Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong had repaired the chainsword in just about an hour and a half. Baihua was silent throughout the process, only grasping the sword in his hands and closing his eyes to feel it after retrieving it, then he surprisingly glanced at Fang Hong.

No weapon could be restored to its original condition after being damaged; it would inevitably lose some attributes, yet he found that most of the functions of his chainsword were unaffected, only losing some attack and durability.

What exquisite basic skills these were.

To think they appeared in a Summoner, do Summoners these days still learn such things?

”Mr. Ade, are you a native? A… A Bastan—Aiphilo families’ Alchemist?” The young man overturned his original opinion and asked hesitantly. Among the natives, only the Bastan bloodline born in the year of Eagle’s Nest had such young genius alchemists.

Legend had it that this family had celestial blood, inherited the alchemist lineage through blood rather than knowledge, passing down a lineage of genius through generations. They were one of the most renowned alchemist families in the second world.

Fang Hong had also heard of this family’s legend, and he couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head, ”Of course not.”

Baihua left with his chainsword, taking a special glance at Gita before leaving.

”Huh?” Gita looked back in surprise.

”What’s wrong?” Fang Hong asked.

”Nothing, nothing.” She quickly shook her head, lowering her gaze and adjusting her glasses.

Fang Hong cast a questioning glance at her.

It was approaching noon.

Fang Hong had only taken a morning to repair over half of the six magic-guided devices, handing back the devices he had fixed first to the owner.

The man received the repaired magic-guided devices from Atira, looking incredulously at one of the Star Guide Staffs, turning it over as if he feared that Fang Hong had replaced it with an empty shell.

Afterward, the man’s tone of speech became more humble.

Perhaps Fang Hong’s abilities had given the man confidence. After a short break in the afternoon, the two teams finally set off again, and the two Apprentice Alchemist boys were called back.

However, it wasn’t long before Tianlan mysteriously came to ask him if he was a special forces elite cadet trained by the military.

Fang Hong gave the girl a look as if he was looking at an idiot, touching her forehead with a hand, hmm, no fever.

”Brother Ade is annoying,” Tianlan swatted his hand away before telling him that this rumor was spread by people from the Rain Listener Guild.

What was all this about, Fang Hong was speechless.

There were several famous legends in the community, and the whereabouts of the second-generation Pioneers had always been the most legendary.

After the signing of the Suva Declaration, to differentiate the explorers of the Stargate Era from those before, and as a tribute to the pioneers, the first and second generation Summoners were called Pioneers.

These two generations of Pioneers were true human elites; the first generation mainly came from the top experts in spatial physics, geology, life sciences, materials, social humanity, and archeology from various countries.

The second generation mainly came from military elites of various countries. Having gone through an unprecedented great war, this generation had an astonishing elimination rate, and those who remained were veterans of many battles. Thus, there was a saying in the community that the second generation of Pioneers were the strongest among the Summoners.

The first generation of Pioneers had mostly become key officials in charge of Stargate affairs in their countries and were often seen in the news. However, the whereabouts of the second generation of Pioneers remained a mystery.

Little was heard about these people; some said they went to the second world and became the backbone of today’s Stargate troops; others said they were recruited by the military of various countries to form a special department dedicated to training military elites, known as the R.I.S Department of Regional Intervention and Security Information.

Both generations of Pioneers shared one characteristic: they lacked the Summoners System. Their understanding of Eteliria and the power acquired in this world had to be earned through physical effort.

Thus, there was also a rumor that there were new Summoners in the first world who focused on studying basic theories; in fact, they were elite cadets secretly trained by R.I.S.

However, this rumor had been around for a long time, and no one had ever actually seen such ”fools”—with the Summoners System, who would waste their time like this?

And in the second world, this rumor was even more absurd.

This was because there was a very special guild in the second world—Elite; this guild was rumored to be connected to R.I.S at its rise.

Although it was later confirmed to be just a rumor, Elite remains a legendary guild because of its method of testing trainees, requiring newcomers not to use the Summoners System during their training phase.

”Have you gone mad?” Fang Hong tapped Tianlan on the forehead, ”I’m a stowaway, what other choice do I have? Do you think I want this?”

After hearing this, Tianlan stuck out her tongue and made a face at him before running off.

Even within the Rain Listener Guild, there were two factions: one believed he was an elite cadet from R.I.S, and the other believed he was a new generation trained by Elite.

These rumors were both amusing and frustrating for Fang Hong; he didn’t know where these people got so many fanciful ideas.

After finishing his work in the morning, Fang Hong naturally had to continue with the remaining tasks in the afternoon.

There were only two magic-guided devices left to repair, but these devices were almost completely destroyed, beyond the possibility of repair.

They were a pair of short swords and a magic-guided reactor; all Fang Hong could do was dismantle them to salvage the parts that were still usable.

He had just started his work when the owner of the magic-guided devices showed up, a pair of quite delicate twin girls.

”My name is Alice.”

”Elisa.”

”Good afternoon, Mr. Ade.”

”Can Mr. Ade fix our weapons?”

The twin sisters asked in unison.

Two identical faces confused Fang Hong; he scratched his head, ”Sorry, it might not be fixable. However, I can try. This pair of short swords has ’Swift Burst,’ ’Internal Connection,’ and ’Precision Enhancement’ as functions, right?”

He fiddled with the pile of parts with his hand, ”Is this a Lightning Generator, and it also has a Lightning Attachment?”

So, he roughly figured out the attack mode of the pair of short swords.

’Swift Burst’ goes without saying, a basic plugin necessary for most agility-type weapons. ’Internal Connection’ is a spatial system plugin that allows the two swords to summon each other.

That is to say, as long as one short sword is still in hand, the other can be summoned back. It’s a dual-wielding, throwing-type weapon, which also leads to its third plugin—’Precision Enhancement’.

The final ’Lightning Attachment’ was a very clever concept. When the short sword was thrown, it would release a bolt of lightning along its path, and another when summoned back. Essentially, a plugin was activated twice within its cooldown period.

However, this pair of short swords was now severely damaged by corrosive liquid.

Upon hearing his explanation, the twin sisters’ eyes slightly brightened:

”Yes, yes.”

”Mr. Ade is really amazing.”

Fang Hong nodded. He was familiar with ’Swift Burst’ and ’Precision Enhancement,’ these basic configurations. The designs for ’Internal Connection’ and ’Lightning Generator’ were more high-end and generally not available in stores. However, he could perform measurements and create drawings from the remains, and if successful, he might learn the blueprints.

Generally, the success rate of this measuring and drawing depended on the condition of the part being measured, as well as the measurer’s logical ability, perception, and learning ability. The more complex the part, the lower the chance of success on the first try.

Measuring would damage the original parts, so Fang Hong started with the already damaged ’Internal Connection’ skill plugin. He was quite lucky and managed to produce a blueprint in just a quarter of an hour.

Moreover, not only did he get a temporary blueprint, but the Summoners System also prompted him that he had learned the blueprint for making ’Spatial Sensor (Basic)’.

It was kind of like hitting a small jackpot.

”Is this the measurement drawing?” asked the twin sister.

”A success on the first try, Mr. Ade is truly impressive.” The younger twin’s eyes sparkled.

The sisters sounded almost like they were talking to themselves.

However, Fang Hong found the twin sisters a bit too flattering, making him feel somewhat elated.

Of course, he was also quite satisfied, as he had learned a new blueprint. He picked up the Lightning Generator and explained, ”Actually, this can still be used, but there’s a definite chance of malfunction upon reactivation. I could remake one to avoid this problem, but if I were to remeasure it, the probability of failure is high.”

The twin sisters nodded vigorously.

”Please do as you see fit, Mr. Ade.”

”It’s okay if it gets damaged, the Chairman said that a Whiteboard Magic Guided Device is also acceptable.”

”Besides, having the ’Internal Connection’ skill is already great.”

”Alright,” Fang Hong always felt that the twin sisters were too easy-going, but he had doubts it was because of that peculiar rumor within the Rain Listener Guild.

But today, he was clearly quite lucky; this time, the measurement and drawing were successful again, and although he didn’t learn the blueprint, he obtained a temporary precision blueprint.

So-called temporary blueprints are single-use consumables. Fang Hong was still somewhat dissatisfied, thinking that if he could learn a precision blueprint, that would be a real windfall.

In Eteliria, the starting price of a precision blueprint was calculated by tens of thousands.

After preparing all the plugins, he began crafting. He opened the Artisan System and proceeded with all four processes simultaneously; the blade of the short sword was rapidly formed.

The room was quite silent.

Gita had watched this scene before.

Yet, every time she couldn’t help but marvel in her heart; it was too fast, she had never heard of such crafting techniques in this world.

It resembled that technique, but that technique was not used this way—

She couldn’t help but remember everything from the Continental League, where it was just like this moment; the competitors from the Knight Nation of the Ancient Tower were no match for their captain.

She carefully watched the melting sunlight pass through the window, pierce through the flickering flashes of dust, and shine on the boy’s side face. Between light and shadow, that serious and focused facial profile.

Gita lowered her head slightly, suddenly feeling her face grow warm.

...