Chapter 96: New System Quest!

Back in Valoria, the first thing Damian did was absolutely nothing productive.

He slept!

Sure, there were plans to execute, equipment to craft, materials to inspect, a business empire to manage, cultivation to advance and about fifty other things sitting somewhere inside the increasingly overcrowded schedule Damian called his life, but they could all fuck off for a while!

The fellow was bushed!

Within the span of a single day, Damian had revitalized a battlefield camp that had been practically waiting for death, fought an entire battle against the Nightmare Corpse Sect, captured Ning Ruomei, burned eighty-two people out of existence, then somehow followed all of that by picking a fight with a five-thousand-year-old Semi-Divine Beast because apparently his survival instincts enjoyed recreational unemployment.

And Ao Longtian had not been some convenient punching bag either.

That enormous bastard had made Damian bleed, smashed through his defenses, nearly destroyed the Spirit Boat and forced him to actually dig through multiple layers of his Valorian arsenal before finally going down beneath a Grandmaster <Fireball>.

Damian had, at least, earned a nap!

And a very long nap at that!

He kicked off his shoes the moment he reached his bedroom, stripped off his robes with approximately zero concern for where they landed, then collapsed face-first onto the bed.

"Ahhh..."

Wonderful.

His eyes closed.

Less than ten seconds later, Damian Baines was completely unconscious.

............

When Damian opened his eyes again, sunlight was streaming through his windows.

He stared blankly at the ceiling for several seconds.

Then frowned.

"...What time is it?"

He checked the magitech clock and found that it was mid-morning.

Damian slowly sat upright and checked how long he had been asleep.

...more than sixteen hours?

"Jesus man."

Apparently, his body had been waiting for permission to shut down.

He rolled his shoulders and immediately noticed some lingering soreness from yesterday’s battle.

His chest still ached faintly where Ao Longtian’s Bloodline Breath had broken through his defenses, while several muscles complained when Damian stretched too sharply.

Nothing serious.

His absurd Constitution and proper rest had handled most of the punishment already.

Mentally though, Damian felt fantastic!

He was completely refreshed, sharp, and clear.

More importantly...

His resources had refilled!

Damian immediately checked.

Mental Energy was full.

Mana was full.

Mage Spell Slots were restored.

Divine Spell Slots were also restored.

His various internal reserves and recoverable combat resources had all returned to their maximum states.

Damian stared at the information for several seconds before slowly smiling.

"Now that’s what I call a good night’s sleep."

Yesterday he had been juggling Spell Slots like emergency ammunition, worrying about Mental Energy expenditure and discovering firsthand just how quickly a supposedly large resource pool could disappear when fighting something that refused to die.

Today, everything was loaded again and ready to be mag-dumped on foes.

Hehe, excellent!

However, before Damian began doing anything even remotely resembling work, there was one more important matter.

He smelled like a sewer.

............

One of Damian’s favorite luxuries inside his Rosewood residence was the private bath.

This was a proper bath considered even luxurious on earth, with pipes running through the walls and fed directly into a large tub, while magical enchantments allowed the water temperature to be heated or cooled without needing somebody to spend half an hour boiling kettles downstairs.

Magic really was wonderful!

Damian sank into the hot water with a satisfied sigh.

"Ahhhhh..."

His muscles immediately began relaxing.

He remained there for several minutes before washing properly, scrubbing away sweat, dried blood and everything else accumulated across two worlds.

Then, naturally, Damian started singing.

"Heyyy, Sexy Ladyyy~!"

His voice echoed throughout the bathing room.

Damian paused.

"Hoh?"

That actually sounded pretty decent!

He continued with considerably more confidence, happily mangling his way through what little Korean he remembered while supplying the rest through enthusiastic humming, improvised noises and shameless commitment.

His <Actor> Feat apparently had opinions about performance.

The moment Damian actually tried carrying a tune, subtle instinctive corrections entered his breathing, pitch, projection and rhythm.

He was not suddenly some legendary bard capable of making grown men cry with one sustained note, but compared to his ordinary singing voice?

Damn!

"Maybe I should’ve joined a boy band."

Several rooms away, Stella stopped walking while Ronan slowly lowered the cup in his hand.

Both listened as a muffled but surprisingly competent...

"OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!"

...came through the residence.

Stella looked at Ronan and Ronan looked at Stella.

Neither spoke, rendered completely speechless.

............

Damian eventually emerged fully dressed, freshly washed and in considerably better spirits than any man who had vaporized part of a river the previous day had a right to possess.

He entered the common area, and Stella as well as Ronan were already there, though both looked at him strangely.

Damian stopped. "What is it?"

Stella hesitated. "Lord..."

"Hm?"

"...That song."

Damian’s eyebrows rose. "What about it?"

"Where did you hear it? It was... strangely catchy." Stella asked.

Ronan glanced over with obvious interest, though the old drunkard attempted to pretend otherwise.

Damian stared at the two of them before realization arrived, then he laughed.

"Oh! That’s something from my original world. I was just reminiscing."

Stella nodded slowly. "Your original world has unusual music."

"You have no idea."

Damian smiled to himself.

Between Valoria, Shengyuan, gods, cultivation, magic, undead cultists and ancient river dragons, occasionally remembering that somewhere in another life an entire planet had collectively decided horse-riding dance moves were peak entertainment felt good.

Stella eventually moved on.

"What is your itinerary today, My Lord?"

Damian’s expression immediately brightened.

"Only one real target."

Ronan frowned.

Damian spread his arms.

"I’m crafting my new set!"

Silence.

Stella blinked, Ronan blinked, then both looked at one another.

"...You craft?" Ronan asked.

Damian looked offended.

"Of course I craft!"

Since when?

Neither servant voiced the question, but their faces did a spectacular job of asking it anyway.

Ronan knew Damian as a Mage, businessman, bizarrely talented fighter and walking magnet for supernatural nonsense.

Stella had personally watched him produce products and knowledge that seemed to fall from heaven.

Neither had ever seen their master sit down and manufacture equipment.

Damian waved dismissively. "You’ll understand soon enough. Get ready."

"Where are we going?" Stella asked.

"The Mages Association."

............

Before leaving, Damian collected the Valorian materials he had previously requested through the Mages Association.

Those resources joined the enormous collection already sitting inside his System Space.

Shengyuan materials from the Evergreen Sect, more from the Azure Water Sect, Valorian magical components, processed metals, monster materials, rare substances.

And, naturally...

Ao Longtian.

Damian’s thoughts briefly passed over the Jiao’s enormous corpse.

A five-thousand-year-old Semi-Divine Beast carrying draconic bloodline characteristics and enough raw physical power to threaten early Golden Core cultivators.

If Damian was going to create a new equipment set...

He might as well stop thinking small.

The carriage carried them through Rosewood Town until the towering Mages Association came into view.

Damian entered like someone increasingly accustomed to belonging there.

His status handled the rest.

"I need a private crafting room."

The attendant straightened.

"Certainly, Lord Viscount. What grade of workroom?"

"The best one available."

The attendant paused.

Naturally.

Why had she even bothered asking?

"The highest-grade private workrooms are ten Gold Coins per hour, Lord Viscount."

Stella nearly bit her own tongue. "Ten?!"

Ronan grabbed his chest. "Per hour?!"

The attendant smiled professionally. "Yes."

Ronan looked personally betrayed by civilization.

Ten Gold Coins!

For a room!

For one hour!

His master was too green!

Far too green!

And this Association was too blackhearted!

What kind of room charged ten Gold Coins merely for existing around you?!

Did the walls provide massages?!

Did the floor grind experience on your behalf?!

Were the chairs made from Dragon bones?!

Damian barely reacted. "That’s fine, open it up for me."

Ronan’s fingers tightened over his chest.

Young people!

No respect for money!

Absolutely none!!

The attendant quickly processed the payment before Damian had an opportunity to experience financial enlightenment.

A Mage employee escorted them deeper into the Association.

The so-called crafting rooms were considerably more sophisticated than the name suggested.

Mages used them for virtually anything requiring privacy, magical containment or specialized equipment.

From potion brewing to scroll inscription, magical research, experimental spell structures, enchanting, material testing, runic work, and artifact assembly.

Even dangerous theoretical experiments that sensible people preferred not performing inside their bedrooms were freely done here.

Damian’s selected room sat among the Association’s highest-quality facilities.

The moment the reinforced door opened, he understood the price slightly better.

Large adjustable worktables occupied the center while specialized furnaces lined one wall.

There were alchemical heating stations, precision scales, magical cutting implements, containment chambers, engraving tools, mana-resistant surfaces and several pieces of equipment Damian recognized immediately through his acquired crafting knowledge.

Other pieces required a second glance before their purpose became obvious.

The room’s environmental enchantments could regulate heat, humidity, airflow and magical contamination.

Multiple defensive arrays protected the walls, ventilation systems handled magical fumes, and mana conduits could power compatible equipment directly.

There were even isolated testing sections for finished products.

Damian nodded appreciatively. "Okay, this is nice."

Behind him, Ronan muttered. "Not ten Gold an hour nice."

Damian ignored him and stepped inside, then turned back toward Ronan and Stella.

"You two stay outside."

Stella frowned.

"You don’t require assistance?"

"Nope."

Ronan glanced into the room.

"What exactly are you doing in there?"

"Working."

"That explains nothing."

"Correct."

Damian smiled and began closing the door.

"Stand guard and make sure nobody disturbs me."

Ronan stared at his master, then at the extremely expensive room, and sighed.

"Yes, Lord Damian."

Stella nodded.

"We’ll make sure you’re uninterrupted."

"Excellent."

THUNK!

The reinforced door closed, and now Damian was finally alone.

............

His smile gradually widened.

"Alright."

Now came the fun part.

Damian approached the largest worktable and began removing materials from System Space.

He did not dump everything out as that would have been absurd.

Instead, he organized the resources according to intended purpose while mentally assembling the project.

The goal itself was straightforward, a complete personal equipment set.

It was not going to be one made of random pieces gathered independently because each happened to possess a useful effect.

It would be an elite set designed around Damian and everything he could currently do.

This included Mage spellcasting, physical combat, cultivation, stealth, mobility, defense, and utility.

And eventually... Bladesinging!

That last part mattered.

Whatever Damian created needed to accommodate where he was going rather than merely where he stood today.

His <Artifact Refining> had already reached Low Grade Three, which supplied the core Shengyuan crafting knowledge.

But the materials before him crossed far beyond ordinary Artifact Refining.

Some needed Alchemy preparation before becoming usable, certain spiritual substances had to be treated using his Spirit Planting knowledge to preserve their natural properties after harvesting, arrays would be necessary for internal energy routing, storage and specialized effects, and Talisman principles offered another route for inscribing functional patterns where conventional Artifact Refining became inefficient.

Even his Valorian Arcane Knowledge had obvious applications wherever magical materials refused to behave according to Shengyuan assumptions.

That was precisely why Damian had purchased such an apparently nonsensical mixture.

He was not planning to use one profession, which was exactly why he had spent all those skill points acquiring the Hundred Arts.

Why the hell would he craft like a specialist?

Damian began separating several categories.

Metals and mineral materials formed one group, spirit woods and plant products another, beast components went elsewhere, and Valorian magical substances received their own section.

Finally, Damian opened System Space and briefly examined Ao Longtian’s remains.

His gaze lingered.

"...Buddy, we’re about to make something awesome."

Hopefully the old Jiao would appreciate that.

Damian closed the storage interface and rubbed his hands together.

He already knew roughly what he wanted.

A combat outfit rather than cumbersome armor, footwear optimized for movement, something for the head without compromising awareness, as well as accessories capable of filling the numerous utility gaps he had identified during yesterday’s battle.

And finally...

A weapon!

Damian smiled.

That one had been waiting for a while.

His Flying Sword!

With <Seven-Turn Sword Art> perfected and <Artifact Refining> reaching Grade Three, continuing to procrastinate would qualify as self-sabotage.

This set would bring everything together!

Damian pulled a chair toward the worktable and began mentally sequencing the project.

Prepare materials first, refine incompatible components, create the physical foundations, establish energy channels, lay Arrays, and add inscriptions where appropriate.

Finally, integrate Valorian magical principles only when doing so actually improved the item rather than because mixing systems sounded cool.

Then test, adjust and repeat.

No need to rush.

He had paid ten Gold Coins per hour after all.

Damian’s expression changed.

Wait, perhaps there was some need to rush.

"Tsk. Blackhearted bastards."

He reached toward the first material, then stopped.

A familiar screen suddenly appeared before him.

Ding!

Damian froze.

"...Hoh?"

[Side Quest Generated.]

His hand slowly withdrew from the material.

The System continued.

[New Optional Side Quest Available!]

[Quest Name: A Creator’s Joy!]

[Description: Power acquired is valuable, but power created by one’s own hands carries a different meaning. The Host has accumulated multiple crafting disciplines across both realms and now intends to forge a complete equipment set suited to his personal path!]

[Objective: Create a complete set of equipment through your own abilities by crafting 1 Top, 1 Bottom, 1 Footwear, 1 Headwear, 5 Accessories, and 1 Weapon!]

[Reward: Special Power — <The Divine Forge>.]

Damian stared at the final line, his eyes slowly widening.

"...a new Special Power?!"

The smile that appeared afterward was dangerous!

Very dangerous!