Chapter 128: The Crimson Tempest Series
Due to the frustration brought on by the disappointing Peerless Tang Sect storyline, Ye Wen had chosen not to pursue the later Soul Land III and Soul Land IV sequels. However, he had heard about some of the standout concepts, and one of the most intriguing among them was battle armor.
In Soul Land III, battle armor was portrayed as a powerful upgrade, allowing Soul Saints, who would have otherwise been high level cannon fodder by the late stages of Soul Land I, to possess strength comparable to Titled Douluo. While Ye Wen was admittedly terrible at naming things, he simply borrowed this concept and made it his own, calling it battle armor.
Still, the design and research were entirely his own since he had only a basic understanding of the original idea. In the original Soul Land setting, creating battle armor would have been difficult, but in this version, the unique existence of true body armor provided a framework and direction for Ye Wen's research.
True body armor in this world granted various enhancements to Soul Masters. Studying the armor's energy amplifying circuits and referencing the soul power patterns within spirit bones, Ye Wen, combined this with techniques from soul tool production to create the initial version of his battle armor.
Based on its potential, he categorized his battle armor into four ranks or "characters." This first generation prototype, he named Crimson, which enabled a Rank 50 Soul King to temporarily fight with the strength of a Rank 60 Soul Emperor for about half an hour. Compared to a complete first character battle armor, though, it fell short by around ten levels and lacked the ability to activate a martial spirit avatar.
Further testing revealed that the metal substrate of the armor could not withstand the immense heat from high level soul power, resulting in overheating and damage. This sparked Ye Wen's memory that in Soul Land III, blacksmiths forged metals that became the primary material for battle armor, and he began to suspect he'd reached the limit of traditional materials.
In this era, the title of "Divine Craftsman" belonged to three individuals, though in Ye Wen's opinion, two were undeserved. One was the infamous Tang Hao, whose smithing skills were, in fact, taught to him by Titan. Despite boldly claiming early on that a true craftsman could create a divine tool even with ordinary materials, there wasn't a single instance of such a feat.
The second was Titan himself, a Soul Saint of Rank 79 who would eventually break through to Soul Douluo. Lastly, there was Lou Gao, a master blacksmith who left many fans feeling unresolved in the original series. He was not yet the president of the Blacksmiths' Guild in this timeline but had already earned the title of Divine Craftsman due to his extraordinary talents. In the original story, he had even crafted armor capable of resisting the attacks of a Soul Emperor a testament to his abilities.
Though the Blacksmiths' Guild was inconspicuous in this era, Lou Gao's reputation was well known. Initially, Ye Wen had put off recruiting him, as openly approaching him could attract unwanted attention from the ruling powers. Plus, at that time, Ye Wen hadn't encountered any bottlenecks in his research. Early battle armor required only metal strength, and while Ye Wen was a novice in forging, he'd seen enough documentaries on metallurgy to enhance metal durability. His continued efforts led him to create a model comparable to the original story's first character armor: Red.
This armor could amplify a Soul Master's power by 20 levels, even enabling a Soul King to activate a temporary martial spirit avatar. Though it wasn't a true seventh ring martial spirit avatar, in theory, as long as one's soul power was sufficient, even a sixth ring Soul Emperor could display a pseudo avatar. (Reference: Tang San's Hao Tian Avatar during the Soul Master Tournament.)
Building on this first character armor, Ye Wen developed the next stage, Crimson Red. Unfortunately, this second character armor remained incomplete, boosting only 15 levels instead of the full 20 required to match a Soul Douluo. While further enhancements relied heavily on the material's strength, pushing to Titled Douluo levels would require far more than simply using stronger metals.
By now, Ye Wen had conceptually outlined all aspects of the ultimate fourth character armor, Crimson Tempest. However, the third character of armor, which had the potential to elevate a Soul Saint to Titled Douluo strength, required a revolutionary change. His simulations showed that the third character required self regenerating soul power or it would fall short. The material alone was not sufficient.
Put simply, the armor needed a degree of sentience to help its wearer wield power far beyond their own. This design drew on the principles behind spirit bones, which retained fragments of a spirit beast's soul. This latent soul presence kept the spirit bone's energy "alive" over centuries; without it, the spirit bone would lose its vitality and quickly degrade.
"Even my two character armor is still a prototype. As for the three character Crimson Tempest, that's far from achievable with my current resources. Looks like I can't complete this alone," Ye Wen sighed, examining yet another failed sample. Forging wasn't his specialty, after all.
However, if he could secretly recruit Lou Gao, the master craftsman, without arousing suspicion, Ye Wen was confident the craftsman would be willing. After all, this was an innovation well beyond the Tang Sect's hidden weapons of the original story. Knowing Lou Gao's zeal, Ye Wen doubted he'd refuse the opportunity to work on such an unprecedented project.
Slipping quietly into the city, Ye Wen met with the master blacksmith known as Lou Gao, who turned out to be a stocky man with a kindly, trustworthy face traits that made it easy to see how, in the original story, Tang San had managed to manipulate him.
While Lou Gao didn't know Ye Wen personally, he instantly recognized Ye Wen's skill upon realizing that Ye Wen had reached his side undetected. After a brief conversation, Lou Gao's gaze turned enraptured as Ye Wen unveiled his second character battle armor, Crimson Red. He gently ran his hands over the armor's surface, admiring the craftsmanship with a reverent touch, as if caressing his beloved.
"Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous! The metalwork alone is leagues beyond anything I could achieve. It could probably withstand attacks from a Soul Saint. And this intricate carving looks a bit like a soul tool's mechanism. This armor is practically a work of art," he murmured.
When Ye Wen explained the armor's functionality, Lou Gao's fascination grew to fever pitch. After channeling his own soul power into the armor, he became ecstatic.
"Master Ye Wen, please let me join you in this endeavor! I see boundless potential in this armor, far beyond its current form. We must show the Douluo Continent that blacksmiths, too, can create miracles!"
This was true passion. He agreed without even discussing payment, his conviction akin to that of the heroes willing to sacrifice everything for a cause. Now, Lou Gao's entire focus was fixated solely on the armor.
Because Lou Gao typically led a reclusive lifestyle, no one noticed his absence. To most powerful factions, blacksmithing seemed like child's play, much as in Soul Land II, where the Shrek Academy had remained overly focused on soul cultivation to the exclusion of everything else.
Once back at the academy, Ye Wen outlined the specific metal requirements for third character armor, and Lou Gao, despite lacking a hammer martial spirit, immediately understood. Ye Wen's guidance revealed a higher tier of forging.
One day, he produced an alloy refined over a hundred times.
By the second day, the alloy had undergone a thousand folds.
On the third day, the metal developed a spirit of its own.
As they beheld the lustrous metal, identical in appearance but markedly different in properties, both men felt the indescribable thrill of scientific discovery. This was the romance of innovation.
(End of Chapter)
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