Sixty-Six Point Six Six Percent of Kidneys

Realizing she had misspoken, Elder Duan froze for a moment, but she quickly came up with an excuse to patch things over.

"Believe it or not, this is merely a wisp of this old woman's divine sense. My true body is an immortal in the heavens. For you to encounter me is a blessing cultivated over eight lifetimes."

"I don't believe you. You'd be more convincing if you called yourself a system."

"A system? What kind of claim is that? What does this have to do with a system?"

"A system is someone who gives out rewards after you complete tasks."

"Ah, right. This old woman is a system. You're correct."

"If you'd called yourself a system from the start, I might have believed you a little. But you're only saying it now, so I don't."

"You little brat are far too hard to serve. This old woman is your fortuitous encounter—why won't you believe it?"

"..."

More than a decade of struggling through life and the loss of his loved ones had long since taught Lu Li to see reality for what it was. He had never believed himself to be some protagonist. After that exchange, he became even more certain that this Duan woman harbored ulterior motives.

Lu Li searched the two corpses and, surprisingly, found no rations. He only found sixteen spirit stones and several bottles containing pills.

"What's this?"

"Fasting pills."

"Are these poisonous?"

"What do you think? If they were poisonous, why would they be called fasting pills?"

"Oh."

Lu Li carefully examined the pitch-black pills. They looked like chocolate beans from his previous life. He picked up a tiny bit of powder, cautiously sniffed it at the tip of his nose, then licked it.

"A little sweet."

The two of them had thirteen fasting pills between them. One pill was enough to fill him for a meal, so Lu Li put them away.

Then he picked up the knife hilt and sword hilt from the ground. Both had been damaged in the fight just now. As for fitting arts, Lu Li had cultivated the Stamping Art and often learned by secretly watching beside the walls of the private school, so he had gained a little understanding.

He effortlessly dismantled them. Though they were already damaged, the array patterns within still held reference value.

In Southern Sun Town, from the academy to the stamping workshops, the main focus was training and employing fitters. A fitter's primary job was to make components.

By comparison, mechanists had a second branch—welders. Craftsmen of this path primarily welded array patterns.

There were few welders in Southern Sun Town. There were not even many schools that trained welders. Lu Li had only heard the old teacher at the private school explain the concept of welders; as for this area of knowledge, his mind was entirely blank.

Not until today did Lu Li see the arrays of this world with his own eyes for the first time.

Unlike the arrays in the immortal fantasy works from Lu Li's previous life, the array disc in his hand was about the size of a walnut. It was round overall, with a spirit stone embedded in the middle to provide power.

Dozens of protruding, fragmented spirit minerals were set into it in sequence, then linked together by raised patterns. At a glance, they seemed tangled and intricate, but upon closer inspection, they followed a clear order.

However, some of the spirit minerals within had already melted, releasing wisps of white smoke. The array had dimmed and lost its light, no longer able to function. It had clearly been damaged in the battle just now.

Thump, thump, thump~

Lu Li's heart hammered wildly. He stared fixedly at the array disc in his hand, his breathing gradually growing heavy.

Seeing Lu Li's expression, Elder Duan assumed he had never seen much of the world and had been frightened by the complexity of the array. She could not help feeling a little pleased with herself, and slowly explained:

"This is merely a first-turn array. Oh, of course, this is still far too early for you. To independently inscribe a first-turn array, one must at least be a heaven-grade welder."

"..."

Lu Li said nothing, merely staring blankly at the array disc in his hand.

"Most welders only work on arrays that do not even qualify for a rank. Only by possessing both a first-turn array and a first-turn component can one refine a first-turn mechanical artifact.

"Do you see those scattered crystals on it? They're called array elements. Array elements come in many varieties, all refined from spirit minerals of different attributes, each with different properties. Of course, this isn't something I can explain clearly in just a few words."

"Array elements...?"

Lu Li murmured the words, gradually snapping out of his daze.

In truth, he had not been frightened by the complex array before him as Elder Duan imagined. On the contrary, he saw traces of the circuits from his previous life in this array.

When it came to circuits, he did not dare claim profound mastery, but that had been his field of study in his previous life.

The path of mechanists was not electrical engineering, and spiritual energy was not electrons, yet the two led to the same destination by different paths, sharing similar structures and principles.

Lu Li was no longer the Lu Li of his previous life. Having lived in this world for fifteen or sixteen years, he had been carved up by cruel reality until he was unrecognizable.

Nothing was more fitting than meeting too late. Lu Li had tinkered with fitting arts for half a year before discovering that welding arts felt instantly familiar to him, like a younger sister he had known in his previous life.

The array disc in his hand bore a thirty-percent resemblance to a circuit board from his previous life. It was like an old friend returning, and this unexpected reunion left Lu Li momentarily flustered.

If this array disc truly was an old acquaintance in disguise, Lu Li suddenly felt that he was not entirely empty-handed. Perhaps he truly had the ability to change something. Perhaps he really had a chance to spread his wings in this world.

As he pondered, Elder Duan was still chattering away about the basic knowledge of array discs.

"Is there still a chance to take out the thing in my chest?"

"You mean the Qi-Combining Cauldron? That might be a little troublesome. What do you want to do?"

"I used my lungs as collateral in exchange for this mechanical artifact. Only after I refine it will it truly belong to me. I want to see what the array disc inside looks like."

"Young man, you haven't even learned to walk, yet you're already thinking of running. I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush. You know nothing about welding techniques— even if I showed you, you wouldn't be able to learn it."

Lu Li shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"But then again, since you want to see it, it's not impossible. You can use the method of inner sight, but the prerequisite is that your divine sense has reached Grade C."

"Is there a way to raise my divine sense in a short time?"

"Yes, of course. Wear a construct that can bolster divine sense, and naturally you'll be able to see."

"Why does everything have to rely on constructs? Can't it be done without one?"

"It can, but you'll need money. Let me ask you—do you have money?"

Lu Li stared fixedly at the corpse of the Azure Sun Hall disciple on the ground. He took out the thirteen spirit stones he had just seized from the man.

"Are thirteen enough?"

To Lu Li, thirteen spirit stones were an enormous sum, enough to buy four and one-third of his kidneys.

"Hahaha, you're quite the comedian. Thirteen spirit stones? Even at cost price, you couldn't gather enough spirit materials for the Qi-Combining Cauldron."

"Ah, it's that expensive? How much does it cost in total to refine this construct?"

"Live Vein Jade Marrow, spirit-conducting copper, gray silver, blood-living soil... altogether, the cost price is only around two hundred spirit stones."

"Two hundred spirit stones?!"

Lu Li could not help crying out.

Two hundred spirit stones were the equivalent of sixty-six and two-thirds kidneys!