Li Zhu and Marta exchanged a glance, then gave a helpless, wry smile.
“Don’t make things difficult for us. Even at this stage—or at any point in the future—crafting Transcendent equipment or weapons is never going to be easy.”
“First of all, there’s the issue of materials. Even if you manage to kill a Monarch-tier monster right now and obtain Transcendent-grade materials, they’re ultimately just auxiliary items. To truly craft a full set of Transcendent gear, you’d need far more than that…”
A so-called Transcendent weapon isn’t just something whose stats reach B- rank—it also needs to possess a unique intrinsic trait.
Simply put, to forge a Transcendent weapon at this stage, both Li Zhu and Marta would need to upgrade their shops and professions.
The Sanctuary itself would also need to level up so they could unlock higher permissions from the system.
Secondly, Bai Qiu would have to find a primary Transcendent material.
These are typically things like ore, leather, fur, silk threads, and so on…
As for bones and Transcendent energy crystals, they can only be used as secondary materials to enhance quality.
At the current stage, there are no base materials worthy of pairing with them at all.
Li Zhu’s next sentence made Bai Qiu’s eyes light up:
“However, if it’s C-rank equipment or weapons, you can dismantle them into raw materials. Using these higher-tier items as crafting bases, it is possible—for now—to create gear that comes infinitely close to Transcendent quality.”
“But,” he added, “this will require someone like you—whose attributes are already extremely close to the Transcendent threshold—to assist us.”
“What do I need to do?” Bai Qiu asked eagerly.
…
Bai Qiu removed all C-rank equipment from the marketplace, and also took off every piece of C-rank gear he was wearing to dismantle it—including his Magic Armor…
Over in Zone 2225, he had already fully recovered through meditation.
So tonight, instead of meditating again, he decided to stay and pull an all-nighter with Li Zhu and Marta to forge new equipment.
Equipment dropped from monsters wasn’t part of a set—its weight, stats, and mechanics all varied—making it extremely awkward to use.
Even with a full set of C-rank gear, the only thing reliably improved was defense, while offense and mobility gained very little.
Sometimes, it could even have negative effects.
For example, the Magic Armor could deploy a magical shield to block a powerful attack—but it was clearly designed for a stationary tank.
Other pieces boosted movement speed, some enhanced magic power, others increased physical attack…
Wearing eight mismatched pieces like this might seem like you have a wide variety of abilities, but in reality, it just gets in the way.
It’s like wearing a down jacket where the hood is filled with feathers, the body is filled with sand, and the sleeves are stuffed with lead…
So even though there’s now a system and status panel, if you truly want equipment that perfectly matches your own style, it’s best to wear a complete set.
Zhang Shiyao also took out her Mithril Shortbow, preparing to modify and upgrade it.
Her biggest weakness at the moment was her low sustained damage and limited range.
As for armor, she didn’t have many demands.
She prioritized mobility above all else—so long as it was light and didn’t hinder her movement or shooting, that was enough.
Whether it was part of a set didn’t matter to her.
Bai Qiu’s requirements, on the other hand…
First, it had to be durable enough to withstand a certain level of physical impact.
Second, it needed to be able to absorb his magic power for reinforcement.
And finally, it couldn’t restrict his movement—it had to offer sufficient flexibility.
After dismantling the equipment, Bai Qiu began forging according to Li Zhu’s instructions.
Yes—forging, in the most literal sense.
Melting and reshaping C-rank materials required an enormous amount of magical power.
On top of that, it also demanded sufficient strength and endurance to fuse all the dismantled materials together.
If Li Zhu had to do it himself, then with his current attributes, even if he swung the hammer until he collapsed from exhaustion, he still wouldn’t be able to finish Bai Qiu’s equipment before the next wave arrived.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Bai Qiu swung the hammer with fierce momentum, sparks scattering everywhere!
The materials had already been heated to the point of deformation—this was the perfect moment for forging and fusion…
“A true genius…” Li Zhu directed Bai Qiu, unable to suppress the urge to take him in as a disciple.
No matter what he demonstrated, Bai Qiu could replicate it perfectly after seeing it just once…
At times when Li Zhu himself lacked the strength to continue, Bai Qiu would step in seamlessly, his control over force and rhythm absolutely precise—it left him in awe.
Of course, it was only a passing thought.
While Bai Qiu was clearly born for the forge, combat was obviously a far more promising path for him.
If Li Zhu actually tricked him into becoming a blacksmith, Sage Onipur would probably rip his beard clean off.
Back to the matter at hand— With Bai Qiu, this naturally gifted “forging prodigy,” it took only five hours to hammer all the materials into shape, thanks in no small part to Li Zhu’s excellent guidance.
Next came Marta’s part: engraving mana circuits.
The moment the equipment was completed, she began inscribing magical patterns from within—and even Bai Qiu was able to assist in this process!
And so, time passed until 3 PM the next day…
Li Zhu and Marta both looked utterly exhausted, yet they gazed with satisfaction at the series of finished products they had spent over ten hours crafting.
As for Bai Qiu—he stood there bare-chested, his chiseled muscles seeming to glow with a divine radiance.
His expression remained calm, but his eyes were tightly shut.
During those long hours, he had been using his Sevenfold Arcane Crystallization Eyes nonstop to observe, imitate, and learn, keeping his mind under constant strain.
By now, the toll on his mental power and eyes was far greater than the physical exhaustion.
With his current mental strength and physique, if this were before the calamity, he could probably work nonstop on an assembly line for two months without sleep and still hold up!
Forging and channeling magic didn’t affect him much at his current level—the real strain came from his ocular ability, which placed a heavy dual burden on both his eyes and mental power.
Even though his mental strength had now reached C-rank, it only just met the threshold for prolonged use.
“This set of equipment… let’s call it the Adventurer Set,” Bai Qiu said.
“Mm, that fits the current situation pretty well,” Zhang Shiyao agreed.
Li Zhu and Marta twitched at the corners of their eyes, thinking to themselves that these two were hopeless at naming things—and completely unaware of it.
“I think Skyward Battle Armor would be a more fitting name…” Marta said with a smile.
Bai Qiu tilted his head in confusion and looked at the armor.
Its overall appearance was a pale silver with a gradient blue sheen, fully enclosing the body from boots to helmet.
All the joints were made from a highly magic-adaptive flexible material.
Thanks to the precise craftsmanship of Marta and Li Zhu, it had excellent elasticity and didn’t hinder mobility at all.
Under normal conditions, it only required about 50 kilograms of force to move the joints.
After channeling magic, the required force dropped to less than 10 kilograms.
For ordinary people before the calamity, this might have severely restricted movement—but now, as long as one’s Strength and Magic attributes reached D-rank, the armor could be handled with ease.
After some back-and-forth, Bai Qiu eventually agreed to rename it Skyward Battle Armor, though he still felt the name was a bit too over-the-top.
Skyward Battle Armor (C++)
- Durability +80
- Mana Conversion Efficiency +16
- Mana Absorption Efficiency +8
Set Effect 1:
After equipping and activating with mana:
- Strength ↑ (Medium)
- Mana ↑ (Medium)
- Endurance ↑ (Medium)
- Agility ↑ (Small)
Set Effect 2:
- Immunity to all physical and magical damage of C- rank and below
Active Skill — Dragon’s Might:
This armor incorporates fragments of a true dragon’s remains. Upon activation, it reduces all attributes of targets within a 100-meter radius below the Transcendent level by 10%–30%. The greater the gap in strength, the stronger the effect.
- Duration: 30 seconds
- Cooldown: 1 minute
That was the full set of attributes for the armor.
One notable detail was that during crafting, Bai Qiu directly attached the Flame Orb to his waist and integrated it into the mana circuit.
Now, not only could he channel mana through the armor to charge the Flame Orb, but he could also use the energy stored within it to enhance both his equipment and weapons—requiring only minimal mental power and mana.
Compared to before, it was far more practical.
As for skills, it was clear that Bai Qiu had deliberately avoided adding flashy or complicated abilities.
The armor focused purely on raw stats.
If he wanted, he could have added eight active and eight passive skills—but he didn’t.
With just these two set effects and one active ability, he had already reached the point where he could crush Lord-tier monsters barehanded.
Things like burst speed boosts or dazzling spell effects that dealt negligible damage were meaningless compared to having overwhelming defense and the ability to smash a Lord-tier enemy with a single punch.
The Great Dao is simple—everything returns to one.
This philosophy was also praised by Li Zhu and Marta.
They agreed that adding too many complex effects would not only divide one’s focus but also make it difficult to achieve decisive results in real combat.
When Bai Qiu put on this armor, its mana circuits were perfectly tailored to him.
He only needed to release his internal magic normally, and the armor would instantly activate, amplifying its functions to their maximum!
Due to time constraints, his greatest gain from these past dozen hours was this set of armor.
With the remaining time, he crafted a dark magic robe for Xiao Jin that enhanced mana, repaired his Fallen Dragon’s Bow and Purgatory Darkflame Spear, and also upgraded Zhang Shiyao’s Mithril Shortbow to C++ rank.
This was precisely why he had dismantled all the equipment he obtained from monster drops to create his own gear.
If he had used those original pieces as templates, the Skyward Battle Armor would never have reached C++ quality.
As for the Mithril Shortbow, the only reason it could be upgraded to C++ was because of its inherently superior foundation—those monster-drop weapons were simply incomparable.
The way Li Zhu and Marta looked at Bai Qiu grew increasingly intense.
His performance over these past ten-plus hours had satisfied them beyond measure—his flawless imitation, powerful physique, seemingly bottomless mana reserves, and ocular ability that could perceive every detail…
If Li Zhu hadn’t stopped her, Marta would have already tried to take Bai Qiu in as her final disciple.
As Support-class members of the Sanctuary, they actually possessed greater potential than most players.
However, being bound to the Sanctuary limited their growth.
Bai Qiu, on the other hand, was different.
They believed that if he devoted himself to any single profession, he could become one of the very best.
Reaching—and even surpassing—their level would only be a matter of time.
Unfortunately, there are no “what-ifs.”
Among Bai Qiu’s near-omnipotent talents, the one that stood out the most… was still combat.
— The end of the Chapter–
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