The Liver's Call

Having crossed countless anticipated ordeals with such ease, Ji Jue examined his handiwork. He couldn't help but beam with joy, though excitement was accompanied by a sense of regret and pity.

Even by Ji Jue's standards, such a creation could be called inconceivable, a fantasy; yet, compared to Professor Ye's performance during his recent experience, it could only be described as riddled with errors—a clumsy imitation.

It wasn't even in the same league; he had been left so far behind he couldn't even see the exhaust fumes.

But so what?

It was ugly but cute, small but powerful!

During the absorption of Spiritual Substance after the fragment self-destructed, he hadn't just experienced the process and reasons for the previous fifty-one failures through his own soul and perception; he had personally experienced Professor Ye's terrifying, heaven-sent craftsmanship!

It was as if he had become a true Creator.

All changes surged forth from the furnace... he only needed to reach out to grasp them at will, and with a flip of his palm, he could reshape the world.

This sudden epiphany was intoxicating.

But more importantly, it was a precious experience far more thorough than hands-on teaching. In this brief moment, it was as if a lighthouse had suddenly risen in the long night, pointing out the path and direction for Ji Jue, who had been spinning in circles.

All he had to do was seize this memory of light while it was still vivid in his heart, move forward, and run with all his might!

Once again, he picked up a fragment.

Without a shred of regret for the work he had just finished, Ji Jue drew from the backup Spiritual Substance reservoir in his watch and began the inscription once again! His Other Hand flipped the Bronze Giant Book beside the workbench to the back.

While the epiphany had yet to dissipate and the memory remained clear, the emblem and totem he intended to carve this time was that of another of the Twelve Supreme Goodnesses.

The Supreme Goodness that governs the birth and annihilation of all energy, silence and eruption, elements and storms.

--[Entropy]!

And so, it continued until 12:30 in the deep night.

For the sixth time, Ye Chun came to urge him to clock out and go home. Amidst earnest advice such as "It's time to rest," "Take it easy for a while," "That's enough, it's already more than enough, many big shots aren't even as good as you now," and "For God's sake, stop grinding," Ji Jue, still unsatisfied and looking back every three steps, mounted his Little Cow and Horse and left the Workshop.

Those five-plus hours of overtime felt more rewarding than all the practice that came before, perhaps by dozens or hundreds of times. Before that sliver of vivid insight could completely fade, Ji Jue had tried his best to retain a few takeaways and, more importantly, a wealth of experience from his failures.

In the end, he still hadn't managed to fully depict the totem of Entropy.

Midway through, he had felt several times that he was just one step away from success, but as he continued, the harder he tried, the more off-track he seemed to get—a clumsy feeling of trying to paint a tiger but ending up with a dog.

He knew that if he kept grinding, he probably wouldn't gain much more.

After completely digesting the experience package from Professor Ye, he hummed a tune, whistled, bought a bowl of Stir-fried Rice Noodles at a street stall, and without hesitation... set off on the road home.

Wash up, sleep, and get up tomorrow to keep grinding!

"Damn it!"

Hidden in the distance, inside a van trailing behind the flow of traffic, the middle-aged man Qi Qin, holding a video camera, stood frozen, watching Ji Jue return home.

Unbelievable.

What the hell are you doing?

Running to a professor's factory to tighten screws until the middle of the night—any normal person would be relaxing and having fun by now! Damn it, you're a college student; it's one thing not to go to clubs, pick up girls, or rank up in games, but you should at least hurry up and call that Big Sister behind you to go out and have a good time!

I've got my camera ready, and you're showing me some pathetic work-study routine?!

Is this what everyone came to see?!

The man who had suffered through the whole day trailing Ji Jue felt like he was losing his mind—this defied all logic! The girl selling the Stir-fried Rice Noodles had such a great figure, and he didn't even glance at her! Even when she shook herself to try and earn an extra two bucks from him, he wouldn't even add an egg!

Are you even human?

Don't rush, don't rush, can't be impatient; patience brings results, and staking out brings the big scoop.

Qi Qin took a deep breath, soothing his irritable mood. Only when the light in Ji Jue's room finally went out did he get out of the car to take a leak, head to the Restroom, and buy a bowl of instant noodles to eat.

Alright, finally calmed down.

At least he could get a good night's sleep.

He closed his eyes.

In the same deep night, others were unable to sleep.

"What the..."

In the silent factory area, Ye Chun, having finished washing up, was still wrapping her hair to dry it while yawning as she tidied the Workshop. However, when she reached out to pick up the scrap on the table, she froze in place.

Struck by lightning.

Ye Chun could swear she had never opened her eyes this wide in her life!

Under Ji Jue's ravages, a faint crack had already appeared on that irregular scrap, but at this moment, it was overflowing with a subtle, pure white phantom light that glowed dimly under the moonlight once the lights were off.

And what made it even more unbelievable was that on that surface... less than the size of a palm, someone had used a level of insane effort and obsessive-compulsive disorder that would land them in the hospital to carve over twenty Supreme Goodness Emblems!

All of them were Ascensions!

When she came to check on him this afternoon, Ji Jue was just a pure newbie who had just come into contact with the furnace and didn't know how to use anything. Yet, in four or five hours, he had trampled over progress that would have taken other apprentices years of day-and-night suffering to achieve.

And even more terrifying...

Through the faint traces on the surface, she could vaguely distinguish the style of her Aunt from years ago!

Especially those last few totem emblems; the arc at the end was exactly her Aunt's unique signature... even if he was copying, there was no need to copy that too, right?!

"What are you here to learn?"

"Forgery?"

"Aunt, please, hurry home."

Suppressing the urge to scream, she dialed the number: "There's a pervert here!"

"...Normal."

After learning exactly what had happened, a long silence followed on the other end of the line. Yet, in the end, the response was delivered with calm indifference, as if it were entirely expected.

Professor Ye said, "Just let him continue. Don't worry about anything else."

The call ended.

Ye Chun was left alone in the silence, staring blankly at the fragments.

A long while later, she turned back to look at her own tiny reflection in the glass. After discarding the fragments, she couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.

"Damn it, monster."

"What the hell?"

In the same night, inside an old bedroom, Ji Jue, who had just closed his eyes, suddenly bolted upright in bed.

He had finally realized that something felt off.

During the day, he had been so focused on the growth of his Alchemy that he had almost failed to notice...

Under the moonlight, he raised his right hand, brought it before his eyes, and examined it carefully and solemnly, staring at the [1] on the dial that was faintly tinged with gold.

He squinted, incredulous: "Is this damn progress bar actually moving?"

If his memory served him correctly, that [1] had been devoid of any other color that morning. But now, at the very top edge, a sliver of pure gold had appeared, impossible to ignore.

If he had to describe it, it was like a slow-moving download on some blue-icon software that had suddenly kicked into gear.

Even if it was only at a speed of 1kb or 2kb, at least it was no longer "Resource Not Responding" or "Download Unavailable Due to Relevant Laws"...

From 0% to 1%, he had once again achieved the great breakthrough from zero to one!

It was tiny and faint, yet so conspicuous.

"Yes!!!"

Ji Jue couldn't help but pump his arms in celebration: "Hooray!!!!"

But why?

Could it be that his progress in Alchemy had driven the growth of his ability? That didn't seem right, though; when he first started Alchemy the day before yesterday, this dial hadn't shown even a bit of movement.

He lay back down on the bed, carefully recalling everything that had happened all day. The final image that surfaced in his mind was the scene of him reaching out to extract the remaining essence and Spiritual Substance from the self-destructed fragments.

In the end, all that essence had been devoured by his ability!

"No, Eldest Brother, are you serious?!"

He sensed the emblem operating lightly within his soul, unable to comprehend it.

It could only grow by absorbing the essence of alchemical items?

Why was this broken ability like a character in some gacha game? Grinding dungeons and fighting monsters was useless; he had to feed it other equipment and characters as fodder just to level up?

Would he have to consume several copies of the same character to break through once he hit the level cap?

Don't tell him that when he tries to reinforce it to +11 or +12, it's going to give him a probability of equipment destruction!

Ji Jue was nearing despair at the thought of a world where one had to pay to become strong. He suddenly felt like banging his head against a wall. Wasn't it said that true legends weren't like this?

But inexplicably... the image that surfaced before his eyes was that entire warehouse that had filled him with despair earlier that day, and the pile of junk so ridiculously large it could have buried him a dozen times over.

If he remembered correctly, Professor Ye had said that all those useless things were just for him to practice on, right?

In that instant, all of Ji Jue's sleepiness vanished.

When he looked back toward the direction of the workshop, his eyes were burning with a Blazing Fire, as if he were seeing countless scantily clad Missy-es posing and inviting him to come and play...

What junk pile?!

That was nothing but experience points that had already been washed clean!

Only one word remained in his mind.

--[Grind]!

From that day on, the nightmare of the Watcher finally arrived.

The man had only closed his eyes after finishing his report at two in the morning, and then, at five-thirty the next morning, he discovered... that grandson Ji Jue had gone out!

He hadn't even changed his clothes or washed his hair; he'd just splashed some water on his face, brushed his teeth, and bought a steamed bun at the door.

Then, he headed straight for the factory building!

The way he scrambled as if he were afraid of missing out on free eggs made Qi Qin feel as if his worldview had been shattered—no, what are you doing?

Eldest Brother, for heaven's sake, get some more sleep! If you don't sleep, I have to sleep too!

What are you after, running to the factory this early?

You even bought coffee—are you really that desperate to be a corporate slave?!

The sound drifted away on the wind...

Leaving the despairing middle-aged man standing there, stunned.

He was laughing wildly!

With the throttle of his Little Motorcycle twisted to the max, Ji Jue grinned, racing into the light of dawn.

A new day, a new beginning.

Time to happily get back to Tightening Screws!