Half-finished Battle Armor

"What do you mean, a lousy necklace? It's clearly beautiful."

Ye Lingling snatched the wooden box back and stuck her tongue out at Ye Xingmeng.

Then she ran excitedly up to Mo Lin and held it out to him.

"Mo Lin, I love the gift. Could you put it on for me?"

Seeing how delighted she was, Mo Lin nodded.

"Sure."

He took the necklace out of the wooden box, then draped it around Ye Lingling's snow-white neck.

As the clasp clicked shut, a fine sheen lit up across the necklace.

Seeing this, Mo Lin fed a tiny thread of Soul Power into it, dimming the sheen and restoring its original, ordinary appearance. Even the previously exposed Soul Tool Runes were concealed, making it look just like an ordinary gemstone necklace.

Ye Lingling seemed to love the necklace. After putting it on, she twirled in place, a delighted smile on her face.

"How pathetic. One lousy necklace makes you this happy? Don't tell anyone you're my daughter when you go out."

Ye Xingmeng looked utterly disdainful, undercutting her without the slightest hesitation.

"This isn't some lousy necklace. It's a gift from Mo Lin, and I won't let you talk about it like that."

After retorting to Ye Xingmeng, she turned and began speaking to Mo Lin.

"Mo Lin, don't listen to my mom's nonsense. I really love it."

Her words were heartfelt, as though she was worried that what Ye Xingmeng had just said might hurt Mo Lin.

"As long as you like it. This is a Soul Tool I made for you myself. It has the same effect as the Cultivation Array Disk I gave Dugu Yan that day. It can help with cultivation and speed up the circulation of Soul Power..."

After briefly explaining the necklace's uses and telling her to keep it on her at all times, he was dragged elsewhere by Ye Xingmeng.

Only after making sure no one was around did Ye Xingmeng begin questioning him.

"What does that thing really do?"

From what she knew of Mo Lin, that thing definitely wasn't as simple as he claimed.

She didn't understand Soul Tools, but such densely packed Soul Tool Runes proved that it was anything but ordinary.

It merely helped with cultivation and sped up Soul Power circulation? That might fool Ye Lingling.

As for her, she wouldn't believe it even if he beat her to death.

"Aunt Ye, you don't understand Soul Tools. It's a little difficult to explain it to you."

"Then just tell me the simple parts."

It wasn't that she worried Mo Lin would do anything to Ye Lingling. Rather, it was her instinctive protection of her daughter as a mother.

"It's for saving her life. When she's in danger, it'll generate a suit of armor around her to protect her. Once the armor forms, even an ordinary Titled Douluo won't be able to hurt her."

"I call it Battle Armor."

That was right. What Mo Lin had given Ye Lingling really was a suit of Battle Armor.

It was a miniaturized, modified version, though. After all, Battle Armor technology hadn't appeared yet during the Peerless Tang Sect era.

He could only explore and experiment on his own, failing who knew how many times before finally making this one suit.

However, its effects differed somewhat from the Battle Armor he knew.

To be precise, it was a half-finished product. Apart from enhanced protection, it had none of Battle Armor's other properties.

He had originally intended to refine it further, but he felt a little uneasy about Ye Lingling traveling far from home this time. Worried that something unexpected might happen, he had taken it out.

Of course, if things followed their original course, an accident would be impossible.

But the problem was that he had contacted Evil Face earlier. Given how destructive Evil Face was, what if she got caught in the fallout?

"Battle Armor? That little thing can turn into a whole suit of armor? You're bluffing."

Ye Xingmeng clearly didn't believe him when she heard that.

She knew Mo Lin was powerful, but with her knowledge, it was difficult to understand such a high-tech creation from twenty thousand years ahead.

That was why Mo Lin had said it was hard to explain to her. There was simply a generation gap.

"Aunt Ye, if you really don't believe me, you can get Dugu Bo to come over and test it."

Based on the parameters he had entered into it, taking Dugu Bo's attacks head-on would be no problem.

Provided, of course, that he didn't use poison. The Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's poison was still a little difficult to handle.

"Are you crazy, or am I? That's my daughter, your future wife."

"Say, have you found someone else out there, brat? Are you plotting against my daughter?"

In just a few words, she had slapped such a huge accusation onto his head that Mo Lin was left rather embarrassed.

"What are you saying, Aunt Ye? You're the one who didn't believe me. I was just giving you an example."

"I'm not listening. You're not being honest, brat. Unless you make one for me too. I want to test for myself whether it's really as incredible as you say."

"..."

Mo Lin was speechless. Good grief, so this was what she had been waiting for.

If you wanted one, you could've just said so. Why go through this whole performance? Would I have refused you?

"Then you'll have to wait a while. This thing is actually still just a half-finished product, and it's a lot of trouble to make."

Inscribing Soul Tool Runes and such was easy enough. With the innate abilities granted by the Wolffy Template, once he had done it once, he only needed to copy and paste afterward.

The main problem was the materials. Materials needed for high-grade Soul Tools were difficult to obtain, especially in this era.

Soul Tool Technology was extremely backward, so he had to acquire all the materials himself.

Then came forging the metal, processing it, inscribing the runes, and testing it repeatedly.

Even twenty thousand years later, in the Legend of the Dragon King era, this was work completed by several people together.

Yet now he had to do all of it himself. The workload really was astonishingly heavy.

"Whatever. Just give it to me when it's ready. I won't rush you."

Ye Xingmeng was in no hurry. After all, her goal was merely to fleece him a little.

After some friendly discussion, the matter came to a close.

A few days later, Ye Lingling left Heaven Dou City with the Heaven Dou Royal Academy team, heading to Suotuo City for training.

Mo Lin made a special trip to see her off. Of course, besides seeing her off, he also wanted to ask Dugu Yan about Dugu Bo's whereabouts.

"You're asking about my grandfather? I don't know either. Every month, he goes off somewhere for a few days. The timing isn't very consistent. Maybe he'll be back in a few days."

Dugu Yan answered Mo Lin's question honestly, her attitude much better than before.

After all, she had received something from him, so she ought to show him a friendlier face.

At least, that was how she saw it.

"You won't be able to find him. When he comes back, he'll go looking for you himself."

Dugu Yan knew her grandfather, Dugu Bo, very well.

Never mind Mo Lin-even she couldn't find out exactly where he was.

Still, he really had been away for quite a long time this time. She had no idea what he had gone off to do.

"All right, then. I'll wait at the Shop. Thank you, Miss Dugu Yan. And sorry for the trouble, but please look after Lingling on the road."

"As if you need to tell me."

Dugu Yan rolled her eyes at Mo Lin, then walked straight away.

The other members of Heaven Dou Royal Academy nearby had clearly seen her conversation with Mo Lin, though they hadn't heard what was said because they were too far away.

"Who's that? When did Dugu Yan get to know someone like him?"