96: Chapter 96 Acceleration Barrier, Five Years Have Passed!

This card was a reward from yesterday, but Xu Xuan was so exhausted last night that he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Now that the system had notified him that the upcoming battles would be even tougher, he had to immediately prepare for war.

He summoned a thousand people: 999 soldiers plus Hu Zi Mei.

Xu Xuan led them all into the Battle Qi Academy. Hu Zi Mei was still acting silly, oblivious to what she was about to face.

"Are you ready?"

Xu Xuan picked up the Thousand-Man Soldier Card. The text on the card read:

[Allows 1000 people to complete 5 years of Battle Qi training (Food will be automatically supplied during this period; no need to worry about personnel starving to death).]

Hu Zi Mei nodded, grinning to reveal a row of white teeth. "No problem, Great King! I'm ready!"

In the next moment, Xu Xuan crushed the soldier card in his hand. The Battle Qi Academy was instantly surrounded by a strange barrier.

Time inside the barrier began to flow rapidly. To those outside, the people within appeared to be moving at an incredible speed.

It felt like watching a video playing at a hundred times the normal speed!

In the blink of an eye, five years passed within the Battle Qi Academy's barrier. As the barrier slowly dissipated...

Xu Xuan only heard Hu Zi Mei let out a loud cry before she lunged toward him.

Five years had passed in an instant. Hu Zi Mei's appearance hadn't changed much, but her temperament had shifted slightly.

She clung to Xu Xuan and wailed, "Waaaah! Great King, I missed you so much! Five years! For five years, I could only stare at you in a daze!"

Outside the Acceleration Barrier, Xu Xuan and the others felt as though less than a minute had passed.

But inside the Acceleration Barrier, Hu Zi Mei had spent a full five years!

Hearing the silly girl crying so hard, Xu Xuan asked curiously, "What? You could see us outside during those five years?"

Hu Zi Mei nodded vigorously. "Mhm! After saying goodbye to you five years ago, I was locked in by the barrier. I would often run to the edge of the barrier and just stare at you, Great King."

From what she said, it seemed those inside the barrier could see what was happening outside.

However, in their eyes, Xu Xuan had simply stood at the academy gates, motionless for five years.

It sounded quite miraculous; the people inside could see the outside world, but the outside world appeared frozen, as if time had nearly stopped.

The difference in the flow of time between the inside and outside of the barrier was truly wondrous.

It was just like the saying: 'A day in heaven is a year on earth.'

Looking at Hu Zi Mei after her five years of study, he felt her arms and could sense distinct muscle.

And beneath her skin, a current of energy was flowing.

Was this the Battle Qi the system mentioned?

He spoke up, "Hu Zi Mei, you've trained for five years. Go and show me what you can do."

"Okay!"

She wiped away her snot and tears. Thinking of her five years of study, she knew she should show off for the Great King.

Hu Zi Mei held her breath and concentrated. Battle Qi instantly surged from her hands. One could see the space around her begin to distort; it was the aura emanating from within her body.

Hu Zi Mei looked at a nearby boulder weighing about ten tons. She stepped forward and lifted the rock directly, doing so effortlessly!

She suddenly let out a fierce shout and exerted force with both hands. The massive rock shattered into dozens of pieces, falling to the ground.

Seeing this, Xu Xuan gained a preliminary understanding of this Battle Qi.

Protecting the body with Qi and using Qi to kill enemies—compared to ordinary soldiers, they were like super soldiers.

Looking at the bucket of gold in his hand, he could train another 1,000 Battle Qi soldiers.

He waved his hand grandly. "Recruit another thousand people and send them to the Battle Qi Academy for training!"

Xu Xuan discovered that as long as he had gold, he could accelerate the training of super units as well as accelerate construction.

This gold was truly valuable. Being able to summon an Acceleration Barrier at the cost of gold felt great.

He began to understand the appeal for the big spenders in national war online games.

Back when Xu Xuan played games like Rise of Nations, the big bosses in the guilds would drop hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars without blinking.

They weren't short on money; they just wanted to experience the thrill of instant growth and crushing rival guilds.

After arranging the training, Xu Xuan took some time to visit the workshop area.

At this time, everyone had stopped smelting iron and was instead working feverishly to refine gold ore.

Knowing that gold could accelerate production, this stuff was now a strategic resource and extremely important.

However, Xu Xuan hadn't come to the workshop to look at gold. His true purpose was to see another weapon of mass destruction—the psionic cannon!

Arriving at the assembly area of the workshop, Gong Clan was currently assembling a psionic cannon with his apprentices.

One psionic cannon required 100 units of low-grade spirit mine, but the production time was very long.

Because the process was complex, the excavated spirit mine had to be trimmed and then cast into a cannon bit by bit.

This process was even longer than Xu Xuan had imagined; it would take at least a month to produce a single psionic cannon.

Seeing Xu Xuan arrive for inspection, Gong Clan immediately put down his work and hurried over. "Great King!"

"It's fine, keep working. I just want to come over and test something out."

Xu Xuan was holding gold in his hand. Clearly, he was about to use acceleration!

Watching Gong Clan and the others work, Xu Xuan raised his palm.

The system screen displayed: [To instantly complete one psionic cannon, 10 grams of gold are required.]

Xu Xuan thought to himself, "Accelerate!"

He saw a layer of barrier rise, enveloping the entire assembly workshop. Inside, Gong Clan and the others were working at a bizarrely fast speed.

It was a scene that would make even a capitalist weep; in just a few short seconds, a psionic cannon was fully assembled!

When Gong Clan pushed the cannon out, even Xu Xuan couldn't help but marvel. With money, one really could do whatever they wanted.

He gently stroked the heavy psionic cannon, and information about it appeared.

[psionic cannon]

[Rate of Fire: 2 rounds per minute]

[Function: No loading required. The psionic core automatically absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to charge, enabling infinite ammunition.]

[Power: Shell explosion radius of 100 meters.]

[Maximum Range: 5 kilometers]

Seeing this, Xu Xuan grinned. "Gong Clan, take your apprentices and call more people over. Start work on 10 psionic cannons simultaneously!"

"Yes, Great King."

Gong Clan didn't dare talk back or ask questions. Whatever the Great King said, he did.

He wouldn't pry about that Acceleration Barrier either; after all, the Great King was like a god in his eyes.

Soon, Gong Clan led hundreds of craftsmen into the assembly workshop, and work began on 10 psionic cannons at once!

1,000 units of low-grade spirit mine were wheeled in, and the craftsmen began their feverish activity.

Xu Xuan used his 'money power' again, letting the Acceleration Barrier surround the workshop. Within seconds, 10 psionic cannons were rolled out.

Acceleration—it felt great!

"Push these cannons to the front line immediately. Be quick!"

While issuing the order, Xu Xuan also instructed Tao Shi, "Old Tao, refine some gold for me as quickly as possible. I have a great use for it."

While Xu Xuan was performing these high-speed operations, the system's notification sounded.

[The second wave of the Undead Legion has arrived!]

"Just in time!"

Looking at his 11 brand-new psionic cannons, the corners of Xu Xuan's mouth curled up.