Esper X Family – Chapter 97 – Mental Training Pod

Ye Yao was led by Luo Jianhua to a vast training ground.

The training ground was hidden a hundred meters underground, deep beneath the Countermeasures Bureau building.

Ye Yao stepped out of the elevator, her face full of awe.

“So there’s such a huge space hidden underground.”

The three of them passed through a ten-meter-long decompression tunnel before their vision suddenly widened.

The dome stretched over fifty meters high, with three circular tracks suspended in midair.

Holographic projectors glided along the tracks, projecting dynamic targets.

Some turned into afterimages at high speed, others splitting into dozens of energy clones.

Seeing this, Ye Yao immediately slipped into gaming state.

Her trigger finger was itching.

She couldn’t wait to show off her skills and hit all those varied targets.

Shooting in a game lacked realism.

Now that she could experience the real thing, how could she not be excited?

The white-haired girl even paused to watch for a while.

An Esper was practicing their long-range attack ability.

Ten tiny energy orbs hovered at the tips of their fingers.

With a swift motion of their hands, ten thin beams of light shot out, accurately striking the moving targets.

The firing speed was so fast it could rival an anti-aircraft gun.

Ye Yao could barely even see the Esper’s movements, just blurred afterimages.

In just a few seconds, hundreds, even thousands of beams struck the targets, turning the Esper into a human-shaped weapon, compensating for the lack of flexibility in traditional artillery.

360-degree omnidirectional firepower, the sheer intensity was staggering.

“Th-That guy’s spinning!”

Ye Yao was dumbfounded.

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This scene wouldn’t even feel out of place in a game with cheats enabled.

Mo Qiuli hummed thoughtfully.

“I’ve practiced my Mercury Beams here too, but I’m nowhere near as good as this adult.”

“Don’t worry, the future is bright. You’ll definitely be able to spin like that someday.”

Ye Yao moved on to the next area.

The ground here wasn’t flat concrete but rather a patchwork of memory alloy modules, each embedded with pressure-sensitive lights along the edges.

Another Esper was using the training facility, visible through a transparent wall.

The Esper clenched their fists, muscles tensing, before suddenly slamming them into the ground.

BOOM!

The alloy module floor instantly caved in, forming a two-meter-deep crater. Then, it slowly rose back up like liquid, restoring itself within three seconds.

Only the pressure lights remained, glowing orange-red from the residual impact.

Luo Jianhua explained, “This is where they test raw strength. Sister, do you want to give it a try?”

Ye Yao glanced at her stats.

【Strength: 5】

Even after one fission, it would only be 25.

“Little Luo, are you trying to embarrass me?”

Her strength was pitifully low. Testing it here would just be humiliating.

Luo Jianhua put on an innocent expression.

“How could that be? I just wanted to see Sister show off.”

The three of them arrived at the next area.

Luo Jianhua quickly introduced, “This is where Espers train their mental power.”

Sure enough, Ye Yao’s interest was immediately piqued.

Before her stood rows upon rows of sleek, sci-fi styled meditation pods.

They looked like something straight out of an anime, as if you could boot up a game by lying down inside.

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Is this one of the Countermeasures Bureau’s three main methods of boosting mental power?

Ye Yao suddenly wanted to see if it would work for her.

If the effects were significant, maybe she wouldn’t have to keep squeezing her family for attribute points.

Luo Jianhua explained slowly,

“These are mental training pods. Once you lie down inside, the system will guide you into a special mental space.”

“There, you’ll encounter a mental copy of yourself. The copy’s mental power will be slightly higher than your own.”

“Abilities are restricted inside the mental space. You’ll mostly rely on pure mental power to fight your copy.”

“The process of battling stimulates and trains your mental power, gradually strengthening it over time.”

“Oh ho~”

Ye Yao’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Is it efficient?”

“Mmm… depends on the person. Some Espers can use it to improve dramatically, while others progress very slowly.”

Luo Jianhua thought about her own experience.

She was one of the fast learners.

Over half of her 400+ mental power had been honed in these pods.

Others weren’t so lucky.

Mo Qiuli sighed softly.

“It’s been a while since I last trained here…”

She had been too absorbed in her magical girl activities, unable to extricate herself.

Too absorbed in hanging out with her friends at Ye Yao’s place.

Just… too absorbed.

Having too much fun to care.

Before, she had been determined to grow stronger to fight as a power-type magical girl.

But now, she just wanted to run the Magical Girl Alliance with Ye Yao and Little Luo.

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Ah, how far I’ve strayed…

“I want to try it.”

Ye Yao wasn’t about to miss this opportunity.

But before diving in, she had a few questions.

“By the way, Little Luo, can anyone else see what’s happening inside the mental space?”

Luo Jianhua shook her head.

“No. It’s essentially your own consciousness space. The pod just injects external mental energy to construct a mental training ground. No one can peek into your mental space except you.”

Ye Yao nodded thoughtfully.

“So, even if my copy beats me to a pulp, no one will see it.”

Then, she asked another question.

“What did you mean by ‘abilities being restricted’?”

“It means complex abilities can’t be fully utilized inside the mental space.”

Luo Jianhua gave an example.

“Take ability constructs for example. Some Espers rely on them for combat, but they can’t create constructs inside the mental space, so their abilities become useless. They can only fight with raw mental power.”

“The same goes for physical-type abilities. Those focused on strength or speed won’t function normally. In the end, you’ll be stuck with pure mental body combat.”

Ye Yao understood now.

The mental body’s combat strength depended purely on mental power.

And the mental copy would always be slightly stronger than the original.

Pure level suppression!

Isn’t this just getting beaten up?

No wonder it improved mental power.

It was basically endurance training.

Luo Jianhua added, “But abilities that focus on mental power face fewer restrictions. For example, my【Eyes Obscured by a Single Leaf】works almost normally inside. I can spar with my copy to enhance my training.”

“If I use an ability in the mental space, will it affect reality?”

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“No.”

Ye Yao nodded, her mind made up.

“I want to try it.”

“Of course! I’ll help Sister apply.”

The mental training pods weren’t open for public use.

Outsiders weren’t allowed access.

Ye Yao was still in the registration phase. Officially, she wasn’t a Countermeasures Bureau member yet.

Naturally, she didn’t have an account or access privileges.

Fortunately, Luo Jianhua was here.

She used her own access code to open a pod.

Technically, this was against the rules.

But within the Countermeasures Bureau, Ye Yao was the rules.

Even if someone found out, they would pretend as if nothing had happened.

Ye Yao smoothly lay inside, her face brimming with anticipation.

The pod activated automatically.

As the hatch closed, an electronic voice echoed in her ears.

[User’s mental power detected: 75. Simulating a mental copy with mental power: 99. Please prepare.]

Author Note

For now, let’s request for free gifts~

Text: There are always people who want to be a waste

(Small text) Gave up ¹ slang for knowing that you can’t succeed, so you give up on everything.

Then why can’t it be me?