Upon hearing Xu Muchen's request, Xu Tianfan merely smiled meaningfully.
"A prince of the highest rank, hmm? If everything goes as planned, I can certainly grant your family such a title. But I believe… that might still be insufficient. I heard you haven't taken a wife yet?"
Xu Muchen nodded.
"Hehe. In that case, I will match you with a good girl from the Douluo Alliance. She has outstanding martial soul bloodline and no family ties. This way, your family's descendants may have a greater chance of inheriting exceptional martial souls, and your noble status can be preserved for generations."
Indeed, the royal bloodline of the Sun Moon Empire was already strong. If it were to be combined with another superior lineage, there was even a possibility of producing a rare dual-martial-soul genius.
Overjoyed, Xu Muchen quickly stood and dropped to one knee.
"Muchen thanks Your Highness!"
Soon after, the Third Prince—who still had other matters to attend to—gave instructions for the date on which Xu Muchen was to depart for the Douluo Alliance, and then left.
"One month from now… so soon."
Standing at the gate of the Earl's residence, Xu Muchen murmured while watching the prince's departing figure. For the first time, he felt that his future was truly full of hope.
Meanwhile, Xu Tiannan, led by Huo Yuhao, was touring the newly reconstructed Mingde Hall.
Huo Yuhao maintained a polite but distant tone as he introduced the facilities. Honestly, he was quite surprised when he heard that the Crown Prince had come to visit. If his teacher, Jing Hongchen, hadn't been away, Huo Yuhao—who was currently acting as a temporary overseer—would never have been willing to give this troublesome man a tour.
After they had seen part of the complex, Xu Tiannan remarked in admiration.
"Little Huo, your talent is truly astonishing. With cultivation not even at the fourth ring, you're already in charge of such a grand establishment. If word got out, people would be stunned."
Walking ahead, Huo Yuhao frowned slightly.
'Why does it sound like he's jabbing at me with those words?'
"Your Highness flatters me. I only hold a sliver of authority because I happen to be Master's personal disciple and perhaps have a little bit of insight. Nothing more."
Xu Tiannan let out a hearty laugh. He found their exchange quite amusing. Even though both were exchanging pleasantries, it felt as if they were speaking in veiled barbs.
"Little Huo, could you take me to see that piece of equipment you call 'Moonlight'—the power armor made for ordinary citizens?"
Huo Yuhao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
'After dragging me in circles and throwing pleasantries all over, this crafty man finally reveals his real purpose.'
Naturally, Huo Yuhao had long suspected that Xu Tiannan wanted to form a soul engineer corps made up of commoners. And to that, he had no objection.
"Please follow me, Your Highness."
They arrived at the soul tool production zone—the assembly line for humanoid power armor.
At that moment, the production line roared with the steady clanking of machinery as suits of power armor exuding lethal presence rolled forward one by one. Watching this from his wheelchair, Xu Tiannan was momentarily mesmerized.
In his mind, he could already see the grand crusade to come: an unstoppable steel tide of power armor under his command crashing through the Mingdou Mountains.
"Your Highness, this is the 'Moonlight' military power armor we developed here at Mingde Hall. Once equipped, it enables a trained civilian to possess combat capabilities equivalent to that of a Soul Elder to a Soul King."
Looking at the silver-and-black suits of armor before him, Xu Tiannan nodded in satisfaction.
"How many of these suits have been produced so far?"
"We haven't taken a final count, but I estimate nearly seven hundred units."
"Seven hundred Soul Elders, Soul Sect, Soul Kings…"
Xu Tiannan murmured in awe. Just those seven hundred suits alone—with their ability to fire fixed-mounted soul cannon shells and use linked-array soul tools—would greatly mitigate the empire's numerical disadvantage against the Douluo nations.
"However, Your Highness, I advise you not to expect that we can rapidly produce thousands or tens of thousands of these suits. First, because linked-array soul tools require too many rare metals, mass production would completely drain our reserves. Second, maintenance and repair costs for such a large number of units would be enormous—and battlefield losses even more so."
Xu Tiannan's excitement faded slightly. He grew somber.
'Of course, there would be limitations… The vision of a steel tide flattening the Douluo Alliance was too optimistic.'
"But Your Highness, don't let that dampen your outlook on empowering the common people with soul tools. Please, follow me."
Huo Yuhao led Xu Tiannan into a newly developed weapons lab inside Mingde Hall. Here, Xu Tiannan saw things he had never encountered before—strange and intriguing devices of various kinds.
There was an iron box mounted on wheels and treads, with a long cannon barrel sticking out of it. Another machine resembled a metallic bird, with wings on its side and tubes that looked like cannons and guns.
"Little Huo, what… are these things?"
With a mysterious smile, Huo Yuhao replied.
"These are the newest experimental soul tool weapons developed by our team here. They're still in the testing phase, but on the battlefield, I believe they will rival the effectiveness of power armor and can be wielded by ordinary troops."
"I noticed you took a particular interest in two of them. Coincidentally, those two are our most recent designs. Allow me to introduce them."
"First, this iron box made of reinforced steel—this is called a tank. It has three main traits: it moves using treads, it has a rotating turret that can fire fixed-mounted soul cannon shells with increased flexibility, and it is built with a tough steel hull that makes it nearly immune to blades and arrows."
Huo Yuhao walked over to the machine he had modeled loosely after a German Tiger-class tank and knocked on its exterior, made from refined Nether Iron and Darksteel alloy.
"First, the treads. With sealed milk bottles powering it, this tank can move at half the speed of a galloping horse—providing it with considerable mobility.
Second, the turret. Fixed-mounted soul cannons, as the name implies, require a fixed position to fire. But this tank's mobility and rotating cannon give us much more freedom in how we engage enemies.
Finally, the armor. It's nearly impossible for any Soul Sect or weaker soul master to break through its defenses unless they're an especially powerful assault-type. Against cavalry from the Douluo Alliance, this machine is practically invincible."
(End of Chapter)
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