Chapter 65: What to Do When Born a Blade

[Item: Storage Ring]
[Description: Contains a one-cubic-meter space, can only store inanimate objects]
[Remarks: With this, you will never have to worry about having too much luggage again, and perhaps you can even use it to perform magic tricks]
[Price: 10 Destiny Points]

[Item: Sarira]
[Description: Spiritual energy crystals left behind after the transcendence of an accomplished eminent monk, possessing various wondrous uses]
[Remarks: Enlightening oneself in Buddhist teachings, aiding cultivation, restoring magical power... Compared to these, its greatest ability is to attract a group of bald, muscular men to come looking for you]
[Price: 100 Destiny Points]

...

"A storage ring? A sarira?"
Glancing briefly over the item categories, Jiang Ren's eyes lit up slightly.
Judging from the descriptions of these items, this world should be of the Xianxia genre, otherwise there wouldn't be so many related items, and quite a few of them were even reasonably priced.

"It seems I have never tried the effects of the identity category, have I?"
Jiang Ren checked the identity category once more.
He found that, just like the previous two worlds, apart from an option to invest Destiny Points, there was no prominent information whatsoever.

"Let's first test what a normal entry is like, and I'll try paying to customize my birth next time."
Without hesitation, Jiang Ren exited the mall and entered the dark space.
As a seasoned player who preferred to spend as little as possible, he always believed that if spending money was absolutely necessary, every single penny must be used where it mattered most.

Before him appeared a massive, faintly glowing clock.
Fuzzy projections flickered across the clock face, faintly revealing a background that seemed to be a blacksmith's shop, where a muscular, shirtless man was gripping a large iron hammer and pounding away at a piece of iron before him.

"Why does something feel a bit off?"
Seeing this scene, Jiang Ren felt somewhat puzzled.
Usually in this stage, every projection featured an infant, but this time not only was there no infant, there wasn't even a child at all, only a blacksmith of clearly advanced age.

"Could it be that I am going to possess this blacksmith?"
Just as Jiang Ren was speculating, his soul was pulled into the clock's projection.

...

Clang! Clang! Clang!
Inside a somewhat dilapidated blacksmith's shop.
A blacksmith in his thirties or forties, baring a physique of muscular strength, gripped a large iron hammer and struck the iron workpiece resting on the large anvil before him, blow after blow.

The scorching heat of the surroundings caused sweat to continuously drip from his body.
However, far from slowing him down, this only made him strike faster and faster. His right hand wielding the hammer practically turned into a blur, endlessly repeating the motion of lifting and falling.

Ultimately.
Under such a torrential storm of hammer blows, the irregular lump of iron rapidly transformed into the shape of a blade.

Clang!
With the final, distinctly different striking sound, the blacksmith withdrew the large iron hammer.
He casually wiped the sweat from his forehead, used a pair of tongs to pick up the forged blade, and placed it into the blazing furnace nearby.

When the flames burned the blade to a glowing red, he swiftly removed it and plunged it into a water vat filled with clean water.
Hiss~
The scorching hot blade instantly evaporated a large amount of water.

A man dressed in coarse cloth walked in, looked at the blade just retrieved from the water, and couldn't help saying, "Big Brother, this blade is simply too fine. To just give it away to that person like this, isn't it too generous?"
"He saved my life. Do you think my life is worth less than a single blade?"
The blacksmith shook his head and placed the blade onto the tool bench.

The man in coarse cloth wore a depressed expression. "I'm just somewhat reluctant to part with such a fine blade. Among the weapons you've forged, Big Brother, this one can easily rank in the top ten."
"You are wrong."
The blacksmith looked at the blade that had just undergone the quenching process, satisfaction flashing in his eyes. "This is the finest weapon I have ever forged."

Hearing this, the man in green robes couldn't help cursing inwardly: "That fellow must have smoke billowing from his ancestral tombs!"

When the subsequent finishing processes were completed, the blade, which occasionally flashed with a cold glint, was hung upon the wall to one side.
The creation process of a single blade took anywhere from several days to dozens of days.
Having gone through the extremely energy- and strength-draining hammering phase, the blacksmith did not immediately proceed to the next step; instead, he hung the blade on the wall and went to rest in the adjoining room.

"So..."
Jiang Ren, who had been silently observing for a long time, withdrew his gaze from the doorway and looked at his current body: "Why did I turn into a blade?"

When entering, he had guessed he might become the blacksmith.
In this seemingly immortal-cultivating world, given the blacksmith's age, it would obviously be difficult to seek the destiny of immortals, but advanced age did have some advantages—it could save a considerable amount of time and launch an exploration of this world ahead of schedule.

Yet, to his surprise, when Jiang Ren opened his eyes, he discovered that he was actually a blade currently being forged into shape.
Able to see and hear, yet utterly incapable of movement or speech.

"Is this why this world is called 'Weapons'?"
Thinking of this, Jiang Ren felt a trace of helplessness.
He was eager to know what an inanimate object like this could possibly accomplish.
During the process of being hammered earlier, he had tried numerous methods, yet none could manipulate the blade he now inhabited, nor could they exert any influence on the outside world.
Simply put, he was currently in a state even worse than a vegetative state.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of being possessed as a blade was that his perspective was three hundred and sixty degrees without blind spots, and within a certain distance from the blade body, even if obstacles blocked his line of sight, he could easily peer right through them.
Another benefit was the complete absence of pain.
Having been hammered repeatedly for so long, he hadn't felt uncomfortable at all; on the contrary, it had felt somewhat invigorating.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ren shuddered with a chill: "Surely I don't have a masochistic tendency..."

Night fell.
All was quiet and still; both the blacksmith and the man in coarse cloth had fallen asleep.
Yet inside the securely locked blacksmith's shop, Jiang Ren found himself entirely unable to sleep. As a blade, he currently possessed no drowsiness whatsoever, nor did he know how one was supposed to sleep; it seemed he could do nothing but let his mind drift.

"No, I cannot continue like this."
Realizing that his mental state seemed somewhat problematic, Jiang Ren hurriedly roused his spirits.
This state of being unable to move, speak, or communicate, if maintained for too long with nothing to occupy one's time, would very likely impair one's psychological wellbeing.

"Perhaps I can try that method from earlier."
When he had first transformed into the blade, all the methods Jiang Ren tried were unable to affect the outside world, but one specific method had allowed him to sense a feeling of exhaustion.
As is well known, living creatures only experience this sensation when they are fatigued.
Although he was not a living creature, he possessed normal intelligence and the capacity for thought, so he figured the principle should be roughly similar.

"Through that method, perhaps I can train something, just like how the body becomes stronger after every recovery period following physical exercise."
Jiang Ren focused his attention entirely within the blade.
In his perception, a mysterious energy seemed to exist within the blade, and under his urging, it spread forth with great difficulty.

A few minutes later.
Jiang Ren halted his action.
It wasn't because he was tired or because it lacked effect, but simply because his mental energy was entirely depleted; even by concentrating all his focus, he could no longer urge the mysterious energy to move even a fraction of a millimeter.
Currently, the mysterious energy occupied only a soybean-sized portion within the blade.

"The effect is certainly there; I just don't know if my mental energy can recover."
Jiang Ren released his focus and silently began counting numbers in his heart.
About an hour later, he discovered that the fatigue had vanished, and he was once more able to urge the mysterious energy.

Thus, in the time that followed.
He continuously repeated the cycle of depleting his energy and recovering it.
The state of being unable to communicate with the outside world was simply too agonizing; having finally found something he could do, he naturally devoted himself to it with all his heart.
Moreover, this gave him a glimmer of hope in his heart.
In this world suspected of immortal cultivation, if spirits and demons existed, then perhaps one day he too would transform into a spirit or a demon.

When that time came.
Would he be called a blade spirit, or a blade demon?

*(End of this chapter)*