?
"The thing I will need the most, save for the standard resources like coal, iron, and other ore, is a formation that will infuse the fires with spiritual energy."
I listened in to the request before noting a few words down on my paper.
"What do you mean by infusing the fires?" I asked while raising my eyes from my small desk and throwing a glance at the blacksmith.
After a short wait after asking Mia to fetch the craftsmen, people started to gather in our room.
In the end, there was a total of seventeen craftsmen came forward, with only twelve of them reaching a high rank before the apocalypse.
Still, it didn't matter that we only had a single cook of a measly fifth level as it was better to have one than to not have even a single one at all.
"I'm explaining it to the best of my ability," the blacksmith bowed. "When smithing, I would usually use my spiritual power to call forth the flames. Infusing energy into flames is the only way of substituting my own fires that I can think of," he explained.
Such was the case with most of the craftsmen. Just like I expected, their skills were in their hands, legs, and brains. The only element missing was the cultivation they needed to support the craftsmanship of the level they were used to.
"So a mana-born flames…" I muttered while noting down a few more words.
"I guess it's my turn, now," Levi said as he moved from the back of the small crowd to the edge of my bed. "What do you want me to do?"
Levi crossed his arms on his chest, clearly expecting something from the summons.
"Master, I'm sorry if it will sound bad, but I want you to impart the art of arcane craftsmanship on everyone gathered here," I stated.
This arcana technique was what gave me my first serious boost. Even before I could truly abuse the benefits of having a system, my arcana spear carried me through most of the trouble.
If not for me simply outgrowing its potential, I would still happily use it… or rather, I would spare some time to make a replacement.
Sadly, while my cultivation soared, my understanding of the arcana arts stagnated a lot. Even if I were to infuse all that I learned and figured out, the results would still fare around third or maybe fourth rank.
In other words, my arcana was no better than what all the other cultivators could do without the support of my formation.
Sadly enough, even if I were to create a formation just for crafting arcane pieces… I lacked the skill necessary to do so.
But the same couldn't be said about my master, the one who taught me arcane craftsmanship in the first place.
"I know that it might feel like I'm ripping your secrets away," I admitted.
Arcane crafting was what my master bestowed upon me out of his own, unadulterated will. It was one of the aces he had hidden in his sleeve, a technique he would obviously rather prevent from spreading.
And quite justifiably, Levi's face soured when he heard my request.
"I know how it sounds," I added, "I really do!"
I raised my hands as if to show that my intentions were clear.
"But I also said that we can no longer hold back at all."
I turned silent.
Just like I said, I wasn't going to hold back when it comes to crafting formations. I decided not to leverage my skills to take advantage of those who I invited to rebuild the city with me.
As such, it was a rule that I hoped my closest ally besides Mia to follow through with the same mindset.
"I can only craft arcane weapons," Levi said.
From the looks of things, he gave up on arguing on the point of sharing his knowledge, opting to act as if it was exclusive to only certain kinds of studies.
"You can't expect me to translate what I know for civilian use," Levi said while spreading his arms open as if to show he had nothing to hide. "Even then, my understanding of the arcane art only ever reached the sixth level," he added. "So I hope you won't let your expectations grow too much."
My lips formed a small smile.
"Still, I would like you to try to pass on the arcane concepts to all our friends here," I requested again, in spite of all Levi said. "If this knowledge will let them craft better things, you will be everyone's benefactor!"
Contrary to normal crafting, arcane arts involved infusing the crafted item with spiritual energy right off the bat. In a sense, the arcane arts were the seed that grew into a passion for formations in me.
In theory, the craftsmanship of higher levels involved the use of spiritual energy as well… but it was only something that came as a boon of one's cultivation rank. Contrary to normal crafting, arcane arts involved spiritual energy from the very beginning.
And contrary to the normal arts that kept getting stronger and easier to practice the further one's cultivation went, arcane arts only ever grew increasingly harder to perform.
It was one thing to infuse a wooden spear with a rank of one or two arcana. But just like when normal crafts started to involve spiritual energy in the process, the demand for mana in the arcana of the same level grew exponentially.
If a normal sword of a ninth rank could bring destruction upon huge swaths of land, then an arcana weapon of the same level would be considered a national treasure.
"I didn't expect you were only on that level," I admitted, too late to stop my reflex response.
"Listen, brat…" Levi fired up a little, only to calm down right away. He sighed and shook his head. "There are many hard things to achieve in this world. But breaking past the bottleneck of the sixth rank of arcana weaponsmith…"
Levi shook his head again.
"Let's just say that I managed to become a Royal but I'm sane enough not to even attempt becoming a seventh-rank arcane weaponsmith!"
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