Artificial Machine Tool

The pure iron came out of the furnace several minutes faster than expected.

Li Du received the first batch of finished products from the refining furnace's discharge port. The molten iron solidified in the cooling trough into four silver-gray rectangular metal ingots, each weighing roughly three kilograms.

He did not dare slack off. Using heat-resistant tongs, he carefully placed one on the insulating mat atop the workbench.

A faint blue vapor still drifted above the metal's surface. It was the trace left behind by the final remnants of impurities oxidizing and evaporating.

Mo Yuan reached out and touched the surface of the metal block. A flash of blue light flickered at his fingertip before vanishing.

Just as an old electrician could tell whether a circuit had been wired correctly with a single touch, he could tell whether this metal was pure enough the moment he touched it.

"Purity: 99.83 percent. Good enough."

Then he did not say another word.

The necklace-like Oath of Judah tucked inside Mo Yuan's collar immediately activated. A pale golden binding field unfolded, covering the entire workbench.

At the same time, Jin Ling leaped down from Mo Yuan's shoulder and crouched beside the pure iron ingot. Its two forepaws braced against the metal's surface, while the golden halo beneath its belly glowed faintly.

It circled the pure iron ingot in roughly half a second, then let out two cooing sounds, as if saying, "No problem."

Mo Yuan glanced at it. In fact, even without using his own authority, he could determine whether the metal met the requirements through Jin Ling's feedback.

He drew the knife, its entire body gleaming white. The Key of Domination trembled slightly upon touching his palm, as if it had come alive.

Then he began carving.

Gu Yuan took half a step back to leave enough room, but his gaze did not shift in the slightest.

He watched Mo Yuan's movements closely.

The first stroke landed at the exact center of the pure iron ingot's top surface. The knife tip touched down lightly and steadily, drawing an arc less than a millimeter wide.

Then came the second, third, and fourth strokes. The lines intertwined and wound around one another, spreading before his eyes at an incredible speed until they gradually formed a massive, intricate geometric structure.

Throughout the entire process, Mo Yuan's breathing barely changed.

His wrist was extraordinarily steady. The carving knife moved between his fingers like the end effector of a precision instrument, with every stroke's angle and depth stopping exactly at some invisible boundary.

Some lines were as fine as strands of hair. Others required him to tilt the knife slightly and press out a wider groove.

This carving technique could be considered basic training for an Advanced Soul Engineer. For high-level Soul Tools, Soul Engineers were required to inscribe the Soul Tool Core Array with micrometer-level precision. It could be said that every one of them was practically an artificial machine tool.

But Mo Yuan's technique was unusual. He used a method akin to "writing" rather than "carving."

In all his years of work, Gu Yuan had seen no fewer than eight hundred Soul Conduction Array engravers, if not a thousand. When handling complex arrays, most of them first established the overall structure before filling in the details. Their steps were often accompanied by repeated pauses, checks, and retracing.

But Mo Yuan's technique was completely different.

His knife never left the metal's surface. The entire array seemed to be "written" in one continuous, flowing motion, without a single break from beginning to end.

The only sound in the air was the extremely faint hiss of the carving knife passing over the metal.

It showed that his technique had reached an extraordinarily high level. To be honest, Gu Yuan felt that he could not do it himself.

He could not help thinking of the ancient history of ten thousand years ago, of that existence said to have broken through the bottleneck of Soul Engineers.

Hiss—

Could he have already touched that legendary realm?

Li Du stood at the entrance of the auxiliary workshop, not even daring to breathe loudly.

He even felt that the slightest noise from his breathing might interrupt something.

Perhaps this was the downside of assisting an industry heavyweight.

Mo Yuan's movements remained smooth and relaxed.

The complex circuits and runes seemed like standard procedures he had executed hundreds or thousands of times. Every step was so precise it was almost indistinguishable from the laws of physics themselves.

Jin Ling lay beside him, staring unblinkingly at the direction of Mo Yuan's knife, as if following the array's paths as well.

Its little paws occasionally gestured in the air, as though mimicking Mo Yuan's movements, but it quickly gave up.

The thirty-seventh minute.

When Mo Yuan's knife swept across a curve roughly three centimeters long, his movement suddenly paused ever so slightly.

It was an extremely subtle change. Even Gu Yuan, who was only a stone's throw away, failed to notice it, but Mo Yuan himself knew it clearly.

A warm, soft thought silently welled up from some corner deep within his consciousness. Like a warm current carried by the wind across an evening lake, it wrapped around the edge of his mental power and brushed against it lightly.

The feeling was not surging, but it was exceptionally clear. It carried an aura he had sensed in only one place before—silver, moonlight, and the sound of water rippling against skin.

Na'er was thinking of him.

The corners of Mo Yuan's mouth rose unconsciously.

The curve was so slight that even he was not completely aware of it.

But he did not stop.

The carving knife immediately continued along its predetermined path, and the edge of the next rune landed precisely where it belonged.

That warmth lingered at the edge of his consciousness for roughly two seconds before slowly withdrawing, like a hand that had finished patting his head and quietly pulled back.

The smile in the corners of Mo Yuan's eyes deepened slightly.

Gu Yuan noticed nothing.

All he saw was that Mo Yuan's movements remained utterly unshaken from beginning to end, as smooth as a river flowing at a constant speed.

The fifty-second minute.

Mo Yuan finished carving the final closing arc. The knife tip lightly tapped the metal's surface—the entire process was like adding the final period to a sentence.

He straightened and picked up the pure iron ingot, now almost entirely covered by complex runes, examining it for a moment. He nodded slightly, then set down the carving knife.

"All right. That counts as finished."

Gu Yuan immediately moved closer.

The ingot had originally been a uniform silver-gray, but now its surface was covered by a web of dark blue runes.

The runes gave off a faint, intermittent glow in the lamplight, pulsing gently to some slow rhythm like metal with a heartbeat.

In the most precise regions—the several core corners—the spacing between the lines was almost impossible to distinguish with the naked eye. Only after moving extremely close did Gu Yuan confirm that the lines really were separate and had not joined together.

"The spacing in this core region..." Gu Yuan's voice was slightly hoarse. "It's truly terrifying."

"Mm, you didn't see wrong." Mo Yuan picked up the pure iron ingot and rotated it, confirming that the runes connected smoothly from every angle. "The spacing is roughly eighty nanometers. In terms you are more familiar with, that is two orders of magnitude more precise than the Federation Academy of Sciences' most advanced engraving platform."

"How did you manage that? I clearly saw that you were only using a handheld carving knife..."

"My hand is much more precise than a machine." Mo Yuan placed the pure iron ingot into the reserved slot at the top of the reaction chamber in the dedicated conversion device. The slot fit the ingot's shape perfectly—the device was made by him, so naturally the slot's dimensions matched it exactly. "Of course, this level of precision isn't actually needed for this technology. I think that, for an ordinary Level Seven Soul Engineer, their inscription technique is already sufficient."

Gu Yuan fell silent for a moment, but still swallowed the words "You make it sound so easy," because Mo Yuan really had said it as if it were easy.

Mo Yuan added some Star Silver powder, then shut the reaction chamber's sealed hatch. The self-check indicator lights on the control panel lit up one after another.

He then entered a set of parameters, and the array activation sequence began.

Inside the reaction chamber, the dark blue web of runes began brightening at a speed visible to the naked eye. A silver-white halo spread outward from the core region, covering the entire surface of the metal block.

The conversion began.