"Battle Armor can be traced back ten thousand years to the Sun Moon Empire, the predecessor of today's Sun-Moon Federation.
Back then, Spirit Guidance Masters envisioned a way to use Spirit Guidance Devices to amplify Spirit Masters, allowing a Spirit Master's overall combat strength to cross entire tiers. From that idea, Humanoid Spirit Guidance Devices were born," Leng Yaozhu explained.
"The Spirit Pagoda's ancestor, Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, later made further improvements on the basis of those Humanoid Spirit Guidance Devices and created what the Spirit Master world now recognizes as the prototype of Battle Armor: the Icy War God's Armor.
Xuanzhen, as my direct disciple, I am setting two goals for you. I hope you will remember them for the rest of your life and continue striving toward them without pause.
First: Limit Douluo, Quasi God.
Second: Four-Word Battle Armor Master."
Leng Yaozhu's expression was solemn. To be born into nobility did not mean one could laze about for a lifetime and wait to die while living off inherited comfort. If anything, it meant stricter demands, especially for geniuses. They were the very root from which a great power's continued prosperity grew.
With the Divine Realm gone, Limit Douluo Quasi God stood as the peak of a Spirit Master's personal cultivation, and Four-Word Battle Armor Master crowned the summit of Spirit Guidance Technology. By setting both as Zhao Xuanzhen's goals from the age of six, Leng Yaozhu was telling him one thing very clearly:
You are meant to stand at the absolute limit of Douluo Continent!
Zhao Xuanzhen nodded heavily, though inwardly he told himself that Quasi God and Four-Word Battle Armor Master would only be the halfway mark. One day, he would surpass the very limits of this world!
Leng Yaozhu's lips curved into a faint smile. "Battle Armor is currently divided into four levels, from One-Word to Four-Word. The gap between each is like the difference between heaven and earth.
To become a Battle Armor Master, the prerequisite is mastering a secondary profession related to Battle Armor.
The creation of Battle Armor follows four steps: forging the metal, designing the Battle Armor blueprint, manufacturing and assembling the armor while inscribing its spirit circuit formations, and finally repairing and refining the finished product.
Because of this, Battle Armor Masters are broadly associated with four major professions: Blacksmith, Mecha Designer, Mecha Manufacturer, and Mecha Mechanic.
Today's lesson is about choosing your secondary profession. If you want your Battle Armor to become truly powerful, it must suit you perfectly. A Battle Armor Master and their Battle Armor are meant to be intimately connected. During the creation process, the user's own Martial Spirit merges with the armor and resonates with it, gradually becoming one with it.
Mecha Designers achieve the highest degree of compatibility with Battle Armor. No one understands you better than you do, after all. The strength of a set of Battle Armor is also tied to this compatibility. Perfect compatibility provides an amplification equivalent to twenty ranks of spirit power, allowing a Spirit Master's combat strength to leap across two major realms.
Mecha Manufacturers handle extremely meticulous processes. Inscribing core formations requires enormous amounts of repetitive practice. Mecha Mechanics lean more toward the support side. They understand portions of what goes into design and manufacturing, but when it comes to actually making Battle Armor, their direct involvement is limited, and they face greater difficulties during fusion.
Blacksmithing demands the most raw talent and is the hardest to break into. By the middle stages, its investment costs rank first among all four professions. However, once a Blacksmith breaks through to 7-star Saint Craftsman, they immediately become talents that every major power competes fiercely to recruit. After all, forging the metal is the very first step in making Battle Armor."
After introducing each of the four professions in turn, Leng Yaozhu said, "Xuanzhen, take some time to think it over. Decide which secondary profession you want to learn, then give me your answer. Youth is an advantage. At your age, you have plenty of room to make mistakes and try again."
This was one of the greatest advantages of starting out in a top-tier power. The elders understood the importance of childhood education.
In another timeline, Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan had entered Shrek Academy at thirteen with their secondary professions at a pitiful 1-star Rank. Even setting aside the bug that was Tang Wulin, there were still peers their age who had already reached 3-star or 4-star.
The fact that those two later broke through to 9-star Rank secondary professions in their twenties proved their talent was not weak. What they had lacked was the awareness and early cultivation that came from being nurtured by family elders from childhood onward.
By comparison, Heavenly Phoenix Douluo truly lived up to her name as a Titled Douluo of her generation. She had started 'squeezing' children at the age of six.
Leng Yaozhu watched Zhao Xuanzhen think in silence, anticipation stirring in her heart.
Her explanation had not been entirely without bias. She had openly praised Mecha Design, remained neutral toward Mecha Manufacturing, subtly stepped on Mecha Mechanics, and only given Blacksmithing a fair and impartial evaluation.
No one was perfect. Everyone harbored private motives. As a Four-Word Battle Armor Master, Leng Yaozhu had long since reached the highest levels in her own secondary professions. She was a 9-star Rank Mecha Designer and an 8-star Rank Mecha Manufacturer. Naturally, she hoped her disciple would follow the same path. The only reason she had refrained from downplaying Blacksmithing was to give the one and only Divine Craftsman his due respect.
After a long while, Zhao Xuanzhen looked up, his decision made. "Teacher, I want to study Mecha Design, Mecha Manufacturing, and Mecha Mechanics. All three, side by side."
"Why?"
Leng Yaozhu's delicate brows drew together. His choice of Mecha Design pleased her, but the appetite seemed a touch too large. Precisely because she herself had cultivated two secondary professions, she understood better than most how difficult that road could be.
"On the surface there are four secondary professions," Zhao Xuanzhen explained, "but in reality there are only two: Blacksmith and Spirit Guidance Master.
The historical annals of the continent record that the earliest Battle Armor Masters were, in fact, Spirit Guidance Masters.
Back then, Spirit Guidance Masters endured countless hardships to research and create the first set of Battle Armor, but the principles involved were far too complex. Only a small number of Spirit Guidance Masters managed to grasp the techniques required.
So over time, Spirit Guidance Masters gradually branched into three specialized professions. That lowered the demands on individual talent and allowed Battle Armor Masters to collaborate on creating Battle Armor.
Mecha Design, Mecha Manufacturing, and Mecha Mechanics are essentially three parts of a single whole. They interconnect and complement one another.
Mecha Mechanics must understand knowledge related to both design and manufacturing. Mecha Designers must account for manufacturing constraints when drawing their blueprints. Mecha Manufacturers likewise need to grasp the core principles behind a design.
Only by uniting the three and keeping every step under my own control can I create Battle Armor that truly fits me perfectly."
"Your teacher understands." Leng Yaozhu's tone turned lighter, a smile spreading through her clear eyes. "Then we'll do it your way."
Good teachers were precious creatures. Genius disciples were rarer still. And a disciple who was not only monstrously talented but also possessed independent ideas and the willingness to put in real effort? Rarer than either. No matter how strict Leng Yaozhu might be, when it came to Zhao Xuanzhen she genuinely could not find a single fault.
"Xuanzhen, let's make an agreement."
Leng Yaozhu extended a fair, jade-like hand. "Within five years, all three secondary professions must break through to 4-star Rank. Your spirit power cultivation cannot fall behind either. Otherwise, you'll have to make a choice and give one up."
"Alright."
Pa! Their palms met with a crisp smack, sealing the pact between master and disciple.
Everyone had things they were naturally drawn to and genuinely enjoyed. There was no need to force himself to learn Blacksmithing. Even so, the fact that a single Divine Craftsman could effectively hold every Four-Word Battle Armor Master in the world in check was simply too absurd to ignore.
Zhao Xuanzhen had already made plans. When the time came, a living being would walk out from within his Eight Trigrams Qimen and ascend to that seat of Divine Craftsman!
For the remainder of the lesson, Leng Yaozhu began teaching him the fundamentals of the two professions she specialized in. A beginner could not yet touch something as profound as Mecha or Battle Armor, so they naturally started from the basics of Spirit Guidance Devices.
With a 9-star Rank Mecha Designer and 8-star Rank Mecha Manufacturer personally passing on her experience face to face, Zhao Xuanzhen absorbed it all like a sponge thrown into water, soaking up every drop of knowledge she offered.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the Auspicious Spirit Capybara dozing off beside him.
In non-combat situations, a Spirit Soul's activity in the outside world consumed almost no spirit power from its host. Zhao Xuanzhen had let it out partly for fresh air and partly to strengthen their bond.
And yet here he was, the host, studying with everything he had, while the Spirit Soul slept and fully embraced the art of doing absolutely nothing...
Then again, capybaras don't go to school, don't go to work, don't have eight a.m. classes, don't need to study Battle Armor...
Damn it!
Lord Capy-capy, I truly am sorry for failing to let you enjoy life to the fullest...
"Teacher, one moment please."
The sight of the Auspicious Spirit Capybara lounging in such blissful leisure made Zhao Xuanzhen itch with indignation. He snatched up a Battle Armor design book, plopped it open right in front of the drowsy little creature, and jabbed a finger at the pages.
"Come on. Learn this properly. From now on, you're helping me make Battle Armor!"
The number one exploiter of Spirit Souls had officially been born!