# Chapter 30: Wild God, Armor, and Strange Power
In the deepest part of the core forging area, within the steel hall, there stood a three-meter-tall enormous transparent crystal tank. Through the semi-transparent crystal partition, one could see a bizarre creature submerged in a pale green liquid.
This monster was only the size of a basketball, with brown exoskeleton and countless sharp segmented limbs. Its specific form resembled a round centipede, but it had a bony tail and a spider-like mouthpart filled with hooked teeth. Its head was covered by three layers of carapace, and each layer of carapace had a crystal-like luster and two recessed, eerie compound eyes.
It appeared to be merely the juvenile form of some creature, with traces of incomplete development visible all over its body. For example, its broad insect wings on its back were only half-formed, the small bony horn on its head was just beginning to protrude, and the bone blades on its segmented limbs that had not yet fully grown, as well as the faint runes on its carapace, all proved how powerful and combat-adapted it would become when fully grown.
"Chaos aura."
A low voice sounded. Joshua looked at the monster floating up and down in the crystal tank with a serious expression. He said in a deep voice, "This feeling..."
In Joshua's understanding, only one type of creature possessed such a terrifying form and chaotic aura, accumulated and nurtured over long and distant ages.
Wild God.
Earlier, what had caused Joshua to suddenly fall silent and frown in observation was precisely this Wild God carcass soaked in the crystal tank within the old dwarf's forge.
"Master Moria, is this a Wild God?"
Joshua turned to ask the old dwarf, and the old dwarf answered readily, "That's right, this is a Wild God corpse I collected before. Don't worry, as you can probably tell, it's already dead and poses no harm."
Noticing the warrior's gaze shifting behind him, Moria seemed to understand what he was thinking and immediately explained, "Claire is also a member of the fight against Chaos. Otherwise, Nostradamus wouldn't have invited her to handle the problem of Chaos aura corroding the land for you."
"No, that's not what I was thinking."
Joshua shook his head, looking somewhat puzzled. "I've killed quite a few Wild Gods, including many juveniles. Why is there such a huge difference in their forms?"
Recalling the ferocious monsters he had killed during the Magic Tide—creatures resembling scorpions with six pairs of segmented limbs and wings—he then turned to look at the equally ferocious round-tailed centipede before him. The warrior was somewhat confused.
The larvae that appeared during the Magic Tide all had the same form; there was no reason for this Wild God here to be different.
"Wild Gods rapidly mutate into various forms according to need. I caught this juvenile over a hundred years ago. After such a long time, it's naturally different from what it was before. Of course, it's more likely for adaptation, or perhaps it's just random Chaos mutation. We can never know how many types of Wild Gods exist in the opposing world."
Moria roughly explained. He walked over to the crystal tank, operated the control panel at its base, and then said, "After a Wild God dies, it generally turns to ash and vanishes into the world, leaving behind only a bit of crystal-like residue. I used a special solution to preserve their bodies, making it easier to study the weaknesses of these monsters and forge better, stronger Divine Mechanisms and armor."
Joshua remained silent, not responding to the old dwarf. He carefully looked around and noticed that this green crystal tank was not the only one. There were five scattered in various corners, each containing Wild God carcasses of different sizes. The warrior even sensed the aura of the Gold Realm from one of the carcasses.
"Joshua, that 'Mana' thing you mentioned earlier... what is it?"
The old dwarf seemed very concerned about the conversation that had been interrupted earlier. He brought the topic back on track, his face full of curiosity.
"What I wanted to talk about earlier was Mana Armor."
Temporarily setting aside the faint sense of wrongness he felt, the warrior briefly recalled it in his mind.
Mana Armor. Although the name was simple and straightforward, it actually represented the highest crystallization of rune magic and mana technology in the future.
In the later stages of the previous version, facing the endless onslaught of the Black Tide and monsters invading from other worlds, although humans were numerous, they could not withstand such rapid attrition. To improve the strength of ordinary soldiers, many Breathing Arts were opened up, spell inheritances were made public, and the design of Mana Armor was proposed and implemented.
A fully powered, full-coverage exoskeleton-type Mana Armor could allow a Black Iron-rank warrior to gain strength sufficient to contend with a Silver High-rank. And if a Silver High-rank had a set of Mana Armor with decent performance, they would have the power to fight against a Gold Low-rank.
By using runes to amplify the power of warriors and mages themselves, enhancing their defense and survivability, not hindering spellcasting, and even carrying a few spell abilities, this magical equipment, which could be mass-produced in rune factories, quickly became standard equipment for elite armies of various nations. It was precisely because of Mana Armor and a series of rune technology creations that humanity did not go extinct in the many disasters.
Joshua roughly explained the mass production potential of rune factories and the basic design concept of Mana Armor to the old dwarf. Watching the other party fall into deep thought, the warrior couldn't help but nod.
To be honest, he didn't understand magical technology at all. Even if he knew a little in the past, after coming to this real world, the warrior couldn't be sure everything was the same. Magic was not like martial skills; if there was even a slight deviation, it wouldn't just be himself who died. That being the case, Joshua might as well impart some advanced concepts and design ideas from the later era to the geniuses and strong individuals of this world, letting them drive the world's progress.
"What you've said is very interesting... and the logic is clear, very worth trying."
Giving Joshua a deep look, the old dwarf stroked his white beard and said with emotion, "It seems my thinking has been constrained by my long lifespan. You're right, the productivity of this assembly line called a rune factory... is that the word? Anyway, as you said, using it just for forging iron is really too wasteful..."
After saying this, he was silent for a moment. Then Moria raised his head to meet Joshua's eyes and smiled, "Next time we have a chance, let's continue discussing this issue. But today, I brought you here to complete the final step of 'forging the armor.'"
The old dwarf quickly walked to the stone wall of his forge, patted a certain spot, and immediately, the metal wall emitted the rumbling sound of gears turning. Then, a gap opened in the originally seamless wall, and a huge metal box appeared before everyone.
Moria stepped forward and opened the box. Inside was a large, thick suit of armor supported by a frame.
This armor was composed of layer upon layer of thick plating stacked together. The black outer armor, overlapping like dragon scales, had no blind spots or weak points. On the helmet were two horns resembling dragon horns, with magical light flickering on them. The eye slits were V-shaped cracks filled with transparent steel crystal. The leg armor was also extremely thick and exceptionally hard.
This armor looked like it weighed at least three hundred kilograms, perhaps even more. Joshua could tell that the black outer armor must have been mixed with some Earth Fusion Core Dust and Titan Heart Stone to increase its magic resistance, hardness, and weight.
"Just this suit of armor alone weighs more than an ordinary knight plus his warhorse."
Stepping forward, Joshua caressed the armor, feeling somewhat excited. "If it were an elf's celestial horse or unicorn knight, this suit of armor could match two... and it's very hard. I applied some force, but I couldn't feel any deformation."
The warrior was someone who could squeeze iron like rubber with his bare hands. Many armors were like putty to him, but this test didn't cause any damage, proving the armor's hardness.
"Weight is also part of defense and attack."
Moria grinned, looking very proud of his design. "You're a Gold-rank warrior. You can wield weapons weighing hundreds of kilograms in battle without feeling tired. Wearing this armor will certainly reduce your speed, but it will also turn you into an indestructible fortress, allowing you to fight freely on the battlefield... You should understand when you need to use this armor."
Joshua naturally knew. On a wide battlefield formation, wearing this armor and charging would make him virtually unstoppable. If he rode a warhorse, he would be even more like a tank. He wouldn't even need to draw his sword against anyone; he could just crush them.
But in places like forests, swamps, or deserts, wearing such ultra-heavy equipment would be asking for trouble.
The old dwarf continued his introduction: "The outer layer mimics dragon scale structure and Titan Heart Stone, making Silver-rank magic basically ineffective. The main material of the armor is [Wild God Crystal] used for forging Divine Mechanisms. Even my full-strength strike can't quickly damage this armor; at most, it will leave a noticeable dent, but that's all."
Satisfiedly stroking the armor's shell, Joshua turned and asked, "What's the final step?"
The old dwarf quickly replied, "You need to inject energy into it to activate the magic patterns on it."
After saying this, he laughed again. "Haha, back then, the oath I made with your ancestor was 'one Divine Mechanism, one suit of armor.' Now that you've contracted a second Divine Mechanism, technically I should give you two suits of armor. But unfortunately, I've basically run out of materials. Hmph, forging a second suit of armor is indeed somewhat difficult and would require you to wait a long time."
Lin, who had been quietly standing to the side, tilted his head and blinked. Suddenly mentioned, he looked at Moria with some confusion.
"There's no need to forge a second suit of armor. There's no need to fulfill the oath that way."
Rubbing Lin's head and hair, Joshua shook his head. "And how could I take something from someone for nothing? Even if it's an oath, it's an oath with my ancestor, not with me. Master Moria, my knights brought the materials from the Great Aias Dragon-Hunting Spider and Black Erosion Dragon I hunted earlier. They're all Gold-rank materials, enough to cover the material costs. If it's not enough, just tell me. I quite enjoy hunting magical beasts anyway. If I deliberately seek them out, hunting Gold-rank magical beasts isn't difficult."
"There's no need..."
Waving his hand, the warrior stopped the old dwarf from speaking and then said, "If you really want to help me, we can modify the structure of this armor later... Didn't I mention the general design concept of Mana Armor earlier?"
At this point, Joshua grinned. "We can start from this aspect and forge the world's first... Mana Armor!"
Claire, who had been standing to the side watching Joshua and Moria passionately discussing armor design, couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.
"Men are all the same. They like weapons, they like armor... always liking this kind of thing."
She murmured softly to herself, but didn't show any sign of irritation. Instead, there was a faint smile on her face, and her gaze drifted, as if returning to a time long ago.
Time passed amidst the discussion.
A long while later, Moria, who had roughly finalized the armor modification plan, let out a breath. He looked at the design drawing before him with satisfaction and praised, "I didn't expect you to have such solid forging and design skills, Joshua. I thought you were just a pure warrior."
After all, my life profession level is also 22. I spent quite a bit of time training back then.
Shrugging, Joshua was also very satisfied with the design before him. "Sometimes, men fantasize about being able to forge their own satisfying weapons and equipment. But I eventually realized that if you don't have talent in this area, you just don't have talent. Instead of blindly envying others' abilities, it's better to take what you're good at a step further."
"You're already much better than most people. You just lack the time to practice."
After catching his breath a little, Joshua suddenly thought of something.
"By the way, Master Moria, besides picking up the armor, I have another purpose for coming here today."
Solemnly taking a small box from his chest, the warrior opened it and handed it to Moria. He said seriously, "Please help me identify this Steel Crystal. There's a strange power residing in this Steel Crystal, and I can't analyze its origin."
"Steel Crystal? That's not a common thing."
"Be careful. Don't touch it directly. Contacting it has strange side effects."
Nodding to indicate he understood the warrior's warning, Moria took the box Joshua handed him. A pale golden Battle Qi ignited in his hand before he took out the black-red crystal placed inside.
The old dwarf, who had been dealing with ores and weapons for over a hundred years, examined it carefully. "The color is a bit strange. The power within the crystal is rapidly leaking outward, and it's all very stagnant... Wait, at this rate of dissipation, shouldn't this crystal have already dissipated completely?"
"What exactly is maintaining its form?"
(To be continued.)