Chapter 238: The King of Crystal Suits
Translator: Ash Editor: Millman97
After half an hour, Mao Feng and Mr. Xu rushed to the abandoned crystal suit warehouse.
The two glanced at each other before opening the door and noticed a look of surprise in each other's eyes.
Although it usually came across that Mao Feng had a hot-temper and blew a fuse frequently, he did all that just to scare the trainees; he intentionally created that kind of persona.
Having been the chief instructor at the outer camp of the Thunder Training Camp for a decade, Mao Feng had seen all kinds of geniuses and prodigies, but not one of them had moved or surprised him.
However, this time, he had truly been scared.
Furthermore, he could see that even Mr. Xu, the top trainer in the inner camp, was incredibly surprised.
Two outer camp refiners also followed the two and they were somewhat at a loss. They could not understand why the chief instructor and Mr. Xu had called them over to the abandoned crystal suit warehouse.
'Hasn't this warehouse been abandoned for many years?'
But the moment they opened the doors of the warehouse, the air that blew on their faces was no longer lifeless and rusty but had a faint sweet fragrance, gladdening their hearts and refreshing their mind.
The scene before them, even more so, made their eyes focus instantly.
Under the dim lights, one hundred and forty crystal suits were just like one hundred and forty statues of warriors cast from iron and steel that toweringly stood in the warehouse silently, emanating a chilling killing intent.
The suits that used to be laden with rust were now bright as new.
Under the setting sun, the refracted light burst forth with a colorful brilliance, making the group feel like they were standing in a hall filled with crystals; it was as beautiful as a dream.
Surrounded and protected by numerous crystal suits, Li Yao stood alone at the center of the warehouse, inviting them in.
That calm performance and the confident look in his eyes gave off the impression as if he was the ruler of one hundred and forty crystal suits, the king of crystal suits!
Mao Feng and Mr. Xu took a long, deep breath simultaneously as they entered the warehouse.
In contrast, the two refiners weren't as calm as them and started shouting, "These crystal suits that had been scrapped for decades have actually been maintained to this degree?"
"In-incredible!"
Li Yao was somewhat in a trance.
Li Yao had once envisioned how he would retort or ruthlessly slap Mao Feng's face when Mao Feng arrived, venting all the dissatisfaction in his heart.
However, now that the chief instructor had actually arrived before Li Yao, seeing the look of disbelief on the chief instructor's face and listening to the praises from the people next to the chief instructor, Li Yao felt as if...
None of that was important.
Neither Mao Feng's amazement nor the exclamation and praises of others were of any importance, they were not the things he pursued.
The crystal suit in itself was worth it for him to burn his spirit to the extreme, worth it for him to pursue, worth it for him to struggle, worth it for him to get intoxicated. He could have all the fun from the world of crystal suits!
Was it still necessary to care about what others thought of him and how they evaluated him?
No matter whether it was the criticism or the praises.
It didn't matter if they treated him as a rookie or considered him as a freak.
He didn't want to waste even a second on these small things. He just wanted it to be over with as quickly as possible so that he could proceed to the next part, enter deeper into the world of crystal suits and appreciate the endless mysteries to his heart's content!
Mao Feng's expression was very strange.
He was somewhat absent-minded. He went to the front of the Bloody Blade Battlesuit distractedly and traced his stubby fingers over the slightly rough texture, showing an inexplicable expression.
Over a couple decades ago, Mao Feng had also been a trainee in the Thunder Training Camp.
This Bloody Blade Battlesuit was his comrade and partner in the training camp.
Until the last training, when they headed deep into the Wasteland for real combat but encountered a huge beast tide, during which they killed and killed for a day and night.
Although they luckily escaped, the Bloody Blade Battlesuit was completely scrapped and was sent to the crystal suit graveyard.
Mao Feng remembered very clearly that the Bloody Blade Battlesuit had sustained corrosion from seven and eight demon beast acid attacks and had rusted to the point that it was barely recognizable.
However, he had never imagined that its past elegance could still be recovered!
Apart from some holes due to having been completely corroded, a vast majority of the places had a faint bloody hue lingering around, and every array glyph engraved on the crystal suit was so clear that he could feel the minutest details even with the slightest touch. The array glyphs were in such a good condition that the spiritual energy would flow very smoothly for sure!
"I didn't expect that you would see the light of day again!" Mao Feng muttered to himself with a complex mood.
The feelings between Exos and their crystal suits were somewhere between comrades in arms and a pet.
Although this Bloody Blade Battlesuit had not accompanied him for a long time, it had saved his life; its very existence had a very special meaning for him.
While Mao Feng was silently wallowing in emotions, the two refiners were gazing at six crystal suit fragments placed on the ground with a very appreciative gaze at a corner.
These six crystal suits had suffered the most corrosion, and their various components could barely hold together by relying on the rusted layer.
Li Yao had just broken their rusted layer and as such the six crystal suits completely fell apart.
Having lost the most crucial components, it was simply impossible to assemble their scattered components.
All Li Yao could do was place their scattered components on the ground in accordance with their approximate locations, gathering the components to try and give the six crystal suits humanoid appearances.
The problem was that he had arranged the components a bit too accurately!
Whether it was the gap or the angle between the components, it was just as it was denoted in the blueprints; it was as if a complete three-dimensional diagram was spread out meticulously on the ground and scaled up to real life version.
This level was absolutely professional to the extreme in the eyes of the two refiners.
After half a minute, the four had come to a conclusion with an incomparably complex mood.
"These one hundred and forty-six scrapped crystal suits have indeed been maintained fairly well, even their smallest gap has not been let off.
"And this was all completed while wearing that Balance Breaker!
"This kid is a freak, out and out!"
Mao Feng's beard quivered as he looked at Li Yao.
Only to discover Li Yao lying flat on his back at the center of the warehouse, having been fast asleep for some time, even lightly snoring.
Having been up for five days and five nights without so much as an ounce of rest and completely under a high concentration, his spirit had been exhausted to the extreme. This was almost the fiercest 'combustion of the soul' he had undergone since he became a cultivator!
He truly could not hold it back anymore and fell into the wonderland of his dream.
In his dream, a new world made up of thousands upon thousands of crystal suits bloomed slowly just like a flower bud.
"Mr. Xu..."
The chief instructor and the trainer went to a corner and whispered to each other, "Is this freak's potential still insufficient for you to personally create a training plan for him?"
"No!"
Mr. Xu shook his head and said, smiling wryly, "I found that the training plan I drew up for him a few days ago was too conservative, I still need to make it a bit crazier!"
...
When Li Yao woke up from his sweet dreams, the first thing he saw was Chief Instructor Mao Feng with a malicious look covering his face.
"Now, can I take part in the normal training with the other trainees?" Li Yao asked, fidgeting.
"Theoretically, you can!"
Mao Feng burst into a grim laughter, "However, all the instructors have been conducting training for five days; the other trainees have also completed their basic training and begun charging into the higher-level training! If a rookie like you joined them, wouldn't you be dragging everyone down?
"Therefore, count yourself lucky as this instructor has decided to personally train you!
"Of course, if you think that this is just an excuse, and in fact, this instructor wants to take this opportunity to torture you, ravage you, torment you, and look for an opportunity to eliminate you...
"Congratulations, you are right!
"Don't glare me like that, I'm still not finished. Aren't you good at doing maintenance on these crystal suits? So, from now one, you will have to take out extra five hours every night to maintain crystal suits!
"The crystal suits you are going to maintain this time are not the ones that were scrapped a few decades ago, but the crystal suits which are being used by all the trainees in the outer camp. Whether it's their crystal processor, their reactor, or their offensive magical equipment, you have to do maintenance on everything!
"It's ten times more difficult to maintain them than the scrapped crystal suits!
"I have arranged two refiners to oversee you. You have to especially report to them. No matter how messy or tired you are, everything will be left for you to complete!
"If you can't finish it, you have to continue during the day, also there is no need for you learn crystal suit tactics, you won't understand anyway!"
Facing the roars of the chief instructor, Li Yao didn't ever dare to shake his eyelashes and said seriously, nodding, "I understand, let's get started!"
Listening to him, Mao Feng was somewhat shocked as he said, knitting his brows, "You don't have anything to say?"
Li Yao thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I do!"
"Speak!"
"Can the five hours of extra maintenance at night be changed to six hours, and can I also get some extra work as well? I can make do with sleeping one less hour!"
"..."
Just like that, the crazy training began.
During the day, Li Yao was ruthlessly tortured by Mao Feng.
In the evening, he carefully carried out maintenance on all the crystal suits used by the trainees.
Even in his sleep, he would study crystal suit blueprints and maintenance manuals with joy!
The Thunder Training Camp truly followed a completely closed training mode. The trainees could not contact the outside world, all the information sent out had to go through the training camp.
Every three days, Li Yao would give himself five minutes at night and write a bit about his training and sent it to his friend at Grand Desolate War Institution.
This was the only time he relaxed.
And the 'friend at Grand Desolate War Institution' referred to only one person.
Ding Lingdang.
"Sister Ling, today is my eighth day at the camp, it's also the third day since my training began.
"The training camp has specially modified a training crystal suit for me, it has five times more propulsion array glyphs than an ordinary crystal suit, spread front to back, left to right, top to bottom all over the crystal suit.
"The worst thing is that the rights to control these propulsion array glyphs are not on me, they are remotely controlled by a crystal processor and would randomly fire powerful jet stream.
"It's like countless transparent ropes pulling me ruthlessly any time, and I would then tumble to the ground.
"And I have to maintain balance under these random jet streams, and also finished a few set of highly difficult training as well.
"For instance, in the first training, I need to grab a hundred mini puppets the size of a fly that are randomly flying under a minute.
"I am busy for almost all of the day, and my best score is catching nine puppets in one minute.
"My performance has shocked Chief Instructor Mao Feng so much that he stared at me for a long time before he stated that he had never seen a stupid trainee like me. Others could capture twenty to thirty puppet beasts when they first started.
"It does not matter, I pay no heed to his words.
"In any case, I will not give up!"