Chapter 216: The Rewards After the First Attempt

“Ah…” Feeling the surging fire elements rushing toward him and his internal fighting spirit awakening, Rod couldn’t help but let out another long cry. He could clearly sense his fighting spirit rapidly condensing, and he also felt that his fighting spirit armor was continuously forming. Thinking that his true form of fighting spirit was about to be fully formed, Rod’s heart was filled with anticipation and excitement! With another cry, the elements around him surged even more wildly, while his internal fighting spirit spilled out like floodwaters from the Yellow River, without any waste.

“It’s almost done! I can’t give up—success is just around the corner!” He kept reminding himself, encouraging himself, as he felt his fighting spirit growing stronger and stronger. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

At this moment, Rod was entirely enveloped in layers of yellow and red light, making him appear blurred and almost unrecognizable. Around him, a small tornado seemed to have formed, with leaves flying and dust swirling in the air. A small whirlwind centered around him rapidly developed, ravaging the ground and surrounding trees.

The light grew brighter, and the red and yellow layers began to overlap and merge together, like two streams of water quickly mixing under Rod’s control. Gradually, the red color faded, replaced by deep yellow!

At this point, Rod dared not be the slightest bit careless. The mental strain caused beads of sweat to appear on his forehead and flow down his cheeks. Clearly, forming his true form in such a formal and serious manner for the first time placed considerable pressure on his mental strength. At such a critical moment, none of his three mental forces could fail—Rod knew that if even one failed, the formation of his true form would end in failure.

“Stop!” Feeling that his control over his fighting spirit and elements had reached saturation and realizing his mental strength was exhausted, Rod knew it was time to stop. With a loud shout, he halted the output of his internal fighting spirit and the absorption of external elements!

“Huff… huff…” Breathing heavily, Rod immediately felt relieved once he stopped releasing his fighting spirit and absorbing elements. It was as if he had shed a tremendous burden, feeling utterly light.

Feeling his body wrapped in something, he knew he had succeeded. His lips curled upward as he eagerly opened his eyes. What he saw left him stunned—his entire body, except for his mouth, nostrils, and eyes, was covered in a thick layer of golden substance, like a set of metal armor! It was so solid and firm, showing no signs of being formed from combat energy.

Upon closer inspection, it resembled the armor he had imagined—a standard warrior’s suit made up of interlocked metal plates with sharp corners, all of uniform size and shape, mostly hexagonal. The edges of these protruding corners emitted a faint, sharp glow.

Looking at his shoulders, there was a white tiger on the left and a roaring dragon head on the right. On either side of his arms were blades formed from combat energy. Even more terrifying was the back of his hands—his palms were enclosed in a glove-like layer of combat energy, with a small, aggressive dagger embedded behind each finger. These daggers were tiny, about the size of his fingers, yet highly effective weapons that allowed him to fight as effectively as if armed, even without any weapons.

On his chest was a plate resembling a breastplate for protection, and his waist was specially protected by a golden belt wrapped around the armor, providing double protection. On both sides of his legs, just like his arms, there were blades on either side!

Seeing all this, Rod smiled in satisfaction—a thrilled smile. This was the armor he had envisioned, focusing not only on defense but also on offensive power, turning every part of his body into a sharp weapon. Especially his hands and feet, the most agile and useful parts, were equipped with blades, functioning like weapons. In this way, even if he fought bare-handed against those armed with weapons, Rod was confident he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. As he became more skilled in controlling this true-body armor, he believed its lethality and defense capabilities could continue to improve significantly, eventually even matching those of divine weapons.

After examining his entire body, Rod touched his head. As he had guessed, the visor and face mask were also designed by him—firmly attached. Above the armor, a small dragon coiled down along the back of his head, looking truly majestic.

“It worked! It really worked, hahaha…” Watching all this, Rod couldn’t help but laugh out loud. But before his laughter faded, what happened next made him feel like crying without tears. The moment he relaxed and laughed, the combat energy and elements that had formed an armor-like true form around him instantly spread wildly in all directions before disappearing without a trace. It was easy to come but even easier to go—vanishing in an instant. Seeing this, Rod sighed inwardly, realizing he still couldn’t control it well; his mental energy couldn’t remain stable, otherwise he wouldn’t have suffered such consequences from a moment of distraction! “Damn it!” He cursed silently. Trying again was clearly impossible. The first attempt had consumed a great deal of combat energy and mental energy due to his inexperience. Now, with insufficient combat energy and nearly exhausted mental energy, he couldn’t attempt it again and could only wait to recover before continuing. Rod also realized that this time it took him nearly three minutes to form his true form. Such a long time—during a battle, things would likely be over by then. After all, those top martial artists could accomplish all this in just three to five seconds. Only after experiencing it firsthand did Rod understand the sheer difficulty and challenge involved. What he had thought was simple before actually trying turned out to be extremely hard. “Hey, it seems there’s still a long way to go!” Sitting there, Rod murmured with disappointment. “Enough, don’t act like you’ve achieved something great just because you did. Be satisfied with this accomplishment for now. Do you think forming a combat energy armor is that easy? How many people can’t use it in battle even in their entire lives? How many only succeed after reaching the imperial or even sacred rank? How many succeed at the level of golden warrior? How many can use their combat energy armor to defend and attack during battles at the imperial rank? Be satisfied. Take your time. Since you succeeded once, it will be easier next time. Once you master the method, all that’s left is to get familiar with it. At the same time, you need to keep improving yourself. I believe you’ll reach the level you want soon!” Sensing Rod’s disappointment, Xuanyuan couldn’t help but roll his eyes and say gloomily.

This guy is really despicable. If others see his achievement, it’ll surely make countless people green with envy. Those who can truly manifest their true form at the level of a Golden Warrior are extremely rare—how many tens of thousands of Golden Warriors are there across the continent? How many can actually achieve this? Rod is one of them! Moreover, there’s another crucial point Xuanyuan didn’t mention: Rod’s martial aura armor, in terms of comprehensiveness and level, far surpasses those of others, which is why it consumes so much martial aura and mental energy and takes so much time to cultivate.

His truly formed martial aura armor has almost reached an 80-point level, which is considered excellent, not to mention its various functions! Even when compared to those at the Imperial level, it would definitely be no less impressive. All these are key aspects that Rod hasn’t noticed.

“Well, it has to be done slowly—there’s no other way! But time…” With a sigh, Xuanyuan’s words made sense, but Rod knew he didn’t have much time left. He couldn’t afford to move slowly; he had to soar higher and move faster than others if he wanted to survive.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the time—it was already 10 p.m., and dawn was approaching. In his current state, he definitely couldn’t continue moving forward; he needed to recover as soon as possible to be ready for any potential dangers.

The process of forming his true martial aura form also revealed many of Rod’s shortcomings. First was his mental strength, which he always thought was strong, but which turned out to be utterly insignificant at critical moments. He knew he needed to improve it quickly. Additionally, his control over martial aura still needed to be strengthened.

Sitting cross-legged, he slowly absorbed external elements, hoping to restore his strength as soon as possible—only then could he proceed with what lay ahead. None of these things could be rushed.

Perhaps because the elements from before hadn’t yet dispersed, Rod’s cultivation speed this time was exceptionally fast. It didn’t take long for him to restore his martial aura to its full capacity!

Just as Rod was about to stop, his dantian pulsed, and a powerful suction force emerged. That icy aura appeared once again, drifting around and continuously absorbing his martial aura! Soon, he felt his martial aura being rapidly devoured wherever it passed. This time, it didn’t stay confined to his dantian. After circulating around it, it eagerly moved through his entire meridian system, focusing on the scattered martial aura contained within them.

Facing this scene, Rod gritted his teeth in frustration but had no choice but to accept it. At the same time, he harbored different expectations. Last time, that energy absorbed his combat energy and elevated it to a higher level. What about this time? With a glimmer of hope, he secretly looked forward to it.