Test

The three of them went together to the equipment room where Little Fatty was. On the way, Xiahou had already explained the story of the heart and Siegfried.

When they opened the door, Abigail was there too, discussing how to improve her equipment with Little Fatty. They saw the three come in, especially Xiahou, whose appearance had clearly been transformed.

Abigail and Little Fatty also asked where everyone had come from, so Xiahou had no choice but to go blah blah blah and repeat the whole story.

After hearing what had happened, Little Fatty led everyone into a separate room, a look of amazement on his face. Inside were some testing devices.

Little Fatty went up to a device that resembled a punching bag and said to Xiahou, "This can test your punching speed and power. Give it a try first."

Xiahou stepped forward, took a deep breath, and threw a punch. The bag let out a thunderous bang.

Little Fatty hurried over to check the readings on a nearby instrument. It showed 1,200 kilograms of force and a punching speed of 35 meters per second.

"You're already on par with a small-caliber weapon! And your explosive force reached 1,200 kilograms-that's five times that of a professional boxer! I can't believe a human can generate that kind of power!" Little Fatty said, his face full of amazement.

Seeing this, Blade stepped up to the device to give it a try as well. When he threw a punch, it made a sound twice as loud as Xiahou's.

After checking the instrument, Little Fatty said, "Blade, you're stronger than Xiahou! Your explosive force reached 2,800 kilograms, twelve times that of a boxer!"

Blade nodded in satisfaction. He had used eighty percent of his strength for that punch.

Little Fatty then led them to a treadmill and said, "This machine can test your running speed. Who wants to go first?"

Xiahou hurried forward, thinking, I have to go first! What if Blade runs first and affects my Dao heart?

As Xiahou kept running and accelerating on the treadmill, the speed on the display climbed higher and higher before finally settling at 55 meters per second.

Xiahou breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it. Not bad-it was more than ten times faster than before.

Blade stepped up for his test too, and his final speed was 130 meters per second. Everyone stared in amazement, thinking, One after another, neither of them is human!

After testing a few more things, such as reaction speed and weightlifting, Little Fatty reached a conclusion. Blade's physical stats were 25 to 30 times those of a normal person, while Xiahou's were 9 to 10 times higher.

Xiahou now had a better idea of where he stood, and a clearer understanding of his personal panel.

"I'd also like to test the power of my Blue Rose and Red Queen. Do you have any suitable equipment here?" Xiahou asked Little Fatty.

Hearing Xiahou's question, Little Fatty hastily replied, looking anxious, "No, you can't do that here. I can only test these normal things, but for weapons, I have special steel in thicknesses from 10 to 30 centimeters. You can carry some outside to the open area and test them there."

He didn't want Xiahou to destroy his equipment room while testing his weapons. A lot of the instruments in here were very expensive.

Xiahou had no choice but to take one plate of each kind of special steel from the pile in the corner, stack them together, and carry them outside. He had to admit, even though they weighed several hundred jin altogether, carrying them took almost no effort. It was about the same as carrying a jug of mineral water.

When he reached the open area outside, he placed each steel plate in a different spot and secured it. Then he moved more than ten meters away and drew the Blue Rose.

He aimed at the first steel plate, which was ten centimeters thick, fired a shot, and went over to inspect it. The shot had made a huge dent in the plate, but it hadn't pierced through. Its power was already on par with a large-caliber sniper rifle.

Xiahou returned to his previous position and slowly channeled the magic he had just gained into the revolver. Once the gun began to emit a faint blue glow, Xiahou fired at the ten-centimeter-thick steel plate again.

The report was the same as before, but the bullet glowed blue as it flew, leaving a streak of blue light in the air.

With a thunderous bang, the shot punched straight through the steel plate, leaving a gaping hole more than ten centimeters wide in its center. It even blasted a deep, dark hole in the ground behind it.

Everyone else stared dumbfounded at the gun in Xiahou's hand once again!

They roared inwardly, You're fucking telling me that's a handgun? What kind of handgun is that powerful? It's practically an autocannon!

Blade couldn't hold back anymore either. He had taken a liking to the gun the first time he saw it, and now he wanted it even more. What was he supposed to do?!

Blade suppressed the urge to snatch it and asked outright, "How did you do that? Is it your ability, or the handgun's?"

Xiahou was surprised too. Although he knew he could charge it with magic, he hadn't expected its power to increase so much!

"Both, I guess! This gun was designed to deal with demons, so magic can be used to increase its power. Besides normal shots, it has three enhanced power levels, and each produces a different effect. That was the lowest level just now, but it uses a lot of magic. With all the magic I have, I can only fire six shots before I run out," Xiahou said, glancing at his magic stat, which was down to 1,050.

Everyone nodded in understanding. A magic weapon for dealing with demons? In that case, they could accept it being so powerful.

Xiahou raised the Blue Rose again and aimed at the thirty-centimeter-thick steel plate. He wanted to see whether he had enough magic to fire it at the second power level.

As magic slowly flowed into the gun, it glowed blue once more. Xiahou didn't stop, however, and as more magic poured in, the gun began to tremble uncontrollably. The light around it gradually deepened, then turned into a hazy purple.

Xiahou hesitated no longer. He aimed and fired. The bullet traced a purple streak through the air and turned into a ball of purple flame as it struck the steel plate. The flames didn't quickly dissipate; only after burning the entire plate to nothing did they turn into specks of light and vanish.

Everyone was still somewhat surprised to see this, but their reaction was no longer as exaggerated as before, or they would all have belonged in UC's shock department. They were still amazed by its power, though, and Blade wanted it even more.

He looked at Xiahou sincerely. "Are you selling that gun? Or name any other terms you want-as long as I have it, just ask!"

Xiahou thought, Hehe, jealous, aren't you? You want it, don't you? But it's already bound to me!

Even so, he said with a troubled look, "This weapon is bound to me. No one else can use it even if they take it! It'll also return to my hand automatically, and you don't have magic, do you? Without magic, you can't use its special attacks!"

Blade could only accept what he said, but inwardly he wondered, He's not fooling me, is he? Next time, should I sell him out and make him drop his equipment? Then he remembered that Xiahou would revive and put the idea aside. Besides, betraying a teammate like that went against his true nature.

Seeing that he had only 50 magic left, Xiahou put the Blue Rose away. He then drew the Red Queen and turned the mechanism on its hilt. The blade began to tremble, giving off a faint red glow.

After about three seconds, one section of red metal on the blade lit up, and Xiahou immediately charged at a steel plate in the distance. He followed with a horizontal slash, cutting the twenty-centimeter-thick plate in two as easily as a hot knife through butter. The cut was still melting, and drops of red molten iron ran down the steel's surface.

But when Xiahou prepared to charge it to the second level, the blade trembled more and more violently, and he couldn't keep hold of the hilt. The Red Queen fell straight to the ground, and the heat of its blade melted part of the surface it touched.

Looking at the Red Queen on the ground, Xiahou realized he couldn't activate its second-stage "EX" right now.

The others came over to ask if Xiahou was all right. When they saw him shake his head to show he was fine, they said nothing more.

Blade, however, stepped forward and reached down to pick up the Red Queen. The instant he gripped the hilt, searing heat spread into his palm, and he hurriedly let go. He looked at his palm and saw that it had been burned; it was now slowly healing.

"Why is it so hot?" Blade asked.

Xiahou stepped forward and gripped the hilt too, but it only felt warm to him. He looked at Blade in confusion and said, "It's not hot. It just feels a little warm!"

Hannibal, who had been holding back for a long time, stepped forward and reached for the Red Queen, ready to feel it for himself. He remembered touching it before and not feeling anything!