Chapter 289: Invincible Opponent
The young man's eyes were long and narrow. He was wearing a sunny smile all the time. His two dimples made him look more approachable. However, when he was not smiling, there was an air of relentlessness about him, and his thin eyes seemed to turn into two lancets.
Li Yao sat up straight the moment he saw him.
Although they were thousands of kilometers away from each other, Li Yao felt a strong sense of danger.
It was like a tiger met another tiger in a forest, or a serpent met another serpent in a crevice.
The man was intimidating!
"Professor, who is he?" Li Yao asked Yuan Manqiu in a low voice.
"He is Zuo Feijing, true disciple of Supernova Jiang Sheng, ranking second in the Novem Stellae."
Yuan Manqiu said solemnly, "He has another identity. He is the son of Zuo Hongyi, who is the Chief Armadominus of the Gold Armor Clan. Growing up in the Crystal Suit Refining Center of the Gold Armor Clan and studying in Deep Sea University, he has grasped the essence of the sect refining techniques and academic refining techniques. He is adept at researching and refining crystal suits. It is believed that he will become one of the youngest Armadominus of the federation.
"Zuo Feijing made a great contribution to the collaboration of Deep Sea University and the Gold Armor Clan."
Li Yao took a deep breath.
The Gold Armor Clan was a real cartel in magical equipment refining whose comprehensive capability was much higher than that of the Zephyr Guild. It was most famous for its battle armors. Over the past decades, it had also invented several classic crystal suit models best known for their sturdiness.
Although the Gold Armor Clan was somewhat in trouble under the pressure of the more advanced flying swords refined by the sword-training sects, hundreds of years of accumulated experience still made it a giant of the trade.
Born in the Gold Armor Clan and taught by Supernova Jiang Sheng in person, Zuo Feijing must be a top expert.
No wonder Li Yao felt that he was getting goosebumps all over his body.
Yuan Manqiu glanced at him and hesitatingly continued, "Not just that. Same as you, Zuo Feijing is a hybrid-type Cultivator who is talented both in combat and in creation.
"He has been passionate about crystal suits since he was a little kid. Not only does he love refining them, he also enjoys wearing them. He is the most excellent graduate of the Ember Training Camp, one of the four training personal training camps of the federation, which makes him a distinguished Exo.
"You should know that there is a Battlesuit Department in Deep Sea University which is meant to bring up future Exos.
"However, Zuo Feijing has defeated contenders of the Battlesuit Department in the School Exo Championship of Deep Sea University for three years in a row, shaming the entire Battlesuit Department.
"Zuo Feijing must be the test pilot of the new crystal suit model co-developed by Deep Sea University and the Gold Armor Clan. That's why he is doing the introduction today.
"That is to say, if our crystal suit and theirs are going to fight for the fat order of the military, Zuo Feijing will be your toughest opponent!"
Li Yao's heart was beating fast. He couldn't calm himself down.
He had come across Yuan Yeshi, a student of the Battlesuit Department of Deep Sea University, in the Thunder Training Camp, who had caused major trouble for him.
But apparently, Yuan Yeshi was not the best student where he came from.
As a student of the Refining Department, Zuo Feijing could suppress the Battlesuit Department for three years?
While he was pondering, the press conference had begun.
The giant light beam behind the platform started blinking. Basking in dark gold lights, an intimidating crystal suit that looked like a grey rock revealed itself.
"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present you with the next-generation crystal suit and, possibly, the future standard crystal suit for the federal army, which has been co-developed by Deep Sea University and the Gold Armor Clan, the Tiger King Battlesuit!"
Zuo Feijing rose up.
He was very tall. When he stood up, he was like a tiger ready to lunge at his prey.
In the light beam, the virtual Tiger King Battlesuit started spinning, while the specifications were displayed beside. The startling data raised a round of exclamation.
The Tiger King Battlesuit was an all-weather, all-territory, medium crystal suit that could withstand the scourge of intense demonic energy.
The crystal cannons on the chest was in the shape of the head of a roaring tiger, radiating a strong scent of killing.
With the Gold Armor Clan's participation, the framework of the Tiger King Battlesuit had been thoroughly tempered. As a medium crystal suit, its defensive ability had surpassed that of many heavy crystal suits. It could resist short-distance strikes of a demon general for multiple times even without the spiritual shield.
Also, thanks to the state-of-the-art crystal processors provided by Deep Sea University, the computational ability of the Tiger King Battlesuit was amazing, too. It could automatically launch counterattacks before the wearer was able to react.
"Tiger King is invincible among crystal suits of the same level," Zuo Feijing declared confidently.
Yet Li Yao felt that there was something wrong about it.
He thought hard for a moment. Then he finally remembered.
"Professor, the overall outlook of the Tiger King Battlesuit is very similar to the 'Tiger Assassin Battlesuit' refined by Deep Sea University several years ago.
"The plate armor and the style of the bottom half of the body leave me the same impression as did the 'Mystic Turtle Battlesuit', a classic crystal suit of the Gold Armor Clan.
"This new model is like a combination of the two prior models. No wonder they could produce a prototype within several months.
"But, here's the question.
"As I recall, both the Tiger Assassin Battlesuit and the Mystic Turtle Battlesuit require a lot of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, so, both of them are very expensive, aren't they?
"The vertebral column of the Tiger Assassin Battlesuit is made of the spine of a liger-type demon beast, which must be intact without a single crack.
"Such a spine is not readily available.
"The Mystic Turtle Battlesuit is the same. A single Mystic Turtle Battlesuit uses more than 50 shells of turtle-type demon beasts.
"Now that the two models have been merged together, there's no doubt that the combat ability will be extraordinary. But the cost will be enormous, too. Besides, where can they find so many spines of the liger-type demon beasts and shells of the turtle-type demon beasts?
"How will they mass-produce such a crystal suit?"
Yuan Manqiu was confused, too. She shook her head and said, "It is indeed a crucial question. Let's see what Zuo Feijing has to say. Somebody is definitely going to ask."
As it turned out, an impatient journalist raised the question the moment Zuo Feijing finished the introduction of specifications.
Most of the journalists taking part in the press conference had been focusing on crystal suit news. Some of them were crystal suit specialists themselves. It was not hard for them to find out that the Tiger King Battlesuit was a renovation of old models which would cost too many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to meet the military's requirement.
Faced with the sharp question, Zuo Feijing was not the least panicked. He smiled and said, "It is true that the Tiger King Battlesuit has been developed from the Tiger Assassin Battlesuit and the Mystic Turtle Battlesuit, and that a lot of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures are mandatory in the manufacturing process. However, of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that the Tiger King Battlesuit needs, 90% can be synthesized!"
"What?!"
Every one of the Project Mystic Skeleton team, including Li Yao, stood up.
The press conference was overwhelmed by whispers, too.
As the Cultivation civilization progressed, more and more Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures could be synthesized.
The Building Foundation Pill that all the Cultivators had scrambled for 40,000 years ago could be synthesized into the form of strengthening drug nowadays. One could have as many as one wanted.
However, the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for the refinement of crystal suit were mostly demon cores and demon bones. Their hardness, tenacity and attributes were highly restricted. The development of synthesized materials in this regard had been poor.
Therefore, everybody was shocked that the Refining Department of Deep Sea University could be so strong as to refine a crystal suit with 90% synthesized materials.
"Since the military's announcement of outsourcing the standard crystal suit, many sects have initiated MP crystal suit research projects.
"But most of them had the same misconception. To lower the lost for mass-production, they've been cutting out redundant Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures which are supposed to be indispensable. Therefore, the sturdiness, strength, attack ability, defense ability, cruising ability... have all been significantly undermined!"
Zuo Feijing announced proudly, "That is not the path Deep Sea University is going to take.
"In our opinion, a MP crystal suit, however cheap it may be, should still maintain strong attack ability and defense ability to be the absolute star of the battlefield stressing the demon beasts out the moment they see one.
"Therefore, instead of reducing the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, we've been dedicated to speeding up the research of synthesized substitutes for the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
"In fact, Deep Sea University has been working on the subject for over a hundred years. Infinite resources, sweat and blood have been poured into the garden, so that we can see the blossom of flowers today!
"Take the vertebral column of the Tiger Assassin Battlesuit for example. In the traditional refining procedure, the natural spine of liger-type demon beasts is compulsory. There can't be even a single crack.
"But right now, based on bismuth tungsten alloy and certain special materials, as well as several secret techniques, we've refined an alloy spine whose hardness and tenacity were above 85% of those of the natural ones. It has met the requirements of the MP crystal suit!
"The same goes for the plate armor. The shells of the turtle-type demon beasts have been replaced by alloy materials made possible by our secret techniques.
"In the Tiger King Battlesuit, we've utilized 42 kinds of synthesized materials as replacement of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. If the production volume is 3,000 or more, the average cost will be 390 million.
"It is true that our cost will probably be the highest of all MP crystal suit models. Its price might be twice of that of our competitor's model.
"However, we have every faith in the Tiger King Battlesuit. Three crystal suits of the same level teamed together will still be no match for the Tiger King!"
Hearing this part, Li Yao was finally relieved and wipe the sweat on his forehead.
Deep Sea University was full of believers of elite refining ideology after all. Although it was a MP crystal suit, the total cost was close to 400 million.
In comparison, according to estimation, the cost of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit would be around 100 million, and absolutely no more than 150 million, when the production volume was more than 1,000 pieces.
The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had a lot of advantages in regard to cost.
But the actual combat ability of the Tiger King Battlesuit was unknown yet.
While he was pondering, the press conference was in a mess again.
Four giant light beams flowed down on the four directions of the spot, which were playing the shocking scenes of the Tiger King Battlesuit in real battles piloted by Zuo Feijing.