When night fell, Bai Zemin was sitting in the dining room of his own villa. Fortunately for him, he had two cute little angels who practically accompanied him every night at mealtime so he didn't feel so lonely.
"This meat is so delicious." Xiang Feng put both hands on her cheeks and shook her head tenderly.
Luo Ning poked a small piece of meat from a creature called Blue Fish with her chopsticks and put it into her mouth quickly. As she felt the tenderness with which the meat of the Unclassified fish melted inside her mouth, her eyes lit up and she said happily:
"This fish is super deli too!"
The two girls sat on both sides of the main seat, from where Bai Zemin watched everything with a faint smile on his face as he enjoyed his own meal.
As he watched the two little girls enjoying their dinner and exclaiming with joy every time they found something that delighted their tastes, Bai Zemin felt as if a part of his worries disappeared. Even if that feeling in which it seemed like the weight he carried on his back was lightened only lasted for an instant, that instant was very precious to him.
"Xiang Feng, try this meat!"
"The rice my mom cooked with the help of the elder sisters is also very yummy!"
…
The voices of both girls were like wind bells dancing in the spring breeze. Compared to the roars of the terrifying beasts and the growls of the zombies in the outside world as well as the chill of the night, anyone who stepped into this properly air-conditioned villa and listened to the cheerful and carefree voices of the two little elves enjoying the dinner prepared by Bai Zemin's hired maids would definitely not be able to believe that right outside the front door the world was falling apart.
After dining and enjoying some desserts, the maids began to clear the table in an orderly fashion. Even they had smiles on their faces. Because Bai Zemin's villa was very large and there were too many spare rooms, he proposed that instead of going back to their homes in the middle part of the village they could all stay on the main floor.
Ninety percent of the maids accepted Bai Zemin's proposal without even hesitating and there were even many of them who basically stopped seeing their former husbands in order to spend more time there. Living in the villa of the strongest person and the highest ruler of the village, these women who had previously suffered different levels of cruelty were fully aware that they would no longer have to worry about their safety. As for those who had husbands, they all knew that in this life one could not live purely from love and even less so considering the current situation in the world where even the children would be willing to sell their parents for a piece of bread.
"Mama, let me help you." Xiang Feng jumped nimbly from her chair and took some things from her mother's hands, making her smile gently and accept her help gladly.
Bai Zemin said nothing about it. Instead, he looked at Luo Ning and asked curiously, "Little Ning, what is your current level?"
"Big brother Bai, I'm currently level 24." Luo Ning stuck out her non-existent chest and said in a proud voice, "Uncle Fu Xuefeng and the other strongest aunts and uncles are level 25, very soon I will catch up with them!"
"Haha… Little Ning, you are growing up so fast." Bai Zemin laughed and patted the little girl's head, causing her eyes to narrow like those of a cat satisfied with its master's caresses.
The maids who listened to the interaction of the two silently as they went about their work were surprised and secretly looked at the little girl, barely 9 years old, in complete and total disbelief. Many of them felt a bit embarrassed that such a little child had the courage to do something that they, grown women, did not.
"When you reach level 25 and the Soul Record presents your evolution options, ask Fu Xuefeng and the rest. You can even look for me. Don't make hasty decisions just based on the name of the job, okay?"
Because she was so young, Bai Zemin had to be careful and do his best to prevent Luo Ning from making a wrong decision. After all, the first path chosen was from a certain point of view the most important since that path would be the one that would open up different forks later on.
"Okay!" Luo Ning nodded her head easily. She fully and completely trusted in Bai Zemin as she knew that he would never say or do anything to hurt her.
"Alright, little girl. Go back home or your big brother will get jealous and look at me as if I have stolen his lovely little sister's affection in the future." Bai Zemin chuckled.
"Hehehe…" Luo Ning said nothing more and after giving Bai Zemin a powerful killer kiss on the cheek she ran off at such a high speed that it left the maids wordless.
Bai Zemin shook his head and stood up with a smile before heading to his room.
Unfortunately for him, even after trying for almost a full hour, he was unable to fall asleep. His earlier conversation with Wu Yijun and the words the beauty had said to him before leaving still weighed on his mind.
"So boring."
Bai Zemin groaned and sat up in bed. Seeing the starlight beyond the sky, his gaze focused for an instant on the brightest star in the firmament, briefly recalling his previous conversation with Lilith about the Firmament Fragments and bringing back to his memory that distant past event with the far-off constellation of the Heavenly Wolf.
Since wasting time trying to fall asleep was stupid as his head was filled with thoughts that weighed more than he initially estimated, Bai Zemin didn't even bother to take off his sleeping clothes and noiselessly jumped out the window as if he were a thief instead of going out through the front door like the master of the house.
It didn't take him long to get to the workshop, and when he opened the door, what greeted him was a much larger space compared to the past.
It wasn't that the shop where he worked had gotten any bigger, not at all. This was his personal workshop and a large workshop shed was being built for the other blacksmiths who would be starting their training shortly. This large shed would also have the capacity to store a large number of forging materials, so Bai Zemin did not have to share his space with other people.
The reason why the workshop seemed bigger and why the internal space had increased was because all the shelves that were filled to the brim with bottles and different blood containers were gone. When Bai Zemin arrived at the base, one of the things he did as soon as he had some free time was to take all the blood samples and store them in the liquid storage pearl.
Bai Zemin took his Blazing Scale Greatsword and as he gently played with the blade he easily noticed the large number of cracks that stretched across the length and breadth of the weapon. As if that wasn't enough, the tip of the greatsword had disappeared and was nowhere to be seen.
"That fucking goblin, I should have made him suffer a while longer." Bai Zemin complained aloud.
The reason why the tip of his greatsword had ended up being destroyed, the real culprit had been that goblin named Inac. Back then, Bai Zemin had used his greatsword to stop the deadly attack that the goblin had fired at his back, and the power behind that attack had been too much for his greatsword that was already damaged due to the fierce attack that Bai Zemin had launched a few days earlier against that earthworm that was hiding in the subway.
As he looked at the empty chimney, Bai Zemin sent a thought to his new friend and immediately he felt movement inside his body.
A few seconds later, like a small child who had just woken up from napping, the small deep blue flame shot out from Bai Zemin's chest and floated a short distance in front of him. The flames flickered and the atmosphere immediately brightened, giving it a more lugubrious appearance than it actually was.
"So… the Soul Power within you stopped being consumed after forming a Soul Pact with me?" Bai Zemin asked as he looked at the small flame before him.
Of course, he didn't get an answer to his question and he didn't expect one either. Rather than a question, his previous words were more of a sort of affirmation.
"Okay, time to work." He said and took the small flame in his hands, putting it into the forging furnace.
Bai Zemin took out an Unclassified Soul Stone and threw it into the furnace to let the Endless Blue Lotus Flame consume it. However, not to his surprise, the Unclassified Soul Stone was devoured in an instant without leaving a trace.
If it were earlier, Bai Zemin might have spat out old blood at such a sight. After all, Soul Stones were valuable to him regardless of whether it was Unclassified or not. However, he now had a supply of tens of thousands of Unclassified Soul Stones and it might even be more than a hundred thousand considering the large number obtained from the goblins.
Of course, even though that was a large number of Soul Stones, Bai Zemin also had to take into account that his soldiers needed Soul Stones to evolve their skills as well so it wasn't as if he could do whatever he wanted with them. However, since his top priority was his own strength boost, spending a few thousand should be fine.
Bai Zemin threw and threw Unclassified Soul Stones into the forging furnace.
The Endless Blue Lotus Flame absorbed the power within the Soul Stones so quickly that if it wasn't for the large amount Bai Zemin threw at the same time it could easily seem like there was nothing there in the first place.
It was only after about 200 Unclassified Soul Stones that he began to see some growth of power in the little blue flame. Bai Zemin was thankful that in his workshop he had several types of Soul Stones for forging magical weapons or else his own supply might have been insufficient.
Seeing that the result of the Unclassified Soul Stones was not too good even after spending over two hundred, Bai Zemin gritted his teeth and threw a First Order Soul Stone.
The result showed itself immediately. The flame of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame burned much brighter than before as the spirit of the flame had risen when it smelled the scent of a good meal. This time, it took a few minutes to consume all the power contained within the rock.
Bai Zemin judged that he should be fine for now and immediately got to work.
The first thing he did was to make a small sketch of the type of weapon and approximate appearance he wanted it to look like. His weapon, of course, would still be a greatsword.
Next, he took a large metal block about twenty centimeters long and about the width of a palm.
"It really is heavy." He said as he felt his hand sink slightly.
This block of metal was the Rank 2 metal called Lapiodite; the strange metal he had found in the forest after killing the Second Order existences that were fiercely fighting to obtain a precious plant that unfortunately ended up being destroyed by Bai Zemin's fierce attack.
"I wonder how powerful my physical attacks will become when hitting with a greatsword?" Bai Zemin couldn't help but rub his chin as he thought aloud, "This metal increases its weight x2 relative to the Earth's gravity for every piece used. Its weight will undoubtedly be terrifying to the point where I fear I won't be able to lift the sword."
However, in retrospect, if a powerful strike performed by a monster like Bai Zemin using a heavy weapon of such magnitude were to be launched…. The results would probably be anything but beautiful.
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with Golden Tickets! <3
