Chapter 1070 - 523: The Path of Creation (Part 2)

Chapter 1070: Chapter 523: The Path of Creation (Part 2)

However, for the people who came, she didn’t even need to fob them off with a few lines like "investigating the empire", she simply ignored them outright.

In their eyes, this facility beneath the Magic Navigation Beacon was a ruin discovered amid the aftershocks of elemental tremors triggered during the war.

Elaphia asked Li Ang, "Did you do something?"

"Yes."

Li Ang secretly used a bit of Spiritual Driving, so that those people would find this whole affair even hazier in hindsight. That was the safest approach—there wouldn’t even be traces left showing that the group had appeared in Makena.

"Witch, tsk tsk... should I recruit a few of that kind of teammate too?" A Xiang sighed.

"You’d better not." Li Ang chuckled.

The Spiritual Forger legacy—this Profession that is extremely hard to learn yet has a huge impact on the world—whether to reveal it to the other people in Nebis, how to handle it, all needed careful thought. Clearly, now was not the time.

"Where am I supposed to find a High-tier Curse Master? I was just praising you—hoping we can keep working together in the future." A Xiang laughed.

On Makena Island Country, only Melegon knew why Li Ang, Elaphia, and the others had appeared here. Over these few days, no news at all had come from the Golden Country Secret Realm, which let everyone feel slightly more at ease.

The Weapon God and the Cloudwalkers Guild’s Flying Airships were still over by the Secret Realm. If any news did arrive, it would mean Fafnir had stirred up huge waves.

Boarding an ordinary Order Knight Airship leaving Makena, everyone flew once more toward the Golden Country.

After the journey, when they entered port again, they immediately saw the Flying Airship they had used to come here. Once they regrouped with the people aboard, they learned that Fafnir had previously unfolded a Highly Poisonous Domain, with its corrosive force spreading outward. The two ships realized they couldn’t withstand it, so according to the prearranged plan, they took off first.

The entire mountain housing the Dwarf Imperial Palace beneath it had collapsed, corrosive force spreading outward and disturbing the Poisonous Dragon Mud left in the Secret Realm, triggering a small-scale Magical Disaster.

The Magical Disaster expanded outward; some Adventurers who failed to evacuate in time were harmed. Fortunately, the Magical Disaster wasn’t very powerful, so the damage was not severe.

However, this Secret Realm had temporarily become unsuitable for exploration. Many Adventurers had already withdrawn after taking a short rest. The once bustling temporary market they saw when arriving had grown much quieter.

The two councilors handed information over to the Guild office, reporting news equivalent to a High-Ranking Veil Demon Beast—a Demon Dragon descending. After that, the Guild would also dispatch monitoring teams and investigation teams to track Fafnir’s whereabouts.

This Poison Dragon was indeed Cunning and Deceitful. It hadn’t appeared in a showy fashion but was lurking somewhere—perhaps still in the Dwarf Secret Realm, perhaps already somewhere else, replenishing its Power to carry out a scheme.

Li Ang knew that matters between him and it were not over. It had set its sights on him.

Still, thanks to Elaphia, he didn’t have to worry about any of these wrap-up affairs.

After that, Li Ang and Aifei also said goodbye to the Cloud Wanderer.

Having been played by "Zerlase Calio", the Cloud Wanderer would not just let it go. Later they would also send people to Thousand Tower City—whether A Xiang would go, Li Ang didn’t know.

That put a bit of pressure on Li Ang. He wanted to figure out the matter involving Sif ahead of them, to prevent Viel’s daughter from getting caught up in something before the truth was clear.

Of course, where punishment was due there definitely would be some. She had serious issues.

Reboarding the Weapon God for the return trip, Li Ang chatted with Aifei and the others again about Fafnir.

"That Dragon really doesn’t match the usual traits of the Dragon Race. Its pride comes from actual battle records, not innate arrogance."

Li Ang sensed the Spirituality of the Wind Dragon lingering nearby. Ever since losing face, that brat hadn’t shown up again. That was what typical Dragon Race behavior looked like.

But Fafnir—its Soul Stealing ability was so vicious, terrifying, and tricky, yet it came with a flaw: the stolen soul would fuse with its original soul, becoming indistinguishable.

"For a truly proud existence, it would only allow itself to devour others, not merge with other existences. But it doesn’t care—in fact, it proudly displays the extra limbs grown from that." Li Ang said.

"Great Witch, you’re saying all those disgusting claws on that Dragon each represent a different soul?" Diao’s face was full of revulsion.

"Yes. That’s how it got here—from the Ancient Era, when it gazed up at the radiance of the Dragon God and Primordial Being from within the muck."

"Does that Power perhaps not come from the Dragon Race?" Farlonio said from the side.

Glancing at this brown-haired Douding who also knew quite a bit about Wyrm Dragons, Li Ang said, "I have the same feeling—especially this time, realizing it might be colluding with a Demon makes it even more concrete. This actually resembles a Demon’s Power somewhat."

"If some Demon can use that kind of ability too, that’s pretty tricky." Aifei said.

"Yeah."

Li Ang mulled over, in his heart, whether there was any Spirit Casting Art that could effectively counter this ability.

On the way back to Sword Platform Island, Farlonio kept coming over now and then to nag at Li Ang.

In the end, she still took a Treasure Artifact from her collection and handed it to A Xiang, even though she had already agreed to this. But her merchant nature made her grumble over it every so often.

"I was originally planning to give Mr. Li Ang a permanent ten-percent discount. Now that discount is going to pay off the price of the Treasure Artifact instead—until the debt’s cleared."

Faced with this Falo, Li Ang just smiled and let her be. This hardly counted as debt collection or repayment; it was just that she had to calculate things several times over before feeling at ease.

In the Alma Family, Li Ang had two things to do.

One was to use the Land of Ten Thousand Spirits Teleportation Gate to investigate Ernest’s past. The other was to forge the Weapon Blondie Douding would use in her next round of matches.

After a good night’s rest, the forge fires in the smithing room were already burning the next morning.

"This opponent at the end of November is good at using a Chain Blade, stacking Magic Power and Brute Force step by step through swinging the Chains, until the attack Power reaches a level not inferior to a Giant Weapon, while staying highly flexible." Farlonio said.

The three of them discussed while designing the Weapon for Elaphia’s next battle.

Before they settled on a final plan, most of Li Ang’s time was spent on practice.

Here they had rare materials stored by the First Family, and various precious ores collected from the Dwarf Imperial Palace. Once taken out, if not for the Magic Furnace sitting there, the entire smithing room would have looked like it had turned into a shimmering Treasure Vault straight out of legend.

With these things, Li Ang’s Artisan Level surged rapidly.

Meanwhile, Diao once again began living a bored life, Lily as well. Besides Cultivation, the two would occasionally go to the Alma Family’s martial arena for sparring practice, then during breaks, come to the forge to watch Li Ang at work.

Diao usually sat to one side, propping her chin on her hand, or leafing through some book from the Alma Family library about the outside world.

Lily, having failed to find those erotic novels in Elaphia’s library and totally bored, pestered Li Ang with questions—mostly about all sorts of steps in the Equipment forging process—giving him a distinct feeling of leading Zoe around like in the beginning.

By November 20th, Li Ang had accumulated enough experience to surpass his previous level and reach the realm of Outstanding Artisan.

As the system poured knowledge into his mind, the things he had previously grasped from the Melting and Gathering Law, the diagrams in Ernest’s Secret Vault, and the knowledge in the Material Magic Scripture all instantly merged together, interlinking.

It was like when he first obtained the Divine Eye Helmet and opened the Spiritual Horizon—everything he saw ahead of him was now marked with new information.

This had nothing to do with the Profession’s realm; it was a deeper understanding of the world from another angle.

No wonder Ernest could memorize so much of the Creation Furnace’s structure just by watching.

"Looks like this trip had quite an impact on you." Elaphia watched from the side and picked up on Li Ang’s reaction.

"Yeah, I’ve started to examine the world from a new angle."

[Prompt: Main Control detected to have mastered (Spirit Casting Art: Apocalypse Device). Beginning reverse integration of abilities—]

[Prompt: Skill (Treasure Creation) acquired. Due to world permission restrictions, only semi-finished Treasure Artifacts can be forged. (Return to Creation Furnace) quest line activated. Key quest implements detected—please raise Alchemy Tier to fully master them and open the path]

[Prompt: Artisan Level breakthrough achieved. Current Level: 8]

The system prompts rang out one after another, proving Li Ang’s previous conjecture correct—the Apocalypse Device was indeed the ultimate form of Treasure Artifacts, and the system’s Support had backfilled his Craftsmanship, directly boosting him to Tier 8.

Using Tier 8 Artisan skill to forge Tier Seven Equipment that meets competition standards was naturally a breeze.

When the Weapon prepared for Elaphia reached perfection in the forge’s flames, he took her hand, ready to open the Gate of the Spiritual Dimension.