The next day, leaving the girls to rest, I shifted to a parallel world.
When were the best artifacts made? If we exclude other cycles, it's the present time, with the freshest research. For example, the Contract Ring, which allows a non-summoning element mage to acquire a contract beast.
It was created relatively recently but hasn't gained wide popularity because it's insanely expensive. Price-wise, it's comparable to the best Soul Seeds, but it doesn't bring much benefit to mages who can afford that sum.
Not everyone gets as lucky as Zhao Manyan in canon, who got himself a shark pup that grew to Emperor level in record time.
Pups with good bloodlines are hard to get for a simple reason—their parents won't just hand them over; they'll bury you a couple hundred meters deep. After all, they're at least mid Warlords.
Taking pups with weaker bloodlines isn't worthwhile at that ring's price. So in my entire previous life, I saw fewer than five mages using them.
Subjugating non-pups is useless; you can't form a strong bond with them since creatures at that level already have personalities and intellect on par with humans.
Who among them would want to submit to a weak species? That's exactly how humans appear in monsters' eyes—weak.
I plan to acquire a Contract Ring myself after reaching High level in the summoning and subjugation elements and mastering all its stars. Since raising pairs of creatures has already proven effective.
Bul and Pikachu, besides being good friends, are also rivals who don't want to yield to each other. That's the kind of relationship I want to build with the future second Contract Beast and the ring's contractor. To buy artifacts for Intermediate Tier mages or order fusion magic gloves, you don't need the top master. Someone with good experience in making such items is enough.
I'm not forging a full linked set from an Emperor's corpse here; no need for top-tier skills or cultivation. Even an apprentice artifactor could make the gloves.
So after digging through info, I shifted to the mid-sized city of Dashun. Ten years ago, a good artifactor died there who could forge High level mage artifacts, though not the absolute best.
He fits my needs perfectly, so I arrived a couple years before his death. By then, his productivity had already dropped, and the quality of his work dipped slightly.
His worthy orders nearly dried up. He wouldn't take beginner-level trivia or standard Intermediate artifacts; he considered it beneath him. And he'd saved enough money in his life to work now mostly for pleasure.
Knowing the exact coordinates, I shifted to the alley nearest his workshop. From outside, it looked like a nondescript building.
Inside, I first hit a reception desk, but no one was there. Probably let the staff go due to lack of orders.
Going deeper and opening a door, I found the artifactor's workshop. It was a jumble of topic books, a workbench, and all sorts of tools useful for artifact creation. It mostly resembled a steampunk's hideout.
From the workshop's depths came the steady clang of a smith's hammer, and I cautiously followed the sound.
There I saw a wiry old man with a magnificent gray beard. You could tell he'd been a mountain of muscle in his youth, but time had withered him, though he was still pretty strong.
Right then, as far as I could tell, he was forging a blank for an offensive artifact. Glints from the flames kept reflecting off his special glasses.
After a couple more strikes on the blank, the old man set the hammer aside and lifted his glasses onto his forehead.
"What do you want? I told you I don't make crap! You've all worn me out, thinking if I have no orders, I'll take any junk?! I'm Pin Shan, I don't make junk!" spitting saliva, the gray-haired geezer started yelling at me.
"You misunderstood me, Master Pin. I'm here to place an order for three full sets of the highest quality artifacts for Intermediate Tier mages. Armor, shield, boots, and everything else. My main thing is they must be top quality. You can choose the materials yourself, even if rare; getting them won't be a problem for me. I have one condition: no souls in the artifacts. Also, one set must be able to feed on and temporarily boost its properties from soul absorption," I outlined the order's general features.
A guy passionate about his work won't refuse rare materials, especially at the end of his career. Now just convince him I can actually get them.
"Hmm, quite an interesting order. And so many at once. You sure you're not bullshitting?" the old man calmed down and eyed me suspiciously. My young age clearly didn't inspire trust.
"Let's discuss what materials you need for the artifacts, and I'll bring them within a week? I can leave magical resources worth a hundred million yuan as collateral. If you want cash collateral and payment, they'll need selling first. I'm an Explorer Hunter; I don't hoard cash," I suggested to the old man.
I hesitate to use money from my world; who knows the tiny differences. Resources are always solid currency.
"No need to sell anything. My experienced eyes won't be fooled; I can roughly gauge values. Come with me, unload the collateral in the storage room, and we'll sign the papers. Then discuss materials for the artifacts. Note, I didn't pull your tongue; I'll ask for the rarest," a spark lit in the old man's eyes.
After I unloaded a hundred million yuan worth of resources into his storage, the old man perked up and treated me much warmer. Seeing I was serious, he wasn't letting this chance slip.
Who else would bring a fading artifactor expensive rare materials? Only a madman unconcerned about wasting precious stuff. Or me, too lazy to wait a year in other masters' queues. I'd checked; they were booked solid.
Until evening, the old man and I discussed the future artifacts and their properties. I described the girls' cultivation levels and elements for the two top-quality but standard sets.
The third set, mine, sparked the most debate. Since it needed to absorb souls for power and temporary boosts, it required the most specific materials. From this intriguing work, the old man planned to squeeze max properties, running tons of calculations and compatibility checks.
By evening, a preliminary material list for the old man was made. Preliminary, since we hadn't finalized the third set.
The old man said he'd finish the first two and calculate the optimal artifact design for my set in the meantime. I was fine with that; protect the girls first.
"By the way, Master Pin, could you make artifact gloves for my girl as jewelry in your downtime? Here's the blueprint I drew; just add pretty patterns, please," I handed him the sketch I'd drawn. Thank god these gloves have a super simple structure. Pin Zhou Lun was a real genius.
"Hmm, yeah very simple; it'll take a couple hours. I wouldn't normally take such basic work, but since you cheered me up, sure. After you bring the first batch of materials, I'll work on them in a break," the old man promised. Surprisingly easy to deal with if you bring an interesting order. True enthusiast.
"Then until next time. I'll bring the first material batch tomorrow," I shook the old man's hand.
So while the girls rested, I spent the whole week hopping parallel worlds, gathering artifact materials.