At that moment, the little Black Iron Worm that had crawled out of the ore pile hurried over and let out a few cries at Bai Qiu.
Bai Qiu turned to look at it and pondered for a moment before saying, “You should just keep being called Little Black Iron Worm. I can’t think of a nickname that suits your appearance any better for now.”
“Ya…” The little Black Iron Worm seemed dejected upon hearing that and slowly crawled back into the ore pile.
In terms of size, A Yuan was not much larger than A Yan.
After all, A Yuan was long and slender, while A Yan was a massive land tortoise with a round, domed shell.
Even with its limbs retracted into its shell, the highest point of its carapace stood over three meters tall.
In contrast, when A Yuan lay on the ground, the highest point of its body was less than 1.2 meters.
Its overall volume was somewhat larger than A Yan’s, but in terms of weight, A Yuan was probably not even one-tenth as heavy.
The courtyard simply could not support A Yan’s weight at the moment, so Bai Qiu stored it together with A Yuan inside his Storage Space Card.
After exchanging information with Zhang Shiyao, Bai Qiu planned to sort through all the materials in his backpack and take out some extraordinary flesh for Wang Shiyun to cook for dinner.
He specifically instructed her not to eat any of it herself.
There was only one reason: her body could not withstand such powerful energy.
The only consequence of recklessly consuming extraordinary flesh would be her body exploding from the overload.
For the upcoming Shattered Celestial Realm expedition, Bai Qiu did not intend to bring either Wang Shiyun or Feng Yuling.
Instead, he planned to have them spend their free time hunting monsters outside the Sanctuary’s protective barrier.
At present, neither of them could even defeat a single Dragonfang Soldier, but Bai Qiu already had a solution.
On the 45th floor of the Tower of Heaven, he had obtained a C-rank blueprint called the External Single-Pilot Powered Armor.
As the name implied, it was essentially a mech suit.
Once equipped, it granted full C-rank attributes and could even contend with Lord-class monsters.
The reason Bai Qiu had made this decision was because the armor also benefited from experience and loot bonuses.
In other words, whether Wang Shiyun or Feng Yuling used the External Single-Pilot Powered Armor, they would gain experience and item drops according to their own levels.
With this armor, they would be able to safely hunt monsters and level up.
More importantly, players above level 20 would generally be teleported to the Shattered Celestial Realm, meaning there would be no high-level players competing for monsters, and their personal safety would be largely guaranteed.
As long as they did not get carried away and stayed near the Sanctuary’s protective barrier while fighting, there would be virtually no danger.
However, the manufacturing difficulty and cost of a C-rank External Single-Pilot Powered Armor were extraordinarily high.
For a single suit, not counting material costs, the system alone charged 3 million Sanctum Coins merely to complete the [Manufacture] process.
That’s right—just the system’s manufacturing fee was 3 million Sanctum Coins, equivalent to the value of fifteen C-rank weapons or pieces of equipment.
Even Bai Qiu could only barely afford to manufacture four or five suits at the moment.
It wasn’t because he lacked money—money was actually the easiest problem for him to solve.
The real obstacle was the materials, some of which were genuinely difficult to obtain.
After organizing the contents of his Storage Cards, Spatial Bracelet, and Spatial Ring, he discovered that he was still missing three items needed to construct the powered armor.
They were Elemental Silkworm Silk, Advanced Lenses, and Attribute-Free Energy Crystals.
Fortunately, all three could be purchased from the Sanctuary’s Supporters.
Elemental Silkworm Silk had to be bought from the Tailor Jeanne Sinia and was only available after unlocking Level 5 Sanctuary Authority.
Some of the materials used in Bai Qiu’s Concealment Cloak had also been made from Elemental Silkworm Silk.
Advanced Lenses could be purchased from the General Store.
As for the Attribute-Free Energy Crystals, they had to be exchanged from the Sage.
After eating his fill, Bai Qiu immediately got to work.
Before long, he had gathered all the required materials.
However, the system informed him that manufacturing the External Single-Pilot Powered Armor required the driver’s physical data to be loaded in advance, including height, body measurements, weight, and similar information.
This meant the armor had to be custom-tailored to its user, making it unsuitable for rental or large-scale commercial use.
After a brief hesitation, Bai Qiu decided to make suits for both women.
They had worked tirelessly for him for so long, and he had promised more than ten days ago to help them level up.
Yet that promise remained unfulfilled.
Bai Qiu was always generous toward his own people.
He found Wang Shiyun, who was washing dishes, looked her up and down, and asked, “Shiyun, do you know your height, weight, and body measurements?”
“Ah?” Wang Shiyun froze for a moment, then her cheeks flushed red.
She nervously tugged at the corner of her clothes and secretly glanced up at Bai Qiu.
Seeing his sharp nose, handsome features, and bright golden eyes, her heart could not help but race.
“I… I know my bust, hip measurements, and height, but I haven’t measured my waist or weight in a long time, so I’m not sure…” she said, subtly puffing out her chest.
“Is that so? Hmm…” Bai Qiu rested a fist against his chin and fell into thought.
Suddenly, inspiration struck.
“That’s right! How could I forget? If I need body measurements, I can just go to a Tailor!” he exclaimed excitedly.
“Come with me. I’ll take you and Yuling to have your body measurements taken,” Bai Qiu said as he headed out the door on his own, completely failing to notice the disappointment that flashed across the young girl’s face.
After going downstairs, Bai Qiu found Feng Yuling beside the mining pit where the little Black Iron Worm lived.
She was crouching on the ground, gently stroking the creature’s head as she comforted it.
“Cheer up, little wormy. When you grow up, big brother will definitely give you a nice name…”
In just a few short days, had she really become this close to the little Black Iron Worm?
Bai Qiu was somewhat surprised.
Wang Shiyun was still clearly a little afraid of the creature.
He gave a light cough, startling both the girl and the worm out of their shared moment of petting and being petted.
Feng Yuling looked up shyly and said, “Big Brother, when did you get here? You didn’t make any sound at all.”
“You were just too absorbed in playing with it,” Bai Qiu retorted.
Wang Shiyun had been walking behind him the entire time, and both of them had made noise while approaching.
Feng Yuling simply hadn’t been paying attention to anything else.
“Let’s not talk about that. Come with me to the tailor’s shop. I need your exact height, weight, and body measurements,” Bai Qiu said.
His calm tone left Feng Yuling feeling that there was no room for refusal.
Along the way, Bai Qiu finally explained his plan to the two women.
Only then did they understand what he intended to do, and they were deeply moved.
They honestly did not know what they could offer in return besides dedicating the rest of their lives to him.
Thanks to the large amount of basic resources Bai Qiu had invested in them, although their levels were low, all five of their core attributes had already reached D-rank.
Their main weaknesses were their lack of combat experience and the fact that most of their skill slots had been devoted to life skills rather than combat abilities.
With a C-rank External Powered Armor, they would have no problem fighting and developing their strength for an entire month.
More importantly, the armor provided protection.
Even if they were struck by an attack powerful enough to threaten a C-rank being, the armor would be damaged first.
Wrapped and protected by the Elemental Silkworm Silk lining inside the suit, they themselves would not be harmed.
As a result, the C-rank External Powered Armor was not merely a piece of equipment.
It was more like a second life for them.
— The end of the Chapter–
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