I can find treasures in my dreams.

A quarter of an hour later.

Deep within the Seventh Shield Base, in an underground testing ground.

Cool white light poured down from the recessed light troughs in the ceiling, illuminating the hall filled with precision instruments.

Gabamuda followed behind Zhao Xiaoying, his gaze instantly drawn to an item inside a pale blue light shield beside him.

A holographic beam of light hung nearby, with three characters displaying the name of the object—Ice Soul Pearl.

The Ice Soul Bead was much smaller than he had expected, only about the size of his thumb.

This object is translucent ice-white in color, with a hazy pale blue halo flowing across its surface.

Even more peculiar is that countless tiny, illusory snowflakes linger around the edge of the halo. These snowflakes are not still, but rather slowly flowing and rotating at an extremely slow speed.

Just by looking at the Ice Soul Bead, Gabamuda felt a slight chill on his body.

He immediately understood that it contained extremely pure ice-based supernatural power.

"This is really good stuff!"

Even without actually testing it, based on the perception brought by the Iron Spirit, Gabamuda came to a conclusion—the power of the Ice Soul Pearl was quite considerable.

If activated at full power, the Ice Soul Bead's ice energy will erupt instantly, enough to freeze a mid-level warrior into a large block of ice.

In actual combat, this means that the user has an additional powerful ice-type ability that can be mastered without training, thus gaining a huge advantage in battle.

Gabamda reiterated his strong desire to buy: "However much the Azure Civilization is willing to sell, the Iron Fist Civilization is willing to buy!"

Zhao Xiaoying's cheerful voice came from the side: "The core of the Ice Soul Pearl originates from the unique Ice Demons of the Heavenly Pillar Ice Plains. They are purer ethereal energy life forms."

"After capturing the Ice Demon using a special device, we employed a sealing technique similar to, but much simpler than, that used to seal the Shadow Spider, sealing it in a container made of second-grade rare material Frost Jade, ultimately allowing the Ice Demon's power to be used by us."

"The Ice Demon can be used like this?"

Upon hearing this, Gabamuda turned around abruptly, his metallic eyes almost overflowing with surprise.

He couldn't help but say, "Commander Zhao, I've heard that Ice Demons are a special kind of life form that is extremely dependent on the environment. Their existence is entirely dependent on the world laws of the Heavenly Pillar Ice Plains."

"Many civilizations have tried to capture ice demons and bring them back to their own world. However, the ice demons would eventually enter an unstoppable process of extinction, and the supernatural ice power within them would be completely drained away."

In fact.

When different civilizations developed the Heavenly Pillar Icefield, their methods for dealing with the Ice Demons were largely the same.

Simply put, the goal is to kill the Ice Demon as quickly as possible, and then, before its soul dissipates, use certain secret methods to refine it into an Ice Bead.

However, compared to a living ice demon, the power contained in the ice pearl may only be one or two tenths.

If the battle drags on for too long, the Ice Demon will consume too much energy, and the ice beads it refines may have less than half of their power remaining.

Gabamuda leaned closer to the light barrier, his voice filled with immense doubt: "If the Ice Soul Pearl truly sealed an Ice Demon, why didn't it perish?"

Iron Fist Warrior's Iron Spirit could vaguely sense that the Ice Soul Pearl contained a very peculiar life force.

Therefore, he believed Commander Zhao's words; there was indeed a living ice demon sealed inside.

Zhao Xiaoying nodded slightly and explained succinctly: "You can understand it this way: deep within the soul of every ice demon lies a supernatural mark left by the laws of the Heavenly Pillar Ice Plains."

"If the Ice Demon leaves the Heavenly Pillar Ice Plain, the supernatural mark will be unable to sense the laws of the ice plain and will quietly dismantle the Ice Demon's soul, ultimately leading to its death."

"In a sense, the Ice Demons are like a pack of guard dogs kept by the Heavenly Pillar Ice Plains, fulfilling their duty to protect the ice plains from birth to death."

"After numerous experiments, the Azure Civilization finally discovered a secret method to interfere with the mark, preventing it from affecting the Ice Demon's soul. That's why we were able to bring the captured Ice Demon back."

The "secret technique" mentioned in these words must have originated from Yang Fan.

Since Yang Fan was able to exploit the loopholes in the laws of the Fallen Sand Abyss Secret Realm and bring a large number of Soul-Devouring Demon Beasts back to Azure Star, breaking the law imprint within the Ice Demon's soul would naturally not be difficult for him.

The saying "If you understand one method, you understand all methods" perfectly illustrates this principle.

Having experienced the Lost Sand Abyss Secret Realm, Yang Fan's understanding of the laws has reached a new level.

The entire Azure Civilization also benefited greatly; the Soul-Controlling Beast Soul and the Ice Soul Pearl were just the beginning.

"You Canglan people are really amazing!"

Gabamuda sighed sincerely.

Zhao Xiaoying raised her hand and gestured towards the control panel: "Mr. Wang Tie, you can try to feel the power of the Ice Soul Pearl."

The voice just fell.

The pale blue light shield rippled slightly, turning into tiny specks of blue light.

The true form of the Ice Soul Pearl was thus revealed.

The hazy glow emanating from the crystal beads grew increasingly intense, as if they came to life as they swirled, and the illusory snowflakes swirling around them became clearer.

Almost at the same instant the light shield dissipated, a thin layer of frost spread across the surface of the metal workbench where the Ice Soul Orb was placed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The surface of the frost is covered with a large number of fine snowflake-like patterns, like a piece of ice crystal art sculpted by nature.

"hiss--"

Gabamuda clearly felt a bone-chilling coldness creeping over him and immediately took a deep breath.

Strangely, the chill did not seep into the body from the outside through the gaps in the armor; rather, it seemed to rise slowly from deep within one's bones.

The Iron Fist Warrior was startled, and asked with a hint of surprise, "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the 'Cold Energy Field', right?"

The so-called "cold energy field" is a special energy field that is naturally born when the mass and total amount of ice-based supernatural objects contain ice-based energy that has reached a certain critical point and undergone a strange energy transformation.

Simply put, even if an item with a cold energy field contains the same total amount of supernatural power as an item without a cold energy field, the former will be at least 20% more powerful than the latter.

In a life-or-death battle, the advantage brought by the cold energy field could very well completely change the course of the battle.

Zhao Xiaoying nodded with a smile, her tone tinged with pride: "That's right, Mr. Wang Tie, your judgment is very accurate."

Gabamda's gaze toward the Ice Soul Orb was so intense it almost melted it.

Zhao Xiaoying continued, "About one-third of the Ice Soul Beads that we subsequently supplied to the Iron Fist Civilization met high-quality standards and successfully activated the cold energy field."

"This batch of high-quality Ice Soul Beads also has an outstanding characteristic: as long as the supernatural power remaining inside is not less than 20%, the cold energy field can be maintained stably."

"At that time, you only need to place it in an area with abundant ice-type supernatural power, and the Ice Soul Bead will actively absorb the energy in the environment. It will take about half a year to restore it to its full energy state."

Gabamuda's expression grew increasingly delighted: "This is the best news I've heard all day!"

Even a fool knows the difference between reusable equipment and equipment that is destroyed after one use.

The former greatly saves resources.

Zhao Xiaoying did not hide the shortcomings: "However, there is one thing that needs to be explained in advance: every time the Ice Soul Pearl completes a recharge and recovery, the intensity of the cold energy field will decrease slightly."

“Based on the data calculated by the laboratory, after fifteen to eighteen recharges, the cold energy field will permanently collapse and can never be restored. At that time, the Ice Soul Pearl will no longer be able to recharge.” Gabamda still looked satisfied and nodded repeatedly: “Fifteen times is already a lot!”

He was absolutely certain that the Ice Soul Pearl's ability to generate a cold energy field was no accident.

After all, a high-quality ratio of up to 30% is astonishing, which must mean that the Canglan people have mastered the core means of mass-producing cold energy fields.

The foundation of the Azure Civilization was far greater than he had initially imagined.

Zhao Xiaoying smiled and said, "Due to the obvious differences in quality, the pricing of Ice Soul Beads will naturally vary. The price of a regular Ice Soul Bead is five hundred Azure Crystals."

"The high-quality Ice Soul Bead with a cold energy field is priced four times that of the ordinary model, which is two thousand Azure Crystals."

Azure Crystals are the currency within the Azure Alliance. One Azure Crystal is equivalent to one kilogram of Grade 1 heterogeneous black crystal iron.

"This pricing is very reasonable!"

Gabamu Da blurted out without thinking, not feeling that the price was too high at all.

The high-quality Ice Soul Beads, which can be reused more than fifteen times and have even greater power, are incredibly good value for money, even considered cheap, considering that they only cost three times the premium.

Even if the Azure Civilization offers five times or more the price, other civilizations in this world group will still rush to pay without hesitation.

Gabamuda couldn't contain himself and asked, "Commander Zhao, may I personally control this Ice Soul Pearl and experience its combat power?"

“Of course!” Zhao Xiaoying nodded readily.

She raised her hand and tapped the portable terminal on her wrist twice, saying, "Mr. Wang Tie, I'll have someone bring over a target right away. Now, take a look at this video instruction manual for the Ice Soul Bead and familiarize yourself with how to control it."

Gabamuda quickly replied, "Understood!"

The "targets" mentioned here are not ordinary stationary targets used for gun shooting, but rather native creatures of the Black Sand Sea specially raised at the Pioneer City base.

These creatures come from a variety of sources. Some are low-level monsters captured during desert patrols, some are desert monster variants cultivated from a young age by researchers in the laboratory, and some are mutated individuals artificially bred through gene fusion technology.

The study of primordial life forms is an important direction for various civilizations to improve their combat power and develop resources, and almost all of them have invested massive amounts of resources in it, so it is nothing new.

Those organisms that have undergone preliminary research but lack research value, or those that have been researched but retain a certain combat capability, will be classified as "test targets" for the practical effectiveness testing of various new weapons.

Not long after.

At the other end of the test site.

That area was separated by a high-energy grating that glowed with a pale purple light, forming an independent testing space.

A black drone flew over silently, with a specially made high-strength alloy cage hanging below it, and dropped it directly down.

"Oh!"

A dull thud echoed out.

The alloy cage crashed heavily to the ground, rolled once, and then its side walls suddenly folded automatically, shrinking into a palm-sized silver metal block in the blink of an eye.

Gabamuda was startled awake by the muffled sound and looked away from the holographic screen.

A trace of shock still lingered in his metallic eyes.

The holographic video that just played was a real-world video of "group control of the Ice Soul Beads," and the visuals had a considerable impact on him.

in the video screen.

Thirteen Azure Warriors, clad in Celestial Armor, spread out in a fan shape, each holding an Ice Soul Pearl in their hands.

As the Ice Soul Pearl was activated, countless fine wisps of ice mist surged out from its body, converging in mid-air to form a rolling mass of frigid ice mist.

The icy mist did not spread haphazardly, but rather swirled and condensed rapidly like flowing clouds, transforming in mid-air into a giant ice hand covered with ice crystal patterns within just two seconds.

"call out--"

The icy hand, accompanied by the howling wind, plunged rapidly into the sand ahead.

"Oh!"

A deafening explosion rang out, instantly smashing a huge crater into the sand layer, sending sand and gravel flying like a fountain.

Every grain of flying sand condenses into a thin layer of ice crystals the moment it comes into contact with the ice mist, refracting the sunlight like scattered diamonds.

next second.

A venomous sandworm, over twenty meters long, was held firmly in an icy hand, its entire body covered by a thick layer of transparent ice.

Under normal circumstances, sandworms are known as thick-skinned and tough species of the black sand sea.

Even when attacked by high-level ice-type ability users and frozen into a large block of ice, they can still forcefully shatter the ice layer and break free from their restraints using their powerful internal energy and abundant earth-type ability.

However, the venomous sand worm in the video remained completely still, like a dead object.

It was clear that the extreme cold had invaded its body, causing its supernatural abilities to completely go out of control and completely lose its ability to struggle.

The video's caption states that the Corrosive Sandworm's strength reached the level of a quasi-knight, yet it was powerless against the Ice Soul Pearl.

This is enough to prove that the power of the Ice Soul Pearl far exceeded his expectations!
If a squad of ten Ironfist Warriors were to face a Quasi-Knight-level Corrosive Sandworm, even if all of them were equipped with advanced equipment imported from the Azure Civilization, they would inevitably have to endure a fierce and arduous battle.

Given that the corrosive mucus of sandworms is extremely dangerous and can even penetrate into metal, their sudden attacks after burrowing into the sand are even more difficult to defend against, and there is a high probability of casualties.

However, the Azure Warriors squad in the video easily captured the extremely difficult-to-catch Corrosive Sandworm alive, with almost no losses throughout the process.

Gabamuda was naturally shocked after watching the holographic video.

at this time.

Before the holographic light screen demonstration had finished, Gabamda turned to look at the other end of the test field.

Within the test area separated by the high-energy grating, a strangely shaped black sand scorpion, over a meter long, was slowly crawling.

Black sand scorpions are the most common and rampant species in the Black Sand Sea. They range from small, palm-sized scorpions with sharp teeth that are good at sneaking into crevices to giant armored scorpions that are tens of meters long and have terrifyingly strong defenses. The variety is too numerous to count.

But the scorpion in front of him, which he was using as a target, made him squint.

Judging from its body features, this creature has a row of sharp spines on its back that can change color, so it should be a scorpion with a flower-backed spine.

The common flower-backed scorpion has only one tail covered with barbs, but this scorpion has three flexible tails trailing out from its tail!

Each scorpion tail was covered with a rough, hard, dark armor, and a faint wisp of black poisonous mist lingered at the tip.

The three scorpion tails seemed to have independent consciousness, each swaying and probing in different directions, sometimes quickly coiling into a spiral, sometimes suddenly straightening, their movements swift and precise.

This is by no means an effect that can be achieved by forcibly grafting limbs—grafted limbs will inevitably have sluggish or uncoordinated movements.

However, the coordination of these three scorpion tails is even smoother than that of a single tail limb of an ordinary venomous scorpion. This is clearly due to the use of bio-modification technology, which has allowed the scorpion's nerves and brain to completely control the newly added limbs.

The Iron Fist Warrior glanced at it and instantly became certain: "The Azure Civilization's research in the field of biological modification in the Black Sand Sea is far ahead of the Iron Fist people by more than one level." (End of Chapter)