Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

Chapter 93 Thunder Flame Cross Slash

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Ten days passed quickly. During these ten days, the mornings in Forging Fire Village were always awakened by the crisp sound of metal clanging.

Cheng Yuan rubbed his sleepy eyes and pushed open the wooden door of the workshop, only to be met by the Gear Beast, which was using its mechanical arm to hold three carving knives and simultaneously carving energy matrix patterns on a metal plate.

With the help of its puppy-like clone, its gear joints precisely controlled the depth of each engraving, and sparks flew in the morning light, like a miniature fireworks show.

"Good morning, Gear Beast. Stayed up all night again?" Cheng Yuan squatted down and poked the Gear Beast's hot shell.

Since discovering that industrial process optimization and programming thinking can optimize the forging process, this workaholic has been working non-stop for three days. His intensely dark circles under his eyes are so intense that even a clone can't keep up with them.

"Click... Final quenching process optimized." The Gear Beast's electronic eyes flashed blue, recording on the tablet on its chest, "Based on 287 experiments, Holy Light's purification efficiency increases by 23% at 450℃ — Test the next set of parameters —"

With such efficient cooperation, they completed the "impossible mission" assigned by Village Chief Long ahead of schedule—refining a batch of metal ingots containing trace amounts of sacred attributes.

Each metal ingot's surface was covered with pale golden patterns, proof of Cheng Yuan's growth in his digital spirit of light; the seed of his digital spirit of light within him had indeed grown considerably stronger.

"Woof! Breakfast is here!" The little dog came bounding in, carrying a grilled fish in its mouth, with a few glowing berries curled around its tail.

It has recently become obsessed with "enchanting" food—using divine energy to enhance the flavor of ordinary ingredients.

Cheng Yuan took the berry and took a bite. A minty coolness suddenly burst forth from beneath the crisp skin, making him widen his eyes in surprise: "What kind of black technology is this?"

"Diamond Star Crispy Berry!" The puppy-like beast proudly pricked up its ears. "I learned it from the Flamemon chef in the kitchen! He said he made desserts for Lady Jeannemon back in the day..."

Before the words were even finished, Village Chief Long's gruff voice boomed from outside the door: "Cheng Yuan Beast! Your metal ingot is ready to graduate!" It strode in, carrying a silver ingot gleaming with golden patterns, its scales still stained with coal dust. "The purity is almost on par with what I forged when I was a young apprentice!"

Cheng Yuan almost choked on a fishbone—this wasn't his doing at all! It was clearly the result of the Gear Beast using the factory's standardized processes to keep the error within 0.01mm. Just as he was about to explain, the Gear Beast quietly tugged at his trouser leg, and the optical lens blinked.

"Ahem, it's all thanks to the village chief's excellent teaching." Cheng Yuan knowingly changed the subject, "Um—could the armor crafting class be moved up?"

Village Chief Long: "Isn't this learning speed a bit too fast?!"

"Drink!"

In the courtyard, the sword-wielding beast was practicing its newly learned sword techniques. The rough "Guardian Sword" gleamed faintly in the sunlight, and each swing carried a faint aura of holiness.

Cheng Yuan squatted down beside him, instructing, "Raise your wrist a little higher... Yes, like that!"

He wasn't idle during those ten days. Every day, when Village Chief Long came to give guidance, he had to "act," pretending to be a studious child, while in reality, the Gear Beast was absorbing knowledge through forging. After Village Chief Long left, the Gear Beast and its clone would hammer and refine metal ingots. Cheng Yuan, on the other hand, was giving the Sword Dao Beast special training.

Occasionally, he would wander over to visit other beast tamers, using his status as a "reserve member of the Twelve Divine Generals" to extract information.

There are currently 18 entrances to the Dark Zones globally, six of which are located within the territory of the Eastern Kingdom. The six outposts established by the Eastern Kingdom, despite the enormous expenditure of its national resources, are only barely holding off attacks from the Dark Zones. If they fail, the evil Digimon from the Dark Zones will directly invade the real world, threatening human safety, making the situation extremely precarious.

Conversely, the Kingdom of Eagle, a powerhouse of mechanical Digimon, has only three Dark Zone passages. In addition, there are the Kingdom of Yangon, which is dominated by Holy Digimon; the Kingdom of Idealism, which is dominated by Knights; and the Kingdom of Snowfield, which is dominated by Ice and Snow Digimon, each with two Dark Zone passages. Furthermore, the island nation and the Kingdom of India each have one passage.

The greatest obligation of the Beastmaster Associations in each country is to guard the entrances, and the Eastern Great Country alone bears the responsibility of guarding six entrances, thus facing the greatest pressure.

No wonder there's such a shortage of professional animal trainers; Xu Xin and his colleagues are always busy.

"Teacher Cheng Yuan!" The call of the Sword Beast interrupted his thoughts. "What do you think of this move, 'Thunder Flame Cross Slash'?"

The sword in the sword-wielding beast simultaneously emitted lightning and flames, drawing a dazzling cross of light in the air.

This move was something Cheng Yuan made up based on his memories of games from his previous life, but unexpectedly, the Sword Beast actually mastered it.

Thus, in addition to the [Flame Strike Face] and [Lightning Strike Hand] that it already possessed, the Sword Beast also managed to develop a new skill, [Lightning Flame Cross Slash], which combines the two moves to unleash even greater energy.

"Beautiful!" Cheng Yuan gave a thumbs up. "We'll rely on this move for tomorrow's kendo tournament..."

'

"Wait a minute," he suddenly realized, "you just said 'conference'? Isn't that the Baby Cup?"

Kendomon scratched its head sheepishly: "It's a limited-time Rookie Digimon tournament organized by the Humanoid Digimon League."

Cheng Yuan: "......" Okay, that's about right.

Just then, Village Chief Long came over again.

"Cheng Yuanshou," Village Chief Long got straight to the point, "I've registered you for the swordsmanship tournament tomorrow too."

"Huh?" Cheng Yuan almost fell off the stone bench. "I'm participating in the Baby Cup too?"

Village Chief Long said, "Aren't you also in your growth stage?"

As night fell, Cheng Yuan was studying the metal ingots forged by the Gear Beast and his clones in his room when there was a sudden, urgent knocking on the door.

"Knock knock knock!"

Just then, someone knocked on the door. Cheng Yuan asked, "Who is it?"

"Lord Qilin!" Xu Bing's voice came from outside the door, lowered. "Would it be convenient for us to talk?"

When I opened the door, all five animal trainers were there.

Cheng Yi's hands were wrapped in bandages, Cui Zhuo's dark circles were comparable to a panda's, and Ma Yunlin's exquisite makeup could not hide her fatigue. Only Xu Bing was still relatively energetic—after all, her Martial Rabbit Beast had hands.

"You guys are... a mass prison break?" Cheng Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"Don't even mention it," Lin Xiaoyang said with a mournful face, "My Gaoga beast's claws are all worn smooth!"

It turns out that for the past ten days, the other five people had been struggling to practice basic training. Without the blessing of holy light or the precise control of the gear beasts, they had to rely entirely on the tamers' physical strength to endure it.

Ma Yunlin's dolphin beast was of no help at all, so she simply gave up hope of passing the test.

"We're still learning basic forging, and you've already started learning advanced armor forging. How did you do that?"

Xu Bing asked.

"I can't teach you this either—" Cheng Yuan said with a smile, "Make good use of the Digimon's abilities. I used the Digimon's abilities and the Holy Light to make it more efficient, which is why I finished forging the metal ingot ahead of schedule."

"We want to too, but here, the Digimon are even more frustrated than we are." The doctor showed off his calloused and fleshy hands.

It turns out that Digimon without hands can only rely on their own two hands to hold the hammer and forge, since the tamer and partner are one.

Martial arts master Xu Bing said, "I'm a little better off. I have a martial rabbit beast, so I'm quite skilled at forging, but I'm not good at controlling the heat."

Air Force Cheng Yi, stroking his calloused hands, said, "Village Chief Long brags in front of us mentors every day, making us feel ashamed. He pushes us to our limits every day."

"Lord Qilin, are you involved in scientific research in the real world? I heard the Twelve Divine Generals are all in very core departments. Seeing how quickly you learned armor forging, and how you even participated in the complete mechanical modification and evolution, I'm guessing you're from the research department?" Xu Bing asked. "The most sensational thing recently is the successful completion of the Andromon project. Could it be—?"

"Ahem!" Cheng Yuan quickly interrupted, "It's classified, all classified."

He leaned back tactically, as if afraid of being devoured alive by this pack of "hungry wolves." Especially Cheng Yi's eyes, which looked as if he wanted to tie him up and take him back to the military headquarters.

The military unit has the most concentrated group of mechanical Digimon.

"No, no... I'm a bit socially awkward." He deliberately avoided the intense gazes of the crowd and pretended to be very interested in the pattern on the corner of the wall.

"Ahem," Cheng Yuan changed the subject, "You guys came all here in the middle of the night, you couldn't have just been trying to expose me, could you?"

"Actually, we came here partly to brainstorm ways to successfully pass the assessment in 16 days. Now..."

Ten days have passed, and our learning progress isn't great. Secondly, there's the Kendo tournament tomorrow. I heard the prize is something called "Digital Spirit," and it's the digital legacy of the previous leader, Jeanne d'Arcmon. Apparently, it has a significant impact on the growth and evolution of Digimon, but unfortunately, only Rookie-level Digimon can participate.

"Your Digimon is still in the Rookie stage, right? I was wondering if you'd like to participate, capture it, and study it. We also want to go and see what's going on, and maybe check out the gathering place to gather some information."

Cheng Yuandao: "Regarding the assessment—"

The five men immediately perked up their ears.

"I understand that in addition to basic forging, there is also a team assessment, which is that the whole team works together to create digital armor. If they pass, everyone passes. You have different strengths, and I think we can try to go in that direction."

"As for tomorrow's kendo tournament—Chief Long has already registered me."

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