Chapter 180


    CHAPTER 180


    READINESS


    Lino silently observed from the side as Jack and Edward worked together to craft an armor set made from [Refined Titanium Steel] . As he rarely had the opportunity to witness those better than himself craft, Lino tried to embed each and every movement and strike into his mind to study itter . Though he had no idea as to why they were putting so much into crafting a single item, that didn’t mean he would stupidly interrupt them midway through the session and endanger the entire process .


    He sat in the corner and drank in silence, his eyes working beyond their capacity to imprint every movement they could follow . As the material was different from what Lino usually worked with, Jack and Edward used additional set of tools often referred to as ’carvers’; as the [Refined Titanium Steel] was difficult to work with even when heated, a special set of tools was required that was also built out of the same material, most-often consisting of curved knives, spiked hammers and hinged chisels .


    As it was the entire set, Lino watched the two work for three days without a second of rest . He came to realize that hecked profusely when it came to endurance and staminapared to the truly amazing sort . After the whole three days, the set was finallypleted, consisting of a chest te, pauldrons, leggings, arm-guards, a helmet and boots . Each piece exuded a particr, silver sheen and appeared rather majestic with golden linings running through their edges .


    Both Jack and Edward copsed into the chairs, panting and sweating profusely, as Lino approached slowly and inspected the pieces . He didn’t take a look at the stats as it was considered extremely rude to do so without the crafter’s explicit permission . However, even without looking directly at the stats, he could still gauge approximately the value of the armor set -- and it was definitely priceless . There was most-likely nobody who could afford it on the auction save for perhaps the true top masters of the entire Continent, which included the Emperor himself and those Sect Masters .


    "What do you think?" Jack was the first to recover, walking over toward Lino and asking with a proud grin .


    "It’s amazing . . . " Lino mumbled . "So precise . . . smooth . . . fitting . . . and all done so quickly . I’ve still much to learn . "


    "Ha ha ha," Jackughed with a slight flush, patting Lino’s back . "You’ve got good eyes on you, Lino . However, even for us this is extremely difficult . Just one part of it all was to abstain from crafting for at least two months prior to this one . "


    "Eh? You do this often?" Lino nced at him, slightly confused .


    "Hm," Jack nodded . "Annually, actually . "


    "For the festival?" Lino guessed .


    "No," Jack shook his head . "The festival is reserved solely for the young and up-anding smiths . What would the two old farts like Ed and I be doing there?"


    "Then what’s it for?" Lino asked .


    "It’s a gift . Annual gift to the Emperor . "


    " . . . " Lino’s heart suddenly stirred as a massive feeling of jealousy overwhelmed him . Just for a second there, he wanted to overthrow the Emperor and take the throne himself . "Lucky bastard . " he mumbled faintly though just loud enough for Jack to hear him . Thetter, however, sternly decided to ignore what he heard; people were hanged for far less . . . should someone learn that this youth called the Emperor Himself a bastard . . . Jack couldn’t imagine the consequences . "Ah, does that mean you’ll be going to the Capital for the festival?" Lino inquired .


    "Of course . " Jack nodded . "Both Ed and I will go . Usually it’s just one of us, but as we finally have an item to present during the festival, we figured we may as well go and not be embarrassed anymore . "


    " . . . right . " Lino said, smiling faintly . "Want an advice?"


    "An advice?"


    "While there," Lino said . "Look for a plot ofnd -- any, anywhere -- and buy it regardless of cost with smithy residing there in mind . "


    "Eh?" Jack eximed, looking at Lino with clear confusion in his eyes .


    "Trust me on this, alright?"


    " . . . I’ll see what I can do . " seeing Lino’s seriousness, Jack nodded heavily . As the youth was mostly a carefree type -- and as Jack had never seen him as serious before -- he realized the reason behind it all must involve something much greater than what he imagined .


    "Good . " Lino nodded, smiling lightly . "Anyway, when will you two start traveling?"


    "Tomorrow morning," Jack said . "As this little town doesn’t have the Teleportation Array to the Capital, we’ll have to go to the nearest, border-city further east before using the array there to arrive at the Capital . "


    "Is it okay if a couple of my Disciples and I join you?" Lino asked .


    "W-what? You have Disciples? No, right . I mean, you are quite skillful--"


    "They’re not cksmiths . " Lino rolled his eyes at Jack who grew even more confused . "What are you looking at me like that for? I’m quite strong, actually . Strong enough to ept a couple of Disciples of my own . "


    " . . . "


    "So it’s cool, then?"


    " . . . it is . "


    "Great! I’ll meet you in front of the smithy before dawn?"


    "Yeah . "


    "See ya’ then!"


    Lino strolled out briskly, leaving the confused Jack behind to brood over what Lino meant . Thetter, however, didn’t put much thought into it . He first intended to use the hippogryph to travel around as he did so far, but if there was quicker and better alternative, he wouldn’t reject it .


    All things considered, it would be better to start putting his n into action sooner rather thanter . Time is the greatest hole-buster in the nning; the more of it passes, the greater chances of various variables rising in ce of still facts . For instance, if a single more Legion of the Hell’s forces appeared, Lino would have to scrap majority of his general ns and start from scratch, which is something he desperately wanted to avoid .


    For the most part of his life, whether before he met E and Eggor or after, he remained mostly alone when it came to nning itself, only ever bing a part of small groups . He had never nned even a small-scale skirmish involving a couple of hundred folk, let alone anything on a much, much grander scale .


    His first n of action was actually to meet with the Emperor of the Titan Empire which is why he wanted to speed to the Capital . Regardless of everything else, the Titan Empire was the geographicallyrgest power on the entire continent, subordinating the most peopleparatively speaking to the other powers . Establishing the contact with the Emperor would also allow him to usemunication channels of the Empire which would be far quicker than establishing his own .


    In addition, he wagered he could also supplement his current knowledge with more up-to-date one as shifts tend to ur daily, and the information he currently possessed would only serve him properly so long as he’d mainly use it as a reference more so than a de facto source of everything .


    Returning to the ranch just outside the town, he saw both Felix and Lucky practicing atop a makeshift tform . Lucky had already managed to reach Soul Realm, while Felix was merely a slight push away from reaching Illumine Realm . While their progress was quite staggering, Lino mused, he then recalled E and her monstrous rise from being at Mythic Realm all the way to being a Level 899 Ineffable . Every time he thought back to it he couldn’t help but shudder; he ever secretly suspected at times that she was also a Bearer, but realizing it made no sense, his sanity-saving excuses would quickly crumble .


    Discing the depressing thoughts, Lino recalled something and reached for the Dimensional Pouch currently holding two beasts -- the hippogryph Grim and the dog with the name Non being settled on . Calling out thetter, Lino’s mood immediately soured when he saw the tongueshing, drooling monstrosity of perversion that appeared before his eyes .


    "Woof~woof!!" the silver-eyed husky barked immediately, bearing his teeth at Lino, clearly displeased with being kept inside the pouch for so long .


    "Shut up, you goddamned piece of shit," Lino trounced the dog with a swift kick which lifted his mood up somewhat . "I have a job for you . "


    "Woof woof!"


    "What do you mean why do you have to listen to me? ’Cause if you don’t I’ll crush your regressive brain into mush and make me a nice soup of it . "


    " . . . woof~"


    "That’s more like it," Lino grinned . "I want you go south," Lino continued as he tied a piece of parchment around the husky’s neck . "Find the Skies of the Wayfarers Sect somewhere over there and Lady Ava in it and then hand her the parchment . If you do well I might feed you something good . "


    "Woof, woof!!"


    "Yeah, yeah, you can do whatever you want on your way over there, just don’t dy too much . She’s probably already pissed at me . . . again . . . "


    "Woof, woof wooooof!" the silver husky wiggled his tail for a moment and nodded before bolting off into the distance . Neither Lucky nor Felix noticed him, and Lino began to feel truly strange over the whole ordeal . After all, even Valkyria failed to notice the dog .


    "Are you curious as to why he can hide so well?"


    "And look whoes out of the woodworks like a fattened troll . . . "


    " . . . what does that mean?"


    "Nothing," Lino shook his head . "So, why?"


    "It’s for the same reason he can’t hide from you . " the Writ replied .


    " . . . oh, wow . That exins so much . Geez, thanks old man . Whatever in the god-fucking-hell would I ever do without you?!"


    " . . . he has a sliver of Prime Qi . " the Writ had already gotten used to Lino’s explosions, making it easy to ignore them .


    " . . . "


    "It’s a distilled version of Chaotic Qi . "


    "Eh?!"


    "I’ve no idea where down the line of evolution did he pick it up," the Writ continued . "But even that sliver is enough for him to evade almost everyone’s Divine Sense . The reason you can easily find him is because . . . well . . . you get it . "


    " . . . hmm--no, wait a second!" Lino eximed as he felt a sudden headache besiege him, forcing him to rub his temple . "You’re saying he has a sliver of Prime Qi?"


    "Hm . "


    "And that the Prime Qi is like a child-like version of Chaotic Qi?"


    "Hm, something like that . "


    " . . . "


    " . . . "


    " . . . "


    "What?" the Writ asked, seeing Lino’s rather ugly expression .


    "D-don’t tell me . . . that . . . that dog is technically your descendant?"


    " . . . "


    " . . . "


    " . . . n-no . . . " for the first time since Lino had gotten the Writ, he felt a brief fluctuation of a strong emotion and a considerable crack in that robotic voice . On one end, he was proud of his aplishment; on another, he realized he won’t be having any sleep for a little while longer . . .