Give and Take

Within the myriad refracted scenes, Ji Jue watched figures rotate and shift one after another. At last, the transitions came to an abrupt halt. Through the mirror-like illusory glow, what appeared before Ji Jue was another sullen face. Disheveled hair, scruffy stubble, and eyes completely bloodshot. His complexion was pallid, as if he hadn't seen sunlight in an eternity. The moment he realized his opponent was so young, he could barely hide his disdain. But immediately afterward, when Ji Jue's name surfaced on the projection, his expression froze on his face. At the same time, Ji Jue also saw his name. White Sail Workshop—[Helmut Neumann], Ranked Ninth, 272 Points. After his initial bewilderment, an uncontrollable ecstatic thrill unexpectedly surged out of Helmut's shock. He stared hard at him in disbelief. Regrettably, there was only enough time for a fleeting glance; in less than a second, the phantom vanished without a trace. "Ji Jue—" Helmut could barely contain his excitement. If he could take down the top rank in one fell swoop, the points gained would definitely be enough for him to leap straight into the top three! Examining his conscience, ever since stepping onto the Path of Embers, he had never considered himself inferior to anyone. Even his crushing defeat at the hands of that stone-like monster from the Clock Tower was merely due to his own carelessness. His reason for so eagerly signing up for this exam was precisely to prove that he was by no means inferior to that guy. If he could beat Ji Jue, wouldn't that indirectly prove that he was worthy of ranking above Andrei?! That said, his vigilance only intensified. He resolved to go all out without the slightest slack! Then, accompanied by the chiming of another bell, he saw it. Outside his own workshop, amidst the violent black rain, a mirrored phantom gradually strode forth. The bizarre armored giant was crimson from head to toe, as if bathed in blazing flames. Its steel beast visage lifted, crimson pupils already locked onto his existence. Murderous intent flared ferociously. Meanwhile, right outside Ji Jue's workshop, Helmut's figure also appeared in his observation. Only, unlike the earlier shock and hostility, that face had now settled into a calm like stagnant water, completely unshaken, with a wisp of flowing light and drifting electricity circling his body—evasive and eerie. With merely a glance at his surroundings, his gaze settled onto Ji Jue inside the workshop. Immediately after, an ornately decorated mirror materialized out of thin air in his hand, spinning silently and refracting crystalline, illusory lights. *Boom!* A deafening roar erupted from the distance. The turrets in the forest, originally meant only to drive away aberrations, swiveled around, locked on, and fired instantly. Bullets pierced the torrential rain, shrieking as they flew. His background might be unclear, but a preliminary test would gauge his depths. Then, Ji Jue froze. After the gunfire, Helmut's head exploded on the spot. Crimson blood sprayed everywhere. In the black rain, the headless corpse toppled backward toward the sky. Dead? He had thought they would clash for three hundred rounds in a dead heat before he took him down with a finishing blow, but all it took was a single shot, like a casual greeting, and he was headshotted immediately? "What the hell?" Amid the gentle breeze in the workshop, Ji Jue straightened up and stared wide-eyed at the mercury screen before him. But immediately after, his hairs stood on end. The sealing standards of the core Crucible operating chamber were the strictest possible, completely free of dust and static electricity, totally isolated from the outside. Where the hell would a breeze come from?! In that instant, his collar suddenly rolled open, extended, and hardened, draping over him like a massive shield. Beside him, the silent armor abruptly activated, hurtling violently toward the source of the wind. *Bang!* In empty space, some eerie contour seemed to flash by, viscous liquid dripping onto the floor and leaving splotches of inky stains. Like living things, the inky stains squirmed and coalesced. Then, accompanied by a dull sloshing sound like spreading mud, the black ink expanded, and strange tentacles resembling octopus limbs reached out from within, blotting out the sky as they surged forward! Such an enormous, bizarre monstrosity had appeared in the very core of Ji Jue's workshop without any warning! Yet now, without Ji Jue even needing to react, countless streams of mercury shot out from all directions like a deluge, crisscrossing and binding it like ropes. Immediately afterward, the ropes transformed; innumerable blades thrust through, piercing from outside in and inside out! A foul stench spread; a rain of blood sprayed. Mutilated limbs crashed down and piled up in heaps like small mounds. Yet Ji Jue's expression remained detached and unperturbed. The interior of the workshop was within his sensory range, and the countless pools of mercury were extensions of his limbs. From the instant of piercing and tearing just now, he could clearly feel that there was no dissipating spiritus, nor any blood or soul. At best, it was merely an illusion! A fake! Yet an illusion could actually erode reality right now... A blessing of the Mirror branch? Ji Jue's thoughts raced. With a wave of his hand, a storm of countless mercury blades whipped up, tearing the raging phantom apart again and again. But amidst the repeatedly shattering phantoms, a black dot materialized out of nothingness. The black dot expanded, magnified, and broadened rapidly, turning into a familiar black robe—and the unfurling black robe actually transformed into a spatial fissure! From behind the overly narrow fissure, Helmut's body disregarded the crushing squeeze and contraction, forcing its way out. He crashed onto the floor, covered in mangled flesh and blood! Letting countless mercury blades slash and cleave into him, he abruptly raised his hand and pointed straight at Ji Jue. In an instant, his body was impaled by stream after stream of mercury. But in his other hand, that bizarre mirror shook violently, and within the pitch-black mirror surface, Ji Jue's face was finally reflected! At that split second, dead silence fell. The entire workshop's operations seemed to grind to a halt. Amidst heaviness and dizziness, Ji Jue felt a wave of suffocation and an itching numbness on his face. When he raised his hand to touch it, what met his palm was completely flat—his face was gone without a trace! Meanwhile, Helmut's face began to take on Ji Jue's features. Utterly bizarre. Not only that, but along with the transfer of his face, he seemed to have lost all perception of the entire workshop. Control of the workshop was gradually slipping into the other man's hands along with the stolen face! In the dead silence, he almost gasped in shock. To think such a bizarre method of intrusion actually existed... Unfortunately, he didn't even have a mouth anymore. If he didn't react soon, the entire workshop would be taken away! Yet during these brief and crucial three seconds, Ji Jue did nothing at all. Instead, he took two steps forward, raising his head to try and let the mirror reflect him even more clearly, passively allowing the other party to steal his identity and face. Until, amidst the blockade and piercing of mercury, Helmut slowly raised his head, displaying his brand-new face. In an instant, the workshop roared. Everything had fallen under the opponent's control! If what was here had not been an artisan's mirror image, but Helmut himself, Ji Jue surely would have seen a mocking, ferocious grin, wouldn't he? And likewise, he wouldn't have missed the horror and despair that should have welled up from the depths of his soul! In all honesty, Ji Jue felt deeply sympathetic toward what was happening to the man—and at the same time, even more curious. How could anyone else in this world besides himself be so... —suicidally reckless? *Chhh!* At that moment, from within that suddenly rigid body, a muffled sound abruptly went off! Like a bomb willingly swallowed into one's belly burning down to the end of its fuse, and then... Detonating with a roar! "I won!!!" In another separate simulation, within a heavily fortified workshop, after calculating the time over and over, Helmut could no longer hold back his ecstasy and threw his head back in laughter. Estimating the progress of his mirror duplicate right now, he couldn't suppress the upward curl of his lips. Victory in this round was thoroughly grasped in his hands! There was no other possibility. Perhaps in another setting or against another opponent, he might have had lingering worries. But in this exam, not a single participant—not even that stone monster from the Clock Tower—could ever beat him! No, it should be said that the moment he realized the intrinsic mechanics of this simulated siege, victory was already within easy reach! After repeated probing during the previous assault and defense phase, he had confirmed it: in the mirror simulation's attacks, an intruder could bypass any camouflage or concealment to instantly lock onto the opponent's position! No matter how thick the defenses or how fast one ran, it was useless. As long as the master of the workshop still drew breath, even if they fled to the ends of the earth, this sensory lock would never be lost! Precisely because of this, he had poured all his points and painstaking effort into crafting this set of works aimed at the mechanics—one that could decide victory or defeat in a single face-to-face encounter, no matter who the foe! His masterwork—the Void Shadow crafted from the blessing of the Mirror branch—could evolve targeted illusions based on the observer's consciousness and perception. The moment it was perceived, it bypassed distance to act directly upon the opponent's mind, thereby interfering with reality and weaving an indissoluble nightmare. While the Void Shadow bought time and drew attention, the Shadow Shift Robe, incorporating the blessing of the Eternal Gate, converted his mirror image into a shadow state, slipping through narrow spatial rifts to arrive directly in front of the target. Ultimately, the moment the opponent's face was reflected in the Mirror of Usurpation, the battle was already over! When that happened, the artisan hiding inside the workshop would instantly lose their unique spiritus verification and various traits, unable to summon any support from their workshop. Pinned down and harassed by the Void Shadow, they wouldn't even have time to fight back. No matter how they struggled, everything would fall into his hands. By now, the struggle on the other side had likely settled, right? All he had to do was defend with everything he had, safeguarding the fruits of victory to avoid a grim mutual destruction. To that end, he had long maxed out his workshop's defenses, laying countless traps and barriers around it. Even against the most formidable opponent, it was enough to drag things out until dawn. And once the intruder was left disoriented and exhausted by the myriad illusions and counterattacks, he would be able to sortie at leisure and obliterate the foe. By then, the other guy probably wouldn't have even touched the workshop doors, would he? Defeat the opponent, win! Seize the workshop, win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Win! Helmut fought back the urge to burst into wild laughter, striving to maintain his calm and forcing down the upturned curve of his mouth. *No, calm down, Helmut! Calm down! It's not over yet! At the very least, keep your guard up.* At that very moment, right in front of the workshop perched atop the mountain peak, just outside the shroud of countless traps and illusory mist, that invading suit of power armor stood frozen, seemingly in a daze. Completely motionless. It merely rubbed its chin, looking at the scene before it. Pondering carefully, analyzing diligently. Raising a hand, it roughly estimated the distance between itself and the workshop. Finally, reaching into the metal backpack on its back—which was several times larger than the suit itself—it rummaged around and pulled out a large pile of components. Mercury surged and shifted, hardening and reshaping. Just like that, under Helmut's bewildered gaze, it was assembled into... a White Tiger 12-Tube Rocket Launcher! "?!" Helmut stared blankly. For a moment, his brain failed to process what he was seeing. Right there, right in front of Helmut in the projection, Assault Niuma hoisted the colossal, heavy launcher onto its shoulder, settling into an aiming stance. Although it didn't quite understand what the situation was... In any case, let's open with two volleys of aberrant phlogiston rockets as a greeting!