Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

Chapter 1396 Plotting Strategy

Chapter 1396 Plotting Strategy

Translator: BornToBe

“Really?” Long Chen was startled.

Then he quickly recalled that once Guo Ran put on his armor, his power rose by dozens of times.

His power was the lowest amongst the Dragonblood Legion, but by wearing his armor, his power could match those of Gu Yang and the others.

Now after the baptism of the Dragon Tiger Body Tempering Pill and thunderforce, his base power had multiplied by hundreds of times. With the help of his armor, he truly was capable of defeating Gu Yang.

“So? Do you want to challenge me too?” asked Long Chen.

“No, no, no! I’m not as dumb as Gu Yang. Boss, in my heart, you are a god. This junior wouldn’t dare to fight you.” A boot-licking smile hung on Guo Ran’s face.

“Put away your smile, it gives me chills. If you want to say something, just say it.” Long Chen shuddered upon seeing Guo Ran’s expression. That smile’s destructive power was immense.

“Boss, I need to create a new set of armor for myself. I’ve already designed the blueprints, but I want to see if you have any suggestions.” Guo Ran took out a sheet of paper covered in symbols. This three-foot-wide paper had over ten thousand mechanisms written all over it.

“I get it. No wonder you’re so low key. Your armor was destroyed in the battle, wasn’t it?” demanded Long Chen.

“Boss, when it comes to you, my heart is as bright and clear as the sun and moon. I would never challenge you. In my heart, you-”

“Aright, I get it. If you keep talking, I’ll end up vomiting all my pills. I’ll look at your designs.” Long Chen hastily waved his hands to cut Guo Ran off. He lowered his head to see the composition of his armor.

Although Long Chen didn’t understand forging, he had many evil thoughts in his head that made Guo Ran prostrate himself in admiration toward him.

When it came to battle experience, no one could surpass Long Chen. In the past, when Guo Ran had forged his armor, there would always be some flaws, and Long Chen would propose some ways to fix them that had benefited Guo Ran greatly. That was why Guo Ran first brought the blueprints to Long Chen this time.

“Does your propulsion mechanism really have to be on your butt?” Long Chen asked with a strange expression.

Guo Ran helplessly said, “There’s no way around it. Whenever I put it on my hands, feet, or wings, it’s very difficult to maintain balance. This is the best spot for it.”

This propulsion mechanism had been giving Guo Ran a headache for years now. Every time he accelerated, it looked like he was farting. It wasn’t very becoming.

However, only by placing it there could he keep his limbs and wings free. He was able to maintain his balance while not affecting his agility in battle.

“This old design of your armor is no longer very useful.” Long Chen looked it over and shook his head.

“What do you mean?” Guo Ran was dumbfounded.

“You’re still focusing on wide area destruction with this armor. That’s not useful to the current Dragonblood Legion. With this kind of attack style, you won’t be able to kill our enemies in one blow. People with the qualifications to be our opponents will definitely be high ranking Celestials. Injuring them but not killing them is meaningless,” said Long Chen.

“I... you’re right.” Guo Ran instantly understood what he was saying.

His line of thinking had been too rigid. In the past, in the Eastern Wasteland, to pursue the greatest wide area destruction had been correct.

However, now the Dragonblood Legion’s numbers had risen, and the opponents they were facing were powerful heavenly geniuses. He would most probably be fighting one on one, only occasionally throwing out area attacks. His area attacks were now ineffective.

“You can get rid of your three-hundred area-mechanisms. Switch them all for power runes. You only need five close-range life protecting methods in your armor as well. Switch the rest for power runes. You should walk the path of a berserk power fighter,” suggested Long Chen.

“Alright, I’ll listen to you boss.”

“Are those runes on your wings for speed? Why are there so few?”

“I only have three speed runes, and even they aren’t very high level. I also can’t carve them in a more concentrated way or they’ll cancel each other’s effect.”

Guo Ran was helpless about it. The majority of the runes he could engrave were for King items. The Xuantian Dao Sect didn’t specialize in forging items, so King items were their limit.

As for the Ethereal Crafting Secret Record, Guo Ran had yet to comprehend many of those runes and couldn’t add them to his forging.

“That’s no good. With just power and no speed, you won’t be able to hit anyone. I’ll go ask Zheng Wenlong to get some forging tomes and material for you,” said Long Chen.

If he wanted Guo Ran to forge Ancestral items, he couldn’t be stingy. Without going all the way, any money he did put in would just be wasted.

“Put your personal armor to the side. Let me see your design for the Dragonblood warriors’ armor and weapons,” said Long Chen.

Long Chen took out two pieces of paper. They were much simpler, but they still needed over a thousand mechanisms.

“Not bad. You’ve carved a formation on the armor that lets everyone share their power for offense and defense. It’s ingenious,” praised Long Chen.

Guo Ran was a genius when it came to forging. He knew that the Dragonblood Legion fought as a group. By placing formation runes on each set of armor he forged for them, they would be able to work together easier.

Although there were only two options for sharing their power, one for a collective attack and one for a collective defense, this was still something Guo Ran had figured out how to do on his own. It was very impressive.

“I’m planning to use the scale pattern for the armor. The back and heart will be specially protected. Each scale will have a defensive rune on the front, and the back will have an offensive rune linked to their weapons. That way, their weapon and armor will be connected and be able to boost each other’s power,” explained Guo Ran as he pointed out various parts of the diagram. “During the past few days, I tried forging two Ancestral items. My forging table and hammer are one hundred percent capable of forging Ancestral items.”

“They’re that strong?” asked Long Chen.

“Yes. This forging table seems to be a divine item in and of itself. The forging hammer is the same. As my forging skills continuously advance, it’s like they’re slumbering divine items slowly awakening their abilities. The weight of the forging hammer always suits me perfectly. It’s very strange. Now, each time I use them, I always kowtow to them first. I can feel a faint connection to them now,” said Guo Ran. His respect for the forging table had only risen. When he mentioned it, his mischievous smile was replaced with a devout expression.

Long Chen nodded. It seemed that Guo Ran was someone with a great destiny. The forging table he had pulled out of an ancient tomb in the Jiuli secret realm had to possess an extremely terrifying history.

“Forging Ancestral items isn’t a problem now, but there is one major problem. That’s the item-spirit. Without an item-spirit, an Ancestral item can’t possibly unleash the power an Ancestral item should possess. It will just be like a King item with a bit more energy,” said Guo Ran.

Ancestral items were nourished by generations of experts. That resulted in a powerful item-spirit that could assist the master in unleashing the item’s full power.

An Ancestral item needed an item-spirit. That wasn’t difficult. Even Forging Masters who could only refine King items were more than capable of adding an item-spirit to a weapon.

However, the problem was nourishing that item-spirit. That process required centuries.

For an Ancestral item to reach its peak would require millennia. That was what made them so precious, and it was simply impossible for Guo Ran to do the same in a short period.

“You just forge them. I’ll handle adding the item-spirits,” said Long Chen. As long as Guo Ran was capable of forging them, it wasn’t a problem.

Guo Ran didn’t disappoint Long Chen. In just three days, he brought a scale armor and sword set that were on the level of Ancestral items.

However, they were still a mock-up and hadn’t had any additional runes inscribed on them. Guo Ran was just letting Long Chen see their appearance. If there was no problem, he would start forging them en masse. Over half of the Dragonblood Legion used swords.

Long Chen sighed emotionally as he held the sword. Guo Ran was truly a blessing to him. Who would have thought that his forging table would be so amazing that it could even forge Ancestral items?

The length, width, height, weight, shape, everything about it was very satisfactory. Long Chen told Guo Ran to imprint an image of a divine dragon on the weapons. That would be the mark of the Dragonblood Legion.

Since Long Chen was satisfied, Guo Ran quickly finished the armor and sword. They were both fiery-red and contained a huge amount of flame energy.

That was the result of being forged with Divine Flame Crystals. They possessed a powerful flame attribute, which wasn’t suitable for wood or water element cultivators.

Fortunately, those two attributes were rather rare, and only a couple hundred of them existed in the Dragonblood Legion. The others could use these.

Long Chen put on the armor and wielded the sword, testing their power. As expected, without item-spirits, there was no way to unleash the power of Ancestral items.

Since everything was confirmed, Guo Ran went into seclusion and began to forge the scale armor and swords. Since the materials being used were of the highest quality, the forging table seemed to be receiving some kind of nourishment and seemed to be awakening.

That delighted Guo Ran, and he began forging like his life depended on it. As for Long Chen, he sent a letter to Zheng Wenlong.

Zheng Wenlong’s efficiency was extremely high, and in just ten days, he had gathered a large pile of forging runes and ancient tomes perfect for Guo Ran’s level. He had also brought over a mass of Ancestral items’ materials.

Of course, Long Chen wouldn’t let Zheng Wenlong suffer a loss. He directly gave him a thousand Divine Flame Crystals and one of those giant divine crystals.

When Zheng Wenlong saw that giant divine crystal, he was completely dumbfounded. The divine energy within it made it a priceless treasure. Even he didn’t possess the qualifications to auction off such a terrifying treasure.

Long Chen said that Zheng Wenlong should simply take it and treat it as him paying off all his debts. He trusted the Huayun Sect and the way they conducted their business.

After sending off Zheng Wenlong, Long Chen went into seclusion. The rest of the Dragonblood Legion also went into seclusion with a pile of medicinal pills that Long Chen had given them.

Those were the pills he had plundered from Pill Valley. They had Pill Valley’s mark and so they couldn’t be sold. They should be used for private consumption. As a result, everyone entered a state of constant medication.