Death... and me

Back inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, Rean watched as the upgrade process of the Soul Gem Blacksmith Workshop happened. Well, it wasn't as if he could see anything else other than the Spiritual Energy rushing inside that spatial barrier.

In any case, the Spiritual Energy eventually finished entering it before the barrier shattered to pieces. Only then could Rean enter to see what he obtained from the upgrades, excluding the hammer he had already obtained.

"Hmm?" Rean soon noticed the big machine on the wall. There were many displays to control it. But above all, it was the shape that caught Rean's attention. Soon, he muttered to himself in slight confusion, "An electric furnace? It looks a lot like the one I used back on Earth when I worked as a metallurgist."

Rean got closer to it and soon found out that it indeed used electrical components to operate. However, after using the controls for a while, he soon found out that it was very different. "This is quite nice. This is a furnace that works with both Spiritual Energy and electricity."

Rean then took out a few low-level ores and put them inside for a quick test. "Oh! It uses the circuitry part for precision. However, it allows the infusing of Spiritual Energy and Elements without having to keep the door open. So far, I've used those medieval forgers until now and had to keep the mouths open to send the energies inside."

Rean then looked at several dim orbs by the side of the controlling system, continuing to mutter, "However, this one uses these transfer orbs to send everything inside without even opening the furnace. This is really good."

After that, he tried to use his Light Element and Spiritual Energy on the orbs. The moment he did that, the energies were transferred into the furnace within a split second without anything being wasted. With that, he let out a chuckle as he said, "Truly impressive. Not only was the energy transfer fast, but there wasn't any loss of energy either."

It didn't matter how good Rean was at forging in the past. There would always be a loss of energy and imperfections. That was the nature of the job in a medieval environment like this. However, such a thing was now gone. Well, it wasn't as if true perfection could be achieved, but Rean wouldn't be too far from it with this furnace, at least not in the part that involved the furnace.

Rean worked on the ores he chucked in for some time before finally finishing everything. He then took it out and put it in a dagger mold. Everything went well until the time to temper it arrived. At that moment, Rean noticed a problem. "Eh? Where's the hammer?"

Rean looked around, but the hammer was nowhere to be seen. It was only then that he noticed another machine on the opposite side of the workshop.

"This..." Rean walked around as he touched the machine with a smile on his face. "A Power Hammer! My days of striking metal are over... or so I wish." Rean finally found his hammer by the side of the machine. "Detailed work would still need a more hands-on approach. However, this Power Hammer will definitely save most of the hard work.

Of course, Rean knew that this was a power hammer given by the Soul Gem System, so it definitely wasn't as simple as that. "I see...this Power Hammer strikes the metal while it keeps its head covered in Spiritual Energy. Well, that's to be expected since using a hammer alone would give no results."

With that, Rean took the dagger and began to strike it.

*Bang, bang, bang, bang...*

Once it cooled down beyond a certain point, he would send it back to the furnace to heat it up once again. Then, it would go back on the Power Hammer. Only at the very end did Rean use his Soul Gem Hammer to complete the small details. Eventually, he finished the forging process by tempering the dagger in a special liquid he created. "Very good, now I need to make a handle. After that, I just need to polish and sharpen it."

Around an hour later, Rean exited the Blacksmith Workshop with an Earth Middle-level dagger that could absorb Light Element once Spiritual Energy was used on it. "Very good result. I think it can even resist a few strikes of an Earth Peak-level weapon before breaking."

However, Rean couldn't help but sigh as well after using the new tools he had obtained. "I should have waited for the upgrades before forging the new Black and White Stars. Oh well, I'll just make new ones once I reach the Soul Transformation Realm."

Seeing that Rean came out, Roan sent him a message through their Soul Connection, asking, 'Are you done?'

Rean nodded, replying, 'Pretty much. What about you and Kentucky?'

'We are ready to go here,' Roan answered.

Rean smiled and then came down to look for Luna. After that, he passed the dagger to her, telling her soon after, "Keep it safe, and don't use it against the other kids, understood?"

Luna couldn't help but be impressed with the dagger's appearance. Rean's dagger was snow-white, without any specs of dirt on it. For a girl like Luna, it looked very beautiful. Not to mention that Rean had worked on the details to make it look more like a piece of art than a weapon.

"Alright!" Luna quickly sheathed the dagger as she nodded in response and put it on her waist. She had no intention of refusing the gift whatsoever.

Rean laughed as he patted her head after that, telling her, "Good. This is something for you to defend yourself. You can only use it if someone wishes to harm you. Don't forget that."

Luna brightly smiled and nodded.

Rean then turned around, preparing to leave, when suddenly, he noticed hundreds of eyes focused on his body. Sure enough, the other kids were very jealous of Luna's gift. In the end, he bitterly smiled before saying, "Alright, I'll make a few pieces of equipment for all of you later. However, you'll need to wait for me to come back. I have somewhere else to go for now."

Roan saw that and couldn't help but complain, 'Are you crazy? Are you going to give a weapon to each kid? They're already hurting themselves with the wooden weapons I made for them. If you do that, they'll seriously kill each other.'

Rean almost laughed when he heard that, responding, 'To think you would care so much about these kids.'

Roan narrowed his eyes in response, saying, 'What's the point in saving all of them, just for them to die right after?'

Rean shook his head after hearing that. Then, he said with a playful smile, 'All I said was that I was going to make a piece of equipment for each of them. I never said I was going to make them weapons.'

Only then did Roan understand. Rean was going to made defensive equipment like armors, collars, bracelets, and so on. They were all kids, so they wouldn't bother over what kind of equipment they got as long as they looked nice like Luna's. 'I see...that's good enough.'

Rean smiled but didn't say anything else either. After that, the two of them flew above Celis just to see Kentucky sleeping in his nest. "I say, Celis, doesn't it bother you to have this guy living on your branches?"

Celis denied that notion, replying with, "Of course not! Look closer."

Rean and Roan paid attention and soon noticed a very small stream of energy coming and leaving Kentucky's body. It wasn't Spiritual Energy, nor Elemental Energy. It wasn't Yin or Yang Energy either, much less World Essence. "So that's what you meant. Is this energy the one that appears when a Divine Demon Bird forms a bond with a World Swallowing Cedar?"

Celis confirmed Rean's doubts, replying, "Exactly. This is beneficial for him and me. It should help our cultivation increase faster, so it's also helpful for you two. After all, we all have some kind of cultivation connection where our levels can't surpass but can pull everyone's realm together."

Rean and Roan were satisfied to see the results of that bond bearing fruits so early. "That's good."

Roan then approached Kentucky, shouting, "Hey, chicken! wake up!"

Kentucky slowly opened his eyes, annoyed that someone stopped his siesta time. "What? Is it time to eat already?"

Roan's mouth twitched before he kicked the Minokawa, saying, "Eat your head! Let's go. It's time to go out and challenge those tribes."

Rean agreed with Roan, saying, "Don't forget, Kentucky. The one with the best reward will be the victor."

Only then did Kentucky remember that challenge. "Oh! That's right!" Kentucky looked at Celis right after, telling him, "I'm going now, so take care of the kids."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just go and do what you need to do already you three." Celis already knew what it was about. "I don't need combat experience anymore, only energy. Just leave me here, and I can pull you all together with my cultivation."

That wasn't a lie. Just like how Rean and Roan could pull Kentucky's cultivation forward, Kentucky could do the same thing for the twins. Because Celis's cultivation was now limited by its connection with Kentucky, it also meant that pulling Kentucky's cultivation would affect the twins and vice versa. Of course, only one of them cultivating would take much longer than when the four of them did it. That being said, Rean, Roan, and Kentucky didn't stop cultivating either. There was a limit to what Celis could do alone.

Rean and Roan then boarded Kentucky's back and took flight, quickly leaving the protection formation. Following that, Kentucky headed out of Koran Forest, where the three of them finally decided to separate. Who knows what each one of them would bring back later?