Molting the Mortal Coil

When building that large hill, or small mountain, he’d dug up a huge pit. That was in preparation for his new storage plan. A stone room as large as an aircraft hangar was constructed below ground level with the help of an army of insects. This area was the replacement for his old storage ring, and just as Tao Ba had told him, he could put portions of the Universe Ring’s space into stasis just like his old ring. This storage room was the place he’d designated to be locked in stasis so he could store perishables without spoilage or valuables without aging. Once constructed the storage room was covered over with dirt, save for a secret entrance and on top of it he built a manor house.

While he was skilled, Sage wasn’t an architect so for that task he hired some commoners to provide direction. By using the Hypnotic Eye he got the commoners to direct the giant insects without fear and also to forget what they had done. After a few weeks of work all they knew was that they’d been paid handsomely and lost some time, they didn’t even have the slightest clue as to who hired them. The manor house wasn’t extremely large, but with so much space available, Sage built it with plenty of room to spare. There was no telling if he’d need to hide anyone, or imprison someone, in the future so there were multiple buildings in the small compound. For his own use he had a simple house with a very expansive workshop, with sections ready to be filled with the tools of his many trades.

The workshop was far from functional at the moment since he wanted to fill it with the best tools and so refrained from purchasing sub-par versions from the towns he passed. He started with a decent base, all the important objects he carried in his ring were here after all. Just like now, he was taking a shower and cleaning up from all that work using his hot water generator. Toweling off, he stopped over at a desk and scribbled down another idea.

Silly me, how could I forget washing machines? I just need to combine my hot water system with a motor… oh, right.

Developing a system of motivation, a motor, was high on his list of research topics. While he wasn’t an electrical engineer or a chemist, he had already done a few tests that dampened his spirits. All the basic ways he knew of to generate electricity didn’t seem to work in this world. Obviously there was lightning, but he tried to make a lemon battery with zinc and copper to no result. He even tried using wound copper wire to build an alternator with a waterwheel, but he couldn’t find or create a magnet to make it work. There was something very different about the fundamental laws of this world. There was a similar problem with combustion. While he had no idea how to create gunpowder, he was able to find a small amount of what he could only identify as crude oil, but unfortunately either he identified it wrong or there also a problem. Even using a fire stone and divine breath the oil didn’t combust as it should have, merely burning away weakly.

With that result he had a guess that even if he knew how to create gunpowder it wouldn’t work in this world. On the plus side, he wasn’t a chemist or materials scientist. The knowledge that would be invalidated here was stuff he never knew in the first place. So, while it would be possible for him to rediscover everything in this world through trial and error just like they did through history, Sage chose to stick with the systems in place. Instead of reinventing the wheel, he’d much rather just try to adapt the concepts of the inventions to the systems of this different world.

Formation powered steam engines might work.

The next day, Sage met up with Song Lu Tian again and got his feedback on the performance of the eight sword set. As expected, there was a fanatical gleam in the man’s eyes as he got a taste of what a real set of formation swords were like. Each blade was far inferior to the ones he was previously using, each of those swords he previously wielded were all high quality flying swords from respected masters. If he tried to use one of those swords on its own to duel with one of his other flying swords there would be absolutely no contest. On the other hand, when combined the formation swords multiplied the power of his formation, not only was the formation already more powerful than an individual sword, the set of swords made it even stronger. Just like a good weapon could increase the power of its wielder, Song Lu Tian finally had the same feeling when using a Sword Formation and he loved it.

With this crucial step out of the way, Sage took Song Lu Tian’s input on customization to the performance and appearance of his desired sword set. While the look of a weapon was mostly inconsequential it did make a difference. If it matched the owner’s personality they would feel more powerful and connected with their weapons, increasing their prowess or confidence. Extreme appearances could also affect the ergonomics or functionality of the weapon, so it was important to be cautious. Artifact level items also had their own Item Spirits, and if they weren’t in harmony with the appearance of the item, it could cause their personalities to deviate or never mesh completely with the tool they inhabited.

Sage completely ignored the final results of the tournament and instead focused entirely on his weapon forging. He planned on selling the three extra test sets he was going to build so the better he did the more profits he could make. Once the rumors of Song Lu Tian’s performance spread he was sure there would be many clamoring to have a similar set of weapons. Song Lu Tian’s fame and skill had already caused a resurgence in the number of people wielding Sword Formations. They were extremely demanding to put into use, but many wanted to follow in the footsteps of their idol so much money was wasted on purchasing old sword formation manuals and flying swords en masse. He planned to get into the neglected market for true formation swords.

Oh yeah, I should pass on the trick to the Sect and get a cut of a bigger pie.

The third set of formation swords were only barely a success. Only three of the twenty swords were completed successfully. For the other seventeen, just like the fifteen from the first batch and the twelve from the second set, they were ruined. The silk handle wrap wasn’t applied so there was no loss, and the Spirit Steel was mostly salvageable, requiring a few more spirit stones and another round of refining. But, when it came to the Manticore claws and the wooden handles they were mostly a bust. He could choose to sell the ruined products as low grade Mortal Treasures, or he could salvage them and lose the spiritual wood and Manticore claws. The regrettable part was that the Manticore claws were actually the most expensive part of the swords. Ruined truly was a good description for them. This third set came out much worse off than the second because he had been following the changes that were recommended by Song Lu Tian.

After taking a few days to rest and spend some time on his own cultivation, Sage started the fourth set. This time he made some changes to leverage all of his own advantages. In addition to using the Divine Breath technique, Sage also called forth his Twin Soul to act as an extra pair of eyes. To see through the eyes of a linked insect he had to close his own, so there was no advantage, but for the Twin Soul it was like having a second mind. He could see and feel everything it did, with a little practice it made him more precise with his hammer strikes by having a second viewpoint to observe from. He also used a linked Charming Lance Beetle to wield a hammer for him. It just had to smash its arm down at an even pace, Sage attached a pair of hammers to its front limbs and it would alternate every few minutes. In essence acting as a modern power hammer would, while his physique as a cultivator was superhuman in comparison to a normal person, so were the requirements for forging treasures.

Unfortunately, the workshop was already inlaid with assisting formations so there wasn’t any room for him to tweak or add to them. Just like his other abilities, most of them weren’t able to be brought into further use, but even just those two extra advantages made a difference. The fourth set of swords finally brought him confidence. A full set of nine swords, and they met everyone of Song Lu Tian’s requirements. Even if he were to fail at the final set, he already had a passable stand in. As for the actual changes, most of them were related to the shape and cosmetics of the swords. Song Lu Tian gave Sage the dimensions and a rough sketch of his ideal sword shape along with some purely aesthetic choices, which he happily complied with. The sticking point was that he also requested an additional magical feature for the blades in addition to flying and the array enhancing symbols.

Size changing. Specifically, shrinking. It wasn’t exactly an uncommon enhancement for magical weapons, making them easier to hide or conceal. It was quite common for hidden weapons, but for the main weapon it was far more popular to make a weapon sharper, harder, tougher, faster, hit harder, or to call upon the elements. Only an assassin would ask for such an enhancement, everyone else just concealed their weapons in a storage ring or bag. Song Lu Tian had a simple explanation, “Everyone always runs from me. If the swords can stay hidden while they cut off my enemies escape route, no one will able to run from me again.”

Sage nodded his head and accepted such an evaluation. If it was just one or two blades it would obviously not work so well, but Song Lu Tian could set up a Sword Formation. Nine swords suddenly appearing in a massive formation would certainly work to cut off an escape route. The third set of blades were hence ruined as he tried to perfect adding an extra formation into the swords. The final set made of Spirit Steel was a masterwork. Having worked out the kinks with the extra set of eyes and hands, as well as the layout of the inner formations, he focused all his effort on each step of each sword’s forging being perfectly uniform. He even repeated a few of the steps multiple times in order to make sure each sword blade was the same.

Not quite perfect, but eighteen is close enough.