Surprise

How was one supposed to describe this creation of Ji Jue's? Even with all of Ye Xian's years of experience and sharp eye, she found herself momentarily at a loss for words... If you said it was utterly worthless, the technique of directly shaping mercury through animus implantation was genuinely brilliant—simplifying complexity, maximizing cost-effectiveness to the extreme. All the spiritus Ji Jue needed to expend was merely for hardening certain sections and enhancing their resilience. Not to mention the overall boost from Fluid Alchemy; in ad-hoc applications divorced from workshop support, it truly was far more versatile than modern alchemy. So long as the essence was sufficiently elevated, Fluid Alchemy could compensate for the shortcomings of the physical medium to a certain degree. What was more, Ji Jue possessed something fundamentally unreasonable: Primacy of Mind. On the other hand, if you called it magnificent, its slapdash, crude exterior, completely makeshift spiritus power source, and countless designs that couldn't even dream of ergonomics made it utterly incomparable in output to military power armor. Defense relied entirely on bolted-on steel plates, fire control was just his two hands, and radar was just his own eyes... Wait. Ji Jue's abilities acted upon machinery, and then through his techniques, he extracted the animus. It was by no means water without a source or a tree without roots. In other words, he had actually built this contraption at home using everyday junk scavenged from the streets! A full-face motorcycle helmet, a welding mask, a decade-old model of a cargo-assist exoskeleton, external electric motors mounted at the joints to boost output, and steel plates welded directly onto the frame... No need to look any further—it was entirely trash. Yet the crux was that he had somehow cobbled this pile of trash together, wrung out every last drop of functionality, and turned it into something that could actually move and function. It was makeshift upon makeshift, jury-rigged beyond jury-rigged, until he had somehow jury-rigged the whole damn thing into existence. What kind of Heaven-chosen scrapper was this?! Had sorting through scrap in the storehouse every day finally driven him insane? For a moment, Ye Xian didn't know whether to sigh in pity or lament. Shame, however, she felt none of. Looking at the smug grin on this bastard's face, he had probably spent god-knew-how-long preparing for this very class. But what was the point? Fruitlessly eking out a sliver more defense and offensive power? Could a stitched-together monstrosity like this, which hadn't even undergone basic integration tuning, truly deliver on its paper specs? If you couldn't move your legs, it was nothing more than a walking coffin. What was his goal... In that instant, accompanied by a roar, the knockoff budget armor charged forward belching thick smoke, barreling like a meteor and churning up wind pressure as terrifying as a semi-truck. So what? Ye Xian calmly shifted into a stance, falling into a dilemma she hadn't faced in a long time: should she dismantle this thing with a single punch? Trip him? A throw? Or perhaps weld the seams shut, letting her clever student trap himself in his own cocoon? Yet at that very moment, she finally saw what was flailing toward her... —Four arms! Left, right, upper left, lower right... In a flash, folding joints unfolded from the shoulders and back. Then, arms as nimble as insect limbs lashed out, lacking even a shred of mechanical sluggishness or stiffness—their fluid dexterity surpassed flesh and bone! Ye Xian's eyes lit up. Not bad. Though it was only two additional limbs, for an operation-heavy matrix like Non-Offensive, it was a breakthrough-level leap. Moreover, with Deus Ex Machina, there was no need to worry about being unable to control them or dropping one ball to catch another. An instantaneous, exponential leap and surge! Too bad it was completely useless. The baseline order of magnitude was simply too low. Even after breaking through and growing, to Ye Xian, it was virtually equivalent to nothing. What was more— *Boom!* In the mere instant they crossed, mercury burst. The six-axis industrial mechanical arm on Ji Jue's shoulder—salvaged from who knew what derelict lathe—snapped clean in two and fell apart. Every elaborate maneuver vanished before it could unfold. Ji Jue stumbled, feeling a sharp pang in his flank. In the instant they passed each other, besides lifting her arm and driving her elbow to smash one mechanical arm to pieces, Ye Xian's other hand had formed a knife-hand, thrusting straight toward Ji Jue's waist. Cleanly tearing through the waist armor plating, it left an inescapable ache radiating through his flank and spine. Teetering on the brink of falling, amidst the chattering racket of the spiritus furnace spinning at full throttle, the mercury armor rippled with light. Mid-dash, he spun around, reinforced his leg armor, and delivered a sweeping kick. The motor assembly ruptured against the dampening impact, yet this kinetic force poured out unreservedly in the whirlwind rotation. Useless. Ye Xian moved like a phantom, taking an effortless step back to evade by a hair's breadth. Immediately after, Ji Jue's arm and the remaining mechanical arm on his back swept in. A grapple! He had some brains, but not many... —What good are extra hands?! Without the effects of Non-Offensive, they're nothing but showpieces! Good enough for bullying kids, but in a real fight, they're far from enough! *Bang!* Ji Jue's sweeping left hand jolted violently. He felt something stronger than steel seize him in a vice-like grip—it was Professor Ye's right hand. Then a searing pain tore across his back as Ye Xian's left hand, fingers aligned like a blade, sheared the mounted mechanical arm off at its base! Next, the heel of her palm struck down like a hammer, landing dead center on Ji Jue's right elbow joint, crushing his form with overwhelming force. Just as Ji Jue moved to counter, a sudden chill washed over his face. He realized Professor Ye's left palm was already aimed right at his visage. A straightforward thrust! Thunder detonated. *Block! Block! Block! Hold! Hold!* Instantly, Fluid Alchemy reinforced everything, pushing resilience, hardness, and elasticity to maximum! Fracturing noises rang out in rapid succession as vibrating mercury scattered like rain. The welding mask sporting a smirking checkmark shattered on impact. And just as Professor Ye's palm was about to drive into Ji Jue's chin, completely destroying his center of gravity and footing to bowl him over, Ji Jue's right hand managed to grab hold of it by the skin of his teeth! A sharp screech erupted. Like iron nails scraping across glass, screeching and echoing. Professor Ye let out a cold chuckle. The moment Ji Jue and she had each other's arms pinned, both instinctively unleashed the technique shared by their lineage—Dissociation Art! And both simultaneously struck empty air. On Ji Jue's arm, the mercury armor stood in the way, while Professor Ye's wrist remained shrouded in the repulsive force field of the Moxie matrix. Unfortunately, this contest of raw strength lasted only a fraction of a second. Before Ji Jue could even begin to fathom how to pierce the Moxie repulsion, the hardened mercury armor was torn apart by Professor Ye like dead wood before a storm. The spiritus circuits and Sovereign Virtue insignia crumbled entirely, unable to withstand her unraveling for even a single second. The armor detonated. The shockwave of spiritus drove straight in, poised to flood Ji Jue's body and shatter any remaining shred of resistance. Yet at that exact instant, Ji Jue finally exhaled in relief. Ye Xian's expression changed abruptly. Without warning, she tilted her head. A faint wisp of pale hair at her temple drifted upward, fluttering without any wind. Meanwhile, amid a deafening roar, Ji Jue went flying backward! No holding back, no hesitation—a merciless, ruthless strike. First disrupting the matrix with Dissociation Art to instantly sever the link between blessing and soul, then thrusting her hands forward along the centerline, strengthened by material property enhancement, and clenching into fists. With just a slight shudder of her shoulders, an unimaginable, terrifying force erupted within inches of space. Driven outward! First flying backward, then tumbling, and finally skidding, when he finally came to a halt, a half-suffocated Ji Jue lay sprawled on his stomach at the edge of the arena. He had almost hit the wall. He completely couldn't get up. Every inch of his body throbbed with pain; his lungs could barely expand and contract. Even so, on his flushed and rapidly paling face, a grin surfaced unbidden. So utterly smug. Coughing and sputtering, he asked, "Teacher, does this count... as a surprise?" In the brief silence, Professor Ye stood where she was, holding her original stance. After a long moment, she finally let out a long breath. It sounded almost wistful. To actually be startled by a student during class? If she hadn't reacted in time and forcefully shifted her open palm into a fist at the final fraction of a second, she would have habitually initiated raw-material processing... "It counts. Why wouldn't it?" She turned back and replied solemnly, "There could be no better surprise." Her gaze dropped to Ji Jue's hands. And beneath his right hand, within the shadow cast by those five fingers, something seemed to stir faintly. Then it rose, passing straight through his flesh and bone, upward. Translucent fingers opened and closed with complete fluidity. It was a hand... —A third hand! From the very beginning, the Fluid Alchemy transformations, the armor, the four arms—all of it had been a smokescreen, props and traps designed to draw her attention. His multifaceted attacks and intricate maneuvers were only meant to convince her that he had nothing else up his sleeve. The moment she pressed the attack to subdue Ji Jue once and for all, this spiritus hand—kept hidden and restrained until that very second—finally lunged forward in an ambush... Slashing toward her face! Regrettably, it was still a step behind. Or rather, from the start he had never expected this literal hand of his to secure victory; at best, it was a desperate counterattack to go down swinging. What a pity that he was still held back by their master-disciple relationship and hadn't dared to use an even stealthier or more vicious angle of ambush. Otherwise... she could have found an even better excuse right now to give him two more punches to teach him a lesson. Assuming he survived, that was. "Well done." Professor Ye reached down and pulled him up from the floor. From beneath the workshop flooring, a wheelchair smoothly rose to catch and support him. "Learned that in the Chrono Ruin?" "Yeah." Ji Jue nodded. "When the Soul-Calling Bell formed the Sage's remnant phantom, I suddenly had an epiphany. I just followed suit and copied it, but I never expected it would actually work. You could call it a further application of Non-Offensive." A further application? Far more than that! Behind her back, Professor Ye's right hand clenched slightly, while her left rested on Ji Jue's shoulder to inspect him intently. Naturally, she saw two distinctly different blessings. Growing ever more solid, the blessing of Masterwork Nature now bore a shifting gleam of spiritus light, as if coated in a magnificent crystalline transformation. Meanwhile, Primacy of Mind appeared shrouded in spiritus fire, its manifestation growing increasingly distinct and complex. In just a few short days, he had undergone a complete qualitative leap! In the Chrono Ruin, he had performed all manner of operations on patients and afflicted souls, reshaped and created ghost fetuses, provided anchors for the Sage's remnant phantom, and finally used the Mercy bone blade to accomplish the separation of soul and flesh in patients suffering from the Disease of Immortality. Through wholehearted practice and drills that left zero room for retreat, Masterwork Nature had broken through its previous bottleneck to achieve specialized mastery over spiritus manipulation. Meanwhile, Primacy of Mind's assistance and enhancement of spiritus and willpower had ascended another tier under the feedback and blessings of Ascension. So much so that he could achieve such an incredible result. A spiritus hand that perfectly accommodated and bore the Non-Offensive matrix and all the power of his blessings! The source of inspiration and reference was unquestionably the spiritus-manifested Sage's remnant phantom, modeled after Quicksilver's form of ten thousand wings, ten thousand eyes, and ten thousand hands. Regrettably, the Sage's Invisible Hand that grasped and governed the workings of all creation could only be reproduced in Ji Jue's hands, despite exhausting his full abilities, as a tangible hand rooted in spiritus. Unlike before, when this power could only manifest as auxiliary support during furnace transmutation, the mere existence of this tangible hand was now enough to boost the full power of Non-Offensive by a third, if not more! Not to mention the vast array of tactical options it added in combat... Granted, compared to the original's unfathomable, Crafted by Nature power, it was a drastic downgrade—a difference like heaven and earth, hardly fit to be mentioned in the same breath. But that depended on whose standard you were comparing it to, and at what rank! What kind of technique that could normally only be comprehended and mastered step by step at the Regeneration rank could be maxed out right in the damn Calling stage?! What happened to all the prerequisite skills in between? Were they just skipped entirely?! Whenever Ji Jue reached that rank, turning the tangible into the intangible would be second nature. More than half of Non-Offensive's true mastery would already belong to him. The remaining half could only fret in vain. Not that fretting would do any good—it would just have to wait until he had the time and mood to make up for missed lessons, or put it off for another day if he wasn't feeling it! "Quicksilver truly loves you," Ye Xian said, shaking her head with an emotional sigh. "Uh..." Ji Jue hesitated, subconsciously glancing around. After making sure the workshop was completely sealed off with no prying eyes or ears, he still habitually lowered his voice: "To be honest, when I summoned the Sage's remnant phantom, it didn't feel that difficult. What's more... Quicksilver's phantom seemed to have a mind of its own." Ye Xian stopped in her tracks and glanced back at him. Far from sharing his shock, she merely asked: "Why wouldn't it?"