Chapter 457: Testing the Gui Xu Armor

Ten years of time slipped away quietly amid focused research and intricate artifact-crafting.

In the core laboratory of the Hell Sulfur Plane, Gao Jie Ming gazed at a floating spell model on the screen before him, and for the first time, a look of satisfaction appeared in his eyes.

The modification of the 【Gui Xu Armor】 is complete.

"Theoretically, this model has reached its target value—but whether it's a steed or a donkey, it must be tested on the road."

Gao Jie Ming did not linger to admire it; he immediately went to the attached large-scale comprehensive testing ground.

The testing ground lay deep within the mountain's belly, its space vast, its walls and floor constructed of special materials capable of absorbing and dispersing extreme energy impacts, surrounded by countless monitoring arrays and energy generators.

Several black giant priests serving as assistants and researchers had already received orders and waited there.

Gao Jie Ming activated his mind, and the spell model within glowed brightly—a set of dark-silver 【Gui Xu Armor】 materialized out of thin air.

Like living liquid, it unfolded automatically, covering his torso, limbs, and even his neck, fitting snugly with near-zero weight.

The minute vortex runes on the armor's surface began to slowly rotate, emitting a deep, silent aura as if capable of swallowing all light.

He spread his limbs, performed several wide-range movements, and even cast multiple witchcraft spells directly.

After confirming no adverse effects, Gao Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction: "The human tracking module operates normally; the friend-or-foe identification module is also flawless…"

With a wave of his hand, the entire 【Gui Xu Armor】 shrank into a Tuan of dark-silver liquid, hovering in his palm.

As Gao Jie Ming slapped it forward, the spell enveloped the target before him like a solid suit of armor.

"Begin basic energy resistance testing," Gao Jie Ming ordered.

One of the black giant priests immediately activated the testing ground's arrays, and a continuous barrage of standardized Level-5 energy beams struck the target from multiple angles, at varying frequencies and intensities.

Gao Jie Ming stood in the observation chamber, watching the unshaken target through the reinforced window.

The vortex runes on the 【Gui Xu Armor】 rotated slightly faster; every incoming energy attack, the instant it touched the armor, vanished like a cow sinking into mud, silently absorbed and dismantled by the "Gui Xu Field."

The monitoring arrays showed the energy was efficiently converted and stored—not only failing to harm the target, but actually replenishing the spell's operational consumption!

"Increase intensity. Simulate a peak-Level-5 single-target witchcraft."

Stronger beams struck, powerful enough to easily pierce conventional Level-5 protective spells.

The result remained unchanged.

The 【Gui Xu Armor】 stood firm as a boulder; its absorption efficiency showed no decline.

"Saturated coverage test. Simulate multiple Level-5 witches firing in unison."

Tens of thousands of energy generators activated at full power; a torrent of multicolored energy rained down like a storm, completely submerging the target's area.

The monitoring arrays' readings spiked wildly, indicating energy density had reached an astonishing level—enough to instantly vaporize the defenses of nearly all Level-5 witches.

Yet at the heart of the energy storm, the target remained unharmed.

The 【Gui Xu Armor】 acted like an endless void, greedily devouring all surrounding energy.

The vortex runes' rotation had formed a visible pale-gray force field; every incoming energy was swiftly absorbed and dismantled.

This basic test lasted ten full days and nights.

Three batches of energy cores were replaced in the generators.

Finally, when the test ended, the data showed: after enduring ten days of theoretical maximum-density Level-5 witchcraft saturation bombardment, the armor's internal energy storage rate reached only 67% of its estimated upper limit, with zero signs of defensive degradation.

Simply from this test, any type of Level-5 energy attack could no longer inflict effective damage—it had become the armor's "nourishment."

"Next, Level-6 simulation test," Gao Jie Ming said calmly, with a hint of anticipation.

The testing ground's arrays switched modes; the output power and law-simulation tier of the energy generators surged abruptly.

This time, what struck was a torrent of simulated Level-6 witchcraft: dark-red, high-temperature plasma, incomparably more powerful than before.

Boom!

The first impact made the entire testing ground tremble slightly.

The vortex runes on the 【Gui Xu Armor】 flared brightly, their rotation speed skyrocketing.

But when the smoke cleared, the target remained intact.

Monitoring data showed that against Level-6 witchcraft, the 【Gui Xu Armor】 could no longer absorb effortlessly as before—it had entered "maximum digestion" mode.

Under sustained, full-power simulated attacks from a standard Level-6 witch, the 【Gui Xu Armor】 held firm for over an hour!

When the simulated assault ceased, internal energy storage reached 97%.

Near theoretical saturation, yet the defensive structure remained intact, with no signs of collapse.

After several more rounds of testing, the testing ground finally fell silent.

Gao Jie Ming dismissed the spell and carefully inspected every rune and structure, while reading all monitoring data.

Final confirmation: the modified 【Gui Xu Armor】 could completely immune any type or intensity of Level-5 or lower energy attacks, efficiently converting and absorbing them into stored energy.

It could also effectively resist standard Level-6 energy attacks, sustaining over an hour under continuous saturation bombardment.

Absorption and conversion efficiency decreased with attack intensity, but remained substantial.

However, the 【Gui Xu Armor】's weakness against physical attacks still persisted—though it had improved considerably.

When facing physical attacks, the 【Gui Xu Armor】 could generate temporary physical force fields using stored energy for defense.

If simultaneously charged by high-density energy attacks, its resistance to physical attacks increased proportionally.

If in a state of energy depletion, its defense against pure physical attacks relied primarily on the wearer's own physical strength.

Most importantly, when facing special attacks such as causal erasure or time suspension, the 【Gui Xu Armor】 performed astonishingly.

Before the spell was broken, it could render the user nearly immune to such mechanistic witchcraft.

Gao Jie Ming was extremely satisfied with this test report.

He knew well that the 【Gui Xu Armor】's "energy carrying capacity" itself had not undergone a qualitative leap.

This upper limit depended more on his depth of understanding of the "Gui Xu Concept," which required long-term cultivation—not merely technical optimization.

What truly caused the armor's astonishing qualitative transformation was another key parameter's massive boost—the speed of energy digestion and conversion!

Over the past ten years, to comprehend concepts like "Gui Xu," "Devouring," and "End," he had consumed and analyzed vast quantities of related plane-origin knowledge.

Though he had not yet truly grasped the core of the concept, those immense, intricate details on energy absorption mechanisms, matter decomposition pathways, information entropy control, and energy conversion efficiency had already been deeply etched into his consciousness.

Thus, when reconstructing the energy-processing arrays within the 【Gui Xu Armor】's spell model, he unconsciously integrated these top-tier insights on "efficient devouring and conversion."

The final result: the modified 【Gui Xu Armor】's "digestion speed" of stored energy and its "conversion speed" into usable energy or defensive power had increased over one hundred thousand times compared to the original spell's theoretical value!

This was the true reason why a spell theoretically rated at Level-4 could stand against Level-6 witches.

This meant that as long as the "instantaneous intensity" of an attack did not exceed a terrifying threshold, any sustained energy bombardment before the 【Gui Xu Armor】 was merely a never-ending "power bank."

It could transform incoming violent energy into its own power within an extremely short time.

"Knowledge is indeed the primary productive force," Gao Jie Ming mused, sensing the spell model within his spiritual sea, filled with accomplishment.

He was also highly satisfied with his research efficiency.

Ten years to complete a deep modification of a top-tier defensive spell and achieve such results—this pace far surpassed many research projects of peers at the same level.

Yet he did not immediately turn to modifying the 【Causal Echo Spell】 or the 【Grand Void Step】.

Because several years ago, his Three Treasures—essence, energy, and spirit—had been restored to perfect harmony, balance, and completeness.

The adaptive evolutionary potential of his body had been reawakened.

"It is time to restart the Time Afterimage Training."

(End of Chapter)