Chapter 198: Chapter 198: Level 5 Fire Seed - Rivet Knight
Flickering flames landed on the Riveted Knight Armor. At the same time, the barrier of the entire Riveting Knight Sanctuary began to shrink.
Its original effects of resisting radiation and protecting the environment were also fading.
"I’ve already given you the Fire Seed. What’s your plan?" Second Elder Meinier asked nervously.
Qi Suian, however, replied with a nonchalant attitude, "No rush. What you gave me was just the Sanctuary’s Fire Seed. What I want is the true Fire Seed after it has fused with the Rivet Knight."
"You haven’t met my requirements yet. How can you ask for your reward?"
Second Elder Meinier desperately wanted to retort, but faced with Qi Suian’s superior strength, he could only swallow his anger and dared not show any dissatisfaction.
After the Sanctuary’s Fire Seed completely merged into the Riveted Knight Armor, the armor began to curl up and continuously morph.
At the same time, Qi Suian observed its activity level continuously drop while its inertness grew stronger, as if it were about to enter a state of suspended animation or feigned death.
It continued this until it was fully formed, transforming into a crystal encasing a small flame.
If one looked closely, a figure could be seen within the flame. It was clad in full armor, wielding a Knight’s Lance and riding a One-Horned Ferocious Horse, though the image was somewhat blurry.
When Qi Suian took it in his hand, a data panel unexpectedly appeared. It was clear the item had been recognized by the Doomsday Game.
[Level 5 Fire Seed - Rivet Knight]
[Quality: E~A]
[Trait 1: Land of Refuge]
[Trait 2: Symbiotic Armor]
The function names were simple and clear. As for the fluctuating quality, that was also quite normal.
In its Fire Seed state, it was naturally E-rank, but once it became a Sanctuary and a Fire Seed Armor, its quality would soar dramatically.
If this were a Level 1 Fire Seed, the quality would likely be a fixed A-rank, rather than fluctuating between E and A.
This meant that a Level 5 Fire Seed could, through some means, be upgraded to a Level 1 Fire Seed.
"Is... is there any problem with the Fire Seed?" Second Elder Meinier couldn’t help but ask after watching Qi Suian play with it for nearly a minute. "Now, can we..."
"Of course, we can." Before Meinier could finish, Qi Suian struck him down and immediately tossed his body into the Melting Furnace.
"The plan is for all of you to die and be reborn sooner. It’ll save you the suffering."
Qi Suian said coldly. The Tai Sui God immediately took action, and the slaughter, which had been paused for half the day, began once more.
This time, no one came out to stop it. Everything vanished without a trace.
Even all the buildings were razed to the ground under the attacks of the Floating Cannons.
After a dead silence fell, Qi Suian finally began to study the Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed.
He could clearly sense a strong feeling of rejection from within the Fire Seed, but he didn’t care.
’It would be a problem if it *didn’t* reject me,’ he thought. ’I’m well aware of my own identity.’
"The Grand Elder was quite an ambitious man, constantly researching the Riveted Knight Armor, hoping to eliminate the drawback of it consuming one’s lifespan."
"But the problem is, you were looking in the completely wrong direction."
Qi Suian commented inwardly. The Elder’s idea was a classic case of wanting to have his cake and eat it too.
The Riveted Knight Armor required lifespan to activate, maintain, and fight not because it was greedy, but because that was its normal energy expenditure.
The mutants and purebloods of the Wasteland World didn’t possess special energies like internal power or frost energy.
Therefore, to pay the energy cost, the best source was the user’s own life force.
As for drawing it from the Fire Seed’s barrier that formed the Sanctuary? Just maintaining it was already difficult enough; how could they possibly draw more from it?
Trying to do so would only cause problems for the Sanctuary.
Of course, it was also possible that Grand Elder Noelde had no idea why it consumed lifespan and simply considered it a side effect.
That would explain why he had such an idea.
’But then again, the development of this world is highly problematic.’
’It doesn’t seem like a normal development path. It’s more like they just stumbled upon some technology.’
’It’s not just a matter of having mismatched feet; it’s like they’re hopping on one leg.’
’Normally, the Fire Seeds would definitely have a corresponding energy system.’
’And then there are the terrifying weapons that plunged the entire world into an age of wasteland radiation in an instant.’
Qi Suian guessed that, before the world war, the various nations had likely found a small piece of alien technology or technology from an ancient super-civilization.
That would explain why it was so fragmented, missing pieces here and there.
Because it wasn’t their own, it had numerous flaws.
These flaws weren’t just present in the Fire Seeds they relied on for survival, but also in related technologies like genetic serums and Energy Weapon Technology.
At first glance, they seemed advanced and impressive, but fundamentally, they were all problematic.
But no matter how big the problems were, a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. They were still far stronger than the mutants.
In truth, it was possible they had developed the technology themselves, only for a schism to occur due to the radioactive apocalypse after the world war.
However, this possibility wasn’t very high. After all, the Sanctuaries had been preserved since before the wasteland.
Especially since the masters of the Sanctuaries were the victors of the past world war.
They had reaped the fruits of victory, which led to the dominant position of the Sanctuaries and the purebloods. Otherwise, they would most likely have become mutants.
[The answers you seek may lie within the twelve large Sanctuaries known as the Triumphant Edens.]
"That’s no simple matter. You should have heard the Second Elder of the Riveting Knight Sanctuary say that no one can find the Triumphant Edens."
"Even the purebloods from the former Level 1 Sanctuaries couldn’t find the entrance at the original location when they tried to return on a pilgrimage."
"My initial suspicion is that it might be some kind of special spatial technology. Otherwise, it’s inexplicable."
Qi Suian offered his opinion, his gaze fixed on the Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed. His research didn’t prevent him from communicating with the AI.
[Your line of thinking is not incorrect. Therefore, you should gather more knowledge to use as a key to enter the Triumphant Edens.]
In response to the AI’s words, Qi Suian just nodded, as his research had already yielded some results.
"Take this down. Level 5 Fire Seed, Rivet Knight."
"Suspected to be a sub-unit of a certain higher-tier Fire Seed. Although it possesses the potential for growth, it has some kind of growth restriction."
"If the restriction is not lifted by a higher-tier Fire Seed via its authority, it will remain a Level 5 Fire Seed for its entire existence, unable to grow effectively."
"And this is part of the secret of why Fire Seed Armors are tied to Fire Seed levels."
"I just don’t know if this higher-tier Fire Seed comes from the Level 4 Fire Seed it split off from, a directly-linked Level 1 Fire Seed, or, more simply, the source Fire Seed from an Eden."
"Therefore, all these Fire Seeds can only be used as experimental subjects, not as raw materials."
"Secondly..."
Qi Suian rattled off a long list of points, which the AI dutifully recorded, organizing and archiving the various data he provided.
After all this was done, five hours had passed. He finally took a short break, rubbing his temples.
"It’s a trap, but fortunately, not a big one. We can just go straight to the source," Qi Suian said.
[This is likely due to the quality restriction. If the Fire Seed evolves into an SSS-rank module, there is a significant chance it could break through the limitation.]
The AI offered a word of comfort.
"Of course, I know that. But this thing is alive. Although it has no self-awareness, its instinctive resistance and rejection are enough to prevent the Tai Sui God from turning it into a module."
"Rather than choosing a potentially problematic Fire Seed, it’s better to switch to a homemade one that I know inside and out. It’s a hassle either way," Qi Suian stated directly.
Qi Suian stroked the Fire Seed and asked, "Pull up the data on that special, fungus-like lifeform we encountered when we first arrived—the cyan crystalline entity."
Thinking about it now, that radioactive creature, which was like a living ore, might just be the raw material for making a Fire Seed.
Otherwise, such a coincidence would be impossible.
If he were to make it into a Fire Seed, it would be absolutely extraordinary.
He might not even need the whole thing, just a part of its body would suffice.
[Retrieving data...]
The previously collected data quickly appeared before Qi Suian’s eyes.
There wasn’t actually much data. After all, with radiation acting as environmental interference, they could only do their best.
In particular, the radiation intensity in the area where this living ore was located was so strong that even the Tai Sui God had to give it a wide berth.
Even now, with the strong radiation-resistant metal coating, it couldn’t stay for too long.
After all, it was only resistance, not immunity.
Immunity was not so easily achieved.
-----------------
"The Fire Seed of the Riveting Knight Sanctuary has been extinguished."
Grand Elder Seth of the Corpse Ghost General’s Sanctuary said softly. There were four other Elders here who ruled the Corpse Ghost General’s Sanctuary alongside him.
Their Corpse Ghost General’s Sanctuary was a Level 4 Sanctuary. The original Fire Seed for the Riveting Knight Sanctuary had been split off from theirs.
"What was the cause?" the Second Elder asked.
"I don’t know. But one thing is certain: the ones who did this can only be mutants. There’s a high probability it was those rebels who call themselves the Steel Brotherhood."
"Otherwise, how would those mutants dare to destroy a Sanctuary?" Grand Elder Seth stated his conclusion definitively.
’Fellow purebloods would only occupy it, not extinguish the Fire Seed.’
’Among the mutants, whether Scavengers or townspeople, they can only harbor anger towards purebloods but dare not speak out.’
’At most, they’d dare to make a move in the wasteland, but they would never dare to enter a Sanctuary.’
"But... the Steel Brotherhood isn’t active in this area at all, are they?"
"And with their strength, why would they choose a tiny Level 5 Sanctuary? Even a Level 3 Sanctuary couldn’t stop them," the Third Elder inquired.
"Perhaps it’s just a Chapter that came north to expand. You should all understand that these rebels are popping up everywhere."
"So, we need to arrange for someone to investigate the situation, just in case anything unexpected has happened."
"Once we find out the truth, we can make preparations in advance." Grand Elder Seth had the Skeleton General Armor as the source of his confidence, as well as sufficient methods and abilities. Although there were five Elders in the Sanctuary, it was effectively his one-man show.
Since he had spoken, the other four Elders naturally would not object.
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