147: Chapter 147 You're such a weirdo when it comes to mechanics!

On the arena.

The golden sun circled above Master Mage Chen Taixu's head before coming to a halt.

Hovering.

The Empress stood before the VIP section railing, her dark golden pupils reflecting the slowly rotating sun. She glanced at the cross-legged Master Mage Chen Taixu, a subtle arc forming at the corner of her lips, before turning her gaze to the other side of the arena.

Wei Xiaoyu.

Wei Xiaoyu slammed her war axe into the sand, arms crossed over her chest. The sound of the Titan Furnace engine whirring inside her body was like a beast not yet fully awake, growling low. Her stance remained unchanged, but her fingers gripping the war axe tightened by a fraction of a millimeter.

The Empress's fingertips moved slightly.

The golden sun traced an arc through the air. This time, there was no turning, no buffering. It was pure, unadorned, linear acceleration—like a steel ball fired from a slingshot—aimed directly at Wei Xiaoyu.

The hundreds of thousands of spectators in the stands collectively flinched.

In the waiting area, Shen Ye straightened up from the railing. The corner of his mouth twitched—a tiny movement. It wasn't a smile, but it was close.

"... It's here."

He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

From the inception of the Titan Forge System to the present, all test data, mathematical models, and theoretical derivations pointed to the same conclusion: under reckless limit overload, the Titan Furnace's output could exceed four times that of any current system of the same tier. But that was just theory.

Now, he was about to see it in actual combat.

Wei Xiaoyu let go of the war axe.

She plunged the giant axe, which was heavier than she was, into the sand and raised her hands. Empty-handed, palms facing out. The motion was as simple as pushing open a door.

"What is she doing?!"

"No way—she put the axe down?!"

"She's going to catch it with her bare hands?!! That sun is moving at the speed of a 9th-tier Supreme's full-force strike!! She's going to try and catch it with her bare hands?!!"

The live stream chat exploded.

The Purple-Robed Chief's teacup paused in mid-air. The gray-robed elder beside him gasped sharply, choking as his white beard was sucked into his mouth.

The Empress's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Li Qingyue rose from the corner of the box. She stood barefoot on the floor, her silver-white hair swaying without a breeze.

Wei Xiaoyu's palms met the golden sun.

Boom—!!! At the moment of impact, a visible shockwave exploded across the arena. The sand was blasted into a ring-shaped wave that rolled outward, slamming against the energy barrier at the edge of the arena and creating dense ripples.

But Wei Xiaoyu didn't retreat.

Her ankles sank into the sand, her knees bent slightly, and the muscles in her arms bulged violently. The Titan Furnace engine's rotation speed jumped directly from 40,000 to 80,000 RPM. Nine Titan Furnace cores lit up with dark golden light simultaneously, the radiance shining through the fabric of her combat suit, making her look as if she had been set ablaze.

"She's catching it—she caught it!!"

"She used both hands!! She caught a national treasure head-on!!"

"That's no ordinary fireball!! That's Sun and Moon in Palm!! One of the Dragon Kingdom's three national treasures!! The Sun and Moon in Palm that burned through the main Abyss rift thirty years ago!! Even if it's just a super mini version, it shouldn't be something that can be caught at this stage, right!?"

"Holy crap, she actually caught it!!"

Everyone in the audience stood up at the same time.

No one was sitting. And no one could sit.

The Purple-Robed Chief's teacup finally fell, shattering on the floor and scattering into pieces. The gray-robed elder gripped the armrests tightly, his beard trembling violently.

"... This level of energy output." The Purple-Robed Chief's voice was as dry as if rubbed with sandpaper. "Qi Yuan's stellar-level energy collapse framework. The full version has already been submitted for combat feedback. That kid, Shen Ye, has turned theory into actual combat armament capable of bearing the impact of a 9th-tier artifact... Of course, I'm assuming her card is also 9th-tier. Your Majesty, although you suppressed the sun to the 4th tier, being able to resist it to this extent is enough to prove Shen Ye's strength."

The Empress's dark golden pupils finally betrayed a trace of genuine surprise. Not polite surprise, but genuine, stunned shock.

"... Not easy."

Her lips moved, her voice very light.

Li Qingyue stood before the box railing, her silver-white hair blown back by the shockwave. Her crimson pupils reflected Wei Xiaoyu, who was wrestling with the golden sun on the arena, her eyelashes trembling slightly.

It wasn't because Wei Xiaoyu had caught the sun.

It was because the Titan Furnace engine inside Wei Xiaoyu's body had already reached 80,000 RPM. According to Sanctuary data, the theoretical limit of the Titan Forge System is 90,000 RPM. The energy feedback Wei Xiaoyu was enduring at this moment—when converted into equivalent mana output—exceeded the full-force strike of any peak 5th-tier Magic Card Master.

The energy core of that card was terrifyingly massive.

So massive that it gave her, a peak 4th-tier Berserker, the confidence to cross tiers and catch a national treasure head-on.

At the other end of the VIP area.

War Emperor Wei Potian stood up from his seat. The War Emperor, standing over two meters tall, had left five deep finger marks on the leather armrest with the hand resting on it.

"... She caught it."

Wei Tianlong stood beside him. A peak 8th-tier Berserker and instructor of the Jinghai Academy Armament Combat course, his bell-sized eyes were wide open.

"She caught it!!"

"I saw it."

"She didn't use the war axe! She caught it with her bare hands!!"

"I saw that too."

Wei Potian's voice trembled. It wasn't from nervousness; it was because, as a father, he had just witnessed his daughter withstand the full-force impact of one of the Dragon Kingdom's most powerful national treasures. He lifted his hand from the armrest and slapped Wei Tianlong on the shoulder, causing him to sink under the weight.

"Old Wei—steady!"

Wei Tianlong ignored the pain in his shoulder, smiling like a child who had just found candy. "Need I say more! Master Qi Yuan's system! The Titan Furnace made by Shen Ye himself! The proper path!! It's not even on the same level as that so-called Stand Card!!"

Wei Potian didn't respond. But his silence itself was a form of agreement.

"Good thing we didn't choose Su Bai's card."

Wei Tianlong added.

Wei Potian glanced at him. He didn't say yes, nor did he say no. But the right hand that had just crushed the armrest was now resting completely relaxed on his knee.

This detail spoke louder than any words.

In the VIP box.

Zhao Dahai's mouth was open in a perfect rectangle. Lin Xiao's ice bow had already fallen to the floor. Lin Weiwei rose from her seat, not even noticing that her dust-proof box had slid under the chair.

"She caught... the sun. With both hands. Head-on."

Lin Xiao articulated the words one by one.

She knew exactly what this meant.

The energy output of the Titan Forge System had already exceeded her understanding in terms of actual combat. Wei Xiaoyu hadn't even activated limit overload yet. The moment she caught the sun just now was just her standard state. Just like when she smashed Lu Xinghe's sword formation with one punch in the last round. No steam coming from the back of her hands. No after-effects of engine cooling. That man named Shen Ye—his claim of four times was true.

Lin Xiao turned her head to look at Su Bai. Lin Weiwei also turned to look at Su Bai. Zhao Dahai squeezed three words out of his rectangular mouth: "What do we do?"

Su Bai leaned back in his chair.

His right leg crossed over his left, his right hand supporting his chin, while the fingers of his left hand tapped lightly on his knee. Kyubey yawned on his lap, its tail slowly sweeping across his wrist.

"Pretty good."

"... Pretty good?!"

Zhao Dahai's voice cracked.

"She caught a national treasure with her bare hands!! And you're telling me it's pretty good?!!"

"It is pretty good."

Su Bai's tone was as if he were evaluating the heat of a dish.