All Gods: Starting with Two Families

Chapter 81 Private Deal”You want to buy the flame burst arrows I made?”

Zhou Zheng’s divine thought projection was still in the form of the stone man, ”Mountain Mover.” He looked with a strange expression at the projection of a Minotaur Deity who had appeared uninvited outside his Divine Domain.

”That’s right, brother!”

The Minotaur Deity had a bitter look on his face, and his massive horns seemed to droop slightly. ”This assessment is too difficult! Relying on myself alone, there’s no way I can put together a thousand qualified items. I really had no other choice, so I came up with this last resort!”

He lowered his voice, his tone carrying a hint of entreaty and temptation. ”As long as you agree to give me a batch of goods to let me pass this stage, I can swear by my Godhead that for the first ten years after joining the ’Weapon Spirit Pool,’ half of all my earnings will go to you! What do you think?”

Zhou Zheng controlled ”Mountain Mover” to shake his head, a troubled expression squeezed onto the stone face.

”Sorry, brother. Your proposal is very tempting, but I’m almost stumped by these flame burst arrows myself. The success rate is terrifyingly low. I’m afraid I can barely save myself, so I really don’t have the strength to help you.”

Upon hearing this, the Minotaur Deity’s massive nostrils snorted two puffs of disappointed white air, but he didn’t seem to have held much hope anyway. He sighed, ”Sigh, alright then. I’ll go ask someone else.” After saying that, he turned and left, looking like he was in a hurry to find the next potential ’supplier.’”

...

Inside Zhou Zheng’s Divine Domain, in the Underground City’s forging workshop.

*Thud!*

Another muffled sound, accompanied by a small puff of uncontrolled fire and black smoke. A flame burst arrow that was about to take shape exploded into fragments once again. The Nether Worker Ant responsible for the final step of enchantment was covered in black soot, its compound eyes filled with frustration.

”Sigh, another failure!”

The problem was always stuck at the final step: the violent fire-attribute energy extracted from the Flame Burst Fruit needed to be extremely concentrated to form an energy structure that was both contained and stable.

This structure needed to remain absolutely stable before launch, yet instantly collapse and release all its energy in a violent explosion upon hitting a target or being struck forcefully.

Whether it was the Nether Worker Ants or most other deities, they were all stuck on this most exquisite energy compression and stabilization stage.

The Nether Worker Ants lacked sufficient affinity and control over fire, making it impossible for them to make such violent energy behave.

The Elemental Naga, on the other hand, were experts at this. They were naturally close to the elements and had meticulous control over fire.

However, they severely lacked the essential skills of a Blacksmith, such as hammering, shaping, and rune engraving. They had the theory but could not put it into practice.

”The time flow in my Divine Domain is faster than the outside world, and I have an extra day of practice time!”

Zhou Zheng remembered the Law of Time blessing he had obtained from the Zi-Wu Quicksand Realm fragment; this was his hidden advantage.

He immediately adjusted his strategy: ”Let the Nether Worker Ants be responsible for all the early forging steps—material processing, shaft shaping, casing casting, and basic rune engraving.”

”Leave the most delicate final step of energy compression and stabilization enchantment to the Elemental Naga!”

...

Two days passed, and still not a single qualified flame burst arrow had been produced in Zhou Zheng’s Divine Domain.

The ideal of division of labor and cooperation was beautiful, but the actual operation was full of difficulties.

Either the arrow body base forged by the Nether Worker Ants couldn’t perfectly withstand the energy intensity of the Naga’s enchantment, or the Elemental Naga would use slightly too much force when compressing energy, directly detonating the semi-finished product the workers had painstakingly built.

The two races lacked rapport, and there were many holes in the technical connection. They simply couldn’t achieve perfect coordination in such a short time.

If Zhou Zheng were given a few more months to let them break in, he would certainly have a chance to succeed.

But the reality was that the cruel assessment time had only a few days left... If he couldn’t think of a way to break the deadlock, this Weapon Spirit Pool assessment would surely end in failure!

Just as Zhou Zheng’s brow was furrowed in worry, the familiar projection of the Minotaur Deity appeared outside his Divine Domain once again, but this time his face bore an expression of excitement completely different from before.

”Brother Mountain Mover! Brother Mountain Mover! Good news!”

The Minotaur Deity shouted jubilantly, ”I’ve found a way! I remembered you said you were having trouble too, so I came specifically to let you know!”

He leaned in closer, lowering his voice but unable to hide his excitement. ”Although the other party’s conditions are a bit harsh—they want a full seventy percent of the earnings—if you think about it, as long as you can join the ’Weapon Spirit Pool,’ this price is absolutely worth it!”

”I heard they have architectural blueprints ranging from Level 1 to Level 6! Moreover, the Myriad Spirits Divine System is expanding aggressively right now, and the weapon orders from various factions are endless!”

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, giving a chuckle. ”Once you squeeze in, you’ll basically be lying down and counting faith points!”

To increase his persuasiveness, the Minotaur Deity proudly displayed a batch of samples provided by the other party—a full thousand finished flame burst arrows of quite good quality, flickering with a dangerous red light.

”Look, I’ve already gotten the goods! It’s absolutely reliable!”

Should he buy them? Yield to reality and take this ”shortcut”?

This seemed like a way to achieve his goal.

Hmph, offering favors for no reason. If I believe this, I’m a total fool!

Zhou Zheng sneered inwardly, but on the surface, he put on a look of ”hesitation” and ”struggle.”

Seeing this, the Minotaur hurriedly struck while the iron was hot. ”Brother, I truly have your best interests at heart!”

”The deity on the other side said he also wants to form a small team of his own. I saw that you’re an honest person, so I’m giving you a hand.”

”How about this? As long as you nod and join our small team, I’ll go and plead with the boss to lower your earnings contribution to sixty percent! What do you think?”

He patted his chest and guaranteed, ”Opportunity knocks but once, don’t miss it, brother!”