Chapter 970: Living Armor
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Seeing Meng Chao’s dumbstruck expression, the female snow leopard warrior was finally delighted.
“So this seemingly mysterious and omnipotent fellow has his moments of being dumbfounded!” she thought delightedly.
She had originally used the Mithril Ripper to devour the fragments of the One Million Steam Hammer in front of Meng Chao meant to flaunt her strength. It was meant to intimidate the little ones and for her to take back the initiative.
However, Ice Storm soon realized that something was wrong.
The guy opposite her was stunned, but there was not much respect in his eyes. Instead, they were filled with intense interest.
His eyes became sharper and sharper, like two blades that were as thin as cicada’s wings. It was as if they wanted to slice her totem armor into pieces.
“This… What kind of monster is this guy?”
Ice Storm was stunned again. “Could it be that he doesn’t have the concept of ‘fear?’”
Meng Chao had indeed seen the apocalyptic flames and the immemorial battlefield. So, no matter how strange and ferocious the totem armor was, he did not feel the need to be afraid at all.
He was only more interested in this super weapon system that contained a large amount of black technology. It was obviously beyond the clan era, and even beyond the information era where Dragon City was located.
“So, totem armors are upgraded by devouring another?”
He turned into a curious baby and asked Ice Storm excitedly.
This time, Ice Storm was sure that this Reaper was really not a spy from the land of Holy Light.
Since the land of holy light and Picturesque Orchid Lake had been entangled for thousands of years, they were mortal enemies and had a deep understanding of each other.
In the land of Holy Light, whether it was mages, light chasers or night watchers, their understanding of totem armors might be even more detailed than Ice Storm’s.
It would impossible to ask something that childish like the Reaper’s question.
In fact, everything about totem armors was not a secret in the first place.
The Turan people, who had a rough personality and were willing to seize every opportunity to show off their strength, also rarely kept secrets.
“Of course, the totem armor is a gift from the ancestral spirit or even the incarnation of the ancestral spirit. It is a living armor. Of course it can devour other armor and become even stronger!”
Ice Storm told Meng Chao that different totems had different characteristics. As long as one devoured a brand new totem, one would have the chance to obtain a brand new characteristic. The prerequisite was that the totem armor fragment that was devoured had to be large enough. For example, the large piece of breastplate that she had just ripped off from Poison Stinger’s chest.
If it was just a finger-sized fragment, it would be useless. At most, it would only strengthen the inherent characteristics of her own totem armor slightly.
Her Mithril Ripper originally had sharpness, freezing, acceleration, and other characteristics.
After devouring the fragment of the One Million Hammer Steam, it added compressed air and the “shocking” characteristic of high frequency oscillations. Naturally, its combat strength would be greatly increased.
That was the reason why she did not hesitate to offend the Ironhide Clan and wanted to destroy as well as s.n.a.t.c.h the One Million Steam Hammer.
Of course, the more characteristics the totem armor had, the harder it was to control. Moreover, it needed to swallow more energy in order to maintain the stability of the totem.
It was immensely difficult for ordinary warriors of the clan to grasp it. The slightest carelessness would trigger a backlash.
Just as Meng Chao had said, Ice Storm had stepped into a desperate situation and had no choice but to stake everything.
Fortunately, she won the bet!
As she spoke, Ice Storm reduced the Mithril Ripper that had completed its devouring into liquid metal and returned it to her body.
The glittering totem tattoo that extended from her chest all the way to her shoulder had also undergone interesting changes.
Originally, her totem tattoo was just of a silver leopard head that was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws. In addition, there were six intersecting claw marks.
Now, above the leopard head, three streams of steam were spurting out. There were also circles of dense ripples that ruffled out in all directions, representing the “shocking” characteristic.
Gently touching the brand new totem tattoo, Ice Storm was completely satisfied. Her frosty face broke into a smile.
But her stomach was rumbling nonstop.
Obviously, the fierce battle earlier, as well as the devouring of the totem battle armor, had consumed too much energy.
She did not hesitate to cut open the second golden fruit and sucked the jiggling jelly-like flesh into her mouth.
After consuming three golden fruits in a row, she was still not satisfied, and she grabbed another totem beast’s core.
Swoosh!
From her palm to her forearm, she was once again wrapped in liquid metal.
Dozens of metal threads drilled out from the silvery-white metal fluid and pierced deeply into the totem beast’s core.
In a short while, the totem beast’s core was sucked dry.
The liquid metal continued to surge before the entire core finally disappeared into Ice Storm’s body.
Meng Chao just studied the golden fruit carefully.
He knew that each mandrake tree could only bear one special fruit per round of fruiting, and the spirit energy it contained was even richer than the top-grade genetic medicine in Dragon City.
Even he had to meditate and exercise for half a day before he could digest and absorb all the violent spirit energy in one golden fruit…
Ice Storm’s flesh and blood was not as strong as his at his peak, so it was impossible for her to digest and absorb all the spirit energy within the three golden fruits in an instant.
So, it was the totem armor on her body that digested and absorbed it?
Her armor had complicated natural patterns growing on its surface. It was crystal clear and as colorful as crystal marrow. However, it was made of a material that was neither gold nor iron. What was it that could be directly absorbed by the totem armor?
Meng Chao grabbed a totem beast core and studied it for a long time.
He kept feeling that this thing did not seem to be something that could grow naturally in a carbon-based organism.
However, Ice Storm told him that this kind of “core” was indeed the vital center of the totem beast. The most important organ determined the totem beast’s behavior pattern and brutality.
Moreover, the totem beast’s core contained weak totem power. It was the best “food” for the totem armor.
In the prosperous era, there were not many opportunities to directly devour the opponent’s totem armor fragments.
Most of the time, totem warriors still relied on hunting totem beasts and collecting and devouring cores to continuously strengthen their totem armor and slowly condense new characteristics.
“Is it so magical?”
In the name of a veteran reaper who had dissected thousands of monsters, Meng Chao swore that he had never found any “cores in the bodies of monsters, superbeasts, abnormal beasts, or even demon G.o.ds.
The crystallized nerve spheres of the monsters were somewhat similar to the “core” of the totem beasts.
However, compared to the pure natural crystallized nerve spheres, the totem beast core had a cold metallic texture.
It didn’t look like a biological organ, but more like some kind of man-made object, some kind of… control chip or something like that.
“Directly eating the control chip to become stronger? This is a very human-like operation. No wonder advanced orcs, whose civilization had degenerated to the age of the clan, could still master totem armor!”
Thinking of this, Meng Chao grinned and asked Ice Storm how he could obtain a totem armor.
This was not out of Ice Storm’s expectations.
Every Turan, even the most humble rat people, yearned to become a totem warrior.
However, Ice Storm warned Meng Chao that becoming a totem warrior, apart from great glory, also meant extreme danger.
And the most dangerous thing did not come from the outside world, it was the totem armor itself.
“If your power is insufficient or if you are not devout enough to the ancestral spirit, you might really be swallowed alive by the totem armor.”
Leaf had also warned Meng Chao like this.
However, for Meng Chao, who yearned for greater power in order to save Dragon City, such a warning would not be much more effective than the warning from the FBI in the Life Science Research Video.
“Then, I’ll take you to see how to obtain the power of totems!”
Ice Storm thought for a moment and said, “It just so happens that I’ve obtained the quota of a new batch of seventy servants. I can expand my own battle team. I should go around the Blood Skull Arena and choose more powerful soldiers.”
In addition to the large open-air arena that could accommodate tens of thousands of spectators.
The Blood Skull Arena also had indoor arenas of various sizes.
They were mainly used for one-on-one fights or small teams of three to five people.
Compared to the large open-air arena, where hundreds of thousands of people charged into the battle and two gladiators fought to the death, although the scene might not be as exciting, the distance between the spectator stands and the arena was close enough, the blood and broken bones that flew out from the gladiators could even splash onto the faces of the spectators.
The excitement of being in the arena and having flesh and blood splattered all over the place attracted countless people. They watched, placed bets, and cheered day and night. When their blood was boiling, they would personally go up to the arena to vent their violent strength.
When Meng Chao and Ice Storm arrived at this small arena, there were already no empty seats around them.
The gladiators’ roars and the audience’s clamor were like subwoofers bombarding the arena, bringing the atmosphere to the point of a volcano erupting.
On the arena, there were three people with the characteristics of a Minotaur and a wild boar. Their bodies were covered in blood and their muscles were bulging. They were confronting a huge monster.
Although their bodies were strong, they were not inferior to the warriors of the clan.
Moreover, their bodies were tied with iron chains that were as thick as arms, and they were wearing armor made of metal.
The greatsword, greatax, and scimitar in their hands were also shining with a cold light. They were the best products that could cut iron like mud.
However, Meng Chao could tell from their nervous expressions, their Adam’s apple that was rolling nonstop, the large amount of sweat that they were secreting, and the muscles of their legs that were shivering because of the uneven distribution of their strength, that they were in a cramping state, they were not professional warriors who had been well-trained.
They were rat subjects like Leaf and Spider who had been forcibly recruited by the masters only a few days ago.
As expected, Ice Storm told Meng Chao that these rat subjects had resisted the conscription team with their lives in the “conscription operation” and displayed amazing potential. They were the lucky ones who had been chosen by the warriors of the clan.
If they were like Leaf’s brother, who had died in a fierce battle during the resistance, the warriors of the clan would have given him a drop of blood and brought his body back to offer sacrifices to the ancestral spirits.
If he were still alive, he would have a chance.
A chance to prove that he was worthy of the clan’s glorious blood.