The sun had set and the moonlight was the only source of light reaching the world on a starless night.
Although this season should be especially hot considering that summer was approaching, the reality could not be more different.
With the intervention of the mana on planet Earth, the world as a whole was changing little by little as well as the laws and rules that governed it. Not only the humans and the other beings that inhabited this small blue planet of the Milky Way had to adapt to the changes, the world in which they lived also had to adapt and evolve little by little.
Although it was not as bad as the last years where the weather was completely unpredictable, even with the control of the Soul Record it was still difficult to prevent a sudden storm even if the previous day had been extremely hot.
In the center of the main square of the Beginning Village, the Normal Citizens, composed of that minority who didn't want to work or were simply no good at anything, gathered.
In a corner, a large stall could be seen where a small number of people were preparing grains of rice before dipping them into a huge pot with a large amount of water before starting to prepare the food without much enthusiasm on their faces.
"Line up!" a man armed with a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle bellowed. His eyes filled with disdain looked at the people in front of him as if he was looking at drones instead of humans.
The Normal Citizens, the lowest caste of survivors, lined up obediently under the gaze of a dozen armed men. None of them dared raise the slightest word of complaint or show the slightest dissatisfaction on their faces.
These people knew that they were not looked upon favorably by anyone in the camp. But how could they be looked upon favorably? After all, while everyone was doing their part to make life better for everyone else, they were doing nothing but eating and sleeping. They knew that if they caused the slightest disturbance they would be discarded to the side.
Even if someone bullied them the leaders turned a blind eye as long as there were no serious injuries, rapes, or deaths involved. Therefore, these survivors behaved obediently like lambs as they waited for their rations for the night. Although it was after midnight, they were probably the last to eat because they had to wait until the soldiers and other personnel were free before receiving their meals.
These were the consequences of being nothing but leeches.
Luo Cheng had been living well recently. His younger sister Luo Ning had been leveling up under the care of the group's core evolvers and he also managed to slowly rise through the ranks of power and was now the leader of this small group of people. Although he knew that he could not become a core member under the banner of the main leader, as long as he could bring food to the table it was enough for him.
"Luo Cheng, I leave you in charge of the rest."
As Luo Cheng sighed internally and felt extremely grateful to Bai Zemin for making everyone's life simpler and better, a melodious but icy cold voice sounded a short distance away from him, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"O-Of course! You can leave the rest to me. Thanks for your hard work as always!" Luo Cheng couldn't help but bite his tongue when he saw Shangguan Bing Xue at such close distance. He was three or four years older than her but he never ceased to be amazed by her beauty every time he saw her.
Shangguan Bing Xue gave him a glance before nodding slightly and then looked towards the main villa that was shining like a sun in the middle of the night. After hesitating for a moment she walked towards it.
As he looked at her slender back disappearing into the distance and appreciating her bright hair dancing in the wind, Luo Cheng couldn't help but let his heart race. He smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"She and I are two people from two different worlds... Let's focus on the reality before my eyes instead of such a distant fantasy world." he muttered before putting on a serious expression and starting to give some minor orders.
* * *
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!...
Inside a large well-lit room, the constant sound of metal clanging metal rang out constantly and except for the breathing of the only two people in the place, the other sound that could be heard was the constant crackling of fire.
The crimson flames danced softly within the furnace, still struggling to devour the Soul Power and wild mana contained inside the five Soul Stones. But even after several hours it had not succeeded.
"Pass me the next scale please!" Bai Zemin spoke loudly as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. The constant heat released by the magic crimson flame of a Rare grade treasure inside a locked room was nothing to scoff at.
"Here you go." Lilith, now in her Lili form, approached him with a red scale that burned at high temperatures, but she held it in her bare hands as if she were holding a normal rock.
"This should be the last one. A few more details to touch up and that should be it." Bai Zemin took the tongs and carefully grabbed the red-hot scale. Then, he placed the scale right on the open part that had been purposely left open by him before he started hammering with all his Strength.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Little by little, the scale changed its shape and thanks to the burning heat it began to melt and join the other scales; scales that had now joined together to form a huge red sword.
If it was in the past, Bai Zemin's Strength probably wouldn't have been enough to mold these First Order scales at will. But after boosting his Strength with the sixty plus status points he had saved up as well as the Strength boost he received after absorbing the Second Order bear's Soul Power, he could barely handle the work.
While Bai Zemin was immersed in the smithy, the closed door leading to the outside opened softly and a small head covered in silver hair peeked around the corner at the same time as two beautiful blue eyes observed the situation inside.
'Lili' looked in that direction and upon seeing Shangguan Bing Xue waved her hand indicating that it was okay to approach.
Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and entered before carefully closing the door behind her again so as not to disturb Bai Zemin's work. She approached, and the closer she got to the furnace, the more surprised she became and the deeper her frown deepened.
She really hated the fire and the heat. Her favorite season of the year had always been winter since she was a little child. Seeing Lili sweating so much that her clothes had stuck to her curvaceous body, Shangguan Bing Xue secretly sighed.
This woman endured all this heat for so many hours just to accompany him. She thought at the same time as she spent a small point of her Mana to cool the surrounding air; she was especially careful not to cool the area where Bai Zemin was as the hotter the area he worked in the better the results would be.
'Lili' looked at Shangguan Bing Xue with funny eyes before smiling sweetly and thanking her softly, to which she responded with a simple nod.
The reason Lilith was sweating so much was to pretend. If she was perfectly fine while Bai Zemin was sweating it would have been unusual and that was why she tricked Shangguan Bing Xue. What she did not expect was that the usually cold and indifferent ice princess would actually make such a kind gesture towards a stranger.
As the sound of metal clanging metal rang out, the two women silently watched the man working.
Bai Zemin was so focused on the work he was doing that he didn't even notice anyone else in the room. This was the first time he had worked in the forge for a long time and he was also working with materials precious to him; his first weapon depended on it. Therefore, he focused his 200% on the hammer in his hands and the evolved monster material.
After hitting the same scale for twenty minutes, Bai Zemin started to ask for some more materials without looking back.
Sometimes it was Lilith who passed them to him and sometimes it was Shangguan Bing Xue since she was closer. But Bai Zemin didn't seem to mind any of this as he only hammered when he had to pound metal or tied knots when working on long strips of leather.
After about another two hours or so, Bai Zemin's movements stopped completely. He again wiped the accumulated sweat from his forehead with his forearm and sighed. A smile formed at the corner of his mouth and he unconsciously nodded seemingly satisfied as he looked at his creation.
Not knowing that there was an additional person inside the room, Bai Zemin put down the hammer and touched the hilt of his new companion.
[Blazing Scale Greatsword -
[Two-handed Weapon]
[Rank: 1]
[Physical Attack Power: 750]
[When attacking increases attack power by 10% as fire-type damage]
[Durability: 2000/2000]
[Description: A heavy sword created primarily from First Order Flaming Snake scales. It has a faint amount of fire-type power along the blade]
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Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3