Chapter 429: Three-Step Plan
Ever since she began walking this world alone with her own consciousness, all the shocks she had experienced combined were nothing compared to what she had gone through in this short span of time.
Especially when she saw Steven casually pull out a wooden table carved with a ridiculously crude nine-grid pattern right in front of her—she simply could not comprehend what he was trying to do.
But the moment he placed his sword and that drop of blood onto the wooden table, she witnessed a scene unlike anything she had ever seen in her life.
There was no warning, none of the heaven-shaking visions that accompanied the forging of divine weapons. It was like a carpenter casually sawing off a piece of wood. As Steven reached toward the table, the drop of blood immediately began fusing with the sword.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. The blood that had been radiating a dense power of rules completely vanished—only the sword lying on the table remained, proving to Nian that she had not been hallucinating.
And the moment Steven lifted the seemingly unchanged blade, the aura emanating from Yamato—the will to slice through all creation—burst forth completely.
Nian didn't even need to look closely to know: even if it hadn't reached whatever effect Steven originally wanted, the power it now released had already surpassed the qualifications to cut apart gods.
It was a divine weapon—one capable of killing a god—crafted right before her eyes.
Only when she leaned in did she finally notice the almost invisible difference from before:
—On the center of the original white hilt, there was now a thin, hair-like crimson line, like a blood vessel pulsing faintly.
"You… how did you do that?"
Her eyes were filled with disbelief as she stared at Steven. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would never believe someone could so easily perform a perfect fusion of weapon and material.
Even if she used her full authority to assist in forging, the best she could do was draw out maybe ninety-five percent of the blood's power. But this—this was a flawless merge.
Everything pointed toward that mysterious table.
As her thoughts clicked into place, Nian's gaze shifted, naked greed directed at the wooden table before him. Even as a Fragment of Sui, she had never seen such a miraculous thing—how could something like that exist?
"How did I do it? I just put the two items together, stuck them into the crafting table, and took out the result. Were you expecting some special ritual or something?"
For a Minecrafter, using a crafting table was practically instinct. When it came to synthesis, there were really only three steps:
—Put the items on the table.
—Adjust their placement.
—Take out the finished product.
As for the crafting table's operating principles… that wasn't something Steven bothered to think about. Minecraft mechanics were full of absurd quirks—if he tried to rationalize every one of them, he'd never have time to live his life.
"...You… Forget it. Your table—can you lend it to me so I can study it?"
Her interest instantly shifted from Yamato to the crafting table. Nian was one moment away from leaping onto the thing and dismantling it for research.
For a master smith like her, this function was simply terrifying.
"I don't really mind your… enthusiasm anymore. But before that—can you tell me why I can no longer feel that faint connection I had with my sword?"
Steven spoke while eyeing the girl who had already pounced on his crafting table without permission and was caressing it like some kind of obsessed maniac. Only then did he voice the question lingering in his mind.
Before the fusion, he could sense Yamato the same way he sensed Shoggy. But after merging it with that drop of blood, the feeling vanished completely. Did the fusion somehow erase the consciousness the sword had developed—like wiping off an enchantment? That would be a massive loss.
Unsure, he looked to the only expert around—Nian—while holding the still-sheathed Yamato with a bitter smile.
"That's not the only reaction," Nian replied casually while her hands continued exploring the crafting table. "Right now you should find it pretty hard to draw that sword at all. But don't worry—just think of it as having taken too big a dose of supplements. It's passed out and needs time to digest the energy. You understand that metaphor, right?"
She spoke lightly, though her focus was clearly glued to the table. While she had never forged a weapon with its own consciousness, she had seen many of that type—had even strengthened some herself back in the day. She could instantly tell what state Yamato was in.
"Once it's done digesting the power and rules infused into it, you'll regain your mental link. I mean, the poor thing fainted—did you expect it to still answer your calls?"
Using the easiest explanation she could think of, she absentmindedly inserted the two broken halves of her folding fan into the crafting table… and watched with wide eyes as it returned a perfectly restored fan. She opened and waved it in disbelief.
To break and restore an artifact like that—since when was it this easy?
This table's ability… wasn't it a little too ridiculous?
Steven, meanwhile, was quietly impressed. He never expected her to figure out some of the crafting mechanics that quickly.
Is she actually a genius? he wondered.
With that thought, Steven swiftly retrieved the crafting table into his inventory right before her "I-want-to-eat-this-thing" stare burned a hole through him. Then he backed away.
"Well, I won't bother you anymore today. Thanks again for the help."
Like hell he'd stick around—if she learned that he also owned an even more broken item like the anvil, she'd latch onto him and never let go.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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