CHAPTER 225: CALIBRATION TRIALS

Auralis I, Crescent Starfall

Returning to his residence, Nash met with the twelve talents.

"What do we do now, Captain Noir?" one of them asked.

Fully recharged after a week of vacation, they were ready for another marathon of training.

Though they still didn’t know the purpose of the relentless sparring, their trust in Nash and their choice to follow him kept their complaints at bay.

Scanning the crowd, who stood with straight postures and an air of obedience, Nash couldn’t help but nod.

As he said before, one didn’t need a great talent to join him, only obedience.

It seemed his unconventional orders had forged their loyalty and weeded out the rebellious.

"For this final month, you no longer need to spar. Instead, your goal is to reach Void Commander Rank in this last sprint!"

Hearing this, the group erupted in surprise.

Did they hear that correctly? No more sparring?

What’s more, their next task was to train and advance like normal? Was someone impersonating their captain?

"Alright, don’t give me that look," Nash said, feeling speechless. "The sparring served an important purpose. Now that I’ve achieved what I wanted, it’s time for you to advance."

"What about us, Captain?" Van Gage asked.

Besides him, Banabe and Hassan were already at the Void Commander Rank.

"For you three, just follow me to the Dark Beast Tower. It’s time to climb beyond the 10,000th level," Nash said, deciding to take them along.

After all, having already reached the Void Commander Rank, they couldn’t advance further, no matter how they trained this month.

Soon, after Nash arranged everything, he dismissed the group and led the three to Auralis X, the Dark Beast Tower.

---

Arriving at the Dark Beast Tower, the four headed to the top floor to access levels beyond 10,000.

Splitting up, they entered separate empty rooms. Stepping into the virtual pod, Nash quickly connected to the Dark Beast Tower’s virtual server.

[Detecting last progress: Level 10,000]

[Do you want to continue or reset your progress?]

"Continue from the previous level."

[Detecting varying magnitudes of strength...]

[Initiating 10 calibration levels...]

[Note: These levels will not affect your progress in the trial.]

[Initiating the first calibration level...]

"Hmm? A Tier 4 Dark Beast right off the bat?"

[Wind Harpy: Tier 4

Combat Power: 1 million]

"It seems the virtual world couldn’t fully detect my strength..." Nash mused.

With his current void amplification, his combat power has already reached 10.9 million.

Compared to this cannon-fodder Dark Beast, Nash could wipe it out instantly.

Sure enough, as it charged at him, Nash only used his finger and shot it dead.

[Initiating the second calibration level...]

"Slightly stronger." Facing the next enemy, Nash felt a spark of interest.

[Brute Cyclops: Tier 4 (Mutated)

Combat Power: 7 million]

From a mere Tier 4 Dark Beast, his foe had become a mutated one.

Unfortunately, it met the same fate as Nash easily defeated it with a single touch.

[Initiating the third calibration level...]

[Fire Basilisk: Tier 4 (Mutated)

Combat Power: 15 million]

"It doubled!"

Facing an enemy 50% stronger than him, Nash took it more seriously.

Soon, after using a series of moves, he graciously defeated his enemy as another one appeared.

[Axe Oni: Tier 4 (Mutated)

Combat Power: 50 million]

"A bit more challenging..."

As the enemies grew stronger, Nash found his rhythm.

His unfamiliar strength, now under control, surged as he skillfully killed the enemy.

From 70 million to 100 million, then 150 million, until the seventh calibration trial, Nash faced a monster with 300 million combat power.

[Demonic Roc: Tier 4 (Mutated)

Combat Power: 300 million]

"How is this even a Tier 4 Dark Beast?" Nash muttered, feeling speechless.

From a mere 1 million to 300 million combat power, it seemed the mutated Dark Beasts had no limits.

Facing a foe thirty times stronger than him, Nash could barely resist.

Without using his [Overlimit Module System] or runic weapons, the despairing power gap left Nash defeated.

[Initiating the eighth calibration level...]

Looking at his next enemy, Nash heaved a sigh of relief.

"This stage really seems to test my limits."

[Hellhound: Tier 4 (Mutated)

Combat Power: 150 million]

After his loss, the trial seemed to autocorrect, reducing his opponent’s strength to the previous intensity while increasing the number of foes.

Facing three Tier 4 mutated hellhounds, Nash wiped his sweat and fought with all his heart.

Soon, after a few minutes of struggle, Nash successfully defeated the trio.

From the ninth to the tenth calibration trial, Nash faced not much stronger Dark Beasts, only greater numbers.

Taking his time, Nash fought with all his might while adapting to his new power.

[Calibration Completed.]

[Initiating the 10,001st level...]

"Finally, it’s time for the real deal."

Unlike the brute-force calibration levels, this level required finesse, with variables that kept the fight engaging.

Battling Dark Beasts amid all sorts of tricks, Nash unleashed his full power.

---

Soon, completing the level without a hitch, Nash handed the fight to the [Combat Module System].

Now fully adjusted to his strength, it was time for him to update his module systems.

Watching the [Combat Module system] fight as it struggled against a completely different power set than nearly losing in the end, Nash almost went back to finish the dark beast personally.

Fortunately, with the ultimate skill of the [Overlimit Module System], it turned the tide and barely won the fight.

"It seems the [Overlimit Module System] was affected too..."

The [Overlimit Module System] could amplify his strength up to thirty times.

Yet, when the [Combat Module System] activated it at full throttle, his power only rose from 10.9 million to about 37.9 million, a mere threefold increase.

Though it didn’t harm his body as usual, allowing him to last a few minutes without collapsing, it still posed a problem.

The [Overlimit Module System] was meant to be his trump card.

With his current strength, using the [Overlimit Module System] should amplify his combat power to over 300 million.

Even though it could still strengthen him, a threefold boost wasn’t enough.

Investigating any errors or glitches in the program, Nash soon found the problem.

"So that’s it!"

Because he created the [Overlimit Module System] at Void Warrior Rank, it could only amplify his void saturation.

As for his tempered void energy, it only sat aside, unaffected by amplification from the module system.

"Hah! It seems I need to update all my module systems..."

If even the [Overlimit Module System] had this issue, the other module systems surely did too.

Watching the [Combat Module System] struggle to adapt to his body’s power, Nash decided to update it first.

After all, losing in the Dark Beast Tower would reset his level.