Chapter 2321: Umbryxium
Chapter 2321: Umbryxium
"There are different types of weapon sets prevalent in various ages of our history.
And they changed largely based on the region and culture as well. When the wars were much more common and times were much more barbaric, the armor of any kind had much more significance compared to now.
I must say, with the increase in politics and modern warfare, the armors also went to be developed to carry an element of stealth, by making they way too flexible and way too thin, almost like they are your everyday clothes.
As much as the technique needed to make them is refined, the rustic look and the majesty of the old armors are almost lost in today's time.
So, I am going to use this competition to my benefit and would like relive the days of the glory. A time when warriors were much more rounded and not one dimensional.
That is why you are going to make sets.
Like I mentioned before, you will be assigned a set that you need to make. You will have the list of all the weapons that needs to be in that set. That is it.
Unless you have all those weapons, your set would be considered incomplete and you are out of the race.
If you would like, you can add additional features to the sets. But it shouldn't hinder the original function of the set. Of course, no inscriptions or formations as well.
The rest is your choice.
As for the test, it will be a tournament between your weapon sets. We created some special wooden puppets for this occasion.
There are sixteen wooden puppets of the same length, same durability and same dimensions. You have to make the armor to suit that wooden puppet as well.
An absolutely same set of attacks are configured in the puppets. Then two puppets will be set against each other. Whichever puppet wins, will be moved to the next round in the exact same state. Until the finals where the last two remaining puppets will fight.
Finally, after the battle is over, the weapon set worn by the winning puppet will be the winner.
To keep it very fair, we went ahead and chose the same type of weapon set for everyone to forge. A set that is very well known for its looks. A full plate armor set for a knight."
He then waved his hand, sending small scrolls to everyone of the competitors. Sam caught his. There is a very plain drawing of a full plate armor. It is very similar... almost identical to the full plate armor of the Europe in 1400s.
There is the standard long sword, the full plate armor, a shield, a short dagger and a cross bow with a bunch of bolts and not to leave out a polearm weapon. For some reason, the examiners gave them the choice.
They can determine which polearm weapon would better suit the Armor and can create it.
Sam looked at one of the sixteen candidates who is in the mix. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. A classing knight description from western fairy tales back on earth. He is from an academy region called Eden.
Lucifer also belonged to that region, so it shouldn't be hard to guess what kind of gods will be there.
Sam guessed that guy would have better knowledge of these armors and weapons than the rest. As for why he believed the judgement... almost every god he saw here and every consortium of gods that he has seen, they reflected the mythology and folklore back on earth.
He guessed that guy who is from that Eden region might have some cultural experiences similar to that of Europe.
Judging by the excitement in that guy's eyes, Sam believed his guess is quite close.
The Elder continued after giving them a few minutes to take a good look at the scroll.
"You can use any metals that you have in our inventory. You will be assigned some personal assistants who knows every single metal and the quantity that we have in our inventory. They will fetch you whatever you want.
You can just focus on your design and forging process.
Of course, you can still not use your own modified and inscribed tools. You can only use the academy provided ones. I am stressing again, no inscriptions or formations.
I want to see a master piece in metal work today.
As for the time limit, you have until midnight. You can submit it before that, or you can make it until last minute. However, if you don't have all the elements of the set by midnight, then you will be disqualified directly.
Keep that in mind.
Now, you can begin."
As soon as he made the announcement, everyone hurriedly started sketching. First they need to decide on a design that is both functional and visually appealing. Then only they can start with it.
Sam thought for a moment and called for the attendant.
"I want a plain and smooth wooden table. Same dimensions as the work bench that you gave me."
The attendant nodded and waved his hand, the table appeared. Sam is impressed with the preparedness. Next with a wave of his hand, the upper layer of the table was sanded off, revealing a much smoother surface.
That surface is as clean as a paper if not better.
He then focused his light element in his finger, creating a laser. He started drawing on the surface by burning the lines in it. His mind worked at an impeccable speed as the laser acted like a laser should and finished the sketch in just a minute.
He is doing a gothic style full plate armor. It has the best balance between the mobility and defense. It is lighter than a mail armor or a lamellar. But it still had good defense overall. Obstruction to movement is less.
As for why he is using such a broad table. He intends to building the armor in parts and then assemble them later on. If he forged the plate larger is larger chunks it might become easier, however the material quality will be compromised.
He didn't want to do it. Also, he has some other use for this. He wanted to try a new metal treatment method and see how well it works. All the finished components can go on to that table and get treated, his work bench would be free.
Of course, he also used that table to draw the designs of each component in the real life size, instead of scale.
While he did so, instead of just one laser from one finger, he projected five lasers, bending them unnaturally and making five drawings at the same time.
It didn't take more than ten minutes for him to draw all the components. The parts of the
plate armor and helmet, the blade of the long sword, the components of the cross bow bolt,
the shield and the blade and staff of the halberd separately.
After the design is done, he didn't hesitate for even a second, there is no thought of
rechecking or verifying.
While the rest are still drawing and determining the dimensions, Sam is already heating up the metal in large quantities.
As soon as the knowledgeable spectators saw his choice of metals, it stirred a huge discussion.
"Is that guy nuts? What is he doing with so much Umbryxium? To make armor? Why would he
need that?"
"Maybe he figured out something new regarding this? He has been pulling all kinds of tricks since the beginning. Maybe this time is no different?"
"What kind of trick can be pulled with that metal? Despite its high quality and malleability, you do know why it can't be used right?"
The Umbryxium. A dark matte black substance that is usually added to steel type metals to create a much more malleable alloy.
Umbryxium increase the malleability of the hard metals that usually have high durability but
no formability of their own.
When you use an unusually hard metal and umbryxium together to create an alloy, during the stage of its creation when it is still in extreme temperatures, it as such flexibility that it could
made into anything.
However, once the alloy hardens in that state, it will be hard to change it once again. This also increases the resistance to kinetic shocks and slash attacks as well.
The only drawback is, if the amount of umbryxium is not ideal. If it increases or decreases even a slightest bit from the ideal ratio, it is prone to failure. Either it makes the alloy way too flexible which will make it bend and deform too much in battle, or it will make it prone to fracture under high impact attacks.
And there are only a very few known metals even in the academy realm that are good for using in tandem with Umbryxium. They figured out ideal ratios only for these few metals. However, none of those metals are known to be suitable to create an armor of a shield.
They are mostly used to create flexible weapons, some intricate puppet components etc. That is why its demand is still high despite having limited usecases in weapon making space. Now, they are way too curious to see what Sam is going to do with this metal, since he took it to make not just one metal, but rather a metal set.