Alex’s blood armor technique had now changed, and quite significantly at that.
He had started with the belief that all he needed to do was extend what he already had with his previous blood armor, but as he went through days of experimentation, he hadn’t found anything he liked.
Whenever he would finally succeed, he would notice major flaws in the armor, which would push him to try again. He had found multiple different types of armors in that time, but none of them were actually good enough.
That had troubled him quite a lot as it appeared that he wouldn’t find what he was looking for in time.
There were parts of what he wanted in the armors he had already formed, but he had tossed them out of his mind because they were part of a whole that wasn’t usable.
However, after many days, he had come to a thought.
What if he didn’t make the armor a whole? What if instead, he made it part after part?
Alex took the helm from one technique he had found, the gauntlets from another, the greaves from another yet, and the main armor from another once again.
While they had to be activated in parts, it was a much better armor than what he could find all of its own.
After finally finalizing the various patterns for his armor, Alex stood up and got ready to test it all together for the first time.
With a thought from Alex, blood flowed out of his body in a large quantity, quickly covering his entire body. The blood that came out of him was not nearly enough for what he was trying to do, so his body created more blood for him to use.
As it all came out, it began wrapping around his body in a specific manner, leaving only a few things open such as his eyes and a bit of the area around his joints. Other than that, every other part of his was covered in blood.
As the blood reached all of the required spots and the blood aura had formed the patterns of the various parts, Alex activated the pattern for the helm.
A rounded helm appeared around his face, formed of the quickly solidifying blood, covering all of his face except for a small visor through which one could see his eyes. The blood helm looked metallic in texture but was still fully crimson.
There were no intricate designs on the helm itself. They appeared to be 3 parts in total, with the main rounded helm being a simple first part, with two pointed metal plates attached to either side. They extended beyond his chin in two sharp points, while also extending above his head as two wings.
The greaves and gauntlets were simpler. They looked intricate as if layers of metal were stacked on top of each other to make them flexible.
The main armor, however, was very different from what it used to be. Previously, the armor had been a simple crystalline chest armor that covered his entire upper torso. However, it was now more than just that.
The new armor billowed in the wind, appearing as if clothes worn atop his regular clothes. They were translucent with soft red light shining through them. They didn’t constrict Alex’s movement at all, and instead were even more flexible than anything else.
Overall, the main armor appeared quite flimsy and not as good for defense. However, since the armor’s defense did not matter based on how great the material was, but rather the strength of his blood aura, it was perfectly capable of doing the same job.
Wearing a helm, gauntlets, and greaves on top of a regular robe did make Alex stand out a little, but since he was focused far more on the effectiveness of the armor than its design, he was rather happy with the new outcome.
Just the fact that he had managed to change the shape of his armor in less than a year had been surprising enough for him. Had he known he could’ve done it so quickly, he would’ve likely done it a long time ago.
Alex moved around in his blood armor, testing for any restrictions he might have. But since his armor had the flexibility of regular cloth, there was nothing restrictive at all.
He could move his arms and legs as well as he wanted to.
Alex wore the blood armor around for a while longer to get himself familiar with it, and during that time, Tala arrived once again.
Tala was more than taken aback to see Alex wearing such a thing. He couldn’t even begin to imagine just what he was looking at.
“Did you get new clothes made?” he asked. “I wasn’t aware we had such bright red threads.”
“These aren’t my clothes,” Alex said. “They are my armor.”
He knocked some fingers against his terribly hard helm to show that.
“Oh, you had armor made as well?” Tala asked, surprised. “I wasn’t aware of that.”
Alex didn’t explain. “Did you come by with more blood?” he asked.
Tala nodded. “I managed to get two whole vats full of blood today for you. I might be able to do the same tomorrow as well.”
“There’s no need,” Alex said. “You can stop now.”
“Stop?” the man looked up, confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you can stop finding more blood for me. You don’t have to anymore.”
“Oh. Are you done with what you need the blood for?” the man asked, but before he could even get an answer, his eyes widened on their own as if he realized what was happening.
“You are ready to leave, aren’t you?” he asked.
Alex nodded. “It is time. I have done what I wanted to, so I will be leaving early tomorrow morning.”
“Oh…” Tala seemed a little disappointed to hear that. “I knew this day was coming, but I didn’t expect it to get here so soon. I will let the chief know about this.”