Mind Armor

Graduation season, breakup season.

With bitter wine burning his throat and his heart aching, tears streaming down his face, Du Ke recalled his four wasted years of university. He felt regret and unwillingness, but more than anything, he felt self-loathing.

His ex-girlfriend's resolute expression had finally woken him up. Leaving the ivory tower of university, he would be met by harsh reality.

But thinking of their past memories, he couldn't help but cry again. He slumped onto the floor of his rental room, running his hands through his hair.

"How laughable, I'll finally be alone for the rest of my life. I've become the person you hated..." The Douyin app on his phone kept looping a certain BGM.

Just like his mood at this moment.

A moment later.

He turned off his phone and exhaled a breath of alcohol.

Du Ke wiped the tears from his face, then forcefully threw the empty beer can against the wall, shouting the real reason for his tears: "This beer is damn awful!"

He walked to the window, wanting to breathe in some fresh air.

It wasn't dark outside yet. The old neighborhood in the evening was bathed in the afterglow. Du Ke really wanted to roar "Ah!" at the outside to relieve his feelings, but he didn't. He just looked up at the distant sky, thinking about his plans for the future, about starting his life anew.

Suddenly.

A beam of light descended from the sky, striking Du Ke precisely.

Clang!

The light surged into his body, and he immediately passed out with his eyes rolling back.

It was a long, long dream.

The dream played out like a slideshow, depicting a strange civilization. Everything in this civilization was transparent and illusory, including the "humans" of this world, who appeared as phantom figures. They gathered together, their illusory light and shadows merging, like a wondrous ocean.

"The tides of the Ocean of Mind are surging fiercely, but we don't have much time left," an illusory figure murmured, looking up at the sky.

"The Mind Armor is being forged. We will succeed in evading this catastrophe."

"Let's hope so."

Then the scene rapidly advanced to an illusory figure presenting a handful of wondrous light clusters: "The first Mind Armor has been forged. We have successfully found the balance point between mind and matter. Lord Saint Hall, we can proceed with the Mind Shelter Plan!"

Stroking the wondrous light clusters, the illusory figure called Lord Saint Hall looked up at the sky again: "It's too late, too late. There's no time for us to prepare."

In the sky, a brilliant light rose. This light shone upon the ocean of civilization, and everything made of illusory light and shadow began to decompose.

"Lord Saint Hall, put on the Mind Armor and escape with the legacy of our Mind God Race!" an illusory figure suggested, and the others echoed his sentiment.

But Lord Saint Hall shook his head. He actually threw the wondrous light clusters in his hand towards the sky.

The light clusters vanished in the blink of an eye into the sky, disappearing before the light could reach them. The next moment, the light from the sky finally shone down.

The illusory figures began to decompose, their faces filled with terror.

Only Lord Saint Hall faced it calmly and whispered, "A Saint Hall who did not leave the Ocean of Mind and escaped alone, let the Mind Armor find its own successor."

Boom!

Everything.

Melted away in the scorching light.

"Hoo!"

Du Ke got up from the ground, looking at the clock on the wall pointing to midnight. His head was buzzing. He suddenly thought of something, shivered, and scrambled up, rushing to the mirror to look at his somewhat stiff reflection: "Mind Armor, is it real or fake?"

A protective armor forged by an extraordinary civilization, the Mind God Race, capable of resisting powerful natural disasters, a magical protective device existing between matter and spirit.

After thinking of the Mind Armor, he found another scene appearing in his mind.

A soft energy was enveloping him, formless and intangible, invisible but clearly present. With just a thought, this energy could transform into armor and equip him.

"A dream?"

"An illusion?"

"Or reality?"

Du Ke raised his left hand, focused his gaze, and with a single thought, imagined a glove like Iron Man's.

Instantly, a red and gold mechanical glove appeared on his left hand. This mechanical glove looked almost identical to the Mark 85 nano-armor 2.0 that Iron Man wore in Avengers 4: Endgame, which was also one of the few Iron Man suits Du Ke had studied.

"Incredible!"

Du Ke was stunned. At this moment, his heart was filled with excitement. He felt like he had been hit by a lottery prize of five million, no, it was even more thrilling than being hit by five million and a lottery prize.

In this instant.

He just wanted to roar at the sky: "To hell with love! I, Du Ke, have been resurrected to full health!"

After cursing, he suddenly sat back on the bed powerlessly. After a while, he forcefully lifted his head, resolutely bidding farewell to yesterday. Having obtained the extraordinary treasure Mind Armor researched by the Mind God Race, he decided to make good use of it and start a brand new future life.

He moved his left hand, and the mechanical glove moved with it.

But soon, Du Ke discovered a problem. Iron Man's suits were equipped with various high-tech weapons. The palm-mounted repulsor cannon went without saying, as did the special nano-particle shield. However, he couldn't use any of them. Looking closely, the glove was just an empty shell.

It's similar to the structure of a large action figure, looking flashy but really just steel with some paint.

"Why is my Iron Man armor different from the movies?" he asked, looking at the gauntlet on his hand. He quickly focused his will, imagining a complete set of Mark 85 armor.

Swiftly, he was enveloped by the armor.

However, just like the gauntlet, his Mark 85 armor was just a shell. There was no high-tech inside. It couldn't fly, shoot lasers, or even walk properly – the joints were too stiff.

"Why!"

"What's going on!"

"Didn't they say it was powerful Mind Armor created by an extraordinary civilization!"

"Am I only able to manifest a metal shell?" Du Ke's mind was still active. With a thought, he conjured Frostmourne. "It looks cool, but... I don't want to carry Frostmourne around all day to get things done. Should I go to a cosplay event?"

Just then, his head throbbed.

A flood of information poured into his brain. After clutching his head and regaining his senses, he finally understood the information about Mind Armor. It wasn't that the Mind Armor wasn't strong enough; it was that Du Ke himself wasn't strong enough.

Mind Armor, as the name suggested, was armor driven by Mind Power, and Mind Power originated from Du Ke himself.

"Knowledge!"

"Knowledge is power!"

"As long as I master all the technology from the Iron Man movies, I can make the Mind Armor manifest a true Mark 85!"

"And right now, it's clear I don't have enough knowledge to unleash the true power of the Mind Armor. Due to my weak Mind Power, I can't even receive much of the Mind God Race information stored within the Mind Armor... I need to constantly cultivate my Mind Power and acquire knowledge to improve the Mind Armor!"

He took a deep breath.

Du Ke currently had two pieces of inheritance information available. These two pieces of information reignited the burning flame in his heart: "Cultivate... coordinates..."