Chapter 346: Mountain Heart

Upon entering the workshop, Sinuoli handed the gifts he was carrying to his master's forging assistant; although he had spent most of these years stationed in the Southlands, he had never failed to show his filial piety with special gifts during holidays and festivals.

"You've finally come. Take a look; this suit of armor can be said to be the work I am most satisfied with since I began my career. It is worthy of your status, and it is worthy of these Rune Tongs."

Krag Master sat by the furnace fire; this Rune Demigod looked very exhausted. Producing a legendary-grade weapon was a great drain on both physical strength and spirit even for a powerhouse like him.

"Whoa!" Watching two of the master's Anvil Guard carry over a suit of armor that was black with a golden sheen, Sinuoli rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"You know, back in the day, I charged into Karak-Drazh, and that half of the Rune Tongs was brought out from there. At the same time, in the sealed treasury, I also found a rock crystal; that was the highest quality raw material mined from the Black Rock Mine during the Baruk Clan's rule."

Sinuoli knew Krag Master's temper, so he did not rush up to try it on, but instead listened quietly as his master explained the armor's performance characteristics and technical concepts.

"The texture of this thing itself is enough to carry a set of legendary Runes, but the size is limited, making it only suitable as an auxiliary treasure, which is why I never used it."

Krag pointed to the crystal embedded in the chest of the armor, from which strands of golden light seemed to emanate.

"Your requirements are special. Although forging armor with Master-class Telescopic Runes as the main body is not difficult, even if it reached the legendary level, its defensive power would not be much stronger than exquisite armor normally engraved with Resistance, Protection, Fortitude, and other such Runes."

"That's true, after all, the most critical Rune slots were taken to adapt to my Stone Form," Sinuoli agreed; this was also the point he was most worried about.

"So I thought of a way and made a breakthrough in technology. Look, I engraved the Master-class Telescopic Rune and part of the Rock Rune circuit on this rock crystal known as the Mountain Heart, then embedded it into the armor, connecting it with the other part of the Rock Rune circuit on the armor to form a complete Rune."

Hearing this, Sinuoli poked it lightly; indeed, this rock crystal was not only physically combined with the armor, but also connected at the Rune level, which fused them into a single whole.

"One and a half on the crystal plus two and a half on the armor, making four Runes in total; your craftsmanship is not inferior even to the god Thurni!"

Sinuoli's admiration was heartfelt; Krag Master could be said to have broken through the rules preset when Rune technology was created to a certain extent, which was the reason why a Demigod is a Demigod.

"I think so too!" Krag Master revealed a rare smile. "Try it. I mixed in Adamantine—the metal known to have the best ductility—it is a perfect match for the Telescopic Rune!"

After receiving permission, Sinuoli couldn't wait to put the armor on. As he activated the Avatar of the Gods, the armor expanded along with his figure, fitting seamlessly onto his Stone Form body.

"Try it!"

Krag casually grabbed a sharp axe from his side and swung it with all his might at the armor.

"Clang!"

The Runes on the Battle Axe flickered, and the veins on Krag's withered arms bulged as he tried hard to break through the armor's defense, but in the end, he returned without success, not even leaving a white mark.

"Again!"

The Master nodded slightly and dropped the axe. The Anvil Guard on duty moved upon hearing the news, brandishing the tools in their hands and greeting Sinuoli's legs with them.

"Ding! Clang!"

A continuous sound of collisions rang out as nearly ten axes and warhammers made intimate contact with the armor. These "Kelage Guard," as a Demigod honor guard armed at the master's own expense, were directly benchmarked against the Eternal Hammer Guard in terms of equipment.

"Good armor! A fine suit that sheds a thousand axe blows and deflects ten thousand hammer strikes!"

Sinuoli's voice buzzed in the guild; he was very satisfied with the defensive effect. Although stone is hard, it depends on what it is compared to; taking iron weapons and projectiles head-on while bare-chested would be enough to give him a hard time.

"Hmph, your skills aren't practiced well, but you have one witty remark after another," Krag huffed, blowing his beard as he sat back in his chair.

"But you hit the nail on the head! Because your magic resistance is very high after turning into a Stone Form, and you aren't as afraid of the impact from blunt weapon strikes, the design of this armor is relatively extreme, focusing more on hardness in the choice of Runes and materials."

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Sinuoli conducted two more rounds of testing on the armor's performance; the Rune Smith Guild had plenty of various weapons, which just happened to help him figure out the armor's capabilities.

"By the way, does it have a name?" The transmigrator deactivated the Avatar of the Gods and walked up to his master; truly good things need a matching, catchy name.

"Hmm, how about Sinuoli's Armor? If you don't like that, using the name of this rock crystal is also fine—Mountain Heart." Krag changed his tune after seeing the change in his disciple's expression; this stubborn old Dwarf usually didn't like all the red tape.

"Good! Then let's call it that! I hope that one day I can wear it to take back Black Rock Fort! Also, my hammer has some problems; Master, can you help me take a look?"

After accepting the precious armor, Sinuoli did not rush to leave, but took out his damaged Warhammer and handed it over.

"Hmph! Interesting, it has both internal and external injuries; I guess you broke it when you smashed down that mountain peak?" The Demigod could tell the problem with the hammer just by touching it.

"Uh, how did you know?" Sinuoli had never told anyone about breaking his own weapon while showing off.

"Ha! Do you really think I don't know anything? Thanks to you, my good disciple, my workshop hasn't had a moment of peace in the last few years! To tell you the truth, those wanting to be your junior fellow apprentice are lined up all the way to Haimenguan."

Krag scolded him with a laugh. As Sinuoli became famous throughout the Old World, major forces wanted to figure out the background of this Ancestor Chosen, and Krag, a Demigod who had lived in seclusion for nearly a hundred years, was thus brought into the spotlight.

Most Dwarfs and Humans attributed part of the credit for Sinuoli's achievements to Krag, after all, he was Sinuoli's master, the powerhouse in the Mortal World closest to the Ancestor Gods. For various purposes, more people came to seek an audience with him than visited the High King's Court.

"That young man from the smithy has been touted by the Little Breards as being almost on par with Ximeidenier these past two years thanks to your light, yet the things he makes are mediocre; if it were the Golden Age..."

"... Grimm started by commenting for a long time."

"You, your foundation is not solid, and your experience is shallow. Such small damage is not hard to repair, why come to me? Nathan is enough!" Finally finished with the hammer, Krag Master began to lecture Sinuoli again.

"It's quite impressive that you can strike a so-called Storm Hammer with such an ordinary gadget; repairing it is just a matter of a few days, but I don't think it's worth repairing anymore!"