Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

A cold, inaudible notification sounded in my ears, accompanied by a sudden burst of noise from the surrounding stands.

In the stands, countless figures of various Void races waved their arms, emitting a cacophony of cheers, exclamations, and frustrations.

Most of them did not recognize the figure shrouded in the shadow of a hood in the center of the arena, but they could clearly see the unique mark of the Paradise of Reincarnation above that person's head.

In the eyes of countless intelligent races and forces in the void, high-level contractors from the Paradise of Reincarnation represent "irrationality," "high risk," and "unpredictability."

A seemingly frail healer may possess the power to smash a dragon's skull, while an elegant mage may be most adept at slitting an enemy's throat from behind with a dagger.

As for summoners? They are a hotbed of deception and trickery. You never know what strange and deadly thing they might pull out from another dimension the next second.

Because they were used to being "deceived," when Lin Yi appeared in such a "traditional" and even somewhat simple summoner manner, and with only a group of seemingly delicate female summoners wielding guns, he almost crushed a winged race competitor with considerable strength, the audience, after a brief moment of astonishment, instead showed even stronger interest.

This contrast between "meeting expectations and exceeding expectations" is one of the most captivating aspects of the arena.

Ignoring the surrounding commotion, Lin Yi calmly scanned the spot where his opponent had disappeared, confirming the victory was secured. Instead of leaving the arena, he immediately reactivated the matchmaking system.

Almost the instant he chose to continue ranking, the virtual betting amount in the betting area outside the arena, below the odds terms related to his number, began to scroll upwards at an astonishing speed.

Although 18541 is still not considered top-tier among the massive number of sixth-tier players, Lin Yi's relaxed demeanor in the previous battle and his seemingly casual yet decisive victory made the astute audience and gamblers realize that this contractor of the Reincarnation Paradise had not yet revealed his full strength.

His ranking has a lot of room for improvement.

【Matching...】

Match successful. Opponent's Arena ID: Sanctuary Paradise. Current ranking: 17922.

As light and shadow shift, the scene on the yellow sand field is recreated.

Lin Yi's figure solidified again, and a new figure appeared simultaneously about a hundred meters away.

This time, our opponent comes from Sanctuary Paradise.

Contrary to Lin Yi's expectations of a typical Sanctuary Contractor dressed in a priest's robe and holding a holy book or cross, the other party was wearing a well-tailored, dark blue jumpsuit made of a special fabric. The style was futuristic and sci-fi, clinging to the body's lines, with subtle energy streams occasionally passing across its surface.

He was wearing a pair of semi-coverage tactical goggles, with data streams flashing rapidly on the lenses.

Instead of weapons, several fist-sized, constantly rotating and changing geometric shapes floated in the air, resembling some kind of control terminal.

The enhancement paths of Sanctuary Contractors, especially the high-level ones, vary greatly.

The person before me is clearly not following the traditional path of divine arts or faith, but rather a special system that combines technology with a certain kind of faith power.

Lin Yi never underestimates any opponent who can reach this ranking.

While the high-level contractors of the Samsara Paradise are very strong, the strong individuals from other paradises also have their own unique strengths, especially in their respective areas of expertise.

Otherwise, the battle for control of the higher-level reincarnation paradise world wouldn't have been so fierce.

According to Lin Yi's understanding, many of the battles for control of high-level worlds in the Samsara Paradise could be described as pyrrhic victories.
The opponent's tactical goggles locked onto Lin Yi, seemingly conducting a rapid scan and analysis.

Upon seeing Lin Yi's attire, the data stream paused slightly, but it did not lower its guard.

The "Summoner" in the Paradise of Reincarnation is one of the labels that requires the highest level of vigilance.

Lin Yi did not wait for his opponent to make the first move. He followed suit and raised his right hand in a summoning gesture.

This time, he selected fifteen fusion units, including Aru, and moderately increasing the number would help test their performance in a slightly larger-scale coordinated attack.

As the shadows spread, fifteen figures emerged one after another.

Aru and several other girls who had been tested before, as well as a few newer faces.

They appeared to be very comfortable, and their formation was more fluid and natural than before, subtly divided into several groups, covering different firing ranges.

The Sanctuary Contractor opposite, codenamed "Warren," frowned almost imperceptibly behind his tactical goggles when he saw that Lin Yi had summoned the same group of gun-wielding girls again.

Instead of advancing or defending, he made a gesture that elicited a murmur from the audience—he spread his fingers, pointed them at the open space in front of him, and began to chant softly.

"The machine's spirit is shrouded in darkness, but my heart is clear. Steel shell, imbued with true spirit. The shackles of logic are broken... Respond to the call, fight for your beliefs!"

As he finished speaking, the several geometric terminals floating in front of him suddenly burst forth with a strong blue light.

In the light, space rippled like water, and outlines of varying sizes and shapes rapidly transformed from illusory to real.

A series of metal constructs—automatic turrets with tracked chassis and multi-barreled turrets; walking machines with eight spider-like legs and rapid-fire laser guns; drones hovering in the low sky with missile pods suspended below; and even two large engineering robots over three meters tall with their arms modified into rotating chainsaws and impact drills… In total, more than twenty of these structures instantly formed a technologically advanced steel defense line in front of Warren.

These mechanical units mostly appeared rough and even somewhat dilapidated, as if they were disassembled and pieced together from equipment of different models and eras, full of wasteland modification style. However, the key weapon systems and power cores were flashing with stable energy light, obviously well maintained and in a highly active state at the moment.

"A duel between two summoners!" In the audience, the official virtual host shouted out the sentiments of many viewers in an excited tone, "Warren, the 'Mech Soul Singer' from the Sanctuary Paradise, versus the mysterious summoner from the Samsara Paradise! A mechanical army versus a gun-wielding girl! This will be a head-on clash between summoning styles!"

Warren completed the summoning, his tactical visor locking onto Lin Yi and his girls. His voice, transmitted through the loudspeaker, was steady and confident: "My children, though born from scrap metal, their machine spirits have given them the will to fight. Crush them."

At a command, the mechanical legion roared into action.

The turret adjusted its elevation angle, the walking machine began to move its articulated limbs, the drone took off with a whoosh, and the engineering robot emitted a heavy metallic scraping sound as they all moved forward in unison.

The firepower was not immediately unleashed, but rather the pressure formation was maintained. It was clear that Warren's tactical skills were not low, and he was trying to force the opponent to reveal a weakness or break the formation by using the pressure of numbers and machinery.

Across the field, Aru and the others watched the rumbling torrent of steel approaching, but their faces did not show the tension or panic that Warren had expected.

“Another lump of iron…” A girl from Gohena with a single ponytail pouted, her tone even a little bored.

In Kivotos, the geniuses at Millennium Technology Academy would occasionally create some rampaging experimental mechs or out-of-control defense robots, while the Gohena Disciplinary Committee and some violent gangs at the Gehena Academy would routinely drive or modify various heavy vehicles and power armor.

In the Abydos Desert, there is supposedly a legendary squad that specializes in robbing banks while wearing power armor.

For them, dealing with "mechs" or "large mechanical units" falls into the category of "general experience" among Kivotos students (especially problem students).

"A hodgepodge of models, a cobbled-together mess." Another girl, wearing glasses and with an air more akin to an engineering student, quickly glanced at it and muttered her assessment, "Inconsistent power sources, obvious signs of modification in the transmission system, many weak points in the joints... It's far inferior to the standard test machine made by those people at the seminar."

Aru, as the temporary commander, did not participate in the吐槽 (tu cao, a form of online commentary/criticism).

She quickly assessed the situation and calmly gave the following orders: "Group A, suppress the forward artillery and walking machines, focus on attacking the joints and observation devices. Group B, anti-air, take out those drones, and be careful to avoid possible area bombing. Group C, follow me and deal with the two big ones."

The command was concise, and the girls immediately sprang into action.

Instead of staying put, they used the debris and undulating terrain to make flexible tactical moves, working in groups of three, coordinating with each other like precise gears.

Upon seeing this, Warren quickly swiped his finger across the virtual control interface.

The mechanical legion immediately changed tactics. The front-line turrets and walking machines opened fire simultaneously, attempting to restrict the girls' movement space with a crossfire network, while drones dropped several small high-explosive shells from the air to suppress the area.

The girls' reactions and speed exceeded the machine program's predictions.

The girl, with her background in the Holy Trinity Guard, was a sharpshooter; her single shots destroyed the pivots of two turrets and the compound eye sensor of a walking machine.

The girl from Gohena was even more ferocious, using a modified shotgun to blast the knee joint of an engineering robot that was trying to approach at close range, causing it to crash to the ground. What made Warren's pupils shrink the most was the scene of dealing with the aerial drones.

The two girls responsible for anti-aircraft fire did not use conventional anti-aircraft shooting. One of them raised her hand and summoned a translucent, pale gold, diamond-shaped shield, which blocked one of the drone's strafing shots. The other girl held a sniper rifle with an unusually thick barrel and pulled the trigger.

The bullet is not a physical object, but a highly compressed ball of energy that travels at extremely high speed after leaving the muzzle and has a slight tracking characteristic.

It hit the engine of a drone, which instantly lost all power. Its shell quickly turned gray, as if it had been eroded by thousands of years, and it fell straight down, disintegrating into several lifeless pieces of scrap metal in mid-air.

Its bizarre corrosive properties!
Warren felt a chill run down his spine.

His mechanical units were all protected by basic enchantments and force fields, but their defenses were clearly ineffective against a force that seemed capable of directly dismantling the structure of matter.

"By the spirit of the machine... these summoned creatures' attacks are tainted by high-priority laws?" He realized the seriousness of the problem. If it were just physical damage, as long as his mechanical legion's core wasn't destroyed, even if it was reduced to parts, he could restore some of its combat power through rapid repairs or on-site reassembly.

However, this erosion directly caused the affected part to "die," completely eliminating the possibility of being influenced and manipulated again by his abilities.

Less than a minute into the battle, Warren's mechanical legion had lost more than a third of its units, while the enemy's summoned girls, aside from consuming some ammunition and stamina, were almost unscathed, their formation remained intact, and their coordination was becoming increasingly seamless.

This cannot go on.

Warren decisively changed tactics. He clasped his hands together, his tactical goggles gleaming brightly, and chanted again, this time with a higher pitch and an undeniable sense of command: "Sleeping spirit of steel, heed the call of the chanter! Broken bodies can fight again, fragments can be reassembled! Guided by my conviction, reshape—Battlefield Recovery Protocol, activate!"

As he chanted, the mechanical wreckage that had been destroyed and scattered on the ground—whether it was a complete turret, a broken walking machine leg, or fragments of a drone, or even the decaying wreckage of the drone that had crashed after being corroded—began to vibrate violently, with unstable blue electric light emanating from its surface.

Warren's ability lies not only in summoning and manipulating these machines, but also in his ability to forcibly activate links and recombine mechanical creations on the battlefield within a certain range, turning them into his own, or even combining them into more powerful temporary units.

This is also one of the origins of his title "Singer of the Machine Soul"—to endow inorganic matter with a brief "battle soul" and drive it to regenerate and reorganize continuously until it is completely reduced to dust.

Blue lightning spread, attempting to pull and reunite the debris.

Based on Warren's experience, at least a few new machines will stand up in the next second, disrupting the opponent's rhythm.

The anticipated restructuring did not occur.

The wreckage destroyed by Aru and her team's conventional firepower trembled a few times, flashing blue lightning, seemingly trying to reassemble, but the process was extremely slow and unstable, as if the signal had been severely interfered with.

The wreckage of the drone shot down by a sniper did not respond to Warren's "battlefield recovery protocol".

The blue lightning swept across those areas, but it was like a mud ox sinking into the sea, failing to even stir up a ripple.

That part was completely "dead," no longer "machinery," but had become some kind of "waste" that could not be touched by his "machine soul" power.

"What?!" Warren's composure finally crumbled, replaced by an expression of disbelief.

His ability failed? No, not completely, but only on the parts damaged by the special force! This erosion completely neutralized his core tactics.

Just as he was slightly shaken by his frustration at his inability to perform, the situation on the battlefield changed once again.

Aru seized on Warren's momentary lapse in concentration and decisively ordered: "Group C, concentrate fire and take down the remaining big guy! Groups A and B, provide cover and block interference from other units!"

The "big guy" she was referring to was the large engineering robot whose arms had been modified into impact drills.

The robot roared as it charged toward the girls' formation, attempting to force its way through.

Three girls, assigned to Group C, acted simultaneously.

Instead of retreating, they went to meet them.

Just as the impact drill was about to hit them, the three of them scattered to the side with amazing coordination, narrowly avoiding the impact.

The guns in Aru and the other girl's hands changed shape again, with heavy bayonets that gleamed coldly popped out from below the muzzles. They used the guns as short spears and stabbed them hard at the robot's relatively vulnerable waist drive shaft and leg hydraulic pipes.

Another girl picked up a rocket launcher-like device and aimed it at the robot's chest power compartment cover at extremely close range.

"Bang! Sizzle—Boom!"

The bayonet precisely pierced the vital area, and the rocket exploded at point-blank range.

The engineering robot suddenly froze, black smoke billowed from its chest, hydraulic oil sprayed out, its massive body swayed a few times, and crashed to the ground like a collapsing mountain, kicking up a cloud of yellow sand.

By this point, Warren's main mechanical army had been almost completely wiped out, with only a few damaged turrets and walking machines firing in vain, but they could no longer pose an effective threat.

Warren stood behind the few remaining machines, his face pale behind his tactical goggles.

He wasn't inexperienced in losing before, but this was the first time he had lost so decisively, and his abilities had been so clearly suppressed.

The enemy's summoned female creatures were not only exceptionally strong individually and skillfully coordinated, but more importantly, the corrosive power contained in their attacks was the natural enemy of a contractor like him who relied on mechanical seas and battlefield recovery tactics.

He glanced at his remaining psionic energy, then at the well-organized formation of the girls opposite him, and at Lin Yi, who had been calmly observing the battle from beginning to end. He instantly made a decision.

Continuing to fight will only exhaust your psionic energy, summon more machines, and then have them dismantle and erode one by one, ultimately leading to your defeat.

It might cause some trouble for the other party, but it's not very meaningful. On the contrary, it might expose more of your own cards.

This is just a ranking battle in the arena, not a life-or-death struggle.

Warren took a deep breath and snapped his fingers.

The remaining mechanical units immediately ceased their attack and entered standby mode.

He looked at Lin Yi and said loudly, "Your summoned creature is very special, with that corrosive property... I concede. Continuing is just a waste of both of our time."

After saying that, he decisively submitted his surrender request to the arena system.

【The opponent has surrendered. 】

[The individual match has ended; victory is assured.]

[The Hunter's Arena ranking has improved, rising from 18541st to 16207th.]

As the notification sounded, Warren and his mechanical remains vanished in a flash of light.

A commotion erupted again from the stands, some expressing understanding for Warren's decisive surrender, others surprised by the overwhelming power displayed by Lin Yi's summoned creatures. The numbers in the betting area scrolled wildly once more.

Lin Yi didn't linger and chose to match again.

His goal was clear: to help Aru and the others quickly familiarize themselves with their powers through actual combat, while simultaneously improving their rankings as much as possible, and to see how far they could push their limits.

Outside the arena, news about this "Summoner of the Samsara Paradise with a group of bizarre gun-wielding girls" has begun to circulate in a small circle within certain circles that focus on the sixth-tier arena, attracting the attention of many people.

After all, there are quite a few contractors and races in the Void and Paradise who rely on summoned creatures.

They certainly don't want to encounter an enemy like Lin Yi, who can subdue them, in the real world someday. (End of Chapter)