Unlocking the Scaled Armored Rhino required 80 points, and the Nether Mantis required 90 points; together, that was only 170 points; this amount of Star Energy was just a drop in the bucket for him now.
“Unlock, Scaled Armored Rhino.”
[Consumed 80 points of Star Energy, unlocked ‘Scaled Armored Rhino’ entry.
Unlocked successfully, obtained basic summoning and armament permissions for this species.]
“Unlock, Nether Mantis.”
[Consumed 90 points of Star Energy, unlocked ‘Nether Mantis’ entry.
Unlocked successfully, obtained basic summoning and armament permissions for this species.]
Two points of light lit up completely in the Star Sea Codex.
Su Kai did not summon the entities first, because his goal was the armament form.
According to the system information, to perform armament fusion for the first time, one must first “understand” the energy characteristics of that beast species.
And the way to understand it was to synchronize summoning and fusion guidance.
He walked to a relatively open area in the center of the room and took a deep breath.
“Simultaneously guide the armament forms of the ‘Scaled Armored Rhino’ and the ‘Nether Mantis’!”
The moment the command was issued, Su Kai felt the Star Energy within him begin to consume rapidly!
It was jumping every second, and in just two seconds, more than three hundred points were deducted!
At the same time, the air on both sides of his body twisted and tore violently!
On the left, a thick, earth-yellow rift opened; vaguely, one could see behind the rift a planet with abnormal gravity and covered in dark, dull rocks.
A heavy, solid, earth-like sense of power rushed towards him.
On the right, a pitch-black rift with edges that constantly distorted light appeared, behind which lay eternal dimness and strange shadows.
A sharp, cold, and murderous aura permeated the area.
Two figures emerged from the rifts.
On the left was a massive, blurry-contoured, thick-armored rhinoceros covered in heavy rock armor; it let out a low, muffled roar, causing the entire ground to shake violently.
On the right was a giant, slender-bodied mantis with reversed joints and forelimbs like grim reaper scythes; it was silent, with only its compound eyes flashing with an extremely cold, eerie light.
“Fusion!”
Su Kai shouted in a low voice.
The two figures instantly disintegrated, turning into two torrents of completely different energy that surged wildly towards Su Kai’s body!
One was an earth-yellow, heavy-as-a-mountain energy that mainly surged towards his torso and limbs.
The other was a pitch-black, sharp-as-a-blade energy that mainly surged towards his arms, especially his forearms.
“Ugh—!”
Su Kai let out a muffled groan, feeling as if his body was about to be torn apart and reassembled.
Where the earth-yellow energy covered, his skin felt intense burning and squeezing, as if ten thousand tons of rock were covering and compacting onto him.
He could clearly feel a dense, hard substance with strange patterns emerging from under his skin, rapidly spreading to cover his entire body.
The black energy pouring into his arms was a different experience.
Piercing cold, followed by an extreme sense of sharpness.
He felt the bones, muscles, and skin of his forearms being transformed and reshaped by some force, becoming light and tough, with a heart-stopping sharpness emanating from the edges.
The process lasted for about ten seconds, and finally, the fierce consumption of Star Energy stopped.
The space rifts on both sides closed silently.
Su Kai stood in place, head lowered, panting heavily.
He slowly raised his hands and looked at himself.
His entire body was now covered in a layer of hard armor.
It didn’t look like that kind of shiny metal armor, but rather a dull, lightless full-body heavy armor that seemed to be polished from some kind of dark rock.
The armor lines were rugged, with natural rock armor barbs at the joints, full of wildness and a sense of power.
The weight was noticeable, but not unbearable; instead, it gave him a sense of stability, as if standing firmly on the earth.
And from his forearms, something completely different extended.
Starting from his wrists, a layer of carapace as thin as a cicada’s wing but pitch-black as ink covered him, extending all the way to his fingertips.
On the outside of his forearms, two pitch-black blades, about half a meter long with beautiful curves, generated out of thin air, clinging tightly to his arms.
The edges of the blades faintly flowed with a dark light that devoured light; just looking at them made one’s eyes sting, as if one’s skin were about to be sliced open.
Nether Blade.
Su Kai moved his fingers; the fingers wrapped in the pitch-black carapace were as flexible as ever.
With a thought, he gently waved his right arm.
Whoosh—
The arm blade sliced through the air, almost without a sound.
But Su Kai could feel the subtle sensation of the air being easily sliced open at the tip of the blade.
He looked at the old metal table next to him and lightly touched it with the tip of the blade.
He didn’t use any force.
It was just like a hot knife through butter.
The corner of the table slid off silently, the cross-section smooth as a mirror.
“Awesome…” Su Kai couldn’t help but whisper.
And that was just a light touch.
He walked to the wall, looked at the mottled brick wall, thought for a moment, and instead of using the Nether Blade, he raised his left arm, clenched his fist, and punched the wall, not too lightly or too heavily.
Thump!
A muffled sound, as if hitting a heavy tire.
The wall shook violently and was actually broken open into a large hole, while the rock armor covering his fist didn’t even have a white mark on it.
Attack power, terrifying.
Defense power, even more terrifying.
Su Kai walked to the dusty full-length mirror in the room and looked at himself in the mirror.
A figure covered in dark rock heavy armor, with pitch-black death blades extending from his arms.
There was no trace left of the original blue-green bodysuit of “The Deep”.
Heaviness and lightness, defense and sharpness—two completely different styles, perfectly fused on him at this moment.
He tried walking a few steps; the weight of the rock armor made his steps steady, but his movements didn’t seem clumsy at all.
He also tried swinging his arms quickly a few times; the Nether Blade drew a few faint black afterimages in the air, silent and soundless.
“This is…
Star Sea Armament.”
Su Kai felt the surging power within him, completely different from before.
These were just two beast species in the initial awakening stage.
He looked at the system panel.
[Available Star Energy: 2450]
[Current Armament Form: Black Heavy Armor (provides extremely high physical defense, gravity adaptation), Nether Blade (provides molecular-level cutting, optical/electromagnetic stealth characteristics not activated)]
[Tip: Armament forms can be dismissed or switched at any time.
Maintaining multiple armaments simultaneously will continuously consume Star Energy; the current combination consumes about 5 points of Star Energy per minute.]
5 points per minute; with his current Star Energy reserves, he could maintain it for a long time.
Moreover, he noticed that the “optical/electromagnetic stealth” characteristic of the Nether Mantis was shown as not activated, which might require more proficient mastery or higher Star Energy output to enable.
But it was enough.
Now, he was fully capable of supporting his own private operations.
After adapting for another half minute, Su Kai dismissed the armament.
The rock armor and arm blades on his body dissipated like phantoms, turning into specks of light and disappearing into the air.
He turned back into the appearance of wearing an ordinary jacket and trousers.
But the feeling was already completely different.
He walked to the window and looked again at the vast lake outside, as well as the desolate land further away.
This place would be the starting point of his power.
“Compound V…” Su Kai muttered in a low voice, his eyes sharpening.
He had to first figure out if there were any secret laboratories or transport routes of Vought International nearby.
But before that…
He touched his stomach; he was a bit hungry.
He would go to the small supermarket in town to buy something to eat, and check out the situation while he was at it.
He picked up his keys, walked out of the small lakeside building, and locked the door.
The setting sun stretched his shadow long.
His silhouette no longer looked anything like that “The Deep” who had been exiled to the ‘frontier’ and looked down-and-out.