"Pfft!"
Sacred Flame slapped a young "Recycler" across the head. "What the hell are you good for? Huh? Why did you bring back this kind of thing?"
The young soapfolk said timidly, "Father..."
"Don't call me Father! You don't have the right." Sacred Flame's tone turned indifferent once more, as though the anger from moments ago had been nothing but an illusion. He waved a hand. "I've told you many times! Many times, haven't I? We don't need artifacts like these—ones that look exquisite but have no possibility of repair. Understand? What we need now are substantial artifacts, artifacts that can feed the giant tree, or things that can be put into the 'Great Mechanism' after being repaired—not this sort of thing!"
The "sort of thing" he referred to was something akin to a scroll or bamboo slip. A whole row of them lay before him.
Among artifacts of the same grade, this type had always counted as "powerful." They were more difficult to refine, but could generally hold more and more complex talismans and formations. Such artifacts were used by cultivators with stronger spells.
But correspondingly, their weaknesses were obvious.
First, unlike blade- and sword-type artifacts, which could retain some functionality even after breaking, these things were completely ruined by the slightest damage.
Moreover, they were very difficult to repair. These "book-slip" artifacts often made extensive use of talismans closer to their race's own writing, rather than talismans with more fundamental structures.
And clearly, every inheritance in this area had been severed.
The soapfolk did not know how to repair such things.
Because large quantities of biological materials found only locally had been used in their refinement, even recovering their metal refining materials was difficult.
They were not even worth reforging.
At least, until the recyclable artifacts had all