War Machine Ascension
During the two month period that Deon was going in and out of the 1st unit camp, he was forced to spend almost as much time recovering in the camp as he actually spent outside in the upper region. He wasn't just training with the steel bones spirit either…he was also refining spirits!
General Li followed through with his promise. In exchange for the 1-Star moon river reed spirit, he sourced and transported 82 different resources of varying quantities directly to the 1st unit. All of these things were delivered to Deon's temporary tent which he was allowed to possess on account of his continuous success in the upper region.
Deon also bought everything else he needed using merit points with plenty to spare.
So, what was he refining exactly?
Well, he still refined the bronze muscle spirits for the kingdom since they requested and paid for his service. His only responsibility was to produce 3 of those spirits each week though…with his ongoing practise in this specific evolution, his success rate was now closer to 70%, leaving Deon with plenty of time and energy to refine other things.
Like the bronze skin spirit.
This was his first target, since its effect was immediate and could help him grow stronger right now.
The dense muscle to bronze muscle spirit refinement was the easiest of all the spirit class refinements. Still, even if it was the easiest, Deon succeeded here when he was just a rookie spirit refiner.
His skill was now incomparable to before. Despite the skin spirit class evolution process being more complicated than the muscle spirit class evolution, success was only a matter of time.
All 5 of the body tempering spirits were refined in a cauldron. Be it their rank or class evolutions, all were carried out in an ordinary refining cauldron, in this regard, they were very ordinary spirits.
Bronze metal was also used to refine the bronze skin spirit, and the same red powder was used to produce the flame below the cauldron.
The refinement…
Bronze metal was melted down using the flame beneath the cauldron, a flame produced from the common material known simply as 'red powder'. Deon threw the iron skin spirit into the cauldron just as the molten bronze started to bubble, at which point, the heat was rapidly decreased alongside the addition of spotted spider's silk.
Spotted spider's silk was used in all 5 of the 1-Star body tempering spirit bronze class evolutions.
The silk formed a cocoon around the spirit, wrapping around the strange flat bug. The cocoon needed to be formed rapidly, before the bronze metal cooled down so much that it solidified.
Once the spirit stopped struggling, the heat was maintained at a low constant to keep the bronze metal in a liquid state. Then, 3 drops of spirit bee honey were added to the concoction. This honey contained dense and sweet spiritual energy and was quickly absorbed into the cocoon.
The cocoon was then wrapped up once again and squeezed tightly by adding half a spoon of 300 year maple sap. This sap needed to be directed towards the cocoon, allowing it to coat the cocoon entirely and evenly.
The last resource to add was a drop of demonic butterfly wing blood. Deon was lucky that this creature was prevalent on Jing Mountain, it was also one of the weakest types of demonic beast.
After controlling the absorption of this blood, he reached the final step…the addition of three 0-Star vital physique spirits!
All spirit evolutions were based around the ascension of one spirit into another spirit, but supplementary spirits were often used in the spirit refinement process.
In the end, it took him 6 attempts to succeed.
Upon achieving success, Deon activated the spirit immediately and felt the strengthening in his skin. That familiar searing pain encompassed his entire body for a few seconds. Moments later, the spirit was burned to ash and no longer existed.
The effects of the skin spirits were not immediately obvious, but Deon knew that his skin was now much tougher compared to before. Also, his skin would contain a very faint bronze gleam when it reflected the sun at a certain angle.
Instead of looking towards producing the other bronze class body tempering spirits, Deon had other plans. During the 2 months period that he spent in the upper region and the 1st unit camp, he was able to assess that this odd situation would not last for long. Rather than working on something long term like the bronze bones or tendons spirits, he decided to continue with the skin line of spirits so that he could produce the silver skin spirit before the war escalated once again
The silver skin spirit required the bronze skin spirit as the precursor spirit. So, Deon would work towards producing one of these bronze skin spirits. He would then go on to use it as an ingredient in his next refinement.
He was unable to succeed in doing this during the 2 months that the upper region was open, and the past 2 weeks were spent using the steel bones spirit. Now though, he could devote all of his time to this one pursuit.
Deon came fairly close to success in one of his previous refinements, so he had some idea about what to change this time around. His production of the bronze skin spirit now had a 50% success rate, increasing his overall speed of progress and improvement.
The ingredients were similar, but also different.
Three pounds of silver, this time heated using orange powder.
The bronze skin spirit was placed into the molten metal, then spotted spider silk was soaked in high purity mountain spring water before it was added to the cauldron to form a cocoon around the precursor spirit. Ten drops of spirit bee honey were added to the cocoon, but only after the honey was refined and condensed into a paste.
After the cocoon absorbed the honey, 500 year maple sap was lathered onto the cocoon, causing the web-formed structure to compress further inwards.
Demonic butterfly blood was again added, but this time, a total of 12 drops were mixed with a yuan berry, then the mixture was refined down to a single, more concentrated drop. The cocoon absorbed the drop, and then…
Three iron skin spirits were thrown in!
This was the most difficult step, it had caused Deon to fail 4 times at this point alone. He only had enough resources to attempt this step one final time.
In a stroke of luck and determination, he managed to control the iron skin spirits properly, finally having them all absorb into the cocoon!
After this, the liquid silver was rapidly devoured by the glowing cocoon. After the entirety of the cauldron mixture was transferred into the cocoon, there was a brief flash of silver light, then a silver bug floated up into the air. Deon quickly bound the bug, and after observing it for some time, he activated the spirit without further ado.
His body tensed up, the pain was 10 times worse than last time! His body broke out in extreme cold sweat, but fortunately, it was all over in 15 seconds.
Silver skin spirit…he now possessed 1-Star silver skin! His skin looked the same, except that a faint silvery gleam could be seen if he stood in the mid-day sunlight at the right angle. Anyone who saw this would blink and rub their eyes, then assume that they had imagined it.
Deon would have liked to continue with these various refinements, but 2 days later, he received the order to return to the 37th unit camp.
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"From what I've heard, you've been quite busy as of late, Vice Commander Deon." Commander Reana smiled at him slightly as Deon entered through the front entrance, finally returning to his own unit after spending some time away. The camp was much more impressive than before he left, the walls stretched out twice as high and the camp itself had expanded by over 50% towards the East.
"Mm, my work in the upper region is done." Deon nodded seriously. "From now on, I will properly serve the 37th unit."
"Actually, you might be wrong there." The commander smiled slightly, but refused to say anymore. Deon was curious, but she wouldn't explain until everyone, captains and soldiers alike, had been gathered to the central square.
"Everyone, the war has finally reached the climax. All pretences of treaties, armistices and peace talks have broken down in the inevitable face of human greed." She began her speech, taking some of the new recruits aback.
Human greed…?
"The top brass has finally caught on to the immense value of the upper region. Those lands are filled with treacherous landscapes and until now, only small groups of elites, or even individuals, have ventured there." She glanced briefly at Deon as she said this. Some others also turned towards Deon with immense respect in their eyes…
They had all heard the legends of the upper region, but these legends only escalated 10 fold after Deon entered and created miracle after miracle!
Killing countless enemy soldiers and captains, all whilst travelling alone! He found many bronze, silver and even gold class spirits, yet handed almost all of them over to the military! Such intense loyalty, he was truly an icon and role model for all aspiring soldiers!
"Even after that area was explored daily by elite shamans for almost 4 months, with those last 2 months becoming particularly intense, our kingdom's troops are still retrieving unique silver class spirits every single day…if it's averaged out, there were even gold class spirits found on a weekly basis!"
Everyone knew that the upper region was a dangerous land of treasures, but they gasped on hearing this. Most shamans only dreamed of one day obtaining a single silver class spirit, yet these spirits were just sitting up there on the mountain…and even gold class spirits were just…waiting for them?!
Commander Reana sighed. Those who were confused by her claim of 'human greed' being the motivating factor in this battle, were now overcome by greed themselves. She shook her head, she knew that it was simply a natural part of being human, if not the most dignified part.
"We have been given the order to leave camp and to ascend to the upper region. Following the orders from HQ, we will travel up Jing Mountain the moment the other units arrive to fill this camp!"
Deon understood the plan now. Really, they wanted to storm the upper region immediately, but this wouldn't be sensible. If they all suddenly left their posts and abandoned this camp, it would quickly be occupied by the Fan Kingdom.
So, the entire war machine was simply going to shift upwards. This evolution of the war would surely result in an escalation of the intensity of conflict, leading to many more battles and an immeasurable number of deaths.
Deon could not wait.