The current situation was rather strange.
Shao Han was practically begging Zhao Mu to fight him.
To outsiders, it might have seemed ridiculous. After all, why would someone willingly challenge an opponent who had already defeated him?
But Shao Han had his reasons.
He wanted to become stronger.
Desperately so.
If he could not prove himself in Qingfeng Camp, how would he establish a foothold there in the future? More importantly, how could he face his family after returning home?
The Shao family was not one of those ancient aristocratic clans with centuries of accumulated wealth and influence.
Everything they possessed had been earned through blood and sacrifice.
His grandfather had fought on countless battlefields, exchanging his youth and health for military merits. Those achievements barely elevated the Shao family into the middle class.
Later, his father, Shao Tianyi, awakened as a B-Rank Ability User.
That single achievement dramatically improved the family's status.
Because of Shao Tianyi, the Shao family gained access to circles they had never imagined entering before.
But maintaining status was often harder than obtaining it.
Now, as the third generation of the family, all expectations rested upon Shao Han's shoulders.
Everyone hoped he would surpass his father.
Everyone hoped he would rise higher than his grandfather ever could.
Everyone hoped he would become the pillar that secured the Shao family's place among the upper ranks of society.
The burden was immense.
It was a pressure few outsiders could understand.
That was why Shao Han was unwilling to accept defeat.
Not because of pride alone.
But because he carried the hopes of an entire family.
Zhao Mu looked at him quietly.
After several moments of silence, he nodded.
"Fine."
The answer immediately brightened Shao Han's expression.
However, Zhao Mu's confidence came from a completely different place.
Even if Shao Han successfully advanced to the Private Rank, Zhao Mu wasn't worried in the slightest.
Because the battle had already begun long before either of them stepped onto an arena.
It had begun in Shao Han's heart.
Every hesitation.
Every moment of doubt.
Every attempt to delay the challenge until he became stronger.
All of it revealed the same truth.
Shao Han had already lost confidence in facing him.
A warrior who feared defeat before battle had already surrendered half of his chances of victory.
If someone spent more time worrying about failure than focusing on victory, how could they possibly win?
Because of this, Zhao Mu believed he would win.
Without question.
And if victory came with three Spirit Sources as a reward?
Then there was even less reason to refuse.
Why reject something being handed to him for free?
---
Leaving the matter behind, Zhao Mu headed directly to the Engineering Department.
Tonight was important.
He planned to forge his own Ember Remains.
He had already gathered two complete sets of materials.
Even if one attempt failed, he still had a backup.
The chances of failing twice in a row weren't impossible.
But surely his luck wasn't that terrible.
Before beginning the real project, Zhao Mu decided to warm up first.
He took out several claw blades collected from ordinary Remnant Beasts.
These low-grade materials were perfect for practice.
A black mask appeared on his face.
The Demon Clown activated.
His abilities immediately shifted.
Skill selected:
[Seal Bone Remains]
The familiar information panel appeared before him.
Without wasting time, Zhao Mu began the sealing process.
The remains of ordinary Head Beasts were considered the lowest-tier materials available.
Even if successfully refined, they could only produce low-grade First-Rank Ember Remains.
Within every rank, Ember Remains were classified into three levels.
Low Grade.
Medium Grade.
High Grade.
Above even those existed a special category.
Ultimate Grade.
These were Ember Remains specifically crafted for a compatible Ability User, maximizing synchronization between the artifact and its owner.
The silver sword wielded by Jin Xiangcheng was one such example.
An Ultimate Grade First-Rank Ember Remains.
A treasure worth a fortune.
Of course, creating something like that required extraordinary materials and craftsmanship.
For now, Zhao Mu had no such ambitions.
His goal was simply gaining experience.
He carefully engraved the Spirit Rune Circuit onto a strip of mithril.
His movements were smooth and precise.
Weeks of training had produced visible results.
Soon, the rune circuit was complete.
Spirit energy flowed through the lines.
The sealing ceremony officially began.
The Remnant Beast bone slowly floated into the air.
Blue light spread across the workshop.
The mithril trembled slightly.
Then the fusion process started.
A moment later—
Success.
Zhao Mu blinked.
Then blinked again.
He had actually succeeded on the first try.
His success rate was only around thirty percent.
Statistically speaking, failure should have been more likely.
Yet fortune had smiled upon him.
Not bad.
A small smile appeared on his face.
The resulting Ember Remains looked crude and rough.
Its quality was unquestionably low-grade.
Still, it was a genuine First-Rank Ember Remains.
That alone made it valuable.
Zhao Mu examined it carefully before bending the mithril into a ring.
Then he placed it on the little finger of his left hand.
The Spirit Rune Circuit he had chosen was the common amplification path known as:
[Unrestrained]
Its effect was simple.
Enhance spirit energy output.
After a brief test, Zhao Mu confirmed the result.
His spirit energy intensity increased by approximately ten percent.
He nodded.
"Not bad."
Then he paused.
"So-so."
If anyone else had heard that evaluation, they might have vomited blood from frustration.
A low-grade First-Rank amplification Ember Remains could sell for fifteen million Xuanfeng Coins through official channels.
On the black market, prices often exceeded twenty million.
Countless Ability Users dreamed of owning one.
Yet Zhao Mu casually dismissed it as average.
His standards were simply too high.
Still, despite his criticism, he kept the ring.
After all, even he wasn't foolish enough to throw away something worth tens of millions.
---
Now came the real challenge.
His weapon.
The Ember Remains he truly wanted.
The Heavenly Halberd.
Unlike accessory-type Ember Remains, weapon-type Ember Remains were much more difficult to forge.
One could not simply seal the bone remains into mithril.
The materials first had to be integrated into a weapon framework.
Only after forming a suitable vessel could the sealing process begin.
Fortunately, Zhao Mu had already prepared everything.
The Engineering Department lacked many things.
Materials weren't one of them.
Reaching beneath his workbench, he retrieved a massive metal embryo.
The unfinished body of a Heavenly Halberd.
Its surface gleamed faintly beneath the workshop lights.
The weapon had been manufactured through industrial casting methods.
Its material was A-Grade alloy.
Currently, it represented one of the strongest mass-produced metals available.
Ordinary students wouldn't have access to such resources.
But Zhao Mu was different.
Liang Gongchi had taken a particular interest in him.
Because of that support, obtaining high-grade materials became significantly easier.
A single Heavenly Halberd consumed enough metal to manufacture five or six standard swords.
The cost alone was astonishing.
But Zhao Mu considered it worthwhile.
Powerful weapons deserved powerful foundations.
Now all that remained was integrating the spinal remains of the Remnant Beast King.
Opening his skill panel, Zhao Mu reviewed the data.
[Seal Bone Remains]
Proficiency: 37
Success Rate: Approximately 37%
Not ideal.
But acceptable.
With two opportunities available, the overall chance of success exceeded sixty percent.
That was enough.
Even failure would provide valuable experience.
Taking a deep breath, Zhao Mu activated the Turtle Breathing Technique.
His heartbeat slowed.
His thoughts became calm.
Steady.
Focused.
The workshop gradually fell silent.
The only sound remaining was the faint circulation of spirit energy.
He carefully engraved an additional Spirit Rune Circuit onto the mithril.
A safety measure.
Then he began.
Spirit energy flowed into the formation.
The mithril glowed.
Blue radiance spread outward.
The weapon embryo and Remnant Beast King's spinal remains became enveloped within the light.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
The space around them began to distort.
The two materials gradually became translucent.
It looked as though reality itself was folding inward.
The sealing process had reached its critical stage.
Zhao Mu watched without blinking.
Then—
Something went wrong.
The spiritual fluctuations became unstable.
The radiance flickered.
A blood-red mist emerged from the spinal remains.
Its spirituality was dissipating.
The process had failed.
The remains were ruined.
The first attempt was over.
Most beginners would have felt devastated.
Zhao Mu merely exhaled.
Failure was expected.
A thirty-seven percent success rate was hardly reliable.
Fortunately, the attempt wasn't entirely wasted.
His proficiency increased.
From 37.
To 38.
Progress was progress.
Without hesitation, he picked up the second set of remains.
This time, his movements were even smoother.
More confident.
More precise.
The previous failure had taught him valuable lessons.
Again, spirit energy flowed.
Again, the formation activated.
The workshop filled with blue light.
The vessel embryo and spinal remains began merging.
This time, the fusion process appeared much more stable.
The materials gradually shrank.
Their forms blurred.
Space twisted around them.
Then they slowly disappeared into the mithril.
Everything became quiet.
For several seconds, Zhao Mu didn't move.
Then realization struck.
Success.
A genuine smile spread across his face.
His hands trembled slightly as he picked up the mithril strip.
The second attempt had worked.
The Heavenly Halberd Ember Remains was finally complete.
"No wonder Space-Element and Spirit-Type Ability Users are considered the best refiners."
Zhao Mu couldn't help laughing.
The sealing process essentially replicated spatial abilities through rune formations.
For ordinary people, the procedure was difficult.
For someone naturally gifted with spatial powers?
It would be far easier.
As he thought about space abilities, another person immediately came to mind.
Shen Moran.
After all, Space-Element Ability Users were incredibly rare.
Even among people with equal combat ranks, those possessing spatial powers often displayed far greater battlefield value.
Whether in combat, support, transportation, or artifact crafting, their versatility was unmatched.
Holding the newly forged mithril in his hand, Zhao Mu stared at it for a long moment.
A sense of accomplishment rose within him.
This wasn't merely a weapon.
It was the beginning of something much greater.
His path toward becoming a true master craftsman had officially begun.
Advance Chapters avilable on patreon (Obito_uchiha)