Compared to the later era's full set of one-word battle armor, the initial version of Thousand Refined battle armor tinkered together by Ma Jieke was crude. It only had nine parts: helmet, belt, breastplate, left and right arm guards, left and right leg guards, and left and right war boots.
And perhaps because Ma Jieke had issues with aesthetics, this Thousand Refined battle armor forged from Lanyun Copper had no beauty to speak of. It reeked of cheapness.
Chu Chengzhou did not care. It was only an experimental version, so there was no need for flashy frills, and he would not be the one wearing it anyway.
Very quickly, Ma Jieke donned the Thousand Refined battle armor. Soul power coursed through him and linked the soul tool amplification arrays on each component. As a faint blue halo rose, Ma Jieke, a level 68 Soul Emperor, burst out with an aura not at all inferior to a low-level seven-ring Soul Sage.
Seeing this, Chu Chengzhou lifted an eyebrow. It really was a low-end version of battle armor.
Note that a mature, full set of Thousand Refined one-word battle armor in later generations could let a five-ring Soul King rival a seven-ring Soul Sage, truly leaping two major realms.
What Ma Jieke produced, however, was an initial version of Thousand Refined battle armor. At best it could let a high-level Soul Emperor rival an early seven-ring Soul Sage.
Fortunately, although its boost to a soul master's strength was far inferior to the mature one-word battle armor of later generations, there was no doubt that this was real battle armor, not the pure-metal armor Chu Chengzhou had made before.
"Old Ma, come on, teach me."
After carefully examining the Thousand Refined battle armor on Ma Jieke, a flash of heat crossed Chu Chengzhou's eyes. He could not wait.
To be honest, even four-word Heavenly Refined battle armor might not enhance him now, but Chu Chengzhou would not ignore battle armor for that reason.
On one hand, as far as he knew, the highest level of battle armor in later generations was not limited to four-word Heavenly Refined. There were also five-word and even six-word sets. They could not be forged directly, and could only be elevated from four-word battle armor through nurturing with divine sense combined with divine power.
He was different. The gold-grade Creation Hammer could forge Heavenly Refined metals. Then what about the rainbow-grade Creation Hammer? Could it directly forge super divine-grade metals beyond Heavenly Refinement?
Use super divine-grade metal paired with super divine-grade soul tool arrays and five-word and six-word battle armor would be done.
On the other hand, four-word battle armor might be useless to him personally, but his girls could use it.
Xiao Wu's Sea God trials, Qian Renxue's later Angel trials, and perhaps divine trials that the other girls could also initiate all required powerful strength as the basis for passing. In that case, battle armor was quite necessary.
Of course, the grade divisions for battle armor did not have to follow the later one-, two-, three-, four-, five-, six-word system. He was the pioneer. The right to name the grade divisions of battle armor was in his hands.
If he wanted to give a Thousand Refined battle armor a six-word name, no one could stop him.
Chu Chengzhou: Young man, do you want six-word battle armor? It's forged from Thousand Refined Heavy Silver. Hm? You want one-word battle armor? That isn't cheap. One-word battle armor is forged from nine-element Heavenly Refined metal.
"No problem."
Nodding, Ma Jieke agreed at once, then asked, "But I used up the Thousand Refined Lanyun Copper. Should I remelt those earlier failures I made, or will you forge some more?"
"I'll make some more. Small matter."
With a wave, Chu Chengzhou turned his head to look at the nearby rare metal warehouse with its doors wide open.
With a flick of his finger, dozens of ingots of Lanyun Copper flew out of the warehouse and hovered in midair before him. Then a great hammer of yellow, blue, red, and azure condensed into being. Clang, clang, clang, he slammed the big hammer down on them one by one. As radiance blossomed, the dozens of Lanyun Copper ingots all became Thousand Refined Lanyun Copper.
Seeing this, Ma Jieke took out a red object the size of a water vat from his soul tool storage.
"Uh, Old Ma, what is this?"
Glancing at the red object Ma Jieke had produced, Chu Chengzhou asked with some surprise.
"Young Master Chu, this is called the Red Demon Furnace, a seventh-level soul tool. It is my proudest creation and my best partner.
"My Red Demon Furnace is entirely forged from Red Demon Finegold. It can rapidly smelt and heat metals. It only requires an infusion of soul power to use."
Ma Jieke spoke with a touch of pride.
But then his tone shifted as he continued, "It's just a pity that my Red Demon Furnace cannot perform fine operations. It cannot shape directly inside the furnace. Otherwise, the semi-finished pieces that came out would only need soul tool arrays inscribed to become true soul tools."
Chu Chengzhou: "."
After a moment of silence, Chu Chengzhou pointed. Crimson soul power surged from his fingertip. Several pieces of Thousand Refined Lanyun Copper hovering in midair rapidly melted into a mass of blazing molten copper.
Then, as the crimson soul power at his fingertip shifted to blue, a thought moved. Under the microscopic control of his powerful spiritual power, the slightly cooled molten copper quickly took shape, turning into armor.
In an instant the high heat faded, and a detachable set of pure-metal Thousand Refined armor was born. The total time spent was only half a minute.
Watching Chu Chengzhou's fierce string of operations, Ma Jieke was stunned.
Ma Jieke: nmmp, with strength you can do whatever you want?
Gazing at the "fresh from the oven" Lanyun Copper armor for a moment, Ma Jieke silently put away the Red Demon Furnace before him, muttering in his heart over and over, "Young Master Chu is no ordinary man. He can do what others cannot. Young Master Chu is no ordinary man. He does what others cannot."
In short, Chu Chengzhou is not human.
"Haha, Old Ma, don't get discouraged. This Red Demon Furnace of yours is still decent. As for shaping armor by hand, on the continent I am probably the only one."
Chu Chengzhou smiled, patting Ma Jieke's shoulder in consolation.
Unexpectedly, perhaps because the cheat was too powerful, when Ma Jieke carefully explained the key points for inscribing soul tool arrays on Thousand Refined armor, even before he tried it himself, Chu Chengzhou saw the words [Battle Armor Manufacturing (Grayed Out Purple)] appear in the skill bar of his attribute panel.
Thus, under Ma Jieke's puzzled gaze, Chu Chengzhou waved his hand and said he would not learn.
He had already sowed a seed that would grow on its own and yield harvest without tending. Why would Chu Chengzhou learn how to be a farmer? He would just sit and wait for the skill to be completed and upgraded.
Although, just like the earlier "Element Fusion" secret art, aside from the difference in grade, the battle armor manufacturing skill still appeared in a dim color and needed completion.
That did not matter. The time needed to complete a purple skill was the same as upgrading a yellow-grade skill to purple. At his current cheat's idle-leveling rate, that meant one day.
In other words, after one day, Chu Chengzhou would master true Thousand Refined battle armor manufacturing.