Chapter 116: The Scythe’s Refinement

Alchemy furnace, gold, sulfur, obsidian fragments…

Bai Yu began placing the items from her wondrous artifact storage into the alchemy furnace, one by one, before infusing them with spiritual energy.

Initially, Bai Yu had assumed such an alchemy furnace would require fire or similar elements to operate.

However, Moweila had scoffed at this, explaining that such methods were merely cinematic tropes; in reality, Arcanists always utilized spiritual energy as a medium for any alchemical endeavors.

Even Moweila, hailing from the previous epoch, had never witnessed alchemy performed with fire.

Such a technique, she asserted, must have been exclusive to the age of primitive man, when they still consumed raw meat and blood.

This implied that the practice of alchemy had permeated the entirety of history for all intelligent life forms.

The concept of ‘movies,’ incidentally, was something Moweila had glimpsed within Bai Yu’s memories.

She found this function of image preservation rather intriguing.

After all, in her epoch, only specialized arcanist techniques could achieve image retention, and even then, only for brief durations.

Thus, she had been utterly astonished to learn that humans could preserve images without expending any spiritual energy whatsoever.

While this revelation somewhat improved her impression of humanity, she remained utterly disdainful of their tendency to dedicate such a crucial function to mere entertainment.

Bai Yu, for her part, offered no reaction, understanding that Moweila’s adaptation to this era was already a considerable feat, given the span of an entire epoch separating them.

****

The most crucial moment had arrived.

Bai Yu retrieved the white scythe, a weapon her Mother had acquired from the Hunter Guild, which held reasons enough to draw countless individuals to covet it.

Its origins, however, remained shrouded in mystery; even Moweila only knew it had been forged from metals found in Heaven.

What was certain, however, was that the scythe’s history was far from simple.

It might even predate the entirety of human history.

Indeed, humanity itself was incapable of unleashing the scythe’s full power.

Its true value far surpassed the limits of human understanding.

Only Moweila, her ancient companion from the previous epoch, could even vaguely comprehend the scythe’s true purpose.

Bai Yu wondered how her Mother had discerned its utility.

Of all things, her Mother had brought out nothing but this scythe.

Perhaps her Mother truly possessed a fortuitous ability to appraise treasures.

To Bai Yu, at least, it simply appeared to be a remarkably cool weapon.

Bai Yu channeled spiritual energy to the back of her hand, where a triple-ringed concentric seal shimmered into existence.

The mark pulsed for a moment in Bai Yu’s vision, before the Heaven’s Cauldron materialized instantly in the open space of her room.

Instantly, an overwhelming aura permeated the entire room, feeling even more potent than it had last time.

“What’s going on?”

Bai Yu asked, a hint of surprise in her voice. ‘Could this artifact absorb spiritual energy?’

[It’s likely absorbing your spiritual energy after you’ve absorbed it, converting it into the spiritual energy of Heaven.]

Moweila deduced, sensing the aura emanating from the Heaven’s Cauldron.

“Ah, absorbing my spiritual energy? That’s such a rip-off!”

Bai Yu immediately bristled at Moweila’s words. ‘If it absorbed her spiritual energy, what would she do during battles?’

She had, after all, read novels where protagonists had their energy drained, transforming from geniuses into mere wastes.

‘Surely, she wouldn’t suffer the same fate?’

[You’re overthinking it. The rate at which it absorbs your spiritual energy is far slower than your own recovery, and it only happens while you’re sleeping. How could an artifact of such caliber possibly conspire against its master?]

Moweila responded, a note of exasperation in her voice.

“Is that so…”

Bai Yu felt a blush creep up her neck; she truly hadn’t noticed any absorption of her spiritual energy.

Bai Yu scratched her head, just as the white scythe in her hand abruptly began to vibrate.

It struggled, threatening to break free from Bai Yu’s grasp.

“What’s happening?”

Bai Yu tightened her grip on the scythe, yet it ultimately wrenched itself free.

The scythe, now beyond her control, soared above the Heaven’s Cauldron, where it hovered and began to spin.

“This is…?”

Bai Yu kept her distance, as the spiritual energy emanating from it was enough to make her feel uneasy.

[My guess was correct after all. These Heavenly artifacts are inherently unified. The Heaven’s Cauldron, as the central component, acts as a convergence point. You’re incredibly lucky this time!]

Moweila exclaimed, her voice filled with excitement. This phenomenon indicated that the Heaven’s Cauldron had actively sensed the scythe’s presence and initiated its absorption and refinement before Bai Yu could even act.

[Without the Heaven’s Cauldron, the ritual would have been far from this simple. Your luck truly borders on the absurd.]

At that very moment, the materials Bai Yu had prepared began to refine themselves automatically under the spiritual influence of the Heaven’s Cauldron.

The numerous materials converged into the interior of the Heaven’s Cauldron, only to vanish as if swallowed by a bottomless abyss.

In a mere few minutes, all the ritual materials Bai Yu had meticulously prepared were completely consumed.

“This…”

Bai Yu stared, dumbfounded. ‘This was far too convenient!’

‘She hadn’t even done anything, and the ritual had already begun?’

Bai Yu gazed at the surrounding instruments, now inert, all the materials having been absorbed by the Heaven’s Cauldron.

The floating scythe now began to shimmer with a silvery-white radiance.

Golden particles even began to appear around it.

More astonishing still, the scythe hovering in the air visibly began to shrink before Bai Yu’s very eyes.

It was as if it were being absorbed by the Heaven’s Cauldron itself.

Bai Yu felt a stir of apprehension.

[Don’t be nervous. This is a normal part of the ritual’s refinement process.]

Moweila’s voice broke through, dispelling Bai Yu’s apprehension.

The scythe, hovering above the Heaven’s Cauldron, grew progressively smaller until it ultimately vanished from sight, leaving behind only a scattering of golden particles.

However, on one side of the Heaven’s Cauldron’s body, an etching of a scythe appeared.

Positioned between the engravings of griffins and flying serpents, it exuded an undeniable aura of dominance.

Bai Yu leaned closer, realizing that if this pattern held true for the Cauldron’s surface, there should be four other similar weapon engravings.

Particularly at the ruby, a weapon’s engraving should clearly be at its very center.

‘Did this mean she needed to collect all the weapons to attain their true power?’

Bai Yu wasn’t entirely sure, as everything she had encountered thus far had been a stroke of pure luck.

She had to admit, Bai Yu felt her luck was truly extraordinary.

Bai Yu once again observed the scythe engraving on the Heaven’s Cauldron, noticing silvery-white particles spreading downwards from its top.

At the very bottom of the scythe etching, a faint, silvery-white glow had also appeared.

“Is this… a progress bar?”

Bai Yu immediately grasped the purpose of this display.

‘How intelligent was this thing, to even have something like this?’

Bai Yu surmised that once the silvery-white glow completely filled the scythe engraving, the scythe would have been fully refined into Reverse Metal.

The ruby on the Heaven’s Cauldron now pulsed with a crimson light, radiating an intense heat that caused the room’s temperature to rise significantly.

“It’s probably best to put it away for now.”

Bai Yu commanded the Heaven’s Cauldron, which once again transformed into a mark on the back of her hand.

However, her hand now bore not only the triple-ringed concentric circles, but also a new scythe mark, etched in its lower right corner.