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

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

As the hammer blows continued, Cheng Yuan's arms began to tremble. Just as he was about to give up, the second clone of the little dog beast took over the forging hammer, its movements even more precise than the beast tamer's.

In the eyes of Village Chief Long, this was Cheng Yuan's precise control over two clones working together—a level of control extremely rare among Rookie Digimon.

When the last hammer fell, a gleaming silver metal ingot appeared before everyone, its surface shimmering with pale gold patterns.

"How did it go?" Cheng Yuan asked nervously.

Village Chief Long examined the metal ingot carefully, his eyes flashing with an unusual light: "The method of forging with holy light and heat is very innovative, and the holy light gives the metal ingot special properties. It is really rare to achieve such an effect with such a crude forging technique."

“However, what’s most remarkable is that I sensed a trace of ‘Digital Spirit of Light’ within this metal ingot. That’s what makes you truly outstanding.” The village chief’s deep voice was filled with undisguised amazement.

"The Digital Spirit of Light?"

Everyone was confused, and Cheng Yuan was also baffled. He quietly asked the little dog beast, "What did you do?"

The little dog shook its head in confusion.

Seeing Cheng Yuan's confusion, the village chief let out a meaningful chuckle and said, "The digital spirit is not in your power, but here." Its thick surgical finger poked Cheng Yuan's chest.

Cheng Yuan understood that it referred to the Digital Spirit, which did not originate from the power of the puppy beast, but from his own heart.

Cheng Yuan was so provoked that he took two steps back. At this moment, he had to respond: "I don't know anything about digital spirit, but I believe that only those who have light in their hearts can become light."

Village Chief Long nodded in satisfaction and said, "Good! I understand the basic situation. Now, everyone, please take your room numbers and go back to your rooms to wait. A suitable caregiver will come to find you later."

"As for you," Village Chief Long suddenly turned to Cheng Yuan, "come with me to a place."

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances. Was this the start of differential treatment? They watched this scene with a mixture of helplessness and envy.

Xu Bing couldn't help but mutter to himself, "No wonder he's a reserve member of the Twelve Divine Generals, his abilities are truly exceptional..."

After passing through several archways inlaid with glowing minerals, Cheng Yuan followed Village Chief Long to a breathtaking circular hall.

The walls are covered with lifelike relief murals, and on the dome, a huge crystal emits a soft light, making the whole space look like a dream.

The village chief's smile vanished abruptly, his metallic scales bristling slightly, and his expression turned unusually solemn. He lowered his body, his hot breath almost brushing against Cheng Yuan's face: "Young man, tell me your name." His thick claws gently rested on Cheng Yuan's shoulder. "And... what is your connection with Sky City?"

Cheng Yuan knew that the Sky City that Village Chief Long mentioned was the mysterious place where the legendary angel-type Digimon lived.

He straightened his back and said frankly, "My name is Cheng Yuan, and I have nothing to do with Sky City." He paused and then added, "I came to Forging Village this time to find the most skilled master to guide me into the world of armor forging masters."

The village chief's pupils suddenly contracted: "Do you know how strong your talent is? The purity of your light attribute energy is astonishing!"

Hmm? You're only concerned with the Light attribute? Not the Holy and Light attributes combined?

He hadn't expected that he would unknowingly become involved with the digital spirit.

“I haven’t seen a Digimon like you that has nurtured a Digital Spirit at such a young age in a long time,” said the village chief, his tone tinged with admiration. “If you can master the techniques and use the right materials, you can create armor at the mature stage during your growth stage.”

Cheng Yuan's eyes lit up: "Then can we forge armor that allows a growth stage to evolve into a mature stage?"

Village Chief Long was taken aback for a moment, then burst into deafening laughter that made all the metal tools in the forge tremble: "Hahaha! Kid, your idea is pretty audacious!"

It slammed the forging hammer down on the anvil, sparks flying. "No matter how strong the digital armor is, it can only reach its limit within the same tier. Crossing the energy gap of evolutionary stages? That's just a dream!"

It wiped away the tears of laughter, and its tone turned serious: "However... if you are willing to put in the hard work and spend five to ten years researching and developing, it is not impossible to create armor that allows the mature stage to break through to the peak stage."

Village Chief Long looked at Cheng Yuan meaningfully, "It not only depends on talent, but also on ten years of consistent hard work."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yuan gasped – five years, ten years? What a joke! He could only stay in this secret realm of time and space for a maximum of 30 days, let alone search for that elusive light of evolution.

"The assessment in 25 days will be a piece of cake for you." Village Chief Long patted him on the shoulder. "I will personally teach you. Just stay with me for 20 days of seclusion to master the basic skills and your special forging method. However..."

It suddenly leaned closer, its hot breath brushing against Cheng Yuan's face: "I'm very curious, how did you cultivate the Digital Spirit?"

Cheng Yuan racked his brains but couldn't figure out what connection he had with the Digital Spirit of Light. Could it be because he watched too much Ultraman when he was a child?

"Is this...difficult?" he asked an extremely irritating question.

Village Chief Long: "..."

Chapter 88 Armor Forging and the Inheritance of the Digital Spirit

Upon hearing this, the village chief was so angry that his beard bristled: "Isn't that a pointless question? The reason why the Dragon Chief became the leader of the Humanoid Alliance is because it mastered the Digital Spirit of Courage! This power allowed it to achieve a qualitative leap in both combat and forging."

It began to give you detailed instructions: "Next, I will arrange a dedicated workshop for you, providing you with ample ore and materials."

Its rough dragon claws pointed to the mountain of ore outside the door, "Your task is to hone your skills through forging and strive to pass the assessment within 25 days."

"More importantly, you need to nurture your digital spirit through forging." Village Chief Long's voice suddenly became serious. "Right now, your Light Digital Spirit is just a fragile seed, which may wither at any time. The attribute bonus it can bring to forging at the moment is too weak, so you are no different from an ordinary blacksmith."

Cheng Yuan nodded earnestly on the surface, but his thoughts had already drifted far away.

If I could truly master the spirit of the Digital Light, the most likely thing I would create is the Digital Light Armor Egg. But...

He glanced at the little dogmon on his shoulder, and the image of Gatomon evolving into Nefertimmon through the Digivice of Light in the second season of the anime flashed through his mind, causing a strange pang in his heart...

That expressionless beast...

Village Chief Long did not notice his distraction and let him look at the murals in the hall first, while he went to arrange the instructors for the other five people.

After Village Chief Long left, Cheng Yuan let out a long sigh of relief and slumped into a stone chair. The little dog beast lay on his lap, while the gear beast curiously looked around.

"Opportunity truly favors the prepared mind," Cheng Yuan murmured to himself.

On second thought, even without the digital armor egg, just learning the digital armor enhancement technology would be very valuable.

The real world has already begun to promote arc light machines and tactical chips. If the "armor enhancement" technology, which involves layering armor, can be integrated into the chip, more tactical combinations can definitely be developed.

Seeing that Village Chief Long wouldn't be back anytime soon, Cheng Yuan decided to look at the murals, so he leisurely started looking at them with his hands behind his back.

Although these murals are crudely made, their content is extremely impressive.

There are three murals in total.

The first illustration depicts a scene where Holy Digimon—including Holy Beast and Angel Digimon—lead various races in a fight against the forces of darkness.

Holy light and ferocious darkness collide fiercely in the center of the image, angels spread their wings, and sacred beasts roar and charge.

In the end, light triumphed over darkness, but the sacred beasts and angels chose to live in seclusion, giving all races an opportunity for development.

"This is practically a digital world version of a war between gods and demons!?" Cheng Yuan exclaimed inwardly.

The second mural depicts heroes from various races, with the most powerful among them revered as the "Ultimate Warriors." Although the image quality was rough, Cheng Yuan immediately recognized the ten most prominent figures—the "Ten Warriors" from the fourth season of the animation!

"This is too..." Cheng Yuan was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

The third mural depicts a post-war reconstruction scene, where the dragonkin craftsmen are forging weapons and armor.

The backstories of the two anime series, Digimon Adventure 2 and Digimon Adventure 4, unexpectedly converge at this point in time.

However, the ultimate-level monsters in these stories all live in seclusion, too far removed from my own world. Right now, the most important thing is to research Armor Evolution and help Gulemon find the light of evolution.

Perhaps armor evolution will be the key to finding the light of evolution.

Just as Cheng Yuan was still reeling from the shock, Village Chief Long returned: "Now that you've seen enough, let's begin training."

Led by Village Chief Long, Cheng Yuan arrived at a stone house that combined a studio and a rest area. Village Chief Long solemnly said, "From now on, you only need to focus on practicing one very basic skill."

"What ability?" Cheng Yuan asked curiously.

“Forging and refining metal.” Village Chief Long pointed to the mountain of ore piled up outside the house. “I will send a large amount of ore every day. Your training will involve using the ‘Holy Light Forging’ method to infuse the ore with digital spirit for forging. You will hone your skills while strengthening your digital spirit. Once all the ore outside has been forged, this training will be complete.”

Cheng Yuan was so shocked by the two tons of ore outside the door that his jaw almost dropped.

Although he understood the principle of "grinding an iron rod into a needle", he only had 30 days in this time and space!

But looking at Village Chief Long's stern eyes, Cheng Yuan knew there was no room for discussion.

Fortunately, here, he and Puppymon are one. Together, they are just one Digimon in the eyes of the Dragon Village Chief. The skills that Puppymon uses are the same skills that Originmon uses.

"Watch closely!" Village Chief Long demonstrated, the forging hammer striking the red-hot ore precisely. "Forging isn't about showing off! Heating is to activate impurities, and forging removes them."

The gear-like creature standing nearby suddenly realized—wasn't this just data cleaning in programming? Finding and removing garbled characters from a pile of code. Now, it was using programming thinking to understand everything before it.

"Start practicing! Infuse the ore with digital spirit, and do as I say."

Cheng Yuan picked up the forging hammer, and the little dog beast tacitly created a clone to take out the pliers, while the main body released holy light bullets to heat the ore.

The clone used pliers to hold the ore in place, while Cheng Yuan swung the forging hammer and, following instructions, guided the faint digital light spirit within his body into the ore, rhythmically forging it.

Two hours later, a metal ingot was finally hammered out.

More than a hundred pieces of ore were used to complete one piece.

Cheng Yuan felt like his arm didn't belong to him anymore, and that he was about to fall apart.

This hammer alone weighs dozens of kilograms. I'm just an ordinary high school student, a frail animal tamer. What have I done to deserve this?

The village chief nodded reluctantly: "The speed is a bit slow, but it will improve." After instructing them to continue practicing, it prepared to leave.

Cheng Yuan suddenly called out to it: "The martyrs depicted in the murals all possess a digital spirit. If we want to cultivate more people with a digital spirit, are there any methods?"

Village Chief Long looked at him in surprise: "Quite ambitious! The spirit of Light and Digital is not enough?"

Cheng Yuan chuckled.

Village Chief Long pondered for a moment: "Powerful forging techniques and digital spirits are passed down through generations. For example, our Forging Fire Village has inherited the fire-based forging method and the courageous digital spirit training method."

It looked up in one direction, its voice becoming distant: "Digital Spirit is extremely rare, and many Digimon spend their entire lives pursuing it. But we Dragonmen have a sacred place to comprehend Digital Spirit."

"In the great war between the forces of light and darkness, countless top warriors either died or went into seclusion. But the AncientGreymon, known as the ultimate fighter, did not die, but slept somewhere like a guardian deity."

Awe flashed in the eyes of the village chief, "That place is filled with the might of an Ultimate-level dragon, which is unbearable for any Digimon except itself. Countless blacksmiths and warriors who pursue the ultimate have ventured there to face the spiritual pressure of AncientGreymon in an attempt to comprehend the Digimon Spirit of Courage."

"Over the years, very few have succeeded. But the second-generation leader of humanoid Digimon—the Dragon Leader—is the one who has reached the top."

Chapter 89 I'm in charge!

"AncientGreymon?" Cheng Yuan's pupils contracted slightly. This was a being far beyond ordinary Ultimate-level beings; could it still be alive?

So, this era must have been before the tyranny of the Light Beasts?

Moreover, the Dragonmen actually know its whereabouts. Could it be that it is the guardian deity of the Humanoid Digimon Alliance?

These key pieces of information must be kept in mind.

Cheng Yuan: I see, that place...

Village Chief Long interrupted his thoughts: "Practice your basic skills first, don't think too much. Not just anyone can go there. Only the most outstanding blacksmiths can go there for further training. If you want to experience it from afar, you should at least pass the junior blacksmith qualification, right?"

"Furthermore," Chief Long added before turning around, "since you already possess the Digital Spirit of Light, don't be greedy for the Digital Spirit of Courage. Focusing on one thing will allow you to go further."

Watching the village chief's departing figure, Cheng Yuan rubbed his sore arms, his eyes darting around, and asked the little dog beast, "Little dog beast, how are our previous training sessions on the Holy Light Bullet's endurance and the materialization of clones going?"

That was a concept to materialize shadow clones, which can now be achieved for short periods; the clones were used to help refine ore just now. But for long-term sustainability…

"Woof! You really have been practicing." The little dog blinked its big, watery eyes.

"I remember you were already able to use your clone to help with housework while your main body watched TV, right?"

The little dog's ears drooped instantly, and it nodded guiltily: "I guess I've gained some insights."

“I have an idea.” Cheng Yuan leaned closer mysteriously. “Could you replenish the Holy Light Bullet and the clone with energy and data every now and then, so that they can automatically recharge, like… five minutes of charging for two hours of talk time?”

The little dog beast fell into deep thought. Five minutes of charging, two hours of talk time? What kind of special training is this?

Dangdang Dangdang!

Soon, rhythmic hammering sounds came from the workshop.

As the village chief passed by, he nodded in satisfaction, unaware that three small dog-like beast clones were busy inside the room.

Meanwhile, on the stone-paved road of Forging Village—

"A worm at work, a dragon after get off work..." Cheng Yuan, carrying his little dog, dressed in modern high school clothes, looked like a street urchin, completely out of place in the ancient streets of Duanhuo Village, standing out conspicuously on the stone-paved road where dragons came and went.

"Is it really okay for us to leave Gearmon here and sneak out like this?" Puppymon's voice was filled with unease.

“You can just go back to recharge every two hours, right?” Cheng Yuan laughed. “Besides, the Gear Beast itself is interested in forging techniques and wants to stay and continue to observe. It would be good to have him keep watch.”

"Okay, keep banging and banging, I'm getting so bored, it's even more painful than training," the little dog agreed.

Cheng Yuan thought to himself, if he were to forge the Light Digital Spirit Seed in this way, it would probably take forever for it to grow.

In Forgefire Village, there are blacksmiths or dragonmen who risk their lives by defying the ultimate dragon's might in order to comprehend the Digital Spirit of Courage.

So, could it be that the ancient Garurugi also hid in some secluded place, and that the spirit of the Digital Light could also be inherited and comprehended in some place?

And friendship, innocence, knowledge, love, honesty, hope, and miracles...

A flash of inspiration struck Cheng Yuan. Based on his understanding of the Digital World, the nine Digimon Spirits that appeared in the second season of the anime were merely a portion of the legacy left behind by ancient Digimon in response to the crisis, like the tip of an iceberg.