Pillar of Yita

Gita bowed her head, lost in her own thoughts. As for the twin sisters, they had already been gazing with their little mouths slightly open in astonishment.

Of course, Fang Hong was completely oblivious to all this.

His crafting skills were no longer comparable to what they had been; he finished the one-time production only to find a substantial surplus of structural points. On a whim, he decided to employ the fine-tuning technique, using a secondary connection to enhance the additional precision.

The secondary connection’s demands for precision were so extreme that relying solely on a craftsman’s precision enhancement would practically ensure defeat. Fang Hong strained himself to the limit, and in the process, nearly thirty percent of the structure’s durability was lost.

However, after completion, he realized something was off.

Having chosen fine-tuning as a sub-skill of his school, he was naturally very familiar with this skill. The community’s advice for rookies was to fine-tune about ten percent of a mature blueprint. For veterans, that could be increased to thirty percent.

Thirty percent was enough to ensure that about ten percent of the output would be of exquisite quality.

But it seemed like he had just fine-tuned the entire embryo of the short sword.

When Fang Hong came to this realization and inspected the embryo with a cold sweat, indeed, his vision went dark—it was of course a refined product with a quality above B.

Long Dagger (Embryo, Equipment Level A++)

Basic Attributes: Attack 98-112

Available Plugin Slots: 6

Weight: 0.9kg

Interface/Output Occupation Modifier: Main Weapon Interface, +20M

Level Modifier: +10 Levels

Comparing this dagger with the Scepter of Regret he gave to Reed, the Scepter of Regret was a level 12 equipment, whereas this dagger, if no plugins were added, would be level zero plus its 10-level modifier.

But the Scepter of Regret only had an attack of 44-57, whereas the attack power of this level 10 ”blank slate” dagger was actually double that of the former’s.

This thing was just too unreasonable; if he took it out, others would be certain to guess what great deed he had done.

There was no choice but to add plugins under the watchful eyes of the public. Who would believe him if he said it was a failure, especially since copying the blueprint had gone too smoothly beforehand?

However, he came up with a brilliant idea, which was to lower the quality of the plugins as much as possible and then intentionally reduce the installation precision.

Fang Hong found himself to be somewhat of a genius. This method worked wonders; a Swift Burst plugin of nearly failing quality did not provide an increase in damage to the dagger but instead raised the required level by two.

Then, a Precision Enhancement coupled with an inner linkage boosted the attack to 117-142 while also raising the required level to 14.

The overall control was still within range, as he could fiddle with the installation precision.

But after completing the Lightning Generator, Fang Hong realized he had overlooked a serious fact—the blueprint for the Lightning Generator was a refined product.

Clutching the deliberately lower-quality Lightning Generator, he felt like crying without tears for a moment.

But on the surface, he had to pretend everything was normal, and upon installing it, the short sword instantly reached S-level quality.

Legendary Level.

He had crafted a legendary level weapon.

The moment the Legendary Weapon was completed, the system automatically endowed it with a meaningful name:

Dawn (Magic Guided Conductor, Equipment Level, S+)

Basic Attributes: 147-162

Evasion +22, Accuracy +15, Accuracy Modifier +2%

Plugin Additions: Swift Burst-, Precision Enhancement, Inner Linkage, Lightning Attachment+

Weight: 1.2kg

Interface/Output Occupation: Main Weapon Interface/195M

Required Level: Level 12 Thief or related profession, Level 7 Swift Swordsman or related profession

’The first glimmer of dawn—’

Looking at the dagger’s 147-162 damage, Fang Hong just wanted to cry. Although the required level for this object was around level 15, its attack had already reached triple that of the Scepter of Regret.

No matter how one looked at it, this thing was simply preposterously overpowered.

He thought to himself that if he had known he would mess up this badly, he might as well have given the short sword to Parker.

Although it could not compare in value to Parker’s Mithril Dagger, its usefulness should be about the same.

But there was no helping it; he could only steel himself and hand it over.

Elisa took the dagger with an exclamation of delight, ”A, a legendary Magic Guided Conductor!?” She looked up with an incredulous gaze at Fang Hong.

All Fang Hong could do was lie through his teeth, ”No, no help for it, maybe it’s because of that refined blueprint.”

The twin’s older sister looked at him with an indescribable expression, one of gratitude and reverence—

This was a legendary level weapon, after all.

In front of her was an Alchemist capable of crafting legendary Magic Guided Conductors, a rarity not even found in the headquarters of the Rain Listener Guild.

She had been somewhat sceptical about the rumor.

The other members of the Guild had whispered that this young Alchemist was the heir to the second-generation Pioneers, or at the very least was an Elite-trained rising star among the next generation of Alchemists.

That rumor had seemed too absurd.

But now she had no choice but to believe, for how could an ordinary freelance Alchemist possibly possess such capabilities?

The girl fondly gazed at the dagger in her hands, holding it tightly against her chest as if she feared someone would take it away.

Truth be told, Fang Hong indeed harbored such thoughts.

It was just that his skin wasn’t thick enough to that extent yet.

The twin sister also blushed as she looked at him and asked, ”Mr. Ade, can you help me make a legendary-level Magic Guided Reactor?”

That was, of course, impossible.

Fang Hong warned and admonished repeatedly, only then did the twin’s elder sister promise to keep the matter secret; he claimed that making a legendary-level Magic Guided Conductor happened purely by chance.

The elder sister of the twins looked at him with adoration in her eyes, naturally going with the flow. He just had to speak, and the girl just kept nodding her head.

Let alone keeping a secret, if he had asked her to leave the Rain Listener Guild and join their little adventure team, she might have agreed to it in a moment of excitement.

Naturally, Fang Hong wouldn’t make the same mistake again; controlling the fine-tuning to ten percent of total progress, he finally produced a C-quality Magic Guided Reactor for the twin’s younger sister.

Although slightly disappointed, the latter gratefully accepted it.

She understood that crafting a Magic Guided Reactor and making a Magic Guided Conductor were not the same technical route after all. An ordinary Alchemist really wouldn’t be able to make such a thing, and it was actually beyond her expectations that Fang Hong could do it.

Furthermore, a C-quality was not bad at all, much better than ordinary level.

Of course, there was some luck involved because Fang Hong just happened to be researching Zero-Type Crystals, which also, barely, qualified him as a Crystal Craftsman. While a Crystal Craftsman isn’t exactly a specialized Magic Guided Reactor artisan, it’s pretty close.

Before the two girls left, as if they had agreed upon it beforehand, they walked over holding hands, one on each side, gave him a light kiss on the face, and then left blushing.

This provoked Gita, who was standing by, to cough discontentedly.

Fang Hong touched his face and looked back at her, asking, ”What’s the matter?”

”Hmph.”

Gita unusually ignored him.

Fang Hong was puzzled, but after finishing the last two pieces of Magic Guided Conductor for the day, his work was finally done. He stretched and walked out the door, only to discover unexpectedly that Elisa, one of the twin sisters, hadn’t left and was waiting for him at the Saddle Bridge.

”Miss Elisa?” Fang Hong was somewhat surprised.

”Mr. Ade, choosing to stay here may not be the best decision,” Elisa said softly.

Fang Hong was taken aback and asked, ”What do you mean?”

But she just shook her head slightly at him and left with a blush.

Fang Hong, still not quite understanding, turned back and saw Hilveld standing on another platform, smiling at him and playfully scratching her cheek.

The spot she gestured to was precisely where the two girls had kissed him on each side. Fang Hong’s face reddened, and he said somewhat sheepishly, ”Good afternoon to you, Miss Hilveld.”

”Yes, the weather is quite nice today,” the Noble Lady replied cheerily.

The weather was indeed quite nice.

The sun’s rays slanted down from the valley to the west around three or four in the afternoon, passing through the Forest branches like rows of golden arrows falling on the grass among the trees.

With the rain from the day before just passed, there were still puddles on the Forest floor, shimmering like golden mirrors. A herd of deer was passing through the depths of the forest, their lovely hooves skimming the water surface and causing ripples.

Fang Hong was mesmerized by the beautiful scene.

Hilveld approached, whispering in his ear with breath as fragrant as an orchid, ”So, Lord Captain, would you like to try my thanks?”

”Ah?” Fang Hong jumped, his heart seemed to stop for a moment: ”No, it’s not necessary.”

Hilveld winked mischievously at him, ”I have high standards for the Captain, but I might make an exception. Do you remember what you told me this morning? If the Lord Captain can achieve that—”

”That...”

Fang Hong certainly remembered the suggestion he made that morning, which was to modify Mr. Greyrock’s platform using the approach of constructing an Airship; Hilveld had given him an idea—creating an airbag-lift chamber.

Fang Hong thought it through carefully and found it to be quite a feasible solution.

Hilveld tilted her head, examining him, ”Actually, the Captain isn’t too bad-looking. Though not the type to make one’s heart race at first glance, it’s no wonder so many girls have a crush on him.”

Fang Hong thought to himself, as if that were true, and quickly shook his head, thinking about what he was entertaining in his mind. He was about to speak against it when the Noble Lady spoke first, ”Lord Captain, what did that beautiful young lady tell you just now? Was it a confession?”

”Of course not, Miss Hilveld, please don’t joke about me anymore,” Fang Hong sighed and repeated Elisa’s words. After he finished, he muttered to himself, ”It sounds like there’s some unrest within the Rain Listener Guild.”

”Come to think of it, Miss Atira mentioned this to me too,” Hilveld replied.

”What happened?”

”It seems that when they went delivering things this afternoon, some people from the Rain Listener Guild were being picky, which almost infuriated Tianlan,” she said.

Fang Hong furrowed his brow; he hadn’t heard about this, and when he had visited before, they had been quite pleasant. However, their ostensibly reverent yet disrespectful behavior irked him, so he intended to personally ask Miss Atira what exactly happened.

”Though you couldn’t tell at all from Tianlan,” Fang Hong suddenly remembered the girl who came to him with a mysterious air, asking if he was a member of the R.I.S, showing no sign of her earlier anger.

”Because it was just a small matter,” Hilveld replied nonchalantly.

”Well, in any case,” Fang Hong also nodded, ”we’ll focus on finalizing the agreement and getting the reward first. As for the affairs of the Rain Listener Guild, we’ll just be more vigilant and stay out of their internal matters.”

”Hopefully.”

Hilveld looked at him and smiled gently.

...