Crackle—the campfire burst with a bright spray of sparks.
The shadows on the two faces beside the fire shifted slightly. Tata silently watched fragments of ash drift upward through the darkness, then raised her head to follow the sparks until they vanished among the treetops.
A half-blue moon hung overhead, its cold silver light spilling across the distant mountains.
An owl perched on a distant branch, its silver-gray feathers motionless as it stared in one direction. That place was pitch-black, save for the glowing fuzz of curling plants and fireflies drifting up and down, scattered points of light throughout the ancient forest.
Only after Fang Heng completed the final step did he let out a long breath.
He took a biscuit from his pocket, snapped off a small piece with a crack, and handed it to her. "This is tonight's dinner."
Tata knelt on a bed of dead leaves and turned back to look at him curiously. "Actually, I don't need to eat."
"But it feels strange eating alone. Besides, you can't eat much anyway." Fang Heng scratched his head sheepishly.
"We're out of food already, aren't we?"
"It's fine. You can always find food in a forest."
The fairy girl held the biscuit in both hands, froze for a moment, then lowered her head and took a bite. She chewed lightly, crumbs covering her cheeks before she wiped them away with her tiny hand. She looked utterly adorable.
"Is it good?"
"It tastes like sugar. Very sweet."
"You've never eaten before?" Fang Heng asked curiously.
"Dragon Souls do not need to eat." Tata held the biscuit and looked up at him as she answered.
"Ah?... Then will there be any problem?" Fang Heng grew worried again, wondering if he had done something foolish.
But Tata shook her head. "No," she replied. "The biscuit is very nice. Thank you."
Only then did Fang Heng relax.
It had been a full day and night since the two of them left the Elven Ruins.
Judging from the relative positions of the Dragon Roar Mountains and the sun during daylight, the teleportation array at Angina Sanctuary should have sent them to the southern part of the Sea of Ancient Trees. Fang Heng believed they were near Elpaxin—meaning they were already very close to the Rainbow Bay region.
This was almost exactly the opposite direction from Hidden Spring and Kapuka.
Tata agreed with this assessment.
Rainbow Bay lay south of the Sea of Ancient Trees, near the Sea of Clouds. Since the floating continents of Taren and Ishurian met here, they formed a long, curving coastline along the sea of air. The clouds here shifted in iridescent colors all year round, which was how the place got its name.
And because Kapuka was simply too far away, in the complete opposite direction, Fang Heng had no intention of returning to the Rodell area. He planned to go to Elpaxin first. Elpaxin was the foremost of the Seven Cities of Rainbow Bay, the commercial and trade center of southern Taren, and the home of the Artisan Guild of the Sea of Ancient Trees.
He could take the alchemist advancement assessment there, then find a scheduled ship bound for Aquin.
There was an overland route from Aquin to Port Goland, the capital of the Kingdom of Kaolin. It only took half a month on foot. Goland was the registered headquarters of the Dawnstar Adventurer Group. At the headquarters of the Kaolin-Ishurian Geographic and Explorers' Association, there was a massive Difference Engine that used punched paper tape to record and store the status of every registered adventurer group.
He wanted to see who from Dawnstar had survived. Whether Mr. Quilod and the others had managed to leave the Zone of Silence and escape alive. Though the odds were slim; the Jefflitte Redcoats even had time to hunt him down, so the others were likely in grave danger.
But even if none of them remained, he had to at least inherit and register that name.
Because he had promised Miss Scarpe that Dawnstar would live on forever.
As long as he remained in this world—
Of course, Fang Heng had goals of his own as well.
Advancing to become a full-fledged alchemist was only one of them. More importantly, he needed to accumulate experience and wealth in preparation for his own airship. For an adventurer group aspiring to reach the Second World, an airship was the bare minimum.
Of course, that goal was still far too distant.
Even a miscellaneous vessel below seventh class cost at least a million Liselle, and such ships could not sail far at all. Fang Heng's target was at least a sixth-class frigate. Those wing-structured warships had a factory price of ten million Liselle in Kaolin-Ishurian, and their limited production was monopolized by the Kaolin-Ishurian navy and the Major Guilds. They were available in name only.
Fang Heng did not have many thoughts about it. He could only take things one step at a time. If it came to it, he could accept a boat-structured airship as well. After all, reaching the Second World was no easy task in itself.
He had never been blindly optimistic.
Later, he also planned to stop by Fenris Island to see the legendary green dragon, "Majeri." Fenris Island lay in the sea of air between Taren and Aquin, right along the scheduled ship route. Rumor had it that this dragon was one of the great tycoons of the Sea of Clouds region, and also the honorary vice president of the Kaolin-Ishurian Artisan Guild.
Fang Heng had long heard of this dragon with its fascinating history.
Still, the most important thing right now was figuring out how to leave this forest.
Fang Heng unconsciously touched his stomach. After eating that biscuit, his hunger seemed even more pronounced. His vision darkened as he raised his head to look around the deep forest. This wild woodland was called "Egonen," meaning Lowland Forest. Located downstream of the Gorgon River, it was surrounded by wetlands and swamps. Though rich in natural resources, it was a hundred times more dangerous than the forest's northern reaches.
With only him and Tata, there was no way they could make it out of this forest.
Fortunately, he still had something to rely on. He picked up the item he had just completed—a dim, wax-white crystal.
In Aethelria, most people considered Attribute-less Crystals the ugliest kind of crystal. Most Attribute-less Crystals contained impurities and looked like cracked, fogged glass. They could hardly be called pure or crystalline.
Yet even the most flawed Attribute-less Crystal would have looked outstanding beside the one in Fang Heng's hand. At least they still looked like crystals. This one looked more like a wax pillar sharpened at both ends, utterly devoid of beauty.
And yet, in Fang Heng's eyes, this ugly crystal was the most beautiful thing in the world.
This was an Alpha Crystal, the initial form of a Type I Crystal.
It had taken him a full four hours to make it. Using the Element Separation skill, he only needed ten minutes to create an Attribute-less Crystal. And the material he had used for this crystal was already a finished product—an Attribute-less Crystal removed from his glove. Naturally, this had rendered half the Silver Rail count on his dial useless.
As it happened, he had removed the remaining half as well, leaving only a pair of Silver Rails.
He had also taken apart the brass dial itself.
Tata knelt beside him, staring at the crystal as well. Firelight reflected in her bright eyes. "There are still too many impurities. It contains, at most, a third of the magical power described in the original specifications." After examining it, she said this.
"It couldn't be helped." Fang Heng turned back with a bitter smile. "These are the only tools and materials we have."
Tata nodded. "Then what does the knight intend to use it for?" she asked.
"To make a Walker," Fang Heng answered. "Aside from Clockwork Sprites, that's the only thing I know how to make. Actually, I learned this blueprint a long time ago, but I never had a suitable crystal."
A Walker was a Flexible Construct used for combat. As everyone knew, among Flexible Constructs, only Clockwork Sprites could use Attribute-less Crystals. Fang Heng's words were somewhat like him talking to himself. But Tata did not mind. She continued listening quietly beside him, like the best listener in the world.
Fang Heng opened the Artisan System. This was his first time crafting within the system framework, and he was still somewhat unfamiliar with it, his movements looking a little awkward. But such a minor problem could not stump him. After all, he had once been a hardcore player without a system.
With a thought, he projected the shell blueprint, then adjusted its shape bit by bit until a spherical phantom formed before Tata.
"This is a Clockwork Sprite shell?" Tata was somewhat surprised.
Fang Heng nodded.
Crafting in Aethelria was not rigid—it was not as though a blueprint could only produce one fixed shape. In fact, a set of blueprints consisted of multiple components. Once a Chosen had completely deciphered the blueprint, they could choose, combine, and match the components freely.
And Fang Heng had only mastered a few blueprints over the past several months. He already knew them by heart.
A Walker construct had only two key points. The first was its chassis, which came in six-legged and four-legged systems. The two chassis types determined the construct's maximum combat load. The second was its Core Crystal, which determined its maximum output power.
As long as those two requirements were met, the form of the other components did not matter.
Compared with the lightweight shell used by a Clockwork Sprite, a Walker's defensive shell was much bulkier. Thus, apart from its lower armor value, using the former in place of the latter posed no other problem.
He only needed to readjust the center of gravity.
Fang Heng methodically moved over a rock he had prepared earlier to serve as a simple workbench. He placed the spherical phantom at the center of the workbench, then put the dismantled dial inside it. The brass dial immediately became translucent, and countless stars appeared within it as though it contained a universe.
The points of light, large and small, were actually the structural nodes of the brass material. The better the quality and strength of a material, the more structural nodes it possessed. During crafting, an artisan had to concentrate and connect these points. Each successful connection advanced the crafting progress.
But if all the structural nodes had been used while the crafting progress had yet to reach one hundred percent, it meant the material structure was damaged and the crafting would fail accordingly. Conversely, the more surplus structural nodes remained after successful crafting, the higher the finished product's durability.
Since the dial itself had already been used to make a finished product once, most of its structural nodes were dim and unusable. Only a small number remained available. Fang Heng frowned slightly when he saw them.
He calculated the crafting progress.
Creating a Clockwork Sprite shell required a total crafting progress of one hundred and eighty. With his current artisan skill, each successful connection granted fifteen to seventeen progress points. There were fewer than thirteen structural nodes left on the dial, which meant he basically only had one chance to fail.
Fang Heng took a light breath.
Whether they could leave this forest depended on this gamble. If he failed, he might have to die once more. As a stowaway, he already had little Star Radiance. If he died again, he would have no chance to revive.
Even he could not help feeling nervous.
Tata looked at him, then at the dial. She opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing. She was worried about disturbing Fang Heng.
Unexpectedly, Fang Heng spoke first. "Tata, can you see this system?"
"Yes." Tata nodded. "It is a system for managing information, jointly generated by the carrier crystal and the Dragon Soul."
"Managing information—" As he spoke, Fang Heng successfully connected a structural node, as casually as if it were nothing.
Then came the third and fourth, all the way to the seventh. Only then did he fail for the first time, but Fang Heng instead let out a breath of relief.
He discovered that each connection was somewhat like a ranged attack directed at a structural node. Its point of impact covered an area, so it did not need to hit with absolute precision. A certain degree of error was allowed, though the greater the error, the lower the crafting precision of each connection.
Different designs had different minimum requirements for craftsmanship precision, and a Clockwork Sprite shell clearly had very low requirements.
He felt he could handle it easily.
He immediately moved to the eighth node. After succeeding, he connected the rest in one go. When the final structural node was completed, Fang Heng finally relaxed. At his side, the dial had become a polished brass hemispherical shell.
Fang Heng picked up the shell and studied every inch of it carefully in the firelight, unable to stop a sense of accomplishment from rising within him.
In the past, when he made Clockwork Sprites, he had basically only been responsible for blueprint design and assembly. The shell, the internal components, and even the hinge mechanisms were all intricate blacksmithing work, beyond what alchemist apprentices like them could handle after only a few months of study.
But once he had the system, everything was completely different.
That was the power of the Chosen.
"The knight is the most talented alchemist I have ever seen." Tata watched the entire crafting process without a word, then suddenly spoke.
Fang Heng turned back and asked curiously, "Have you seen other alchemists before?"
Tata nodded. "I have some memories, but I cannot distinguish whether they came from books or from my own experiences. But in my impression, no alchemist could be this stable."
"Stable?"
"The Artisan System uses magical power to alter the internal structure of materials. It is built upon a system of high-intensity spatial analysis and distance judgment. Apart from boosts provided by attributes and artisan-related skills, it can only be said that the knight possesses extraordinary talent in this area."
Fang Heng froze for a moment. He recalled that Scarpe and Mr. Quilod seemed to have said something similar to him before. But unlike Tata, they had been referring to his control over Flexible Constructs.
He could not help looking at his hands, wondering if he truly had considerable talent in this area.
Organizing the outline for Volume Two took up some time. I'll post earlier tomorrow.
Before you continue