Chapter 59: Refiner
[Do you wish to accept the Profession: Refiner?]
[Y/N]
He conveniently chose to skip the weird conversation quote in the description.
As soon as he selected ’Yes,’ he felt a profound wave of wisdom wash over him.
Unlike [Basic Knife Proficiency] and [Advance Claw Proficiency] skills, where he simply received pure knowledge and memory, this felt completely different.
Inside his soul space, right beside his [Nightmare Domain], he felt something form out of nothing.
First, a small colorless seed formed, but he could clearly feel its presence within him.
Then, the small seed; no bigger than an ember, started growing, erupting into sparks before quickly blossoming into a steady flame.
Spreading his fingers, he watched as a colorless, ethereal flame danced lightly on his palm.
Night looked up at Sara, confused. "This is it?"
Sara explained, "A Profession is fundamentally different from a Class. You have to grind and master it yourself. The more you use it, the better you become."
"The System just grants you the foundational wisdom. When you actually try to refine something, you will start to improve faster and naturally become wiser in your craft."
"In a Profession, there is much less hand-holding by the System. It means you will have to explore it by yourself, and how good you become is entirely up to you."
"As for how to know how well you are doing in your profession, the quality of your finished products will be a proof of that."
Night understood the gist of it: basically, it required him to master the craft through his own hard work and trial and error.
After finishing the rest of her tea in one gulp, Sara stood up and said, "You can treat me to that dinner later. For now, I have actual work to do."
After a brief chat, telling him to be careful during his practical classes, she left the house.
They finished their tea in comfortable silence.
Shortly after, Blade left as well, leaving Night and his summons to themselves.
After Blade left, Lucy said excitedly, "Let’s explore the Shop!"
Sage, sitting on the table, looked at them curiously.
Sage:
@( ˶• ༝ •˶ )@?
"Yes, we can get some actual equipment now," Night nodded.
Eve spoke up in her robotic voice, "Master, we also need things."
Night chose to completely ignore the "Master" part for now. "Yes, yes, everyone gets to buy what they need."
Looking at Lucy, he asked, "Is it okay?"
It was her money, after all.
"You don’t need to ask me every single time," Lucy said, waving a tiny paw dismissively, though she clearly looked happier that he had asked.
Lucy:
(* ^ ω ^)
Night then tried something on a whim. He opened his status screen and attempted to share it with the others.
Just then, the [Nightmare Domain] flashed as he felt them connect on a much deeper level than their usual bond. He immediately heard Lilith say, "Master, I can see your status."
He navigated to the System Shop section and said with a smile, "This way, we don’t have to explain what we want. We can all just look at the items together."
He then heard Death’s sweet voice echo in his mind: "Master is so smart. He figured something like this out just for us."
Death:
( っ💀˃ᴗ˂ )っ
Then Night felt the skeletal arm wrapped around his waist tighten affectionately.
We will definitely deal with this ’Master’ business later, Night thought with a twitching eye, choosing to focus on the task at hand.
"We have already chosen something we wish to get," Lucy announced.
Excited to see what they liked, Night said, "Ohh, show me then."
Immediately, the System interface navigated to the Garments section and scrolled down to a very particular outfit. It looked like a combination of a Japanese anime outfit and a traditional French maid uniform.
[Maid Guard (Epic) (Lvl. 50)]
[Description: Once worn by the faithful maids of the Blood Order. It has everything a maid needs to perfectly serve their master.
Warning: If there is no true devotion in the maid’s heart, it will revert to common cloth.
Cost: 1,000,000 SC (1 Million)]
Night stared at the screen. Why would they choose something like this?
(￣～￣;)
After some thought, he realized that despite them only recently gaining consciousness and freedom, they had been taking care of him since he was born in the facility.
Now he understood where their "Master and Maid" dynamic came from. From their point of view, it perfectly explained the type of relationship they shared with him.
Looking at Eve and Lilith, Night said gently, "You don’t have to think like you need to do everything for me. You can choose your own path and live for yourselves."
Eve replied simply, "We just want to make your life as easy as possible."
Hearing that, he didn’t know how to argue. They were doing everything for him in the end.
The [Maid Guard] was a black dress with puffed sleeves, a ruffled white neckline, a crisp white apron, a white ruffled headband trailing long black ribbons and detached white wrist cuffs.
He looked at the price. It was very cheap compared to the other Epic item probably because not many people in this apocalyptic world were actually suitable to wear this specific artifact without it turning into a normal cloth.
He purchased two sets and they immediately appeared in his hands.
Looking at the instant delivery, he realized why the System didn’t mention any delivery charges.
He handed one set to each of them. As soon as they touched the garments, the artifacts magically merged with them and adjusted perfectly to their robotic sizes.
Looking at them, it was incredibly comical.
They had no hair, so the ruffled headbands were just tied flat against their sleek, synthetic foreheads. They looked like two blue, futuristic robots cosplaying as maids.
He couldn’t control himself; he burst into giggles. Even Lucy, Death and Sage thought it looked funny.
Embarrassed, Lilith crossed her arms and huffed, "We are still in our growing phase! Wait until we reach our perfect forms, then let’s see you all laugh."
Beside her, Eve nodded in agreement, her mechanical eyes flashing furiously.
[ Ò ▃ Ó ]
Night calmed down and smiled. "I am looking forward to it."
Eve and Lilith sent happy emotions through the bond at that.
[ ˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵ ]
"Now it’s my turn," Death said eagerly.
The status screen shifted through the Sets section until it reached a very specific, imposing set of armor.
[Dark Queen Fantasy (Epic) (Lvl. 80)]
[Description: It is a full armor set - the Dark Queen Set. It consists of a gown-like armor, scepter, crown, shoes and a necklace making it much stronger than individual artifacts combined.
It supports all elements and Aspects, but heavily enhances anything related to death, destruction, and darkness.
Cost: 90,000,000 SC (90 Million)]
Night had absolutely no complaints against this. Death looked like she had done some serious research before choosing this set.
Though the cost was ridiculous compared to the maid outfits, it was well within their massive budget.
Upon purchase, a sleek black ring embedded with a glowing blue stone appeared in his hand.
Curious, he handed it to Death. Death looked at it for a second, then handed it back to him.
"Master, help me wear it, please," Death requested softly.
Night’s lips twitched, but he chose to comply. He carefully slid the black ring onto her left ring finger.
Immediately after, he freed himself from her hold, getting up from her lap to get a proper look.
Once Night stepped back, Death sent her energy into the ring.
Instantly, she was enveloped in dark magic and the equipment materialized over her bones. The armor looked more like an elegant, flowing gown. With the crown, necklace, and scepter, she looked menacing like a Lich.
She then spread her arms welcomingly.
Understanding her intentions, Night sighed and sat back down on her lap, allowing her to hold him securely.
It was actually much more comfortable now. The artifact, unlike what he had expected from dark armor, was very smooth and cool to the touch.
"Sorry, the artifact i chose is a little costly" Lucy said hesitantly.
Night shook his head. "It’s okay. I don’t need a strong weapon for myself right now and we can just get Sage something cheap for the time being."
"Nooo... it’s not that costly. You will have plenty of SC left over," Lucy insisted.
Immediately, the screen shifted to a specific, heavily redacted artifact.
[Game of Chess by [Blaze] (???) (Lvl. ???)]
[Description: A ______ artifact created by [Blaze], a ______ one of the ______, for his cute but incredibly dumb grand-daughter.
Unfortunately a cunning crow stole it and escaped into the [VOID].
Enraged but helpless, [Blaze] could only pacify his granddaughter by giving her expensive treats.
Years later, it reappeared in an Earth Tutorial.
Note: Using this might attract their attention toward you.
Cost: 3,000,000,000 SC (3 Billion)]
Night stared at the screen, shocked. "It’s a Divine Artifact?!"
"Yes," Lucy replied nervously.
Night analyzed the censored text. "But its description is ....concerning!"
"Yes... but I like it... I really like Chess," Lucy said sheepishly.
"Why would someone sell this? And why is it this cheap for a Divine Artifact?" Night confused.
"Three Billion SC is not cheap," Lucy countered. "The seller doesn’t actually expect someone to buy it. They probably listed it just to attract people to research it because it looks so ominous and heavily redacted."
"And you still want it?" Night asked.
Lucy chuckled nervously. "Come on, it’s a Divine Artifact! At worst, we will just resell it."
Night looked at her suspiciously, but even he had to admit he was tempted.
Buy.
He purchased it, seeing how much she really wanted it.
Immediately, a reddish-black metallic cube appeared in his hands. He gave it to Lucy, but the cube didn’t respond to her touch at all.
"I knew it wasn’t going to be so easy to wield a Divine Artifact," Lucy sighed in disappointment, passing the cube back to him.
Curious, Night channeled his EV energy into the cube, but it didn’t show a single reaction.
He tried a couple more times to no avail.
Then, deciding to try his luck with his new Profession, he coated the cube with his colorless [Spirit Fire].
Immediately, there was a reaction...
[Ding!]
[Game of Chess]
[Bind?]
[Y/N]
Night:
(⌐■_■)👍
