Their rough oxide layers and impurities peeled off and scattered at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into tiny sparks and dust.
And Karl's palm swings were so fast that human vision simply couldn't capture them.
In Dalton and the others' eyes, Karl's hands and palms seemed to disappear, leaving only a blurred shadow.
And that continuous, almost air-splitting explosions of sound.
"This... is this... striking? No hammer? With a palm?!" a knight muttered, his eyes wide.
"And that speed... Melitele above!"
"How many times can you strike in the blink of an eye? Ten times? Twenty times?" another voice trembled.
In just two or three seconds, the iron ingots were forged and reduced by two or three rounds.
What happened next left those who had studied forging speechless.
Karl took the iron ingot and kneaded it, and the just-forged hot metal block immediately began to deform like dough.
The iron ingots were "stretched" and "flattened," then their edges were folded and bent, forming the outline of a breastplate.
Not a traditional multi-component breastplate, but a fully integrated structure.
All the curves, bends, and reinforced ribs along the edges formed naturally at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Then Karl quickly controlled the remaining iron ingots, rubbing them into the back plate, shoulder armor, arm, leg...
For areas requiring flexible movement, such as elbows and knees, the metal automatically layered and laminated, transforming into a bionic structure.
Each plate was several times thinner than the previous armor, yet stronger and almost unchanged.
"This... this is just 'mud-rubbing'?" someone's voice was dry.
"Metal in the lord's hands really does feel like mud..." another agreed, his voice full of helplessness.
Their forging lessons over the past few months – this hard work of hammering, quenching, polishing, and binding...
Before Lord Karl, it all seemed so clumsy and inefficient.
.........
Just over ten minutes later, looking at the neatly arranged fifty-five sets of full plate armor before them, everyone stood stunned in the open space.
Each plate armor had a smooth, mirror-like surface, clearly reflecting the human form, with a style completely different from the previous blood-red Angel armor.
The armor was adorned with exquisite patterns and reliefs, and on the chest of the armor was a cross-shaped emblem, like Dalton's set.
Additionally, the style of the helmet had changed greatly, making it more fearsome and immediately cooler compared to the previous one.
Next to the plate armor, identical weapons were neatly arranged: halberds, one-handed swords, two-handed swords, shields, daggers... Each player was given a set with full variety.
"We... what exactly did you learn over the past few months?" a knight muttered to himself, his words full of self-doubt.
"Don't even think about it. We can't learn Lord Karl's methods," his companion beside him patted his shoulder, his face equally numb.
"This is no longer within the realm of skill... This is a miracle."
Phillip looked around at the brand new equipment and suddenly had a thought.
He stepped forward and respectfully asked: "Lord Karl, plate armor should be custom-made. Recently, body shapes have changed somewhat."
"Some people have lost weight, some have become stronger. Don't you need to re-take measurements?"
Karl shook his head: "No need. My eyes are the best ruler."
"During forging, I observed each body type. Now, each set of plate armor has been carefully tailored to the wearer."
Phillip was speechless. He and Dalton exchanged glances, both seeing helplessness and relief in each other's eyes.
Indeed, for someone who can "rub" plate armor with his hands and heat metal with his eyes,
for a being capable of instantly teleporting and lifting several tons of heavy objects without blinking, what is such an amazing ability as "visual precision"?
"Perhaps Lord Karl is truly a mortal disguised as a deity?"
Thinking this, Phillip suddenly felt that everything unreasonable had become perfectly reasonable.
"Now, everyone finds their own gear and tries it on." Karl's voice snapped everyone out of their thoughts.
The knights woke up as if from a dream and immediately rushed to the soldiers in plate armor.
They quickly discovered that inside the breastplate of each set of plate armor, their initials and number were engraved.
"This is mine! Oh my god, how light it is!"
A knight excitedly lifted the plate armor engraved with his name; the first thing he felt in his hand made him exclaim in surprise.
"It's much lighter than our original plate armor! At least half as light!" Others also noticed this one after another.
"And look, almost all the parts are integrated into one whole, without the gaps from the previous several pieces!"
"The laminated pattern on the joints... let me try... Wow! As agile as chainmail!"
The knights immediately began to put them on, and the process went very smoothly.
Each set of plate armor was custom-made for the owner and could be fastened with a clasp simply by putting it on.
No one complained that a part was too tight or too loose, and no one felt that joint movement was restricted.
The inner lining of the armor was soft and breathable, with additional cushioning at key pressure points.
"This... it was almost like my second skin," a knight stretched his arms, his face full of disbelief.
Karl watched everyone finish trying on the armor before explaining: "Your new plate armor will have a uniform thickness of one millimeter."
At these words, everyone who knew about forging was stunned. Traditional plate armor usually has a thickness of three to five millimeters.
One millimeter? How is that different from paper-mâché? Even a slightly stronger sword strike might not withstand it.
"The total weight of the entire plate armor is controlled to twenty kilograms, which is more than half the weight of the previous one, so it feels lighter."
"The improved flexibility is due to the bionic laminated structure at the joints, inspired by the elytra of shrimp and some insects."
At that moment, a rather reckless knight from the crowd looked at his brand new, mirror-smooth plate armor.
He glanced at his companion beside him, who was also shining in his new armor, and suddenly an idea came to him.
"Hey, Lucas, let me test my protection. Stand still and don't move," he said to his close friend.
"What do you want to do? This is new plate armor, just made by Lord Karl – I haven't even warmed it up!" the knight nicknamed Lucas hadn't reacted yet.
"Just try it! A little light!"
"No way! What if it gets scratched..."
Before he finished speaking, the reckless knight had already drawn his original sword.
Then, without hesitation, he swung the sword down at Lucas's left shoulder plate with about seventy percent of his strength!
"Bastard!" Lucas only had time to curse.
CLANG!! A clear metallic clash exploded through the crowd.
Immediately after, another, even weaker, teeth-grinding crack sounded: TING!