Chapter 286: Dreams of Battle Armor

With Wu Zhangkong and Zhuo Shi settling their differences, Shen Yi was in a stellar mood and was, without a doubt, the person most pleased with this outcome.

"Gu Yue, remember to be conscious of your behavior, especially within the academy. In front of the countless seniors who have experienced world-shaking events, we are nothing. It's essential that you pay your respects to them, otherwise your stay here won't be long. Moreover, your companions will be affected too. Got it?"

Gu Yue nodded silently.

Tang Wulin pulled her hand. "Gu Yue, Teacher Shen is right. You were too impulsive today. Elder Cai was only testing my strength in the fourth trial, I wasn't injured at all. Teacher Shen, can I trouble you to bring us to Elder Cai later to apologize?"

Shen Yi stared at him in shock. This kid is just too mature.

When Tang Wulin had first started forging, his father had thoroughly drilled this lesson into his head, and as he grew older and broadened his horizons, his maturity surpassed his peers. Besides, he was the captain of class zero. As the leader, he always had to consider what was best for his team. It was precisely because of both his maturity and leadership that Gu Yue, Xie Xie, and Xu Xiaoyan accepted his decisions so willingly.

Gu Yue furrowed her brows slightly, puffing her cheeks in an adorable pout.

Tang Wulin looked her directly in the eyes and said, "I know you acted for my sake, but we're a team, Gu Yue. Your actions affect the rest of us too, just like how my deep meditation forced us to become working students. Don't be so stubborn. Elder Cai wants you as her disciple because she saw how talented you are. This is an amazing opportunity for you. It's not easy to become a one-word battle armor master by twenty, you know? Having such a great teacher would

be an amazing stroke of luck for you."

Under his sincere gaze, Gu Yue couldn't do anything but lower her head and quietly mutter, "I'm sorry, I was impulsive today. I want to go apologize to Elder Cai."

Tang Wulin smiled at her words, reaching out to give her a big hug. "That's the way."

Though Gu Yue blushed crimson, she did not push him away.

Xie Xie sauntered over, a sly smirk tugging his lips. "Yeah, that's the way." He opened up his arms.

Gu Yue's leg shot out. "Go away."

Xie Xie dodged, immediately grumbling, "You're so biased. How come you let Captain hug you?"

"Because he's handsome," Gu Yue stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, that's right. Captain is way handsomer than you." Xu Xiaoyan also did not forget to dig deeper into Xie Xie.

Shen Yi smiled as she watched their antics. They reminded her of herself at their age, bouncing with excitement when she was first admitted to Shrek Academy.

"Alright. We're registering tomorrow and you'll need to be alert, so go sleep early. Being a working student isn't an easy thing." Shen Yi's words seemed to carry some hidden meaning.

The wooden house didn't have many rooms, so the boys shared one room while the girls shared another.

Wu Zhangkong also didn't reappear again that night. The instant they hit the bed, they fell into a deep sleep. It had been a long day for them.

Of the four, Tang Wulin was the last to enter meditation.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he looked down at his hand. Golden light burst from his palm and, an instant later, his spirit refined heavy silver hammers appeared within them.

Tang Wulin reveled in this magical sensation. Now that it was connected to him by blood, it had become an extension of his own body.

Although mechas were powerful, first-grade thousand refined metals were the strongest materials they could be made from. Even then, that would just be a first-rate mecha. If spirit refined metals were to be used to create a mecha, soul masters would need to be involved in the creation process. That very fact, as well as the sheer size of a mecha, made such an endeavor practically impossible..

Mu Chen had told Tang Wulin that though blacksmiths were viewed as less important than mecha designers, makers, and mechanics, they were indispensable for creating battle armor. In fact, the first battle armor prototypes wouldn't have existed without the discovery of spirit refining..

Mechas, with their bulk, couldn't fuse with a person. Battle armor, on the other hand, molded to a soul master's body and could perfectly fuse with and improve the user's abilities.

Battle armors were like a circuit carved into the user's martial soul that granted the martial soul its own set of armor and sublimating it.

With the advent of battle armor, humanity's strength soared onto a whole different level. However, their newfound superiority also drove soul beasts to the brink of extinction.

The Spirit Pagoda was originally established to mediate peace between humans and soul beasts. However, for the sake of their research into the invention of artificial spirit souls, there was a period of time where the Spirit Pagoda slaughtered countless soul beasts with the Federation's support. Under the relentless pursuit for science, the soul beast world crumbled. The value of soul beasts plummeted with the invention of spirit souls and with the Spirit Pagoda's current research speed, they would only need another few thousand years to create ten-thousand-year spirit souls.

Golden lines swirled around the spirit refined heavy silver hammers, similar to the ones on Tang Wulin when he cultivated. A golden dragon could be faintly discerned on the hammers, but rather than a pattern, it seemed to be a living entity as it roamed around the hammers.

This was clearly the effect of their blood connection!

Spirit refining granted metal life and made it a part of one's own body. If one were to evolve it into soul refined, it would then be a part of one's martial soul. Soul refining was akin to forging one's own martial soul into a higher realm.

It was for this reason that Saint Blacksmiths were revered throughout the continent. Their status was no less than that of a three-word battle armor master, because without them, three-word battle armors would never exist.

As for Divine Blacksmiths... Tang Wulin could only imagine what sort of realm that was. Even Mu Chen could not explain it to Tang Wulin as he himself didn't know what it was like. It was his life's goal to reach that level.

With Tang Wulin's recent success in spirit refining, it meant he could now forge his own battle armor. Not only that, he had set his sights on not one-word, but two-word battle armor!

As for why he set his goal so high, it was because he understood now that battle armor didn't have such strict soul power requirements, just like how he could spirit refine despite only having two soul rings.

For a blacksmith to even attempt spirit refining, the normal standard was four soul rings as only then would they have enough the necessary life force to sustain the entire process.

Yet he had succeeded with only two soul rings! This feat was only possible due to the combination of his innate divine strength, talent, profound understanding of the metal, and his blood essence soul ring.

If that was the case, then perhaps the soul power requirement he needed for battle armor would be lower too. At the very least, it couldn't hurt to try.

A set of battle armor wasn't made all at once. Each item was made piece by piece. He decided to start experimenting with the simplest part!

Tang Wulin brimmed with confidence now that he was successful at spirit refining and firmly believed that he didn't need five soul rings to become a one-word battle armor master. With his blood essence soul ring, he could make it with just four soul rings! Besides, since he could already spirit refine, he wouldn't settle for just one-word battle armor. It would be a waste of time to start there. Instead, it was more efficient to make two-word battle armor that could continue to evolve with spirit refined metal.

Once that time came, he could immediately name his battle armor with two words!