Arknights' Lock of Heaven

Maria's eyes were full of curiosity.

"Ahem," Zofia coughed a few times to interrupt Maria's questions after hearing this and getting the gist of it.

It must have been Margaret's colleague who drew some patterns inside her armor, which is how the armor came to have its current function.

This……

To be honest, it sounds pretty far-fetched.

However, there are many strange and wonderful things in this world, and Zofia can understand them.

But it's a big no-no to pry into other people's abilities; Maria is still too naive.

“Maria,” Zofia reminded her, “Don’t ask so many questions.”

"Ah," Maria was stunned when she heard this, then she immediately realized what was going on.

Yes, that's true. Such amazing technology must be some kind of closely guarded secret. It's not really appropriate for me to pry into it like this.

That was indeed a bit reckless.

Thinking of this, Maria felt regret in her eyes, and then prepared to apologize.

“Hey, there’s nothing I can’t say,” Xia Yu waved her hand and said, “Actually, it’s just my Originium Arts.”

Uh, Originium Arts?

Upon hearing this, both Zofia and Maria were stunned.

It's not some ancient witchcraft or anything like that, it's just Originium Arts?

Originium Arts is something that varies from person to person.

The Originium Arts in the world can be broadly divided into three categories.

One type is inherited, like the Light Originium Arts of the Nearl family. These are often found in ancient noble families and long-established organizations that stably pass down a particular Originium Arts through secret methods.

The advantage is that the application of this Originium Arts has been discovered by our predecessors, and as long as you learn it, you can immediately create a considerable combat force.

The downside is that it is relatively singular. If this Originium skill is not comprehensive enough, it is easy for others to target it. Therefore, not everyone in a family or organization will learn this Originium skill.

Another category is certain special races that are born with their own Originium Arts. These Originium Arts are also very special. Usually, the Originium Arts of a race is a major category, which is further divided into many subcategories depending on the individual.

Most Lateran are natural-born gun users, but each Lateran has a different preference when using a gun.

Similar to Laterano are the Sarkaz Blood Demons, Carrion Eaters, Shapeshifters, and the like.

The last category, which also comprises the largest number of Originium Arts owners in the world.

Well, this kind of approach is quite unconventional, involving all sorts of people and races.

There are also cases where people in the two situations mentioned above have encountered some accidents and awakened other Originium Arts.

Some are infected and possess some rudimentary Originium Arts skills.

Others are trained through systematic learning, but unlike family inheritance, they do not have a clear direction, so the awakened Originium Arts are diverse.

It's like drawing cards; it all depends on how lucky you are.

With a stroke of good luck, I drew an incredibly useful Originium Arts, turning my life around and becoming a winner in life.

If someone's character is flawed... then they shouldn't count on Originium Arts; they should probably look into other professions...

But actually, the awakening of Originium Arts isn't so uncontrollable, otherwise there wouldn't be any so-called inheritance.

The awakening of Originium Arts is generally divided into five stages.

1. Definition: This step specifically determines what kind of spell you will use.

2. Transport: This step determines the flow of energy during the spell's execution and the general form of the spell.

3. Reaction: This step determines how energy is transformed and manifested in another form in Originium Arts.

4. Impact: This step, broadly speaking, is the final result of Originium Arts.

And after further comprehensive research, some have proposed a fifth step—

5. Backfire: This step determines some of the additional effects of Originium Arts beyond the expected results.

170 Skadi: I'll give it a try.

Zofia was, of course, very clear about the five steps of Originium Arts.

Definition, transfer, reaction, action, including the latest research on tempering.

Zofia is quite knowledgeable about them.

Definition, literally, is to define your skill.

Your thoughts and ideas will take shape in the general form of your skills.

Through our mental activity, we can resonate with and activate the Originium Arts medium, at which point the medium will be ready to transfer energy and enter the next stage.

Transfer, specifically, is the transfer of energy.

In fact, Originium itself is an excellent energy storage material, containing a large amount of energy that is difficult to use directly.

The staff, made by combining various technologies, makes it easier to define spells, and the Originium Arts medium plays an indispensable role in this.

Non-infected individuals can cast spells using the staff, while infected individuals can prevent the activation of Originium within their bodies by casting spells using the staff, further ensuring their personal safety.

Once the energy transfer is complete, the spell's process begins, much like a chemical reaction.

Some Originium Arts have physical carriers, and at this time, the physical carriers will begin to condense and form.

Spells without a physical form will begin to transform their energy—becoming what you expect, just as anti-gravity must be generated before floating, and a reaction must occur before an explosion.

It is extremely dangerous to forcibly interrupt a spell that is condensing and entering the final stage of its reaction phase. Unless measures are taken to prevent such an interruption from happening again, the effect phase will become unpredictable and may have a very strong backfire effect.

The activation phase is the final phase, at which point the spell will release its transformed energy and have an actual effect.

To give an example, gunpowder burns and then explodes. The "explosion" is that effect. Of course, your ultimate goal should not be the explosion, but to produce some organic or inorganic damage.

"Effect" can be the final manifestation of a spell or the final manifestation of its purpose; obviously, the former is easier to achieve.

The spell's progress should tend to subside, end, and stabilize at this stage.

There are always some unexpected things that can happen during a spell. If something goes wrong during your spell, it can lead to unexpected results.

These results are collectively referred to as backfire. The timing of this phase is uncertain. These abnormal results are generally produced when the process terminates too early or when the process is abnormally prolonged.

These results can be good or bad, but in most cases they are bad, so you can't just try them.

It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? You can obtain the Originium Arts you want simply by defining them in your mind?

But reality is always cruel; no one can fully understand their own heart.

You might spend all day defining Originium Arts as something incredibly sophisticated, but subconsciously you just want to get a good night's sleep, and in the end, all the Originium Arts you awaken are related to sleep.

There are countless examples like this.

Therefore, the rampant growth of Awakened Originium Arts is just like a lottery.

You absolutely want to draw an SSR, but the key is that your subconscious doesn't think so.

Perhaps this is what it means to say one thing but mean another (laughs).

What you lack in daily life, you are likely to receive in the future.

Of course, some people awaken Originium Arts that have nothing to do with them and haven't understood why they crave them for decades.

Ultimately, Terra's current level of science is completely incapable of explaining the awakening of Originium Arts.

The five points mentioned above were discovered little by little by generations of people.

Therefore, given such an uncontrollable outcome, few companies at this stage would invest a significant amount of time and money in researching the essence of Awakening Originium Arts.

There are quite a few other applications of Originium Arts.

Even from the perspective of Zofia's top 16 knights, Xia Yu's so-called Originium Arts were far too outrageous.

In just over twenty minutes, a suit of armor can undergo a qualitative change...

Armor is fine, but what about weapons?

Extending this a little further, if he were powerful enough, if he possessed a high-speed warship…

Thinking of this, Zofia gasped.

How could such a terrifying person act as a messenger?

Rhodes Island is willing to send out such a treasure?

Could it be that there is a flaw in this Originium Arts?

Zofia immediately thought of this.

Otherwise, who would want to give away such a precious child?

“Mr. Xia Yu,” since Xia Yu had casually said to ask whatever he wanted, Zofia boldly asked, “Does your Originium Arts… have a time limit?”

That's the only flaw she can think of.

If there's a time limit, it makes sense, since no matter how much you strengthen something, a time limit would greatly diminish its strategic capabilities.

That's a pretty good tactical choice.