Begging for monthly votes, recommendation tickets, clicks—let the Infantry (regular users) and the Heavy Cavalry (VIP users) charge forward together, Hooo-rah! …… Afterward, Ye Chen settled a few matters and left the city alone. This time, attacking the ruins of the Atlantean Civilization, he acutely recognized his shortcomings.

While the Superman State provided a lifeline, his main body remained too fragile. He needed to rapidly raise his physical constitution to Level 100 and awaken his innate talents before he could truly be considered powerful. When departing, to avoid detection, Ye Chen took the city’s subterranean tunnels directly to the entrance of the ruins.

Seizing a moment when the guarding soldiers weren't looking, his figure blurred, and he dashed out. At his speed, even if he sprinted past them, their retinas would fail to capture the movement; they would only perceive a fleeting gust of wind. Having left the ruins, Ye Chen materialized on the racetrack.

He didn't linger, speeding toward Baoshan District, an area near the ocean teeming with monsters, sufficient for his frantic slaughter. The sky was a grim canopy of heavy, dark clouds. Ye Chen sprinted through the debris and ruined walls of the wasteland.

Any lone Zombie-Humans he encountered were dispatched with a clean headshot from a distance. Before long, he reached a vast, open square littered with cars haphazardly crashed against lampposts, their hoods buckled upward. Newspapers from a kiosk were scattered across the entire street by the desolate wind.

Several slumbering zombies caught the scent of blood and awoke, rushing toward Ye Chen with guttural roars. Without even looking, he loosed a few casual shots, blowing their heads apart. He then activated the Rune Space, and a black void twenty meters in diameter materialized out of thin air.

Boom. The Silver Mech strode out of the Rune Space like a colossal skyscraper. Its metallic feet pressed into the ground, the sheer weight of its body cracking the concrete beneath.

Behind it, Little Black controlled a swarm of monsters emerging from the aperture: Blood-toothed Tigers, Three-tailed Silver Wolves, and other beasts. Since these were all reanimated corpses, they retained their former strength. Even the Blood-toothed Tiger controlled by Little Black, which was Level 50 when it was just a fledgling, had reached Level 350 this fourth month, up from Level 300 last month.

“Boss, you’ve finally deigned to release us.” Little Black, controlling the Blood-toothed Tiger, stepped out of the portal, gazed at the gray sky, and let out a long, happy cry, transmitting his joy directly into Ye Chen’s mind. Ye Chen nodded. “Savor this moment of quiet.

You all will be spending the next few days outside.” Little Black howled, “Boss, you’re not planning on abusing children again, doing something utterly heinous, are you? Oh, and who is this big guy? Is he a Transformer?” Ye Chen replied, “Later, I’ll go lure a Level 100 monster for you to ‘communicate’ with at length.” Little Black immediately zipped its mouth shut.

“Prepare to move out.” Ye Chen’s figure shifted as he leaped onto the Blood-toothed Tiger’s back, closing the space link. A single Silver Mechanized Warrior, accompanied by over sixty monsters, formed a formidable strike team, charging toward Baoshan District. They hadn't traveled far when suddenly, two to three hundred Zombie Ants swarmed out of a nearby alley, shrieking as they charged.

Little Black quickly maneuvered its controlled beasts, preparing to intercept and slay them. Just then, the chest cavity of the Silver Mech slowly opened, revealing a row of barrels that aimed precisely at the ant horde. Bang-bang-bang… Bullets spat forth.

Every single round struck the head of a Zombie Ant. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of them were blasted into dust. Little Black and the other creatures controlled by Little Black nearly popped their eyeballs out witnessing the sight.

Ye Chen moved, jumping down from the Blood-toothed Tiger’s back, and approached the remains of the Zombie Ants. He activated the Refining Bracelet, and a white light shone out, presenting the blueprint for the Armor of Divine Light. This blueprint wasn't paper; upon contact with the light, it dissolved into countless streams of informational data, uploaded into the bracelet.

Subsequently, the bracelet emitted a beam of light that spread out, bathing all the dead Zombie Ant corpses. Under this radiance, the bodies melted down, shriveling as motes of light detached, rising into the air, and being drawn into the Refining Bracelet, coalescing into a single tiny speck of light. Ye Chen reached out and caught it.

This speck, smaller than a sesame seed, traveled up his palm and burrowed into his body, settling within him. “Hundreds of Zombie Ants, and I only managed to refine this tiny bit of light armor,” Ye Chen muttered, shaking his head with a wry smile. According to the blueprint, the Refining Bracelet was specifically designed to forge the Armor of Divine Light, capable of gathering the unique light energy from any living thing, tempering it into miraculous armor, and integrating it into the host’s body so it could be summoned when needed—truly extraordinary.

Every living being possessed light: the Light of Life, the Light of the Soul, and so on. Ye Chen turned, returned to the Blood-toothed Tiger’s back, and patted its flank. “Let’s go.” Little Black felt a pang of dread.

It sensed that in the time they hadn't been together, Ye Chen had grown significantly stronger. Grabbing an advantage over him now would be exponentially more difficult. The company continued its advance.

Along the way, they encountered numerous monsters, all becoming raw material for Ye Chen’s forging of the Armor of Divine Light under the bombardment of Little Black’s creatures and the Silver Mech. After absorbing several thousand monsters below Level 10, the light armor grew to the size of that sesame seed. As for the essential components within the corpses, they were given to Little Black’s group to consume.

Rumble~~~ Suddenly, the ground shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck. The formation halted slowly. Ahead, dust billowed up from the earth, and the concrete shattered as a monster covered in tentacles burst forth.

It resembled a giant cockroach but was covered entirely in scales, its eyes blood-red, and it sported a row of gear-shaped, razor-sharp teeth. “A Mandible Monster,” Ye Chen narrowed his eyes. This was a Level 200 behemoth, and judging by its appearance, this one had clearly devoured many dark creatures, making it far stronger than an ordinary Mandible Monster—likely reaching Level 300.

The Mandible Monster that erupted from the sewer system let out a piercing shriek. Its numerous tentacles whipped out like leather straps; two lashed downward while the others swept across the street, snatching up nearby automobiles and hurling them toward Ye Chen and his group. Ye Chen remained calm, making no move.

The Silver Mech beside him stepped forward, let out a low growl, gripped its massive metal saber in one hand, and extended a cannon barrel from its palm in the other. Light gathered, and a beam shot out, piercing one of the tentacles and striking the monster’s head precisely, causing a bloody explosion. The Mech moved in a flash, leaping forward, swinging its saber.

A silver flash later, and the two severed tentacles lay severed on the ground. Clang. The Silver Mech landed, roared again, and charged straight toward the Mandible Monster, splitting its head in two with a single vertical strike.

Screeech— The Mandible Monster emitted a sharp sound from its maw and collapsed dead. However, its severed tentacles writhed frantically on the ground, thrashing as if still alive, lashing out toward Ye Chen’s team. One tentacle descended from above, but just as it was about to strike Ye Chen, it was pulverized into dust by a laser beam.

Ye Chen moved, jumping down from the ground, and approached the severed tentacles. Even cut off, they convulsed and bounced on the pavement, containing a potent surge of the Breath of Life. Ye Chen raised his hand, channeling his energy, and siphoned the Breath of Life from the tentacle.

As the life essence rapidly drained, the tentacles ceased writhing and shriveled. After absorbing this portion, Ye Chen felt his internal strength increase substantially, nearly equivalent to consuming a Level 50 monster. He then opened the Refining Bracelet, bathing the withered tentacles in white light.

The special light substance within was extracted and integrated into Ye Chen’s body. The speck of light armor inside him, which had been sesame-sized, increased by another tenth. This Mandible Monster’s Breath of Life was immensely concentrated.

Ye Chen spent three minutes completely absorbing it, then extracting the special light substance within to refine the Armor of Divine Light. This caused the light armor to grow from the size of a sesame seed to that of a green bean, large enough to be summoned and manifested above the center of his brow. His internal strength also jumped from the early stage of the Third Tier to the peak of the late stage, just shy of the Fourth Tier.

“Master,” the Silver Mech suddenly walked over. “Energy is critically low, with only 0.5 remaining. Please recharge immediately.” Ye Chen started.

“Why did it deplete so fast?” The Silver Mech responded, “The Second Tier Combat State was activated moments ago, consuming 200 units of energy per second. This depleted the remaining 0.7 in the energy crystal down to the warning threshold, preventing further activation of the Second Tier Combat State.” Ye Chen was astonished. 200 units per second?

That consumption rate was terrifying. He couldn't help but ask, “How many tiers of combat states are there in total?” “There are three tiers in total,” the Silver Mech stated. “First Tier Combat State consumes 100 units per second, generating 10,000 combat power.

Second Tier consumes 200 units per second, generating 25,000 combat power. Third Tier consumes 500 units per second, generating 50,000 combat power.” Ye Chen froze for a moment, then offered a bitter smile. He hadn't realized this Mechanized Warrior was such a terrifying money sink.

If kept in the maximum combat state, it would burn through 10,000 units of energy in just 20 seconds. He possessed only 900,000 units total, meaning he could only sustain the Silver Mech’s highest combat state for about 30 minutes. “It seems I’ll have to worry about sourcing energy crystals in the future,” Ye Chen sighed internally.

With a thought, he opened the Rune Space and retrieved an energy crystal containing 300,000 units. He asked the Silver Mech, “You must also have a solar energy conversion device installed. How much energy can you absorb daily?” “100 units,” the Silver Mech replied truthfully.

Ye Chen sighed again. “Recharge first.” The Silver Mech nodded, extended several metallic straws from its chassis, affixed them to the energy crystal, and moments later, absorbed 100,000 units, topping up its internal energy storage crystal. Ye Chen reluctantly retrieved the energy crystal, realizing that once his strength increased further, he would need to raid some sources of energy crystals.

Otherwise, even if he manufactured such a Mech, he wouldn't be able to afford the fuel—it was far too costly.