"Now, I will teach you how to use weapons. We'll start with smaller ones first, so watch carefully as I demonstrate," Orion said, holding a wooden knife. On a nearby table, several other wooden weapons were laid out.

Wang Lingxin had shown good progress in unarmed combat, so Orion decided it was time to introduce her to weapons. Because Wang Lingxin was still small, they would begin with smaller-sized weapons. The practice weapons were made by Orion from wood, ensuring they weren't dangerous.

Orion demonstrated each wooden weapon on the table one by one, with Wang Lingxin watching in amazement.

"Master, why does the weapon look so weird?" Wang Lingxin asked, raising her hand as she observed Orion's demonstration with the strange, curved knife.

"It's not weird; this is how it's supposed to look. It's called a karambit. Now, watch closely," Orion replied, holding the karambit in its right hand, spinning it by the index finger loop, then demonstrating its use.

"Oh..." Wang Lingxin murmured.

She had never seen such a weapon before and thought its curved shape and unique grip looked strange, even thinking it might be damaged.

"Wow..." Wang Lingxin exclaimed as she watched Orion skillfully demonstrate the use of the karambit.

Orion taught Wang Lingxin for an hour, focusing on small weapons like knives, daggers, throwing knives, and the karambit. After a while, the lesson ended. It was just an introductory session, and Wang Lingxin had much more to learn.

"Okay, we're done for today's lesson," Orion said as it stored the wooden weapons in the storage ring.

Orion then left the dojo, walking under the morning sun as it headed to the workshop before entering the underground room.

In the largest underground room, Orion was busily working. A humanoid figure stood before it, and Orion was tweaking it meticulously. The figure had a muscular body, but its head was bald and faceless—it looked like a human body but was actually a wooden mannequin covered with slime skin. Orion could control the slime skin to change its texture and color, allowing it to mimic human skin, making the mannequin appear almost lifelike. Orion even adjusted the slime skin to make the mannequin resemble a muscular human body.

The mannequin's abdomen was open, revealing a metallic object and numerous cables inside. Orion moved to the back of the mannequin and connected several cables from the mannequin to itself. After a moment, Orion raised the mannequin's right hand. There were several wooden mannequins standing across the room as targets, and Orion aimed the mannequin's hand at one of them.

Using the cables, Orion controlled the mannequin's ADAMS, activating its artificial Dantian and transferring Qi through the artificial meridian system, which was made from slime meridian. Electric stimulation was used to control the Qi flow from the artificial Dantian through the meridian system to the mannequin's right arm. A bright light began to gather there, and a ball of fire formed in the hand before being shot toward the mannequin across the room.

Swoosh.

Bam.

The fireball struck the mannequin on the other side of the room, exploding on impact and engulfing it in flames. The wooden figure was charred and burned.

Orion then controlled the connected mannequin to fire another ball of fire, this time larger and compressed before being released. The fireball shot towards the burning mannequin.

Swoosh.

Bam.

The explosion was even stronger, blowing the wooden mannequin into several pieces, which were then set ablaze.

Orion then aimed the wooden mannequin's right hand and controlled it to shoot water balls, dousing the burning remnants of the previous target. Next, Orion aimed at another wooden mannequin standing across the room. A crescent-shaped water blade shot from the mannequin's hand, slicing through the wooden mannequin and cutting it in half.

Orion then aimed the mannequin's hand at the remaining wooden mannequins across the room, launching a series of attacks: a wind blade that sliced through one mannequin, a lightning strike that cracked and slightly burned another, an icicle that stabbed into a third, and a sharp stone stalactite that pierced yet another.

With all the wooden mannequins destroyed, Orion raised the left hand of the slime skin-covered mannequin. Orion then controlled the mannequin's left and right hands to execute combat techniques of different elements at the same time, rapidly alternating between techniques with minimal delay.

Most cultivators can't execute two combat techniques at a time, let alone with different elemental attributes, but Orion did it with ease. Additionally, Orion didn’t need to announce or shout the technique's name like most cultivators. It could use combat techniques instantly.

Orion had researched this phenomenon and concluded that the reason cultivators need to announce their technique names is due to habit. Learning combat techniques is challenging, involving complex combinations of meridian points and precise Qi control. By saying the name, cultivators reinforce the memory of which meridian points to use and how to control the Qi—similar to a shortcut or hotkey in a game.

Low-leveled cultivators loudly declare their technique names, and the execution is slow. As they advance, this habit persists, helping them execute more complex techniques. Hence, even at higher realms, cultivators continue to shout their technique names, much like characters in cultivation novels, manga, manhwa, or comics.

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But for Orion, there was no need for such hassle. Every aspect of the combat technique was stored in its memory and could be accessed instantly.

Impressive. I’ve now improved my control over ADAMS, Orion noted internally as it observed the burning remains of the destroyed mannequins, recording the data.

It took Orion about a month to create the wooden mannequin and install the ADAMS inside it. The ADAMS was designed to mimic a human Dantian and meridian system.

Orion replicated the human meridian system using slime meridian by joining and cutting the slime meridians, then mending them with high-quality medicinal liquid. The entire system was wrapped in slime skin for protection, resulting in a product similar to a cable.

Weeks were spent learning to control the ADAMS, and Orion successfully mimicked how cultivators use their meridians to activate combat techniques and now Orion has further improved and deepened the understanding and control of the ADAMS.

Orion was thoroughly satisfied with the performance of the ADAMS. When compared to cultivators, the combat capabilities of the ADAMS far exceeded those of a typical cultivator. The current ADAMS was created using Rank-1 slime meridians and a Rank-1 Spirit Beast core, making it equivalent to a cultivator at the Qi Condensation realm, but with much better performance.

When executing combat techniques, the resulting power was far greater than that of a cultivator, thanks to the slime meridians, which are among the best, and the Spirit Beast core, which continuously supplied large amounts of Qi by converting it from LQ.

Although the slime meridians used were from normal slime with no unique characteristics, the power generated when executing fire-based combat techniques was comparable to that of a cultivator with a unique fire element body constitution.

Cultivators with unique body constitutions can enhance their combat and cultivation techniques, but they also face drawbacks. For example, a cultivator with a fire element body constitution will see their fire-based attacks increase several folds in power, but their attacks of other elemental types will be weakened.

However, with the ADAMS, the power exhibited was equally strong, akin to those cultivators with unique body constitutions, and the ADAMS could utilize multiple elements without any weaknesses.

The ADAMS prototype successfully executed combat techniques, and Orion began planning the next step: installing the ADAMS into its own body. However, several issues needed to be addressed before proceeding.

The plan was not only to integrate ADAMS but also to cover its body with slime skin. The wooden mannequin, which was covered in slime skin, appeared lifelike, with skin resembling that of a human. Orion also planned to use slime skin on itself to achieve a human-like appearance.

To do this, Orion needed to modify its body, removing the outer casing and even cutting and altering some structural parts, which would take time. People believed that Orion was a human constantly wearing metallic armor. If Orion suddenly covered its body with slime skin, it would result in Orion's body becoming bigger, which would raise suspicion.

How could a body appear larger without armor? To avoid this, Orion needed to remove and modify some of its body parts to reduce its size before applying the slime skin. Orion needed to modify its body to allow for the installation of the ADAMS and to cover its body with slime skin, also connecting the ADAMS with the slime skin.

Currently, Orion's outer casing was strengthened with inscriptions, and removing it would affect its defense. However, this was no longer an issue, as Orion had successfully put inscriptions on the slime skin.

Orion planned to use two layers of slime skin with inscriptions on each. For cultivators, inscribing their bodies is not feasible because the Qi flow within the inscriptions would disrupt their Qi flow, potentially damaging their meridians and Dantian, and causing significant pain. However, this is not a problem for Orion.

Between the layers, there will be medicinal liquid to nourish and heal the slime skin if damaged. Orion had even made the medicinal liquid red to resemble blood. Orion had developed this medicinal liquid and improved it through many experiments, and now it has great healing power, allowing the slime skin to quickly recover from cuts and damage.

After months of research and experiments, it's finally done. Only a few improvements are needed, and I can integrate ADAMS into my body. It will allow me to execute combat and movement techniques like a cultivator. Although I won't become a cultivator, this will grant me abilities akin to cultivators, Orion thought internally, its AI busily planning and preparing for the final steps.

The ADAMS is great but also has limitations. It grants capabilities similar to those of a cultivator but can't be used for cultivation. In summary, Orion can't use the ADAMS to cultivate, improve it, or achieve breakthroughs.

Currently, the ADAMS is equivalent to a cultivator at the Qi Condensation realm, and Orion can't cultivate the ADAMS to make it breakthrough to the equivalent of a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator. To create an ADAMS comparable to a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment realm, Orion would need to use Rank-2 slime meridian and a Rank-2 Spirit Beast core.

Although Orion can't evolve the ADAMS and must create new, improved versions, there are also advantages. As long as Orion has the necessary materials, it can create high-level ADAMS comparable to high-level cultivators in a short time, while cultivators need a long time to advance their cultivation. However, for now, Orion still can't create an ADAMS equivalent to a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator because it doesn't have Rank-2 slime meridian.

Orion began the cleanup, storing various items in the storage ring, including the wooden mannequin covered in slime skin. After tidying up the room, which was littered with destroyed parts and pieces of wooden mannequins, Orion left the underground room, satisfied with the day's fruitful experiment.

Even with a normal Rank-1 slime meridian, the power exhibited is comparable to cultivators with unique body constitutions, and it can utilize a wide variety of elements.

What if meridians from a slime with a special elemental attribute were used? The performance might be even greater.

And why limit to just one meridian system? What if multiple slime meridian systems were arranged in parallel, each with a unique elemental attribute?

For the artificial Dantian, I could experiment with using multiple Spirit Beast cores to power it, Orion pondered internally, its AI continuously planning and researching possible improvements and upgrades for the ADAMS as it walked out of the workshop and into the house.

The house was empty; Wang Lingxin was with Aria, playing with the village kids. Orion observed her via a high-flying drone camera.

Wang Lingxin’s Spiritual Root is of low quality. Her potential in cultivation is limited and advancing her cultivation level will be challenging. Is it possible to improve her meridian and Dantian? ... It seems I indeed need to conduct experiments on live humans, Orion thought, formulating a plan to raid bandit groups again and capture some bandits.

Orion left the house, closing the door behind it. The plan to capture live bandits was set but required extensive preparation, so it was postponed for now. Currently, Orion planned to visit Zhang Yueru and her group.

Orion began running, vanishing among the trees.