Despite only taking a brief three-hour rest, Huo Yuhao's spirit had returned to its peak state.
It felt as though he had shed some kind of shackle; this particular rest had left Huo Yuhao feeling incredibly relaxed.
After bidding farewell to Ju Zi, Huo Yuhao returned to the dormitory and cooked a grand feast for Meng Hongchen as promised. Later, in the dead of night, he returned directly to the Star Constellation Great Forest through a spatial portal.
Once his daily feeding routine was finished, Huo Yuhao returned to the Spirit Transmission Pagoda carrying a large quantity of Thousand-Forging metal forged by the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear clan.
Returning to his own bedroom, he unsurprisingly found Skydream sleeping in her pajamas while hugging a bolster.
"Mmm... Yuhao? You're back... Wait, what are you doing? I'm sleeping!!!"
"Alright now, Sister Skydream. You were sleeping when I left this morning, and you're still sleeping now that I'm back... Don't sleep anymore; come do an experiment with me."
Ignoring Skydream's struggles, Huo Yuhao picked up the half-awake girl and hurried to the laboratory downstairs.
The Spirit Eye martial soul possessed him, and a silver-glow soul ring manifested. His serious demeanor made the groggy Skydream realize he wasn't joking.
Left with no choice, the forced-into-service Skydream compelled herself to cheer up and slowly began to adjust her state.
"Haah~ what's the experiment this time?" Skydream stretched slightly, then rubbed her eyes. Her oversized pajamas slipped to reveal half of a pale, pinkish shoulder, giving her an air of casual laziness.
"Battle Armor," Huo Yuhao replied softly.
Using mental power, he pulled pieces of Thousand-Forging metal from his storage soul tool. Countless carving knives, controlled by his mental power, began etching soul tool arrays onto the metal according to his will.
The full data on the Sun Moon Empire's humanoid soul tool hadn't just helped him complete the concept for "Mechas"; it had also allowed his vision for "Battle Armor" to fully take shape.
"Battle Armor? That individual combat humanoid soul tool you mentioned before?"
Skydream grew slightly interested, sitting on a metal bench and swinging her feet.
"Yes, that one. I gained some unexpected insights in the Sun Moon Empire that directly solved several points where I was stuck.
"Although it's still a bit far from my ideal Battle Armor, creating a prototype shouldn't be a problem.
"Sister Skydream, your mental control is strong; you'll be able to spot problems in real-time."
Though saying this made it sound like he was using her as a tool, Huo Yuhao had to admit that Skydream, with her exceptionally pure mental power, did possess a certain talent for this.
"Hmph~ as long as you know. Let's get on with it then. Finish up quickly so I can go back to sleep. Yawn~"
Skydream yawned again, clearly still sleepy.
Huo Yuhao nodded. Creating a prototype for the Battle Armor wasn't difficult; since it was just a prototype, the key was making sure the framework was correct.
In terms of crafting difficulty, it was roughly at the level of a Class 5 soul tool.
In just a short moment, various components were constructed. Under the guidance of mental power, they slowly pieced together into a suit of armor.
The inspiration for Battle Armor came from "Soul Armor," but unlike the latter, Soul Armor corresponds to the martial soul, with each component fusing with a soul ring to eventually achieve a three-in-one state of martial soul, soul ring, and armor.
Battle Armor, in Huo Yuhao's original vision, was meant to correspond to the Soul Master's body. Later, with the emergence of the Blood Essence · Body Cultivation system, Huo Yuhao realized that Battle Armor was a perfect fit for it!
The triple-layered physical reinforcement of Blood Essence Soul Ring + Battle Armor + Soul Ring Bone-Nourishing—even with a simple deduction, Huo Yuhao could feel the sheer power of this path!
"Try it, Sister Skydream. Help me test it."
Sitting on the metal table, Skydream nodded and raised her hands. Guided by mental power, the components of the armor slowly fitted themselves onto her body.
"Each part provides a slight boost to physical attributes... but the cultivation requirements are a bit high. Loading the first piece requires the capacity of a normal Soul Elder, and the consumption during use is quite significant..."
Skydream provided a running commentary as she put it on, but every complaint accurately pointed out a real issue.
Huo Yuhao recorded her feedback while observing her don the Thousand-Forging armor piece by piece.
Since the inspiration came from Soul Armor, this prototype was also divided into six parts, corresponding to the head, torso, and four limbs—much like soul bones.
Soon, after fitting the final piece, the lingering Skydream noticed the unique nature of this Battle Armor.
"...To wear all the components, one probably needs to be at the level of a Soul King... but these parts seem to be linked together?"
Skydream was quite surprised.
While her self-perception was that she was "weak," that was only relative!
For example, compared to Yuhao, she was certainly weak enough to be folded into a hundred and eight different poses.
But that was compared to Yuhao!
To other human Soul Masters, she was still an existence at the Super Douluo level!
Yet this Battle Armor, clearly designed for a Soul King, actually provided her with a noticeable boost once the full set was equipped!
"After all parts are equipped, my soul power seems to naturally circulate between the different sections of the Battle Armor. Furthermore, in a full set, the internal amplification arrays seem to receive some kind of collective buff..."
Skydream spoke with surprise. The focus of Battle Armor was clearly physical strength. Being a silkworm by nature, she was extremely sensitive to her own body and could naturally feel the reinforcement she was receiving.
This was the physical boost the Battle Armor fed back to her after her soul power began circulating through it!
If there were a Battle Armor corresponding to the Titled Douluo level, her physical strength might even be able to go toe-to-toe with Ice Emperor in her prime!
"This technology that allows the different parts of the Battle Armor to connect is perhaps my greatest gain from the Sun Moon Empire so far."
Soul Power Joint Reinforcement Technology.
The name was a bit long and not particularly catchy, and it sounded ordinary, but it was truly cutting-edge technology.
To put it in perspective: in his previous life, Kong Deming had used this technology as a basis, using himself as a relay station to guide, compress, and fuse the soul tool beams of three hundred Class 8 soul tool engineers. The result was a strike that surpassed a Limit Douluo and approached the power of a god!
The Silver Moon Divine Light Wave!
If described in terms of soul tool classification, that strike had the terrifying power of a Class 11 soul tool!
Unfortunately, at the time, Huo Yuhao had used Absolute Zero to form an ice mirror and reflect it into the distant sky, preventing it from showing its true power.
And now, Huo Yuhao had applied this technology to Battle Armor!