Forging Before Battle

"Attention, all troops! Our destination is Eagle Beak Cliff Fortress on the eastern section of the Great Wall! Move out!"

At Shi Meng's command, the Vanguard Camp, thousands strong, began to move like a steel Giant Beast awakening from slumber. The long dragon of torches stretched beneath the pitch-black night sky toward the towering silhouette in the north.

Wei Zhe carried a long halberd as he marched at the very front of his squad.

After advancing to a First Order Martial Apprentice, his night vision had improved greatly. Even beneath the dim torchlight, he could clearly make out everything around him.

He could see the new recruits in the ranks gripping their weapons tightly, their bodies stiff and their eyes filled with fear of war. Even the Veteran Soldiers under Qian Hu, though calm on the surface, revealed the heaviness in their hearts through their tightly pressed lips and wary glances sweeping the surroundings from time to time.

War was no child's game for anyone.

"Squad Leader, are we... really going to fight the Xiongnu this time?" Hu Lei edged closer to Wei Zhe, his voice somewhat dry.

"Scared?" Wei Zhe did not turn around.

"I... I'm not afraid of dying!" Hu Lei puffed out his chest, only to deflate again immediately. "I'm just... just afraid I won't be able to protect the brothers. Many of them... haven't even seen blood before."

Wei Zhe fell silent.

He turned and looked over his squad. Twenty living, breathing lives—their fates, in a sense, had already been entrusted to his hands.

No matter how strong he was personally, he could not protect every single one of them on a battlefield where circumstances changed in the blink of an eye.

Before the battle began, he had to find a way to improve his entire squad's chances of survival as much as possible.

"Equipment..."

The forging blueprint for Fish Scale Armor surfaced in Wei Zhe's mind once more.

Fish Scale Armor was made by linking together countless small armor plates. Its protective power far surpassed the thin leather armor worn by the new recruits, while retaining flexibility. It was standard gear for cavalry and elite infantry alike.

Yet forging twenty sets of Fish Scale Armor would require not only a huge quantity of quality iron, but also sufficient time and a high-quality furnace.

With the army about to depart, time was pressing and the available conditions were extremely limited.

"No, I don't need complete armor." Wei Zhe calculated swiftly. "I only need to add a layer of crucial protection over the most lethal areas—such as the chest and the center of the back!"

He only needed to forge forty palm-sized refined steel plates, tempered through special methods, then secure them to the inner and outer sides of the soldiers' leather armor. That would greatly improve their chances of survival!

The idea was feasible!

Having made up his mind, he immediately sought out Shi Meng, who was walking at the very front of the formation.

"Instructor!"

"What is it?" Shi Meng turned around. Seeing Wei Zhe, he raised a brow.

"Instructor, with a great battle imminent, this subordinate has an idea that may increase the survival rate of the Vanguard Camp's elite soldiers!" Wei Zhe said gravely.

"Oh?" Shi Meng was interested. "Let's hear it."

"I have observed that most soldiers in the army wear ordinary leather armor, which offers limited defense. The Xiongnu's Arrows are sharp and their curved sabers fierce. Once they close in, leather armor is as good as useless." Wei Zhe analyzed clearly. "This subordinate is skilled in forging and can make small steel heart-guard plates, to be mounted over the chest and center of the back of the leather armor. Though this method cannot provide full-body protection, it can shield vital areas. At a critical moment, it may save a life!"

Shi Meng's eyes lit up.

He knew quality when he saw it, and immediately understood the immense value of Wei Zhe's proposal.

Saving one more soldier meant gaining one more measure of fighting strength!

"What do you need?" he asked decisively.

"I need a furnace, enough high-grade charcoal, and a batch of Hundred Refinement Steel materials! As for time... I only need two hours!" Wei Zhe said confidently.

Shi Meng looked at him and nodded heavily. "Good! The Military Arms Department at Eagle Beak Cliff Fortress has furnaces! I'll give you two hours, and assign two military blacksmiths to assist you! But you have only one chance! If you fail, you will be dealt with under military law!"

"There are no jokes in the army!"

An hour later, the army arrived at Eagle Beak Cliff Fortress.

It was a mighty pass built atop sheer cliffs, easy to defend and hard to attack—a vital barrier against the Xiongnu advancing south.

Without resting for even a moment, Wei Zhe, with Shi Meng's special permission, took Hu Lei and Qian Hu straight to the Military Arms Department behind the fortress.

The furnaces here were a hundred times better than that ramshackle dirt pit in the New Recruit Camp, their blazing fires burning fiercely. Two elderly blacksmiths, thin and wiry with faces smeared in grease and soot, were already waiting there.

"You're that newly arrived Squad Leader?" One of the old blacksmiths eyed Wei Zhe sideways, a trace of disdain in his voice. "You're barely weaned, and you dare claim you know how to forge?"

They were veteran craftsmen of the army, naturally carrying a measure of pride.

Wei Zhe ignored their attitude and simply handed over a wooden board bearing a sketch.

"Cut the steel to these dimensions."

His tone was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable air of command.

The old blacksmith curled his lip and reluctantly took the drawing. But after only one glance, his expression changed.

The design depicted a type of armor plate he had never seen before. Its edges bore ingenious curves, and several crucial hammering points were marked upon it. It appeared simple, yet contained exquisite principles of mechanics.

"Th-this... you drew this?" the old blacksmith asked in shock.

"Stop talking and do as I say." Wei Zhe had already removed his shirt, revealing smooth, powerful muscles brimming with explosive strength.

He picked up a military sledgehammer even heavier than the one he had used before, took a deep breath, and began circulating the inner force within his dantian.

The two old blacksmiths no longer dared to delay and hastily began cutting the steel.

Soon, the first piece of red-hot steel billet was placed upon the anvil.

Wei Zhe's eyes instantly became incomparably focused, and his entire presence changed.

"Bellows! Pull!"

He roared, raising the sledgehammer in his hand high before bringing it down with the sound of wind and thunder!

"Clang—!"

A loud noise, crystal-clear to the extreme, echoed throughout the entire Military Arms Department.

With just that one hammer blow, the expressions of the two old blacksmiths completely changed!

Outsiders watched the spectacle; insiders saw the craft.

Whether it was his control over the force, the precision of the strike, or that strange power running through it from beginning to end, Wei Zhe's hammer blow had far exceeded everything they understood!

This was simply not forging skill a mortal could possess!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Wei Zhe had completely immersed himself in the world of forging.

The sledgehammer in his hand became an afterimage, its rhythmic strikes as dense as War Drums. With every blow, another fraction of the impurities in the steel billet splashed away, and the density of the steel rose another fraction.

Thousand Refinement Force combined perfectly with the inner force of a First Order Martial Apprentice, bringing his forging efficiency to a terrifying level.

The two old blacksmiths had been completely dumbfounded. They forgot their own work and could only stare blankly at the youth, who seemed like a god descended to earth, feeling as though all the forging skills they had learned over a lifetime had gone to the dogs.

Half an hour later.

The first chest armor plate was complete.

Wei Zhe clamped it into water to quench it.

"Sizzle—!"

Amid rising white mist, an armor plate the size of a palm took shape, entirely black, its surface covered in dense, scale-like dark patterns.

"Ding. Congratulations, Host, for forging a 'Fine Quality' Fish Scale Chest Armor. Forging proficiency +20."

"Fine Quality!" Wei Zhe rejoiced inwardly. This was even better than he had expected!

He tossed the armor plate to Hu Lei, who had long since been stunned speechless. "Take it. Use your blade and chop at it with all your strength!"

"Ah? Squad Leader, this..."

"Execute the order!"

"Yes!"

Hu Lei picked up his saber and, facing the armor plate placed atop a wooden stump, slashed down with all his strength!

"Clang!"

A piercing ring of metal striking metal sounded.

Sparks flew in all directions!

Hu Lei felt his tiger's mouth shake violently, and a grain-of-rice-sized chip was actually knocked out of his saber!

Yet the chest armor plate bore only a faint white mark.

"My heavens..."

Everyone present, including the two old blacksmiths, sucked in a breath of cold air.

Wei Zhe nodded in satisfaction. Turning, he looked at the two old blacksmiths, who had now been utterly won over.

"What are you still standing around for?"

"Quick! Fire up another furnace! Melt down all the materials!"

The two old craftsmen jolted awake as if from a dream. They no longer dared slack off in the slightest, immediately working briskly with Wei Zhe.

Under Wei Zhe's terrifying efficiency, Fine Quality chest armors were forged one after another without end.

Two hours later.

When the east began to pale like a fish's belly and the horns of war sounded over the entire fortress.

Forty chest armor plates, gleaming with black light, lay arranged neatly before Wei Zhe.

He and the twenty brothers under his command would become the best-equipped, most heavily defended force in the entire Vanguard Camp!

Wei Zhe picked up the two chest armor plates that belonged to him and firmly secured them over his chest and back. Then he grabbed the halberd beside him and looked beyond the city walls, toward the vast grasslands Enveloped in dawn light.

He could feel the horizon trembling faintly.

The Sound of hooves of tens of thousands of Xiongnu cavalry was drawing nearer and nearer.

His first war had arrived!