Heavenly Dungeon - Fourth Floor (3)
"Hey, you! Stop throwing the fragments into the hole. The Centurion has ordered that the place will be emptied in the morning under the young master's order." a Legionnaire catches a fellow soldier before he throws a broken piece of armor inside.
"You must be joking. Put aside our young master, not even the primus made their way here to the processing camp," the fellow soldier with a broken armor said. On his hand is several fragments of his body armor, which is about one-third broken due to the battle against the Flame Bull.
"It's real. Look at how the pile of scraps slowly piling up. Make sure that you washed them before throwing it over there. That's the rule made by the Centurion." the legionnaire finished what he's going to say and left.
"What is wrong with the young master?" the soldier checked the fragments before he throws it. He shared the changes with another soldier, who then shared with his fellow legionnaires inside their resting tent. Not long after that, the news even spread to the ears of the primus.
"Send a legionnaire over to Corner's tent. Tell him that we'll pay our young master a visit tomorrow at his tent. Do not disturb him for now," Primus Stolla said. He also instructed the Tribunus to stay near Aiolos to provide him with a little extra protection.
They're questioning themselves why would the young master mess with the scraps placed aside. If all of them discovered that Aiolos is currently staying inside one of the holes they dug when building the camp, how would the army reflect?
Meanwhile, inside the hole with scraps...
The cycle is repeating over and over again in a circle, creating a rotation of stock. Aiolos removes the godhood power within the scrap fragments before they're getting refined into a usable Below-Heaven Iron once more.
By refining the Godhood Power, Aiolos could safely absorb them after they're smelted within the Furnace of Tianyuan. Using this as a way to temper his own strength, Aiolos patiently completing the rotation while thinning the available scraps around him.
On the final moment, a seed, about the size of a glass bead fallen onto Aiolos' palm. The glass bead carries a hint of warm fire energy within that mainly came from the Tianhuo itself. It was gentler compared to the fierce Yuanhuo.
"What is this glass-like bead doing here? Is this your doing, you d*mn furnace?" Aiolos gives the Furnace of Tianyuan a knock on its lid. If it was indeed coming out from the furnace, then this item should be a treasure like his father's Sky-Needle and Origin-Needle.
"God's Appraisal!" Aiolos applied some godhood power to identify the glass-bead sitting in the middle of his palm. The process took significantly longer than it was to evaluate this treasure, and even when the description panel pops-up, there are two rows of (???) paragraphs.
== == == == ==
Lesser Tianhuo Seed
=> A generic seed that's could grow into a seedling if given enough time for it to mature. The user may utilize the Tianhuo-Shaozi to temper their physical body with the intensity of it's Heaven's Flame.
=> Can also be embedded into any weapon to harness and utilize Heaven's Flame in a battle.
=> When used correctly, a Tianhuo-Shaozi could replace the source of flames even in the most frigid weather.
=> ???
=> ???
== == == == ==
"What is wrong with the two rows of question marks? Don't tell me that even the Realm itself has no clue about what the Lesser Tianhuo Seed can do?" Aiolos tapped on the dimmed row of question marks, but his action brought him no positive results.
As the description panel gives him no further explanation, Aiolos can only try to find out by himself. With a hint of interest in what can a weapon do from harnessing Heaven's Flame, Aiolos removes the decoration pieces attached to his golden spear and insert the Lesser Tianhuo Seed.
Strings of flame grow from the seed as it climbs and attached itself all over the golden spear. The color turned into a Rose-Golden streak, giving out the hint of burning flames around Aiolos.
Aiolos moves from his seating position into a fighting stance. The tip of his spear exudes powerful heat as he wheeled the spear.
"Plop! Shhh..." he pointed the spear on the rock he sat before, and the flaming tip stabs through it like a bar of chocolate that couldn't resist the heat. The rock melted further than before as Aiolos slowly withdraws his weapon.
"Heavens... If I stab Calvaros with this, won't he get cooked inside that armor?" Aiolos stares at the rose-golden tip burning with gentle flames. It was sweet and pleasing to look at but dangerous if touched.
Since the scraps before him were all cleared, Aiolos left the dumping area without alarming every legionnaire posted around the processing camp. Only a few caught his leaving silhouette.
The next morning, the legionnaires are bewildered by the desolated hole that should be filled with scraps from monsters and armor fragments.
"What happened? Did the people from the processing camp dig another hole after they buried the previous one?" they asked. Based on their day-to-day results, it should be impossible for them to fills the hole overnight, even if they're wasting the materials.
Furthermore, who would be bothered to even place the soil back? As long as no accident happened during their time here, nobody will question them about this.
The situation inside the Centurion's camp is not as calm as it was either. A legionnaire came to his camp to report what others are talking about, and it puzzled him as well. Even worst, his subordinate asked him as if he's the one arranging it to be done.
How can he know what happened if even the soldiers patrolling the area are clueless about it? Centurion Alloy had the urge to slap the back of this legionnaire's head for asking such a nonsense question.
He tapped his finger onto the table as he tried to think.
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Aiolos quietly returned to his bed the moment he came back to his private tent. When the morning is here, Aiolos tidied a part of the room's furniture to make space for his plan later. A few bountiful cases of smelting material is placed orderly at a corner as he prepared himself to start smelting.
As for Tetros, she smiled and gave Aiolos a kiss on his cheek and lips before leaving the tent to start preparing food for the soldiers. After having her part of contribution yesterday, she's somewhat attracted to the rush, urgency, and requirement a soldier needs.
Compared to making food quietly as she likes inside her own kitchen, an army pre-set kitchen turned out to be much more challenging than what she tried before.
Furthermore, as a Food God, not only she has to develop food suitable for the soldier's flavor, but also to fill their stomach and daily needs. It also has to be able to provide enough nutrition and easy to make.
"Young master, may we come in?" Primus Stolla, Primus Corner, and Centurion Alloy, the supervisor for the processing camp, came to Aiolos' tent and asking for an audience.
"Oh, come in," Aiolos replied. He's holding the protection plate that belonged to a piece of equipment as he responded to their words.
"Please excuse our action, young master." the Primus and Centurion entered the tent by pushing the heavy curtain to one side. Greeted by close to thirty sets of Legionnaire's Standard Equipment made their jaw dropped onto the floor.
They're made similar to the Legionnaire's Standard, along with some flexibility to be upgraded in the future. Also added into the collection of gears is Emblem Shield, Battle Gauntlets, and Iron Maul.
Aiolos' addition gave them two more weapons to choose from. Those with proper arm strength can also opt into weaponry and a shield standard, which gave them better flexibility during a battle.
"Young... Master..." Primus Stolla was going to ask if Aiolos was the culprit behind the missing scraps near the Processing Camp. But looking at the selection of standard gears inside this tent, he decides to trash the question aside.
"What do you think about them?" Aiolos placed some godhood power onto the equipment as they hovered and adorned on a mannequin. The shape of the puppet has been remodeled to resembles the bulky statures of the soldiers, so it would look better.
"They're absolutely stunning, young master. There are at least 33 sets of Standard Equipment here, don't tell me that young master didn't sleep last night?" Primus Corner counted the number of Chest-Piece available inside the room and came up with the number 33.
"Young master..." they're going to say something else, but Aiolos raised his hand up to clarify the matter.
"I did rest, but after I delivered a word to Centurion (What is his name?) I returned to rest until this morning. They're made in a rush, so their quality might be questionable." Aiolos clarified plus humbly telling them his worry.
"It's Alloy, sir. Centurion Alloy at your service." the Centurion noticed the stutter between words by his young master and quickly added a few more words to let Aiolos escapes from the embarrassment.
"Pardon my word, young master. But even his holiness, Marcos, will approve your works." Primus Stolla inspects the Standard Equipment Aiolos made and came up with the conclusion. They're all built according to the minimum requirement.
"Men! Tribunus Archer! Made your presence inside the tent now!" Centurion Alloy howled. His words quickly summoned Tribunus Archer, the leader of the Contubernium Team he's with last afternoon, with his team over.
"Tribunus Archer and his eight legionnaires pay respect to the officers and young master Aiolos," they knelt before the four higher-up officers the moment they stepped inside.
"Have your legionnaires change into the equipment made by our young master," Centurion Alloy said. Being the closest officer in terms of rank with the Tribunus, he's the best individual to deliver Aiolos' intention.
"Yes!"
"All of you! Disrobe your current equipment and change into the custom equipment!" Tribunus Archer followed his order and instructed his legionnaires to follow up with the order.
It takes them close to six minutes to remove their current equipment and put the new one on them. All of them were done about the same time, with the differences of 1 to 3 seconds.
"Legionnaires, give out your honest opinion." Tribunus Archer continued.
"Sir! The custom equipment is very comfortable! - The plates are lighter than usual! - They're easier to put on! - The plate protecting our chest is too thick!"
Four remarks came out from the legionnaire's mouth the moment they're asked to comment. But only the last comment managed to made Aiolos chuckled.
"Hahaha... That's great - That's great..." Aiolos nodded. His behavior makes the officer has no idea what he really meant.
"The chest-piece is layered thicker than usual. This way, the number of casualties can be reduced further by focusing on a spot instead." Aiolos wiggled his finger as the godhood power brings him the sword he made.
"Stand firm." Aiolos charged at where the legionnaires standing like a statue and gave them a few slashes on the armor. To further prooves his point, Aiolos tried to deliver a stab onto the left chest, where the blade broke into two as they clashed.
"Huh?" the eight legionnaires were amazed by the sturdy armor Aiolos made. If they were to be used against the High-Orc's weapon, perhaps eight out of ten tries will result in the orc's weapon being damaged.
Their facial expression returned to normal before the four officer-level people inside the room.
"You may leave the tent and return to your post, Tribunus Archer," Centurion Alloy said.
"Return your equipment and follow me out of the tent!" Tribunus Archer said and turned around, but Aiolos added a few more words.
"Bring them with you as you leave. Primus Stolla, Primus Corner, and Centurion Alloy, please take a contubernium worth of equipment as you left. I'll continue with my own works." Aiolos said. His words also hinted to them that he wished to be given some privacy right now.
"Thank you, young master." the others knelt before Aiolos and excused themselves sequentially.
Aiolos smiled.
"I should start now..." Aiolos made sure he covered the tent with his godhood power before he proceeds with his own matters. Taking out a Tianhuo-Shaozi from his void space, Aiolos placed the pill into his mouth and sat in a meditation posture.
Sweat with the size of a bead rolled down from his temple as Heaven's Flame started to burn every inch of his body.
"Aargh!!!" Aiolos screamed. The Lesser Tianhuo Seed inside him started to release flames strong enough to destroy a god's physical body now fought against the body of this god for the sake of strengthening it.
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Three days later, the gods and mortal gathered around the Sanctuary Square to witness the duel between two gods. But only one of them had made their appearance in the arena.
It was Calvaros, the God of War.
"Where is Aiolos???" he shouts. The time for their duel is almost here after he patiently waited close three full days. There are only less than 10 minutes to prepare before the time for their match to get started.