Kryptonians: Man of Steel

Chapter 1206: Minami Rika's Changes
Nan Lixiang put away the distracting thoughts in her mind and devoted herself wholeheartedly to the cultivation of spiritual power.

The sunlight shone through the window, casting patches of light on her focused face.

Her breathing gradually became long and deep, as if the whole world had stopped.

Under the guidance of Kasumigaoka Utaha and Hiratsuka Shizuka, she began to try to establish a connection with the unknown power in her body.

At first, everything seemed normal. Nan Lixiang only felt a faint warm current flowing slowly in her body, like the first melting water in a spring stream, gentle and delicate.

But as her consciousness deepened, this warm current gradually gathered into a river and began to rush through her meridians, bringing unprecedented shock and surprise.

"Is this spiritual power?"

Nan Lixiang stood in the quiet training room, feeling unprecedented shock in her heart.

The air around her seemed to be frozen, only the powerful force that had just awakened in her body was boiling, like a volcano that had been dormant for thousands of years suddenly awakening and erupting with hot and mysterious energy.

This power was both strange and familiar, as if it was an innate part of her, but she had never really touched it.

Utaha Kasumigaoka stood opposite Rika Minami, and the same thing happened to her when she first came into contact with spiritual power.

She spoke slowly, "Let your consciousness follow the guidance of my 'spiritual power' and keep track of the flow. Remember, spiritual power is not a static lake, but a flowing river. Only by letting it circulate in your body can you truly master this power."

Minami Rika did as she was told, closed her eyes, and tried to focus on the trajectory of spiritual power described by Kasumigaoka Utaha.

At first, she felt confused, as if she was in a fog and couldn't find her direction.

But as time went by, a warm and gentle force began to travel through her body, starting from her dantian, along the eight extraordinary meridians, slowly moving upwards to the Baihui point on the top of her head, then slowly sinking and returning to her dantian.

During this process, she seemed to hear the sound of blood flowing faster in her body, and the cheers of those tiny cells as they came alive due to the nourishment of spiritual power.

"In this way, you can strengthen your spiritual power through continuous training."

Nan Lixiang opened her eyes, her eyes sparkling with excitement and anticipation: "I am now...becoming a transcendent?"

However, Kasumigaoka Utaha's smile turned subtle at this moment. She shook her head gently, "Naive. You only have spiritual power now, just like those spiritualists who have just awakened their spiritual power. They have spiritual power but don't know how to use it. In the eyes of true extraordinary beings, you are just a 'beast' with spiritual power."

When Minami Rika heard this, the excitement on her face froze instantly, and was replaced by an indescribable loss.

"Minami Rika, you have successfully awakened your spiritual power. This is the first step in your spiritual power training journey, but there is still a long way to go."

"The spiritual power training method is not as simple as awakening spiritual power. What's more important is to learn how to control and use this power. The change of nature and form are the two core elements of the use of spiritual power."

Hiratsuka Shizuka nodded in agreement. Her voice was direct and practical, without any embellishment. "That's right, spiritual power is not static. It can change according to your will. Nature change refers to changing the essential attributes of spiritual power. For example, spiritual power can be converted into different elemental attributes such as fire, ice, lightning, etc. This can not only enhance your attack power, but also give you more strategic options in battle. And form change is to shape spiritual power into various forms, such as shields, flying swords, ropes, etc., to adapt to different combat environments and needs."

Upon hearing this, Minami Rika frowned, obviously confused by these two new concepts.

"Changes in properties and forms? Can spiritual power also change into different forms or have different properties like magic?"

She couldn't help but ask the doubts in her heart.

Kasumigaoka Utaha smiled slightly, as if she had anticipated Minami Rika's confusion: "Yes, spiritual power is much more magical than you think. But mastering any power requires time and patience. What you are going through now is the inevitable journey for all spiritualists. Don't rush for success, but calm down and learn and practice step by step."

Hiratsuka Shizuka saw her confusion, chuckled, and then her body shook, and there seemed to be flashes of lightning in the air.

"Let me show you."

As she spoke, she slowly raised her hands, and dazzling blue arcs of electricity instantly burst out from her fingertips. The crackling sound echoed in the room, like thunder before a summer rainstorm.

As the lightning spread, her whole body seemed to be wrapped in a thin layer of lightning, emitting a heart-pounding aura.

"Look, this is my nature change - thunder. Through training, I can transform my spiritual power into the power of thunder and lightning. Not only does it have a wider attack range, but it is also more powerful."

Hiratsuka Shizuka's voice was calm and firm, but the terrifying destructive power hidden behind that strength made Minami Rika involuntarily take a step back.

"And what you said, directly infusing spiritual power into fists, feet or weapons, is indeed a simple way of using it, but it is extremely inefficient. It's like using unrefined gunpowder to directly attack the enemy. Although it can cause damage, it is far from achieving the maximum effect."

Kasumigaoka Utaha took over the topic.

"For us who have mastered the transformation of nature and form, it is like mastering the technology of making bombs. We can transform spiritual power into more accurate and efficient means of attack."

Minami Rika was listening attentively, and the scene before her completely overturned her understanding of spiritual power.

She began to imagine that if she could also master such skills, then she would have a better chance of winning no matter what kind of enemy she faced.

"So, what is the metamorphosis?"

Minami Rika asked eagerly, her eyes sparkling with a desire to learn.

"To put it simply, form change is to shape spiritual power into a specific shape or structure to achieve a specific effect." Hiratsuka Shizuka explained, "For example, I can condense the power of lightning into a sharp blade, or a solid shield, or even create a complex spiritual formation to achieve a variety of functions such as long-range attack, defense, or assisting teammates."

As she spoke, Shizuka Hiratsuka waved her hand lightly, and the lightning power in the air instantly condensed into a lightning blade that flashed with cold light. The sharp tip of the blade gently passed through the air, leaving a tiny crack.

Then, the lightning blade turned into a halo, surrounding her and forming an indestructible lightning shield.

This series of changes left Minami Rika dumbfounded, and she felt a sense of awe for spiritual power in her heart.

"Mastering the changes in the nature and form of spiritual energy is mastering the [art]."

technique!
It can also be understood as a skill.

Only with the skills can one become a true extraordinary person, rather than a so-called psychic.

Similarly, demons also have the possibility of mastering "arts", but their arts are naturally different from those of spiritualists. The "arts" of demons are more about changes in their bodies, such as transforming into blade-like limbs, or becoming gigantic.

Although strictly speaking, the "arts" of psychics at present cannot be called "arts".

But Luther hasn't decided whether to learn Kidō or Ninjutsu, so this is it for now.

Minami Rika also understood the importance of "skill".

……

While Minami Rika was practicing hard, Luther also noticed the changes on the battlefield.

"Interesting, humans have been forced to develop power armor?"

There was a hint of amusement and wonder in Luther's eyes, a mockery of the new turn of the war, or perhaps a recognition of human creativity.

The battlefield of Kyoto, once a prosperous city, has now become a purgatory where predators are rampant.

These creatures from another world possess powerful strength and speed beyond human comprehension. Their appearance completely overturned human understanding of war.

Facing such an enemy, traditional weapons seemed pale and powerless, and humans had to seek new ways out. Thus, power armor came into being.

After spending so much time, humans finally showed off their new weapon - power armor.

In fact, it has been very fast, because it has only been a short time. In peacetime, it would take many decades for power armor to appear, but in this life-and-death war period and under the temptation of interests, power armor was developed in just less than a few years.

These power armors are up to two meters high, and their streamlined appearance is not only beautiful, but also contains aerodynamic wisdom, which enables them to minimize air resistance and improve maneuverability when moving.

The surface of the armor shines with the luster of metal and technology. It is the latest boron carbide ceramic composite armor, a miracle hailed as the "material of the future" in the military field.

Boron carbide ceramic composite armor has revolutionized its impact resistance, solving the problem of traditional armor being fragile when facing high-speed impacts.

At the same time, its hardness reaches an astonishing 50GPa, which means that it can withstand a direct hit from almost any conventional weapon.

You should know that the hardness of many rocks in nature is only a few to a dozen GPa, while the hardness of steel is usually around 20 GPa.

The expensiveness of this material is self-evident, and it is usually only used in key parts of armed helicopters to provide extreme protection.

However, for the ambitious project of creating "extraordinary individual" armor, the investment and considerations behind it are far beyond the scope of a simple cost-benefit analysis.

The core of this plan is to deeply explore and maximize the potential of extraordinary people. As warriors of the new era, they are not only the hope of mankind against unknown threats, but also the key force in promoting technological and tactical innovation.

The design of power armor is a perfect fusion of science and art, and every detail embodies the power of cutting-edge technology.

The titanium alloy shield, as the core of defense, not only uses high-strength, lightweight titanium alloy materials, but also uses advanced heat treatment processes and precision forging technology to ensure the toughness and impact resistance of the shield.

This shield can not only withstand direct hits from conventional ammunition, but can even withstand powerful kinetic attacks to a certain extent, providing an indestructible protective barrier for the extraordinary.

The cubic boron nitride bonded cutting blade is the finishing touch to the power armor's attack capability.

Cubic boron nitride (CBN) is a synthetic material with a hardness second only to diamond. It also has excellent thermal stability and can maintain good cutting performance at high temperatures.

The blade of this tool is made by bonding precision CBN particles to a metal matrix, ensuring the sharpness and durability of the blade.

On the battlefield, whether it is cutting enemy armor, destroying electronic equipment, or performing precise rescue operations, the cubic boron nitride bonded cutting knife can do it with ease and become a sharp weapon in the hands of extraordinary people.

In addition to physical attack methods, the power armor also integrates a variety of high-tech weapon systems, among which the designs of flamethrowers and liquid nitrogen sprayers are particularly eye-catching.

The flamethrower uses high-pressure injection technology to mix fuel and combustion aid and ignite it, forming a high-temperature and high-speed flame flow, which can not only cause direct combustion damage to the enemy, but also interfere with the enemy's vision through heat waves.

The liquid nitrogen jet uses the ultra-low temperature characteristics of liquid nitrogen to quickly lower the target temperature, causing a freezing effect, slowing down or even stopping the enemy's ability to move.

The combination of these two weapon systems enables the extraordinary people to quickly find the most effective response strategy when facing different types of enemies.

Shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles are a manifestation of the long-range strike capability of power armor.

The system integrates advanced infrared detection and guidance technology, which can automatically lock and track enemy heat sources and achieve precise strikes.

This type of missile not only has a fast flying speed, but also has a certain intelligent evasive capability, which can effectively avoid obstacles and ensure the accuracy of the strike.

In the complex and ever-changing battlefield environment, heat-seeking bullets have become a trump card in the hands of the extraordinary, capable of delivering a fatal blow to the enemy at a critical moment.

However, as mentioned earlier, power armor is expensive, and its cost-effectiveness is particularly prominent in conventional warfare.

The construction cost of a large cruiser is enough to equip hundreds of sets of power armor, but the roles of the two on the battlefield are different.

Cruisers, with their powerful firepower, heavy armor and long-range strike capabilities, have become the decisive force in naval battles; while power armor, with its high flexibility, concealment and ability to adapt to complex environments, has become a leader in special operations, counter-terrorism operations and urban street fighting.

During the research and development of power armor, engineers also faced a series of technical challenges, among which power supply, heat dissipation and adaptability to complex terrain were particularly critical.

At the same time, in order to effectively dissipate heat, an efficient thermal management system is integrated inside the armor. Through liquid cooling circulation and heat sink design, the generated heat is quickly discharged to avoid performance degradation caused by overheating.

The emergence of the extraordinary has opened up a whole new field for the application of power armor.

Man-made extraordinary beings have obtained "spiritual power and demonic power" beyond that of ordinary people, but without effective means of using this power, it is often difficult to fully realize its potential.

The emergence of power armor provides a perfect platform for transcendents, allowing them to combine their spiritual power with the advanced technology of armor to achieve a leap in combat capabilities.

(End of this chapter)