"Stopping the experiment is impossible."
Marvin reaffirmed his resolve.
No matter what, he would not stop his experiment; it was tied to his sole obsession, and he couldn't possibly give it up.
"However, there are only 63 Slaves left now, which is a bit few. Coupled with the Glenbagen Family's demands… perhaps I need to narrow the scope of the experiment."
"It's a pity those guards are also good experimental materials, but Leinajin won't allow me to touch his soldiers."
Marvin didn't actually care about the Glenbagen Family's punishment for him. After all, he was still a bloodline of the Glenbagen Family, and he hadn't committed any major mistakes, so the Glenbagen Family wouldn't do anything to him.
At most, they would just cut some "living expenses."
With his current level of alchemical potions, he truly didn't care much for those "living expenses." What he was truly worried about was the Glenbagen Family transferring him away from here.
The Glenbagen Family is a large family, and also a noble family of the Hartwin Kingdom. The Glenbagen Family does not lack low-level alchemical potions like Stamina Potion.
The reasons the Glenbagen Family sent him here were:
Firstly, being able to refine them himself was more cost-effective and convenient than buying them.
Secondly, some people in the Glenbagen Family were dissatisfied with him constantly wasting Glenbagen Family resources on various random things, so they found something for him to do.
For this, Marvin was actually very grateful to the person who suggested arranging him at the Training Camp, although that person might have just been annoyed by him, an unsociable old man.
But after coming here, with a continuous and large supply of high-quality experimental subjects, his research progress has been much faster than before.
Marvin took out the stack of documents from his handbag, flipped through them, and categorized the data on them one by one.
He used a pen to mark the key points on these few pages, indicating that they would be his main research subjects moving forward.
"Liens."
Marvin circled this name.
"He is currently the only experimental subject in the Training Camp with spiritual talent, and he also has the same 'weak spiritual talent' as me."
"The experimental data obtained from him should also have some reference value for me."
Marvin pondered.
"It would be great if I could just capture him and constantly observe his changes, but Leinajin probably wouldn't agree."
"Although he wouldn't care about the lives of one or two Slaves, since the Count has spoken, he will definitely take the training more seriously."
"In this situation, he shouldn't easily give up these Slaves."
"I'll wait a while and see the situation, to see if I should bring up the matter of asking for him… Should I go and talk to Leinajin?"
"Tell him to go easy on that Slave named Liens, so he doesn't kill my valuable experimental material."
Marvin muttered to himself, sitting at his workstation.
…
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two months passed.
The intensity of the Training Camp's training, as expected, continued to increase.
As of today, another 13 people have died during training. Some died suddenly during training, some were beaten to death, and some were killed by a Trainer's sword for resisting.
Fortunately, Ben was not among the deceased.
Otherwise, Liens would have lost his daily "story time."
Liens had to admit that Ben was indeed very eloquent. After two months, his "story time" had become a form of entertainment for Liens.
Liens asked Ben how he developed his eloquence.
Ben's answer was that he had loved chatting with people since he was a child, enjoyed collecting various rumors and everyday gossip, and trained himself with the dream of becoming a bard.
However, his family's financial conditions and his own appearance prevented him from taking steps towards his dream in the end.
As for how Ben eventually became a Slave?
He didn't say, and Liens didn't want to reopen his friend's wounds.
I forgot to mention, Ben was one of the few people in their batch of Trainers who could read from the very beginning.
So, Liens asked Ben what exactly was written on the "contract" they signed at the time.
Ben's response was that they were rushed at the time, so he didn't fully see what was written on the "contract." He only saw words like 'voluntarily become,' 'willingly dedicate,' and 'Slave.'
However, even with just that, he roughly guessed that they had likely signed some sort of magical contract with the nature of a Slave.
Given the dehumanization by the nobles, they probably sold themselves completely, and perhaps even the use of their corpses had been planned out.
Speaking of corpses, every Trainer who died would be dragged away by the guards. He wondered which mass grave their bodies would be discarded in?
At any rate, Liens hadn't found any place to bury bodies in the Training Camp.
But if they were thrown outside the Training Camp, he hadn't seen the gate opened for that purpose.
Of course, the Training Camp's gate wasn't always closed.
Every now and then, a convoy of carriages would transport large amounts of food into the Training Camp.
They came through the gate, just like the carriages that transported them, these Slaves, more than two months ago.
Liens wasn't surprised that the Training Camp needed to import large amounts of food from outside.
After all, with the Training Camp's conditions, it was impossible to be completely self-sufficient; it didn't even have any cultivated land, so food could only rely on external supply.
Unless there was some special magic in the Training Camp that could conjure food… for example, mages in World of Warcraft could consume mana to create water and bread.
However, it was impossible for Liens and the other Slaves to escape the Training Camp using this opportunity.
Because at those times, many guards, and even the Trainers, would be stationed at the gate.
There was basically no cover at the gate, making it difficult to sneak nearby without being discovered.
He had tried several times in the dungeon, and was usually caught by the Trainer.
After confirming that he couldn't leave the Training Camp this way, he stopped trying too much.
With this energy, it was better to continue practicing his Sword Style.
Two months passed, and his Sword Style was now even more refined.
Relying solely on Sword Style, he could now defeat, and even kill, every guard he encountered using only a wooden sword.
Even if they surrounded him, he could maintain an undefeated position for a short period.
If he had a real sword, he could completely be like the Trainer, one sword for each companion.
However, even with such combat power, when facing the Trainer, he could only last a few more sword strikes.
Every time he faced the Trainer in the dungeon, Liens deeply understood the phrase — "The body is the foundation of Sword Style."
Strength, speed, reaction, explosiveness… in every aspect, he was far weaker than the Trainer.
To be honest, Liens was truly a bit disheartened by this situation, sometimes feeling that no matter how much he improved, he couldn't cross the mountain.
However, this illusion was quickly cast aside.
Liens knew very well that such discouragement was merely negative emotions accumulated from repeated failures.
He was very powerful; in just over two months, he had already reached the second position in this Training Camp.
No one was his opponent except the Trainer… although this fact was known only to him.
Moreover, in terms of Sword Style, he hadn't reached a point where he needed to stop.
The first Sword Style realm mentioned by the Trainer, he still hadn't reached it even now.
That realm was even harder to enter than Liens had imagined.
Two months ago, he felt like he already had a Sword Tendency, and originally thought he would quickly develop his own Sword Style.
But as he walked further down the path of Sword Tendency, he always felt like he was still missing something.
He also didn't know what aspect he was still lacking in.
Although he could always feel his progress, that subtle feeling told him that he hadn't yet entered that realm.
One day.
In the morning, on the square, physical training was underway.
Liens, in the midst of his training, inadvertently saw a guard walk up to the Trainer and say something.
Then, soon after hearing the guard's report, the Trainer quickly left the square.
Liens looked in the direction the Trainer had left; it seemed to be towards the gate.
"Has the food convoy arrived again? The timing doesn't match."
Liens thought to himself while continuing his training.
Completing the training was no longer that difficult for him.