Chapter 136: Equipment

On the fifteenth floor of the Nathan Gate, in Combat Capability Testing Room No. 3 of the Nathan Sports Laboratory, Li Mochen, clad in a suit of silver-white armor, held a single sword and wove a web of blue-white sword shadows within a five-meter radius around him.

His left hand was not idle; it continuously changed gestures, channeling magical energy of various attributes. This caused the newly forged ‘Leixiao’ sword to be constantly wrapped in faintly visible blue electric arcs, pushing his sword speed to the extreme and beyond! Spells such as Flame Shock, Freezing Ray, Ice Trap, Ice Reflection, Repulsion Ring, Fire’s Blessing, Flame Hand, Lightning Strike, Thunderstorm, and Wind’s Blessing were all cast with ease.

For these spells, none higher than level five, Li Mochen could already omit most gestures, needing only a few sporadic incantations from his mouth to achieve instant casting.

Thus, within just three minutes, the area two meters around Li Mochen was piled high with scattered mechanical insect fragments.

This region was like an extremely dangerous yet impenetrable iron wall, keeping those astonishingly fast mechanical golden cicadas at bay.

“9S!”

In the observation room, Charlotte, the director of the Nathan Sports Laboratory, gasped: “Unbelievable. He hasn’t moved from his spot. This guy has improved again.”

“Our people reported to the company two weeks ago that his magical profession had broken through to level five. But I think the reason for his great progress now is more due to his spells.”

Carl Holton, also wearing glasses, was observing intently—not because of vision problems, but because Li Mochen’s sword speed and the flight speed of the mechanical golden cicadas had exceeded the limits of the naked eye. Only with these high-tech glasses could he roughly discern the trajectory of Li Mochen’s sword light.

“Indeed, he has improved a lot. Before, the coordination between his swordsmanship and spells was still clumsy, but now that feeling is gone. He has been able to properly integrate these two forces. Especially the spells Flame Shock and Freezing Ray—he can now cast them instantly without hand seals or incantations. This is a huge advantage in combat matches. At this rate, we won’t be able to test the data of this custom armor on him at all.”

After speaking, Charlotte said to a lab technician in a white coat beside him: “Skip 10B and 10A, go directly to the 10S stage.”

What followed confirmed their speculation; even the intensity of 10S only forced Li Mochen to move from his spot.

The black-haired youth walked at a leisurely pace inside the combat testing room, as if strolling in his own backyard—relaxed and at ease, elegant and composed.

Five minutes later, Charlotte exchanged a helpless glance with Carl: “11B!”

11B—this was already at the Outlaw level, a world apart from 10S.

In the next instant, more than a dozen golden flashes suddenly appeared in the laboratory. Li Mochen’s eyes sharpened, and his figure entered a state of extreme speed, while a flickering aura of sword energy emerged from his sword tip.

In the blink of an eye, Li Mochen made five consecutive strikes, but then he was sent flying, landing ten meters away, sprawling on the ground in a big “大” shape.

“Some components inside the armor are damaged, but he’s fine—very little force was transmitted. He probably exhausted too much source power—”

“Unbelievable! We detected damage to three scarab beetles; he actually managed to cut them.”

“Can he briefly reach Outlaw-level speed and damage?”

“He even produced sword aura, which shows the magical array on the ‘Leixiao’ sword is successful. But he’s only level 5, right? That’s source power comparable to level 7.”

“Good! Have the medical staff check him immediately!”

Charlotte asked several subordinates again: “Have the data been compiled? How much benefit does this Gushan armor give him?”

“Only some items have results.”

One of them replied with a wry smile: “Strength increased by 47%, reaction speed by 16%, movement speed in extreme state by 20%, source power by 35%, magical power by 55%. Endurance and impact resistance of various parts couldn’t be tested. The situation just now was very special.”

“It’s best to test again to verify the accuracy of the data.”

Charlotte knew the reason: the external release of sword energy had drained Li Mochen’s source power after just a few strikes.

“What about the other equipment? Especially the ‘Leixiao’ sword—I still want to say, these names are so strange, this crappy pronunciation!”

“Sword speed increased by 120%, cutting power by 97%. The lightning magic constant on the sword, when fused with Andrei’s magical power, is quite considerable, with a kill coefficient between 735 and 1124, enough to even harm Outlaws. But these are just rough numbers, not accurate.”

“Light Magic Bracelet: increases spell release speed by 3%. I think we need to improve it; his casting is already near-instant, so the bracelet isn’t very suitable for him.”

“Lion Fang Necklace: increases strength by 5%, increases magic power intensity by 3%.”

Charlotte rubbed his bald head and looked at Carl: “They’re right. I want to conduct another round of tests.”

“No! It’s already very late. Let’s stop here for today.”

Carl Holton unhesitatingly rejected the lab director’s request and pushed open the door to leave: “We’ve been testing for three hours; it’s 9:30, buddy. Aren’t you tired? Don’t forget, the company has to pay you overtime.”

“But I feel I’m still full of energy.”

Charlotte followed reluctantly: “Don’t you want to keep improving, Carl? This set of combat gear still has a lot of room for adjustment; we can make him stronger.”

“Come on, Charlotte.”

Carl Holton shook his head: “His thrusting speed with the ‘Leixiao’ sword has reached 750 kilometers per hour, and his slashing speed 520 kilometers per hour. Magical professionals below level five can hardly see his sword anymore.”

“But what does that have to do with our tests?”

“Ever heard of an Eastern saying? ‘The art of slaying dragons’—it refers to extremely advanced techniques or skills that are useless in reality.”

Carl chuckled: “A thrust of 200 meters per second—even Outlaws have to take it seriously. As for James Lanster, that kid, I estimate he wouldn’t have any room to resist in front of him. Now we just need to confirm the reliability of this Gushan armor and the Shenxiao sword. As long as there are no major hidden dangers and it can be used normally, that’s enough. Do you think James Lanster’s strength can reach 10S? His sword speed, at most, is less than 420 kilometers per hour, right?”

Charlotte was speechless. He had seen James Lanster’s latest combat videos. If that guy wasn’t hiding his abilities, his combat power should be 8A.

As Carl said, more and stronger combat power seemed unnecessary.

At that moment, Carl Holton was already walking toward Li Mochen, who was emerging from the testing room, his face beaming with smiles:

“You know, A-Mo, that guy James Lanster has been boasting in his circle of friends, saying he’s going to break your legs in this match. It seems he wants to repeat his old trick, defeating you in the most humiliating way on the stage, just like he did to several of our Nathan Sports Group’s sponsored athletes last year.”