Chapter 1 After Lunch Break

After the lunch break, the schedule continued with wilderness simulation training and specialized training in wilderness survival skills.

Unlike the morning's physical training, the wilderness simulation, while still requiring a certain level of physical fitness, didn't rely on it entirely. There were activities like frog jumps and weighted squats, but also single-leg balance and archery.

Of course, for Hu Xianbin in his current state, even the less physically demanding activities were still a struggle.

He had nearly exhausted himself during the morning's rock climbing. While the lunch break allowed for some recovery, it wasn't nearly enough to restore him to a state of full energy.

The other managers were in no better shape. The morning's climbing and physical training had drained them, so they were basically relying on willpower to get through the afternoon's training.

After the weighted squats, the managers couldn't wait to take off the heavy backpacks they were carrying, collapsing on the ground and sprawling out in a "spread-eagle" position, staring at the ceiling of the training hall like a group of salted fish who had lost all hope.

Bao Xu looked at everyone, a cold smile on his face.

Is that all you've got?

This is nothing!

I remember back when I was walking through the African Rift Valley, trekking through the Sahara Desert...

Hmph, and you're already giving up after just doing some warm-up exercises in an indoor hall?

A bunch of losers, we need to step up the intensity!

Bao Xu clearly wasn't planning on letting these guys off the hook. He looked at the time, preparing to chase them up as soon as the break was over and make them continue with the remaining single-leg balance, archery, and other activities.

It had to be said that Sa Ziran's arrangement of the training schedule was quite reasonable. The four main items from morning to afternoon started with the most physically demanding rock climbing, followed by the relatively strenuous physical training. After a lunch break, the two afternoon items also started with the more physically demanding one, followed by the less demanding one.

The amount of exercise gradually decreased, slowly draining all of these people's physical strength.

This process was like filling an empty cup, starting with large stones, then gravel, and finally water…

In short, this more scientific training schedule allowed Bao Xu to confidently and ruthlessly push them hard.

Bao Xu looked at the timer on his phone, calculating how much rest time these managers had left, while a sense of happiness welled up in his heart.

Before, when he was forced to go on trips, he couldn't play on his phone for long periods of time, while the other managers were enjoying delicious food and drinks in Jingzhou. Now, he could play on his phone as much as he wanted, while the other managers could only watch.

This feeling is great!

Just then, Bao Xu saw a familiar figure walking into the training hall from the outside.

Bao Xu was stunned for a moment, then hurried over to greet him.

"President Pei!" Bao Xu's voice was filled with a hint of joy and a desire to take credit.

Pei Qian's eyes swept over the training hall and couldn't help but smile.

He saw the managers lying on the ground one by one, sprawled out in disarray, clearly having been drained of their last ounce of energy by Bao Xu.

They had also noticed President Pei's arrival, but even with all their strength, they could only stretch their necks and move their eyeballs. There was no way they could stand up and say hello.

Seeing the current state of these managers, Pei Qian suddenly thought of a phrase.

"Forgive your subordinate for being paralyzed in bed and unable to perform the full salute!"

It was quite fitting for the current scene.

Guo Licheng still had some strength left, and sat up from his prone position, looking like he was about to get up and say hello. Pei Qian quickly walked over and held him down.

"It's okay, don't get up. You should rest."

Guo Licheng was pushed back down, and had the strange feeling that he was actually a critically ill patient and President Pei had come to visit him.

Seeing that Bao Xu had trained Guo Licheng to this extent, Pei Qian couldn't help but look at Bao Xu with a bit more admiration.

As expected, I knew I hadn't misjudged him!

These managers were all listless, as if their bodies had been emptied, which was clearly all Bao Xu's doing.

"Heh, you bunch of traitors have this coming!" Pei Qian was practically gloating.

Just then, Pei Qian heard a faint voice near his feet: "President Pei, I've seen a lot of people arguing about *Eternal Reincarnation* online. What's going on? Has something gone wrong…"

Pei Qian looked down and saw Hu Xianbin asking weakly, looking like a critically ill patient lying on the ground, asking the doctor if there was any hope for him.

Pei Qian couldn't help but sneer.

You're already like this, and you're still thinking about work?

Looks like he hasn't been trained enough; he still has distractions in his mind.

Bao Xu, arrange more training for Hu Xianbin!

Pei Qian smiled slightly, squatted down halfway, and patted Hu Xianbin on the shoulder: "Don't worry, I've arranged everything, there's no problem at all."

"Since you're in the special training base, focus on your training and don't worry about work."

"Bao Xu, Hu Xianbin clearly has energy left. Increase his exercise load!"

When he heard the first two sentences, Hu Xianbin had felt quite touched, but when he heard the last sentence, his face instantly turned ashen.

"President Pei, please don't!"

But President Pei had already stood up and was preparing to leave.

Bao Xu looked down at the time: "Alright, everyone get up. President Pei's visit has already given you five extra minutes of rest. Start training immediately!"

"Hu Xianbin, for the next archery training, you'll draw the bow twenty extra times and shoot twenty extra arrows!"

There were two parts to the archery training. One was simply drawing the bow, and you had to make sure to draw it fully and hold it for a certain amount of time. This was to correct everyone's posture. The other was shooting arrows, to see the accuracy and score on the target.

When Hu Xianbin heard that he had to draw the bow twenty extra times and shoot twenty extra arrows, his face instantly fell.

Crap, looks like I won't be able to hold my food at dinner tonight…

Pei Qian looked at the current state of the special training base and nodded with satisfaction.

Good, very good!

This special training base should definitely be promoted and expanded so that the managers and key members of all departments can enjoy it.

This is only the first batch of the special training list, and it has already proven that Bao Xu is someone who can be relied on, and the training programs at the special training base are completely trustworthy.

Pei Qian was already looking forward to the next training camps.

…

…

September 14th, Friday.

Yan Qi was once again sitting in front of his computer, downloading the new round of updates for *Eternal Reincarnation* while waiting for the end of the workday.

This time, Yan Qi was both excited and apprehensive.

He was excited because he knew in advance that this update of *Eternal Reincarnation* would make adjustments to the combat system, and he was looking forward to seeing what this game known for its combat would be like after the change.

He was apprehensive because there was a lot of debate among players about the game, and he couldn't be sure that changing the combat system would satisfy them.

What's more, this update of *Eternal Reincarnation* was a bit chaotic, which clearly indicated that there was a small problem within Tengda, which made people worry about whether the quality of the game would be affected.

In addition, *GOG* had also released an update announcement, stating that it would be releasing a new hero, the Jailer, this weekend, which was clearly a collaboration update with *Eternal Reincarnation*.

The specific skill mechanics of this new hero are currently unknown, and the official website has not disclosed them.

Yan Qi guessed that this was because there was a certain connection between the combat mechanics of *Eternal Reincarnation* and the hero skills of the Jailer in *GOG*. The official website did not want to spoil it in advance, but rather wanted players to experience it in *Eternal Reincarnation* first, and then use *GOG* to promote it and let more players know.

Before downloading this update package, Yan Qi first went online to look at the players' comments. Sure enough, everyone had temporarily shelved their disputes and were waiting for this week's update.

Soon, the download was complete.

Yan Qi immediately entered the game and loaded his save.

He remembered that he had spent a lot of effort last weekend to complete the first part of the game, having just finished the Meng Po boss fight and waiting for the White Mist Gate behind Meng Po to unlock.

However, after loading the game, he didn't appear in the Meng Po boss fight scene, but instead saw an option to "Recall Previous Combat Skills" and entered a place similar to a martial arts arena.

Across from him sat another Martial God, but his whole body was emitting a faint red light to distinguish him as an enemy.

"Huh? They made a training mode specifically for this combat system?"

Yan Qi was a little surprised.

Because according to the habits of the *Turn Back to the Shore* series of games, the explanations of the combat system were generally not so detailed.

Although *Turn Back to the Shore* itself was very difficult, it didn't have any training content. After players entered the chaotic graveyard, they would simply leave a brief description of the functions of each button on the ground or on the tombstones, and then rely on the players to explore on their own.

Obviously, President Pei's design concept for this game was, "Figure it out yourself, it's not my fault if you die in the game."

But *Eternal Reincarnation* actually had a training mode. Did this mean that the newly updated combat system was too complex, so complex that players might not be able to master it without a training mode?

Yan Qi thought this was the only possibility, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that this possibility shouldn't be high, and that he was overthinking things.

After all, *Eternal Reincarnation* was just a DLC. Even if they were going to update the combat system, at most they would just tweak the values, make slight adjustments to the functions of each button, and adjust the details of certain actions.

The underlying combat mechanics shouldn't change much.

If they even changed the underlying combat mechanics, what kind of DLC would that be? Wouldn't it be better to just develop a new game and make more money?

After entering the training mode, the system began to methodically guide the player to try out various operations.

The first was the setting of Qi (breath) value.

The system introduced the difference between the current stamina value and the original stamina value concept, introduced the meaning represented by the Qi value icon, and asked the player to attack the enemy according to the rhythm of breathing, to smooth out their Qi value.

"The four colors of green, white, yellow, and red represent different states of Qi value, and the expansion of the icon represents inhalation, and the contraction represents exhalation…"

"This is starting to feel like a rhythm game."

Yan Qi discovered that the addition of a simple Qi value alone had caused the combat system of *Eternal Reincarnation* to undergo earth-shattering changes compared to before.

With Qi value, it meant that players had to think in an additional dimension.

Originally, you only needed to consider the three dimensions of attack, defense, and movement, but now you also needed to consider the dimension of "timing" or "rhythm," which suddenly made the difficulty increase sharply!