Chapter 495 - 325: "Crystal Gold Armor
The first was "Material Deconstruction," which could break down any metal she touched into its fundamental particles for thirty seconds. This would be a huge boost to her Alchemy, and she believed her skills would now take a quantum leap forward.
The second was "Energy Infusion," which allowed her to convert her own Spiritual Power into Electric Energy and store it in specific metals. Her current storage capacity was equivalent to ten minutes of output from a medium-sized power station, somewhere between five thousand and ten thousand kilowatt-hours.
This Superpower would also be a boon to her Alchemy, serving as a technological upgrade. The Alchemy Puppets she created could now run on Electric Energy, making them more advanced than her previous works and better facilitating the Fusion of modern technology with traditional Alchemy.
"Every cell in my body is singing right now... I can’t wait to get to my lab and experiment, but before that..." Erin suddenly straddled him, her lips brushing against Li Xiang’s earlobe as her electrified breath traced tiny arcs of electricity in the air.
Li Xiang was taken aback. ’Western women really are "astonishingly powerful,"’ he thought. ’Well, in that case, I won’t hold back.’
The Western woman’s allure was different from that of Yao Yao and the other two, and also unlike Chiba Yuki’s. It was a unique kind of thrill.
Her Superpower was also quite unique. By absorbing its strengths to supplement his own weaknesses, Li Xiang’s Spirit Body and Superpowers were also enhanced.
The greatest gain was to his "Crystal Vein Armor."
’Hm, I should call it "Crystal Gold Armor" now.’
Erin’s Metal Manipulation Superpower had perfected Li Xiang’s Crystal Vein Armor, granting him a partial Alchemy Superpower, though it still fell under the domain of the Earth Pivot World Record.
While Erin went to the lab to create a new Alchemy Puppet, Li Xiang tested his new abilities. Using 99.99% pure gold, he activated his "Crystal Gold Armor" and, in just a short while, forged a Golden Bracelet of Extraordinary Quality.
This Golden Bracelet was Tier Five and forged successfully on the first try. Although it only had a single Extraordinary Attribute, it was still quite impressive.
Its Extraordinary Attribute was "Golden Force Field": when attacked, it could activate a Golden Particle Matrix Shield around the wearer, deflecting and neutralizing any energy attacks Below Tier Five.
Li Xiang had plenty of gold in his storage. Getting into the spirit of it, he forged another nine Gold Ornaments in one go—bracelets, rings, necklaces, earrings, and more. Six of these turned out to be Extraordinary Items, ranging from Tier Four to Tier Nine. Including the first one, he had now created seven Extraordinary Items out of ten attempts.
Previously, when he used his Crystal Vein Armor to forge Gold Ornaments, he could, but he’d get one or two Extraordinary Items out of ten at most, and sometimes none at all. He was naturally extremely satisfied with his current success rate.
Li Xiang had been indulging himself lately and often felt guilty, thinking he was being a bit of a scumbag. But now, he realized he wasn’t just being a scumbag for the sake of it. This Dual Cultivation truly brought immense benefits.
Not to mention the other girls, whose strengths had all jumped several Tiers. Meanwhile, his own Spirit Body and Superpowers were constantly being perfected and enhanced.
’Compared to the gains in power and the strengthening of my abilities,’ Li Xiang mused, ’being a bit of a scumbag doesn’t seem so unacceptable after all.’
After helping Erin stabilize her new Realm, Li Xiang continued his plundering tour across Europe.
He not only looted Europe’s abundant resources but also raided several American military bases across the continent (including some naval bases in the Mediterranean Sea), harvesting all sorts of weaponry.
As it happened, a Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was passing through the Mediterranean Sea. Li Xiang spotted it, and the carrier promptly changed owners. Its spoils included two A1B nuclear reactors, F-35C carrier-based fighters with their accompanying AN/APG-81 radars and Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, three E-2D early warning aircraft, as well as a number of frigates, destroyers, supply ships, and various anti-air and surface-to-surface missiles.
Although much of the Beautiful Country’s weaponry was no longer the most advanced on the planet, it was still top-tier and would make for excellent disposable assets. For example, he could have Jiang Cai’Er hack all these ships, radars, missiles, and fighter jets in the future, turning them into a loyal drone fleet to fend off invasions from Space Exotic Beasts. They could at least take out a portion of the enemy forces.
He stored all these items in a separate area of his warehouse. Even though the nuclear-powered carrier had reactors, they were heavily shielded and wouldn’t irradiate the other goods in his inventory.
Besides, the warehouse was special. Items came out exactly as they went in; they wouldn’t run out of fuel even after sitting inside for seven or eight years.
The world was in an uproar once again. This was the second aircraft carrier the Beautiful Country had lost, and both were their most advanced models.
Someone joked, "The Mysterious Armored Man is clearly a connoisseur, only targeting the best. The Eisenhower is deployed in the Red Sea not far away, and the Armored Warriors could get there in an instant, but apparently, they just don’t think it’s good enough."
Another person chimed in, "Of course not! The Eisenhower is just a Nimitz-class nuclear carrier commissioned way back in 1977. How could such an old piece of junk catch the eye of the Armor Hero?"
Many people in Europe were secretly gloating.
"They were talking about treating Europe like a fat lamb for the slaughter. Serves them right, huh?"
"Okay, so Europe got plundered too, but having your goods stolen is a mark of ’honor’ these days. Having your military bases raided, though? That’s just a disgrace."
The Beautiful Country hastily issued a denial: "We have not been raided. Our aircraft carrier is perfectly fine. If you don’t believe us, watch this VCR."
Following this, the captain of said aircraft carrier posted a video on his personal social media account showing a carrier-based jet launching from the catapult.
The Baltic Three Fools also jumped in to protest. Big Fool, in particular, upon hearing that the Mysterious Armored Man was stirring up trouble in Europe again, had its spokesperson express disdain and offer a strong dose of ridicule by publicly flipping the bird.
"What kind of international joke is this? How could a Ford-class carrier be raided? That’s the most powerful military force in the world!"
"Don’t overhype this Mysterious Armored Man. He might have some Extraordinary powers, but he’s no match for high-end modern weaponry."
"The Mysterious Armored Man wouldn’t dare come to our country. If he did, we would encircle and destroy him with our most powerful fighter jets and our mightiest armored divisions. He wouldn’t leave alive."
With the Baltic Three Fools cheering them on and the extremely realistic, detailed video posted by the US Navy captain, the denial did manage to fool people at first.
However, someone soon exposed the video as old footage from before last Christmas. A netizen from China had already posted the exact same video eight months ago, and it had gotten quite a bit of traffic at the time.
Netizens around the world were dumbfounded: "..."
Then, another video leaked from a mysterious source. It was high-definition satellite footage. Since Li Xiang had run into the aircraft carrier in broad daylight, it was an unavoidable confrontation, and he had simply attacked.
Although the satellite footage wasn’t perfectly clear—it was a top-down view, after all, making the aircraft carrier look about the size of a palm—the scene of the Mysterious Armored Man storming the vessel and tossing everyone on board into the sea like dumplings was still endlessly shocking.
Finally, the entire carrier group vanished, and with a flicker, the Mysterious Armored Man disappeared as well.
The same account also revealed that the Mysterious Armored Man’s speed was suspected to have broken Mach 20.
The top brass of the Beautiful Country were naturally furious. But all they could do was be furious; they had no choice but to swallow their rage.