Chapter 674: Everything in this life is reusable...Everything!
Chapter 674: Everything in this life is reusable...Everything!
Bai Zemin did not even bother setting down the forging tools he had obtained from the second ruin and instead he just decided to work on the ice wagon that Shangguan Bing Xue had created with her skill Ice Maker.
Shangguan Bing Xue had become very adept at controlling her skill, not only was she much more proficient at creating different lifeless things using her Ice Maker but she was also able to do it a lot faster and had better control over the temperature of what she created. Therefore, even a normal human would not feel cold when touching the ice wagon let alone Bai Zemin whose physical body had long ago left the level that a human would see as human.
The first thing he did was, of course, to put his weapon down on the worktable. Then, Bai Zemin took a couple of minutes to stroke the cracks that covered practically the entire blade of the greatsword as he thought about what to do next.
While he decided which option to take, Lilith next to him tried to give him ideas as they casually chatted with each other:
"Will you forge a new greatsword? With these forging tools you'll surely be able to make something better, won't you? That's without mentioning the good materials you got from that hidden room in the second ruin."
"Hmm... To be honest, I'm not so sure."
"Why?"
"To begin with, forging a greatsword will take me at least several hours. Even if with these tools the process speeds up, the truth is that the better the weapon the more work it takes to create it so in reality it will still take me several hours. Considering that I want to finish this exploration as soon as possible so I can focus on conquering the rest of China once we solve the personal problems of each of us, and taking into consideration that my Crimson Thunder Dragon's Last Words has 10,000 physical attack damage, I don't think it is necessary... I don't think it's doable to forge a new weapon."
"Maybe you're right... Not to mention that even if you forge a new greatsword, you probably won't be able to use it at will if it turns out to be more powerful than your current one."
"Em. Besides, my current self has no confidence in forging something better than this Crimson Thunder Dragon's Last Words even with better tools and materials."
"... In fact, this greatsword of yours is really powerful. I still don't understand how you could forge something like this."
"Rookie's luck, I guess."
"It's good that you know it."
" Self-honesty is an important factor after all."
In truth, there wasn't much to think about so after a brief chat with Lilith to clear up all his doubts, Bai Zemin decided to go for what was relatively simpler and faster compared to forging something completely new and from nothing.
"Let's repair it." Bai Zemin announced, walking over to the forging furnace near the worktable. He pointed toward the fireplace and said under his breath, "Little Blue, time to get to work."
Swoosh!
The small deep blue flame shot out from Bai Zemin's finger and as if greeting him raised its temperature several times before standing still waiting for orders.
"Good day to you too." Bai Zemin nodded as he touched the forge furnace and the records slowly flashed in his retina.
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[Volcano Furnace -}
[Special Object]
[Rank 3]
[Durability: 30,000 / 30,000]
[Options -}
[1) Keeps the heat of the flames within the limits of the furnace without affecting the temperature of the environment.]
[2) Reduces mana consumption by 20% when activating a fire-type skill. In the case of possessing a natural spiritual flame, the energy consumption of the flame is reduced by 40%.]
[3) It becomes easier to control the temperature of the fire.]
[Description: A forge furnace created with the intention to help all blacksmiths who are new at playing with flames. Be thankful, now you won't have to leave with burnt hands... not as much as before!]
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Bai Zemin ignored the description and nodded in satisfaction before pulling out two fragments of Lapiodite, the same Rank 2 metal with which his greatsword had been forged and the only metal in Bai Zemin's possession with the ability to double its weight per piece depending on the gravitational force of the world it was born in.
"You can communicate with your flame now?" Lilith raised an eyebrow in surprise at the small interaction between him and the Endless Lotus Blue Flame.
"No, not really. But I think it was waving at me." Bai Zemin shook his head.
"Aha..." Lilith nodded despite not understanding what he was saying.
He had been feeding his flame all this time, every day he would give it at least a hundred Unclassified Soul Stones and a dozen First Order. Therefore, while sometimes Bai Zemin was involved in tough battles that ended up draining the Endless Lotus Blue Flame's power too much since the fire was an important part of his total power, the Soul Power of the Endless Lotus Blue Flame had been steadily increasing.
At least now, the little blue flame was significantly more lively compared to the past when Bai Zemin formed a Soul Contract with it for the first time.
The first thing Bai Zemin did was.... damage his greatsword even more.
"... What are you doing?"
"Silence, Lilipedia. Watch and learn."
Bai Zemin took a pair of tongs and very carefully ripped off several pieces of the blade. The process would have been especially strenuous had it not been for the fact that the tongs he was using were actually a special Rank 3 item and one of its Options was to cut through any metal of Rank 3 and below with 60% ease compared to any other tongs.
Approximately ten minutes later, the small cracks that covered the body of the greatsword had disappeared. Instead of the small cracks, two huge cracks ran the length of the weapon, one on each side of the blade.
Bai Zemin ignored the questioning eyes of the Sixth Order succubus and with a different pair of tongs meant for the task took one of the two Lapiodite fragments straight to the forging furnace.
"Little Blue, let's start low and slow."
"That's it, now turn up the heat a bit."
"Stop!... Good! You just keep burning like that."
Just 60 seconds later, Bai Zemin moved the tongs away from the furnace with the red-hot metal and quickly placed it inside a pot; a Rank 3 pot with 50% fire resistance, also found inside the second ruin. Then, he took the pot into the furnace and waited 120 seconds before taking it out.
All of the Lapiodite had turned into a liquid similar to burning lava.
"Man, it sure must hurt like hell if this stuff gets on your skin."
Making rather obvious comments, Bai Zemin covered the edges and the inside of the first large crack of the greatsword with special oil he found inside the second ruin before pouring the metallic liquid into the crack.
In just a few seconds, the entire crack was covered with burning lava, and thanks to the effect of the special oil, the temperature soon began to drop and in less than five minutes the crack had disappeared almost without a trace.
"Now I understand what you want to do! Since covering each small crack would be a headache, you linked each one together to form a larger one so that you would then only need to fill that hole using the same material!"
"Ding-Dong, you got it right but no prize for you."
Bai Zemin stroked the repaired side with a finger and noticed that even though it was still quite hot, there should be no problem so he immediately began working with the other side.
About ten minutes later, the greatsword that was on the verge of collapse about twenty to thirty minutes ago had been completely repaired by Bai Zemin.
Bai Zemin checked the records of the weapon and nodded in satisfaction: "See? It only took me a few minutes to repair it, way easier than forging a new one."
"Yes, well... It's very good that you repaired your weapon and everything else but..." Lilith pointed to the worktable littered with small metal pieces and said puzzled, "What are you going to do with those? Don't tell me you plan to throw them away, do you?"
Bai Zemin didn't reply right away and after keeping his greatsword in the storage ring he threw all the small metal fragments into the same pot as before. Then, he took them to the furnace and after telling the flame to burn at a low temperature he began to narrate a rather peculiar story.
"Lilith, during my freshman year of college I had as a roommate, a guy who loved the parties. Turns out that guy had once sneaked a girl in from the doorman and after doing his thing he actually called me on the phone to ask me if I had any rubbers since he had just used the only one he had left."
"... And what did you tell him?"
"Of course, I told him I didn't have any of those."
"As expected from a full-fledged virgin."
"Hmph, at least I'm not a century-old virgin."
"I'm not a hundred years old!"
"Whatever. It turns out that when I got back to the dorm a few hours later, I asked this guy if he'd managed to find another rubber. But he shook his head and said he didn't."
"So, this guy sent the girl back to her place?"
"No, they did have sex again, and before you ask, yes they did use a rubber."
"... Don't tell me..."
"Yep. The guy just cleaned the rubber he used before and reused it."
"Gross! Why are you telling me this kind of stuff?!"
"It's for you to understand that in this life, everything is reusable!"
...
Bai Zemin ignored Lilith, who was constantly telling him that she would definitely not let him do that kind of disgusting thing in the future no matter what, and worked on the metal pieces that were now red-hot glowing after being overheated for several seconds.
He set the pot down on a corner of the worktable and with the tongs picked up a fragment. Then, he took the hammer and very carefully began to shape the burning metal fragment in such a way that in just a few moments it acquired a long and incredibly thin shape.
Bai Zemin left the first fragment on the table and picked up the second one, after giving it exactly the same shape and thickness of the previous one, he picked up a third fragment and repeated the process.
Since he was doing a fairly simple task, for each piece that Bai Zemin hammered, it took him less time to give them the shape he was looking for until it came to a point that he only needed one second of time per piece.
About ten minutes later, Bai Zemin wiped away his imaginary sweat and sighed, "Phew, that was really laborious."
"Little brother Zemin, this big sister is worried about her happiness in bed if you can only hammer for a couple of minutes before exhausting yourself."
"Oh. don't worry about that. Even if I can only hammer for a couple of minutes, moving my fingers isn't as tiring as moving my whole hand."
"You... You've really become bold after losing that skill Stone Heart."
"Hmph!"
Bai Zemin snorted and after gathering the more than a thousand small fragments now more than five centimeters long each but as thin as two or three hairs together he took out several First Order Soul Stones from his storage ring.
He laid one hand on the bundle of First Order Soul Stones and the other on the pile of long metal chopsticks.
Bai Zemin closed his eyes and focused entirely on the correct application of the magic smithing process over the objects on the worktable.
He imagined the assassins' throwing weapons he saw in movies when he was younger or read about in some light novels. Long, thin, sharp objects capable of penetrating even the stoutest defense, piercing through even the most valuable armor, and claiming the life of enemies silently with a single sweep.
Soon, the multiple First Order Soul Stones joined together to form a ball of multicolored light, and under Bai Zemin's control, the multicolored light flew toward the pile of chopsticks, surrounding them and penetrating their bodies.