Chapter 10: Training

Xie Sen asked Yang Shun for the next day’s leave and left work. He had the System on his mind and decided to go straight home. While he was searching for a route home on his personal bracelet, he checked the supermarkets he would pass by. He wanted to cook his own food to save money.

He was also more accustomed to his own handiwork.

There was a convenience supermarket right next to the neighborhood where he lived, so he took a public shuttle, got off near the neighborhood and walked to the supermarket as directed by the map.

The supermarkets on Brandt Star were similar to his modern supermarket, but the food section was very different, divided into fresh and dry goods sections.

The fresh food section was a vertically opening fridge with the same kind of meat in each row. There were a lot of people buying meat. It was the staple food here after all. Xie Sen didn’t buy immediately, just strolled around and got a general idea of the price of meat here.

Large beast meat was five star coins a pound. He had bought that box lunch with this kind of meat. Small beast meat was ten star coins a pound, bird meat was fifteen star coins a pound, and the most expensive was fish meat, which topped at twenty star coins a pound.

He looked at the fish drawer for a while, and finally bought three pounds of large beast meat.

With no money in hand, he was panicking. The part-time salary of the care center was given once a week. He must save a little.

Back home, he made roast meat. The taste was very good, but since he had eaten this for two days in a row, he felt a little heavy.

Before, he had spent every day eating vegetables, and didn’t know how to cherish them. Now think about it! He couldn’t help but spit on himself.

The good thing was that now the red pepper had been activated, as long as there was energy, his roast meat could at least have peppers as a side dish. Not only was it a vegetable, but it could also be used as a seasoning.

He tidied up the kitchen, stood in the middle of the hall and opened the System panel. He looked at the upper left corner of the chili pepper pattern; ‘Battle.’

“Is red pepper selected for battle?”

“Yes.“

All of a sudden, a small, arm-length red pepper bush appeared in front of him. The main trunk was divided into three slender branches, all with lush, slender green leaves, just no peppers. The frontmost branch of the red pepper was bent. The top gently touched Xie Sen’s forehead, and the leaves twitched very fondly.

Xie Sen pinched one of its leaves, and smiled. “Later we will be fighting side by side again. Let’s train first and get familiar with each other.“

The top of the branch nodded. Xie Sen concentrated on feeling the presence of the pepper bush, and gave the attack command in his head, “Attack the wall.”

He stood in the middle of the living room, and faced the empty wall that was about two meters away from.

With the command, the main trunk of the pepper tree suddenly lengthened and attacked the wall with a smack. The branch broke in half and the leaves hung down sadly.

Xie Sen sensed the frustration coming from the pepper bush, and hurriedly reassured it in his head, “It’s okay. It’s okay. I didn’t make myself clear.”

The leaves of the pepper bush rose up, and the two broken halves healed themselves. They returned to their original form and floated next to Xie Sen’s left shoulder. Xie Sen didn’t immediately order it again, but thought it through. Each plant had a specific attack ability. Activating a plant would be prompted by the System.

The hint for the bush had been “Spiciness is at your discretion.”

This meant that the red chili pepper’s greatest offensive power was its hotness. So much so, that the rest of the branches and green leaves weren’t capable of attacking. Although they could stretch, they weren’t resilient, and could hardly cause damage to others. The command just now was indeed an oversight on his part. During the apocalypse, he had activated a total of two kinds of plants, and he rarely used the red chili pepper, so he hadn’t thought it through.

After he mulled it over, he ordered again, “Arrive in front of the wall.“

The red chili pepper whooshed to a stop in front of the wall, and Xie Sen complimented it. “Great. Come back again.“

The red pepper blades swayed happily, and returned to their original position.

Xie Sen inclined his head, surveyed the red pepper, then said, “A branch arrives in front of the wall.“

The red pepper tree itself didn’t move, but one of the branches extended and stopped in front of the wall.

Satisfied, Xie Sen continued to order in his mind, “Another branch goes to the ceiling.”

The pepper tree did as it was told, and finished perfectly. Xie Sen let it return to its original form.

He continued the training, with two branches arriving at different places at the same time, then three branches, then acting according to time differences. He even practiced branch flexibility and bypassing multiple obstacles.

At first, the simple instructions were completed well by the pepper bush. Then after giving some complex instructions, the pepper bush became confused, and the branches were also confused. But through practice, the pepper bush was able to perfectly complete the instructions he gave.

At eight thirty, his body suddenly became uncontrollable. He was shocked. That afternoon didn’t count as resting? Good thing he was now in the apartment, so he did nothing dangerous, but it didn’t take long for him to fall unconscious.

He was woken up by Adam. Without waiting for Adam to say anything, he got up from the ground and quickly asked, “I rested in the afternoon. How come I wasn’t in control before I reached eight hours?”

Adam was puzzled, “It shouldn’t be…How long did you rest?”

“Half an hour.”

“No wonder. You rested too little. You need to rest for at least an hour during the day. If you only rested for half an hour, the next time you won’t have control is only four hours later.”

Xie Sen patted his pants, and headed for his room. “Alas, no way. Today’s situation was special. For me to get a half-hour rest time was very good.”

He looked for a change of clothes from the cupboard, then glanced at the time and was surprised. “It’s only eleven o’clock. You showed up at one o’clock yesterday morning, wouldn’t you show up at one o’clock today too? It’s only ten hours.”

“Every time you activate a plant I sleep for two hours less.” Adam said suddenly, in a tone full of emotion. “A’Sen, you surprise me too much. You collected energy much faster than before.”

Its little boy’s voice, together with this tone, caused Xie Sen to laugh. He slowed down with a light cough. “It’s mostly because of you. My animal affinity is very high, which helps a lot.”

“I’m good, aren’t I? Heh, heh.” Adam said smugly.

“Super awesome!” Xie Sen did not mince words in praise.

Adam’s laughter was withdrawn, and he suddenly said seriously, “Keep up the good work. Once you activate the three types of plant as soon as possible, I will be able to feel the location of the energy. The sooner you retrieve the energy, the better for your body.”

Xie Sen nodded. “I know.”

Lack of control was like a □□□□□. Although it could be solved with a fixed time to rest, the world was unpredictable. He couldn’t guarantee that he could always rest on time.

After Adam’s reminder there was no sound. Xie Sen took a shower, checked tomorrow’s exam room and exam number, then went to bed.

The next day, March 28th, was the day of the Plant Department’s graduation exam.

Xie Sen woke up at 6:30, washed up and went to the kitchen. He fried two portions of meat, one for himself and the other for his lunchbox in a bag, and left the house while wringing his hands.

Maine had just finished washing up when he heard a knock at the door.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw the teenager with a bright smile who was standing outside, his black eyes bright and clear.

“Good morning.” Xie Sen twisted the food box in his left hand, and raised his right hand to shake it.