Inside Xiaoshop, Xiaoxiao was working alone on the artifact shell. Beads of sweat poured from her face and landed on the floor. In her right hand, she held the Technical Wrench, an artifact with the ability to alter the properties of materials.
She took multiple materials and started altering their properties according to her plan.
The entire Xiaoshop was completely silent, with the only sounds coming from her work. The door was even closed, so even if Arbane came, he would be stuck waiting outside. She did this to cut off as many distractions as she could. But in her opinion, it was a little excessive; however, due to the importance of the artifact, she had to at least try.
After half an hour, she finished her alterations. She grabbed a metallic sheet and held it by both ends. She then used her strength, stretching it.
Her eyes shined as she placed it down, muttering calmly to herself, "So the alternations worked! Great, now I have to inspect them all."
Xiaoxiao spent another half an hour inspecting every material and making sure they were all perfect as intended.
After she finished, she took one of the materials, a hollow metallic sphere, and placed it inside what appeared to be a furnace. A large pipe was connected from its top and was connected to all the pipes from the ceiling. A half-meter-wide door was open and was immediately shut when she placed the hollow metallic sphere inside. Xiaoxiao then raised her hand, pushing a button and letting the machine do its work.
In truth, this was not a furnace but an Extractor. It takes the impure life essence from an object and releases it as smoke. This was not an invention of Xiaoxiao's but instead a discovery she made after stumbling upon old blueprints belonging to the Innovation Bloodline. The design of the artifact shell she's making was also inspired by this blueprint.
It was by far her proudest machine to date. And although she wasn't the bright mind who made the blueprint, she was still the mechanic who managed to build such a machine with her lackluster resources.
While waiting for the purification, she took a metallic pipe and dragged a ladder over. After climbing it, she connected the pipe to the ceiling and climbed down. She then grabbed an elbow pipe and connected it to the new pipe, making sure it faces a certain direction. After repeating this two more times, she ended up with three pipes that were all facing her at the center.
She immediately sealed the pipes shut before dragging a stand and placing a robot toy on it.
While she was making the pipelines, she didn't forget to swap the materials inside the Extractor when they were finished.
Another two hours passed, and she had finally finished purifying the materials.
Xiaoxiao then took out one of the materials and placed it in front of the robot toy.
"Material: Purified."
She then took out another one.
"Material: Purified."
She continued this, letting the robot toy scan and inspect the materials, making sure that they are all perfectly fine. After double, triple, and quadruple-checking the materials, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
She pushed the stand aside and wiped her sweat before continuing.
Xiaoxiao then unsealed the first pipe, adding a smaller pipe and connecting a spherical-shaped object to it. The sphere had four holes, on the left, right, above, and at the front, that connected perfectly to the three pipes, leaving only one. She then connected two more pipes.
She grabbed one of her materials, taking another sphere and placing it inside. After which, she placed a few more small materials inside before sealing it shut.
She wiped her sweat and recalled what this step meant: The step's main objective is to let materials gain some minor Restrictions; this way, it'll increase the chances that when Zixin "Lends" his ability to the completed shell, the ability of the artifact would be a form of Restriction alteration. The pipes, on the other hand, serve as a path for the smoke from the Extractor to enter the sphere. But thanks to the pipes and some modifications, only minor Restrictions would be able to pass through. If I compare this to something, it would be akin to boiling meat; that way, it's much softer and easier to eat.
After a few hours of "steaming," Xiaoxiao lay on the ground with exhaustion written all over her. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her face was wet from buckets of sweat.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes with a determined look. She quickly stood up and began assembling the parts.
After another hour, she managed to build a metallic cube with four short pipes connected on all four sides. She took out the robot toy, placing it next to the cube for it to make an assessment.
The toy's eyes lit up, and it spoke, "Probability Assessment: Fifty-Three Percent."
Xiaoxiao sighed, commenting softly, "That's slightly higher than expected. I thought it'd be a fifty-fifty… how curious."
She then returned the robot toy to where she had taken it before, stretching her arm out and placing it in front of one of the pipes.
She closed her eyes, and green mist started coming out of her hand, which was sucked by the pipe into the cube. As time passed by, the green mist continued to become denser, and the suction force increased, pulling Xiaoxiao's palm.
She bit her lip, withdrawing her hand and sealing the pipe shut. She fell, her face pale from exhaustion.
She slowly stood up and fell on a couch, her eyes closing as she fell asleep.
An unknown amount of time passed as she woke up groggily. She rubbed her eyes and revealed a calm expression.
Xiaoxiao stood up and left the room. A minute later, she dragged Arbane inside and closed the door.
Arbane gave her a look of confusion and asked, "Uh… so why did you bring me here?"
Xiaoxiao pointed at the cube and said, "See that over there? That's what Hope commissioned me for, and I need you to let it absorb some of your life essence for it to adapt to the different signatures."
Arbane rubbed his chin, pondering for a moment before nodding. After he finished, Xiaoxiao sealed the pipe he used and said, "If you can, go fetch Hope and Zixin for me. Since she wants this, she might as well help out."
An hour later, Arbane returned, but only Hope came with him. She noticed Xiaoxiao's look and explained, "Zixin is still trying to figure out "Lending," so it's only me for now."
Xiaoxiao shook her head, letting out an exasperated sigh. Truth be told, she had already expected Zixin to have grasped "Lending" by now, but it looks like the rumors surrounding him weren't far from true. Because of his status, rumors would always be made to exaggerate or slander his capabilities; it's basically an unchangeable fact when it comes to fame. At first, she didn't think much of them; after all, she hadn't met him by then, and when she did meet him for the first time, she had already heard what he did in the Combat District,t which increased her belief in him. But after hearing Hope explain to her when she brought him, she felt that he was pitiful compared to the brilliant star that is his twin sister, the unparalleled Ruler and Queen who rose and stood up when her mother passed away, taking the mantle of authority.
She then spoke solemnly, "I'm not sure if Arbane has already told you what to do, but I'll tell you anyway…"
After she finished explaining, Hope followed her instructions. Another half an hour passed, and Xiaoxiao sealed the third pip; only one remained.
Hope glanced at Xiaoxiao with a plain look and asked, "So, why are we giving our life essence away?"
"Right, I completely forgot to elaborate, did I? Well, for the artifact shell to become strong enough to handle a sub-ability 'Lent' to it, it needs to harden. There are many ways to go about it, but the best method, in my opinion, would be through adaptation. And what better way to force it to adapt than to use the life essence of four people? After all, life essence is the very mark of existence besides, well… our soul." Xiaoxiao explained calmly.
Hope smiled plainly, causing Xiaoxiao to think: Huh? What's with her today? She feels awfully… calm. Usually, she would have already made a joke or two.
Noticing Xiaoxiao's intense gaze, Hope spoke, "Unfortunately, I have other matters to attend. to May we meet again."
And just like that, Hope left.
…
Several hours later, Xiaoxiao was woken by Arbane's voice. She shot him a glare, furrowing her brows with fury.
"Huh? What's with the look? The hunt would start today!" Arbane replied with a helpless look.
Xiaoxiao frowned, falling into deep thought: But don't Hunters hunt all the time? What gives? Is there something I don't know… know… the Wolf Lord!
Wait a minute, it doesn't concern me much, right? What do I even have to lose? Lose… lose… Wait, don't Zixin and Hope live together in Mount Lorebale?! How are they supposed to compensate me when they're dead?! Xiaoxiao's expression turned ugly as she bit her finger in dismay.
"Have you heard anything about those two?" She asked quickly.
Arbane shook his head and replied, "After she left, I haven't heard anything from them."
She stood up, walking around her office with a worried expression, and thought to herself: If Zixin dies, I will lose the support he promised to give me. Sure, I might have an artifact shell, but an object cannot hold a candle to the value he would provide for me.
Soon enough, her expression returned to normal, her body easing as she muttered, "What am I worrying for? Those two are not idiots. If they're willing to go this far, they certainly have a plan in mind."
Arbane walked over, taking her hand and looking up with his eyes. He spoke softly, "We'll just have to trust them, sister."
Xiaoxiao fell to her couch and muttered, "Right. We can only hope."