Chapter 481: Act 229 – The Wind Archer (Part 2)
Changing the cavalry armor to archer armor was not difficult for a master blacksmith who had dealt with furnace iron for decades. When archers shoot, they require mobility in their waists, upper arms, and backs; otherwise, it would affect their shooting accuracy. Berun dismantled part of the armor plates, replacing them with movable armor pieces, and by the next day, he had created a prototype.
Quinelle put on the armor, stretching her upper limbs, a look of satisfaction on her face. The tree elf was tall and strong, but the armor crafted by Berun fit her well; it just seemed a size smaller than when it was worn by human cavalry, resembling the Roman half-armor.
“It’s a bit heavy,” she said.
“The weight can’t be reduced any further,” Master Berun replied.
Originally heavy cavalry armor, no matter how modified, would still bear weight on the shoulders. However, too much weight on an archer’s shoulders would significantly impact their accuracy. The master blacksmith looked back at his lord to see what Brendel would say.
Brendel placed his thumb and middle finger on his chin, looking at the crafted cavalry armor with satisfaction. After the elder made substantial changes to the shoulder and waist plates, the metal pieces rose with Quinelle’s movements, glimmering under the light.
“A prefix to reduce weight would be fine, Master Berun. Can you produce a few more samples?” he asked, turning his head.
The prefix was essentially a type of enchantment, and there were several types of weight-reduction prefixes. The ‘Wind Dance’ prefix from Freya’s half-armor was the best one; the wearer would not feel the burden of weight but rather feel encircled by a gentle breeze, gaining agility as a result.
“That’s not a problem, but why do you need so many samples?”
“Uh… you’ll find out soon enough.”
In fact, Berun perhaps hoped to never find out because he watched Brendel take the armor from Quinelle, and this masterpiece quickly ignited in his hands. Everyone witnessed a strong magical reaction produce bright electric sparks shooting outward, finally ‘crackling’ as the chest plate melted, forming a massive hollow.
It looked like a scene after a candle had melted, with the metal turning to liquid, indented inward, and then solidifying again, leaving a fist-sized hole.
Brendel shrugged; no matter how one looked at it, this piece of armor was effectively a write-off.
Alchemy is a highly random task, especially since Brendel was trying to devise an effective wind system magic formation, filling the gaps with finished products.
In the following days, the azure flames in the furnace rarely extinguished, and the clanging sounds of the forge continued throughout the night. One reformed armor after another turned into scrap in Brendel’s hands.
He began using cheap Wind Blue Gems as the magical core for the wind system formation. This type of gem was the most common in Vaunte, containing wind elemental magic, and it was the cheapest; although it was called a gem, it was actually worth less than most magic crystals.
Even during the most severe periods of inflation in the past game, this type of gem only sold for a few thousand Thor.
However, the experimental results were not ideal; the best outcome of the Wind Blue Gem was the ‘Clumsy’ prefix, with weight reduction never exceeding 5%, accompanied by various negative attributes.
Brendel later tried several other materials like aquamarine, green olivine, and deep blue crystals, each more expensive than the last, increasing the weight reduction effect from 10% to 15%. By the morning of the fifth day, with dark circles under his eyes, Brendel finally produced the ‘Lightweight’ prefix with Berun.
‘Lightweight Archer Armor: Defense 4, Extra Defense against arrows +2, Weight reduction 20%.’
Unfortunately, this armor was still significantly heavier than intended, and Quinelle remarked that only the most elite of tree elf archers could fight unimpeded while wearing it; most others would not be able to reach that level.
By this time, the scrap rate of the converted armor scavenged from the red flag cavalry had surpassed 10%.
Such results did not meet Brendel’s expectations; his goal was to elevate the tree elf archers to the strength of a tier three unit. The unit’s strength was largely determined by several data points: attack, defense, mobility, and special abilities. As for improving attack power, unless Brendel thought he could produce the tree elf longbow, which was the standard equipment for the tree elf’s official tier three unit, the Forest Archer, that would only come fifty years later. Moreover, he was clueless about bow-making, so it would be better to find ways to improve defense.
However, equipping a new standardized battle armor also seemed unrealistic at this point. There was still a weight bottleneck. If this issue wasn’t resolved, expecting the tree elf archers to don these magical armors was nothing more than a fantasy.
The solution would be to further improve the ‘Lightweight’ prefix to ‘Light,’ achieving a 30% weight reduction that would meet his requirements. However, the cost of the modifications so far had already exceeded thirty thousand Thor and was continuing to rise. Brendel estimated that Antinna would soon come to him with her resignation letter.
“We have no choice,” Master Berun sighed, his hair disheveled, looking like a bird’s nest. “This is the limit. If we try to reduce weight any further without increasing investment, it will compromise the defense.”
“Let’s equip the elite tree elves for now,” Tam suggested. He had been invited into this plan midway. This future alchemy master had recently been helping Charles and Antinna design and construct the long-planned mage tower—the noble lady’s magical laboratory was part of this project.
Magic was an important productive force in the world of Vaunte, and the significance of a mage tower for the territory was self-evident. Not to mention that inside the mage tower, public mana pools could be gathered, significantly enhancing the capabilities of his spellcasters and accelerating the training of mage apprentices. Even the lowest-tier alchemy laboratory could provide a bonus equivalent to an extra level of alchemy for the alchemists working within it, while a high-level alchemy laboratory could virtually provide the lord with numerous skilled alchemists.
Any lord with a bit of money would willingly build a mage tower in their territory. Good mage towers could also attract more mages to become their subordinates and aides, making it a win-win situation.
Thus, Brendel initially had no intention of delaying Tam’s progress. But as he continued to absorb funds like a black hole, Antinna reluctantly had to send Tam over to assist; otherwise, she worried whether Brendel would spend all the territory’s money on forming some sort of super army.
To her, her lord seemed like a warlike individual who might never feel secure, always prioritizing military strength.
However, on Tam’s suggestion, Brendel shook his head. He did not want just a small number of elites. In fact, he had enough of such elites; with the traveling mage system and the den system, he could build an elite army by himself if needed. What he needed was a ‘main force.’
He needed a main force of many like centaurs, cave dwellers, and tree elves, and this main force needed to be resilient during the upcoming war.
He thought for a moment before responding, “You all continue to experiment with whether you can achieve better enchanting effects with the same materials. I will find a way from other aspects.”
Brendel’s plan was simple.
That was the Dragon’s Blood Potion.
As Quinelle had said, the tree elf archers could somewhat use their final product; it just limited their combat effectiveness to some extent. In short, it still came down to weight, but as for armor, aside from reducing weight, why not consider increasing the load-bearing capacity of the tree elves?
Speaking of increasing strength, Brendel had no other ideas besides the Dragon’s Blood Potion.
However, the first batch of the Dragon’s Blood Potion had been given to the future officers of the White Lion Army, and the second batch, which was refined for this war, was given to those mercenaries, centaurs, and tree elf archers who accompanied him in this expedition. This group of tree elf archers was small, only a couple of hundred, while the tree elves in the forest could mobilize an army of over a thousand.
Similarly, Brendel was not just forging tier-three units for tree elves; the same applied to centaurs. Thus, he might need thousands of bottles of the Dragon’s Blood Potion, which was no small number. The blood obtained from that hydra would certainly not be sufficient, so Brendel needed to find more raw materials.
Acquisition could not be rushed, and Brendel did not want this matter to delay Ampere Seale’s journey. He quickly thought of a solution: to raise hydras himself.
And speaking of raising hydras, it naturally required using a den. However, ordinary territories generally do not have the space needed to accommodate a den. The Cold Fir Territory found it impossible to discover a natural gathering place for magic, so Brendel naturally turned his attention to Valhalla.
After all, since leaving the Black Forest, it seemed it was time to rebuild the fortress that once bore countless glories.
Brendel completely handed over the forge work to Berun and Tam, while he himself immersed in researching the core magic formation of Valhalla. The core magic formation of Valhalla was not complicated; it just required a massive—staggering—amount of magic crystals.
If this requirement had been placed on Brendel in the past, he would have likely gone crazy. But at this point, the first group of people sent to the Black Forest had already returned; the immigrants, under the protection of the mercenaries, had established a small mine in the forest. Although the first batch of magic crystals they unearthed was not plentiful, it was enough to satisfy Brendel’s initial needs.
However, while Brendel was deeply focused on setting up the magic formation, he was aware of outside news. He knew in his heart that historically, at this time, Princess Grifian would be preparing to head to Ampere Seale for negotiations with Duke Anlek.
Since the Spring Dawn Month after the Year of the Sword, the princess had essentially reached a certain level of agreement with Duke Anlek.
He hesitated about whether to let the princess meet Anlek first, considering that with the northern Anlek in front, Toniger would not immediately fall into the whirlpool of civil strife. But Brendel quickly made his decision; as a supporter of the princess, he absolutely would not allow history to repeat itself.
Since he had resolved to put on a show when the princess went to Ampere Seale, this time the stage would, of course, be the largest trading port in Erluin. The time was set, and everything he was doing now was essentially to prepare for the journey ahead.
Brendel did not set aside his work; instead, he dispatched Charles and his men to seek out traveling mage cards. He knew well that he could not bring a large army to Ampere Seale, not even the Black Wolves could follow; the true reliable forces were still the traveling mage system and his own strength.
However, after the battle in the Black Forest, the traveling mage system had essentially been left in a semi-defunct state. To revive this system, Brendel knew that first, he needed new means for grave robbery.
He carefully planned all of this, and starting from the end of the Winter Lute Month, troop upgrades, Valhalla’s reconstruction, and the search for traveling mage cards were all proceeding in an orderly manner. To outsiders, Toniger appeared exceptionally quiet, but remarkable changes were occurring within.
This tranquility continued until the first week of the Spring Dawn Month, when a message arrived at Brendel’s desk.
…(To be continued. If you like this work, please support it by voting for recommendations or monthly tickets at qidian.com; your support is my greatest motivation.)
