Chapter 5: Royal Armed Forces (Part 1)

In an instant, the moon blades rotating slowly around Guo Shier’s body emitted an extremely blinding light. Cereslin stepped back a distance, nearly touching the wall, and raised her hand to shield her eyes. The long sword in her hand created a barrier of light, while a short blade spun rapidly at her feet as she focused on defense. Suddenly, there was a clattering noise, followed by a loud crash, along with Guo Shier’s furious shout.
“Damn it!”
With a roar, Guo Shier’s entire body burst with dazzling light, and the moon blades instantly transformed into countless swords. He clearly felt numerous attacks coming from all directions.
Almost at the same time, the old man activated the altar’s protection, unleashing the Umbrella Tower Sacred Treasure to firmly shield Guo Shier’s physical form. Their souls were in perfect sync, so as soon as Guo Shier was attacked, the old man also sensed it and quickly activated the sacred treasure.
The attacks from the moon blades spread out instantly. Fortunately, Guo Shier still had some sense and prevented the attack range from covering the entire room; otherwise, Cereslin would have suffered greatly, as she had no way to withstand those attacks.
The moon blades struck the humanoid statue, producing a clear ringing sound. The immense force sent the seven- or eight-meter-tall statue flying and slamming into the wall across from it.
The old man suddenly cried out, “That’s not an attack! It’s an illusion! Retract the sacred treasure quickly, or you’ll destroy this place!”
Guo Shier was shocked. He too realized something was wrong, as the attacks met by the moon blades faced almost no resistance. He immediately retracted the moon blades, and the attack range shrank back. Cereslin broke into a cold sweat, realizing that the attacks were about to reach her. She knew she had no chance to defend herself. Only after Guo Shier retracted the moon blades did she start trembling in fear. At that moment, she deeply felt the threat of death and realized Guo Shier’s true strength—she was like a helpless small animal facing a terrifying beast.
For the first time, Cereslin began to doubt whether following him was wise. The gap between them was too vast. She wondered how to move forward and whether she could keep up with him. She thought Berong was more sensible—after entering the Luotian Ruins, he had immediately left decisively, preferring to join another party for exploration.
Soon, the moon blades calmed down and slowly rotated around Guo Shier’s body.

The floor and ceiling were covered with crisscrossing marks, dense like spiderwebs. The entire attack lasted less than four or five seconds from start to finish, almost destroying the entire room. That so-called Royal Weapon, that huge statue, had been flung against the wall, and the metal seat beneath it had been torn to pieces by the Moon Blade. However, Guo Shier was somewhat interested in the Royal Weapon—it hadn’t been shattered by the Moon Blade, indicating quite strong defensive capabilities.

Cerislin approached, still shaken, and asked, “What was attacking us?”

Guo Shier shook his head and said, “It was an illusion. I wasn’t careful and launched a counterattack. Fortunately, I pulled back quickly…” He was inwardly shocked. If there had been a group of teammates around, everyone would have attacked in surprise, surely injuring many innocents. This tactic was quite bizarre; it was the first time he had encountered it.

Cerislin said, “An illusion… No wonder. The Tianling clan is good at using such attacks. Maybe you triggered the Royal Weapon’s own attack.”

Guo Shier said, “I don’t know. But I have a question. The Tianling clan members are roughly the same height as us. How can they wear such large armor?”

Cerislin replied, “That’s not armor; it’s a weapon, an extremely powerful one. Although it looks like armor, the Royal Weapon is not just for protection—it’s mainly a weapon, with many mysterious features.” Though she knew about the Royal Weapon, she didn’t understand its secrets, so she couldn’t explain why it was so large or how it could be worn.

Guo Shier said, “Let’s put it aside for now and store it first.”

Walking up to the statue, Guo Shier waved his hand, storing the Royal Weapon back in the altar. He then told the old man, “Old man, check what mysteries this thing has. Be careful not to disassemble it—otherwise, it won’t work anymore.”

The old man dismissed it with a scoff, “Just this thing? Don’t worry. Leave it to me. Even if I can’t figure it out, you can ask Li Ran; he should know.”

Guo Shier said, “Okay.” With Li Ran’s knowledge, he might indeed understand. After all, that guy came from a larger world, with much broader experience than Guo Shier. Guo Shier had no concept of such things and had never imagined them before. In his past life, he could only stare in bewilderment; even if he knew there was a problem, he couldn’t solve it. But this time was different—he was now a top professional of the Spellcraft Clan.

Cerisine couldn’t compete with Guo Shier for the Royal Armaments. First, she couldn’t carry them, and second, she didn’t dare to fight for them. She looked sadly at the spot where the Royal Armaments had disappeared and said, “Maybe there are some elsewhere.”
Guo Shier asked, “Besides the Royal Armaments, are there any other types of armaments?”
Cerisine replied, “Well, yes. There’s another type called Starlight Armaments, but it’s just a legend. It’s said that no one in the Tianling tribe can control such armaments right now. I’m not sure about anything else.”
Guo Shier was stunned. Starlight Armaments—perhaps weapons meant for combat in space? Could the Royal Armaments be weapons for ground battles? Curious, he said, “Let’s go to another room and take a look.”
Cerisine said, “I’ll go find the exit.”
The Moonblade flew out, blasting a large hole in the wall. Guo Shier didn’t bother searching for a door; he just charged in forcefully.
Cerisine gave a wry smile. She whispered, “More violent than me… Hey, I like it!” and hurried after him.
After passing through several rooms without finding anything valuable, the two crossed another corridor and entered another room, where they saw Li Ran, who was lounging there. Guo Shier smiled and asked, “Brother Li Ran, have you found anything good?”
Li Ran shook his head. “There’s nothing here. I checked it out. This seems to be a forward base. Most of the items have been taken away. Since there are hardly any bones here, it’s easy to imagine… They retreated in a hurry, but they still had enough time, so they didn’t leave anything valuable behind.” He glanced at Cerisine and noticed a hint of pride in her eyes, so he asked, “It seems you’ve gotten something good.”
Guo Shier laughed and asked, “How do you know?”
Li Ran pointed at Cerisine. “She’s given herself away. Haha, little girl, aren’t you proud?”
Cerisine’s face turned red. She didn’t know why she was shy and said, “We found a set of Royal Armaments.”
Li Ran was surprised. “What’s that? Royal Armaments? That’s a strange name.”
Guo Shier said, “Yeah, I think it’s strange too. But… besides the Royal Armaments, there are also Starlight Armaments. Do you know what those are?”
Li Ran murmured, “Starlight Armaments? Does that mean weapons that can be used in space?”
Guo Shier said, “I don’t think there’s any misunderstanding. But there’s no actual sky here. All the starry skies are just projections; they don’t really exist.”
Li Ran laughed. “Show it to me.”

Guo Shier looked around and said, “This room is a bit small. Let’s go outside. That thing is huge—six or seven meters tall, hehe.”
Li Ran nodded and said, “Follow me. There’s a shortcut here…”
A few minutes later, the three of them were outside the building, having emerged through a crack. Once on the open ground, Guo Shier activated the royal armor. Li Ran recognized it at once and laughed, “This thing… haha, I know, I know. I haven’t seen it in ages.”
Guo Shier quickly asked, “What is this?”
Li Ran replied, “Well, it’s actually quite easy to understand. In your old language… this is called a ‘mecha.’ Of course, we don’t use that term here, and the concept is different too, but using ‘mecha’ makes it easier to understand. It’s a semi-organic armored combat suit for ground combat.”
Guo Shier asked, “Can this still be used? What’s its power?”
Li Ran said, “I don’t know if it still has energy. Let me check…” He tapped a protrusion on the statue’s neck, and after a series of creaking sounds, the entire statue began to shrink rapidly, revealing a skull. Soon, it contracted into a grotesque shape, with bones falling to the ground with a clatter.
Ceciline exclaimed, “Good heavens! This person was killed and then placed inside the royal armor…”
A palm-long spike protruded from the skull, running from temple to temple. Guo Shier said, “No wonder it remained in place. It seems it was killed by someone inside.”
Li Ran nodded and said, “Yeah. After being killed, the armor was activated immediately to encase him, making it hard for others to detect. It also activated offensive defenses. Hehe, you must have been attacked by it once.”
Guo Shier smiled bitterly. “That’s right. It was just an illusion attack. I almost hurt Ceciline. Luckily, I reacted in time.”
Li Ran said, “That was because there wasn’t enough energy. If there had been enough, it wouldn’t have been easy for you to ward it off. Of course, it was also because you weren’t prepared. If you had been prepared, this weapon wouldn’t have posed any threat to you.”
Guo Shier asked, “Are there many of these things in the Greater World?”

Li Ran pondered for a moment before saying, “Hmm, many, countless. In the greater world, as long as it’s a human-shaped creature—well, mainly people like us—most use armored combat suits. The best among them are the Mechanical Clan’s armored suits, as well as the Cero Clan’s biological armored suits… These armored combat suits possess certain characteristics of the Mechanical Clan and the biological combat suits of the Cero Clan; they are designed based on their racial traits. They’re not the top-tier armored combat suits, but here, they are considered top-tier weapons.”