Lord of the Truth

Chapter 1816 A wake-up call

”How many Greed Crucibles do we have now?!” Jabba asked rapidly, his voice carrying both urgency and a faint edge of disbelief.

”Only two,” Zara answered with full sincerity. ”No one but me can draw the crucible patterns. Theyʼre crafted from the living Shaping Law merged law that are incredibly difficult to understand or replicate. This makes producing more, especially in a short timeframe, quite challenging... and each crucible requires raw materials worth up to two billion, thatʼs if we find them.”

”Two billion each?!” Jabbaʼs eyes widened, stunned. ”But all the components are materials above the fourth grade, right? How in the world did the cost reach that number?”

The barrier between the Young Belt and the medium belt was more than a simple border-it was a living authority with multiple powers. One of these was its strict inspection of spatial rings and starships, searching for any trace of fifth-grade ore entering the Young Beltʼs planets. Any such ore would create an overwhelming advantage, so the barrier would instantly destroy the material- or even kill the individual daring to smuggle it through.

This was why, during Robinʼs very first journey, he had seen people entirely immobilized inside the isolating wall, and others being violently attacked. Most of them were almost certainly attempting to smuggle precious, forbidden materials.

”Itʼs true that we donʼt use anything fifth-stage or above-those resources are rare even in the medium belt,” Zara continued with a weary sigh. ”But we rely on substitutes that are just as expensive, if not more so. Just like how we can draw the Space Portal Runes-normally requiring fifth and sixth-stage resources-using only third and fourth-stage inks, we can apply similar methods to the rest of our work. However, the special blend that allows us to ʼjump levelsʼ is anything but cheap. Honestly, itʼs even more expensive than acquiring a direct piece of fifth-grade ore. The Shadow Swords search for this mixture everywhere and are willing to pay utterly outrageous prices for even a small quantity!”

”The Space Portal is a unique case,” Jabba muttered, shaking his head in admiration. ”Itʼs the masterpiece of the Behemoth Interas-an absolute stroke of unrivaled genius. Are you saying you can recreate something like that?”

”Of course,” Zara replied confidently. ”My father used this core idea in his earliest designs, and weʼve refined and expanded it greatly over the years.” She smiled slightly. ”Havenʼt you seen the Black Wasp Regiment armor sets, the Second Armyʼs equipment, and the sets used by the Shadow Swords? Each of them originally required fifth-stage raw materials as their foundation. Weʼve been doing our best to compensate for that limitation... and itʼs also why we still canʼt produce high-tier epic armor sets. That gap is simply too large to bridge with modified inks and adjusted materials-at least for now.”

”...” Jabba raised his eyebrows, deeply astonished. Sky Opening City had truly reached a terrifying, almost unreal level of applied scientific advancement. He let out a long breath, then turned toward the Note of Destruction-Gen4 starship, which had begun moving with deliberate purpose toward a specific direction-most likely heading straight for the Greed Crucible. ”Iʼm not sure about the materials themselves, but I think thereʼs a very simple solution to the ink problem...”

”What is it?!” Zara asked immediately, almost jumping on the words. If even half of the issue could be solved, the cityʼs scholars and arrays could analyze and resolve the rest with ease!

”Itʼs the Master, of course,” Jabba said with dreamy eyes, as though slipping into a pleasant daydream. ”Heʼs the one who placed the final cornerstone in the Body Path after only a handful of strokes from the Seraphim Quill. Send him what you need-heʼll absolutely be able to help you.”

Zara tilted her head slightly, puzzled. ”...The Seraphim Quill?”

”Ah, thatʼs a long story,” Jabba chuckled lightly. ”What matters is this-he can resolve the issue with almost no effort. Just send him your latest findings, and trust me... you wonʼt regret it.”

”...” Zara nodded gently, her expression softening. ”I just... hope he doesnʼt interpret any of this as negligence or inadequacy on my part.”

””

Those simple words pierced Jabbaʼs heart like a sharpened dagger. This woman had carried Sky Opening City to heights no one had imagined possible under her oversight. She had created something as outrageous as the Greed Crucible purely through her own talent and unwavering perseverance-yet she still dared to speak of falling short? If what she had accomplished counted as insufficiency... then what did that say about him? What could he call his own contributions compared to hers?

”Ugh...” Jabba rubbed his eyebrows with visible frustration, as if trying to massage away the guilt crawling under his skin. ”The work on the body arrays and the training of the workers is almost complete. So... can I help you with producing more Greed Crucibles? I have a feeling that even these supposedly useless eyes of mine might actually prove helpful for once.”

”Really? That would be absolutely amazing!” Zara clapped with genuine enthusiasm, her eyes lighting up. The idea of having a capable partner- especially one who understood the cityʼs systems-would make the entire task dramatically easier and far less exhausting.

Jabba released a slow, steady exhale. He knew full well that offering help meant delaying his trip to Medium Sector 100, postponing the creation of his own independent city there. But compared to the broader picture, producing more Greed Crucibles was simply too crucial. Once these vessels appeared on the battlefield, their effect would be seismic-something that could reshape military strategies across entire belts.

Then, as though something struck him suddenly, he asked, ”What about the Flood Note-4 and the Supremacy Note-4? Has there been any real progress on either of them?”

”More or less...” Zara admitted with a shy smile. ”Flood Note-4 is currently being worked on by the cityʼs teams. But the Supremacy Note-4 -the mother ship- will require more time. And leaving aside the fact that Supremacy Note-3 hasnʼt even been built yet, the preliminary designs for Supremacy Note-4 are... on a different level entirely. We might need to wait a few decades before the first completed vessel finally emerges.”

”Decades?!” Jabba stiffened, nearly jumping. ”Why would it take that long? Arenʼt the same base designs applied across all ships?”

”Hmm, yes, thatʼs the theory,” Zara sighed, rubbing her forearm lightly. ”But what value would we add if all we did was replicate the same thing over and over? No... weʼre aiming higher. We want a single cannon array capable of holding one hundred thousand martial emperor level soldiers instead of just ten thousand. Thatʼs the bare minimum weʼre trying to achieve so we can feel like weʼve genuinely contributed something meaningful!”

”One hundred thousand?!” Jabbaʼs eyes widened to their limits. ”Then that would mean... a single blast could reach Nexus State levels of destructive force? And all of that using substitute inks and alternative raw materials instead

of the proper ones?!”

”Mm, thatʼs the plan,” Zara confirmed, nodding with quiet determination. ”But to do that, the vessel will need to be much larger yet still agile enough to evade incoming attacks. And expanding the array to handle such a massive surge of energy isnʼt trivial-itʼs going to take time, careful refinement, and endless testing. Honestly? Iʼm not even confident that fifty years will be enough.” ”...Heh-” Jabba sighed deeply, half in amusement and half in despair. ”Sister Zara, youʼre making things incredibly hard for me and Shaddad. If I donʼt manage to create something noteworthy soon, Iʼll probably have to dig myself a hole and bury myself alive.”

”Hehe, youʼre exaggerating, Brother Jabba,” Zara said, covering her mouth as a soft but heartfelt laugh escaped her. It felt unexpectedly comforting-almost emotional-to hear someone acknowledge how overwhelming her

responsibilities were.

”...No, truly,” Jabba muttered as he stared into the distant horizon, his brows furrowed tightly and his eyes subtly trembling. ”...I need to create something too. Something worthy.”