Rise of The Demon General

While Amon and Zee Whang traded words, Duan Jang circled the Neo Supreme Puppet.

"Impressive craftsmanship! Impressive!" He exclaimed. He knocked on the Neo Supreme Puppet’s leg.

"Who is this twerp?" Zee Whang asked. He was resisting the urge to kick at the old man.

Amon answered, "He is the Grandmaster smith that I aimed for when you told me you could not process deity-level materials."

"He is?" Zee Whang asked. As a Grandmaster Puppet Maker, he naturally possessed high proficiency in smithing, engraving, and talisman making. He, however, was not the best at it. His Smith job was master-level. While that was high in general, he was not skilled enough to process materials from a deity beast or repair divine-level tools like the Broken Justice.

"Did I hear you say deity-level materials?" Duan Jang asked. He sounded excited. "Do you possess one? Even as the chief smith of the Devotion Faction, I rarely get my hands on such materials."

"Before that, what do you think of this workshop?" Amon asked.

Duan Jang looked around, seeing the workshop for the first time. His attention had been focused on the Neo Supreme Puppet when he entered the room.

"It is... impressive. I must say that the equipment here doesn’t lose to the royal workshop in Venal Virtuous City... Hey! Is that my hammer and anvil?"

"I requested them to be handed to me when we took you from Venal Virtuous City," Amon said. "I figure you will be more comfortable with the equipment you are used to."

"I do, I do. I very much appreciate you getting these back to me... What about this forge?"

"I can’t exactly move your old forge, so I have Zee Whang here build you a new one."

"I have never seen a forge like this..."

The remark made Zee Whang beam with pride. "Of course, you haven’t. This is one-of-a-kind. I made it by incorporating all the knowledge I have as a Tech Expert. You will find it much more efficient than any forge you can find out there."

"How does it work?" Duan Jang asked.

"This is its control panel. You can activate its central processing screen by pressing this." Zee Whang pressed a button, and a holographic screen appeared. "From this screen, you can input any setup you wish to apply to your work. How hot the fire is. You can set it so only a portion of the forge is lit. You can also time it and make the fire alternate following your rhythm."

"This is amazing...! And also complicated. I hope you can teach me until I know exactly how to use it."

"Screw you! I don’t have that kind of time. I’m busy as it is. Here, I have compiled a manual." Zee Whang dropped a book on a table. "Read it! It will teach you everything you need to know about how to operate this forge."

Duan Jang picked up the book and swallowed involuntarily. The book was quite thick. Was operating this forge truly that complicated that its instructions required a whole book?

"Once you have mastered the equipment in this place, I want you to process this." Amon took something out of his black space ring.

It was a piece of scale. It was very large and red. Duan Jang, who stood nearby, could feel the intense heat radiating from it. The heat made him take one step away from the scale.

"My sensor reading on that scale is off the chart. You truly take that from a deity-class beast?" Zee Whang said from inside his cockpit.

Even Amon couldn’t stand holding the scale for long. He put it down on the forge, which could resist intense heat.

"It is," Amon answered. "It is the scale of a Salamander Dragon. The best thing is that it died while it was in its awakened form, so this scale’s quality is even better than if it were harvested from a noble dragon that was in its natural state."

"I won’t be able to work with it if it continues to release that heat," Duan Jang said. "Do you also bring my insulation suit?"

"No. That suit was broken when I had the tools from your workshop brought to me, so I left it behind."

"You don’t need the suit," Zee Whang said. "See the multiple metal arms around the forge? You can control them using the forge’s screen. They can extend and do anything your hands can do. So, you can work on the materials from a safe distance. You can also zoom in on the thing you are working on by looking at this screen."

Duan Jang looked at the book in his hand again. No wonder it was this thick. He was going to need a lot of time learning how to use this forge before he could begin working.

"Uh... a question. Do you only have one piece of this scale?" Duan Jang asked Amon.

"I know that working with high-grade materials has a chance of failure, despite your smith level. I still have four more scales and three Salamander Dragon’s claws. Nevertheless, they are all precious materials. I would prefer you not waste them."

Duan Jang nodded. "Next question. What exactly do you want me to make using this scale?"

"A full-body armor," Amon answered. He produced a paper with a sketch on it.

"This is quite detailed... I can see you are a person who knows what you want," Duan Jang remarked as he studied the sketch.

"I have already had the measurements of his body," Zee Whang informed. "The information is already inside this control panel. You can use it when you work."

Duan Jang nodded. "I am glad you have made all the preparations. It is always a pleasure working with people who understand the craft. You can’t imagine how stressful it is when you must deal with people who only make unreasonable demands without truly understanding the limitations."

"Oh, don’t you worry. You will find those unreasonable demands coming sooner or later," Zee Whang said with a sneer.

"How long can you have this armor ready?" Amon asked Duan Jang.

"Well... I still have to learn how to operate this forge first. After that... I estimate I might need around five years before I can finish crafting this armor."

"Finish it in one year," Amon stated.

Zee Whang chucked. "There comes the unreasonable demand."

"But, sir... dealing with a deity-class material is very delicate. They don’t exactly come often. Each one is unique. I must fully understand it before I do anything to it. If I’m not careful, the risk of damaging it during the crafting process will be very high."

"Mm... It must not be longer than three years. The Purge will happen then. Considering your station in the Devotion Faction, I believe you know what that is. I want to have the armor ready before then."

"I... I will try my best," Duan Jang said. He figured this was the best he could negotiate. He hoped the forge Zee Whang made for him was truly as useful as the puppet maker claimed.

"A few more things," Duan Jang told Amon. "If you want me to make a full-body armor as illustrated in this sketch, I will need two scales. Also, if I work normally, the armor I produce will only have a high defense. To draw this scale’s inert power, I will need a strong power source. To create that, I will need many more supporting materials, especially one that can generate enough power. They will be very expensive and hard to acquire. I will give you a list of the materials I have in mind."

"What if you use this for the power source?" Amon took out another item from his black space ring. It was an orb that seemed to burn continuously. The temperature around the workshop increased once he revealed the burning orb. "I took this from the same Salamander Dragon where the scales came from. This is its spirit core."

"It–It’s spirit core?" Duan Jang stammered. "It is perfect! It will for sure draw out the full power of the scales and then some. Marvelous!"

Zee Whang inspected the burning orb. "It is very difficult to harvest the spirit core of a deity-class beast without damaging it. I’m surprised you managed it."

Amon placed Thien Huo’s burning orb on the forge beside the scale. He then placed a second scale next to the first one. Lastly, he revealed another orb. This one had weird clouds swirling around it.

"Is that... another spirit orb?" Zee Whang asked.

"Yes, this is from another noble dragon. Too bad its outer parts are too damaged from getting burned. Anything still worth harvesting is its inner organs. I don’t have much time to harvest its material, so I choose to get the most valuable one, its spirit core."

Amon placed the cloudy spirit core beside the burning one. "Do you think you can make use of it?" He asked Duan Jang.

"Make use?" Duan Jang asked in return. His face showed as if he were in ecstasy. "I will make you an armor never before seen in this world. One that will shake even the heavens!"

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