Inside the mecha, Huo Yuhao felt as if his body and the machine were one. Controlling it was as effortless as moving his own limbs.
He began testing its movements—walking, running, jumping, flying, forward, back, left, right. He even pulled off some aerial maneuvers like backflips.
Team Leader Wang, having recovered from his initial shock, closely observed the fluidity of the mecha's actions under Huo Yuhao's control. Compared to the prototype units he had built before, this one—customized with forged metals—was far more agile. Unprecedentedly so.
"Xiao Huo, how's the mental energy consumption?"
That was the critical question. This mecha still used a full spiritual control system. If it drained too much mental energy, then it wouldn't be practical.
Huo Yuhao nodded inside the mecha, then activated the external audio system.
"Not bad. The consumption is within acceptable limits."
Wang beamed with joy. This was undoubtedly due to the sentience of the forged metals, which had drastically reduced unnecessary mental energy drain during operation.
"But let me pour a little cold water on this, Team Leader Wang. As you've noticed, this mecha's level of sentience is far beyond what you anticipated. That's because the forging method I used—infused with my own special power—granted the metals a deeper connection to me. If someone else were to use this system, it probably wouldn't work. Even if mental energy usage is reduced, it still wouldn't be efficient enough."
Before Wang could feel discouraged, Huo Yuhao's voice rang out again through the mecha's deep, slightly mechanical audio system.
"But just now, I had an idea. What if a sentient 'mecha lifeform' were embedded in the system to assist soul masters in piloting it? That might significantly reduce mental energy consumption. But the question is—how do we create such a lifeform? That's something we'll need to research carefully, Team Leader Wang."
The thought had struck Huo Yuhao just moments earlier. Artificial intelligence. Even a weak AI—one that wasn't truly sentient—could still provide invaluable assistance in mecha operation.
Wang fell silent for a moment as he contemplated the idea. A machine lifeform? Giving soul tools life and intelligence? It was a completely novel concept. But if it could be done, it would change everything.
"I get it, Xiao Huo. I'll start looking into that. For now, though, let's focus on testing your mecha's combat performance."
Huo Yuhao nodded. When designing the mecha, Wang had built in several unique combat functions based on Huo Yuhao's ice-type soul skills.
The most important feature was the enhancement of Huo Yuhao's ice-elemental soul power. The mecha had been built using many forged metals he had created—metals that could amplify ice-type power and soul energy, such as Northern Extreme Ice Crystal and even Profound Ice Marrow.
Huo Yuhao activated his Ice Jade Scorpion torso bone's domain skill—Domain of Eternal Ice.
He immediately noticed that the domain's range had expanded by about 20%, and the soul power consumption while maintaining it had decreased by roughly 35%.
Next, he tried activating his first soul skill—Emperor Scorpion's Sting—and Ice Emperor's Armor. What happened next surprised him.
The skills weren't being released from his body inside the mecha. They were being released by the mecha itself.
Diamond-hard crystal claws formed around the mecha's arms—the Emperor Scorpion's Sting—and a thin layer of icy armor coated its body.
However, releasing the skills this way significantly increased the rate of soul power consumption. Still, the resulting power was nothing short of astounding.
"Xiao Huo... are you saying the mecha is releasing your soul skills?"
Huo Yuhao nodded via the mecha's control system, a little helpless himself. Even he hadn't anticipated this functionality. And neither had Wang, who had designed it.
'It must have something to do with the forging method I used... the one involving the power of Creation,' Huo Yuhao thought.
He quickly deactivated the soul skill state. The energy drain was just too much for him to handle with only three soul rings. Still, it was clear that offensive soul skills released through the mecha would be devastatingly powerful. As for defensive ones, they were less efficient—especially since the mecha was already equipped with soul tool shielding.
If his current two soul skills could be used through the mecha, then his Ice Emperor's Wrath from the torso bone, and even the Emperor Palm, Emperor Sword, and Heavenly Emperor Chill he was learning from Snow Empress, might also be usable—though the energy costs would likely be far beyond his current capacity.
With his personal soul skills testing well, it was time to try the mecha's exclusive, built-in combat systems.
"Team Leader Wang, activate the testing range in the facility."
Wang nodded and walked to a control panel. He pressed a button, and with a loud mechanical hum, a massive rising gate opened, revealing the target range behind it.
Huo Yuhao rotated the mecha to face the range. Several hidden gun barrels extended from the mecha and began firing preloaded rounds.
They appeared to be standard stationary soul cannon shells. However, Huo Yuhao's left arm dimmed slightly after firing—a sign that some of his energy had been used.
The shells—a mere level-five tier—shot into the range at high speed. Explosions boomed as they struck, shaking the ground. After the initial blast, things should have settled... but a second, even more powerful explosion rang out shortly after.
The dual shockwaves completely destroyed every target in the range. Realistically, level-five shells shouldn't have had that much power.
But when the fire and smoke cleared, the real surprise appeared—not shattered targets, but a field of ice.
And indeed, Huo Yuhao's left arm had emitted a blue glow before firing—meaning he had used the soul bone skill Ice Explosion Technique from his Ice Jade Scorpion arm bone.
The shells he had fired weren't ordinary level-five rounds. They were Iceburst Stationary Soul Cannon Shells—custom-built by Wang using energy-infused ice-type forged metals created by Huo Yuhao.
Inside each shell, the hidden ice-type metal acted as the "core ice," which Huo Yuhao then targeted with his Ice Explosion Technique, effectively turning each shell into a double-stage explosive.
(End of Chapter)
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