Way of the Devil

“Ding!”

With a crisp sound, the entire armor disassembled, revealing the empty inner cavity. There was just enough space for a person to fit in.

The armor was close to 190 centimeters in height. Lu Sheng’s host was slightly over 170 centimeters tall. He walked backward toward the armor and stood within it.

“Click.”

The two shoulder guards were lowered and clamped around his shoulders.

Then, it was the breastplate, his waist, legs, neck, and the most important part, his head.

After donning the complete set, Lu Sheng immediately felt this set of armor making some unique connection with his body.

“Is this Harmonizing Power?”

In Jorin’s memories of his studies, this kind of power was known as Harmonizing Power in this world.

Among the materials of an armor, there was one kind of extremely mysterious and special material that was capable of creating a temporary link between the armor and the human body.

Harmonizing Power enabled the wearer to control and operate the armor’s various abilities with greater ease.

This had completely replaced microcomputers, or fiber and smart technologies. The wearer would be able to direct the armor like an arm controlled a finger. It was extremely convenient.

‘The more powerful a person’s Harmonizing Power is, the more kinds of armor one can wear. This isn’t much of a problem.’ Lu Sheng continued to experience what it was like wearing the armor. At the same time, he verified Jorin’s memories.

In less than a dozen minutes, he completely understood this lightweight armor.

This armor offered weak protection for its user. It was an equivalent of wearing a thin coat of iron. It was enough to protect against shots from handguns of small caliber.

The legs of the armor were equipped with short-distance boost equipment. Other than that, there were no other functions.

‘Alright, it’s time to study this. How should I quickly improve my strength and settle the karmas?’ Lu Sheng put the armor away and lay down on the bed. He started thinking about the path he should take this time.

‘The most convenient way would be to wait for a month or two until a part of my main body’s abilities recovered. Then, I can find out the culprit and kill him. Even if I’m forcibly deported after that, the karma will still be considered settled, and this Arrival will be completed.

‘However, this might be too slow. There’s also an extremely high possibility for me to be in danger while I investigate. The threat is too great. It’s too dangerous for this host body which doesn’t have my main body’s strength. Hence, I should improve this body’s strength as quickly as possible.

‘According to the armor system’s records, a set of genuinely harmonized armor is able to provide ten percent of its protective ability to the controller. This protective ability gives the controller some ability to preserve himself even when the armor isn’t readily available. At the very least, the controller won’t die too easily. Maybe I can start with this…’

Lu Sheng stroked his chin.

‘The armor Harmonizing Power gives the controller the ability to operate the armor at will. However, the actual issue that limits the might of the armors worn by the controllers is the might of the armors themselves.’

Lu Sheng gave this some thought.

High-end armors were in the hands of the great corporations and organizations. What he could get his hands on were only ordinary armors such as this one, which was also what soldiers wore.

Armors such as this one did not have any movement support system. The soldier had to rely on his own strength and stamina to bear the entire weight of the armor. Hence, most armors were light.

“My own strength is limited… Worlds like this one are really troublesome…” Lu Sheng exclaimed. He organized his thoughts.

‘Looks like I can only walk the path of using an armor.’ Lu Sheng thought about it some more, and quickly focused his attention on the most crucial aspect between armor and controller: Harmonizing Power.

Harmonizing Power would determine if the armor and the controller were compatible with each other. Rather than referring to Harmonizing Power as a force, it would be more apt to refer to it as a range of control.

Typically, when a student’s Harmonizing Power was activated, the student would only be able to control an armor that was 10 centimeters thick at most. The weight of the armor would be born by the student.

However, a student with outstanding Harmonizing Power would not only be able to control thicker armors, they could also lessen the weight of the armor to a certain extent. This was in addition to improving the nimbleness, agility, and other parameters of the armor.

“Deep Blue.” Lu Sheng called out his Modifier decisively.

‘Looks like I can’t be frugal this time. I have 190,000 Mental Energy units left. I’ll put an end to this as quickly as possible.’

He immediately shifted his gaze to Deep Blue’s interface.

As he expected, a new frame had already appeared under the Infinity Technique’s frame.

“Armor Harmonizing Power. Weak Level Two. (Special trait. Ability to control armors with 11 centimeters of thickness.)”

Lu Sheng immediately looked for the modify and derive buttons. However, contrary to his expectations, there was no derive button. Even after he pushed the modify button under the modifier in an attempt to modify the Harmonizing Power, it had no effect.

He tried searching in his memories, but his search returned blank. According to Jorin’s memories, they were just given the student armors. The classes on Harmonizing Power had not started yet. They had just activated their Harmonizing Powers.

‘Looks like I’m lacking information regarding the direction in which to improve this Harmonizing Power. Let me think… Where can I find such information? There must be something in the library… However, I reckon that I don’t have access at this point, and then there’s the official class, in which I’ll learn to gradually improve my Harmonizing Power according to the teaching materials. This isn’t some secret technique, everyone’s using the same thing. It all comes down to a person’s qualities when determining if one’s Harmonizing Power is strong or weak.’

Lu Sheng familiarized himself with the situation, and immediately found the crux of the issue.

‘Well then… Teaching materials, teaching materials, teaching materials…’ He ran quickly to the study to find some teaching materials about Harmonizing Power. However, there were no teaching materials in the study. He had left all his books in the teaching block, and had not brought them back.

“What a sore!”

Lu sheng quickly wore his jacket and went out the door. He was about to bring back the teaching materials and quickly rank up.

“Click.”

He had just opened the door when he saw a strong-looking man leaning on the door opposite his room. The man was talking softly to a beautiful lady with impeccable makeup.

This strong man’s nickname was Iron Tower. He was a third-year who lived opposite him. Because of Jorin’s lonesome nature, they rarely ever spoke to each other.

The lady who stood beside Iron Tower was the teacher in charge of Iron Tower’s class, Terra.

Terra wore a teacher’s set dress, which revealed her slender and smooth legs. She was holding the latest copy of the dormitory’s register in her hands.

The reason for her current visit was to have a nice conversation with Iron Tower. As the fourth top student in the class, Iron Tower possessed an outstanding Middle Level Four Harmonizing Power. He also had great combat skills, good stamina, and strength.

He was ranked among the top 30 in his batch.

Initially, she had high hopes for Iron Tower. She hoped that he would have some accomplishments in the mental cultivation methods and skills taught in the academy. Even if he did not manage to accomplish any grand feats, if he was capable of attaining the Green Bronze tier, he would be able to graduate as an outstanding student in the future.

However, she would have never expected Iron Tower to only be graded as the Black Iron tier in his mental cultivation method.

Terra felt that it was a complete shame. That was why she personally came to Iron Tower to talk. She wanted to know the reason behind this.

In the entire Alan Federation, even in the whole world of armor controllers, the controller’s mental cultivation method was the most important aspect.

There were three academies in the Alan Federation that taught mental cultivation methods, and one of them was the Platinum Academy.

Platinum Academy’s mental cultivation method, Platinum Solvent, could completely unleash an armor’s powers. The different tiers, from the lowest to the highest, were Black Iron, Green Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

Every rank would enable the controller to unleash an armor’s powers to the greatest extent.

If an ordinary student could unleash 500 kilograms of strength with an armor, then a student with a mental cultivation tier of Black Iron could unleash 750 kilograms of strength.

This was not an increase in strength on the student’s part. This was the potential of the armor’s materials.

However, ordinary students would not be able to unleash it.

“Iron Tower, you have to understand. Ordinary students will only be able to unleash 30% of an armor’s power. Students with greater mental cultivation method tiers can unleash 50, 70, and even a higher percentage. That’s a difference in degrees! If your mental cultivation method grades are too low…”

“I know, Teacher.” Iron Tower’s expression was one of helplessness. “But that mental cultivation method requires me to stick to the armor closely and delicately to listen to the voices of the materials. What the heck is that? I don’t get it at all! I can’t help it!”

When Lu Sheng walked out, he unintentionally overheard their conversation.

The Platinum Solvent mental cultivation method was the core of the Platinum Academy. He knew this from Jorin’s memories.

However, he was indifferent to this fact.

The gist of this mental cultivation method was to completely understand the armor. Then, the user should fine-tune himself to unleash strength that could not be achieved by ordinary people.

It was actually similar to the Moon in the Water tier commonly found in martial arts novels. The effect was to unleash the armor’s potential might to the greatest extent possible.

Lu Sheng had thought of that as a breakthrough point as well. However, he dismissed the notion.

After passing by the two of them, Lu Sheng could still hear faint excerpts of Iron Tower’s voice after walking a short distance.

“… I like Difan Academy’s Flying Bird mental cultivation method better… My father’s a shield soldier, and his father was a shield soldier. In my generation, I really don’t want to become a shield soldier anymore…”

“But you’re born to be a shield soldier!”

Lu Sheng exited the dormitory building without saying a word. He stopped listening to them.

He walked toward the left of the dormitory building, and went past a pond and a small plaza. He reached the small bookstore in the academy that sold supplementary teaching materials.

The bookstore was shaded by a thick canopy of trees. Occasionally, students would walk out of the store while carrying thick books and teaching materials in their hands.

“Jorin? What a coincidence! Are you here to get your hands on the teaching materials as well?”

Suddenly, a crisp female voice reached him from the side.

Lu Sheng was about to enter the bookstore. When he heard the voice, he helplessly turned to look.

On the shaded path to the left, two female students were casually making their way toward him with popsicles in their hands.

One of them was tall, with shoulder-length purple hair. Her big eyes made her look as if she was smiling constantly. Her eyes alone would make anyone forget about her bland looks and not-so-perfect skin.

Lu Sheng mimicked Jorin’s tone as he walked up to them familiarly and asked, “Xia Cheng? Yeah, what a coincidence. You’re here for the books too?”

There were 50 students in their class. The only one who was closer to him was this girl who seemed to be perpetually smiling, Xia Cheng.

“Where’s my uniform? You’ve borrowed it for your girlfriend, remember to return it to me, alright? I only have three sets. In two days, I won’t have anything to wear,” Xia Cheng reminded him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll deliver it to you after I get it washed tomorrow,” Lu Sheng said with a smile.

“Hm? You’re smiling…” Xia Cheng seemed slightly surprised. “My impression is that you don’t smile often. Did something happy happen last night?”

“Not really.”

“Something’s not right… Is it the nourishment of love? That’s great! I say, you look quite handsome when you smile.” Xia Cheng could not hold back a jibe.

It was undeniable that Jorin had great external qualities. Although his grades were average, quite a number of girls in his class would have pursued him if not for his usual gloomy looks and cold nature.

“Really?” Lu Sheng was noncommittal. From his perspective, he could see that this girl seemed to be interested in him.

However, since Jorin had Esha already, he would not push it.

“Oh yeah, are you still considering becoming a shield soldier?” Xia Cheng suddenly posed a question.

“Shield soldier, huh?” Lu Sheng was stunned. Then, he remembered Jorin’s wish: to protect.

The armor worn by shield soldiers primarily possessed defensive abilities, and they did not have any long-range abilities.

“Yes… A shield soldier… That’s my dream.” He fell silent for a moment. Then, he smiled again.

Shield soldier… He suddenly had a great idea.