volume 3 - Chapter 229 – Wind Sharpshooter 2 (1/2)
Chapter 229 – Wind Sharpshooter (2)
It was not hard for a grandmaster blacksmith who worked in the forge for decades to alter the cavalry’s armor to an archer’s.
An archer required his abdomen, upper shoulder and back to be free of obstacles, or it would affect the accuracy of releasing a bow.
Bosley removed a portion of the armor and changed it with metal plates, coming up with a sample on the very next day.
Quinn wore the prototype armor and stretched his upper body and showed a satisfied expression. The Tree Elves’ bodies were long and athletic, but Bosley’s armor was quite fitting. The only demerit about it was that the armor was slightly too small for Quinn. It resembled the Romans’ half armor in Brendel’s eyes.
“It’s a little heavy.” The Tree Elf remarked.
“It’s not possible to reduce the weight.” Grandmaster Bosley replied in a flat tone.
It was originally heavy armor meant for a cavalry. No matter how much he s.h.i.+fted the balance, some of the weight would still be on the shoulders. He was uncertain if the Elves found it too c.u.mbersome and affected their accuracy, and he looked back at the youth behind it, trying to discern what the latter was thinking.
Brendel was rubbing his chin with his middle finger and thumb, looking satisfactorily at the artistic-like armor. The old man used gold paint over the layered armor, and the rivets reflected light as Quinn moved about, making the armor look dazzling.
“It’s easy. Just attach a rune to reduce to the weight. How many samples can you make, Grandmaster Bosley?”
There were different types of runes that reduced weight. Freya’s magic armor utilized the ‘Wind Dance’ rune, which was one of the best runes available. The wearer would not be affected by the weight and even feel like a wind was enveloping around the armor, adding agility to them.
“Numbers are not a problem, but why do you need so many?”
“Uhh…… You will know it very soon.”
It was after this event that Bosley felt that he perhaps did not want to ever learn the answer.
Brendel took back the armor from Quinn, and this artistic piece of work started to heat up in his hands. Everyone witnessed the reaction of magic, and the armor eventually turned into a torchlight that illuminated the area. Cracking noises could be heard as a giant hole formed into the armor’s center.
It looked like a candle melting. The liquid eventually turned into solid once again, leaving behind a circle the size of a fist on the armor’s torso.
Brendel shrugged.
No matter how one looked at it, this armor was destroyed.
Alchemy was a job that had a high probability of failure. It was especially so when Brendel had to test out an effective method of applying Wind Runes on dense metal. He was purely learning on how to apply it for the very first time.
The green flames in the forge over the next few days were not extinguished, and the beating and clanking of hammers striking metal did not cease every night. Armor after armor was ruined in Brendel’s hands.
The youth began to change his methods and used cheap Wind Emeralds to serve as the core of the Magic Formation. These gems were the most common and cheapest materials that contained Wind Element. During the highest inflation in the game, these gems sold for at most several thousand Tor coins.
The experiment was not ideal. The best prefix the armor gained from the Wind Emeralds was ‘Clumsy’, and the weight reduction was never more than 5%. There were even negative effects from time to time.
Brendel then tried Sky Blue Crystals, Viridian Olives, Azure Quartz, each material more expensive than the next, with the best results increasing up to 15% in weight reduction. It was only on the fifth morning that Bosley and Brendel came up with a ‘Nimble’ prefix.
“Nimble archer’s armor: Defense 4, +2 bonus against projectiles, 20% weight reduction.”
But it was still heavier than the target weight reduction. Quinn expressed that only the best Elven sharpshooters would not find it an obstacle to wear it in battle, and the majority of them would not be able to reach this standard.
By this time the number of spoiled Crimson Flagbearer’s armor had reached more than 10%.
This result was not sitting well with Brendel. His goal was to raise the Tree Elves to the Tier 3 standard in the game. The basic data for a soldier were comprised of several stats, Attack, Defense, Mobility, and Special Abilities.
[It’s not possible to raise their Attack stat unless Tree Elf Longbows can be made. They are a standard weapon for the archers, but that’s from the production fifty years later and I have no idea how to make bows. So the solution is still raising the Elves’ Defense stats. But the results aren’t favorable. It’s not realistic to make a new blueprint armor for the Tree Elves, and even if I did, there’s still the issue of weight. Not solving this problem means that a suitable armor for them is a pipe dream.]
The solution Brendel wanted to get was the prefix “Agile”, which was a 30% reduction in weight. But the fee for producing the current armor was already thirty thousand Tor coins. If he continued down this path, he was certain that Amandina would come to him with a resignation letter.
“There’s no other way.” Grandmaster Bosley was laying sprawled on his table, his hair as messy as a bird’s nest while he spoke wearily: “This is the limit. If you want to take away any more of the armor’s metal, it’s going to affect the defensive strength.”