“Planting the sword” was the only solution the forge’s keeper could devise. While it ant the White Bone Holy Sword could be fully repaired, it also ant that until the Difference Engine was defeated, the sword would be completely useless.
Jenkins reluctantly accepted this reality. “Since you can’t repair my sword,” he asked, “do you have any useful items you can give ? I killed a fragnt of a Calamity Beast and ignited the fla. Surely that’s going above and beyond the mission, right?”
In truth, it was more than just going above and beyond. If the forge hadn't been perfectly restored with great effort by the Difference Engine, the flas he'd provided might have been enough to shatter the old furnace.
“Since there’s so much fla, don’t be stingy,” Jenkins pressed. “My final enemy is that steam-belching machine. You have to give so tools for the job.”
“Very well. You have a point. Let think what I have here that I can give you...”
The man in the hunting attire turned, pulling a lever in the forge’s shadow to quell the flas sowhat. He then rolled up his right sleeve and plunged his stone arm through a gap in the furnace gate.
A wave of heat washed over Jenkins. He activated his Eye of Reality, trying to observe the man’s actions, but the flas within the forge were far too fierce, their blinding light completely overwhelming the colors of any aura.
A mont later, the man turned back, his grayish-white arm still smoking.
There were no burn marks on the arm, but as he approached, Jenkins could feel a distinct rise in the temperature radiating from him.
In his stone hand, he held a black rock.
“What is this?”
He took the stone, feeling the intense heat emanating from it. To put it bluntly, if anyone from the material world other than him were holding it, their palm would have been seared to the bone.
“When that machine repaired the forge, it didn’t replace it entirely. It conducted extensive renovations on the old foundation. Only I know the true form and structure of the forge, so I was the one who told the machine how much material was needed for a complete restoration...”
“You padded the materials list?” Jenkins inquired.
“It’s not padding. It’s simply storing so materials for the next round of maintenance. Otherwise, I’d have to go through those doors and fetch them myself.”
Although Jenkins couldn't take anything from past eras with him, the keeper of the forge could.
“In any case, this stone is a fusion of the forge’s original old material and the superior alloy that machine provided. It’s an exceptional raw material. I don’t know what you need, so I’m willing to offer the material itself. Just tell the shape you want. Imbued with the fire from this place, forged from the forge’s ancient stone and this excellent alloy, and personally shaped by , it will likely possess imnse power the mont it is complete.”
“In that case...”
The Spirit of Life gathered between his fingers. Jenkins traced a glowing line through the air.
“I want to make a pistol. You can provide a rough blank, and I’ll handle the detailed configuration myself. Also, I have so tal shavings that peeled off the Difference Engine’s core, provided by the masters of the Mysterious Realms who sided with it. I’m hoping to use the fire here to forge them into bullets...”
“That’s simple enough. But are you sure you want a firearm? What you lack most right now is a proper weapon, isn’t it? I can craft a sword with the exact sa design as your broken one, one-to-one. It will possess power just the sa.”
The stone-ard keeper offered his suggestion kindly.
“No, these two swords will do for now. Besides, the pistol I intend to make is no ordinary piece. It’s... speaking of which, could I make one more request?”
The man in the hunting attire looked extrely reluctant, but under the combined gaze of Jenkins and the cat, he finally nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Carrying these two swords is incredibly inconvenient. I don’t want to go on adventures with two blades strapped to my back. Is there so way to store them? I recall you can provide spatial items.”
“Oh, if it’s just for storage, it doesn’t have to be that complicated. You can ask for a spatial item, or you could choose to have transform this sword into a Bestowal.”
He pointed to the Sin's Eternal Fla Greatsword (B-01-1-0006).
“The creator of this sword might be the very sa being who created this world. I can feel the resonance between this blade and the fire in the furnace. You can only choose one of the two options; after all, I don’t want to consu all the fire here. By the way, if you choose to turn this coiled greatsword into a Bestowal, it will gain entirely new powers. Your broken sword is a weapon of the Necromancy school, so this greatsword will beco a weapon of the Summoning school. You might be able to use it to call upon powerful warriors from the past to aid you in battle. Of course, that would require you to learn the corresponding rituals yourself.”
It was hardly a choice. Jenkins gave up the idea of a spatial item and chose to transform the greatsword into a Bestowal.
And so, he and the huntsman busied themselves before the forge. The flickering firelight reflected in Chocolate’s amber eyes as the cat watched the flas leap and dance, watched Jenkins and the keeper of this world forge a pistol, bullets, and a brand-new coiled greatsword.
The tip of its tail tapped lightly against the back of Jenkins’s neck. The cat didn’t care what Jenkins was doing; it was contemplating his thoughts. Just monts ago, Alexia had summoned it right in front of him using the ‘Contact the Devouring Moon Spirit Cat’ ritual, yet Jenkins was still acting as if he knew nothing, showing the sa affection after the short lady had left.
Perhaps, just as Alexia had analyzed back in that abandoned hospital, Jenkins had known all along.
“ow~”
The cat let out a lazy cry, and Jenkins reached up to stroke it.
Chocolate didn’t know how Jenkins had seen through its “clever” disguise, but the real issue was that, in the journey ahead, it would inevitably have to reveal its true power. When that happened, Jenkins would no longer be able to deny the truth.
“ow~”
It loved Jenkins. It loved this ho. It wanted to stay by his side forever. Therefore, Jenkins had to accept the truth. He had to accept that the only emotional anchor he had found in his terrifying new life was also a liar.
(Fini is praying...)
The feel of solid ground under his feet ant Jenkins had finally reached the eighth floor of the tower, the final level before the end of his journey. He had no idea if his pace in “climbing the tower” was fast or slow, nor did he know if the Difference Engine, lurking on the ninth floor, had already completed its fusion with the original steam engine and the chanical Heart.
But he knew the situation outside was already dire. The two tis he had briefly left the Mysterious Realms had been enough to show him the unfolding apocalypse. He also understood that this was rely the beginning. If he didn't stop the source of the calamity soon, the material world would deteriorate rapidly.
Even after everything he had been through, stepping through the gate of a Mysterious Realm still left him dizzy and nauseous, sprawled on the ground. Chocolate, however, was unaffected. Jenkins felt his cat standing beside his head, then felt it licking his face.
The sensation cleared his head a little. Still lying on the ground, he turned his head slightly and managed a faint smile for his worried cat.
“Chocolate is the best.”
The more he said things like this, the more concerned Chocolate beca. It stopped licking his face, flicked its long tail, and curled up in front of Jenkins, waiting for him to fully recover.
Even without getting up, he could feel that the ground beneath him was unnaturally flat. Although he was outdoors and could feel a breeze, it seed he was lying on so kind of floor or deck.
He could also hear the sound of flowing water—not the sound of a running faucet, but the natural current of a restless sea or river.
“Could it be...”
He pushed himself up and looked around. It was just as he’d suspected: he was on the bow deck of a steamship. Looking back, he could see a smokestack belching black smoke into the air. He sniffed, and the air carried not only the dampness of water but also the unique, acrid stench of burning coal—the scent of Nolan.
The sky was the usual black of a Mysterious Realm, and the ship was shrouded in a dense black fog. Jenkins could tell they were on a river, not the ocean, because through the mist on either side, he could make out the faint silhouettes of buildings. It looked like a prosperous city, no less grand than Nolan, its staggered streets and buildings a testant to a thriving civilization.
The vessel was as large as the biggest river cargo ships he had seen in Nolan. Though there were no neatly stacked goods, the bow deck was cluttered with junk piles and scattered wooden crates, making the space feel crowded despite its actual size.
He was not alone. Huddled against the ship’s railings and near the piles of trash were people cloaked in gray, tattered blankets. They gathered in small groups of two or three, cowering under their coverings as if in fear of sothing. There were nearly three hundred of them, all silent on the misty deck.
Though their clothing styles varied, the colors were uniformly dark—blacks and grays. He wondered if this had so connection to the Mysterious Realm.
His belongings were safe. The Star-Forged Magic Sword and his backpack lay beside Chocolate. The last of the tallic cocoons had been used up to make the bullets, imbuing them with the power to damage souls.
He reached into his pocket and felt the seventh coin that had mysteriously appeared. It was identical in size and thickness to a Sin Coin, but it was made of a strange black gemstone.
On what Jenkins considered the front was the emblem of the Hero, while the back depicted Alexia’s blue cube. Rubbing his thumb over the coin’s surface, he could feel faint formulas and geotric patterns etched into the cube’s design, almost invisible to the naked eye.
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