Seeing that warrior of the "Children of Echoes" really getting hit in the last second, Xilonen felt quite surprised.
"Lord Pyro Archon, how did you see that coming?" Xilonen looked over in disbelief.
You're one of the Seven Archons of the world, not the Shade of time—how can you predict the future?
"The defense tower ultimately attacks with Pyro Element. Although you all can't see it, I can clearly make out the defense tower's movements from far away." Rios said with a smile.
This was also one of the benefits of becoming the Pyro Archon—the level of understanding of the Pyro Element was several tiers higher than before.
For Xilonen and the others, the defense tower's attacks seemed unpredictable, but Rios could clearly know the next move.
"You guessed it in that way?"
Xilonen momentarily turned into a certain woman from Mondstadt, muttering: "Should I say, as expected of Lord Pyro Archon?"
As Natlan's best craftsman, Xilonen knew that the gap between people could sometimes be bigger than between humans and dogs.
Not to mention, the person standing beside her right now was Natlan's Pyro Archon.
So, Xilonen walked over with elegant steps to the warriors: "How did you start up the defense tower without my permission? What if someone got hurt?"
Upon hearing this, the warriors of the "Children of Echoes" all showed apologetic expressions: "Sorry about that—we were just fiddling around with it at the time and didn't expect the device to activate."
So it was an accidental activation.
"At the time, this tower kept spewing fireballs, and we were all scared out of our wits, thinking your device had malfunctioned."
"But we found that the fireballs didn't hurt when they hit us, and they could even be used to train our reaction speeds, so we've been practicing our skills here these past few days."
As he spoke, a warrior of the "Children of Echoes" even showed the spot where he had just been hit, smiling as he said: "The fireballs the defense tower spits out don't hurt at all—they can't injure us."
"That's because you activated the defense tower's training mode, which greatly reduces the power of the fireballs."
Rios walked over and explained to everyone in Xilonen's place.
"Lord Pyro Archon?!"
As soon as Rios arrived, the previously grinning warriors immediately became respectful.
Someone asked: "Lord Pyro Archon, you said we activated training mode—so are there other modes?"
"Indeed." Rios said, "The defense tower was something I commissioned Xilonen to make—a device to eliminate Abyss monsters and protect our homeland."
"When [Combat Mode] is activated, the power of the fireballs will be dozens of times stronger than just now, and the speed will be much faster too."
If the fireballs in [Training Mode] deducted a few hundred HP, then the ones in [Combat Mode] hitting a character would deduct at least ten thousand HP.
Even with Zhongli's shield on, a few hits and you'd be done for.
"This thing can eliminate Abyss monsters?" The warriors' first reaction upon hearing this was disbelief.
Although this defense tower's attack speed was very fast—enough that even they, warriors honed over many years, couldn't dodge it—they didn't think this rigid machine could replace humans in eliminating monsters.
"If you don't believe it, why not try it yourselves?" Rios instructed the leopard-eared woman beside him, "Xilonen, set the training mode's damage to the same as combat mode."
Xilonen didn't act immediately but instead furrowed her brows in worry: "Won't this hurt people?"
"With me here, how could anyone get injured during training?" Rios said.
With him, the Pyro Archon, present, how could anyone get hurt during training?
Hearing the youth's assurance like this, Xilonen said no more and silently went to adjust the device.
At the same time, Rios looked at the warriors of the "Children of Echoes" and gently spread his palm open; crimson particles emerged from his palm, enveloping the warriors.
"Feels all warm and toasty..."
"It's like sitting by a furnace in winter..."
The warriors looked at their glowing bodies in particular surprise.
"I've applied a special shield to you all, which will ensure you won't be injured when hit by the fireballs."
"But..." Rios changed his tone, "the pain from being hit by the fireballs must be fully endured—that way, you'll know the power of the fireballs."
"So, no danger to life?"
The warriors all felt amazed.
Natlan had many people who possessed Visions.
Especially after Rios distributed imitation Visions, even more powerful warriors could use the Pyro Element.
However, none of them could create such an impressive special shield like Rios.
"Isn't it said that the Pyro Archon is chosen from Natlan's most capable fighter?"
"With Lord Pyro Archon's research on the Pyro Element, he could go be a researcher, right?"
The warriors all grumbled.
Some among them also possessed Pyro Vision holders.
But their use of the Vision was still at the level of enchanting weapons and releasing Pyro Elemental attacks.
Even if they could create shields, they couldn't make them as refined as Rios's.
"Lord Pyro Archon, I've adjusted it." Xilonen's voice came over.
"Then I'll start."
The first one to step forward was Tlaco, who had just been hit.
"Tlaco, you sure you can do it?"
"Don't get taken down in just a few seconds again."
The other warriors said with smiles.
"I was careless earlier!" Tlaco said angrily, "If I get serious, holding out for a minute is no problem!"
And so, under everyone's gaze, Tlaco stood before the defense tower, preparing to accept the trial.
The next moment.
A massive fireball surged forth!
"Holy—!"
Tlaco's eyes widened.
During the previous practice, it had only been small flames, but now the one coming at him was a fireball with a one-meter radius, flying incredibly fast—how the hell was he supposed to dodge this!
Tlaco threw himself to the side with all his might, dodging the first fireball that came spewing.
But just as he dodged it, the second fireball arrived right in front of him.
"Aaaahhh!"
Tlaco let out a pained wail.
Logically speaking, being hit by such a powerful attack should have killed him outright.
But thanks to the shield Rios had given him, although the pain was excruciating, his body wasn't injured in the slightest, so he had to keep enduring this agony.
Until Rios raised his hand and gathered all the flames into his palm did the man stop wailing.
"Tlaco, you okay?"
The other warriors asked with concern.
Tlaco's cries just now had been truly terrifying, as if he had really been about to die.
The empowered fireballs were indeed different from before; just watching from the side, they could feel the immense power of the fireballs, let alone Tlaco who experienced it firsthand.
"I... I'm fine..." Tlaco gasped heavily, his heart palpitating as he said, "Lord Pyro Archon's shield protected me."
But the warriors didn't believe him and checked Tlaco all over, only relaxing after confirming he truly wasn't injured.
"Such huge power and it didn't injure anyone—Lord Pyro Archon's shield is really something else."
"Good thing Tlaco went in with the shield; otherwise, we'd be collecting his corpse right now."
"Fireballs this strong—even Abyss monsters without pain sensation probably couldn't take more than a few hits."
The warriors of the "Children of Echoes" were astonished.
But soon, something even more astonishing to them happened.
"Next one up." Rios said.
The other warriors widened their eyes: "Lord Pyro Archon, us too?"
"Of course." Rios said with a smile, "If you don't experience it yourselves, how can you be sure the defense tower can eliminate Abyss monsters?"
When Tlaco had been attacked earlier, Tlaco himself and the other Natlan warriors had provided emotion value.
Seeing this, Rios decided on the spot to strike while the iron was hot and have the other warriors try it too.
They had just questioned the defense tower's power anyway.
Since they questioned it, then let them experience it personally.