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Xu Yuan looked at Tang Wulin.
Was this kid overconfident?
Did he really think that one or two pieces of battle armor could close the gap between them?
The blood essence of the Golden Dragon King was indeed powerful, but it wasn't enough to make up for all the other disparities.
"Wu Siduo has her self-fusion martial soul technique. Are you sure you want her on my team?" Xu Yuan asked again for confirmation.
Tang Wulin's face turned awkward.
He had grown overly confident in his Golden Dragon King bloodline during their time in Eastsea City and momentarily forgot about the many gaps between them.
"Fine, just team up with Xinglan then," he said helplessly.
It was a slip of the tongue.
But his earlier words had already revealed his thoughts.
He wanted to use the fact that he was currently crafting battle armor—and might complete it ahead of schedule—to catch up to Xu Yuan and Wu Siduo.
Wu Siduo watched Tang Wulin curiously throughout.
Hadn't she fought him just this past week?
There hadn't been any qualitative change.
So where did this newfound courage come from?
"Let's just get started. Prepare for the fight," Ye Xinglan interjected, urging everyone to begin.
In truth, she didn't want to be shuffled around anymore.
Being on Xu Yuan's team was fine—it was effortless. She could focus on picking one opponent to hone her swordsmanship without worrying about the team's victory or defeat since someone else would handle the heavy lifting.
It was perfect.
The seven-person team split into two groups: Xu Yuan, Ye Xinglan, and Xu Lizhi formed one team.
Among them, Xu Lizhi was a food-system soul master. Though he possessed the secret techniques of the Tang Sect and couldn't be called weak, within the context of this group of seven, he could only protect himself and couldn't serve as a true combatant.
This meant that Xu Yuan's side only had him and Ye Xinglan as effective fighters.
"Brother Yuan, Tang Wulin finished making his first piece of battle armor the night before last. Don't underestimate him later," Xu Lizhi warned.
"The night before last?"
"Lan'er, Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and I are part of the mech-crafting group. We figured that building mechs was too troublesome, so we decided to directly craft battle armor instead."
Xu Lizhi laid out their progress from the past half-semester straightforwardly.
This wasn't exactly a secret.
After all, their battle armor would inevitably be revealed in combat anyway. In the coming days, after Tang Wulin adapted to his new battle armor, he would undoubtedly use it in battle. The element of surprise was only useful against opponents, not teammates.
Training was meant to improve coordination, not create unnecessary surprises.
"Tang Wulin's first piece of battle armor is a forearm guard for his right arm. It pairs exceptionally well with his Golden Dragon Claw and is made from spirit-forged Jade Silver alloy with an extremely high fusion rate."
Xu Lizhi didn't specify the exact percentage, only saying "extremely high."
Some things were personal secrets, and respecting privacy meant not exposing them unnecessarily.
Xu Yuan nodded. This was all within his expectations.
"These aren't major issues. But tell me, have you guys really only managed to make this one forearm guard after nearly half a semester?"
Ye Xinglan's lips twitched.
"No, actually. Over the past two months, to avoid mistakes caused by rustiness while crafting battle armor, we practiced extensively. Tang Wulin even used spirit-forged Jade Silver to help me practice, which greatly improved my mech-crafting skills. Only then did we attempt actual production the night before last."
Xu Yuan nodded.
"Your mech-crafting level is now Level 5?"
Ye Xinglan hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
She was reserved, neither competitive nor boastful, and solely focused on her Star God Sword. Even in mech-crafting, she saw it as a way to refine her swordsmanship.
She had no interest in the position of manufacturing committee member and thus never publicized her abilities.
Previously, her mech-crafting skills weren't inferior to Xu Yuan's.
However, Xu Yuan excelled in four secondary professions that complemented each other, giving him an edge in overall mech-crafting performance. In terms of pure mech-crafting expertise, though, he was still slightly behind her.
A Level 5 mech-crafter was an incredibly impressive achievement, especially for a thirteen-year-old child.
Of course, this also had much to do with her innate advantages. After all, her sword intent was more suited to mech-crafting than Xu Yuan's spear intent.
As long as her theoretical understanding kept pace, her rare metals for practice were sufficient, and her soul power level continued to rise, she had the conditions to rapidly advance her mech-crafting rank.
Xu Yuan was inwardly astonished.
So he had finally fallen slightly behind.
It seemed his secondary profession levels still weren't top-tier, but they were close. Once his mech work reached a certain stage, he was confident he could reach Level 5 in mech-crafting. As for mech design, he would refine and organize his skills further when designing his own battle armor, eventually reaching Level 5.
The pre-match preparation lasted only five minutes.
Afterward, the seven participants took their positions on the training arena's platform, forming their respective teams.
There was no referee, but a healing-type teacher was present—arranged by Wu Changkong from the medical office. This teacher specialized in treating injuries sustained by Outer Court students during battles.
"Match, begin!" Teacher Ji temporarily acted as the referee, announcing the start of the match.
Both sides released their soul rings.
Ye Xinglan charged toward Fang Yuan, while Xu Lizhi began making buns and tossing them to the two combatants.
Eating a large recovery meat bun before the fight ensured that both of their initial states wouldn't drop significantly.
On the opposing side, Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Wu Siduo had a clear target: Xu Yuan.
Fang Yuan specialized in control and found dealing with a single-target powerhouse like Ye Xinglan relatively easy—it was a natural counter. Xu Yuan had deliberately chosen Ye Xinglan to face Fang Yuan to help her hone her skills.
With Xu Lizhi's backup supplies, Ye Xinglan wasn't truly fighting Fang Yuan alone. This gave her more room to experiment and make mistakes.
Gu Yue extended her right hand, and six elements rapidly converged: water, fire, earth, wind, space, and light. These six elements formed a small vortex above her head, which quickly shot toward Xu Yuan.
The structure of this vortex was very stable, stabilized by the fusion of the four elements—water, fire, earth, and wind—with space. Xu Yuan, who specialized in the five-element attributes, could only directly impact three of these forces: water, fire, and earth. He couldn't instantly dismantle the vortex.
As the small vortex descended, Xu Yuan wielded his Tianyuan Five Elements Spear and thrust forward.
The five elemental forces reversed, erupting!
BOOM!
The five elemental forces formed a barrier, colliding with and canceling out the storm created by the explosion of the elemental vortex.
Just as the vortex was shattered, Wu Siduo approached in her Hell Spirit Cat form, her two sharp claws slashing down fiercely.
Xu Yuan retracted his spear and held it horizontally in front of him to block.
Wu Siduo's claws struck the Tianyuan Five Elements Spear, feeling as if they had hit a solid rock. Her palms throbbed painfully.
She quickly shifted her martial soul form, landing her feet and twisting her body forcefully before launching another attack.
Her tiger claws rained down continuously on Xu Yuan's Tianyuan Five Elements Spear.
Xu Yuan blocked with his spear, his blood essence surging forth. The five elemental forces merged within it, with the fire element blazing intensely. His blood essence boiled violently, burning fiercely.
The flames of his blood essence engulfed Wu Siduo.
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