"It worked! The dagger has started extracting the negative energy from these corpses!" King Earl said joyfully.
Hao Yun only nodded slightly in response and continued to focus on observing the armor’s charging process. Once he confirmed that the energy extracted from the corpses could indeed replenish the armor’s power without any negative effects, he began to try using the charged energy to recharge the dagger.
Following the system's prompts, Hao Yun quickly established an additional energy supply line between the dagger and the armor. After the dagger started receiving energy, he signaled to King Earl that he could attempt to draw some energy from the dagger. However, Hao Yun reminded King Earl to be extremely careful when extracting energy. Since King Earl was still an inexperienced user of divine power, Hao Yun feared that he might not control the energy extraction rhythm well, which could interfere with the dagger’s conversion of negative energy and thereby affect the efficiency of the armor's charging.
Fortunately, King Earl was cautious while extracting energy, and because of his limited strength, he couldn't absorb too much energy at once. This minimized the impact on the armor’s charging rhythm. Moreover, the system’s powerful learning capability allowed it to manage the charging task efficiently shortly after it started. As a result, Hao Yun no longer needed to monitor the charging process closely and could sit back on the chair Tie Ta had brought, waiting patiently for the armor to complete its charging.
"Your Majesty, how much energy have you gathered?" Hao Yun asked, turning his head to the cross-legged, seated King Earl out of curiosity.
"Not much, but I can feel the energy steadily flowing into my body. This is my first time replenishing energy this way, so my technique is still quite clumsy. It seems I need more time to gather enough energy to activate the Heavenly Shield." King Earl answered, his eyes still closed.
What King Earl didn't know was that his slow energy gathering speed was due to Hao Yun deliberately controlling the energy transfer efficiency from the armor to the dagger. Hao Yun did this for three reasons: first, to quickly fill the armor with energy; second, to prevent excessive initial energy diversion to the dagger, which could affect the armor’s charging efficiency; and third, to avoid any issues King Earl might have while absorbing the energy, which could also impact the charging efficiency.
Watching King Earl sit peacefully on the ground, Hao Yun reminded him once again, "It's good as long as you can replenish the energy. Your Majesty, please make sure to control the charging amount properly and don't force it. If you feel any abnormalities, cut off the connection with the dagger immediately and inform me right away so I can help you, understood?"
King Earl didn’t respond verbally this time. He only nodded slightly to indicate his understanding and then continued to focus on absorbing energy. Meanwhile, his expression became noticeably more relaxed, suggesting that he had started to enjoy the energy absorption process.
"Chaoyue, still no clue about Hao Yun’s location?" Dao Lao asked worriedly.
"No," Yan Chaoyue replied, shaking her head with her eyes closed.
"Strange, why is the activation of this dagger taking so long? I wonder what Earl is doing. Perhaps something unusual happened, forcing him to take longer than expected to activate the dagger," Yan Chaoyue said, wiping the sweat from her forehead. It was clear that she had expended a significant amount of mental energy trying to sense the dagger’s position.
"Chaoyue, you should rest for a while and try again after recharging. Continuing in your current state won’t help establish a connection with the dagger and will only waste more time," Dao Lao said, feeling concerned for her.
"Sigh! Uncle Dao is right. Continuing like this in my current state would only be a waste of time." Yan Chaoyue understood that she wasn’t in the best condition. Despite her reluctance, she paused her sensing attempts and focused entirely on absorbing energy.
In the secret room of the Aelfida Grand Hotel, King Earl maintained his meditative posture with his eyes closed, while Tie Ta stayed busy. Although unsure if his actions would help improve the armor’s charging speed, Tie Ta kept opening one wooden box after another to ensure the energy streams from the dagger could fully contact the corpses inside. Meanwhile, he moved away the boxes containing corpses that had been completely drained of energy and brought in new ones to ensure the dagger could continuously extract negative energy.
Not long after the charging process began, Hao Yun was surprised to find that the armor’s charging efficiency was significantly higher than before. The energy from the spaceship was evidently far more abundant than the residual energy in these corpses. After some thought, Hao Yun concluded that this phenomenon might be because the armor, modified by the Countess, was more attuned to negative energy, thus having a higher conversion efficiency for negative energy.
Realizing this, Hao Yun became even more cautious. If the armor now favored negative energy, including malefic energy, it meant that the chances of unexpected incidents during future use would be higher. Consequently, Hao Yun refocused his attention on the armor’s charging process, closely monitoring the situation, and commanded the system to perform a thorough check on the armor.
According to the system, over twenty minutes had passed since the charging began, and the armor’s energy reserve had impressively increased to around sixty-three percent. Given this pace, Hao Yun estimated that it wouldn’t be long before the armor was fully charged.
"Your Majesty, how are you doing over there? Keep an eye on the dagger’s energy level. If it gets full, let me know immediately to prevent overcharging." Although Hao Yun knew this scenario was unlikely, his habitual thinking as a lower realm being made him cautious enough to issue the reminder.
"It worked! The dagger has started extracting the negative energy from these corpses!" exclaimed King Earl, delighted at the sight.
Hao Yun merely nodded slightly in response and then continued to focus intently on observing the charging process of the battle armor. After confirming that the energy extracted from the corpses could indeed recharge the battle armor without causing any adverse effects, Hao Yun began attempting to use the energy charged into the battle armor to recharge the dagger.
Following the system's instructions, Hao Yun quickly established an additional charging supply line between the dagger and the battle armor. Once the dagger began receiving energy, he signaled King Earl to try absorbing some energy from the dagger. However, Hao Yun reminded King Earl to be extremely cautious while doing so. Since King Earl was only a novice user of divine power, Hao Yun feared that he might not control the absorption rhythm properly, which could disrupt the dagger's conversion of negative energy and thus affect the efficiency of the battle armor's charging.
Fortunately, King Earl was cautious enough while absorbing energy, and due to his limited strength, he couldn't absorb too much energy at once, so it didn't significantly affect the battle armor's charging pace. Additionally, the system's powerful learning capability allowed the charging task to be handed over to it shortly after it began. Thus, Hao Yun no longer needed to keep a close eye on the charging process and could sit back in the chair Tie Ta had brought over, waiting for the armor to be fully charged.
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"Your Majesty, how much energy have you absorbed?" Hao Yun asked curiously, turning to King Earl, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"Not much, but I can at least have a steady stream of energy flowing into my body. This is my first time replenishing energy this way, so my technique is still quite raw. It looks like I'll need more time to gather enough energy to activate the celestial shield," replied King Earl with his eyes tightly closed.
King Earl didn't know that the reason he felt his energy absorption was slow was because Hao Yun was deliberately controlling the efficiency of the energy transfer from the armor to the dagger. Hao Yun did this for three reasons: to quickly fill the battle armor's energy, to prevent the initial stage from diverting too much energy to the dagger, which would affect the charging efficiency, and to avoid any issues King Earl might have while absorbing energy, which could also impact the charging efficiency.
Seeing King Earl calmly sitting on the ground, Hao Yun reminded him again, "As long as you can replenish the energy, that's good. Your Majesty, please be sure to control the charging pace and not push it too hard. If you feel anything unusual, immediately sever the connection with the dagger and let me know so I can help you. Do you understand?"
This time, King Earl didn't respond verbally. He just nodded slightly to indicate he understood and then continued to focus on absorbing energy. Meanwhile, his expression became much more relaxed, and he even seemed to enjoy the feeling of absorbing energy.
"Chaoyue, still can't pinpoint Hao Yun's location?" Dao Lao asked worriedly.
"No," Yan Chaoyue shook her head with her eyes closed.
"Strange, why is the activation time for this dagger so long? I wonder what Earl is doing. There must be some unusual situation on King Earl's side that's forcing him to activate the dagger for so long," Yan Chaoyue said, wiping the sweat from her forehead. It was clear that trying to sense the dagger's location had consumed a lot of her mental energy.
"Chaoyue, you should rest and try again after replenishing your energy. Continuing in your current state won't help establish a connection with the dagger and will only waste more time," Dao Lao said with concern, looking at her tired face.
"Uncle Dao is right. Continuing in my current state would just be a waste of time," Yan Chaoyue agreed, understanding that her current condition wasn't good. Although she was reluctant, she paused her sensing efforts and refocused on absorbing energy.
In the secret room of the Elphida Grand Hotel, King Earl remained seated in a meditative posture with his eyes closed, and Tie Ta was busying himself by opening one wooden box after another. Although he wasn't sure if his actions would help speed up the armor's charging process, Tie Ta continued to do so, allowing the energy streams from the dagger to fully interact with the corpses in the boxes. He also kept removing the boxes with completely drained corpses and replacing them with new ones, ensuring the dagger could keep extracting negative energy from the corpses.
Not long after the charging began, Hao Yun noticed that the armor's charging efficiency was significantly faster this time. The energy on that spaceship was evidently much more abundant than the residual energy in these corpses. After some thought, Hao Yun concluded that the armor, modified by the Countess, had a higher efficiency in converting negative energy due to its affinity for such energy.
Realizing this, Hao Yun became more cautious. If the battle armor had a stronger affinity for negative energy, including the unlucky energy, it meant that the likelihood of unexpected incidents during its use would increase. So, Hao Yun quickly set aside his distractions, focusing again on monitoring the armor's charging situation and ordering the system to conduct another thorough check of the charged armor.
According to the system, it had been over twenty minutes since the charging began, and the armor's energy reserve had already risen to an impressive 63%. If this pace continued, Hao Yun estimated it wouldn't take much longer for the armor to be fully charged.
"Your Majesty, how is it going on your side? Keep an eye on the dagger's energy. If it gets full, let me know to avoid overcharging it," Hao Yun reminded, though he knew it was unlikely to happen. Still, his habitual caution as a mortal made him give the reminder.
However, this time, King Earl remained unusually silent, not even bothering to respond with a nod or shake of his head as he had before. He just sat there with his eyes closed, his expression increasingly relaxed, even showing a hint of satisfaction. But this state of apparent enjoyment from King Earl didn't ease Hao Yun's worries; instead, it made him feel an inexplicable unease. Hao Yun quickly checked the system's monitoring results on King Earl again, but everything seemed normal.
Maybe he's just focusing on restoring his strength. After all, as a mortal, it's natural to feel a bit excited after acquiring such powerful energy. Hao Yun guessed, looking at the system's results, but he couldn't shake off a lingering sense of unease.
No one else spoke in the secret room after that. King Earl continued to sit calmly with his eyes closed, Tie Ta kept busy with the wooden boxes, and Hao Yun focused on monitoring the armor's charging while also exploring the methods to activate the two newly unlocked features to see what they could do.
Unbeknownst to him, the energy in the armor had already reached 79%, and everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly.
"Warning! Warning! Unknown energy entity detected. Warning! Warning! Unknown energy entity poses a significant threat!" Just as everything was going smoothly, a series of system alarms suddenly sounded in Hao Yun's mind.
Hao Yun quickly withdrew his consciousness from the armor and asked the system, "System! What's happening?"
The Negative Energy Capture System continued to alarm in his mind, "Warning! Warning! Detected invasive energy entity in the Netherworld Battle Armor. The energy entity is suspected to be a variant of negative energy. Suggest immediate cessation of energy collection! Cease energy collection immediately?"
"Sever the link immediately!" Hao Yun ordered in panic upon hearing this.
Simultaneously, he was puzzled by the situation. Logically, even if the energy absorbed by the armor was the residual negative energy from the corpses, it should have been converted into a special energy devoid of negative attributes by the dagger. Did something go wrong during the charging process? Or was there an inherent issue with this method of charging?
Hao Yun quickly ran through various questions in his mind while continuing to issue commands to the system, "System! Activate the negative energy collector immediately and collect all this energy!"
To Hao Yun's surprise, the system did not immediately collect the energy but instead responded with a message: "Target type does not meet collection requirements. Unable to collect."
"System! What's going on? Why can't you collect the negative energy? Check if the negative energy collector is damaged immediately!" Hao Yun demanded.
"After self-diagnosis, the negative energy collector is not damaged. It is in an activated state but has not detected any collectible targets," the system replied.
"No collectible targets? You just said there's a variant of negative energy invading my armor! How can there be no collectible targets?" Hao Yun asked with a furrowed brow.
"The energy detected by the system is suspected to be a variant of negative energy. This energy entity is potentially dangerous but no longer qualifies as negative energy, so it cannot be captured by the negative energy collector," the system replied, emphasizing the term "suspected variant energy entity" in bold red font.
Only then did Hao Yun realize that the system used the words "suspected" and "variant energy entity," not that his armor was invaded by pure negative energy. His initial panic led him to mistakenly believe he was under a negative energy attack. After confirming the system's description, Hao Yun asked, "System, what should we do now? Can you expel this energy from the armor?"
"Currently unable to expel this energy. According to system diagnostics, this variant energy likely formed during the dagger's energy conversion process. It is an inert energy entity with high potential danger but is currently in a dormant state and poses no harm to others," the system's synthesized voice replied calmly.
The system then provided further analysis on the formation of the variant energy entity, giving Hao Yun a more detailed understanding. Simply put, the Netherworld Battle Armor used the dagger as a medium to convert the residual negative energy from the corpses into a special energy usable by the armor. However, due to the negative nature of the original energy and potential filtering inefficiencies during conversion, some energy with residual negative attributes might remain in the charged armor. This was a hazard inherent in using negative energy for charging.
Understanding this, Hao Yun realized the risks of using negative energy to charge the armor and felt he had made the right choice in halting the process promptly. In his view, the variant energy entity within the armor had turned it into a potential time bomb that could explode at any moment. This realization caused Hao Yun significant anxiety about using the armor in future operations.
Because he had halted the charging and severed the connection between the armor and the dagger, the energy beam linking the armor, dagger, and wooden boxes also vanished. Tie Ta initially thought the charging was complete, but seeing Hao Yun's serious expression, he quickly understood something must have gone wrong, prompting Hao Yun to stop the charging.