Bear School Astartes

The leader of the second phase team exposed the palm of the armor’s glove section.

The terrifyingly defensive scales of Smaug, under their handling, presented a cold and hard metallic texture, and the original color of the dragon hide became very light after treatment.

The originally ochre-red dragon hide now had a bleached look with a hint of faint red.

But the parts exposed by the leader of the second phase team differed from the color of the Smaug dragon hide, as they were a dense dark forest green, nearly black.

That was the hide of the Terror Tyrannosaurus.

"The gloves, boots, and this belt around the waist are all made from the thick hide of the [Fog Nest Master]."

Next, he had Lann stand to the side, and with great effort at the joints of the armor scales, face red with exertion, he pulled them apart.

The originally tightly interlocked scales slowly revealed a glimpse of the lining inside under his force.

Under even more, smaller scales on the inside, the lining of the scale armor flashed briefly.

The one-eyed, bald man relaxed his grip, and the small gap he had just forced open immediately closed back.

Evidently, this was to allow for some armor deformation to facilitate intense movement by the wearer.

If it were really broken, the opening and closing of the armor scales would not be so smooth.

"The lining, whew~ the lining’s leather armor is woven with Smaug dragon hide mixed with [Fog Nest Master] hide."

He panted, patting his chest, appearing proudly self-satisfied.

"You’ve used a sizable amount of [Fog Nest Master] material," Lann tilted his head slightly. "I suppose you want it to carry its [essence]?"

"Why not just tell me the result directly."

"I succeeded."

The leader of the second phase team was straightforward, just as Lann requested.

However, that smile on his face, seasoned by the forge’s heat, couldn’t be concealed.

"Now, this armor not only has the power of your Magic Blacksmiths."

"To be honest, if it weren’t for letting you be the user of this armor, when I first infused the [Fog Nest Master’s essence] into it, I wouldn’t dare let this thing see the light of day."

As he said this, the previously confident pride vanished from his face, replaced by a serious demeanor.

Clearly, after truly using the [Fog Nest Master’s thick hide], the armor encountered some ’twists and turns.’

Belengar nodded beside him in deep agreement, "Anyway, try it on first."

He furrowed his brows slightly as he reminded Lann halfway through speaking.

"If you feel anything off... uh, just say something quickly. We’ll help you take it off."

Already having personally experienced many major events, Lann now just calmly opened his arms silently.

He tilted his head slightly toward the two blacksmiths.

The armor was taken down from the display rack and piece by piece put onto Lann.

When the armor coverage was not yet extensive, Lann felt nothing.

But as leather straps threaded through metal buckles, and the scales on his body began to make slight clinking sounds with his breathing and movement...

"Hmm?"

With the armor fully donned, cold and metallic and slightly bone-white, Lann’s hands gently opened and closed, adjusting to the sensation of wearing the armor.

But then he suddenly saw the silver hair falling in front of him.

The strands, bright as molten silver, appeared like crystal glass in the forge’s glow.

Very beautiful, very perfect... but why is it in front of my eyes?

Lann’s gaze slightly drifted, appearing a bit dazed.

Yet beside him, amidst the trainees holding their breath and unaware of the armor’s inner workings, Belengar and the leader of the second phase team watched Lann with slightly tense gazes.

But Lann at the moment did not want to observe others; he was focused on pondering that stray hair of his.

How could it disobey my style? This is too imperf...

Suddenly, a soft "clap" sounded.

It was the noise made by the armored arm that had been moving and then suddenly stopped.

’Perfect’ had not yet circled through Lann’s mind fully, but his body had instinctively stopped the hand already reaching towards the hair.

Under the slightly tense eyes of Belengar and the leader of the second phase team, Lann tilted his head to look at his hands, gruesomely stretched by the Dragon Scale gloves due to his exertion.

"Oh." The young Demon Hunter first raised an eyebrow, then smirked, "Is that all?"

Belengar and the leader of the second phase team stared at Lann, blinking.

But Lann nonchalantly relaxed the muscles of his hand and lowered the arm going toward his hair.

Smaug is an evil dragon, a species created by Ardan World’s first Great Dark Enemy, Morgoth.

Merely where it once rested, even dense, immortal gold was tainted by its dragon stink and gained a corrupting malevolence.

Stripping its scales and dragon hide to make armor, mental erosion was something Lann had anticipated.

He was even curious if, since he cared nothing for gold, Smaug’s malice would have any effect on him.

But now it seems... Lann only feels ’plain and unremarkable.’

Still the same routine aimed at psychological flaws.

The Son of the Emperor is soaked in the [Genetic Seed], the obsession with perfection.

Obsessed with the perfection of one’s technique, obsessed with the perfection of one’s appearance, obsessed with the perfection of one’s demeanor...

This impulse triggered by the evil aura of the dragon is entirely heading towards a pathological direction.

Just looking at how hard Lann held his palm earlier, wanting to pull that strand of scattered hair off would be an understatement.

But for Lann... ’fighting against one’s perfection impulse’ has been a daily routine since the first day he implanted the [Genetic Seed].

His prior life’s education shaped his worldview and outlook, and the simple philosophical concepts it unified told him: being overly obsessed with perfection in all aspects would ultimately lead him down an imperfect path.

So at first, Lann would be fascinated by the perfect posture of the Sons of the Emperor in the [Memory Deep Dive].

But as he crossed worlds and strengthened himself, his journey grew longer and farther.

He began continually examining and self-reflecting.

He originated from the [Genetic Seed], but he would not succumb to the ’perfection impulse’ carried within the [Genetic Seed].

Smaug’s evil aura to him... is simply a slightly more intense daily self-examination.

Lann’s palm is placed in front of him, his expression relaxed as he starts to clench and then open his hands.

Breastplate, shoulder armor, arm armor all produce a fine metal friction sound as he exerts force and his muscles swell, along with the sound of leather stretching.

But the dragon hide and dragon scale taken from Smaug far surpass the load capacity of Lann’s previous set of armor.

Now the intensity of Lann’s muscle movement is totally within the tolerance of this set of armor.

The palm that subconsciously wanted to pull out a strand of hair, even a piece of scalp, is wrapped in gloves with dragon scale plates.

Lann’s face is as usual as he controls it at such close range.

And as Lann moves, he is increasingly adapting to this set of armor.

It’s like he is naturally very able to adapt to this pure heavy armor.

Moreover, he now has the energy to tilt his head and look at the low area beside him.

"How are you feeling, Rong Buqiu?"

At his leg, the Three-Floral Kitten has also changed into its new armor, with two small paws proudly akimbo.

"Absolutely no problem meow! Boss!"

Elu Cat’s armor was already made with fewer materials, combined with Rong Buqiu’s inherently healthy and upward personality and mental state, the residual evil aura of the dragon may not even be felt by it.

After all, Rong Buqiu once stole the Aken Gemstone from under the living Smaug’s eyelids.

As a result, it later just found the Golden Silver Sea in the Lonely Mountain too boring... Hmm, and also found the dragon’s smell very disgusting.

That’s all.

"Hey! I told you it would be fine!"

"Huh, if it could have problems, would we dare put it on here?"

The leader of the second team and Belengar nodded to each other as they spoke.

As the forgers, they surely know what’s on this armor. But they still confidently let Lann wear it.

"It’s not just the evil aura of the dragon."

While being watched with excited smiles by the two forgers, Lann confirmed Rong Buqiu felt nothing and contemplatively looked at the gloves with dragon scale plates on his hand.

Then, he frowned and once more clenched his fists forcefully!

"Squeak," with a loud crack!

That was the sound of the thick skin of the Fog Nest Master Terror Dragon being squeezed and rubbed!

Then, the armor plates on the entire arm also clattered with the surge of power.

The sudden explosive power was so shocking that the apprentices in the workshop without psychological preparation widened their eyes and instinctively leaned back.

And then there was a ’boom’! The shallow red flame first burst from Lann’s fist, followed by the edge of the entire set of armor, plates, and skirt... all carried the shallow red flame.

[Power Liberation]!

The one-eyed bald man instantly happily clenched his fist and swung his hand: "Aha! I knew the amount of material was sufficient!"

Active material extracted from the monster, after carrying [Essence], not only provides a mere power increase but also some special abilities of the monsters.

And the [Fog Nest Master] undoubtedly reflects on [Essence] the ability to greatly stimulate physical potential and brutishly elevate one’s strength.

This trait, in the classification of the Hunter’s Guild, is named [Power Liberation]!

Belengar also looked full of curiosity at Lann, whose entire body armor edges were covered in a layer of shallow red light.

However, although the leader of the second team was happy for his accurate estimation, Lann, after activating [Power Liberation], frowned and looked at his clenched fist which then opened.

His fingers... he just pinched them painfully himself?!

By elevating muscle power beyond muscle tolerance, the force of clenching can directly press against the fist bone. This fierce and brutal enhancement method... is truly worthy of the Fog Nest Master.

Via [Power Liberation], Lann recalled the feeling when confronting the living [Fog Nest Master].