IRM Chapter 62

After saying the last sentence, Phaestus’s image indeed immediately disappeared, and the projection device on the workbench suddenly dimmed, completing its mission and lying there silently.

Ji Chi received a large amount of information within a few minutes, his brain was throbbing with pain. He pinched his brow, planning to set this information aside to digest slowly.

So, what would the small gift left by the God of Forging be?

Ji Chi looked up and gazed around. He actually didn’t have much expectation for the small gift.

Firstly, because he already possessed enough treasures, ordinary items simply couldn’t reach his excitement threshold; secondly, because this god was particularly unreliable, he always felt that the small gift was just teasing him.

Ji Chi sighed and simply started wandering around the vicinity.

The space below the temple was very large. Ji Chi had roughly scanned it earlier, and at that time he thought this was where Phaestus lived, but after truly exploring it, he discovered that this entire area was actually a crafting workshop.

Strangely shaped tools, variously designed furnaces, precious and numerous materials, ancient texts with long histories… Ji Chi examined them with half-understanding, glanced through them cursorily, then moved on to the next area.

However, he vaguely knew that these things he couldn’t understand would probably drive any master craftsman into madness if they saw them.

Ji Chi wandered for over ten minutes before roughly touring this space once. The items here were almost all related to machinery, and he seemed not to have discovered anything particularly special.

He casually took down a small iron hammer from a wooden rack and played with it for a while. The head of this small iron hammer was made from rock iron ore unique to Fren Desert, which was many times heavier than ordinary steel.

Rock iron ore had many uses. Not only did craftsmen like to use tools made from it, but alchemists also often used rock iron pestles to grind hard medicinal materials.

Bang bang bang—— subtle dull knocking sounds from above called back Ji Chi’s scattered thoughts. That was Tang inquiring about his current situation.

Ji Chi came back to his senses, gripping the small iron hammer tightly in his hand. His eyes were slightly glowing because he realized he had gotten stuck in a rut again.

What did skills matter? This was a real world. If he didn’t know how to craft machinery, he would go learn it himself. If he didn’t understand how to operate, he would experiment himself. After all, this time, he possessed a long and free life.

Ji Chi’s lips curved up slightly. He walked without hesitation to the bookshelf he had passed earlier. The three-meter-high bookshelf occupied an entire wall, with obscure and difficult-to-understand crafting texts neatly arranged on it.

No matter in which world, the insights and experiences of predecessors were the most precious items. Ji Chi pulled out several texts and flipped through them, discovering that this bookshelf had seven levels. The bottom level had the most texts, all relatively basic machinery starting methods.

The higher up, the fewer texts there were, especially on the top level, where there was only a single lonely book.

Ji Chi raised an eyebrow. Was that the “small gift”?

This time Ji Chi didn’t ask the little fat dragon to help get the book. He properly moved over the sliding wooden ladder embedded in the bookshelf, climbed to the top shelf, and reached for that text.

The lonely text looked very thick and felt heavy in his hands. The weight from knowledge made him feel comforted.

However, this comfort obviously only lasted for a short while.

Ji Chi turned over the heavy cover. On the dark yellow sheepskin title page, a line of large characters was particularly eye-catching: Hephaestus Teaches You How to Forge a Legendary Artifact.

Ji Chi’s mouth twitched. He inexplicably had a bad premonition. What was with this strong pyramid scheme introduction style?

He flipped down a page. [First, you must use the Hephaestus manufacturing chain model to judge the five-force analysis of the artifact, through the Hephaestus analysis process…]

Ji Chi snapped the book shut with a clap.

Was this God of Forging really not someone who had transmigrated? How did he know how to make a book feel nauseating in the shortest time possible?

Ji Chi took a deep breath, frowned, and directly flipped through to the last page.

[Hahaha, I hope you didn’t seriously study what I wrote before. Those were all made up to tease you!]

[Forging legendary artifacts is actually very simple. When the item you’re forging has enough meaning to you, even gods cannot stop you from completing it.]

Ji Chi was shocked. He incredulously flipped through the previous pages—— Was this God of Forging so bored! If you have time to make up so much fake content, why don’t you properly create a tutorial!

Ji Chi expressionlessly stuffed it back, then after thinking, reluctantly stuffed it into his game backpack—— if this was really the small gift, he really wanted to beat Phaestus up.

Ji Chi decided not to dwell on it anymore and began taking the texts from the sixth level one by one and putting them into his magic bag.

He calculated that the magic bag plus the few remaining slots in his backpack were enough for him to take away the texts from the top three levels.

But this was sufficient, because those texts on the bottom levels were still relatively common. If worst came to worst, he could also find them in the library of the Machinery Academy.

The magic bag was soon packed full. He jumped down the ladder and walked to the initial teleportation array.

Before teleporting, Ji Chi took one last look at this space. He didn’t know if he would have a chance to return after being teleported out. If he could come back, he wanted to take those tools as well, which would save him a lot of time.

The flash of the teleportation array lit up. When he opened his eyes again, the relieved expressions of Bard and the other appeared before him.

Ji Chi walked out a few steps and looked back. The teleportation array on the ground had indeed disappeared. He lowered his eyes with some regret, but wasn’t too disappointed because he believed he had taken away the most precious things.

The three of them walked toward the edge of the island. Bard discreetly observed Ji Chi several times. He knew he shouldn’t get involved in matters concerning gods… but, but that was the God of Forging! Which craftsman could resist its temptation?

Bard couldn’t help himself: “Did you see… Him?”

Bard gestured toward where the divine statue had originally been.

Ji Chi showed an expression that was hard to describe. “Ah… I suppose so.”

Bard’s eyes lit up. “Did He teach you something? Did He bestow something upon you? Did He…”

Ji Chi interrupted Bard. “Don’t overthink it. He just…”

Threw his divine nature at my face, then played tricks on me, once, twice… Why do I always feel like there’s vaguely a third time?

Ji Chi didn’t say it out loud. He discovered that he seemed to have unknowingly destroyed quite a few people’s faith, so this time he should be kinder to the old man.

However, Bard’s words reminded Ji Chi of something. He seemed to have left something behind.

He turned around and looked at Chloe, who was staying in front of the temple, having obediently assembled herself.

She was still standing there as a large figure, covered in metal armor, terrifying yet magnificent.

Ji Chi walked over and asked her. “The temple is gone. Do you still need to guard here?”

Seeing Ji Chi approach, Chloe’s eyes brightened. “Guarding the temple was the previous master’s command. Now Chloe’s master is you. Before you issue commands, Chloe will continue the previous commands.”

Ji Chi was startled. How did he become Chloe’s master? If he hadn’t come to find her just now, wouldn’t this stubborn child have stayed on the island for a lifetime?

Ji Chi looked at Chloe suspiciously. She wouldn’t be the “small gift” Phaestus mentioned, would she?

But thinking about it, it didn’t seem likely. Phaestus’s philosophy was to let Chloe become a true life form. He wouldn’t contradictorily view her as a “small gift.”

Ah! This was really annoying! Ji Chi felt he was now paranoid, seeing Phaestus’s shadow in everything.

He didn’t want to look for that small gift anymore. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and asked Chloe, “If there were no master’s commands, what would you most want to do?”

Chloe froze: “What would Chloe… most want to do?”

Ji Chi guided patiently. “Yes, when you were guarding the temple, what did you think about most?”

Chloe thought for a long time. “Chloe wants to transform herself, to make herself look like a person. Chloe doesn’t like being lonely.”

“Alright then.” Ji Chi made the decision. “Then go become a human craftsman!”

“Is this the master’s command?” Chloe was stunned.

Ji Chi said, “No, this is your own ideal. People live by goals, not by commands. From now on, you don’t have a master anymore. You are your own master.”

Chloe couldn’t understand. “How can that be? Without commands, what should Chloe specifically do?”

Ji Chi: “Ah, this is what all humans wonder about. No one can tell you the answer. You have to think for yourself.”

“Then how should Chloe think?”

Seeing that the two of them had no end, Bard quickly came out to mediate. “How about this – Chloe can first follow me to learn crafting? I can also remodel her… her appearance, at least it won’t be so scar… uh, conspicuous.”

Ji Chi was just worrying about where to place Chloe. She was now a girl, and placing her in his male dormitory wouldn’t be appropriate. Leaving her outside, he was afraid she’d be deceived or destroy the city.

Hearing Bard’s words, he couldn’t help but show joy. “Really? That would be a huge help.”

Bard craned his neck to look up at Chloe, suddenly hesitating, “Everything else is minor, but this size… dwarf homes aren’t this big.”

Chloe caught the key word. “Chloe can become smaller.”

Saying this, she began dismantling herself layer by layer, stuffing the removed parts into the space in her belly. Her whole body became smaller and smaller as she dismantled, finally dismantling to about the same height as Tang.

Bard stared at her in a daze, almost unable to speak. “This, this is really…”

However, even after becoming smaller, Chloe was still too different from humans. Phaestus’s unusual aesthetic made her still look like a small monster.

Ji Chi helplessly pulled out a cloak and draped it over her. “Let’s leave it like this for now. Master, I’ll leave Chloe in your care from now on.”

After so many days together, he still trusted Bard’s character, especially his enthusiasm for legendary artifacts. Ji Chi believed Bard would properly research (crossed out) help Chloe.

Thus, the return journey added another passenger, Chloe. Bard’s personal small boat obviously couldn’t bear Chloe’s solid weight, and he looked at Chloe with some worry.

“How about we just let it carry us back?” Ji Chi smiled and pointed to the little fat dragon in his arms. “If we fly high enough, it shouldn’t cause panic, right?”

However, facts proved that flying high enough indeed wouldn’t cause others to panic, but would cause their own people to panic.

Ji Chi never would have thought that the first seat of the continent’s most renowned mercenary group would be a severe acrophobic patient. If Tang’s entire face hadn’t turned pale, Ji Chi would have thought he was joking again.

In the end, Bard still took Tang and slowly rowed through the water, while Ji Chi took Chloe and tightly gripped a protruding ridge on the black dragon’s spine bone, spreading wings to fly toward the sky.

Nidhogg flew higher and higher, about to rush into the clouds.

Ji Chi squinted his eyes that were aching from the wind, shielded against the blinding sunlight, and looked ahead.

Suddenly, his heart jumped heavily, as if attracted by something, and he sharply turned his head toward the island’s direction.

At this time, the entire island could be seen, and a line of small text appeared above the island.

Name: [Forge House]

Quality: [Legendary]

Item Description: [A house filled with inspiration and memories that can be carried anywhere and transform into any shape according to terrain. This is a craftsman’s paradise.]

Phaestus, you’ve gone too far. This damn thing really is a “small gift”!!!