A Core Ship From The Start Chapter 1056

Chapter 1056: Chapter 727: Divine Artifact Forger (Seeking Monthly Pass at Moonrise Meow) Chapter 1056: Chapter 727: Divine Artifact Forger (Seeking Monthly Pass at Moonrise Meow) “`
Accompanying the death of that unfortunate fellow, all the souls he had devoured were destroyed, and those who had become Untouchables also dissipated into nothingness, thus resolving a crisis into invisibility.

Of course, even so, there were quite a few who were dissatisfied with the Tribunal, for among the victims previously devoured by the Supreme True God were some from the upper echelons and the nobility, and for the common people, they were also unwilling to accept that their loved ones could so suddenly vanish from before their eyes.

To the protests and opposition of these people, the Tribunal was unconcerned, indifferent, and uninterested. Duanmu Huai had his reasons for doing this; the curse was attached to the soul, and if these souls were released, who knows if someone might acquire this soul-devouring curse once again. With the Tribunal's attitude of preferring to kill ten thousand by mistake rather than spare one, it was certain that they would opt for complete annihilation without leaving anyone behind for safety's sake.

Having even the slightest sympathy was a disrespect to the Tribunal, after all.

After this incident, all forces and organizations on the Continent had a very clear impression of the Tribunal. Previously, when the Tribunal was committing murder and arson in the Supreme Forest, many suspected them of racial discrimination–after all, Arkham City was divided between Humans and Subhumans, with human supremacism being a standard of the Tribunal.

But now it seems, damn, the Tribunal is brutal to others and even more ruthless to their own kind. Tree Men and Elves can be killed, and they do not even spare their own humans. They truly live up to their vow to protect humanity at any cost and to eliminate any threat to humanity. Previously, some believed the Tribunal's vow was merely for show, to garner favor, but now, no one thinks so anymore.

Thus, the attitude of various powers across the Continent towards the Tribunal suddenly became delicate.

On one hand, the Tribunal truly did protect humanity, comforting many human organizations. On the other hand, their practice of preferring to wrongfully kill a thousand rather than letting even one go truly terrified them. More importantly, the Tribunal isn't the sort you report to and then they take action. Countless Blade of Judgment squads roamed every corner of Faelun, and as soon as they found any behavior harmful to humans, the Tribunal would instantly mobilize, completely disregarding territorial sovereignty, killing and eradicating as they willed. It must be said that this made many powers somewhat wary.

But they couldn't do anything about the Tribunal.

If it were any other power, even the Temple Church like Tyler, they could be dealt with through trade. The Church needed to root itself in the population, tying its interests to those of the common folk. Similarly, by tying their own interests to those of the common people, the Church wouldn't have much of a say against them. It's like a trading company responsible for delivering daily necessities to a city; as long as they don't harm the average person, the Church will turn a blind eye to their minor crimes.

But the Tribunal cares not for such things. Currently, everything in the Tribunal Court Territory is self-sufficient, be it food, raw materials, or metal supplies–they don't need to import anything from the outside. On the contrary, the outside world is quite covetous of some of the products produced by the Tribunal, trying by all means to get their hands on them.

Therefore, for the major powers of Faelun, the Tribunal is impervious to both carrots and sticks, which vexes them considerably.

They dare not play dirty or trouble the Tribunal in the shadows because the Tribunal is unlike those Temple Churches that somewhat abide by rules; it is the epitome of great strength with no regard for rules. Even if it's a city Lord who dares to cross the Tribunal, they're likely to be met the next moment with the Night Guard's hammer of justice descending from the heavens to smite them.

Follow procedures? This damn thing is the procedure of the Tribunal, do you submit or not!

If you don't submit, then come at us! If the Tribunal frowns, I'm a damn son of a bitch!

The brewing storms outside had nothing to do with Duanmu Huai anymore, as he had already appointed diplomats, and it was now the time for the diplomats to make their appearance. After returning to his own territory, Duanmu Huai was eager to create a Frost Mourne–after all, as long as he combined the God Creating Divine Position and the Geass Silver Sword, he could be crowned, right?

Then Duanmu Huai realized something.

He didn't know how!

“Damn it, how do I do this?”

Looking at the Geass Silver Sword before him and the Divine Position in his hand, Duanmu Huai was completely baffled. He only remembered after he returned that in the game, artifact crafting was typically left to dedicated crafting players; usually, others would prepare the materials, then find a crafting player, open the trade window, place the materials and the commission on it, and then the Divine Artifact would be crafted.

“`
Duanmu Huai had always done the same in the game, having grown used to it.

It wasn't until he returned that he remembered.

Holy crap, where am I going to find a full-time blacksmithing player?

In this world, I'm the only player, alright!

So now I double as a blacksmith?

The thought alone made Duanmu Huai feel like it was the most bothersome thing ever. In the game, raising skill levels for production occupations like mining, smelting, and forging required proficiency, and then there were the occupation quests. There were even some processes so difficult that players had no choice but to seek help–One-fifth of Duanmu Huai's commission postings were similar, involving production occupation players seeking his help with boss fights to complete their class transfer missions.

Although Duanmu Huai was only responsible for taking down monsters in these commissions, leaving the rest like triggering mechanisms and solving puzzles to the players themselves, just watching them gave him a headache. With aspects like the Five Elements and rune forging, it felt like taking a foreign language proficiency exam. He couldn't make heads or tails of it; it was still a game, but if this were to be in real life, wouldn't he just explode on the spot?

Although this world did have deities capable of forging Divine Artifacts, Duanmu Huai had no intention of letting them get involved with the Divine Position of the God of Devouring. First of all, they weren't close, and he feared they might embezzle it. Secondly… the god of forging was a Dwarf, and that meant they were even less likely to get along with the Tribunal.

“Sigh…”

Duanmu Huai silently put it away, thinking if all else fails, next time he'd ask Stefal if there were any Soul Cards of master smiths.

It was a false alarm, really.

Unfortunately, it seemed Duanmu Huai's luck wasn't very good.

“A forging master capable of crafting Divine Artifacts? Sorry, I also don't have any such connections,” Stefal said.

Having come to Luminas again and found Stefal, Duanmu Huai was left speechless by the latter's response.

“You don't have them either? Or you can't do it either?”

“What kind of joke is this, Mr. Duanmu? How could a fragile, pitiful woman like myself engage in such heavy labor with an Iron Hammer?”

A fragile woman, huh…

Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes, not in the mood to speak.

“If you need a trustworthy blacksmith, how about training one yourself?”

“You think I don't want to? But isn't that way too troublesome? And where am I supposed to find people?”

Facing Stefal's suggestion, Duanmu Huai curled his lip. True, his subordinate Kukulu was a weapon designer, but that was quite different from forging a Divine Artifact, and since she was now with Maria praising the God of All Machines all the time–well, that was out of the question.

“Since that's the case, I have a good idea.”

Stefal clapped his hands together, smiling at Duanmu Huai.

“……What idea?”

“In fact, I also run a foundation dedicated to nurturing talented children, helping their talents flourish.”

“Oh, I've never heard of that before.”

“So, Mr. Duanmu, would you like to contribute some money? We will use the funds to nurture those children, and when they grow up, wouldn't you gain a loyal master blacksmith? That's a sure-fire profit, don't you think? What do you say?”

“……You mean to say, among the talents currently nurtured by the foundation, there are those in this area?”

“Not yet, but if you're willing to join, success will be within easy reach.”

“………”
This sounds eerily like a pyramid scheme to me.

“How much are we talking about?”

“Uncertain.”

“And how long will this take?”

“Don't know.”

“How many people?”

“Can't say for sure.”

“………”
Looking at the smiling Stefal before him, Duanmu Huai was rendered speechless.

“At least make it sound convincing if you're running a pyramid scheme and then maybe I'll pay up.”

“We're doing legitimate business here, of course, we wouldn't scam our customers.”

Stefal chuckled confidently as she responded… though it seemed shameless how confidently she could say that.

“You call this legitimate business?”

You're full of 'I don't knows,' and yet you want to talk legitimate business with me? Believe it or not, I'm about to report you to the business bureau for running a scam.

“The amount for the first installment is this.”

Only when it comes to taking money are things clear, huh? And not even a contract to sign?

But still…

“What do you mean by 'first installment'?”

“Cultivating talent takes a lot of effort–it surely won't be an instant success. It's the long-term investment that yields results, right?”

Great, so it's not a one-off deal? Conning me once should be enough; are you planning to scam me multiple times? Or maybe you're planning to play the long game? When will this end?

“By the way, do I get a refund if the training fails?”

“Of course not. While you may have provided the funds, we put in the hard work, so it's a shared risk. There's naturally no compensation for failure.”

“Shared my ass, I'm the one paying, what risk do you have other than wasting some time?”

Duanmu Huai grumbled to himself, but nonetheless obediently transferred some Divine Power to Stefal.

“Thank you for your patronage, and welcome to come again.”

“You'll be waiting for me to pay up again, right?”

Even though Duanmu Huai had no idea what Stefal was up to, he really had no other options at the moment, so he could only wait and see how things would turn out with Stefal.

Of course, the money wasn't spent in vain. After leaving Stefal's shop, he headed straight for the God Kingdom of Kelanwo.

He was dead set on getting past the Wall of Unbelievers.

Chapter end

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