I Became the Progenitor Vampire Chapter 222

Chapter 222: Chapter 223: Equipment Valued at 100,000 Gold Puck

Clang~ Clang~

When Lide decided to create Super Heavy Armor Warriors, the sound of forging weapons became the main melody over Dawn City.

These days, the residents all lived amidst the sounds of hammering.

Currently, Dawn City had a total of 78 blacksmiths, most of whom forged agricultural tools for farmers, and only about a dozen were Intermediate Blacksmiths who could independently craft weapons.

There was only one Advanced Blacksmith who had half Dwarf Bloodline, Juejin, and not a single Grandmaster-level Blacksmith; even more so, the only Master-level Blacksmith was the Dwarf new to Dawn City–Valen Barbaric Hammer.

The levels of blacksmiths are divided into — Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Grandmaster, Master, and Legendary.

Blacksmithing is a lifestyle Profession and does not conflict with combat professions. Anyone who wants to switch professions can do so.

However, to become a Grandmaster or even a Master requires significant Talent, and these easy-to-start lifestyle professions need even more effort than combat professions to reach higher levels.

Initially, Valen was not willing to forge armor for him, especially after seeing the massive stature of Kosso and Castro.

Who knows how long it would take to complete the forging.

Naturally, Lide couldn't let this Master-level labor go to waste. He obtained Valen's agreement to forge armor for Kosso and Castro in exchange for a promise that wouldn't harm the young Dwarf Prince Anakin, under the resentful gaze of the Dwarf.

Of course, if Valen alone were to forge the armor for these two giants, even if this Dwarf's blacksmithing level had reached Master, it might not be finished in half a year.

Lide didn't have the leisure to wait, nor did he want to continue tormenting this stubborn Dwarf. With a wave of his hand, the entire blacksmithing resources of Dawn City were at his disposal.

All he wanted was for Valen to forge the strongest armor in the shortest possible time.

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A Secret Silver Vein could be discovered at any time, and it was inhabited by tens of thousands of Beastmen.

He needed to quickly increase his combat power, and Kosso and Castro were undoubtedly the best options at this stage. These giants had a tremendous advantage in dealing with ground troops that other creatures couldn't match.

To increase future efficiency, Lide also promised that as long as Valen's forged armor satisfied him, he could choose a residence within Dawn City.

He also wouldn't force him to complete a fixed quota of daily tasks, and might even reward him with half a barrel of fine wine every week.

Valen, who had to forge weapons for at least 16 Sunshine Hours a day at the blacksmith shop to get food for the past half month, had developed a slight aversion to hammering.

Upon hearing Lide's terms, his enthusiasm surged, especially the reward of half a barrel of fine wine every week.

Dwarves and fine wine are inseparable; they love their wine almost as much as forging weapons and mining.

No Dwarf can resist fine wine. None.

Lide smiled without saying anything. Human nature is always like this; his previous exploitation of Valen was utterly ruthless, even suffocating the Dwarf.

Now, by taking a step back and reducing Valen's 16 Sunshine Hours to 12 hours, and providing him with enough food and even a day off each week…

This policy, more “generous and merciful” compared to the previous one, immediately relaxed Valen. The visible resistance he had shown before had greatly decreased.

Valen, in his relaxation, didn't seem to realize he was still working for him as before; the only difference was that the job now was a bit more comfortable.

This is the essence of how superiors manipulate inferiors.

Or perhaps Valen recognized it but could only fall into his scheme because the initiative was always in the hands of the superiors, while inferiors were forced to accept.

“Lord of Kachar City, this alchemy formula is one I acquired from the hands of the Dark Night Elves during an adventure in the Underworld years ago.

The Dark Night Elves, kin to the Elves, prefer to fight wearing light armor. Though their armor is thin, it can withstand heavy crossbow bolts and offers incredibly strong defense.

The alchemy formula I have is for the metal they use to make their armor, which I've named 'Shadow Metal'.”

After taking over the blacksmith shop, Valen immediately began his grand forging endeavor, but he hit a snag when deciding which type of steel to use for the armor.

Juejin had previously developed steel that was three times harder than normal steel, which is currently the most advanced metal in Dawn City.

Originally, Lide planned to use this new type of reinforced steel for the armor of Kosso and Castro.

However, Valen had objections because, though the reinforced steel was strong enough defensively, it was too heavy.

The density of the reinforced steel was double that of regular steel, and the armor forged according to Kosso's physique was likely to weigh more than 10 tons.

Even Kosso, who had the Ancient Giant Bloodline, would move sluggishly wearing it.

Valen firmly disagreed with this approach. For a Dwarf committed to perfecting his craft, this was an insult to his title as a Forging Master, which prompted him to present a precious alchemy formula.

“Dark Night Elf??” Lide stood by the weapon forging furnace, surprised, as he watched Valen holding a heavy hammer amidst sporadic sparks.

Dark Night Elves were close relatives to Elves. In ancient times when Elves ruled over the Main Plane of Glory, the Dark Night Elves lived in the Ancient Forest like the Elves.

When the Alchemy Era rose and Elves fell into decline, the Dark Night Elves parted ways with the Elves and moved into the Underworld to survive.

Unlike the fate of the Elves, the Dark Night Elves underwent significant changes over millions of years.

Living underground, they were influenced by the Dark Creatures of the Underworld, gradually losing their surface-dwelling skills and completely becoming Dark Life.

They were sinister and cunning, fond of slaughter.

However, becoming Dark Life did not weaken these upper beings with Elf Bloodline; rather they made a formidable name for themselves in the Underworld.

Therefore, Lide was so amazed by Valen's words. Acquiring such a precious alchemy formula from the powerful Dark Elves was no small feat.

“That's right, Kachar City Lord. The Dark Night Elves inherited precious knowledge from the Elves. Their bodies are slender, and to maintain agility in battle, they must wear lightweight armor.

But thin armor did not provide sufficient defense.

In this scenario, the powerful Dark Night Elves expended immense energy to develop this type of metal that was lightweight but incredibly solid.

The defense strength of the Shadow Metal is at least twice as hard as the reinforced steel developed by the Gold Mining research, but with the same volume, its weight is only half that of regular steel.”

Upon hearing this, Lide's eyes immediately lit up.

If what Valen said was true, what did that imply?

It meant that Kosso and Castro could wear thicker armor, gain stronger defenses, and truly become steel giants.

“And that's not all. I also know an Alchemy Array. If you draw it with Mithril inside the armor, it will grant the armor super high Magic Resistance,” Valen said energetically, clearly getting excited about armor crafting and boasting a little in front of Lide.

“When the time comes, combined with the unique solid metal of the Dark Night Elves, even if it's directly hit by a human's Dragon Hunting Crossbow, it won't take damage. The One-eyed Giant clad in thick armor will become invincible!”

Lide's heart raced, and he hastily asked more.

“Then how can this metal be produced?”

Hearing Lide's question, a strange gleam flashed in Valen's eyes.

“Kachar City Lord, this is a treasure I obtained at the cost of my life in the Underworld…”

Lide waved dismissively, cutting straight to the point.

“What do you need?”

Since the other party had thrown out this bait, he did not believe that Valen had no desires.

By the furnace spitting sparks, the hot air made the surroundings scorching. The red firelight shone on the Dwarf's face, covered in a black beard, as his black eyes stared intensely at Lide.

“Kachar City Lord, if one day you happen to find the Dwarf Tribe, I hope you can spare my people.”

Oh?

Lide's eyebrows raised. He originally thought Valen would ask him to release a Dwarf or demand their release after a certain period, but he hadn't expected the Dwarf Forging Master to make such a remark.

“Lord Valen, why do you think I might discover the Dwarf Tribe?” Lide's eyes held a playful look, “I believe you must have confidence in the Dwarf Tribe.”

Lide vastly underestimated his deterrent effect in Valen's mind.

Known as the president of the Dark Contract under the title of Lord IIo, he was possibly a terrifying Transcendent existence.

Moreover, he was the Vampire Clan Chief, ruled over a massive city, and skillfully enabled the traditionally hostile, even mortal enemies, Bloodline and humans, to coexist peacefully.

All things considered, Lide held a very high status in Valen's mind.

Not only was his strength deep and unfathomable, but he was also shrewd and had strong influence.

Although Valen was confident in the Dwarf Tribe, facing such a powerful dark boss, he still felt somewhat insecure.

This vampire was too powerful; even just with his subordinates' formidable strength, he could destroy the dwarves; Valen couldn't help but leave an escape route for the Dwarf Tribe.

Although the Dwarf Tribe hadn't been discovered yet, Valen inexplicably felt that discovering the Dwarf Tribe wouldn't be impossible for these vampires.

He was so persistently resistant to cooperating because he was buying time for his tribe to send a second wave of support after losing contact, to quickly address the current crisis.

Otherwise, if the vampires really discovered the Dwarf Tribe, it was uncertain what would happen.

As for that army of ten thousand Beastmen, Valen inexplicably felt that they were invincible foes for the Dwarf Tribe, yet in the powerful and mysterious hands of Kachar City Lord, they seemed to be no big deal.

“Kachar City Lord, I only need your promise, I believe that with your greatness, you will never betray your own word.”

Upon hearing this, Lide couldn't help but laugh and cry. Where did this dwarf get such great confidence in him?

But if even the impulsive and reckless Beastmen knew to enslave the dwarves for weapon forging, why wouldn't he?

In Lide's view, if he could actually find the Dwarf Tribe, the inherent value of these dwarves might not be much less than a Secret Silver Vein.

“Alright, Lord Valen, I promise you, if one day I discover the Dwarf Tribe, unless they are hostile to the Bloodline and initiate an attack, I will not harm them.”

Valen visibly relaxed and immediately nodded, “Kachar City Lord, I trust your promise.

To forge the unique metal of the Dark Night Elves, a very tedious process is needed, and it also requires a lot of precious ore…”

Valen then directly disclosed the formula for the shadow metal without holding anything back.

As a dwarf forging master, Valen had plenty of great items at his disposal, and he had several formulas better than that for shadow metal; those were dwarf treasures that couldn't be leaked, so he really didn't feel too bad about it.

Lord Juejin and the other blacksmiths listened to Valen's explanation with utmost seriousness, eager to remember every single word.

Lide found this utterly uninteresting; smithing was just too boring.

However, to forge shadow metal, a large quantity of precious metals needed to be purchased.

Like Fine Gold from volcanic craters, and Cold Iron from icy lands, currently these reserves were very low in Dawn City and had to be bought from Green City.

Lide naturally agreed to this, as long as it achieved his desired effect, paying a certain amount of Gold Pucks wasn't a big deal to him.

On his instructions, Harrison immediately sent people to Green City to notify Stanley to search for and purchase the relevant precious ores.

Since the Dark Contract had become one of Lide's forces, the old model in which he alone had contact with Green City had become a thing of the past.

Now Dawn City had specific Bloodline members in charge of liaising with the Dark Contract.

Because of the particularity of the Dark Contract, even precious resources that the Crimson Mage Tower couldn't get were purchasable.

So, Dawn City increasingly relied on the Dark Contract in this regard.

Of course, this also greatly alleviated Lide's burden, allowing him to spare time for other matters.

The purchasing process took a full three days to complete and gather the required amount for Kosso and Castro.

For this, Lide spent a total of 100,000 Gold Pucks; yes, 100,000!

This directly emptied the Crimson Mage Tower's profits for the month, leaving Spark, who had planned to speed up the construction of the Ancient Alchemy Magic Array, quite disgruntled.

If Lide wasn't absent from Green City, that Great Mage would have come knocking just to scold him.

Lide had been involved almost throughout the entire process of Valen forging the armor, watching with his own eyes how Kachar's gigantic armor gradually took shape.

Although the blacksmith shop had experience in crafting armor for Kosso before, the products they made were undoubtedly substandard industrial rejects.

Valen scoffed at their work and redesigned the entire casting process.

It must be said that a Forging Master is truly a Forging Master; with the same piece of iron, the same amount of time, and even the same hammering technique, the results produced were utterly different.

Kosso and Castro's massive frames also posed significant challenges during the manufacturing process, but with Valen present, all were resolved one by one.

It seemed that the addition of just one person to the blacksmith shop elevated it several grades.

For the first time, Lide realized just how significant the bonus a Master Level professional life worker could provide to related professions.

One day, two days, three days, until the tenth day after the casting plan started, the two sets of equipment that cost 100,000 Gold Pucks were finally successfully forged.

Lide stood excitedly in front of the blacksmith shop, the colossal Kosso standing next to him, while Castro soared beneath the sky, flapping his dark red bat wings.

The huge body that spanned 16 blades drew gasps of amazement from countless residents.

Not even a giant dragon was a match.

The blacksmith shop encompassed an area with more than ten two-story buildings used as workshops.

And now, the hammering sounds that had plagued the nearby residents, ringing out crazily in the middle of the night, had ceased.

It wasn't just Lide, Harrison, Emi, Nil, Nicole, and even Frey, who had been guarding the holy land, came to the small square in front of the blacksmith shop.

The area was packed with residents of Dawn City, as the news that the blacksmith shop was forging weapons for the One-eyed Giant had been announced by the publicity department.

What would the armor and weapons used by such a giant look like? The very thought was exhilarating.

Thus, when word spread that the forging was completed today, it immediately attracted a crowd of residents.

“I heard that Lord Kachar himself forged a Divine Artifact for Lord Kosso, I really want to see it.”

“Did you see the giant beast flying in the sky? I heard from the patrol leaders that it's called Castro, a Divine Beast created by Lord Kachar with his Divine Power, said to rival a giant dragon…”

“Hiss~ If Lord Kosso wears solid armor, then who could possibly be his match? Lord Kachar is truly wise and mighty…”

“I'm really looking forward to it, I want to know what kind of armor Lord Kachar has forged…”

The publicity department had credited the dwarves with the armor forging, but the residents attributed the merit to Lide willingly.

Because the publicity department also said that, for now, the dwarves were not considered friends since they refused to cooperate with the Holy Light Bloodline.

This news had caused Valen to receive quite a few disdainful looks from the residents.

Often Valen would feel very frustrated, as anytime, an old lady might appear from a street corner just to point at him and mock, even though he had no idea what he had done wrong.

“Here it comes, here it comes!! That's Lord Juejin, look behind him!!”

“Quick, quick, don't block me, let me see!! Let me see!”

“Hiss, what is that thing?? It's terrifying!!”

A heated discussion suddenly erupted, the scene was like a drop of hot oil spilled into a boiling pot.

In the central area of the blacksmith shop's ten buildings, a large warehouse gradually opened.

Lide and everyone around him brightened their eyes, filled with anticipation.

Although he had participated in the entire manufacturing process, Valen hadn't allowed him to partake in the final stage which involved the dwarves' most secret forging techniques.

Thus, Lide didn't know what the final outcome of the two sets of armor that cost him 100,000 Gold Pucks to forge looked like.

Everyone craned their necks in eager anticipation; Valen, with a face full of a black beard and bound by Magic Prohibition Chains, walked out of the warehouse with his chest thrust forward, followed by dozens of blacksmiths pushing something that plunged the scene into silence.

Chapter end