The Legend of the Dragon King

The main purpose of making one-word battle armor was to prepare for the future. Once the time came for Tang Wulin’s group to make two-word battle armor, they would be able to use completely new materials. They wouldn’t be restricted to the metals they chose now.

Upon entering their rented workshop, awe shone in Luo Guixing’s eyes when he saw how large it was. “Elder Feng treats you really well.”

The workshop was at least 150 square meters in area. The space was at least twice as large as what people could normally rent, and it was filled with all the best equipment and tools. An empty shelf for metals stood off to one side. All of this came at the cheap price of one thousand contribution points a month. Now this was the benefit of having connections.

Tang Wulin smiled shyly. “We can talk about that after I thousand refine your metals. Gu Yue, have you drawn up any rough designs yet? We’ll need to discuss them before I get to forging.”

Gu Yue nodded. “I’ve already been getting feedback from the other two these past few days. I understand your situation as well, so I was able to get some first drafts done.”

She walked over to the forging table and took blueprints out of her storage ring. With one in hand, she turned to face them. “For the first piece of our battle armors, I decided on armor for our right hands. I chose this piece because it’s the easiest to use in combat and will immediately result in the largest increase in power.”

She unfurled the blueprint in her hands, then pointed at the various drawings. “Hand armor is made of separate parts that cover the actual hand, extend past the forearm, and go all the way to the elbow. So really, it’s armor for both your hand and forearm. This is the design I drafted for you.”

“You chose heavy silver, the main property of which is soul power amplification. After thinking about what would suit you best, I concluded that, since your hand can transform into the golden dragon claw, it would be essential for your hand armor to expand alongside it. To accomodate that, I added a transformation circuit core in the palm that will allow the armor to transform along with your arm. I also left holes in the fingertips of the armor for your claws since they’re already extremely sharp weapons anyway. To amplify your blood essence and soul power, I added circuit cores to the back of the hand armor. This is a dual-loop circuit core I specially designed…”

Gu Yue went over the entire design without leaving out a single detail. Tang Wulin was stunned by how meticulous and complex her work was.

Designers are awesome! This was Tang Wulin’s first time learning about circuit cores and seeing the complexity hidden within designs. Making this design a reality would clearly be difficult.

Tang Wulin stole a glance at Wu Siduo and Luo Guixing. He couldn’t discern any strange change in expression, a clear sign that Gu Yue’s design was on the right track.

“Any piece of one-word battle armor needs at least three circuit cores,” Gu Yue said, wrapping up her explanations. “In comparison, each piece of two-word armor needs five circuit cores. These circuit cores have to be built into the metal itself, so high-quality refined metal is required. Thousand refined metal is the bare minimum for making one-word armor.”

Tang Wulin nodded. “It’s a good thing I saw your designs first. Now I know what to focus on improving when I forge the metal. After I finish refining it, I’ll shape it according to the designs. While I shape it, I’ll refine it a second time and make the metal stronger or more flexible, whichever is more suited to the design.”

Luo Guixing look at Tang Wulin in shock. “You can refine a metal twice?” He once heard that twice refined metal was essential in making battle armor.

Tang Wulin nodded.

Luo Guixing looked him in the eye. “If that’s true, then I feel a lot better about the plan now. Making our battle armors should be easier than I thought.”

“Then let’s get started,” Tang Wulin replied. “We’ll take one step at a time. Gu Yue, iron out the rest of the designs and make them flawless. I’m going to begin the first refining of our metals. Once you’ve perfected your designs, I’ll do the second refining.”

“Alright.”

Each of the four had their respective profession, and all were talented in their own field. With their common goal to become battle armor masters, they temporarily set their differences aside to work together.

An hour later, four twinkling metals sat on the forging table. They were chunks of first-grade thousand refined heavy silver, magic silver, stygian iron, and thousand moment copper.

It had only taken Tang Wulin an hour to thousand refine four chunks of metal! Every time he finished, a beam of light shot a meter into the air, signifying that it had been imbued with spirit. Tang Wulin had appeared utterly relaxed throughout the entire process. Despite the discontent harbored for him, Wu Siduo and Luo Guixing had to admit that he was the best blacksmith they could’ve hoped for. The four shining pieces of refined metal were proof of that.

“Do you have any suggestions for my hand armor design?” Gu Yue asked.

Tang Wulin thought to himself for a moment, stroking his chin. “I think it’s perfect as is. My right arm is my main means of attack, so making my golden dragon claw stronger is the best thing for my hand armor to do. As for my bluesilver grass… it’ll be fine as long as the armor doesn’t hinder it. I trust in your skills.”

“Good,” said Gu Yue. “I’ll have you approve my designs once I finish them. We’re going to discuss the rest of the designs and the making process now. If you have something to do, feel free to leave.”

“Alright. I’m going to find Elder Feng. If you guys need anything, give me a call.”

Luo Guixing’s watched Tang Wulin as he went out the door, then he turned to Gu Yue. “Has he always been this good at blacksmithing?”

Gu Yue looked at him in disdain. She obviously still held a grudge against him for his actions in the match. “Don’t you know? Some people are just blessed by the heavens.”

Luo Guixing just smiled meekly in response. He went over to the blueprints and examined them. “This part of the design is too complex. It’ll be too hard for me to make it like this, so you should revise it…”

The three of them continued discussing the designs without Tang Wulin. As for him, he went to go find Feng Wuyu.

Tang Wulin liked how busy his life was. Everything was going according to the plan he set for both himself and his companions. Although Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan weren’t a part of his group, they would forever be members of class zero and his trusted comrades. He naturally hadn’t forgotten about them and already had the perfect solution for their predicaments.

☀

Yuanen Yehui was in her male disguise as usual. Not a single thing about her was out of place. Just as she entered the dormitory, its tidiness astounded her. The floor had been swept, not a single speck of dust to be seen. Then she arrived at her room and found a bucket of clean water sitting just outside the of it.

Who did this? She opened her door and carried the bucket in, her brow furrowed. A few people flashed through her mind. Could it have been Tang Wulin? No way. Considering how much he eats, I bet he’s still gorging himself at the dining hall.

Only the heavens knew how Tang Wulin would react if he knew what Yuanen Yehui’s thought of him.

Was it Yue Zhengyu then? …there’s no way that guy is this nice. Even though he definitely knows I’m not an evil soul master now, he still tries to pick fights with me in class… could it be him then? A tall, thin figure popped into her mind, his handsome features fixed into a mischievous smile that held a hint of haughtiness. Then she imagined herself beating him up.

“Hmph!” Yuanen Yehui clenched her fists at the thought of the boy. She grabbed the bucket of water, stomped to her door, opened it, then threw all of the water out, and slammed the door shut.

After putting the bucket down, she placed her hands on her hips. That hadn’t lessened her anger one bit!

It took her a long time to calm down. Letting out a long sigh, she pulled open the blinds. Since they know now, there’s no point keeping this charade up while at the dormitory.

She walked over to her bed and took off her coat and wig, exposing her dark-red hair. She took a moment to rub her face, her pretty features soon resurfacing. Then a popping sound emanated from her bones and she grew a bit taller, her womanly curves becoming more pronounced.

My original appearance really is the most comfortable!

She touched her cheeks, basking in the change, when all of a sudden, pain flashed through her eyes. She stumbled over to her bed, hands clutching her head as she toppled onto it. Her body began to twitch, and her jaw clenched so tightly that it was on the verge of breaking. Spasms wracked her body as her eyes gradually went scarlet. Tears streamed down her face as dread began to creep inside of her. All she could see before her eyes was a sea of blood.

“No!” she screamed, forcing herself upright.

As she sat on her bed gasping for breath, the door flew open with a bang, and a figure charged into the room. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”