Crafting

Alice's Pov:

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We were led into two different rooms originally, but none of us wanted to separate so we entered the same room. Seeing this, Shao Xian became clear about our intentions so he left us like that.

But before leaving, he was questioned by Hiro. “Shao Xian, could you tell me where can I buy some metal or ore? Also, a place for crafting would be good.” Hearing Hiro's question he raised his brows as he asked: "Hoo? Are you a blacksmith by any chance?”

“No, not yet, but I want to learn how to do it. It’s just that this Wu family was in my way before...” Hiro said grudgingly upon thinking about our misfortune. “Hmm- You know we have been making most of the weapons in this world so I could ask one of our blacksmiths to teach you.” He offered up his help, which would be a good chance for my mate to learn more easily.

“Really? That would be great! I have knowledge about smithing, but I don’t have experience.” Hiro said happily upon hearing his offer, which to Shao Xian answered even more happily. “Fine! Then I’ll make sure that you will get enough experience!” These males are getting fired up by nothing! The situation is getting out of hand!!

“Thank you very much! Oh and also... sorry about it, but do you have at least a few herbs to use? Because Alice is a pharmacist, but we are missing materials to use our skills on, once again...” Hiro said with a slightly downcast head and a grudging voice.

“We don’t have pharmacists. It’s rare for someone to know something like that here, but we do have many herbs so I can give her access to those.” He said, surprising me. It seems like they collected the herbs and used them in the raw. Although its effects were much weaker like that, but it would still be useful.

“That would be perfect!” I finished our conversation with a happy smile. It seems like everything is going to be provided for us to practice our knowledge on! A few minutes later, one of the guards came and said that we should follow him. I was led into a greenhouse which was full of herbs.

When you concoct pills at first you have to use your fire magic to burn the ingredients and then turn its essence into a liquefied form and here comes the reason why there aren’t any pharmacist in this world. It's because you need mind power to control that liquefied essence!

When you are done with turning the herbs into their essences, you have to mix them together by controlling them, which means that you need your mind power once again! It's not an easy process because some herbs are volatile and they could explode if mixed in the wrong time or in the wrong sequence. Although it isn't dangerous, but such a failure is going to waste the herbs or the cores that were used.

Yes. Every monster has a core, not like the humans. We were cultivating our cells, while the monsters were creating cores and those cores were the source of their strength. Those core can be used when concocting pills. It can be used to train yourself with it by consuming the energy inside them, or you can also use it to concoct pills.

Actually, without cores, you can’t concoct truly good pills because that is what gives them power. Let’s say you want to concoct an energy restoring pill. Then concocting the pill without a core is possible, but it will at most restore twenty percent of your energy, but if you concoct it by using the energy inside the core, it could restore even as much as a hundred percent of your energy!

If you wanted to add energy into your pills, then you could do so without cores, but your energy wouldn't return that way. It would mean that you are wasting your cultivation. That's why no one was such an idiot. I don't know what would happen if I were to waste all of my cultivation on pills. Maybe we would descend to the lower realms and fall back a level, or maybe we would die? That! No one knows!

Half the amount of the cores we have collected while being here was in my possession. We have killed many monsters so it was no small amount, but before Hiro followed after the guy to go to the forger, he handed over all of the cores he had. I looked into his eyes as I asked - “Are you sure? It may go to waste...”

“What’s mine is yours too so don’t worry about it," he said with a straight face as he shrugged his shoulders. It was nothing unexpected. He didn't mind sharing anything he had, except chocolate... but he would also expect others to do the same. Of course, this was only true to those who were close to him, which was, in this case, me. I didn't have a problem with this because I was the same at that, again.

Through our whole life, I've never found anything that we had different points of views on. That tugging feeling in my soul which said that I should get closer to him was even stronger and it was pushing me to give myself to him completely. To be honest, I wasn't resisting that feeling even in the slightest. I was very happy with Hiro and I'm also looking forward to my first time. I wonder how it's going to feel~

“I’ll make sure to concoct some good pills,” I said, and Hiro nodded before he left, oblivious to my thoughts. If he would have known, then he wouldn't have left so calmly. I felt my love rising for him, but I quickly suppressed it because this wasn't the right moment for that. I had to concentrate!

I entered the greenhouse. The guiding soldier was really curious to stay and see how I looked like. It was so clear on his face. Males can't hide their curiosity when it comes to women... I guess he too thought that I'm probably not going to work in my black cloak which was still on us. Now that I think about it, not even Shao Xian knows how we look. Whatever...

Unfortunately for him, Hiro asked him to lead the way to the forge and he was compelled to leave. His only hope to see who was under the hood and cape was the party! I think that he is going to attend and probably the others thought alike.

I started searching in my memories about different kinds of experiences and knowledge on each of these herbs. I may have theoretical knowledge, but I don’t have any experience doing it myself. That’s why when I tried concocting my firs pill, I failed. Miserably... All of the essence I gained from burning up those herbs went out of my control, mixed together then exploded in my face.

I bet that Hiro would laugh upon seeing my pitiful black face... It’s good that he isn’t here at the moment. I would be laughed at again! Though... no, I'm wrong. I'd rather see him laughing at me than feel this loneliness. I felt lonely now that I was alone. I've got so used to his presence. Should I check on him? I- It's not because I want to see him, yeah. I- I just want to- ah... who am I lying to? To myself? I'm already missing him.

I slapped my face to regain my composure. My face was actually still black when I saw something terrible. The guiding soldier who left with Hiro was actually coming back. Since the door was left open, he didn’t miss to look inside. He saw me in such an embarrassing moment!

Nooo! He saw me! This can’t be! Why is my luck so bad!? I should have closed that fucking door! Wait, why is he looking at me like that? Maybe he is thinking that I’m using dark magic? Hehe, yes yes, believe in it! - I thought.

Wait, but he doesn't have any change in his expression. No, he seems to be dejected. The soldier upon seeing that he was noticed by me, nodded as a greeting and then left. Y- Yes! It seems like he indeed thought that I used dark magic! Hahaha! Victory! I quickly ran to the door and shut it. I’m never going to leave ANY kind of door opened that I came through!

Afterward, I tried it again and again. Since we True Divine Beasts learned quickly I was much better on my second try. This time I burned the necessary herbs and pulled out their essence. I made three streams of liquefied essences. Those three herbs were necessary to create a low-level Energy Restoring Pill.

As it was claimed in my memories, I started controlling the first and third stream of liquefied essences and slowly mixed them. Afterward, when those two streams completely mixed I added the remaining stream and slowly mixed it. When I was done with this, I used my mind power to compress the liquid ball as much as possible, then took out a core and poured ten percent of its energy into the pill.

Actually, this was the easiest part. As the energy entered the pill, it became scorching hot and in a few seconds, it consolidated. Seeing my success I felt very happy. Even my tiredness because of the consumed mind power to control the essence was suddenly gone.

Afterward, I started concocting many more pills. I concocted mind power restoring pills, energy restoring pills, healing pills and boosting pills. The boosting pill was good after a good workout. If we take it after exercising our bodies and start meditating then we are going to progress faster. If we could do this all the time, then aren't going to need three years to ascend again!

When I was out of cores, I left the greenhouse and took my way towards the forge. I don't know how, but I had a feeling in my chest. I felt where is Hiro! We aren't soul bounded yet, but I swear that my soul is already connected with him in a way!

-------- Hiro's Pov: -------------------------------

Cultivators at the first stage of Space Founding Realm had five golems of strength, normally, which meant thirty-seven thousand and five thousand kilograms. While cultivators at the early ninth stage usually had nine hundred thirty-seven thousand and five hundred kilograms of strength! If you think about it. How could a metal like iron stop such a huge force?

Those metals might be strong, but being struck by such a huge amount of strength non-stop would surely break it. If not in one hit, then after a few hits. Naturally, the metals which were found in the mortal realm were only the most common trash here. What we had here were things like orichalcum and adamantine! Those might be legendary metals in the lower realms, but it was quite common here.

It was also the same with for example Trinatimuz. It was a 'legendary' metal here, but it was common in the third realm. This was because the higher realm you were in, the more concentrated the Universe Energy was. This meant that more powerful metals, herbs, and materials would be formed over time. There was a catch about this, though, but that's for the future as it is from the fifth realm onwards. We were still far away from that.

As I entered the forge, the guiding soldier quickly left almost running. He really wanted to see Alice... it seems. I've met the best smith of the family, who started teaching me the right way to make weapons. Although he wasn't able to use mind power, but that wasn't hard and I could learn that easily. The harder part was to smith the weapons or armors themselves.

After showing me once, I started smithing my first weapon, under the guidance of the master smith and my own memories. Firstly, I melt the metal called orichalcum by using Fire Magic. When I was done with this, I hammered the sword into shape. He realized that hammering out the impurities and the air from the metal wasn’t that easy, but luckily, I had not only my inherent memories but even a mentor.

The smith was even pointing out the difference in sounds. After pointing it out, I indeed noticed that it sounds differently if I hit an impure part of the metal. Since I was a fast learner, just like every True Divine Beast, it didn't take long for me to get the hang of it. Afterward, I tempered the weapon for about half an hour and so, my first self-made weapon was finished.

Although the first blade was crude and most likely it would break after taking a few hits from even a normal sword... but I was still happy with it. In other words, this weapon was a failure. I also realized that the tempering process took less time than it was supposed to, so I will have to work on it for a longer time.

But my second try was already much better. Since this was a longer process than pill concocting I didn’t need many tries to learn how to smith a weapon so I've quickly learned how to do it right. I also used my mind power to feel the impurities and I even infused it into the weapons.

Shortly after, the weapons I made were already as good as the weapons of the family’s smith... He was startled and surprised at my speed of progression. I looked like a seventeen-years-old teenager, yet I've learned to smith so quickly. Of course, I still had a long way to go. His real surprise was left for a later time when I started smithing even better weapons than himself...

When he saw this he rushed out to tell it to the family head. I slowly focused all of my attention on what I was doing as I closed out my surroundings. I was making a sword right now. I hammered and hammered it. The impurities were being hammered out by each hit and my remaining mind power was being infused into the weapon. I deliberately used only little parts of my mind power before, so that I could practice longer.

But now I used all of my remaining mind power in the last weapon I was making for today. The weapon started to lightly glow with a faint light from the infused mindpower. I used only fire attribute for now, so it was a fire attributed sword. This meant that the person using it could unleash fire as easily as breathing while using this weapon without even using his/her own space energy.

Maybe I should say that it would automatically activate! When I looked up, I saw Alice standing in the doorway looking at my face. She seemed to be really immersed in what she was doing. "A- Ah! Oh, I- I spaced out. Sorry. I was lost in looking at your concentrating face, fufu~" Alice said with a little smile while still looking at me.

This made me really happy. "I have such a cute girlfriend," I said as I looked at her with a smile. She turned away with a small blush. Noticing the bag tied to her waist I said - "It seems like you have progressed in your concocting skills.” She looked down then she looked back into my eyes as she said with a smile. “Yeah, and it seems like you weren't idling by either."

I raised the sword into the air and it was still glowing with a faint red light. I swung it in the air and it left a trail of fire behind itself.

“I think that I'll give this to the family head to use, then I'll do even better ones in the future since I've done this while having only a very small amount of my mind power left,” I said jokingly.

“Aren’t you a bit ungrateful... Haha~” Alice said with a small laugh upon hearing my words.

“Okay, okay I was just kidding. I’ll tell him that I’ll make more weapons like this if he lets me and he can give it to his soldiers. I’ll make weapons with even more elements imbued in them!” I said, already feeling excited to continue, but I felt tired and out of mind power, so it wasn't the right time for me to do it.

“But before that, what kind of weapon do you want Alice?” I said as I went up to her and hugged her. “Hmm, I thought about it before and I think that I want two scimitars, if possible.” She said as she put her chin on my shoulder. “Scimitar? Well, it can be done.” I said as I gave a kiss on the side of her head.

“Okay~ I’m expectantly waiting for it. Hehe~” She said as she started blowing my neck, which she knew that I didn't like. It tickled me... "N- Nah! Stop! Hahaha~ It will be done! But at first, I think that I’ll make the weapons for the Saho family. Like that, I can freely train my smithing skills and also if there is really going to be a war between the two families then them having better weapons is going to make their losses much lesser.”

"I can make our weapons anytime, anyway..." I said after thinking about how it would be the best for us! “Uhn! We have time anyway so you don’t have to be anxious about making it. By the way, what kind of weapon do you want?” Alice said as she also a added a question after kissing my face with her soft lips.

“Hmm, I haven’t thought about it yet, but maybe... dual swords! It doesn't matter that much. I want to try out many weapons in the future. Spears, hammers, axes, staves, bows and even some exotic ones! I don't want to be stuck using a single kind of weapon.” I said as I returned her kiss. Her fragrance was flooding my nostrils, making me want to love her even more.

(AN: Hiro’s sword but dual wielding in an X on his back.)

(AN: Alice’s scimitar she too is going to be a dual wielder. I don’t own any of these pictures and they are here for illustration purposes!)

We left the forge and went into our room and I realized something that I forgot about before. “A BED! A FUCKING BED! AAH! HOW I MISSED IT!” I shouted happily. The truth is that ever since reincarnating I never had the chance to sleep in a bed! We lived our lives in forests and jungles in the first realm. Although we were able to sleep in a hotel on our third day... but I wouldn't call that thing a bed.

The only thing that made it feel good was Alice's closeness. Alice didn't know either how it feels to sleep on a really good and comfy bed. I'll make sure to make one, once I have enough time. Alice walked over to the bed as she sat down on its side.

“You know. Tomorrow is our birthday...” Alice said while fiddling with her fingers with a downcast head. “Yeah, I know. I wonder what should I make or buy as a present to you?” I questioned her. I know that it wasn't the custom on Earth, but we didn't care about such things. I knew Alice better than that after such a long time.

We would rather not be surprised and get something useful or something we like than pretending to be happy with something useless... I said it as I picked up a glass of water from the cabinet I was standing next to. Alice started moving her finger in a circle on the bed.

“Well, you know I have something in mind and that could work as a present for the both of us.” She said, still looking downward. “Eh~ What is it? I’ll make it real for sure!” I said, wondering what does she had in mind.

Alright, I'll be honest. I was quite sure about her thoughts, but I wanted to hear it from her mouth. “You are so evil. Do you want me to say out loudly that ‘we could fuck through the whole night’?” She said as she turned towards me and looked into my eyes with a smirk. Hearing her wording I sprayed the water out of my mouth and I also choked on it. It went into my lungs so I started coughing.

"Hahaha~" Alice started laughing at my reaction. This girl... Well, that’s the difference. Even if she is my ‘other half’ and we like the same things she is still another being with different mood swings and complex feelings. Even though I can predict her reactions most of the time, but she is still a different person.

Well, it’s the best like this. If it would be otherwise it would be boring since I would always know what she is going to say or what she is thinking... She would be like a machine. Though she really caught me off-guard by this.