Pre-Battle Preparations

General Chen smiled knowingly at Xing Tian's words.

"As General Chen said before, I don't want to be treated as a war machine," Xing Tian's tone was neither overly emotional nor completely devoid of feeling. "There are still many things I cannot comprehend, but I am constantly learning. I hope you can all see me as an ordinary 'person'."

"Although I differ from you all in physical structure and behavioral logic, I believe that one day we can understand each other and become true friends."

Yu Xiao could feel the tension in the conference room ease the moment he finished speaking.

No one argued over Xing Tian's ownership anymore.

"If there are no objections, then I will assume everyone respects Xing Tian's personal decision," Yuan Zhen spoke at the opportune moment. "Then I declare that Xing Tian will remain part of the Obsidian Sky Legion of the Watcher's Alliance, operating as a mobile combat armor unit. Furthermore, given Xing Tian's unique autonomy, he will also serve as his own pilot, enjoying all the rights and obligations of a pilot."

Only when Yuan Zhen finished his last word did Yu Xiao finally relax.

He had temporarily resolved the crisis regarding his identity and initially established his position within the Watcher's Alliance.

Of course, establishing his position didn't mean everyone's attitude would change immediately; this would still require Yu Xiao's long-term efforts to bridge the gap.

"Since Xing Tian's issue has been resolved, we should now formulate the operational plan for the Fourth Defense Line Archipelago."

Three hours later.

In the azure sky, a black transport ship cut through the dreamlike clouds, resembling a giant whale swimming in the ocean.

It was now 11:26 AM, with less than twenty-four hours remaining until the next operation.

The transport ship had one more hour of travel to reach the Obsidian Sky base, and Xing Tian was browsing the Evolution System's shop page.

After this large-scale joint operation, Yu Xiao's available evolution points had reached a considerable 46,000—16,000 from killing Level 3 monsters in the beast tide, 20,000 from independently killing the Level 4 monster Thunderclap, and 10,000 from damaging parts of the unknown giant beast.

Among these, Yu Xiao paid the most attention to "damaging parts of the unknown giant beast."

The unknown giant beast was clearly the one that hadn't fully emerged from the wormhole. Yu Xiao hadn't expected that simply damaging its tentacles would directly yield evolution points.

However, the system's wording and this special reward mechanism also proved one thing.

That beast wasn't dead.

Even though Yu Xiao had used every trick up his sleeve at the time, that single axe blow hadn't been enough to kill the giant beast!

Combining this with the previous duel between Xing Tian and Thunderclap, Yu Xiao roughly assessed his current strength.

"I can easily crush Level 3 monsters and have a chance against a single Level 4 monster, but I can't face multiple Level 4 monsters or higher-level ones simultaneously," Yu Xiao muttered to himself in his consciousness space while browsing the shop's items.

The beast tide at the Fourth Defense Line Archipelago contained a large number of Level 4 monsters. Although it was a joint operation, Yu Xiao didn't want to entrust his life to his teammates.

Therefore, he decided to prepare for the worst-case scenario, assuming he would face multiple Level 4 monsters alone.

"I already have many equipment modules on the chassis, but the chassis's weight has also increased. The chemical missile and energy corrosion cannon have overlapping functions, and their damage to Level 4 monsters is limited..." Yu Xiao hesitated for a moment, deciding to store these two equipment modules in the warehouse and purchase a new one from the shop.

[Item Name: Dragon Rider Gatling Turret Set]

[Item Description: A heavy turret set mounted around the power core, consisting of eight heavy machine guns arranged in two rows, four per row. Special ammunition belts can imbue ordinary metal bullets with armor-piercing effects, capable of dealing effective damage to Level 4 monsters.]

[Remarks: The Dragon Rider Gatling Turret Set is mounted on a circular chain drive, allowing for 360-degree free movement in the horizontal direction, but its vertical movement is very limited. Please adjust the chassis posture to ensure accuracy.]

[Price: 15000]

Buy!

It could grant armor-piercing effects to bullets without any cost, and its destructive power was sufficient to deal effective damage to Level 4 monsters—it was the king of cost-effectiveness!

After all, these were machine guns, far superior to those large-caliber energy weapons in terms of rate of fire and ammunition capacity.

And weren't large-caliber energy weapons manufactured precisely to deal with the stronger defenses of Level 4 monsters?

Yu Xiao unhesitatingly added it to his shopping cart.

"The remaining two equipment modules are the Giant Claw Thermal Cannon and the Scorpion Tail Composite Heavy Metal Chain Sword. Xing Tian currently focuses on melee combat. When wielding the axe, he has no free hand to use the thermal cannon, and besides, the thermal cannon's effect on Level 4 monsters isn't great. The Scorpion Tail Chain Sword is convenient to use, and the toughness of the heavy metal can handle the strength of Level 4 monsters..." Yu Xiao decided to remove the Giant Claw Thermal Cannon from his loadout but keep the Scorpion Tail Chain Sword.

However, removing the thermal cannon meant Xing Tian would lose any close-combat capability other than his great axe, so he needed to find a replacement.

[Item Name: Assault Impact Gauntlets]

[Item Description: Giant gauntlets crafted from pure heavy metal. The back of the gauntlets are inlaid with special energy converters that store waste energy generated by the power core, achieving a 100% energy conversion rate.]

[Remarks: The Assault Impact Gauntlets have two modes: absorb and release. In absorb mode, blocking physical attacks with the gauntlets can absorb 50% of kinetic energy and store it in the energy converter. In release mode, each attack from the gauntlets will unleash an energy shockwave, the power of which depends on the stored energy value.]

[Price: 15000]

Buy!

These gauntlets could even synergize with Xing Tian's black armor, allowing the energy absorbed by the black armor each time to be stored in the gauntlets!

"Both melee and ranged combat equipment have been selected; the chassis performance also needs optimization."

[Item Name: Agile Elastic Muscle Unit]

[Item Description: A special bionic muscle module, extremely lightweight, capable of changing shape with changes in pressure, and inherently able to withstand external forces a hundred times its own mass.]

[Remarks: The Agile Elastic Muscle Unit has excellent extensibility and plasticity, able to help the chassis's skeletal structure bear the vast majority of external force impacts and allowing the mecha to perform many large-scale movements.]

[Price: 12000]

Buy!

Melee mechas like Xing Tian most need to balance strength and agility. Simply equipping this module would reduce the chassis weight by another thousand tons and allow Xing Tian to perform more tricky maneuvers!

By the time Yu Xiao finished selecting his desired equipment, the transport ship had arrived above the Obsidian Sky.

[Redemption successful. Thank you for your patronage. The system will complete delivery within ten minutes.]