Poison God's Heritage

"As much as you can give me, but I can't say that now, can I," she said.

"Yes, I need a lot for what's coming up soon. Not to mention, I need to claim the entire Sea of Demons. My puppets can't properly function within the Sea of Demons' sand, but the cities are an exception."

"A couple thousand would be enough for me. I'll need them to man the weapons and do all sorts of heavy lifting."

"You don't need a fighting force?" I asked. .net

She shook her head, "If puppets take over my own fighters' roles, they'll slack off and be lazy. I need them sharp and ready at all times."

"I see. Then what about their 'Food'?" I asked.

"I've seen how they use their Saint Qi crystals to power up, which brings me to ask…"

"No, not the reactor," I shook my head, "I can give you a simplified version that you can work on. As for the massive ship, you'll have to buy one from me," I said.

She smiled, "I was about to ask the same thing. I wouldn't take the blueprint for the reactor but would buy a readymade one for the ship. I already have the entire dimensions ready," she said as she handed me a small piece of jade.

I quickly scanned it and nodded, "You want it to use Origin Stones?"

"Yes."

"That will be difficult for me. I cannot handle Origin Qi right now," I said.

"Then I'll build it for you, under your guidance," she said.

"That could work then," I said.

"Then let's get to work," she said.

"You mean here?" I asked.

"Of course, unless you have a better forge," she smiled. After all, she is the Blue Sun owner of the largest city of production and metalwork.

I sheepishly grinned and said, "I might. But sadly, I can't take you right now," I sighed.

"If you're worried about the Queen's secret being exposed, you don't have to be concerned. The Lording Sun already predicted this and notified me. I won't say a thing," she made the zip-on-mouth gesture and smiled wide.

Not gonna lie, I almost fell in love right there, but the worry from having a Sun knowing about the Queen kept me in check. Against the Sun, keeping a secret is almost impossible.

"Sure then, if you say so," I said as I asked the Automaton to open a portal for us.

We moved inside the Lord of Lords pagoda and arrived immediately in the smithy area.

The Queen took a gasp, "Oh my, all of these…" she muttered.

"I suppose you're interested in the bellows and blast furnaces," I grinned.

"These are top-notch, all of them. Even I only have a dozen or so sets of this smithy, but what's that? These modifications." She asked as she moved her head left and right.

"Oh, you mean the inscriptions on them. I added them to increase efficiency. Look here for example," I said as I opened a small panel next to the blast furnace where hundreds of thousands of inscriptions showed up.

"Due to the need to reheat metal to mold it better into proper form, it usually loses its durability and efficiency the more you heat and reheat it," I said.

"Yes, I do understand that," she said.

"So what if there is an inscription that coats the metal itself in the same constant heat outpour, allowing you to only heat it once and work it until it's done without it cooling off or losing heat," I said.

"I thought about that before but never was able to achieve it. So you're saying you're using inscriptions to keep the metal hot and ready?" she asked.

I went on a tangent explaining the entire process and every bit and part of how the inscription works, how it funnels and channels the heat and Qi, and keeps the metal as hot as it was from inside the flame. I also explained why I added more inscriptions on my metal wares, my hammers, and tools I use, and continued explaining everything I have in my small smithy.

"What are those?" she asked as she pointed at a pair of goggles I had lying around.

"Wear them and you'll see," I said.

Once she did so, she took a second to realize what they were.

"These red lines…"

"What you see through the goggles are the fracture lines. Even after hammering a piece of metal, there will always be micro fractions in it. Those goggles can spot them, allowing you to judge if you should work around the micro fractions or work them into the metal.

This takes far longer to work the metal due to the need to be completely thorough and efficient, but the result is always like this," I said as I showed her a normal sheet of metal.

She took a glance at it, and the signs of surprise were apparent on her face.

"This is… perfect…" she said.

"God, I hope not," I smiled as the two of us hate the word perfect. She laughed along and said, "This is indeed a great piece of work. I suppose you work everything like this?"

"Yes, everything. Though it would have taken a long time for me to build all I own this way, that's why I have puppets," I clapped my hands twice and the Automaton allowed a hundred puppets into the smithy which hosted them comfortably with a lot of space left.

I then placed the small jade that had the original Qi reactor on a holographic display.

"This is your plan. Now the puppets will analyze and begin working the entire smithy to make it," I said as the puppets began working the flames and prepping the tools.

Fast, efficient, no wasted movement or need to rest. They poured molten metal from giant crucibles into molds and began working the blast furnaces to create more delicate parts for the engine.

"Aren't you being too hasty?" she said.

"Why so?" I questioned.

"You have yet to receive the metal I need for the reactor I want you to build. I wanted it made from pure Soulsteel."

I shook my head, "Conductivity is a huge issue with this reactor. Soulsteel has one bad thing about it, and that's why I would never call it a perfect metal."

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's too reliant on Soul energy and has extreme conductivity. Most of the delicate parts that go into the reactor need to be insulators to stop both heat and electric conductivity. And if you get attacked by a powerful soul wave, the entire structure of a Soulsteel reactor will be compromised. It needs to be sealed and stable."

"I see…" she said, "Then I'll pay you the cost of making the frame," she said.

"Once the frame is done, I'll have to guide you into etching Origin Stage inscriptions into the frame."

"How long will it take for the frame to be complete?" she asked.

"If we stay here, about a month. It's pretty beefy work," I said.

"That's a lot of time," she sighed. "Can we assist in helping? It should reduce the workload a bit," she said.

"We'll only get in the way. Don't worry about it. There is a time differential in this room. If we go to another floor, we'll only need one day's wait. Come," I said as I left the room through a portal opened by the automaton.

She followed me into the open plains where the Purple Armored lion came charging at me, licking and purring for pets.

"I know you're a bit lonely but please understand, I have yet to own a land of my own," I smiled at the lion.

Immediately, Kyu jumped out from my hood and landed on top of the purple lion's head. It kept licking at its claws and wiping its eyes.

"Cute pets," the Blue Sun said.

"They indeed are," I said.

"So, Shen Bao, what are your plans for the Sea of Demons?" she asked.

"Let's talk under that," I said as I led her to the small gazebo in the open plains.

Once we sat down, the automaton brought us hot tea that I poured for her and myself and sat down.

"Thank you," she said as she held the cup with both hands and slowly drank from it.

"Good tea," she said.

I nodded and did the same.

"As for the Sea of Demons, I do plan on taking over but it needs to be a hostile takeover without the need of spilling blood," I said.

"How are you planning on doing that? The self-proclaimed emperor is pretty powerful," she said.

"I would assume so. Even the mighty oak believes it is strong until a man comes along with an ax to chop it down," I said.

She took another sip and said, "You don't have time to grow as strong as he is, and once the Endless Night drops, it will be impossible to shake the stability of the Sea of Demons."

She wasn't wrong. Once that happens, the entire army will be on high alert.

"I understand that, and that's why I'm going in for a quick and hostile takeover," I said.

"What do you mean?"

I immediately snapped my head to the left, grinning.

"Well, I guess this makes my job easier now."

"I'm really confused. Are you dodging the question?" she said as she tried to see what I was seeing.

"Not at all," I sipped my drink, "My goal is to instantly take over every city of the Sea of Demons at once. And that can only be achieved by immense, devastating, and destructive firepower."

"And where are you going to get that? Terrorizing the people will get you hated," she said.

"I'm not planning on killing people. We'll need them for the times to come, but the Snobby Sun is now helping me make more of the rods. Hell, he's even improving them," I said.

She frowned, "He already started construction?"

"Yes, I'm sensing them. Due to his understanding of inscriptions, he thought he could replicate the same weapon. But he never noticed a small trap I have laid in the rods. After they're done being replicated, the entirety of the structure will shape itself into a hidden formation that will only be apparent once the rod is complete."

"An inscription within an inscription?"

"Yes," I smiled.

"And what does that inscription entail?" she asked.

"It hands me control over the rod. So basically, he's using his own resources to make weapons for me. Quite the profitable partner, right?" I grinned.

"You're a scary man," she smiled back.

"Well, I'm just a man who hates having what's his stolen by others, so I always have some form of protection and fallback mechanic on my stuff. Anyway, let me explain my plan on how to obtain the Sea of Demons."