Chapter 12: Lifting the Stone

"Brother Mo, I'll go try first." Ma Cai's expression was relaxed and confident; he certainly couldn't lift the three-hundred-jin stone wheel, but two hundred jin was definitely no problem.

After he finished speaking, he walked excitedly toward the stone wheel to start queuing; under the intimidation of the leather whips, most of the soldiers were quite well-behaved.

"Brother Mo, do you think I should go try?" Ding Bao looked slightly hesitant.

He had no connections in his family, and while his strength was indeed not much worse than Ma Cai's, he could only lift a two-hundred-jin stone. There was an opportunity to go for the selection, but he dared not say he would definitely become a Personal Soldier.

And feeding horses was a good job; in the military camp, one could at least eat their fill, and he could even keep some money for himself by selling horse manure.

For most of the common soldiers, this was already a rather rare treatment.

Moreover, feeding horses was also a craft; if one could truly master it, settling down and making a living would by no means be difficult.

If he went to another military camp for training, the treatment he had worked so hard to obtain now would simply vanish into thin air.

"That depends on you; no matter how you choose, just don't regret it later," Chen Mo patted his shoulder.

He couldn't offer advice on this matter; he dared not say which choice was correct, it could only be left to himself.

Ding Bao lowered his head, his heart falling into endless conflict.

"I think I won't go; my father is in poor health, and my sister is not young anymore. As the big brother, I have to save some dowry money for her."

Ding Bao let out a long sigh and finally made his decision.

Ma Cai had connections in his family, and Chen Mo was a man who, once fed, had no one else to worry about, so both of them dared to take the gamble, but he could not.

Currently, by secretly selling horse manure every day, he could make over two qian of silver a month, and since the military camp provided food and lodging, almost all of this money could be saved.

This treatment alone already surpassed that of countless others.

Not to mention that his home was not far from this military camp; every few days, he could pilfer some horse fodder to take home and check on his family's situation.

If he left now, all of this would be gone.

Chen Mo didn't say anything more; everyone has their own aspirations, and this matter could not be forced.

If he didn't have the Transformation Pearl on him and enough confidence in his own strength, his choice would probably be no different from Ding Bao's.

Chen Mo stepped toward the three-hundred-jin stone wheel; few among the many soldiers attempted this weight, so there was no need to queue.

He had previously decided that since he wanted to display his strength, he would start directly from three hundred jin.

Rather than wasting time on other training, it was better to achieve the goal in one step and be directly promoted to a Personal Soldier.

This way, the treatment he received would certainly be better, allowing him to better accumulate Qi and Blood and improve his own strength.

Ever since he encountered the Blood Monkey, Chen Mo understood that this world was far from as simple as he had imagined.

Although he was relatively safe now, what would happen if he fell into the mist again in the future?

He had no good solution for this, only one point: to improve his own strength as much as possible.

As long as he was strong enough, even if he met a few more Blood Monkeys, he could calmly subdue them and would not be as wretched as before.

Therefore, it was necessary to appropriately reveal himself, as this could bring more resource investment to him.

If he wanted to eat his fill of meat every day now, it would cost at least two or three qian of silver a day, which was nearly ten liang a month.

Let alone ordinary commoners, even wealthy landlords couldn't afford to eat like that.

Revealing himself as much as possible could gain him opportunities to eat more meat, so that the Transformation Pearl could accumulate Qi and Blood faster.

Furthermore, his own strength was far more than three hundred jin; revealing it now meant that even if he burst out with four or five hundred jin of strength later, he could say it was innate Divine Power and that he just hadn't fully displayed it today.

But if he didn't reveal it, when his improvement became too fast later, it would instead arouse suspicion.

Seeing Chen Mo walk to the three-hundred-jin stone wheel, the atmosphere in the field froze.

Others had tried to lift this three-hundred-jin stone wheel before, but until now, no one had been able to lift it.

Seeing that no one had been able to lift it, those who came later didn't dare to try it casually.

Looking at Chen Mo again, although his physique was slightly more robust, he didn't look like someone who could lift a three-hundred-jin stone wheel in any way.

Especially those few who had just lifted the two-hundred-jin stone wheel but failed to lift the three-hundred-jin one; the looks they cast at Chen Mo clearly carried faint disdain and contempt.

They felt he was completely ignorant and had no idea how heavy three hundred jin was.

Although most of the others were just there to watch the excitement, they clearly didn't believe Chen Mo could lift the three-hundred-jin stone wheel.

Only He Maguan, Ma Cai, and Ding Bao knew Chen Mo better and knew that he was by no means a person who would grandstand or be rashly confident.

Since he dared to try, it meant there was an eighty percent chance he could lift it.

Mo Hu glanced at Chen Mo casually and didn't look much more.

Among the Personal Soldiers under Sun Jiangjun, a three-hundred-jin stone wheel was not considered heavy, and many people could lift it.

But in this military camp, clearly few people could do this; Chen Mo's physique had hope of lifting two hundred jin, but three hundred jin was simply impossible.

Those with innate Divine Power did exist, but they weren't cabbages in the field; how could they be so easy to find?

Chen Mo looked at the stone wheel in front of him; he didn't rush to lift it immediately, but first took a breath, then slowly extended his arms.

The stone wheel was lighter than he had imagined, or it could be said that his own strength was greater than he had estimated.

With a sudden exertion of force, he lifted it to his chest, used the strength of his legs and waist, and easily lifted it over his head; he even had the energy to look around at the people in front of him.

At this moment, many people were already dumbfounded, unable to believe that Chen Mo could actually lift it.

Those few who had just lifted the two-hundred-jin stone wheel were filled with shock and astonishment in their eyes, and they no longer dared to show any look of contempt or disdain, fearing they would be noticed by Chen Mo.

They were not yet Personal Soldiers and still had to undergo training, while Chen Mo could lift the three-hundred-jin stone wheel and could directly become a Personal Soldier.

No matter how one looked at it, offending him was not a wise move.

Facing the gaze cast by Chen Mo, those few people lowered their heads guiltily, not daring to meet his eyes.

"It's done, put it down quickly." Mo Hu walked in front of Chen Mo, his tone very cautious.

He was indeed quite surprised; he didn't expect Chen Mo could really lift it. Looking at his physique, which wasn't particularly robust, he didn't expect him to have such strength; it seemed he was also a person with innate Divine Power.

People with innate Divine Power were not many, but they weren't few either.

In any county, one could always find four or five, but if there were other paths to take, these people would certainly not be willing to join the army.

Now that he had just happened to encounter someone with innate Divine Power who had joined the army, it seemed his luck was quite good today.

Seeing Chen Mo slowly set down the stone wheel, Mo Hu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Laymen watch the spectacle, while experts watch the technique; he could tell at a glance that Chen Mo had not trained his strength much before, and his movements were quite unpracticed.

If he were to train properly, there would certainly still be room for significant improvement.

"Since you can lift a three-hundred-catty stone wheel, then according to the rules, you may enter the Personal Soldier camp directly. Go back and prepare well; the day after tomorrow, I will take you to the Personal Soldier camp." Mo Hu wore a smile on his face, his tone kind, completely different from how he treated the other soldiers in the military camp.

Since Chen Mo had now passed the assessment, he was a Personal Soldier under General Sun and a comrade-in-arms to him.

Naturally, his attitude toward his own people was completely different.

(End of this chapter)