator team charges, they can't maintain their formation, leading to a disconnect between the front and back.

Mu Sheng's vine net company had a three-breath window of vulnerability when switching vine net types, which the Void Tribe exploited.

Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain company was too slow to deploy, causing the right flank to take unnecessary pressure at the start of the battle.

Shen Ye listened, recording every word into his mind.

"Continue," he said.

Throughout the morning, Shen Ye fought several rounds in Room No. 0.

After each round, Qin Shu pointed out problems, and he noted them down, adjusted the groupings and tactics, and fought again.

Losses went from a total wipeout in the first round, to over half in the second, to thirty percent in the third, and to less than twenty percent in the fourth.

Jin Lin's sword cultivator company figured out a charging formation through actual combat—not a straight line, but a Wedge Formation, with the strongest sword cultivators at the tip and others flanking them, like a wedge driven into the enemy array.

Mu Sheng's vine net company found a way to switch vine net types seamlessly—not switching all at once, but in batches, with the front row maintaining the defense while the back row was already weaving new nets.

Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain company compressed their deployment time to one-third of the original—instead of each person deploying a water curtain individually, a hundred people acted at once, making the spiral water currents converge in the air to form a composite water curtain woven from a hundred spirals.

During the lunch break, Qin Shu pushed the data pad in front of Shen Ye.

On it were today's training records—loss data for each round, kill data, tactical evaluations, and a steadily rising curve.

Shen Ye's special training results had improved with every single round since the first one this morning.

"Do you know the biggest difference between you and an ordinary S-rank?"

Qin Shu asked.

Shen Ye shook his head.

"An ordinary S-rank starts doubting themselves after losing three times."

You lost several times, and you got better every single time.

Qin Shu took the data pad back. "Among the opponents in the City-level Competition, there are a few S-ranks and dozens of A-ranks."

Most of them haven't lost much growing up.

They crushed their classmates in school assessments and had smooth sailing in city-level simulated matches.

Once they encounter a truly tough battle in the actual City-level Competition and get stunned by a blow, they'll crumble.

"You won't."

He stood up.

"Continue this afternoon."

The number of Void Tribe Scouts was increased to five hundred.