1062 Can I Write You an IOU?
Practice makes perfect. Jhonas was able to control the flames with such finesse due to his strong foundation. Wang Zhong knew that both Jhonas and Nini were not wrong in saying that one should not rely on any shortcuts when building one’s foundation. One should practice every single day until it became instinctual. It seemed that Wang Zhong would need the help of a fire elemental spirit if he wanted to keep up with the pace at which the Pill Refinery Hall was going. If he only relied on his own efforts, he would fall way behind…
It appeared that everything was going smoothly for Jhonas since he was showing off his instinctual ability to control flames. For alchemists, designing a blueprint was the hardest part. Once you got past the beginner stage, the chances of something going wrong were slim unless there was an issue with your blueprint.
There weren’t many changes made to the shape of the sword’s mold. It was basically identical to that of the original Nebula Sword. Every civilization had a different interpretation of how a weapon should be constructed. Even if one tried to build a weapon while following the client’s instructions completely, there would still be some discrepancy in both parties’ thinking. However, as a family that specialized in equipment refinery, the Illusion race was rich in knowledge and had extensive experience in this field. Jhonas immediately understood what Lao Wang wanted when he saw the blueprint a few days ago. Currently, he was facing no trouble in forging the mold.
Lao Wang didn’t just stand around either. Ever since the production process started, he had been placing his hands on the mold, infusing spiritual energy into it. The most basic requirement for a custom weapon was that it had to be compatible with the user’s spiritual energy waveband. Jhonas skilfully engraved layers of runic arrays onto the sword that was slowly taking shape.
The process went rather smoothly as the Ice Crystal was mounted successfully in one go. The weapon was finally completed after they slogged away for half the day.
Lao Wang’s eyes lit up. He seemed to sense a faint connection between the sword and himself, as if they had known each other before. Based on its appearance, it was rather beautiful. Its streamlined blade design made it look very smooth, and its relatively thick sword-spine emanated a sense of power. This sword did not have a sharp point and looked like a blunt weapon. However, when you held it in your hand and infused your spiritual energy into it, the seemingly heavy sword would feel unusually light.
More importantly, after infusing his spiritual energy, Wang Zhong could clearly sense that the blade of the sword was unusually sharp. He moved it closer to his palm. When the blade was about three or four inches away, he could already feel an abnormally sharp cutting sensation on the surface of his palm. The sword managed to form a cut on his palm despite his strong defensive power!
It had the power and thickness of a saber, but at the same time, it was as light and as sharp as a light sword. This sword was indeed a work of art from the divine territory.
“How do you find it?” Jhonas wiped the sweat off his forehead, pretending to clean the furnace casually. Recently, Wang Zhong had been acting cool around him. It was finally his turn to do the same now. He couldn’t wait for Wang Zhong to praise and suck up to him.
“You are certainly a genius.” Wang Zhong didn’t hesitate in complimenting him. He infused spiritual energy in the sword again, and a humming sound could be heard immediately. The Ice Crystal was activated, and the surroundings cooled down instantly, as opposed to the extremely hot environment earlier as a result of using the furnace. “This sword has no sharp edge, yet it is so sharp. Its internal spiritual energy circuit runs rather smoothly, and I’m able to command it with ease. This is a great sword indeed.”
“Wait, what did you say?” Jhonas pricked up his ears.
“…I said that it is a great sword indeed.”
“No, the sentence before that!”
“Hmm… this sword has no sharp edge…”
“One more sentence before that!”
“…” Lao Wang finally understood. “You are certainly a genius.”
“Hehe… Boss, say no more.” Jhonas was satisfied and maintained an indifferent expression on his face. “Perhaps this would be an impossible feat for others, but to the Babi family, this isn’t much—”
Before he could finish his sentence, a loud bang sounded.
The sword that seemed so perfect a few moments ago suddenly shattered into pieces. Numerous sword fragments had exploded in all directions, accompanied by a boom sound.
Countless bottles and cans were shattered in the process. Sword fragments were poking out of the pink recliner, making it look like a beehive…
Jhonas and Lao Wang were taken aback and froze on the spot, dumbfounded. The surroundings were quiet for a moment.
Clang!
Suddenly, the mirror on the wall smashed onto the ground, making their hearts palpitate. Luckily, Jhonas was standing behind Lao Wang. Otherwise, the sword fragments from the explosion would have definitely pierced holes all over his body.
It took a long while for Jhonas to come back to his senses. The lovely young maiden-themed equipment refinery house had turned into a garbage dump instantly. Jhonas was flabbergasted. Damn, this was Senior Lavel’s property!
He couldn’t help but gulp a mouthful of saliva. “B—Boss, what have you done?” Jhonas asked while trembling.
“I didn’t do anything.” Lao Wang was speechless. It appeared that he had wasted tens of thousands on nothing as only half of the sword hilt was left in his hand. “I just adjusted my spiritual energy waveband…”
“Adjust— What the hell!” Jhonas was dumbfounded. Wang Zhong attempted to adjust his spiritual energy waveband? That was the “authentication password” for one’s custom weapon. How could he try to change it at will? Wait… No. Wasn’t one’s spiritual energy waveband fixed, just like one’s DNA? It was innate and not a problem of intensity. What was going on?
Creak…
Before Jhonas could start dissing Wang Zhong, someone opened the door to the room. It was Senior Lavel with a dark expression. She hadn’t strayed far from the equipment refinery house and was resting at a lounge nearby. Upon hearing the loud commotion, she hurried over immediately.
It seemed that they were amateurs at making combat weapons indeed. They were only trying to create a sword, yet something went wrong? Lavel originally found it a little funny, until she opened the door and saw the hopeless mess inside. Lavel was known to be the kindest and gentlest senior sister among the Fire Demon race here, yet her face was black now. A powerful aura overwhelmed the entire room.
Sweat dripped down Lao Wang’s forehead. Frankly speaking, Balor was nothing compared to Senior Lavel.
The Blood Demon race was merely an appendage of the Fire Demon race. Lavel was the most powerful existence here. She had been keeping a low profile as she didn’t want to bother to fight with the weak. Nonetheless, it would be really stupid to anger someone from the Fire Demon race.
Jhonas almost peed his pants. “Senior Lavel, it was an accident! We didn’t do it on purpose…”
“What happened?” Lavel cut him off mid-sentence, not giving him a chance to speak.
“Senior Lavel, I adjusted my spiritual energy waveband to test out the durability of the sword,”—Lao Wang looked less tense than Jhonas—”but the sword exploded. It’s my fault,” he said apologetically.
He was expecting Lavel to rage or talk about the compensation directly, but she was merely taken aback. “You adjusted your spiritual energy waveband? How can a mere Foundational Stage newbie accomplish that? Show me how you did it!” Lavel sneered.
Since she requested to see how he did it, Lao Wang complied. He stuck out a finger, and spiritual energy burst out of his fingertips, the color gradually changing from dark to white. It was as if the spiritual energy belonged to two different people.
“…” Lavel didn’t speak but frowned, appearing to be thinking about something. However, it was obvious that the anger on her face had disappeared and been replaced with something else.
Nonetheless, it was a good thing that she had calmed down. Beside her, Jhonas was slightly relieved.
After about four or five seconds, she finally spoke, “I won’t pursue the matter further. But, you guys should pay for the stuff that you have broken.”
“Of course we will!” Jhonas nodded furiously, relieved that he and Lao Wang managed to get out of trouble.
Lavel scanned the room full of broken stuff. “I don’t like to delve into details. I spent 2,000 Gold Star Stones on the furnishing and decorations of this room. You can compensate me for that amount.”
“Two… two thousand… Gold Star Stones?!” Jhonas’s mouth was wide open, and his expression changed instantly. “Senior Lavel, this…”
The things in the equipment refinery house were considered to be relatively strong. It was hard to damage things such as hammers, molds, and runic arrays. The sword explosion had only destroyed stuff such as the recliner and mirror, but were they really worth 2,000 Gold Star Stones? That was equivalent to 200,000 Silver Star Stones! Who was the one who said that Senior Lavel was kind? That wasn’t true at all!
“I don’t accept bargaining. You guys better not test my patience,” Lavel said coldly.
“Senior Lavel, we really don’t have that sum of money lying around,” Jhonas mustered up the courage to answer. Although the Babi family was rich, they definitely wouldn’t be taken advantage of. This was their family’s belief and principle. They would rather be dead than scammed. Besides, as a descendant who had not officially inherited the family business, money was of utmost importance! The Babi family would not want their heir to be someone who was easily swindled!
Lavel didn’t even spare a glance at Jhonas but turned to look at Wang Zhong.
Lao Wang felt helpless. He still had 400,000 Silver Star Stones in his pocket a few days ago, but he had already spent it on buying raw materials. He only had tens of thousands of Silver Star Stones left. That definitely wouldn’t be enough to compensate for the losses.
“I’m not intending to bargain, but I really have no money now. Can I pay you back next time?” Lao Wang seemed pretty sincere. “I can write you an IOU.”
Jhonas wanted to cover his head in shame. This was an example of how people from weak civilizations couldn’t adapt to the rules of the divine territory. IOUs didn’t exist past the Heavenly Gates. There was no such term here. Senior Lavel would never accept it!