Chapter 143: The Black Armor Project Advances

Several more days passed after the birth of “Coldsteel Pride.” Following numerous rigorous tests, Nolan and the others had finally gained a fairly comprehensive understanding of the giant construct’s performance parameters.

At that moment, inside Leus’ alchemy workshop, which was under twenty-four-hour guard, the Omnipotence Core had returned to its original spherical form. It floated quietly above a specially made pedestal, radiating a soft elemental glow.

As for combat power, there was nothing to criticize. Once activated, the thing alone rivaled a fully equipped company of one hundred heavy infantry. In terms of short-term explosive power and absolute defense, it even far surpassed them.

But its weakness was equally obvious: energy consumption.

This was not an elemental subplane overflowing with limitless energy to absorb. Its overwhelming combat capability came with equally overwhelming expenditure, a problem that could not be solved anytime soon.

“It doesn’t seem picky about what it consumes,” Renee recalled as she thought about the core absorbing elemental energy. “Is there any way to supply it externally?”

“There are plenty of methods.” Leus adjusted his glasses and pointed at a nearby draft filled with complicated diagrams. “Large-scale magitech furnaces, for example. Or a fully operational mage tower array.”

“They’re technically feasible,” Anna added from beside him, ledger in hand, her tone tinged with helplessness. “But no matter which option we choose, it’s beyond what we can currently afford.”

Ailindel joined the discussion as well. As a Heavenly Judgment Knight, she possessed a deeper understanding of weapons of war from this era.

“Mage towers are one solution, but they only treat the symptoms, not the root problem. The core still wouldn’t be able to leave home territory for combat and could only serve as a defensive reserve. If you want it to sustain long-term operations, the only real answer is a magitech furnace.”

Nolan nodded. It was not an easy road.

Magitech furnaces did not require mana, but they did require magic crystals as fuel.

Fortunately, Nolan knew of several rich crystal veins hidden within the Borderlands Forest.

In the past, mining them would have meant dealing with dangerous magical beasts and the immense difficulty of transportation. But now, thanks to Nolan’s friendly relations with the Wood Elves, those problems had essentially been solved.

All that remained was the east wind.

But the true “east wind” was the magitech furnace itself, the device capable of efficiently converting magic crystals into usable energy. The thing involved extraordinarily complex alchemical processes, magitech engineering, and elemental theory.

With the Elfin Kingdom’s current level of technology, the best available option was an outdated older-generation furnace with abysmal energy conversion efficiency and terrible cost performance.

As for the newest magitech furnace models, only the northern Rus Empire possessed the core technology. They classified it as top-level strategic material and strictly prohibited any technological leakage.

“I asked Vivi to make inquiries through her contacts.” Anna flipped open the ledger and pointed to a line of numbers, her expression grave. “A complete current-generation ‘Furyflame III’ magitech furnace from the Rus Empire sells for no less than five hundred thousand gold coins on the black market, and demand is high. They only sell the product, never the technology. If it breaks, you have to pay a fortune to hire their technicians for repairs.”

Five hundred thousand gold coins.

The number plunged the entire room into silence.

Anna sighed and drove the point home. “I’ve estimated it. Without expanding the Black Armored Legion, Coldsteel City’s total annual fiscal income is roughly one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins.”

In other words, even if they neither ate nor drank, they would still need more than three years just to buy that single chunk of metal. Which meant that until they found a new source of income or achieved a technological breakthrough, “Coldsteel Pride” could only serve as a decisive short-term weapon or Coldsteel City’s very own home-defense guardian.

Yet seeing the heavy expressions around him, Nolan instead laughed. “All right, enough with the gloomy faces. You eat one bite at a time, and you walk one step at a time. We’ve got plenty of time to solve the golem problem later. At the very least, we’re now holding a trump card nobody could have imagined.”

For now, Nolan was not overly worried. The energy problem would be solved eventually.

After speaking, he turned and walked toward the other side of the workshop.

A row of brand-new humanoid armor stands stood there, each covered with enormous dust cloths.

Nolan grabbed one of the covers and yanked it away, revealing the black armor beneath, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. 

“Let’s test our new toy first.”

This was what Nolan truly cared about at the moment.

War golems were undeniably powerful, but in the end there was only one of them. A well-equipped, well-trained army was the true foundation upon which he would contend for the world.

As a major center for iron mining and smelting, Coldsteel City possessed extraordinarily skilled blacksmiths. Barton and his fellow smiths had not disappointed Nolan.

Perhaps they could not rival the rhinoman craftsmen of the orcs or the master smiths of the mountain dwarves, but they were certainly enough to stand proudly above the rest of the Elfin Kingdom.

Nolan’s gaze fell upon the complete suit of armor before him, and lines of pale blue data appeared clearly across his vision.

【Standard Black Armored Legion Armor — Hurricane】

【Quality: Fine Craft】

【Defense: 130】

【Hurricane Enchantment】: Reduces equipment weight by 40% (global effect). Increases movement speed by 20%. Activating the engraved runes doubles the effect for 25 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.

“Blueprint provided by Pioneer Knight Nolan. Forged with the full effort of Coldsteel City’s blacksmiths. Runes meticulously engraved by the alchemist Leus. A masterpiece born from mortal hands.”

Nolan was overjoyed. He had not expected the armor to receive the system’s recognition.

A defense rating of 130 could not compare to the 175 defense of the Immovable Bulwark, but for a mass-producible standard military armor set, it was already more than sufficient.

Nolan remembered that even the heavy cavalry of the Southern Legion, equipped with heavy armor specially forged by craftsmen from the royal capital, only possessed around ninety defense.

Armor was far more difficult to manufacture than weapons and consumed vastly greater quantities of material. For this standard black armor to receive a Fine Craft evaluation from the system, everyone involved deserved credit.

Hank, Rehanna, and Little Donnie, as senior officers of the Black Armored Legion, had already arrived after hearing the news.

Anna, as the territory’s chief administrator, was naturally present as well.

Looking at the imposing black armor before them, everyone’s eyes shone with excitement and eagerness.

“Come on, everyone. Let’s see whether the new clothes fit.” Nolan smiled and gestured invitingly.

They were the strongest among them, and naturally the first to test the initial batch of prototypes Leus had completed.

Without hesitation, Hank stepped forward. Assisted by two blacksmiths, he began putting on the full-body armor. He would be testing mobility first.

Metal parts collided with crisp clicking sounds. Before long, a towering giant clad entirely in black steel stood before everyone.

“It feels… sturdy,” Hank’s muffled voice came from beneath the helmet.

He rolled his shoulders and wrists, then tested several slashing and blocking movements.

“Overall, it’s good. The joints don’t restrict movement too much. But…” He frowned. “The burden on the shoulders is fairly heavy. In prolonged high-intensity combat, it’ll probably cause rapid fatigue in the shoulders and arms.”

Leus immediately pulled out a small notebook and began jotting down notes at high speed. “A structural issue. We can adjust it. Adding an auxiliary load-bearing support between the pauldrons and breastplate should help alleviate the pressure.”

Next came Rehanna.

As the cold black armor completely concealed her fiery and voluptuous figure, she gave off an entirely different kind of beauty, one filled with lethal, martial elegance. She would be responsible for testing the activation effect of the Hurricane Enchantment.

“Ready?” Nolan stood at the end of the testing lane, serving as temporary timekeeper.

Rehanna nodded from inside her helmet.

“Begin!”

The moment Nolan gave the command, the runes across Rehanna’s armor lit up instantly. Pale cyan wind-element energy flowed across the armor like streams of water.

She kicked off the ground fiercely, turning into a black blur as she shot straight out of the workshop.

So fast!

Her initial acceleration was astonishing!

Propelled by wind-element energy, armored Rehanna moved at a speed completely equal to her unarmored full sprint, perhaps even slightly faster.

But before the crowd could cheer, problems emerged.

When she tried to stop, the tremendous inertia caused the iron boots on her feet to carve two long furrows into the ground, throwing up clouds of dust.

“Careful! I can’t stop!” Rehanna cried out in alarm. She had clearly underestimated the sudden burst of kinetic force and completely lost her balance.

Bang!

Still unfamiliar with the armor, Rehanna failed to brake in time and slammed directly into Nolan, sending both of them sprawling to the ground.

Nolan landed flat on his back while Rehanna collapsed on top of him. The heavy black armor nearly crushed the breath out of him.

“Cough… cough…”

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Lord Nolan, are you all right?”

Rehanna pushed herself up anxiously. Her long fiery-red hair spilled downward like a waterfall, several strands brushing across Nolan’s face and making him itch.

“Achoo…!” Nolan could not help sneezing. “I’m fine… I’ve been hit harder before…”

Fortunately, Nolan was only wearing his lord’s coat today. Thanks to his Dragonkin physique and absurd durability, he was fine. If it had been an ordinary person, that impact probably would have shattered several ribs.

Rubbing the back of his head where it had slammed painfully against the ground, Nolan grimaced before quickly dragging the conversation back to the important matter.

“How did it feel?”

Supporting herself against Nolan’s chest, Rehanna carefully recalled the sensation from moments ago. “Mm… the overall weight is still a bit too high. Once the runes activate, the speed increase is extremely obvious, but maneuverability drops sharply as well. It becomes very easy to lose control of your balance. For solo combat, individual skill might compensate for it. But in formation warfare, this kind of uncontrollable charge could easily wreck our own lines. That’s a major hidden danger.”

Nolan nodded. Her analysis matched his own thoughts almost exactly.

“…Do you two really need to keep talking while lying on the floor?”

Anna’s voice drifted over from the side, sounding rather strange.