Polina turned her back serenely and left, leaving Gaslin behind.
"Baby..."
Gaslin clenched his fists, as spaceti gradually resud its flow, he looked up, his face filled with indignation:
"What’s the joke? Turning your back on the day that’s out to kill you—how contemptuous!"
He raised his hand, and his eyes once again radiated golden rings:
"Die!"
Gravity lifted huge rocks and roof tiles from the ground, molding them into teors, hurling them into the sky and plumting towards Polina with fierce speed.
Bam—!
Gaslin’s neck was suddenly grabbed, and the Blacksmith silently lifted him off the ground, swinging a fist to shatter the boulders into pieces.
Scorching fragnts fell like torrential rain, with Polina standing calmly on the ground, allowing the shards to brush past her body and leave, she slightly tilted her head and said indifferently:
"My bottom line is not to touch the baby, but it’s different for everyone else."
Gaslin’s mouth gaped open, the Blacksmith silently squeezed his hands, compressing the other’s neck until the vertebrae punctured the windpipe and blood flooded the lungs. Gaslin’s complexion gradually turned from white to purple, and ultimately his eyes rolled back, his head lolled, ending his life.
The Blacksmith released the body in his hands, and Gaslin’s body fell to the ground, decaying, withering, and drying up swiftly. A gust of wind arose, scattering the fragnts into the breeze.
Yet the wind did not stop, the Blacksmith opened his hands, allowing the wind to wrap around his body, and the fragnts from Gaslin’s body, like lted ash, gradually adhered to him.
The bulky body, as if thrown into a steel furnace, had its fats lt away, swiftly slimming down, flesh transforming, skin tightening and becoming delicate. The rough black tangled hair was caught by the wind, as the grotesque, deford facial bones beca symtrical and handso, features well-coordinated, proportions just right.
He clenched his fists, opened his eyes, revealing deep, cerulean irises.
[Your "Charm" attribute has been unleashed]
[Current "Charm" is—798]
[You have gained the favor of the Dragon Satellite—"Void Grace": You regenerate 1.5% of your maximum Mana Points per second, and when your Mana Points fall below 12%, you receive 5 seconds of unlimited mana Effect.]
[Because your "Charm" has been unleashed, your Arcane Energy can now be used again.]
The Blacksmith raised his hand, his height had reduced to 185 centiters, a typical human level. The air was filled with affection and longing for him, the dust on his body autonomously parted from him, not even the soles of his shoes were stained with dirt, and the seemingly dry and cold underground beca gradually warm and comfortable to his senses.
The world was lavishing its affection on him, indulging him to the utmost.
[Is this... Leoz’s Charm? Even the planets adore him so much.]
The Blacksmith’s expression grew complex.
[It turns out that the whole world does revolve around beautiful people... that statent isn’t false.]
Such a great ability, such a beautiful exterior.
But none of this belonged to the Blacksmith.
He was very clear about that.
The Blacksmith lifted his head and looked towards Polina who was standing with her back to him.
The strong, unique, and attractive quality on the child constantly drew him and the Leoz traits within him closer.
Even though he had acquired the na, mories, habits, personality, and even the skin, these things were insignificant compared to the Attraction emanating from her.
[Soul.]
The Blacksmith had an epiphany deep inside:
[That girl is the truly Leoz...]
The Blacksmith was slightly lost in thought, an idea arising in his mind:
Perhaps, it was ti to return what he had obtained to her.
Just as this thought surfaced, another notion erged in the Blacksmith’s heart:
[Why do I have to return it to her?]
He spread his fingers, and gravitational vortices began to swirl at his fingertips, his handso appearance making the whole world adore him, not to ntion those rich and varied mories.
—Should I really return it to her?
Polina’s resplendent figure showed no sign of suffering, no trace of sorrowful past.
The blacksmith deeply questioned his own thoughts:
I’ve endured such oppressive, hard days for so long, why should I continue?
Even if all this doesn’t belong to , now I not only bear the na Leoz, but I also possess Leoz’s form, and even his personality, mories, and abilities are all intact.
Then why can’t I beco ’Leoz’?
"Who would have thought you’d actually co here, Master Blacksmith."
Polina’s greeting brought the blacksmith back to reality.
He looked up at the girl with golden hair and red eyes, radiant and beautiful, exuding a confidence vastly different from others, her actions extrely decisive—nothing like an ordinary girl.
Most crucially—when he made eye contact with her, those ’Leoz’ parts of him seed to be faintly escaping from within, struggling, leaning toward her...
The blacksmith pressed his hand down, only then noticing that in the reflection of her eyes, he’d taken on Li Aozi’s appearance with black hair and blue eyes.
But strangely, she didn’t seem to find anything amiss.
"But really, I owe it to you, Master Blacksmith. If you hadn’t arrived in ti, those sisters would probably have killed ..."
Polina, holding her cheek, faintly showed relief before revealing a straightforward smile:
"But speaking of which, Master Blacksmith, why did you co here in the first place?"
As if in Polina’s eyes, he should have been presenting this image from the start—that ugly, horrific blacksmith never existed.
The blacksmith remained silent, unable to change his nature of being a man of few words, despite inheriting Li Aozi’s personality.
In response to Polina’s question, he silently pulled out a box of gardening nails from behind his back, passing it to her.
"Nails... Yes, of course, it’s past seven in the evening."
Polina took the nails, her eyes slightly stirring, moved she said:
"You personally rushed here, braving a battle with a strong and brutal enemy—just for a box of nails?"
"You didn’t co at seven."
The blacksmith, lowering his head, said:
"This is just basic service."
Polina looked at him, her eyes tender:
"I still don’t even know your na."
"Leoz."
The blacksmith said:
"You should go ho now."
"Mhm."
Polina looked at the devastation, the people who had perished in their strife, vanishing like dust in the wind.
"I will find military personnel later. The Fermi Research Institute’s disregard for life, their arbitrary experinting on people, it must be stopped, they must be punished."
She dusted off her legs, not dawdling at all:
"Before that, let’s head back to the village."
"After all that’s happened, do you think you can still go back?"
A woman’s voice suddenly rose, the blacksmith turned his head to look at a cave a hundred steps away—there stood a young woman with grey hair and green eyes, draped in a white lab coat.
Polina grew wary:
"White coat, soone from the institute—"
"N4..."
The blacksmith stopped her, silently stepping forward to shield Polina behind him:
"What’s the aning of you coming out now?"
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