"Excellent."
Jing Hongchen nodded repeatedly, very satisfied with the Skyfire Shield Su Can had created.
"Staying alive is the prerequisite for dealing damage. If you can't even ensure your own safety, then no matter how powerful the attack, it's useless."
This was a principle Jing Hongchen firmly believed in.
He had once clashed with genius Spirit Masters from the three Douluo empires during the Soul Dueling Tournament and knew how terrifying those pure Spirit Masters could be. In comparison, their bodies as Spirit Engineers were much more fragile.
Admittedly, during the tournament, they could frantically use Invincible Barriers to solve this problem, and even continue doing so upon reaching seven and eight rings later. However, Invincible Barriers ultimately relied on Golden Crystals, a non-renewable resource, and the Empire's output of Golden Crystals was limited.
Moreover, the highest grade for an Invincible Barrier was only Class 7. Although the attacks it could defend against could reach the level of a Super Douluo, the Golden Crystals required to make them only appeared once every few years. With so many high-level Spirit Engineers, naturally, they couldn't afford to wait.
The defensive capability of the Skyfire Shield reaching Level 94 was actually very impressive in itself.
Even if it couldn't yet compare to a Class 7 Invincible Barrier, those barriers truly had no technical merit...
"The data is as such, but we still need to see its performance in actual combat. Researcher Su, I may need you to conduct a live combat demonstration in front of me."
"No problem."
Ten minutes later.
Su Can was panting heavily, his Spirit Power completely drained.
Jing Hongchen narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling the Skyfire Shield's performance. The light in his narrowed eyes revealed surprise, indicating that the demonstration had pleased him greatly.
"The attack power is fine, and the combat flow was very smooth."
Smooth combat flow was crucial.
In his perception, the fire dragon condensed after the Skyfire Shield was activated seemed to come alive in Su Can's hands, unleashing its power as Su Can directed it to strike in various forms.
As for the defensive capability, it was also quite good. The fire dragon would explode, transforming into a flame shield with extremely fast formation speed. Although it wasn't trigger-based, it also didn't require particularly cumbersome preparation steps.
"Su Can, congratulations!"
Su Can took a deep breath, recovered a bit of Spirit Power, and retrieved the Skyfire Shield.
He used the glow from his storage Spirit Tool to mask the action, not directly retracting it into his body.
The essential factors allowing him to create a Class 9 Spirit Tool above his level were naturally the two milk-bottle-like Spirit Tools and the Spirit Power compressor fused within his body, which allowed him to seamlessly use amplified Spirit Power, both in quality and quantity, to create Spirit Tools.
Besides that, another point was the material of the Skyfire Shield—it was made from Spirit Alloy, which could fuse directly with him, also reducing the difficulty of production.
Having designed and created his own Class 9 Spirit Tool, Su Can had clearly gained Jing Hongchen's recognition and was certified as a Class 9 Spirit Engineer.
Of course, gaining public recognition would still take some time, requiring formal entry into Mingde Hall's records.
Training Ground.
Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen had already chosen their teammates.
Currently, all main members were five-ringed. Except for Ma Rulong, the remaining six were all Class 5 Spirit Engineers. Among the substitute members, all were four-ringed, Class 4 Spirit Engineers.
Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen selected four from the main members: Mi Jia, Chen Fei, Lin Xi, and Chu Yang.
The main members left for Su Ming's side, besides Ma Rulong, were He Ping and Xiao Xiafeng.
Among them, Xiao Xiafeng was also a Food System Spirit Engineer.
Therefore, even though they had a numerical advantage, the match was already somewhat tilted.
Ma Rulong and Su Ming became the key to the outcome of this battle—one was the only Class 6 Spirit Engineer, the other was a newcomer of unknown capabilities, who might have some unexpected trick up his sleeve.
"Your task is to suppress the other six besides Su Ming. Meng, you contribute too, help them suppress Ma Rulong. I want to test this Su Ming's mettle."
Xiao Hongchen's arrangement was casual, yet no one questioned it.
After all, this wasn't a real competition, but a platform to assess everyone's strength.
Su Ming was a newcomer. The way to test his strength wasn't by pitting him against a vastly superior opponent, but against someone on equal footing.
On the other side, Ma Rulong was urgently inquiring about Su Ming's abilities.
"Su Ming, give me a rough idea of your strength so I can plan our strategy."
Su Ming replied truthfully: "Around the level of a Class 5 Spirit Engineer."
"Don't mess around."
"It really is around the Class 5 Spirit Engineer level. My combat style is a bit special; it's about the combined application of Spirit Tools."
Ma Rulong frowned, not understanding what Su Ming meant by 'combined application'.
Isn't the way we Spirit Engineers fight already a combined application?
Which Spirit Cannon to fire when, which one should be on the outside and which on the inside when firing simultaneously, where each one aims—these are all carefully considered, you know.
It's not just randomly firing everything.
Of course, Ma Rulong was referring to himself.
Also, he wasn't a stationary artillery platform...
"Begin the fight!" Director Gao shouted.
The two sides were fifty meters apart, each entering combat readiness.
One could see lights of various colors glowing from different individuals. Besides the yellow, purple, and black of Spirit Rings, there were also lights emanating from Spirit Tools.
The training ground was silent at this moment.
Even though various cannons were being loaded and assembled, in everyone's hearts, everything around them had fallen into silence.
Su Ming revealed his Spirit Rings—Yellow, Purple, Black!
The visually striking Spirit Ring combination caused shock among everyone.
Xiao Hongchen even forgot to gather the surrounding metal elements to form a Spirit Cannon on the spot, exclaiming directly.
"Impossible!"
"This is a fight."
Su Ming reminded everyone.
Everyone then snapped back to attention and completed the Spirit Tool preparations they had been in the middle of.
Xiao Hongchen's expression turned grave. His entire body was now covered in metal cannon barrels; eighty-one Spirit Cannon barrels 'grew' out from his body.
At this moment, he had transformed into a giant golden toad. Uniquely, an additional leg grew from behind his rear, the three legs forming a triangular stance, allowing his entire body to steadily support the full array of artillery.
"Su Ming, if you're a man, face me in a one-on-one duel!"
After saying this, Xiao Hongchen fired all his Spirit Cannons.
Having spent so much brainpower researching Spirit Tools, he disliked using too much thought during combat itself, so he usually relied on firepower suppression to deal with enemies.
Su Ming frowned as he watched the numerous light projectiles shooting towards him like scattered blossoms. Changes occurred across multiple parts of his body.
One glowing sphere after another condensed and began orbiting around his body. His Spirit Power was exceptionally thick, directly connecting to each of these spheres.
From a distance, the Spirit Power connecting him to the various Spirit Tools resembled branches, shimmering with a stellar radiance.
Ma Rulong glanced over when he had a spare moment, his eyes flashing with surprise.
What kind of combat style is this?
Spirit Tools detached from the body?
Then, he was astonished, as Su Ming's glowing sphere Spirit Tools revealed their shapes.
Even Meng Hongchen couldn't help but look over, her eyes also flashing with surprise.
What was hidden within each of those glowing spheres were components that resembled pieces of armor!
(Chapter End)