The horse meat feast tasted great. Although the horse meat was slightly sour and the meat from the strong horses was coarse, under the culinary skills of honest Dunke, the meal was a tasty delight for Solgveiren. Dunke had never eaten horse meat before, so Solgveiren had asked him to try a horse meat meal.
Of course, Solgveiren was penniless, and this meal was indeed a true free meal. After finishing the meal, Solgveiren pulled Dunke up and left. With the speed of a dragon, how could the shopkeeper possibly catch up?
After dinner, Ge Zheng went to give Miss Feifei a lesson. There was no need to be so diligent as originally planned, but he had teased the little princess yesterday and although fifty lines of copying was quite a lot, it wouldn't be a big deal if it was spread out over a few days. Therefore, Ge Zheng sent someone to the Duke's mansion at noon to inform Miss Feifei that she still had a class tonight.
The Duke did not understand what was going on, and thought Ge Zheng was putting in extra effort to teach his daughter, feeling grateful in his heart. Miss Feifei had a hard time expressing her grievances, as she hurried back to copy books before finishing her lunch.
Flipping through the parchment notebook, Ge Zheng looked at the elegant handwriting on it, all of which were copied by Miss Feifei herself. He nodded in satisfaction and with a chuckle, he put down the notebook, saying, "Not bad, you copied all of these yourself. I'm surprised that you didn't get someone else to write it for you." Miss Feifei looked at him with a smile, her crescent-like eyes extremely cute, but her voice was gritted through her teeth like a saw cutting bone, "Teacher has such amazing alchemy skills, how could I dare to cheat..."
Ge Zheng picked up the notebook in surprise and shook it, "Are you talking about this notebook? I just casually mentioned it. You didn't really think I specially concocted a special notebook to supervise your homework, did you? Alas, children are truly innocent..."
Ge Zheng pretended to shake his head and immediately, Miss Feifei's eyes turned into a dead silence, as if she had been cast with a death spell.
Ge Zheng looked at the fire and cleared his throat, "Alright, considering that your assignment this time is well done, today's assignment will be waived. Now, let's start the class. Today, we'll talk about a basic skill in alchemy, magical language..."
When Ge Zheng returned from the Duke's mansion, Todd had already delivered all the raw materials he had ordered. The original refined iron was extracted from the original iron ore, and it was a basic material for all equipment, which would be used in some quantity. After further refining, the original refined iron would condense into a more advanced "iron crystal."
Magic mosquito eggs are commonly used magical mediums, and the king's egg is the egg laid by the king of magical mosquitoes, which is hundreds of times more effective than magic mosquito eggs.
Blue platinum is a rare metal with a soft texture that is not usually used in ordinary armor. However, it has one advantage, that is, its excellent conductivity. Moreover, when the quantity of blue platinum reaches a certain level, it can amplify electric currents.
Iron sunken wood had been used by Ge Zheng before. It is a very unique type of wood, softer than steel but harder than ordinary wood. It is used as a lining inside armor to prevent abrasions from magical beasts.
Three superior magic crystal stones are the most expensive among these raw materials, costing two thousand gold coins each, totaling six thousand coins for three. They are not used to provide magical power, but to undergo a process of "magic affinity" for the raw materials. Only after processing, materials like original refined iron would have good magical conductivity.
Although the main materials from the adventurer's guild hadn't arrived yet, Ge Zheng decided to pre-process these ordinary raw materials. Five hundred kilograms of original refined iron, after further refining, produced five kilograms of iron crystal. Ge Zheng's method of processing was a little different from others. During the refining process, while continuously condensing the original refined iron, he slowly blew a mixture of high-quality magic crystal stones and king mosquito egg powder from another entrance of the furnace. This way, the refined iron crystal he produced naturally had a high affinity for magic, eliminating a processing step and making the effect even better.
Blue platinum did not need pre-processing, but the iron sunken wood had to be carved into a shape that fits the explosive tiger's shoulders.
After processing everything, Ge Zheng stretched and walked out of the laboratory. There were already stars in the sky, and the sounds of dogs barking were heard in the dark alleys.
The practice of internal alchemy made Ge Zheng's senses sharper, and he heard a strange noise in the quiet night. He straightened up and got out of the courtyard, following the sound and found its source not far away, where a group of people were busy setting up a high platform with thick wooden sticks.
This was the intersection of Huarner Street and Red Three Street, a spacious place near the prosperous southeast commercial district, close to the Duke's mansion.
A steward-looking person was urging the craftsmen, "Faster, it must be completed before dawn..." The steward looked familiar, and Ge Zheng carefully identified him in the dim light of the torch. Indeed, he was the coachman of the mozu girl he had met this afternoon!
Ge Zheng shook his head and quietly went back to sleep.
Not long after he left, another group of people emerged from the other corner of the street, quickly setting up another high platform with ropes and wooden sticks.
The coachman was furious and pushed the head of the other group, "Dor, what are you doing!" It seemed they still knew each other. Dor was not polite either and pushed him back, "What are you doing? You are allowed to preach for the Temple of Dark Gods, but we are not allowed to recruit followers for the Temple of the Bright Odin?" The coachman angrily said, "Are you here to recruit followers? Tomorrow is our Goddess Hel's preaching meeting, and your Odin Temple is clearly causing trouble!"
Dor chuckled and, being taller than the coachman, deliberately said, "We are here to cause trouble. What do you want?" The coachman wasn't polite either, and punched him, "I want to teach you a lesson!" A commotion ensued, and the two groups fought...
Early the next morning, at the bustling intersection of Huarner Street and Red Three Street, the two sides started singing at the two platforms. The spiritual envoy of the Temple of Dark Gods preached, and on the other side, fifty followers of the Temple of Light Odin circled around, protecting a high platform. On the platform, a handsome blond man with blue eyes was fervently and devoutly extolling the greatness of the main god Odin.
Indeed, the two temples were confronting each other.
When Ge Zheng went out in the morning, he saw groups of residents of Oba City running in the same direction. Puzzled, he followed and saw a scene that was uncommon in China. The residents of the oriental city inclined towards reservation and would never openly confront each other. But in the world of the Star Forge, the residents of Oba City seemed accustomed to such scenes, standing underneath the platforms and watching the confrontation with great interest.
Ge Zheng followed the crowd and, upon arrival, was surprised because this was the same place he had been to last night. There had only been one platform last night, so how had two platforms appeared in the morning? He turned to look at the platform and was astonished to see that the speaker for the Temple of Dark Gods was the same dignified mozu girl he had met yesterday afternoon.
The blond Odin Temple speaker, named Lafiloh, was powerful and seemed to be destined to become a new "Odin God Son" and inherit the position of the Grand Pope. Ge Zheng saw that there was a fierce competition between them.
The sorrows of the Temple of Dark Gods and the Temple of the Bright Odin could be traced back to the battle between light and darkness in the ancient god war. For a while, the Temple of Dark Gods sporadically discovered a small-scale outbreak of the plague on the mainland. Only two out of six cities were spared, and the Lord of Roaring did the wonderful wood city immediately found the truth of the matter.
A hero had converted to a temple, and the promotion of his heroic deeds would have a positive impact on the temple. Excluding the luster of reputation, tens of thousands of people in the two cities would believe in the Dark Temple because of the hero. So, the Temple of Dark Gods immediately sent a powerful spiritual envoy to Weishi City to find the hero behind these deeds.
Unexpectedly, when the mozu girl arrived in Weishi City, the hero had already disappeared. Even with the assistance of Maris, a great Duke, and the full power of the Lord of the City, they could not find the hero.
Furthermore, the other four great temples seemed to have followed suit after smelling a rat. Among them was the arch-enemy of the Temple of Dark Gods, the Temple of Light Odin. Lafiloh, the blond speaker, was determined to give the Temple of Dark Gods a fatal blow.
"Gronia, why don't we, in front of so many followers, display our respective gods' miracles and let them judge which side's god is greater with their own eyes and hearts!" Lafiloh was well-prepared.
Ge Zheng murmured under his breath, "So her name is Gronia." Suddenly, a powerful force surged into him, and a voice discontentedly said, "Huh, you finally know the girl's name." Ge Zheng turned his head, "Dinola, are you here to watch the show?" Dinola replied, looking up at the platform, "This girl is not bad, I quite like her. Yesterday I killed her horse and ate the meat, and today I'll help if I can." Ge Zheng thought to himself, "I guess I was right, this guy has never considered himself a woman."
"I don't think it's any of your concern." Ge Zheng scoffed, thinking about the countless senior brothers he had defeated to ultimately win the favor of his junior sister, "Hero saves the beauty is the most basic skill, but it's either you die or I die. The first thing you must do is knock down all your competitors. No matter what method you use..."
He was a bit unrestrained for a while, and looking at Dinola with a meaningful look, Ge Zheng coughed and shifted his attention back to the stage: "Let's continue watching."
In his mind, he remembered each scene: defeating his most competitive third senior brother with the colorless and tasteless "Crazy Pil" he concocted, having the physical training of a few show capabilities in the heavy snow of the Nine Nine Days, and realizing he wouldn't have his face in front of his junior sister.
The other had recklessly insisted and he had heatedly challenged Ge Zheng to a weapon-making competition, and after losing, had really stopped writing notes to the junior sister, as per the bet.
Ge Zheng's mouth showed a sly smile, and now, looking back, he realized how happy his days at the sect had been...
On the platform, Gronia had accepted Lafiloh's challenge. She raised her snake staff and said, "Alright, what do you want to compete in!" Lafiloh smiled, and the charismatic nature of the golden-haired speaker was not insignificant, as a group of girls below immediately burst into screams.
"Of course, we're competing in miracles" Lafiloh's smile hid a scent of conspiracy. But Gronia was unable to back down. In order to preserve the reputation of the Temple of Dark Gods amongst its followers, she gritted her teeth and said, "Alright, I agree!"
Lafiloh's cunning plan had succeeded, and he was sure of it. He clapped his hands and said, "Bring it here." Dor brought two people, bringing a large wooden tray the size of a table. The tray was covered with red cloth, and the items underneath were not visible.
With a flourish, Lafiloh removed the cover and revealed a dozen short swords shaped like poisonous snakes, neatly arranged in three rows of four. What was extraordinary was that these short swords were all of the same length and style, as if they had been poured out of a mold. Lafiloh said, "This is not the Dellson City, so I can't come up with a decent miracle. Here are twelve quasi-divine artifacts, all exactly the same. I believe that there is no other existence in the world besides my god that can create twelve exactly the same quasi-divine artifacts."
Gronia's face changed slightly. Quasi-divine artifacts were extremely rare on the continent's roads, and to have twelve exactly the same quasi-divine artifacts was even rarer. Gronia realized that she had fallen into Lafiloh's trap, and the youngest parishioner of the Odin Temple had clearly set the stage, pushing her one step at a time from Weishi City to Oba City, where an assassin suddenly appeared and she had to fight him!