Bai Zemin finished drawing the sketch for the style of armor he wanted, and when Lilith saw him nodding to himself she couldn’t help but throw a bit of reality on his dream world.
“Zemin, you are aware that there is a 99.99% probability that this fancy new armor of yours that you are trying to forge will be completely destroyed aren’t you?”
“…My beloved little succubus, could you let me be happy for a moment? Sympathy is appreciated.”
“Hehehe…”
And so it was that Bai Zemin realized that even if his armor didn’t end up in pieces in his battle against the guardian who would likely be protecting the fruit he needed it was most likely that the poor armor would end up melted by the heat of the sun or in an extremely miserable state to even consider reusing it as a trash can.
“Be that as it may, this daddy is going to do his best as life dictates.” Bai Zemin nodded and immediately set to work.
The first thing he did was to pull out a total of 125 pieces of metal the size of an adult fist from his storage ring.
After spending several hours adjusting the temperature of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame and helping the little flame remember that feeling, Bai Zemin immediately picked up the first piece of metal with a pair of tongs and carry it to the working furnace.
Lilith: “If I’m not mistaken, that metal you’re using has heat resistant properties doesn’t it?”
Bai Zemin: “Yep.”
Lilith: “Are those the ones you brought from Eventide World? 8% Fire Resistance?”
Bai Zemin: “Yep.”
Lilith: “That means you’ll have to go through an 8% more powerful hell in order to get that piece of metal to the point where it can be malleable doesn’t it?
Bai Zemin: “… Yup.”
Lilith: “Cool.”
Bai Zemin: “Looks like someone’s looking for a good spanking, doesn’t it?”
Lilith: “What are you talking about?”
Bai Zemin: “Hmph. You just wait until we can finally be alone and you’ll see what’s good. Now that I’ve evolved to the Second Order I’m sure Immovable Heart will help me endure your Charm a lot more even if we can’t reach the last base.”
Lilith: ≧◔◡◔≦
While Bai Zemin and Lilith were spending time alone having all sorts of unserious and mostly playful conversations to pass time with each other, Fire Sorrow who had learned a bit more about the Collector’s Pocket World was standing next to Bai Shilin.
Bai Shilin: “So, big sister Fire, my father for some reason really likes it when mom Lilith calls him Daddy occasionally but when Shilin tried to do it before he told me I better not.”
Fire Sorrow: “…I think you should listen to your father.”
Like a small child listening to legendary stories from an adult, Fire Sorrow sat under the shade of a tree and listened to Bai Shilin for hours.
As to what was the story? Of course, it was the story of the Great Bai Zemin.
All the exploits of the new King of China were magnificently boosted by his lovely daughter, and Fire Sorrow who wanted nothing more than to learn about the life he had lived so far couldn’t wait to hear more.
However, every story had to end sometime no matter how long it was.
After more than 6 hours, little Bai Shilin finally ran out of more to say so this time it was Fire Sorrow’s turn to take the lead.
“Little Shilin, would you like me to teach you a bit of magic?”
“Oh… Big Sister Fire, Lilith mom has already taught Shilin a bit of magic. Now Shilin is better than before at controlling her Mana and using Ice Maker.”
“Well, even if that’s the case I’m better than your mom Lilith using magic since I have more experience than her.” Fire Sorrow smiled kindly. “Besides, I can teach you some magic to boost your physical capacity, how about it?”
“Oh! Shilin really loves to punch with her fists!” Bai Shilin immediately began to jump and clap her hands without taking her eyes off the Demonic Army Higher Existence in front of her.
Fire Sorrow had learned that in the Collector’s Pocket World the laws of the Soul Record were way more lax compared to the outside world. But after giving it some thought, she realized that it made sense since only those who had no ill intentions towards Bai Zemin could enter this place.
Moreover, after learning that Bai Shilin was actually a being born from the records of Bai Zemin together with Shangguan Bing Xue and a mysterious talent with the skill Clairvoyance she couldn’t help but take interest in her.
Fire Sorrow really wanted to see how far this little future ant queen could go.
And just like that, time simply passed.
It took Bai Zemin longer than he would have liked to get the first piece of metal to the point where he could shape it with his forging hammer. But they said the first steps were the hardest, so he pressed on.
After molding the first piece into a plate, he handed said metal plate to Kali who had been waiting bored and then immediately set to work on the second.
… Or so he was about to do before Lilith reminded him that he had to bring Shangguan Bing Xue to the Collector’s Pocket World, and realizing that he had been preparing everything longer than he thought went out.
Sure enough, Shangguan Bing Xue was already waiting for him in the living room of the villa by the time he got there.
“Ready?” he asked.
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at him cautiously and nodded without turning her back on him at any time.
“Relax, I won’t spank you.” Bai Zemin waved his hand, and just as Shangguan Bing Xue sighed he added with a smile, “For now.”
…
The first three plates were the hardest to shape, the rest became easier as Bai Zemin found the trick where to hit to make them move at his will.
Lilith: “I really don’t understand how you could possibly shorten the time between the first plate and the fourth by more than 4 hours. Finding the trick? It doesn’t make sense!”
Bai Zemin: “Little succubus, it’s all about finding the sweet spot.”
Lilith: “… For some reason I feel like you’re being a pervert now.”
Bai Zemin: (─‿‿─)
Lilith: “What’s with that face? You’re not even trying to hide it anymore are you?”
Bai Zemin: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
As the speed at which Bai Zemin finished each plate accelerated exponentially, the number of metal plates on Kali’s table gradually piled up.
Kali was not distracted by the amount of work she had to do and simply focused her whole heart and mind on the plate in front of her. In fact, she was so focused that there came a point where she didn’t even notice when Lilith arrived with more metal plates.
“I think that’s it for the metal plates.” He said as he looked at the sketch he had drawn earlier.
“So? What will you do now?” Lilith looked at him curious as she had no idea about blacksmithing so she didn’t know what his next step would be.
“I’ll use some scales from that.” Bai Zemin rubbed his chin as he nodded in a certain direction.
There, no more than 200 meters away, a giant lifeless body lay silently on the flattened grass.
“That sea monster?” Lilith was astonished and asked in perplexity, “Zemin, didn’t you strip that creature of its records?”
“I did.” Bai Zemin walked over to the dead Leviathan and gently tapped one of the scales as he calmly said, “But I did not strip the hardness from the scales.”
“You…” Lilith looked at him with wide eyes before forcing a smile, “Scoundrel, you were planning to use this beast as forging material weren’t you?”
“Ever since I saw the picture taken by our satellite.” Bai Zemin snorted self-satisfied.
If the great Fourth Order Leviathan, an ancient beast that had been a sign of terror and respect not only for its strength but also for its colossal size were to hear what Bai Zemin had just said… the creature would probably spit out 1500 liters of blood and die of a heart attack triggered by anger.
Be that as it may, Bai Zemin was a man who did not like to beat around the bush so after setting his eyes on a target he immediately worked on it to reach it.
Exactly three days later, Bai Zemin had finished removing the scales he would be using this time, he had heated them in the forging furnace using the power of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame, he had further flattened them into solid lines, and he had also used a total of 50 Second Order Soul Stones to turn each scale into a piece of armor with over 2000 defense points each.
Lilith: “… Don’t tell me you’re going to do what I have in mind.”
Bai Zemin: (¬‿¬)
Lilith looked at his expression and was speechless.
Exactly six weeks later, Kali had finished drawing runes on each plate Bai Zemin had given her.
“Alright, time to put this all together now.” He nodded and immediately set to work.
In front of him were over 130 plates of which five were scales and the other 125 were metal. Some of them were similar in shape and others were completely different; there were flat ones, there were curved ones, there were others with strange shapes, etc.
Each plate would make up a part of the complete armor, and since Bai Zemin had worked on the basis of a sketch he had made beforehand it was not difficult for him to know which plate was what and where to put it.
Using a leather armor coated by a thick layer of magic and mana for the inside, Bai Zemin began to put each plate on top of the leather and a day later the job was finished.
“A unique armor created from three armors.” Fire Sorrow looked at the work in front of her and couldn’t help but praise, “Leather, metal, and scales of a Fourth Order beast. Truly superb.”
“It’s not finished yet.” Bai Zemin looked distantly and noticed how the freezing air swirled in the distance forming thick layers of frost everywhere, “There’s still the last ingredient missing.”
The full body armor was already a Rank 3 equipment… Bai Zemin hoped that with Shangguan Bing Xue adding his not-so-small grain of sand it would evolve to Rank 4.
A few hours later, Shangguan Bing Xue together with Bai Shilin approached the group.
Bai Zemin took the initiative to walk towards them, and upon seeing the adult woman’s pale face he couldn’t help but ask worriedly, “Are you okay?”
“Tired.” Shangguan Bing Xue nodded with dull eyes. She extended her hand outward, revealing a beautiful platinum-colored snowflake with extremely complicated runes all over it, “Here it is. Over 180.000 points of my Mana boosted with every single inch of my magic power.”
Bai Zemin could feel his skin freeze even without touching it, but it was after touching the 5 centimeter diameter snowflake that he finally realized how much power it had enclosed inside.
Probably 1/10th of Beijing would be buried under ice if this thing exploded, and considering that Beijing was more than 10 times its former size one could only try to imagine how terrifying the power of the small snowflake was.
Bai Zemin returned to his workbench, and under the watchful eyes of everyone placed the small snowflake on the chest area of the armor.
After that, he took out a Third Order Soul Stone and said with some regret, “Too bad…”
He really wanted to use a Fourth Order Soul Stone for this armor, but given the circumstances it was not possible.
Soon, he started working on the magic blacksmithing.
A fire resistant armor.
An armor that would allow him to withstand high temperatures.
A piece of armor that would not overheat.
…
Lilith and the others watched Bai Zemin’s increasingly sweaty face but none of them interrupted him. As he frowned and closed his eyes tightly, they all stared at him silently without daring to make the slightest sound.
Exactly ten hours later, the survivors of the main base located in the Changping District of China’s capital watched wide-eyed as the Sky Destroyer broke through the clouds and flew away until it finally disappeared into the distant sky.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
We have been in the top 1 GT for 10 months in a row, and it means a lot to me to see that my effort pays off. Many thanks to you, who still donate your golden tickets and support Blood Warlock <3
