Chapter 362: Chapter 239: Forging "Dreams
"Oh, God! Lord! Your Heaven is being defiled by the wicked, and a Demon is desecrating the sacred!"
Old Jack suddenly screamed like a madman, startling everyone. Thankfully, Joey’s parents weren’t home, or his shouts would have certainly brought them running. Seeing three strangers suddenly appear in their house, one of them a homeless man, Joey’s parents would probably have called the police on the spot, or perhaps staged some American Iaido.
"Jack, calm down. Speak clearly. What’s wrong with the church? What wicked person? What Demon?" Zhou Chen soothed Old Jack and gently questioned him further.
"The church... the Priest... That damned Priest has been violating the children!" Old Jack ground out through clenched teeth. "That damn bastard! He’s viler than frog piss!"
’How does everyone know about this...’ Zhou Chen patted Old Jack’s shoulder and said solemnly, "He is indeed a damn bastard. I promise I’ll take him out. Can you remember anything else that might be useful? Something related to the Illuminati, for instance."
Old Jack thought for a long while, then finally shook his head blankly. "I’m hungry. I want a hot dog."
"I’ll go make you one," Joey said, opening the door and heading downstairs.
Old Jack sat casually on the floor, waiting quietly for the food.
Renie pulled Zhou Chen over to the window. After a glance at the children studying the newspaper, she lowered her voice and said, "Are you sure these kids are what the Demon is afraid of?"
Zhou Chen nodded. "That’s what Old Jack said, and I’d say he’s about right. The fact that the Demon attacked them the other day is the best evidence."
"But... why?" Renie was completely baffled. "What’s so scary about a few ordinary kids?"
"Their hearts," Zhou Chen said, pointing to his own chest.
He continued, "Children haven’t been corrupted by society yet. They haven’t witnessed the wickedness of human nature, so they possess the purest and most beautiful Spirit Worlds. A Demon, on the other hand, represents evil, desire, sin... in other words, the seven Original Sins of humanity.
"Pure, childlike innocence and the seven Original Sins are like water and fire, light and darkness—they are opposites.
"Darkness can devour light, but light can also drive out darkness.
"Old Jack said that after the Illuminati finishes brainwashing the adults, they’ll target the children. The correct interpretation is probably this: the intangible Power of sin in Akita Town can’t affect the children yet, but once it accumulates to a certain point, it will gradually begin to influence and corrupt their hearts.
"But until then, the children’s hearts remain pure, possessing the Ability to harm the Demon. That’s why the Demon is afraid of them. Joey and his friends were the ones who discovered the Demon’s existence, so the Demon is bound to do whatever it takes to eliminate them and remove any future threat."
Renie’s eyes lit up with understanding. "I see. Then we have to protect them... But even if they can harm the Demon, with their small frames, they probably can’t even get close, can they?"
"Who said they have to be the ones to fight? Don’t forget our profession," Zhou Chen reminded her with a smile.
Renie froze, her face a mask of shocked disbelief. "You can’t be thinking... Impossible. No way. We haven’t reached that level yet. We’d need at least another year of practice... If we called the others, the eight of us working together might have a chance, but with just the two of us..."
"No pressure, no motivation. Trust our potential. One dance on the edge of a cliff is more effective than practicing hundreds or thousands of times in a studio."
Zhou Chen looked at Renie and said, "Ever since I started participating in the competition, my Forging skills have improved by leaps and bounds. I’m twenty percent confident I can do it. With your help, that becomes fifty percent."
’That confident?’ Renie raised an eyebrow. "So, how do you plan on collecting the Spiritual Energy?"
"Hmm... the ’I Have a Dream’ Secret Ceremony. According to the Complete Alchemy Guide, things like love, Dreams, ideals, virtues, and faith are the most Advanced forms of Spiritual Energy. For children, collecting their Dreams is the best approach."
"And for storage?"
"We’ll use a Blue Dream K2 Matrix to seal it. It can preserve it perfectly, without any loss."
"And what about refining and Forging?" Renie asked, getting to the most critical question.
What they needed to do was collect the children’s pure Spiritual Energy and forge it into an Extraordinary Weapon that could counter the Demon!
This Forging was different from any they had done before, because the material they would be using was a "Formless Object"!
Only Blacksmiths or Alchemists whose skills had reached a masterful level could use a Formless Object as a material for crafting. For them, this was an unprecedented challenge.
"My flame can handle the calcining and shaping. As for the hammering, I’ll have to leave that to you," Zhou Chen said.
After transforming the Soul-Burning Flame into Molten Fire, the Cyan Flame would be able to calcine a Formless Object like Spiritual Energy, causing it to fuse together like molten metal. Once it solidified, it would form the rough stock needed for Forging.
"Hammering Spiritual Energy... You really think highly of me, don’t you."
Although Renie’s words sounded dismissive, the thrilled expression on her face showed she was already eager to try.
As a disciple of the modern-day Fire God Vulcan, how could she not have a few tricks up her sleeve?
The goal was difficult, but that only made it more of a challenge!
With the plan finalized, Zhou Chen went downstairs, got a few empty glass bottles from Joey, and then returned to the room to inscribe the "Blue Dream K2" Matrix onto them.
To forge a Weapon from Spiritual Energy, one first had to collect and store the Spiritual Energy, the latter of which was an enormous challenge.
Spiritual Energy wasn’t like a gas that you could just put in a jar and seal. If you tried that, the Spiritual Energy would completely erode in less than three seconds.
To store the Energy properly, one had to use specially made Alchemy Jars, and the "Blue Dream K2" Matrix was a type of sealed Alchemy Matrix capable of perfectly preserving Spiritual Energy.
