Chapter 68

The southern district of Jiemen District is nicknamed the Teaching Area.

Source Energy Engineering College, Jiemen Institute of Technology, Jiemen No. 3 Middle School, and Terra Normal University.

Three universities and one college are all crammed into this southern urban district; among them, the Source Energy Engineering College and Terra Normal University are both first-rate schools, the latter also being a commemorative normal school established at the founding of the Holy Terra Federation, and together with the Central Trensen College of the western district they are known as the Twin Gems of Jiemen District, playing an extremely strong leading role in drawing external student sources into Jiemen District.

Moreover, precisely because the southern district houses so many prestigious schools, the entertainment facilities built for students and the extra teaching facilities constructed for instruction also received special allocations during the initial construction phase.

The Source Energy Training Ground is one of those specially funded teaching and training facilities.

However, after it was actually completed, they discovered that the initial planning had been overly formal and high‑spec, with steps taken too large.

Most of the students' teaching and training do not require that level.

Thus the Jiemen District Source Energy Training Ground became a public pay‑for‑use facility, allowing Terra Federation citizens who hold a series of Source Energy certificates to use it.

Of course, if you can produce a current student ID, you can still enjoy the original free treatment.

So this student ID should still work, right…?

Although they have taken the college entrance exam and have their scores, they haven't received their graduation certificates yet, so they are still considered students.

If not, let Bi Ze take his place; this guy has already confirmed he's repeating a year, though he lacks any Source Energy‑related certificate, and Aomo can make up for that with his own beginner's certificate.

But while the three were chatting idly about Source Energy and the Heaven's Gate Journey, upon arriving at the vast‑site venue whose exterior design was full of technological flair, Aomo realized he had been overthinking.

The student ID still works, the Source Energy beginner's certificate also works, and even the reading system scanned Aomo's most recent physical examination report, automatically assigning him to a C‑level training area.

When asked whether he needed a guide, Aomo answered that he did.

Here, a guide's responsibilities are not limited to showing the way.

The Source Energy Training Ground often has visitors—some are the trainees' friends and family, some simply admire the figure of Source Energy practitioners, and others come for various miscellaneous reasons; thus the 'guide' also acts as a 'tour guide' when needed, responsible for introducing and explaining the training facilities, and even answering basic questions about getting started with Source Energy.

This requires the guide to have a basic grounding in Source Energy cultivation knowledge.

Moreover, since this is a service‑type job, mechanical lifeforms have advantages in durability, attitude toward people, and wage demands over carbon‑based lifeforms, so most guides are mechanical lifeforms.

There are humanoid robots, odd little cart‑shaped machines, and even purely flying projection devices.

By comparison, the floating mechanical ball that flies and speaks before Aomo, Bi Ze, and David is relatively conservative.

However, Bi Ze and David are both curious about how it flies so effortlessly.

And Aomo, who is certainly not visiting for the first time, doesn't care at all about the guide's appearance.

Seeing Bi Ze and David's attention and thoughts focused on the guide, who was answering their questions about the Source Energy system, Aomo also gladly stayed quiet and followed along with the two of them as the busy guide led the way while explaining.

His gaze habitually swept the surroundings.

The decoration style of the Source Energy Training Ground is very modern, and it makes extensive use of reinforced glass for the corridors; if you walk along the high‑level glass walkways, you can overlook the vastness of the training ground and the intricate layout of its various passages.

Naturally, this is also a considerable challenge for those with acrophobia.

Just like now, Aomo and the two others are walking along the twelfth‑floor corridor; if they look left or right they can see countless tiny figures and the training area, as well as increasingly clear nearby grounds.

However, the proportion of people suffering from acrophobia in the modern era is already extremely low; although two of the three are transmigrators, neither of them is among those few, and soon David's and Bi Ze's gazes shifted from the robotic guide giving a live lecture to the transparent glass wall, where they couldn't help but look down at the vast training ground with its multiple layers of different terrain and obstacles, as well as the trainees training within it.

The venue also contains fully enclosed training and testing areas, and even a simulated secluded‑cavern area specially provided for the unique cultivation system of Dongyan District; those few buildings that block the view are essentially of this nature.

"Aomo, are you interested in that group of mages?" "No."

Averting his gaze from the obviously prepared archery range for elemental mages, Aomo straightforwardly denied Bi Ze's curiosity.

He was just taking a casual look, and then he felt in his heart that the place remained as lively as ever.

There is never a shortage of trainees, and sometimes it is even necessary to crowd trainees with the same goals and requirements into the same training ground.

But there are also those who simply go straight into combat.

The training ground itself has a ladder‑style ranking system, and together with its associated welfare‑rule design, it stirs competitive desire, so it is only natural that challenges and being challenged occur frequently.

Setting those aside, the Source Energy Training Ground is also a good place for Ascendants to duel, without worrying about damaging public property, harming others, or being raided by the police.

These are situations Aomo has seen, though he has never personally experienced them.

After all, he was actually busy with other matters at that time and neglected his training; even getting Morrison to give him private lessons required waiting for a weekend to have a half‑day session.

So his record here is also unimpressive; he even rejected occasional attempts to apply for a 'rookie vs. rookie' challenge, and after several repetitions his already mediocre rank noticeably slipped.

He simply doesn't care.

Even when Bi Ze noticed the rank displayed on the card reader and shouted in his ear, "Hey? Aomo, you're only Bronze 3? Don't you come here often?"

He merely replied irritably, "Yeah, but maybe I'll start coming more often later."

He withdrew his hand from the document reader, no longer lingering behind the guide robot, and stepped first into the opened mechanical door.

Because the mechanical door above was marked 'C2 Public Training Area', indicating they had arrived at their destination.

As for why he said he might start coming more often… one of the testing points for the Source Energy Combat Power certificate is also here.

If he later wants to devise a training plan for himself, this place would also be the best option, provided he is willing to pay the fees commensurate with those professional facilities.

And then there is the most subtle reason, namely that this place will also see——

——"Whoa! Chengtian Bai Ren and Caoshang Fei are fighting!"

Having shouted that line, Bi Ze left Aomo speechless, palm to forehead, as he asked David, "When I'm not around, does he act like that too?"

He received David's definite answer.

David, however, seemed indifferent; he even tried to follow Bi Ze's train of thought, and together they looked up at the large screen above the edge guardrail of the training ground, watching the black‑haired horse girl wielding a knuckleduster and the brown‑haired horse girl wielding a naginata face off, while asking the question "Who are Chengtian Bai Ren and Caoshang Fei?"—the sort of outsider question that makes the crowd gathered below the screen turn their heads.

That's how the citizens of Jiemen District are.

Not knowing the 'Monster Unafraid of Shadows' and the 'Phoenix' is enough to be classed as an outsider.

After all, the former is already in semi‑retirement and has even held the title of strongest in history, while the latter is in the prime of her competitive years; the upcoming Jiemen District Derby, also known as the Jidong Derby, has a slot reserved for her.

At the height of the publicity push, a row of decorated subway cars each feature her as well.

At this very moment, news that she is sparring with Chengtian Bai Ren is spreading, and not knowing how many people are rushing here, Aomo's expression turns somewhat awkward.

He knows that some of the horse girls' skills are also classified as part of Source Energy cultivation, so many trainers will list 'training ultimate moves and other minor skills at the Source Energy Training Ground' in their schedules; this is also one of the reasons he said he might start coming more often, but he never expected to witness an example right then.

Moreover, he spotted what looked like a reporter staking out the place, which made him somewhat nervous.

The reporters' natural targets are the two horse girls, but if he himself were recognized, he would need to trust that Jiemen District reporters have sufficient professional competence to distinguish primary from secondary matters.

This is the Boundary Gate Area! Horse Girl news takes priority! The affairs of Heaven's Gate City don't need you to make them so clear! — If he had a bit of this quality, he'd be thanking heaven and earth.

"......" Aomo, thinking that, touched his mask.

The Beta Demon Blade hasn't been delivered; although the card's power can be used, turning into a monster is rather meaningless, but I came to try demonification!!

Just thinking about how his unstable condition at the end of the video, which had been analyzed frame by frame circulating in Heaven's Gate City, made Aomo feel very uneasy.

At the end of that video, because of his unstable state, he briefly showed a form where the phantoms of his human and demon appearances rapidly switched.

Those analysts, relying on technological power, managed to reconstruct the full appearance of both his demon and human forms, making his demon appearance far from private—indeed, it could be said to be blatantly obvious.

Face blindness is common among humans, but such racial appearance differences among demons are extremely obvious.

"Guide, may I discuss something with you?"

"Please go ahead."

"Could we change to an enclosed training ground?"