Chapter 17 Bai Li’s So-Called Ingenious Craft
Chapter 17: Bai Li’s So-Called Ingenious Craft
The messy room was cleaned up by Vivian. She opened the window, breathing in the fresh air.
To be honest, since arriving here, Bai Li had never properly eaten anything. The only food he didn’t refuse was the cuisine made by Therese.
But such food could only satisfy hunger. As a vampire, blood was the direct source of energy.
Now it seemed he had no choice but to drink, despite his inner resistance.
“Fine, I’ll go for it. Otherwise, I’ll be pinned down again, which would be humiliating.”
He picked up the glass on the table and drained the fresh blood in one gulp. Then he looked up to meet Vivian’s gaze, which carried a sense of satisfaction.
“Hmph… you’re quite good at taking advantage of people in distress.”
“Barely passable. Is that all you’ve got? What a small fish indeed~”
…
Mist City of the vampires—Wensa’s visit arrived as scheduled.
“Dakuf, you’re still the same as before.” Wensa teased, withdrawing his sword and elegantly bowing.
The man called Dakuf held his pipe. “Wensa, you’ve really got skills. Worthy of being the rising star of Rose Hall.” He exhaled a long breath, the smoke seemingly acrid.
“Cough, cough.” Wensa couldn’t help but cough lightly.
The spear in his hand spun, with mist swirling around nearby giving off a mysterious feeling. He casually withdrew his bone spear, ending the sparring match.
“Alright, Wensa, it’s a shame about Conde. I heard a new prince is ascending to the throne on your side. I’d like to see who this person is.”
Wensa put down his teacup. Vivian had previously instructed him to keep the coronation ceremony as simple as possible, with fewer people knowing about it the better. But with Dakuf asking directly, he was in a difficult position.
“Duke Dakuf, our Rose Hall has been dealing with some internal affairs lately. Vivian instructed me that the coronation ceremony should be kept simple. Please understand.”
His cat’s eye jade ring tapped on the table. Dakuf removed his pipe and shook off the accumulated ash.
“I know Klaymang has been watching your side, and Vivian has her difficulties. Let’s leave it at that. Come, let’s continue drinking tea.”
The pressure from this Mist City lord was indeed strong. As a junior, it was somewhat difficult for Wensa to spar with him. Clearly, Dakuf had held back.
The northern part of Rose Hall bordered the Sea of the Dead and Klaymang’s Dark Night Temple. Dakuf’s Mist City was in the south, adjacent to the Empire’s Crossbow Fortress.
Usually, he lived in seclusion. After all, Mist City was always shrouded in a layer of blood mist, which suited his image as an old smoker.
…
“So annoying, why are there so many skeleton soldiers?” Therese sat on a pile of bones, with rusty cutlasses, armor, shields, and other equipment littered everywhere.
Clearing these skeleton soldiers was simple, but certainly boring. Therese disposed of them as easily as chopping vegetables.
“Let’s go back quickly. Bai Li is probably getting impatient.”
After that, Therese’s figure disappeared on the beach. What she didn’t notice was a wisp of green ghost fire rising in the distance.
In the middle of the bone pile, something seemed to have moved.
Back at Rose Hall, Bai Li had dressed and was aimlessly wandering outside, dispirited. The psychological shadow cast by yesterday’s events seemed quite substantial.
He tried to sense the power of the Seraph, and as he expected, there was nothing.
But what Vivian said was indeed correct. As his body gradually accepted the vampire bloodline, the degree of assimilation deepened further.
“Damn it…” Though he said this, he could feel that after actively drinking blood, his strength had indeed increased a bit.
“Am I getting closer to becoming a ghost? No, no…”
He angrily looked at the wooden stake in front of him and kicked it in frustration.
“Ouch… what material is this thing made of?” Bai Li withdrew his foot. Fortunately, he had buffered with magic in time, otherwise his foot would have been fractured.
Vivian walked to the wooden stake, lightly scraped it twice, and then the “wooden stake” revealed its true form—it was clearly a piece of basalt.
“Are you crazy? Disguising this stone as a wooden stake.”
“Who made someone lose their composure?” The smile on Vivian’s face was impossible to hide. “Look, doesn’t the sign say it’s very hard? If only you were that hard.”
Bai Li looked up and indeed, there was a sign hanging on the nearby tree. After thoroughly studying vampire culture, understanding these characters was no problem.
“You’re nuts. The writing is also exceptionally impressive.”
Ignoring Bai Li’s sarcasm, Vivian couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense.
“I heard you’re a top craftsman? Sounds impressive.”
Hearing this, Bai Li’s spirits instantly plummeted. “What’s the big deal, it’s just some ingenious craft.”
“I’m quite interested, Sir Knight Commander. Would you do me the honor of showing me?”
This was unexpected to Bai Li. This technology wasn’t particularly welcomed in this world of sword and magic.
“I never thought the first person interested in this technology would be you.”
Now it was Vivian’s turn to be smug. “Who made you completely mine now? Checking personal belongings is reasonable, right?”
Bai Li shrugged. Indeed, that was the current reality. But at least his skills were somewhat recognized by her.
Although an enemy, she was the first to accept him. At least now she seemed quite interested.
“Fine, fine, fine. But before that, the toolbox I kept in the fortress, did you take it too?”
Vivian blinked. “You mean that iron box with the white moon engraved on it?” In a moment, she produced it from somewhere.
“It was in the storage ring. You were really smuggling things.” Bai Li took the toolbox, weighing it to find no damage.
“Seems you’ve taken good care of it.”
Vivian took his hand, pulling him to a deserted workbench.
“You can demonstrate here. After all, we vampires don’t have any crafts to be proud of…” As she said this, there was obvious disappointment in her tone.
Bai Li didn’t look at her, just put on his goggles and picked up the engraving knife to start cutting the rusted metal on the table.
Under freezing, the metal became particularly brittle. The engraving knife cut through it like cake.
With the engraving knife and drill alternating, a steel tube quickly took shape. Then he began inscribing some circuits inside the tube.
Vivian watched intently, not knowing what he was making.
“Just watch. Even this most common weapon will probably surprise you.” Bai Li said, as he lit the furnace nearby and began heating and quenching the pre-engraved spring.
There was also a polished small iron piece. After quenching the spring, he pressed it slightly to test if the elastic strength was just right.
“Seems I haven’t completely forgotten.”
After a series of operations, what Vivian saw was something resembling a staff.
“Tell me, what’s this for?” She rested her cheek on her hand, obediently leaning on the nearby table waiting.
“Don’t rush, I’ll tell you soon.”
He raised the steel tube, loaded some gunpowder into the rear box, and as he pressed that iron piece, with a loud bang, a brick in the wall near the workbench was shattered to pieces.
Vivian was already dumbfounded. She had previously questioned why Bai Li’s soldiers would use such things as weapons.
But now she knew the answer.
…