While the Haitie Society was making preparations at full speed, John temporarily fell silent.
Although [Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell] had struck [Tomboy]’s [Dark Sword], preventing this cybernetic implant worth tens of thousands of points from being scrapped outright, due to the assimilation of flesh-and-blood Source Energy, the sword-shaped stabilizer that served as the Dark Sword had already become part of John’s arm bone. With those bones missing, his entire arm was inevitably affected as well. This was also the first time Feng Xue intuitively realized the gap between a Source Energy-assimilated cybernetic implant and an ordinary one.
And the repairs were an even bigger matter. Since he could not directly apply tags to the arm, Feng Xue could not simply shove a short sword into it and call the repair complete. Instead, he had to act like a real cybernetic doctor: custom-build a prosthesis according to the missing section, implant it into the arm, complete the integration, restore normal function to the arm, and only then use Source Energy to assimilate it.
Although the cost was only a few tens of thousands of points, and Feng Xue, who still had five million in funds, could completely chop the hand off and make a new one, he understood very clearly that as the amount of technology in his hands increased and the quality of his cybernetic implants improved, the cost of replacing them would only grow higher and higher. If he did not practice on low-cost implants now, then when implants worth several million started having problems in the future, it would be too late!
Aside from the treatment, John’s left hand also needed an upgrade. Although it was still based on the Pojun Second-Son Arm, the skills on it had been changed to the same set as Kong Wu’s: [Silk Spinning] + [Heartfire] + [Protect the Master].
To improve his combat strength, Feng Xue also specially equipped him with over a dozen drones built using a portion of Moye’s technology.
John did not need functions like “sword-art coordination” or “AI assistance,” so even though Feng Xue had not yet finished cracking Moye’s encryption algorithm, he could still use the four-star chip design he had obtained from the factory earlier, combine it with the control software Old Jiang had left behind, and use Moye hardware plus Xiaodian’s (Rocket Fist’s) flight module to create a drone similar to a floating cannon.
However, perhaps because the battery-life flaw was simply too great, or perhaps because the chip meant for an arm was not entirely compatible with a drone, the final evaluation was only white (three-star). Paired with [Flesh Maitreya], [Great Strength], and [Pojun] (Note ①), each unit cost less than three hundred points to make, which was already more than enough for combat support.
While John was performing upgrade surgery on himself, Feng Xue’s main body was not idle either. The drones assigned to John were merely by-products. The true research result was still that four-star blueprint that had already been acknowledged by his golden finger.
By repeatedly disassembling the Chixiao and Moye produced through [Cheap Goods], Feng Xue finally found a splicing plan and replaced the energy system. Through the properties of [Flesh Maitreya] and Chixiao alloy, rapid energy filling and storage could be achieved, while the hollow structure left behind by [Cheap Goods] saving on materials could just happen to be used to store high-energy fat. As for the problem of weight, that could be made up for with [Xiaodian]’s propulsion system, which was capable of pushing even a large-tonnage demon into flight.
For this blueprint that had a blue evaluation even without applying any tags directly to it ([Cheap Goods] and [Flesh Maitreya] were both applied to the parts), Feng Xue impatiently opened the manufacturing interface and filled in the manufacturing tag [Sword Spirit].
Because of the transferable nature of a sword spirit, Feng Xue was not in a hurry to hammer on the [Human] tag. Instead, to avoid melodramatic problems like “a demonic sword devouring its master,” he applied the [Protect the Master] trait. For skills, he chose [Charged Strike] and [Energy Release].
What surprised Feng Xue, however, was that once these tags were applied, the blueprint’s rating actually shot straight up to purple quality!
“It should be the effect of the sword spirit. The other skills don’t have the value to directly raise an equipment rating like this.”
Feng Xue glanced at the extra trait slot and looked at [Pojun], but when he saw the note on that tag—“If I were you, I would definitely not use this thing during training”—he ultimately chose the more conventional [Multiple Attacks].
After all, this was a training sword for the main body to cultivate the Hell Sword with. It would be bad if it chopped the iron dummy to pieces again.
With the tags written in, Feng Xue pressed confirm. One part after another, crafted with [Cheap Goods] and [Flesh Maitreya], was spliced and fused together within the golden finger’s void factory.
The blade’s style was close to that of an eight-sided Han sword. The body of the sword resembled ink spreading through water, like clouds and mist, while the edge was plated with a golden-red line like the morning sun. The hilt was pitch-black as ink, warm and smooth to the touch, like skin, yet also like soft jade.
Name: Unnamed
Position: Weapon (longsword/melee drone)
Level: Five-star
Traits:
[Flying Sword]: Possesses flight capability.
[Energy Absorption]: Can absorb energy and use it for itself.
[Protect the Master]
[Multiple Attacks]
Skills:
[Sword-Art Compilation]: Converts ordinary sword arts into sword arts suitable for a flying sword and uses them.
[Double Swords Combine]: Coordinates with the master’s swordsmanship to execute a complementary sword art.
[Charged Strike]
[Energy Release]
Evaluation: An outstanding weapon that integrates the advantages of the two weapons Moye and Chixiao. The best partner for a lone swordsman.
……
“It didn’t mutate…” Although Feng Xue was somewhat disappointed, as a weapon for his main body—one that would not easily take risks—to begin practicing the Hell Sword, this sword was already quite outstanding. It was just…
“Where’s the sword spirit?” Feng Xue looked over the equipment panel but could not find any information related to the sword spirit, and he could not help muttering—
“What’s going on? I know it’s growth-type, but you can’t seriously give me a growth trap and make me raise it from zero, right?”
Feng Xue gripped the hilt and swung it forcefully twice, as if trying to shake the sword spirit out from inside. But who would have thought that this action, which even he himself had not pinned much hope on, would actually shake out a “person.”
The girl flung out of the sword had black hair that fell like silk. She wore a Hanfu made of thin, delicate material; before its almost-transparent allure could spread, it was frozen by the cool, detached aura that seeped from her brows and eyes.
Perfectly matched his XP!
To put it somewhat vulgarly, Feng Xue…
“What’s the rush! Can’t you see I’m still integrating data? Don’t tell me you’re the type who, when tasting tea, doesn’t even chat for a few lines before going straight to undressing?”
The moment the sword spirit opened her mouth, that refined, noble-lady air of smiling without showing her teeth instantly vanished. Feng Xue’s little head, which had just begun to seize power, immediately handed sovereignty back to the big head—
“No, aren’t you a sword spirit? What does this have to do with data?”
Feng Xue was a little dumbfounded by this first meeting, while the sword spirit crossed her arms and lifted her chin slightly—
“You’re asking me? Weren’t you the one who stuffed an AI into this sword? Would you share one body with someone else? Even if it’s an artificial idiot?”
“No… where did you get that vocabulary from—”
“I’m a sword spirit, okay? If I can’t communicate heart-to-heart with my master, how am I supposed to coordinate with you in battle? Don’t worry, I can’t see your memories. It’s just that this sword already has the function of receiving your thought signals, so following that connection and looking at the unlocked data in your brain drive is still possible. My character setting and personality were shaped according to the access records for those learning materials in your brain drive! Oh, right, remember to give me a name. Don’t keep calling me sword spirit this and sword spirit that…”
“……” Feng Xue covered his face and sighed.
“Then what else is there to say? You’ll be called [Suxin]…”
“Suxin Sword. That sounds pretty nice.”
Note ①: Flesh Maitreya is mainly for convenient charging. As for the number of manufacturing tags, this was mentioned before, but to prevent Red King from bringing it up again—
In principle, each manufacturing action can only use one manufacturing tag. However, depending on the tag’s range of effect, it can be split up. For example, Cheap Goods can be used to process basic parts, such as turning iron into screws or silicon into chips, and then another manufacturing tag can be used to assemble them. This way, the effects of multiple manufacturing tags can be brought into play at the same time.