FE—Chapter 127: Miss Meng is having fun
Di Rachel noticed that Meng Hongchen was unfamiliar with the concept of battle armor and rolled her eyes, recalling the story of the Great Silver Dragon from Light Ball that she had read. Although Gu Yuena ultimately died for love, she was extraordinarily talented in battle armor design.
While the series of processes for forging and designing battle armor in the narrative of the Great Silver Dragon did not detail production principles, it was during Gu Yuena's demise that the existence of battle armor was briefly mentioned.
Despite that, the concept of battle armor was sufficient for her to discuss with Meng Hongchen.
"Miss Meng, you don't understand this, do you? Do you know what the prototype of battle armor is?" Di Rachel waved her golden dragon spear lazily as she asked.
Seeing that Di Rachel seemed well-informed, Meng Hongchen wondered if there might be a connection between battle armor and the soul-guidance full-body armor.
"The prototype of battle armor..." she pondered for more than ten seconds but couldn't arrive at an answer. Meng Hongchen slowly shook her head. "Why? Classmate Rachel, do you know a lot about it?"
"Haha, I know quite a bit."
Di Rachel quickly recalled facts from the big silver dragon's story: "In fact, battle armor is somewhat similar to the soul guidance full-body armor that Senior Sister Meng mentioned. Its prototype seems to be something... Oh, yes, a humanoid soul guidance device."
It was noted in the Light Ball that Huo Yuhao presented to the big silver dragon that the battle armor during Gu Yuena's period consisted of the ice armor created by Huo Yuhao. After ten thousand years of development and improvement, it gradually evolved into what is now known as battle armor.
Di Rachel blinked and asked with interest, "Miss Meng, since your grandfather is renowned for his soul guidance device studies, you should know about humanoid soul guidance devices, right?"
Meng Hongchen considered for a moment and replied, "I believe I've heard my grandfather mention the term humanoid soul guidance device, but I have never witnessed him create one with my own eyes."
The concept of a humanoid soul guidance device is not a complete secret; soul engineers with some knowledge typically refer to it. However, most soul engineers have no expertise in crafting a humanoid soul guidance device, often knowing next to nothing about it.
Meng Hongchen glanced at Huo Yuhao, who was engrossed in forging, and a hint of surprise appeared in her blue eyes. "Rachel, I remember hearing my grandfather discuss a meeting with several research teachers before. Grandpa seemed concerned about humanoid soul guidance devices. Could it be that Yuhao is capable of creating one?"
"Well... how should I put it? There is still a significant disparity between hard work and talent," Di Rachel replied.
"Additionally, battle armor is categorized by levels. Unlike humanoid soul guidance devices, which must be of a high level right away, battle armor levels seem to be divided according to the number of words, such as one-word battle armor, two-word battle armor..."
Di Rachel carefully imparted basic knowledge about battle armor to Meng Hongchen.
Although Meng Hongchen found it hard to grasp fully, she nodded along, realizing from Di Rachel's demeanor that her understanding of the topic was not comprehensive. She could only discern that battle armor existed.
With purpose, Meng Hongchen channeled her soul power, and her originally white arms glowed with an ice-blue halo beneath the skin as she activated the specially made soul guidance storage rings on her left and right index fingers.
As the storage rings on her fingers shimmered with blue light, a pair of ice-blue long swords materialized in her hands.
"My grandfather crafted a set of level 6 full-body armor for me. I haven't worn the soul guidance armor for the other parts yet, but I practiced with this pair of long swords during the holiday."
Meng Hongchen held up the ice-blue long swords, creating elegant sword flowers in the air. Her movements were breathtakingly beautiful.
"Rachel, I am now a level 53 soul king. I feel that just by wielding this pair of long swords, my combat power has increased drastically. I could contend with ordinary six-ring soul emperors."
"If I wear a full set of level 6 armor, I might be able to suppress the soul emperor," she added.
This was what her grandfather had informed her during the holidays; as long as Meng Hongchen could skillfully control a full set of level 6 armor, she would be able to outmatch even a six-ring soul emperor with a top-tier martial soul.
Hearing this, Di Rachel, recognizing the power of Meng Hongchen's level 6 full-body armor, inquired, "Senior Meng, is there anything you don't understand?"
"The first level of battle armor is called the one-word battle armor... How does it enhance soul masters compared to the level 6 full-body armor designed by your grandfather?"
Meng Hongchen fretted that Huo Yuhao might stray in his research direction. What if Yuhao put in the effort to create battle armor but found it lacking compared to soul guidance armor? That would seem worthless.
Since Yuhao was interested in this field, it would be better for her grandfather to impart knowledge about humanoid soul guidance devices to him.
Meng Hongchen was primarily worried about Huo Yuhao's efforts potentially going to waste if he didn't find the right research direction.
Di Rachel pondered while clutching her golden dragon spear. In the Big Silver Dragon's story, there was a basic explanation of how battle armor improved soul masters.
"Miss Meng, I only know that a one-word battle armor requires at least the cultivation of a five-ring soul king to wear. After donning the battle armor, it should enhance the soul master's strength by one or two rings..."
Di Rachel did not assert this with certainty; after all, as Yuhao hadn't yet created it, there remained room for improvements.
Meng Hongchen's eyes lit up at the thought: "If it can enhance strength by one ring, wouldn't that mean it equates to the power of a soul emperor? That sounds promising, not worse than level-six full-body armor!"
Di Rachel nodded in agreement: "Right, it shouldn't be inferior to soul guidance full-body armor."
At that moment, the rhythmic banging in the laboratory ceased. With Electrolux's assistance, Huo Yuhao completed the forging of the thousand-forged metal, producing a sufficient amount of thousand-forged titanium.
With a thought, he returned the Heavy Xuan Ruler to the storage soul guidance device.
Huo Yuhao exhaled a sigh of relief, turned around, and looked at Meng Hongchen and Di Rachel, asking, "Rachel, have you finished your campus tour? How do you feel?"
Di Rachel smiled and replied, "It was good, but it's a shame that Wang Dong'er isn't at this academy; I miss having her clean my dormitory."
She and Meng Hongchen walked forward to stand beside Huo Yuhao.
Meng Hongchen returned the ice-blue swords to her soul guidance storage ring, covering her mouth as she chuckled. "Classmate Rachel also hoped to buy a piece of ten-thousand-year whale glue to eat with you tonight. It's unfortunate she didn't get her wish."
Huo Yuhao contemplated this for a moment, piecing together that Meng Hongchen likely took Di Rachel to visit the auction house that sold the ten-thousand-year whale glue. Di Rachel was not the type to endure bullying, except when in the presence of the Silver Dragon King, so she undoubtedly sought to procure a piece.
Meng Hongchen glanced down at the thousand-forged titanium on the forging table. The patterns glowing faintly with purple light were several levels superior to the hundred-forged metal, representing a qualitative advancement in performance.
She could distinctly sense the energy contained within, entirely concentrated within the metal, indicating that its quality had improved significantly. Consequently, the magnitude of the energy when unleashed was also greatly enhanced.
Meng Hongchen believed that even if he couldn't forge battle armor, using this metal for soul-guide creation would yield power several times greater than that of the hundred-forged metal.
Di Rachel blinked, her interest piqued. "Yuhao, are you going to use these thousand-forged metals to create battle armor next?"
She recollected that after forging the metal, designing the armor would follow. What design drawings did Yuhao have in mind?
If there weren't any design drawings and the purpose was merely to enhance forging proficiency, then utilizing bloodline power didn't make sense. After all, the metal might not be suitable raw materials for battle armor.
However, upon entering, she noticed Huo Yuhao had used the Bloodline of the ancient void dragon, explicitly indicating that he planned to use these metals for crafting battle armor directly.
Contemplating this, Di Rachel felt confused. "Yuhao, if there's no design drawing, will you just randomly forge some armor to practice?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head, ready to respond to Di Rachel, but Meng Hongchen spoke first.
Meng Hongchen crossed her arms, smiling. "Classmate Rachel, who said that Yuhao and I don't have design drawings?"
"Huh?" Di Rachel turned to Meng Hongchen suddenly, eyes wide. "Miss Meng, what do you mean?"
"Where did the design drafts come from? Who designed them?"
Meng Hongchen glanced at her from the corner of her eye, calmly retrieving a stack of drawings from her storage cross-guidance device.
Casually, she pulled out a few drawings from the pile and handed them to Di Rachel. She moved her lips and said, "Here, take a look. These are the design drawings."
"As for who they are for..."
Meng Hongchen smiled, a beautiful arc forming at the corner of her lips, as she pointed to the drawings in her hand. "Student Rachel, take a look for yourself; you should be able to tell."
Di Rachel was taken aback upon seeing Meng Hongchen produce a collection of design drawings, but she quickly processed the information. It was evident that these drawings must have been designed for Meng Hongchen.
Her gaze darted between Huo Yuhao and Meng Hongchen, feeling irritation rise within her. Meng Hongchen had kept so many things hidden from her and had pressured Yuhao into doing a multitude of tasks, even drawing the design for battle armor.
Meng Hongchen sensed Di Rachel's perturbed expression and could fairly guess what she was thinking.
She absentmindedly rubbed a strand of her silver-white hair with her fingertips. "Rachel, these drawings were designed by Yuhao and me last semester."
Di Rachel snorted while accepting the design drawings offered by Meng Hongchen.
She sorted through a few of them, urging her soul power to make these drawings float before her.
Meng Hongchen sighed with contentment, adding, "Classmate Rachel, you may not know this, but Yuhao and I faced many challenges while designing these drawings."
Naturally, Di Rachel shot her an unamused glare, speaking angrily, "What challenges? It sounds like merely an excuse for you to get closer to Yuhao!"
Meng Hongchen smirked, not bothering to refute. After all, in the past, she had indeed asked Yuhao to create comics for her.
Initially, she had thought Yuhao was simply drawing character portraits for her. After today's revelation, Meng Hongchen realized that they had been designing drawings for battle armor.
The knowledge that Yuhao had been contemplating this since last semester made her particularly happy.
She remained unfazed by Di Rachel's irritated accusation, saying, "Classmate Rachel, I mentioned that your sister and Yuhao sketched several images of the same part together. They were undoubtedly beautiful, but Yuhao remained unsatisfied."
"So, he was designing battle armor for me—that makes sense."
Meng Hongchen smiled joyfully, recalling how Yuhao had sought an excuse to draw comics so he could craft designs for her.
"What? Several images?"
Di Rachel was exasperated enough to stamp her foot in annoyance upon hearing what Meng Hongchen said.
Meng Hongchen smilingly chimed in, "Yes, our initial design drawings were merely ordinary sketches."
"Yuhao should add the necessary lines and patterns to the design drafts based on the characteristics of the martial soul, allowing the drafts to resemble actual battle armor designs more closely."
Although according to what Huo Yuhao indicated, the ordinary sketches from earlier had now become subpar drafts compared to the finalized design drafts, Meng Hongchen still kept them.
After the legitimate drafts were used, she intended to compile these into commemorative albums. Whenever Di Rachel caused a fuss, she planned to display the album as a way to tease her.
Di Rachel gritted her teeth upon hearing this, casting her gaze upon the design drafts floating before her, all of which were calf armor designs.
As Meng Hongchen explained, the first few drafts depicted the calves in stunning detail, showcasing beautiful lines and slender white skin.
In the subsequent drawings, the lines grew more intricate, intertwining on the calves.
In the final draft, which was the design Huo Yuhao intended for the battle armor, the complex lines wrapped around the calves, forming patterns, with auxiliary lines intersecting and detailing the areas designated for the core arrays.
Di Rachel scrutinized the calf design drafts, and her frustration grew. "Meng Hongchen! These calf designs have been executed so thoroughly, yet what about the drawings for other parts..."
Meng Hongchen responded with a smile, "Student Rachel, you don't seem to grasp..."
"Of course, the earlier designs were somewhat unfamiliar, requiring Yuhao and me to practice several times to gradually become skilled enough to produce the true battle armor designs."
Di Rachel huffed, waving her hands and letting all the calf design drafts descend onto the table.
Suddenly hit with an idea, she picked out several additional design drafts, which floated before her once more.
This time, they detailed thigh armor designs.
The first thigh design, like the preceding calf designs, was lifelike and portrayed a thigh with enchanting curves and proportionate whiteness.
Di Rachel felt a wave of anger as she scrutinized the thigh armor design drafts, going back and forth. For reasons unknown, she felt her cheeks grow warm while viewing Meng Hongchen's white thighs.
Meng Hongchen quickly noticed Di Rachel's change in demeanor. "Rachel, what's the matter? Why is your face so red?"
Di Rachel stammered, "Miss Meng, you are playing tricks..."
The previous image depicted a white calf, and now it showcased a white thigh. She couldn't help but consider the implications of Meng Hongchen and Huo Yuhao collaborating on these drawings.
Meng Hongchen appeared stunned at that moment. "No, Yuhao and I are simply designing battle armor."
"Rachel, what on earth are you thinking?"
Di Rachel's cheeks flushed deeper, and she spoke in a voice barely louder than a whisper, "The calf design just now was acceptable, but look at the thigh design—the sidelines are all connected to the waist."
End of Chapter