Chapter 356: Armament Design

Wang Man would occasionally come to Yan Buji to report the situation, and today he happened to say that Long Batian was forging a certain Accumulation Device.

"Did they run into any trouble?" Yan Buji asked.

"It should be a special sea beast, I think. Long Batian's dragon beast armament is quite formidable, even when facing a multi-headed demon king it doesn't fall behind. Since they are hunting demon kings, they can't kill them all in one go..."

"So they ran into a tricky demon beast?" Yan Buji laughed. "Unfortunately I no longer have the magical power to form a Golden Core, otherwise I'd like to try completing an Accumulation Beast Armament myself."

"By the way, doesn't Martial Cultivation need it?"

Yan Buji shook his head: "Martial Cultivation combat can rely on weapons and armor, but forging Accumulation Devices suitable for Martial Cultivation is far too troublesome."

Wang Man, puzzled, said: "True Essence is different from magical power; is it really that troublesome?"

"Most Spiritual Materials cannot be compatible with True Essence attributes; even if their power levels are similar, they just can't be compatible. Consequently, Spiritual Materials that allow True Essence to flow are extremely scarce, so how can one forge Accumulation Devices? Let alone an Accumulation Beast Armament..."

Yan Buji looked at Wang Man: "By the way, what's your armament?"

Wang Man replied helplessly: "I haven't finished forging the Accumulation Device yet; I have some experience, but I'm not as gifted as Long Batian."

"If that's the case, I can teach you how to forge Accumulation Devices."

"Really?! You can also forge Accumulation Devices?"

"It's not that great, but this Third-Stage Accumulation Armor is something I just completed refining." Yan Buji tapped his wrist, and the Asura Accumulation Armor materialized!

Wang Man watched in amazement; with his perception he could sense that this was a rather powerful Accumulation Armor, yet it emitted a strange aura that felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Impressive, even if you can't refine pills, you still have talent for forging artifacts," Wang Man remarked.

Yan Buji laughed: "How about it?"

"I want to forge a unique sea beast armament; its shape should be like this...."

Yan Buji looked at the armament blueprint Wang Man produced, then asked: "How do you plan to assemble it? Based on this armament's shape, you need at least five primary Accumulation Devices; can you control that?"

"I'm different from other Dragon People; ordinary Dragon People can forge at most four primary Accumulation Devices, but I had a fortunate encounter that lets me bear another one." Wang Man nodded briefly, without elaborating on his encounter.

Yan Buji wouldn't be foolish enough to ask such a question, just as the other party wouldn't ask what his Accumulation Armor was made of.

"I see."

Yan Buji thought for a moment; primary Accumulation Devices link to a cultivator's vital spirit, and having too many or too few is unacceptable. Some cultivators are born with good aptitude and can wield several Accumulation Devices, while others can only handle one. Even with techniques that slightly improve matters, the number rarely exceeds double digits.

For Dragon People, even if their cultivation techniques are mediocre, they can wield four Accumulation Devices during the Lianqi Phase, a talent far higher than that of humans.

Currently, the only primary Accumulation Device that links to Yan Buji's vital spirit is this Asura Accumulation Armor; he originally intended to forge an offensive primary Accumulation Device, but has had no clue.

If Wang Man indeed has a fortunate encounter that lets him wield five Accumulation Devices, then his sea beast armament could truly be forged.

"Show me the Accumulation Device designs you made before?"

"Alright."

Wang Man seemed unbothered; logically this should be a taboo matter. Primary Accumulation Device blueprints are crucial to a cultivator, and if they fall into an enemy's hands there are countless ways to target your Accumulation Devices and pose a direct threat to your body.

Wang Man's willingness likely stems from his belief that, having failed once, those five blueprints aren't suitable for him, so he's ready to hand them over.

Yan Buji examined them closely; the five blueprints comprised two defensive Accumulation Devices, two offensive ones, and one speed-oriented Accumulation Device. Upon recognizing the types, he roughly identified the issue.

"Is your armament missing a core compatibility?"

"Huh?" Wang Man looked puzzled. "What's missing?"

"This armament is estimated to be hundreds of meters tall; therefore, the extendibility of your Accumulation Devices during assembly becomes the key factor in choosing their materials, right?" Yan Buji said.

"Right." Wang Man nodded.

"Exactly." Yan Buji smiled, pointing to a spot on the design: "Look here—if you aim for size and strength to match, your Accumulation Devices need to be at the third transformation tier. But excessive extendibility causes lag and blockage in magical power distribution, so you must discard one Accumulation Device and replace it with one that permits rapid magical power flow. Alternatively, you could add a component that keeps magical power unobstructed; that way you wouldn't need to discard anything, though it would demand very high magical power and control on your part."

Yan Buji's cultivation level hasn't reached the stage for forging Accumulation Beast Armaments, but that doesn't mean he hasn't studied how to forge them.

Regarding Accumulation Beast Armament, Yan Buji's experience in Accumulation Device forging combined with this design gave him a rough idea.

Just as an Accumulation Device itself is forged by sealing multiple components together, an Accumulation Beast Armament, composed of various Accumulation Devices, requires instantaneous sealing in combat, thus it must use primary Accumulation Devices.

If not, the various mechanisms outside that are made using multiple Accumulation Devices can only be pre-assembled and then sealed through forging, to ensure no issues arise.

Thus, Yan Buji gave Wang Man two options: replace one primary Accumulation Device, or forge a single component—not as an Accumulation Device, but as an accessory for a fully integrated armament.

Therefore, when forging the Accumulation Beast Armament, he must reserve space for the accessory. He also needs to fuse the accessory into his own soul so it can link with Golden Core power, enabling the armament's use in combat.

After hearing Yan Buji's advice, Wang Man thought carefully for a long time: "If I have to abandon one Accumulation Device, which one would be best?"

"The speed-type Accumulation Device—you probably want to compensate for the armament's lack of speed—but I think such a massive armament cannot accommodate multiple aspects even with deep magical power. Dropping speed and focusing on defense and offense is fine," Yan Buji said.

It's like demon beasts: a powerful demon beast is either massive in size or extremely fast; their sole trait is possessing overwhelming lethality in a hunting environment.

An entity cannot be strong in offense, defense, and speed simultaneously; it's not that speed is unimportant, but choosing a gigantic size while seeking agility and swiftness is inherently impossible.

"If it truly had...."

"That's just because I, Yan Buji, lack the experience."

"Moreover, if we actually encountered such a formidable demon beast, we might not even be able to defeat it ourselves."