Chapter 396: Primeval Project, A Power That Surpasses Mythical-Level Creatures

Crack!

The back of the magnificent mech slowly opened, revealing a cockpit just large enough for one person to sit inside. Luo Fei jumped in, and the mech slowly closed.

Chen Chu couldn’t tell what was happening inside, but ten minutes later, the mech’s eyes suddenly lit up, illuminating its face, which resembled a cold human expression.

Buzz!

A powerful surge of energy emanated from inside the mech. Right after, it began to move.

Boom!

The alloy floor trembled slightly with each heavy step that the mech took.

“You have completed the initial refinement. Now, you have to familiarize yourself with the controls and fully refine the Eternal Power Reactor,” Luo Wuyue calmly directed.

"I’ve programmed multiple forms into this mech’s core system, but for now, since you're just a Fourth Heavenly Realm cultivator, your true power can only support the standard form.

"Alright, you two head to the training ground and familiarize yourselves with this divine battle armor. I still have experiments to finish."

Unable to stay due to her busy schedule, Luo Wuyue left after issuing instructions. Luo Fei and Chen Chu found themselves alone in the warehouse.

Once Luo Fei had roughly gotten the hang of the basic controls, Chen Chu curiously walked over.

"How is it, Luo Fei? What does it feel like to operate the mech?"

From inside the over-four-meter-tall magnificent mech, Luo Fei excitedly replied, "It feels like I’ve gained another body. It’s easy to control thanks to the neural link."

"Really? Let me see."

Chen Chu reached out and placed his hand on the mech’s thigh, gripping the mech’s outer armor. With a burst of strength, he effortlessly lifted the hundred-ton mech with one arm. He even curiously swung it back and forth a couple of times, as if he were playing with a large toy.

"

Aaah

! Chen Chu, slow down! Slow down!" Luo Fei shouted in a bit of a panic.

"Sorry! It’s my first time seeing a mech, so I couldn’t help but be curious." Laughing, Chen Chu gently set the massive mech back down. "This divine battle armor is really impressive, though. It’s strong."

When Chen Chu lifted the mech, it wasn’t just out of curiosity about its weight. He was also trying to sense the internal structure of the mech. However, a strong, resilient force blocked his spiritual will.

Inside the mech, he vaguely perceived a network similar to the "meridians" of a human. He also sensed a power reactor imbued with fearsome energy in its chest.

"Chen Chu, let's go test the power of this armor,” Luo Fei eagerly suggested.

When Chen Chu nodded, Luo Fei picked up the seven-meter-long sniper cannon and strapped a giant sword to her back.

The platinum-colored mech spread its arms, and mechanical arms emerged from the walls, attaching two small missile boxes and two sci-fi-style energy weapon modules to the mech.

In the blink of an eye, Luo Fei completed the initial weapon arming.

The wall at the back of the warehouse slowly opened, revealing a large elevator. The two used it to transport the mech to the surface.

Eventually, they arrived at the weapons testing ground. The mech crouched slightly into a firing stance. It then took aim with its sniper cannon, which had a diameter of about twenty centimeters.

Buzz!

Powerful energy gathered at the muzzle, and runes on the surface of the sniper cannon glowed.

Boom!

With a pull of the trigger, a fiery explosion erupted. As the recoil sent the mech jolting backward, the attack obliterated a section of a hillside more than a thousand meters away. Searing flames burst out right after.

Surprised, Chen Chu stared at the smoke and dust rising from the large, ten-meter crater in the devastated hillside.

"That attack was as strong as a strike from an ordinary Sixth Heavenly Realm cultivator."

This was the power of modern technological weapons. If the weapon was advanced enough, even an ordinary cultivator could wield destructive power comparable to that of a high-level or even advanced cultivator.

However, it was only destructive. Furthermore, because this type of mech was so expensive, it couldn't be mass-produced for large-scale warfare. Equipment used for larger-scale warfare was typically more affordable.

The mech slightly turned its head toward Chen Chu.

"Target practice is boring. How about we spar?" Luo Fei suggested.

Chen Chu's expression changed. With a hint of doubt in his voice, he asked, "Are you sure?"

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

The mech, controlled by Luo Fei, nodded confidently. "Yes."

"Alright."

In a few quick flashes, Chen Chu appeared several hundred meters away on the field. Then, with a flick of his hand, he pulled out the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd.

He did not wear any battle armor, yet he still immediately emitted an oppressive and powerful aura.

Smiling, he said, "Come. Let me see how strong you are now."

"You’ll be surprised."

Inside the cockpit, the excited Luo Fei controlled the mech to draw the sword on its back. At the same time, a dazzling blue light emanated from its chest, and energy runes glowed across its surface.

Whoosh!

The armor wings on the mech's back erupted with intense light, creating powerful gusts. A shockwave of wind and dust blasted outward as it charged forward at supersonic speed.

The moment the mech swung its sword, it turned into a streak of silver light and instantly appeared above Chen Chu’s head. Energy surged from the sword, extending its blade into a beam over ten meters long.

Boom!

The ground within a radius of several meters shattered. The shockwave blasted away countless stones and dirt dozens of meters away.

In the center of the dust-filled crater, golden flames erupted from Chen Chu. With his muscles filled up with power, he swung his halberd with one hand and blocked Luo Fei's supersonic strike with ease.

Boom!

The mech was blasted a hundred meters away before landing on the ground and skidding back another ten meters, leaving two deep grooves in the ground.

From inside the mech, Luo Fei looked at Chen Chu in admiration, who stood calmly with his halberd in hand. He had grown even stronger after breaking into the Seventh Heavenly Realm.

His strength did not surprise her, though. She had long known how powerful he was.

At that moment, the missile cases on the mech's shoulders opened, and more than twenty missiles, all glowing in blue, shot out with a piercing whistle, filling the sky and engulfing Chen Chu.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the explosions ensued, Luo Fei's mech unfurled its wings. Propelled by powerful energy waves, she shot hundreds of meters into the sky. Then, she pointed her battle sword downward.

The energy weapons on the mech's shoulders extended. "Second structure disengaged..."

Whoosh!

The dust below suddenly dispersed, and a golden halberd light, more than twenty meters long, pierced the sky like a laser, instantly appearing in front of the mech.

Boom!

The collision created an explosion even more powerful than the energy missiles. Blinding golden light lit up the sky as the shockwave shook the buildings in the base.

Many people instinctively turned toward the testing ground. With such a massive impact, they wondered what kind of weapon Luo Wuyue was experimenting with this time.

Bang!

A streak of black smoke trailed the mech as it shot from the sky and slammed down with one knee on the ground. The earth shattered, and dust flew everywhere.

On the surface of the mech, where the energy fluctuations were somewhat unstable, a faint blue energy shield flickered. It had barely deflected the strike even though Chen Chu was still holding back his true strength.

The energy on the surface of the mech retracted, and its eyes dimmed. The hatch on its back opened, and Luo Fei jumped out, looking somewhat exhausted. She stood on the mech's shoulder.

Looking at Chen Chu in the distance, the young girl waved and shouted, "I’m done fighting!"

"Uh... so just like that, the fight’s over?"

Chen Chu barely even got to warm up. He was hoping to see if the armor could withstand one of his halberd strikes at full strength.

In a few flashes, Chen Chu appeared in front of Luo Fei. He looked up at the girl on the mech and asked, "Why is your energy consumption so high?"

Overall, with the divine battle armor on, Luo Fei’s close-quarters combat ability reached the late stage of the Fifth Heavenly Realm, and with her powerful weaponry, her destructive power was in the Sixth Heavenly Realm.

However, after just a short moment piloting the mech, Luo Fei had already used up nearly sixty percent of her true power, limiting her stamina.

“Isn’t the mech powered by the power reactor?” Chen Chu asked.

Luo Fei shook her head. "This isn’t just a regular mech, and I haven’t fully refined it yet, so I can’t harness the energy of the Eternal Power Reactor."

She jumped down from the mech and pressed the silver-blue bracelet on her wrist against it. With a ripple of spatial fluctuations, the mech vanished instantly.

After putting away the mech, Luo Fei turned to Chen Chu and smiled mischievously. "You have a lot of questions right now, don’t you?"

Chen Chu nodded. "Yeah, a few."

Luo Fei had been away from East Xia for ten years before suddenly transferring back to Wujiang from West Meng during her first year of high school. She also practiced a seemingly ineffective special art. Including some of her involvement with other events, Chen Chu had a slight feeling that something else was going on.

"I actually came to Nantian Martial Arts High School to cultivate this primal secret scripture, which is a translated version brought out from a relic decades ago. This art allows my spiritual will to enter a special state called Heart-Based Heaven Reflection, which is preparation for piloting Number One"

“Number One?” Chen Chu asked, curiosity in his eyes.

"With your current Federation access, you’ll know about it soon enough, so it shouldn’t be against the rules for me to tell you," Luo Fei gently explained. "My father is a top-level scientist in West Meng, specializing in biotechnology and mechs, and he leads West Meng’s primeval project."

After a brief pause, she added, "The primeval project is humanity's attempt at cultivating a super lifeform using a heart obtained from an ancient ruin. The super lifeform is currently named Number One, and its power is speculated to surpass even a mythical-level being.

"Not only is it gigantic, but it also holds the most advanced mech weapons humanity has today. Its combat power is terrifying. It even killed a mythical colossal beast with a single strike once.

"But this biological mech has form without spirit—it has no independent consciousness or thought, which puts it in a vegetated-like state. That’s why it needs a pilot to activate it.

"Additionally, as a living organism, it has strong biological instincts that reject anyone who tries to pilot it. Only those with matching soul waves can control it.

"In the past decades, only two people have met the requirements, and I am one of them. Unfortunately, because it is a living organism, piloting it subjects the operator to intense spiritual contamination, which is why I’m cultivating this art.

"Of course, this isn’t the only choice. If I hadn’t succeeded in cultivating this art, there were a few other techniques as backup options."

"Once I return to West Meng and complete my training to pilot Number One, I’ll probably enter the mythical world ahead of you."

As she said this, a proud expression appeared on her delicate face, like a girl showing off to a friend. "So, what do you think? Am I impressive or what?"

As he watched the girl proudly showing off her "toy," Chen Chu’s brows furrowed.

"It’s not that simple, is it? Your cultivation is only at the Fourth Heavenly Realm. Are you sure you can handle a mech that's on par with a mythical-level creature?"

Given Chen Chu's current level of cultivation and his level 9 colossal beast avatar, he had already touched power comparable to laws of nature, so he didn’t believe it could be that straightforward.

"Alright, I knew I couldn’t fool you." The girl playfully stuck out her tongue.

"Piloting the primeval mech does carry great risks. Besides the risk of spiritual contamination, there’s also the possibility of the body being assimilated by the primeval mech’s power.

"More than ten years ago, its first-generation pilot disappeared after being assimilated. That’s one of the reasons I’m here.

"The divine battle armor is a kind of defensive suit prepared for me by my aunt. It uses the Eternal Power Reactor as its core to enter an energy-based state, which can resist Number One’s assimilation.

"The secret scripture I’m cultivating also helps protect against spiritual contamination, so all the risks are minimized.

"As my cultivation progresses, my spirit will grow stronger, and the divine battle armor, which is a transcendent equipment, will also be strengthened through tempering."

"In the calculations of my father and aunt, when I reach the Ninth Heavenly Realm, there’s a high chance I’ll be able to fully refine Number One, turning it into something like an external incarnation."

"If I can break through to king level and achieve dual soul resonance, I might even be able to activate the heart of that primeval lifeform, granting me power that surpasses even kings."

I knew it wouldn't be that simple,

thought Chen Chu, feeling somewhat amazed. He hadn’t expected Luo Fei to be such a significant individual.

This explained why Luo Wuyue quickly took her away when the demon cult invaded the mutated beast battlefield. She was simply far too special.

She was the only existing pilot of a mech derived from the heart of a lifeform surpassing mythical-level creatures. Furthermore, she had to have had many life-saving treasures at her disposal, such as the secret treasure that allowed her to resist a late-stage Fourth Heavenly Realm Blood Emissary despite only being in the beginning stage of the Third Heavenly Realm.

However, while these life-saving trump cards were powerful, they didn’t guarantee absolute safety. After all, it was still used by humans. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been injured that time.

Furthermore, given her role as the pilot of Number One, it seemed strange to Chen Chu that the school didn’t know about her identity. If they did, they wouldn’t have let her go to Kyrola for the trial, where she got injured.

Something still didn’t sit right with him. Hence, Chen Chu asked, "Considering how important you are, why didn’t your aunt stop you from going to Kyrola? Was she not afraid something would happen to you?"

Luo Fei nodded. "My aunt was against it at first, but I managed to convince her."

"What reason did you give her?" Chen Chu asked, curious.

The girl blinked playfully. "That’s a girl’s secret."

"... Alright."

"Oh, by the way, Chen Chu, are you free this afternoon?" the girl suddenly asked.

"I am."

"Since I’ll be heading back to West Meng in a few days, as a good friend, shouldn’t you at least take me around Wujiang? Let me make some nice memories of this city before I leave," she said, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

"Of course," Chen Chu replied. He wasn't about to refuse such a request.

As she mentioned, there were only a few days left before she had to return to West Meng. Hence, even if she didn't ask, Chen Chu already planned to spend some time with her, especially considering their somewhat complicated relationship.

However, Chen Chu was well aware that today would likely be his only chance to relax.

In about a week, the ancient ruins would be summoned, and he still had a lot to prepare before then, like completing adjustments to the Eighth Stage War God Body and condensing the space-time summoning altar.