Chapter 405: Crafting! (Ninth)

“You were only a mid-stage class one soulbeast yesterday, how’d you become a late-stage class four overnight?! And how come I didn’t sense that?!”

The fact that this happened without his notice dumbfounded Bai Yunfei with how out-of-the-blue it was.

But the proof was standing right there in front of him.

He scanned the cave for anything that might’ve caused this change, but there was nothing to be found, and nothing strange was going on in Xiao Qi’s body.

Had Bai Yunfei not known about yesterday’s events, he would’ve thought Xiao Qi had always been an adult prisma oriole.

“Tsk tsk! So, Xiao Qi, you really are a special prisma oriole!” Having not a good reason for this change, Bai Yunfei gave up thinking about it to scratch Xiao Qi on the head in praise.

“Chirp chirp~!” Just like ever, Xiao Qi cooed twice. Spreading its wings, it took off into the air to fly again, though this time it looked like it wanted to fly out of the cave. However, since Bai Yunfei didn’t move from his spot, Xiao Qi remained in the cave as well.

As Xiao Qi flew, Bai Yunfei dusted the hay off his shoulders and stretched his body. “Well then, now that I’m fully rested, it’s time to continue my adventure!”

But before Bai Yunfei could take even two steps towards the cave exit, a cry from Xiao Qi from behind stopped him.

“Eh?”

Turning around, Bai Yunfei saw Xiao Qi stand behind him, chirping and hopping around a part of the nest as if unwilling to leave.

At a loss for why Xiao Qi was acting this way, Bai Yunfei squatted down next to the nest. “What’s wrong? Did you want to take this with you as a commemoration?”

What Xiao Qi was hopping around wasn’t the nest in particular, but the shells of the egg it hatched from.

The eggshells weren’t at all big; the largest pieces of them being the two ends of the egg, while the rest of the eggshells were sprinkled about here and there on the ground.

Each of the shell pieces were still glowing softly with a prismatic light.

Bai Yunfei had taken a look at the eggshells a while ago to see if there’d be an notifications, but there was none. The Upgrade Technique no longer considered the eggshells to be ‘equipment’. Without there being any special energy, there was nothing else remarkable about it besides it being as hard as steel.

“Are you saying the eggshells are important?” Feeling that Xiao Qi wanted to keep these eggshells not for sentimentality, but for another reason, Bai Yunfei asked again.

“Chirp chirp chirp~!”

The oriole hopped up and down several times in a positive response.

“Hm….”

Its answer mystified Bai Yunfei even more. He didn’t know why, but he trusted the ‘information’ he was getting from the bird. So if the bird said that the eggshells had some sort of use, then so be it.

“But what can it be used for??” He held a piece of the shell up to examine.

Then, an idea struck him.

“To craft, maybe?!”

He hadn’t the foggiest how this idea came to him, but now that it did, he was excited. Forget about adventure, it was time to craft!!

“Crafting…..crafting…..should I use this to craft a soul armament?” It was a little bizarre to even think about using the colorful egg shells to craft a soul armament, but he couldn’t help but feel the urge to try it out anyways.

He came to a decision nearly instantaneously, “Let’s try it!! Won’t hurt me if it fails anyhow.”

He’d make a soul armament with these eggshells!

Now that his mind was set to the task, Bai Yunfei didn’t hesitate to gather up all the eggshells. Stacking them neatly in a pile in front of him, Bai Yunfei waved his hand to bring out a giant-sized red object.

The Lightningfire Cauldron

Lightningfire Cauldron’s stats:

Elemental Affinity: Fire, Lightning

Upgrade Level: +10

Special Effect 1: Increase chance of success when crafting by 300%

Special Effect 2: 15% chance to add lightning affinity to an item when crafting.

+10 Additional Effect: 10% chance to boost the overall stats of an equipment by 20% when crafting.

Soul Compatibility: 13%

Upgrade Requirement: 110 Soulpoints

“Haven’t crafted in a long time….” Bai Yunfei sighed as he basked in the rich flow of elemental fire coming from the cauldron. It’s soul compatibility with him had increased by 3% ever since he first received it.

“Well now, what shall I craft?” He rubbed his chin. “Making a dagger would be pretty hard with the amount of materials here, should I make a flying dagger then? Doesn’t feel right though, maybe some...accessories!

“A bracelet, that’ll work!!”

Now that he had an idea of what type of equipment to craft, Bai Yunfei began the preparations. Using eggshells as the primary material was a first; he didn’t know if it’d succeed, but if it did, then it’d be a valuable learning experience.

Carefully calculating the volume of eggshells he had and the other necessary subsidiary materials, Bai Yunfei finished up the meticulous other preliminary steps. Standing in front of the cauldron, Bai Yunfei breathed in deeply. “Well then…..let’s begin!”

His left hand pressed against the cauldron, and the Cataclysmic Seal popped out from the Violet Soul Ring on his right hand. Hovering in midair, the brick shivered for a moment before Bai Yunfei’s second essence fireseed appeared!!

No sooner did it appear did it get ‘sucked’ into the middle of the cauldron!

Several crackling sounds were heard from the cauldron as a connection opened up between cauldron and fireseed, and then, the fireseed was promptly taken into the cauldron’s bottom!

The cauldron shook violently when the second fireseed was deposited into it. Flashes of red light flowed out from the cauldron, and then from the inside, a roaring fire sprung to life!

This was a crafting technique unique only to Bai Yunfei--using the essence fireseed to manipulate and control fire!

He had learned this method from the predecessor and creator of the Dual Flame Arts. In it, it was said that the predecessor used his companion fireseed, but Bai Yunfei was able to take that concept a step further by using an actual fireseed!

Through this special usage of the fireseed, Bai Yunfei was able to increases his chances of success when crafting several times over!

Only someone with two essence fireseeds could pull this off.

Which meant no one else but Bai Yunfei could do this!

Everything else about the world disappeared into the smoke as the fire rose. All there was was the cauldron in front of him, and the fire within it. The shattered pieces of the egg floated into the cauldron when he waved his hand, and so began the process to craft an item with them.

Somehow knowing that Bai Yunfei needed time to himself, Xiao Qi flew up to a protruding stone on the cave wall to watch. Without even a chirp, it stood there, observing what Bai Yunfei did.

Again and again, the flames within the cauldron danced. With each new material introduced to the cauldron, the flames danced without rhyme, but there was control in how Bai Yunfei did his work. Experienced in the art of crafting, Bai Yunfei was confident in his ability to craft without a problem.

There was a huge difference on how accessories were crafted compared to weapons and armor. If proper care wasn’t had, then the product would turn out to be defected.

What it meant to have a defective good meant having an item without any special attributes, or using high grade materials to create an ordinary accessory.

Even if one succeeded, there was also the chance that there wasn’t many attributes added, or the end result wasn’t equivalent to the grade of the materials. In both cases, the end product was a waste.

So when Bai Yunfei decided to craft an accessory, it was meant to be a challenge if he excluded the fact that he was using eggshells as a material.

Time trickled by bit by bit. Crafting high quality products required both time and patience, and Bai Yunfei was no stranger to that. Calm as ever, he focused at the task at hand to control the flames.

From sunrise to sunset, the day was already turning back into night….

A flash of red light illuminated the entirety of the cave, brightening up not only the entire interior of the place, but Bai Yunfei’s face.

“It’s done!!”