Douluo Amon: I am the Heavenly Venerable of the Dragon King

Page 184

You should know that after announcing that Lu Fa was his personal disciple, Zhen Hua actually took the time to come to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy and show off in front of the students.

This greatly displeased Ao Hongchen. It was bad enough that his favorite student had been snatched away by someone else, but to make matters worse, the other party dared to come to his territory and show off in front of everyone. This was simply too much.

However, considering that Zhenhua did offer some guidance, Ao Hongchen tolerated some of the students' questions about forging. Later, Zhenhua also had a discussion with him about the teaching of Lu Fa.

Finally, it was decided that Lu Fa would stay at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy to study, and Ao Hongchen would guide him on any forging techniques he didn't understand.

No matter what, Ao Hongchen is an eighth-level Saint Craftsman, and before Heavenly Forging, he is more than capable of guiding the path of magic.

Of course, Zhenhua would also occasionally send Lufa to Tiandou City to test Lufa's forging skills and teach him some forging tips and his unique fusion forging formula.

“Then I’ll have Teacher Dang accompany you.” Since Lu Fa was going to Tian Dou City, Ao Hongchen naturally wouldn’t refuse, but he still needed to arrange for someone to accompany him.

After all, Lu Fa's talent is known throughout the entire continent, and it's inevitable that some people with ulterior motives will try to harm him. For example, those mentally unstable evil spirit masters.

Therefore, it is necessary to arrange a bodyguard. In this regard, Ao Hongchen naturally favors his son, and he still hopes that Dang Hongchen can get along well with Lu Fa.

Of course, besides that, he also had his own little schemes, but those are not things that outsiders can know.

“Okay.” Lu Fa nodded. He had been to Tian Dou City a few times before, and each time Dang Hongchen accompanied him and served as his guard, so he didn’t think there was any problem.

"We're going to Heaven Dou City now, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll inform him now. You can wait at the mech takeoff area."

As the strongest academy backed by the Federation, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy is fully equipped in every aspect, including a dedicated area for mecha takeoff and a training ground for students to practice mecha piloting.

Soon, Dang Hongchen arrived at the mecha takeoff area, and then his storage ring lit up, and an eight-meter-tall mecha appeared in front of Lu Fa.

Lu Fa boarded the mecha with practiced ease. This wasn't his first time riding a Black-level mecha; every time he went to Tiandou City, it was Dang Hongchen who piloted this mecha to take him there.

Aside from the core array and the soul-forged metal used to carve the core array, which he didn't create, all the other metals in this black-grade mech were forged by him, bit by bit. That's right, he's a level six blacksmith.

Having reached the level of Soul Douluo, and being a three-word Battle Armor Master, along with his status as a Black-level Mecha Master and a Level 6 Blacksmith, plus his affiliation with the Hongchen family, it's no wonder that Dang Hongchen's personality is extremely arrogant.

With so many identities combined, he truly has a bright future ahead of him!

“Lufa, Xiaozui has been pestering me a lot lately, saying she wants to meet you! What do you think? Staying closed off all the time isn’t a good thing. You should also interact more with people your own age.”

However, at this moment, Dang Hongchen showed no arrogance whatsoever. Instead, he spoke to Lu Fa in a very amicable manner, just like a salesman, and the one selling his own daughter.

“Teacher Dang, I was just about to go to Tiandou City to relax, and Xiao Zui is just too clingy. If I stay with her, I doubt I'll even be able to cultivate,” Lu Fa said helplessly.

At the same time, a lively figure with white hair tied in a side ponytail and sky-blue pupils appeared in his mind. Every time they met, the person would run over and stick to him.

"That's true!" Dang Hongchen laughed heartily, a tear involuntarily rolling down his forehead.

His daughter was clearly very beautiful, but why did she act like a lovesick woman, clinging to Lu Fa whenever they met, making him, the old father, feel extremely embarrassed?

Zui Hongchen, thirteen years old, a level thirty-six Soul Master, is also a rare twin Martial Soul, possessing both the Spirit Eye and the Crimson Ice Toad, two powerful Martial Souls.

She is also the daughter of the Red Dust Clan. As a member of the Red Dust Clan, she is outstanding in both talent and appearance.

If it weren't for Lu Fa and Shen Wei, she would probably have become a member of the Seven Stars of Glory. However, unfortunately, four of the Seven Stars of Glory in this generation possess Martial Soul Fusion Skills, and the remaining three are all extremely powerful beings.

So, Zui Hongchen couldn't possibly fit into this team, but since she has a dean as her grandfather, he used some tricks to directly put her into the Seven Stars of Glory as a substitute member.

At the same time, Zui Hongchen is also a looks-obsessed person. When she first met Lu Fa, she was immediately attracted to him and kept bothering him, making it impossible for him to concentrate on his cultivation. Therefore, Lu Fa would intentionally avoid her when he was at the academy.

But Zui Hongchen still frequently pestered him, calling him "Brother Lufa" this and "Brother Lufa" that. It broke Dang Hongchen's heart to see this; why didn't his own daughter care about him like this, instead running off to fawn over others?

In the end, Ao Hongchen couldn't stand it anymore and locked Zui Hongchen in a dark room, telling her to cultivate in peace and not to disturb Lu Fa. This finally calmed her down for a while.

However, with the news that Lu Fa had become a Saint Craftsman being exposed, he has spent the last six months or so cultivating in a fixed place within the academy.

This gave Zui Hongchen the opportunity to frequently pester him. Of course, after his grandfather's warning, Zui Hongchen had toned it down considerably, but his clingy nature hadn't changed much.

Ao Hongchen was naturally happy to see this happen. He had never objected to his granddaughter being with Lu Fa, and as long as Ao Hongchen didn't disturb Lu Fa's cultivation, he would turn a blind eye.

After all, Lu Fa is so young and promising, he is bound to achieve great things in the future, and most importantly, Zui Hongchen clearly likes Lu Fa.

Therefore, he was also quietly pushing things forward between the two of them. He even hinted to Dang Hongchen to help his granddaughter if necessary, which is why there was the scene where Dang Hongchen promoted his daughter.

……

Tiandou City is located in the central part of the continent, while Mingdu is located in the western part. Therefore, even with a black-level mecha, it would still take at least several hours to travel there.

Throughout the journey, Lu Fa kept flipping through his notes. The interior of the black-level mech wasn't spacious, but it wasn't cramped either; there was more than enough room for two people to sit down.

Ao Hongchen was currently in a recessed area, while Lu Fazhi was sitting in the passenger seat. Controlling the Soul-Guided Mech was essentially a fusion of the person and the mech.

The mech pilot is fixed in a human-shaped recess in the center of the mech, specifically at the chest. This recess is made of a special material and connects all parts of the mech.

When piloting a mech, aside from some functions that require manual and mental control, the most important aspect is relying on the pilot's own movements. Whatever the pilot makes inside the mech, the mech will follow suit.

Therefore, the physical requirements for mech pilots are extremely high. Of course, in non-combat situations, the mechs can also act according to programmed procedures.

The more advanced the mech, the lower its degree of program control and the higher its degree of autonomy. Only in this way can the mech perform more complex attacks.

The Black-level mecha of the Mortal Realm certainly possessed self-control capabilities, but he didn't use it. After all, he had led the way out to protect his safety, so he wouldn't let his guard down for a moment, at least not until they arrived at Heaven Dou City.

With the power of the Black-level mecha, even if he were attacked by a Title Douluo, he was confident that he could escape with Lu Fa unscathed. Even if the opponent was a Super Douluo, he could have his soul spirit control the Black-level mecha to delay for a while before escaping with Lu Fa.

……

They traveled in silence, but Ao Dang Hongchen needed to be mindful of his surroundings for any unusual activity. In any case, given the speed of a Black-level mech, reaching Tiandou City would only take a few hours, and Ao Dang Hongchen was confident he could handle the exertion.

Lu Fa, however, was intently flipping through the notes. The notes he was looking at weren't about forging; rather, they described how to inscribe core formations, along with some insights from a level nine crafting master.

He obtained this from the Undefeated, and it included some information about soul tools.

There's a saying in the world of Soul Masters: A good mecha maker may not be a Soul Master, but a good Soul Master is definitely a mecha maker.

The reason is simple: whether they are mecha manufacturers or soul masters, they have one thing in common: they must carve the core formation.

The former only requires consideration of the core formation's configuration, while the latter also needs to consider issues such as how to assemble the combined formations. In addition, these notes contain detailed explanations of mecha manufacturing, design, and other related matters.

Chapter 298 Strange Combinations

Logically, war machines like mechs should be as big as possible. Bigger means they can carry more weapons and more energy. However, in reality, this is not the case.

The higher the level of the mech, the smaller its size. A standard yellow mech is generally over twelve meters tall, a purple mech is ten meters tall, and a black mech is only eight meters tall. A red mech, on the other hand, is no more than six meters tall.

The reason is simple: a large shield makes a target more visible and easier to become a sitting duck in battle. Moreover, if the shield is to cover the entire body, it will consume a huge amount of energy.

Secondly, there's the issue of being poor. If it were just ordinary white or yellow mechs, it wouldn't matter; those mechs could be forged using common, mass-produced metals.

However, things are different when it comes to purple-level mechs. The core formation requires at least a thousand-fold forging of first-grade metal or spirit-forged metal, and the body must also be made of hundred-fold forging metal. These are the minimum requirements.

For Black-level mechs, the requirements are even higher. The metal used for the core array must be at least Soul-Forged Metal. At the same time, the metal required for the mech body must be at least Spirit-Forged Metal or Fusion-Forged Metal.

To become a senior mecha pilot, one needs not only sufficient skill but also wealth. This can come from either a wealthy family background, one's own salary and bonuses, or external sponsorships.

Just like in the Federation, if a civilian wants to acquire their own Black-level mech, they must achieve something, verify their identity, and go through layers of review before the Federation will provide assistance.

Of course, the Federation only provides the core magic array to the Black-level mech; the specific materials must be provided by the mech pilot. However, this mech can be owned by the pilot, and as long as it has served for a certain number of years, the pilot can take their meritorious mech with them in the future.

Well, because the Black-level mechs have the condition of recognizing only one master, even if the Federation wanted to detain them, they couldn't.

The so-called service life is actually used to repay the cost of the Black-level mech core array.

Red-level mechs are even more outrageous. Their core formation requires Heaven-Forged Metal, and the materials needed for the mech body also require Soul-Forged Metal. There are only twenty or thirty Saint-level craftsmen in the forging world, so obtaining a large quantity of Soul-Forged Metal is extremely difficult.

However, the notes also mentioned that even among Red-level mechs, there were different levels. The highest-level Red-level mech, of course, was forged entirely from Heavenly Forged Metal. But that was impossible.

After all, the cost of forging a single red-grade mecha is enough to forge several four-word battle armors. Therefore, it has always remained just a concept. At least in the world of Soul Masters, no such red-grade mecha has ever appeared.

Basically, all existing red-level mechs, except for the core array which is made of Heaven-Forged Metal, are made of Soul-Forged Metal.

Some of the lower-grade ones only have a soul-forged metal outer shell, while the interior is composed of spirit alloy. This type of red-grade mech is also known as the sewer of red-grade mechs.

Therefore, although mech pilots do not pursue rare metals of the same high quality as battle armor pilots, the quantity they need far exceeds that of battle armor pilots.

This is especially true for advanced mech pilots, which is one of the reasons why the blacksmith profession has endured for so long.

Ao Hongchen piloted the black-level mecha high in the sky. The mecha had a special navigation system inside that could guide the direction and also avoid potential collisions with flying objects through navigation and radar.

Whenever the mech traversing the mortal realm passes through a city, countless radars scan it in an instant. At this moment, its mech releases a response signal using a series of codes stored on its identification card to ensure its safe flight.

The identity card issued by Dang Hongchen has undergone various reviews and can be used freely in most parts of mainland China.

The Federation maintains strict restrictions on mechs. After all, mechs are extremely destructive, and if an uncontrollable situation arises, it can easily lead to massive casualties. Therefore, it is generally very difficult for mechs to obtain official permits.

Generally speaking, it is easier to obtain a travel permit for a single city, but it is much more difficult to obtain a travel permit for the entire continent.

However, Dang Hongchen's identity is not ordinary after all. The Hongchen family also has a place among federal councilors, so obtaining a pass is not difficult.

Of course, the premise is that you can't cause any trouble. Once a problem occurs, the mech identity card will be taken back and you will be blacklisted.

If someone flies into the sky without an identification card, ordinary cities will issue a warning first, and if they do not stop immediately, they will be attacked.

In a place like Shrek City, with its own laws, the city's defensive soul-guided cannons wouldn't care about your reasons and would attack immediately. The mecha escort team would also arrive and shoot them down.

The speed of the black-level mechs was quite fast. Lu Fa and his group set off in the morning and arrived in Tian Dou City by noon.

Dang Hongchen flew directly to the Blacksmith Association in Tiandou City. They had been to Tiandou City several times and knew that there was a special place to park mechs. Moreover, Lu Fa had also informed Zhen Hua in advance.

The docking system connection was completed, and the mecha descended from the sky, landing steadily on the exclusive parking spot on the roof of the Tiandou City Blacksmith Association.

The mecha came to a stable stop, and Dang Hongchen slowly breathed a sigh of relief. Piloting the mecha with complete concentration had taken a toll on his mental energy. Now that they had arrived at their destination, he was naturally relieved. After all, surely no one would launch an attack on the Blacksmiths' Association?

Stepping off the mecha, Lu Fa took the elevator to the Blacksmiths' Association lobby. He didn't go looking for Zhen Hua, since he mainly came to the Blacksmiths' Association to relax and fish; forging wasn't in a hurry.

Zhenhua also said that his most important task now is to improve his cultivation level so that he can forge his soul more easily, instead of having to rely on the power of blood and qi to forcibly forge it every time.