Chapter 41: Forging

Petty planned to gradually sell off the remaining miscellaneous items and belongings over the next two months. Even though she had gotten through this time without real danger thanks to Zheng Yichen and Kaysa, if she sold things too frequently, the attention she received would only grow.

There weren’t many secrets in the Black Market; some things could be learned with just a little probing.

Eighty gold coins, plus what she already had, meant she now held over a hundred gold coins. That was enough to buy some ordinary houses, not to mention renting one.

Petty had no intention of buying an ordinary house. If it were just her, doing so would be fine. But now that Zheng Yichen was with her, buying an ordinary house would feel like she was just making do, which for someone who wanted to “conquer” a dragon, was truly unbecoming!

Besides, the money itself came from Zheng Yichen. If she continued living that frugal, pinch-penny life… it wouldn’t be good at all.

For now, renting was better. Just two months; it wouldn’t cost many gold coins to rent a very nice place.

“You’re saying this thing can still get stronger later?” Zheng Yichen asked, his tone a bit odd, as he held the Magic Arm that Loris had returned to him. He observed it carefully. Sure enough, the Mana intensity contained within was now over half higher than a few days ago. It seemed the upper limit on gathering Mana within the Magic Arm had been broken.

“Yes, as long as it isn’t shattered by someone,” Loris said. She had been studying this Magic Arm these past few days and had gained a thorough understanding of its internal structure. Through Zheng Yichen’s tinkering, the internal structure of this Magic Arm had transformed into a new type of composite Magical Structure.

Such a Magical Structure could not be replicated unless Zheng Yichen could recreate the Magic Rune Array of this composite structure. The recreated Magic Rune Array definitely wouldn’t be the original few independent ones. Moreover, due to the enhancement effect of the gathering magic, this Magic Arm possessed the characteristic of Permanent Magic.

Permanent Magic, as the name suggests, was magic that maintained its effect over a long duration. It usually required material assistance to create.

“The reason… is it still that so-called ‘Talent’?” Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue. He had a Talent somewhat similar to “theft,” which was also why he could seize magic.

“Mhmm, the effect brought by your kind of Talent was imparted onto the magic,” Loris nodded. That was also the reason she interfered with the magic Zheng Yichen grabbed and threw back then. However, because that magic had left Zheng Yichen’s direct contact, the “theft” characteristic it carried had weakened considerably, allowing it to be interfered with. Otherwise, the power she used to interfere would probably have been assimilated too.

Even weakened, the effect was still quite potent. “This is just a Basic Magic Weapon, so even though it can continuously accumulate Mana, the speed is very limited.”

“That’s fine. We’ll just make a High-Rank Magic Weapon,” Zheng Yichen waved his hand. “Actually, I’ve had a new idea I’ve been wanting to try lately. But you… why did you change your clothes?”

He looked at Loris quite surprised. Her previous clothes, though gorgeous, mostly served to cover and conceal most of her body. Now she was dressed much more simply and lightly—a pair of black shorts and a small black top, giving off a strong vibe of the summer outfits worn by pretty girls from his world before he crossed over.

Too bad her figure was petite.

“Is it not okay?” Loris looked up at Zheng Yichen, expressionlessly spinning around once. “Materials were limited, so this was all I could make.”

“Uh… it looks quite nice.”

Zheng Yichen flipped through his Magical Grimoire, found an image simulation magic, and envisioned a set of hot pants and a short top outfit. “Just modify it a bit more. This set of yours looks like underwear…”

“I understand,” Loris said, looking at the illusory image simulated on Zheng Yichen’s claw. This outfit clearly belonged to his world, though in this world it seemed a bit “frivolous”—it exposed too much!

As for her current attire, it was purely because there were no outsiders at home. Running around the house in underwear was fine.

“The materials are a bit insufficient,” Loris said, staring at Zheng Yichen, making him feel a little uneasy.

“What materials?”

“Your Scales.”

“Ugh… I knew it.” He scratched his head. Ever since he saw the cool “underwear” outfit on Loris, he had sensed a familiar aura on it—the aura of his own Scales. He hadn’t shed any Scales, nor had he woken up one day to suddenly find a few of his Scales missing. So, the source of these Scales was probably from when he was besieged and some fell off.

Looking down at the Scales covering his body, Scales were more like fingernails than body hair. Pulling out a few hairs might be fine, but pulling out Scales really didn’t feel good.

“No need to pull them. Collecting scale scrapings is enough. And also, I’m hungry.”

“…Here, take it.” Zheng Yichen extended one of his claws in front of Loris. Scale scrapings, as the name implied, were probably scraped off the Scales. It seemed not having to pull Scales was a good thing. As for being hungry, that definitely meant he had to let blood again.

Using his own blood to counteract the fearsome characteristics Loris possessed.

Food wasn’t his responsibility anymore. These Ghost Maids were all skilled cooks; Zheng Yichen didn’t even have a chance to lend a hand.

After feeding the pseudo-Loli, which hadn’t been done for days, Zheng Yichen began attending to his own affairs. Over at Petty’s side, she had already started cultivating Martial Arts with her senior. On his end, he needed to start taking action too. It would be awkward if she achieved success in her cultivation while he failed to follow through on his words.

“Intermediate Magic Weapon forging… Hmm, the difficulty is manageable,” Zheng Yichen muttered, looking at the records in the Magical Grimoire. Magic had many tier divisions, but once it reached the highest or most complete state, it lost its prefixes. Whatever magic it was, that’s what it was called.

Moreover, casting magic didn’t depend on a person’s level. A magic used by a Professional who had entered a tier could also be used by a Professional who hadn’t, as long as their Mental Energy could handle the Magic Rune Array and they had enough Mana to activate it.

If the conditions were met, it didn’t matter what tier of Professional you were.

Intermediate Magic Weapon forging, compared to Basic Magic Weapon forging, not only had additional bonuses in strength but also greatly increased the duration it could be maintained.

In the hands of other Mages, it was a complete spell. In Zheng Yichen’s eyes, this thing was a blank slate waiting to be processed. The forms he could think of were simply too many. Just the games he played before crossing over provided numerous examples for reference.

Things like amber, or something like Apocalypse. Just weapons named Magic Sword—Zheng Yichen could think of seven or eight.

So, for the form of this newly crafted Magic Weapon, Zheng Yichen chose a rather classic one… named Frostmourne…

“…” Sitting in a chair and watching from the side, Loris observed the new Magic Weapon Zheng Yichen crafted. Intermediate Magic Weapons were far stronger than Basic ones. Their appearance was also much better than the previous plain longsword form, even though the icy blue glow it emitted gave off an extremely ominous feeling at a glance.

“Since it’s Frostmourne, its attributes should match.”

Zheng Yichen mumbled, flipping through the Magical Grimoire to find the needed magic. Frostmourne should definitely have the Ice Attribute. That required imbuing it with an Ice Magic to give it a Frost attack effect. Then it also needed to have the power to drain Souls.

But according to Zheng Yichen’s requirements, to achieve the ideal strength, High-Rank magic was needed at minimum. His current ability was barely enough to use Intermediate magic. After all, each increase in the Magic Rune Array’s level made it much more complex, and the demand for Mental Energy rose accordingly.

Just the Intermediate Magic Weapon forging alone took Zheng Yichen nearly two hours. That was with good luck, not failing once. If he had failed, the time needed would undoubtedly have been longer.

In subsequent crafting, if he failed when nearly finished, the entire Magic Weapon would likely be ruined. Therefore, crafting this level of Magic Weapon couldn’t be careless at all.