Ling Essence

Lin Hua's words dropped like a bombshell in everyone's minds.

Right.

According to the usual rules, the second round of finals was primarily a one-on-one elimination format.

After one match, a break was mandatory.

Otherwise, if they remained active continuously, their spirit or body definitely wouldn't withstand the load.

Li Yi's activation time of over an hour meant he had to stay online the entire time to ensure he could participate in the next match with the mech.

If he couldn't successfully reactivate within the allotted time, he would naturally be eliminated.

Long Guanshan glanced at Lin Hua in surprise. This woman deliberately said that, intending to ignite the fighting spirit of others with above-average combat skills or activation performance, right?

"If the matching degree isn't high enough, you won't be able to control it as smoothly from the start. So, even though our combat skills can't compare to Li Yi's, there's still hope for us to be stronger than him in short-term practical combat."

After thinking it over, Long Guanshan decided to add fuel to the fire.

Besides Li Yi, the strongest rival was clearly Liang Shaocong.

If he could stimulate others' fighting spirit and create some obstacles for Liang Shaocong, that would be good too.

Zhong Xiufa stared intently at Pluto Mech's movements, remaining silent.

The others, with varied expressions, each had their own calculations.

Crimson Gourd AI sat atop the large gourd, circling in the sky above Pluto Mech. Its light red eyes flickered with an unusual brilliance as it excitedly waved its arms.

"Move, Li Yi!"

"The Celestial God Series has very strong combat potential. You can amplify the essence of your combat skills through Pluto!"

"Damn it, why are you being so sluggish!?"

She transformed into a frantic old lady, buzzing around Pluto Mech like a mosquito, constantly shouting.

Pluto Mech's cockpit.

Li Yi's entire body was enveloped in a pale red fluid.

He had initially expected to suffocate, but surprisingly found his breathing becoming smoother.

The immense shaking caused by Pluto Mech's body movements was easily neutralized by this fluid.

Beneath this special fluid, his brain and body seemed to have connected with Pluto Mech.

The perspective was a 360-degree panoramic view from Pluto Mech's head.

The dense transmission of sensory information, including hearing and touch, made him feel as if he had truly transformed into a forty-three-meter giant.

Crimson Gourd AI's voice, though a bit quiet, was clear and unmistakable.

"Not bad, not bad. Don't just stand there, hurry up and move!"

Li Yi felt helpless. It wasn't that he didn't want to move.

It was that Pluto Mech's entire system hadn't fully activated yet.

Apart from the initial eye-opening, which was relatively fast, his other movements were as sluggish as an old computer booting up, terrifyingly slow.

"Forcibly acquiring control memories can't significantly increase the matching degree, but at least activation was successful. Subsequently, as long as I repeatedly capture Pluto Mech's control memories, the activation speed will improve, and I won't be stuck with my eyes open but unable to move my body fully like this."

"Moreover, my advantage is that many of these memory fragments should be post-divine radiation fragments, so the improvement efficiency is likely to be higher."

Li Yi calculated in his mind while urging Pluto Mech to move its body.

About four minutes later.

Pluto Mech's body could finally make smooth, natural movements.

Accompanied by the thudding sounds on the ground.

Below, the crowd was also speculating.

For this initial piloting, how long could Li Yi actually keep Pluto Mech active?

After all, they knew Li Yi's combat skills were strong, but just how strong might be revealed by the duration of his movements this time.

The length of the active duration was closely related to physique, mental resilience, and self-control.

"It's been over 7 minutes."

"Looks like matching Liang Shaocong shouldn't be a problem."

"I estimate 13 minutes."

"More than that, the gap is over a hundred points! At least 15 minutes!"

"You're overestimating Li Yi. He only got so many points through luck. In reality, it would be great if he could last until 11 minutes."

The person who spoke was Xie Zhenye. As he got more animated, his voice grew louder.

Lin Hua frowned and said, "You're just trash with a score of twenty-something points. You don't even realize you got lucky and moved up. What right do you have to mock someone with over three hundred points?"

Xie Zhenye's face darkened, and he stopped talking.

The others were also a bit surprised. Lin Hua hadn't seemed to think highly of Li Yi earlier, so why had she suddenly changed her tune?

Long Guanshan, however, could see through it.

It was true that Lin Hua didn't have high expectations for Li Yi's performance in the finals, but she hadn't denied his abilities.

It seemed that in Lin Hua's mind, Li Yi was the real formidable opponent.

Long Guanshan thought to himself.

The reality was far more terrifying than everyone had anticipated.

More than half an hour had passed, and Li Yi was still controlling the Pluto Mech, performing all sorts of unbelievable maneuvers.

His speed was also increasing, becoming more and more swift.

Finally, after the 41st minute.

The Pluto Mech suddenly paused.

Pfft!!!

The insertion pod was ejected and fell to the ground.

"41 minutes. This time shouldn't be enough for Li Yi to last until the final round, right? After all, with so many matches, based on past tournaments, the entire event usually takes at least an hour and a half."

"Truly terrifying."

"If Li Yi could last an hour, maybe playing a bit faster, he might have a chance to win first place."

"An hour seems a bit tight. The shortest recorded time for the entire competition in previous years was 1 hour and 13 minutes."

Below, many people had grim expressions.

Regardless of whether Li Yi had a chance to win the championship, this 41 minutes of activity time was genuinely difficult to comprehend.

They were all non-evolver types, so why was the gap so immense?

The Crimson Gourd AI stepped forward and opened the insertion pod's valve. Pale fluid immediately spilled onto the ground.

She touched the fluid on the ground, lost in thought:

"The consumption ratio of Ling Essence in the fluid is only twenty percent? I thought it would be higher."

"What Ling Essence?"

Li Yi, his face covered in liquid streaks, climbed out of the pod.

"Ling Essence is the main component of this fluid. What I find strange is that you were active for such a long time; you should have consumed a significant amount."

The Crimson Gourd AI said this as she reached out with her small hand to wipe the liquid off Li Yi's face.

Li Yi let her do as she pleased and continued to ask:

"So, is it better to consume more, or less?"

"Simply put, consuming less means your physique can better withstand the load from the Pluto Mech."

The Crimson Gourd AI said, blinking her large eyes, a look of confusion appearing:

"But it's strange. You were active for so long. Even with the best endurance, you should have consumed quite a bit of Ling Essence. It's really odd!"

Li Yi said, "People's physiques can't be generalized. You don't need to be so surprised by everything."

"Alright, let's just leave this matter as it is."

The Crimson Gourd AI tilted her head and stopped thinking about it.

Li Yi had managed to get away with it, and a smile flickered across his face.

He roughly understood that it was because he could actually last another ten to twenty minutes, which was why the Ling Essence consumption was so low.

The reason he came out early was that he was afraid the record would be too shocking.

He had also looked at others' data before entering the Pluto Mech and knew how terrifying his performance over forty minutes was.

At this moment, the Crimson Gourd AI turned to the others and reminded them:

"The rest of you, if you've rested enough, continue practicing with your divine mechs. You still have forty hours until the second round. Don't slack off!"