Chapter 180: Dragon Armor

The snake, prone to excitement when people are around, proved highly efficient once it actually started working.

Perhaps he was also curious about the potential of this new profession; he quickly finished the preliminary preparations.

"Signing here is enough, right?"

"Yes, it must be the true name. Li En won't work; it has to be Li En Sudar."

A piece of parchment, somewhat aged, lay on the table. Li En examined it closely; there were no strange patterns on it. However, since the devil's trick of hiding clauses within paper patterns became known, most signers now use "blank paper," and those who still fall for it are mostly "country folk" without access to information channels.

This was not a commercial contract, so there was no need for three identical copies, each kept by a party.

On the contrary, there was only a single, unique contract, which increasingly solidified the "connection" between the two parties.

Breaking the contract also required tearing up this document; therefore, it was often kept by the Sect Master, serving as a collar to bind the Demon-Binder.

Li En read the terms; they were all as expected. There weren't enough clauses to fill a book, so it seemed the sincerity was sufficient.

There were also none of the usual constraints, punishments, or forced command clauses that a standard Demon Contract imposes on the Binder. Of course, some of the Sect Master's obligations were also missing.

Sighing, he quickly signed the familiar block characters.

"What would I gain by playing tricks? In the end, the signing is between you and yourself."

Dragging a quill with its tail, it quickly signed the Sect Master's side. Sure enough, it was also "Li En Sudar"!

Party A: Li En Sudar. Party B: also Li En Sudar.

This contract, which should have been invalid, immediately flashed and glowed after the snake signed its true name.

Two magic arrays, filled with transparent flames, each encompassed two Li En Sudars.

Li En vaguely felt an unnamed link being established between them.

It seemed more like chains binding himself. From the spiritual body behind him, a long soul-chain extended. The other end of that chain seemed to gradually fade into the void, crossing time and space.

Yet, although it had clearly confirmed a Sect Master, it could never find him. At this moment, Li En was certain that the "snake" before him was actually nothingness.

He was not here; to be precise, he was nowhere. Yet, it seemed he could be anywhere!

"Hiss."

It was still the snake's hoarse voice, but this time, Li En did not understand it. Could this be one of the so-called Nine Divine Tongues?

Before Li En could react, suddenly a "chain" tore through the void and stabbed fiercely toward him.

"Ugh."

He felt strange; "himself" and "himself" had actually formed a connection.

A chain of souls formed a channel within his own flesh and within his soul.

The module in the contract for "flesh transforming into matter" also activated, becoming the core function of the Demon Contract. He could feel that he seemed able to extract himself and pour it into another self.

This was the instinct of the Sect Master, but Li En dared not use it.

【Demon Contract Confirmed. New Profession: Dragon Binder (a branch of Demon Binder).】

At this moment, the Heroic Spirit Codex was, as always, helping Li En complete his evolution, except...

"Snap!" The snake flicked its tail.

【New Profession: Masked Dragon Knight, successfully assumed. Current Rank: First Tier.】

Li En silently turned his head to look at the small snake whistling and swaying its hips, and sighed helplessly.

Forget it; it's just a name. I won't argue with him over it.

"Heh, in the world of the extraordinary, this is not merely a name." The snake spoke mysteriously, but since it was already settled, it seemed it could not be corrected.

If nothing unexpected happened, this would be a profession that could never be upgraded.

"As expected, no Mana Explosion, no Demon Contract spells." This profession, twisted and artificially created, although its base template came from the Demon Contract, had all its power distorted into a single extraordinary ability; it lacked everything it should have had.

Therefore, this might also be a profession that is very useful at the First Tier but has no Second Tier.

"Not necessarily, not necessarily. The Sect Master of the contract is also yourself. As long as you are strong enough, you can expand this profession. This should be the first extraordinary profession exclusively yours, tailor-made to match the evolution of the Multi-Headed Dragon bloodline."

Li En took a deep breath, his gaze toward the snake becoming even more subtle. He felt this creature was digging a pit for him, yet he had no proof.

Why did he think so? Because it was all Li En Sudar.

If he really had to find something beyond intuition, it was probably the balance the snake kept emphasizing.

"Rest assured, rest assured. The cost this time is too heavy; if it were placed on you now, you would die. I have pushed it to three years later. Anyway, by then, if you can't pass Little Deer's trial, you'll be done for anyway. If you do pass that trial, this cost won't be too hard to bear."

Li En ignored the snake's words, yet he did feel somewhat reassured because of them.

His gaze turned to the alloy armor shattered into pieces on the ground, and he began preparing his first Demon Contract spell.

Yes, shattered into pieces in the literal physical sense. When Li En found the dwarf craftsman, his armor was halfway through repairs.

On a table covered with a waterproof cloth, most components had been removed. They were repairing or replacing the damaged parts, while apprentices were helping to clean and oil them.

That armor, which looked imposing and integrated, was actually an assembly of many parts.

If it were truly a single block of iron, the person inside would be like being put in a can or a coffin, completely unable to move.

"Stop? I don't give refunds." Facing Li En's request, the dwarf craftsman glared directly at him.

It wasn't because Li En's request was unusual; customers who regretted their decision halfway through repairs occasionally appeared.

This often meant they wanted to abandon armor that could still be repaired, which made the dwarves very annoyed.

"No, I just want you to disassemble it into even smaller pieces, preferably breaking it down into individual parts as much as possible."

Li En's request was even more outrageous.

"I won't..." Facing this obviously more troublesome work, he naturally wanted to refuse.

"Add two gold coins for the labor fee."

"Fine then." Seeing that the armor was already mostly disassembled, the dwarf craftsman simply continued working.

Being able to open a shop in the Mage District of Radiance City meant his craftsmanship was quite excellent. In just over ten minutes, only a pile of parts remained, which Li En immediately took away using a spatial bag.

"A strange person." This dwarf craftsman, named Minsk, watched Li En's hasty retreating back and then continued with the next job.

He couldn't understand it, but as long as the gold coins were sufficient, there was nothing to complain about.

And in this city, the one thing that is never lacking are strange races and even stranger cultivators.

And now, in a rented temporary room (too lazy to go home), Li En looked very satisfied at the cleaned armor parts.

Thus, he reached out his hand and used the unique ability of his newly acquired Demon Contract class.

"Dragon Knight Armor Summon: Black Dragon!"

With calm words, the Demon Contract was vaguely activated, and Li En immediately felt discomfort throughout his body.

【Dragon Knight Armor Summon: Black Dragon (Tier 1): Summon the Black Dragon factor of the Contracted Clan Lord and fuse it into the armor and weapons before you.】

It seemed something was being drawn out, as if something was being dragged away by "chains".

【Flesh and physique are being lost.】

And the prompt from the Heroic Spirit Catalog confirmed that this was no illusion.

Li En tightened the amulet on his chest, letting the power of the "Deer" accelerate his recovery and make himself feel slightly better.

And the target of his spell, the scattered armor fragments on the ground, also "came to life".

To be precise, a door vaguely opened in the void.

Twisted black tentacles reached out from it, beginning to merge into these armor fragments.

It poured faster and faster, and the quantity grew larger and larger. A massive amount of fragments were fused into it, reorganizing within the black chaotic ocean.

This valuable armor had completely become a one-time Consumable, yet it also formed the skeleton of a new suit of armor.

It was waking up bit by bit. Or rather, resurrecting.

A "Young Black Dragon" gradually merged into this armor, becoming its flesh, blood, and bones!

It was being commanded, being awakened. Li En calmly ordered it to obey the contract's requirements, and as the second line of thought, the Black Dragon also calmed down its boiling state.

Finally, when the black light dispersed, what appeared before Li En was a pitch-black war armor.

On the originally smooth shell, numerous black dragon scale decorations, suspected to be metal, had appeared. The entire armor looked like a black knight from hell, yet also like a humanoid black dragon roaring in anger.

Li En gazed at the chest area, where a face resembling a watching evil dragon seemed to be, and his arms were adorned with dragon claw decorations.

On the shoulders and back, there were faint small patterns of dragon scales and dragon wings; this was a black knight that looked utterly exaggerated.

"Click!"

The suddenly opened latch, leaving the human-shaped space empty, gave Li En an unexpected surprise.

For heavy armor users, the most headache-inducing part is often not the weight or protection of the armor, but the disassembly, assembly, and adjustment of wearing each part. Only a strong person can put it on alone; taking half an hour to don armor is normal.

Therefore, most knights, if they determine they might fight today, would find someone to help them don the armor early in the morning and then not take it off all day.

In hot weather, the sensation and the smell within...

"Ugh." Li En, who had just been delighted, felt a wave of weakness; he had been drained too much.

【Creature Grade: Silver, Status: Strength 14 (17), Physique 13, Agility 10, Spirit 14】

At this moment, Li En was stunned.

The core attribute of Physique was directly deducted by 3 points? Considering the marginal effect of attributes, this loss was too huge, wasn't it?

"Put it on." But the Snake gave a suggestion.

Li En slowly walked over and lay inside it. His weak body, however, instantly felt filled with power!

It's back, everything is back!

The 3 points of Physique that were originally deducted also immediately returned on the Catalog!

"Huh, I'm wearing the armor..."

At this moment, Li En, who was already moving, only then realized with surprise that he had already put on the armor.

But this time, he felt no discomfort or sense of restriction; on the contrary, it felt as if he was within his own flesh and blood.

"Hah!"

He waved his fists and kicked his feet. This kick extending beyond the waist was something he could never do before.

"So it's like a bodysuit? No wonder you were making jokes about Kamen Rider." Moving up and down, Li En felt no restriction whatsoever and immediately laughed.

The biggest weakness of heavy armor units is obviously the lack of agility in movement; can even this be compensated?

He could feel that inside the armor there were countless "pipes" and "nerves" connecting it to himself.

"A bodysuit? I feel more like it's a tentacle suit... cough cough, I'm truly a genius, solving a world-class problem in one go."

The Snake seemed to have exposed something strange, but Li En thought for a moment and pretended not to hear it... After all, they were once the same person.

Next, Li En picked up a dagger, the Diamond Dagger he had bought on the spur of the moment.

"Click!"

He suddenly thrust it toward his own shoulder, but only heard the sound of metal shattering.

The dagger shattered on the ground, while on the black shoulder armor (wing-shaped) there was only a shallow mark. The next moment, that mark began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye!

During this process, let alone a stinging sensation, Li En didn't even feel a "collision".

"Very good, very good." Li En, clenching his fists, felt a satisfaction unlike anything before.

Perhaps he had already filled in the most crucial piece, completing the assembly and combination of various abilities; perhaps...

"Wait until your Mage and Paladin both break through to Tier 3, and you can indeed challenge a Great Warrior." The judgment given by the Snake clearly indicated that Li En had already become a member of the true strong.

(End of Chapter)