For a Forging Master who has dealt with Melting Furnace Iron Felt for decades, converting cavalry armor into archer armor is not difficult. When an archer shoots, flexibility in the waist, abdomen, and back is required, otherwise it would affect the precision of bow drawing. Bai Lu dismantled part of the armor plate and replaced it with movable armor pieces. By the next day, he had produced a sample.

Queniel put on the armor, stretched his upper limbs, and looked satisfied. The Tree Elves are tall and strong, but Bai Lu's armor fit quite well, though the armor originally worn by Human cavalry looked a bit smaller on them, somewhat like the Romans' Half Armor.

"It's a bit heavy," he said.

"There's no way to lighten it further," Master Buru replied.

Originally, it was Heavy Armor for cavalry, and no matter how it's modified, its weight will always rest on the shoulders. However, if an archer's shoulders bear too much weight, it would greatly affect their accuracy. The Forging Master turned to look at his Lord, Ben, wanting to see what he would say.

Brand placed his middle finger and thumb on his chin, satisfactorily looking at what appeared to be an artisanal cavalry armor. After significantly modifying the scapular and abdominal armor plates into Armor Leaves, the metal pieces floated layer by layer with Queniel's movements, shimmering under the light.

"Just adding a weight-reduction prefix is enough, Master Buru. Can you make more samples?" he turned his head and asked.

The prefix was essentially an enchantment, and there are several kinds of weight-reduction prefixes. Among them, Frey's Wind Queen Half Armor's "Wind Dance" was the best one. The wearer not only wouldn't feel the burden of weight but would even feel enveloped by a gentle breeze, gaining an agility boost.

"That's not a problem, but what do you need so many samples for?"

"Uh...you'll find out soon enough."

In fact, Bai Lu might have preferred never to find out. He watched as Brand took the armor from Queniel's hand, the masterpiece akin to a piece of art soon igniting in his hands. Everyone saw intense magical reactions forming bright sparks shooting in all directions, and finally, the breastplate was burned through into a large hole with a crackling sound.

It looked like the scene of a candle melting. The metal liquified, caving inward, but solidified again into a fluid form, leaving a hole about the size of a fist.

Brand shrugged; no matter how one looked at it, the armor in his hand was a write-off.

Alchemy is a highly random task. Especially when Brand had to explore and develop an effective Wind Magic Array, he could only fill it with finished products.

In the following days, the green flames in the Melting Furnace almost never extinguished, and the clanging sounds in the blacksmith's shop continued through the night. Set after set of modified armors turned into scrap in Brand's hands.

He began experimenting with cheap Wind Blue Gemstone as the Magic Core for the Wind Magic Array. This gemstone was Vorn's most commonly used main material containing Wind Element magic power and was the cheapest, often more affordable than most Magic Crystals.

Even during past times of severe in-game inflation, these gemstones only sold for a few thousand Thor.

However, the experimental results were not promising. The best result achieved by the Wind Blue Gemstone was the prefix "clumsy," with the weight reduction never exceeding 5%, and with various negative attributes. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Brand then successively tried Celestine, Green Olive, Azure Crystal, with each main material more expensive and advanced than the last. The weight reduction effect increased from 10% to 15%, and by the morning of the fifth day, with dark circles under his eyes, Brand and Bai Lu finally achieved the "Lightweight" prefix.

"Lightweight Archer Armor: Defense 4, extra +2 defense against arrows, 20% weight reduction."

However, unfortunately, this armor was still significantly heavier than anticipated. Queniel also pointed out that only the most elite shooters among the Tree Elves could wear it to fight without hindrance, but most people couldn't actually manage that.

At this point, the scrap rate for the modified archer armor from the captured Red Banner Cavalry armor had already reached over 10%.

Such a result certainly did not meet Brand's expectations. His goal was to enhance the Tree Elf Archers to at least the level of third-tier soldiers. Soldier tier levels are largely judged by several statistics: attack, defense, mobility, and special abilities—except that increasing attack power unless Brand thought he could produce Tree Elf Longbows, which were the standard equipment for official third-tier soldier Forest Shooters of the Tree Elves, which was a product of about fifty years later. Moreover, he knew nothing about bow-making, so he might as well directly find a way to improve defense.