At this moment, the Beginning Village was practically in total silence. Although occasionally the fierce roars of different distant beasts could be heard, causing some survivors to shudder in fear, everyone knew that as long as they did not leave the established security perimeter they would be fine.

Except for the night patrol guards who had to do their duty until the team that would relieve them before dawn arrived, 90% were probably resting comfortably in their beds within the illusory safety of their homes. As for the 10%, they were probably releasing some accumulated stress by having relations with their couples.

With the current world situation, if a man had enough strength, he could easily house and care for more than one woman. The same was true if a woman had enough power; they could also have weak men who were not even willing to pick up a firearm to fight.

The village rules were very clear and explicit. One of these rules was that anyone who dared to force themselves on anyone would be immediately executed; this rule not only applied to Normal Citizens and Noble Citizens, it also applied to Royalty. Therefore, soldiers also had to be very careful with their actions.

Fortunately or not, while there was no love involved, there were many weak women who were willing to do anything not to experience the horrors of starvation or being eaten by a monster. As for the opposite case, while extremely rare and minor, there were also those.

In this cruel new world, love was a luxury that only those with true power could afford to explore. Those who depended on external weaponry to possess some illusory strength that could disappear at any moment could only do their best to survive another day, where would they find the time to carefully build a loving relationship? As to whether love would come later or not, only time would tell.

Bai Zemin belonged to the rare minority who not only wasn't sleeping, but wasn't having fun either; he was working.

By the time he finally finished organizing the material he was going to use it had been almost two hours since he had put the leather armor aside to dry.

"This thing should be almost finished by now." Bai Zemin scrubbed his hands in anticipation. 

Although it was already past three in the morning, his entire being was brimming with energy and he felt practically not tired in the slightest. These were the benefits of constantly evolving towards something higher. Little by little he was shedding his mortal human shell and although he still had a long way to go, the fruits of his efforts were constantly showing.

Bai Zemin approached the leather armor and noticed that it was indeed already completely dry. The next step he did was to add some decorations that would also give extra defense to the chestplate and added some sharp objects on the knees of the pants and on the elbows of the top piece; this would add more variety to his attacks and extra damage.

"Why do you add those spikes?"

"Every self-respecting man should love spikes sticking out of armor!"

"... Are you a little kid or what?"

A suit of armor composed of two parts stood before him. This armor was as black as the night cloak that seemed to devour the entire world. Dozens of scales that shimmered with a faint jet glow seemed to adorn it, but more than that they were a great defense for the weak points of the human body.

Bai Zemin believed that even a penetrating bullet would not necessarily be able to pierce through the defenses of this armor unless it was a bullet specialized in penetrating armored vehicles like tanks.

"Done!" 

As those words left his mouth, he and Lilith looked at each other with a smile before stretching out both hands at the same time. The windows containing the information and details flashed in their retinas instantly.

- - - - - -

[Rending Wolf Pants -

[Lower Armor]

[Rank: 1]

[Defense: 570]

[Physical Attack Power: 80]

[Durability: 450/450]

[Description: A pair of leather pants forged with great dedication by the hands of a blacksmith in his first steps. Can be upgraded to a higher Rank if certain criteria are met.]

- - - - - -

[Rending Wolf Chestplate -

[Upper Armor]

[Rank: 1]

[Defense: 770]

[Physical Attack Power: 80]

[Durability: 500/500]

[Description: Upper leather armor with exceptional defense within its own Rank considering the materials that have been used to forge it. Can be upgraded to a higher Rank if certain criteria are met.]

- - - - - - 

The two items delighted Bai Zemin. The defense was even higher than he expected and the +80 physical attack power property was something he didn't expect. Although he knew they came from the First Order beast teeth he had put on some parts of both pieces of armor, he didn't expect that it would grant an extra characteristic to the pants and chestplate!

But even before Bai Zemin or Lilith could say anything about it, another message flashed in the retina of both of them.

[Do you wish to combine 'Rending Wolf Pants' and 'Rending Wolf Chestplate' Rank 1 to form 'Bloodthirsty Wolf Full Body Armor' Rank 2? If you wish to proceed you need to consume two First Order Soul Stones.]

"This..." Bai Zemin was dumbfounded as he read the same message over and over again.

He had really put in a lot of effort to forge these two pieces of armor; of this there was no doubt about it. After all, his life depended on how good the defense of both items was.

But little did he expect that such a great gift would fall from the sky... This was similar to buy 1 and take 2 free!

Lilith read the message twice before a helpless smile appeared on her beautiful face: "You... Really... I don't know what to say about it..."

Even she was speechless!

Although Rank 1 or Rank 2 items were nothing in her eyes, the current situation was what left her so stupefied that she didn't know what to say or think!

Generally, to forge a Rank 2 item one needed the Blacksmithing skill at the maximum of First Order. But even then the probabilities of such an item appearing were not 100% certain. One could imagine then how surprised Lilith was.

There was no doubt that Bai Zemin had been very lucky in this case. If he had not used 100% of the same materials for both pieces of equipment and if he had not added the spikes... Thinking about this, Lilith looked at him and was not surprised when she saw him looking at her with a pretentious and arrogant face that for some reason irritated her so much.

"You see?" he snorted with a cocky expression. "Any self-respecting man must love spikes!"

"... Just do it already for once damn it."

At Lilith's somewhat grumpy voice, Bai Zemin without hesitation decided to evolve both pieces of armor to the next Rank and fuse them together in the process. What a joke! Although losing two First Order Soul Stones was a bit painful considering he only had about fifteen in total, it was a price he was willing to pay if it meant increasing his chances of surviving another day!

Swoosh!

Two Soul Stones flew out from inside his backpack at the same time as the surrounding mana enveloped both pieces of armor and levitated them in mid-air as if two pairs of hands were holding them.

"Imagine seeing this before the apocalypse. I'd surely die of fright thinking they were ghosts."

"Ghosts exist too."

"..."

"Wait, really?!"

"Yes, really!"

"Holy cow!"

As such a conversation took place between a Sixth Order succubus and a First Order human, two existences that normally wouldn't belong together, the fusion process went smoothly.

The two First Order Soul Stones exploded and the energy inside enveloped both pieces of equipment in a multicolored light that gradually became brighter and brighter until it reached a point where both objects could no longer be seen from the outside.

At the same time, a message flashed across Bai Zemin's retina.

[Bloodthirsty Wolf Full Body Armor Rank 2 has been successfully completed.]

A full body armor as black as a wolf's mouth with spikes protruding from the shoulders, elbows, and knees, floated gently in mid-air before Bai Zemin's excited eyes. Even he could not keep calm in the face of such a beautiful sight!

* * * * * * *

Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3