Chapter 8: Artifact Spirit


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Have I gone crazy after hitting my head? And this is all just a figment of my imagination?” Li Lang couldn’t help but mutter at the ludicrous situation he found himself in.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He was floating in the middle of darkness and a childish voice came from a red stone.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Master, you haven’t gone crazy. I guarantee it!” the red orb immediately replied, shing excitedly, in sync with its words.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Then what are you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I am the proud artifact spirit of the…I…don’t have a name yet, Master. You have to decide one for me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Are you like a…newborn artifact or something?” Li Lang couldn’t help but ask, having heard the childish voice of the orb.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course not! I am a powerful Divine artifact, made from the will of the world, and have been around for eons!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...You’ve been around for eons but still don’t have a name?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I…Most of my memories are wiped each time I gain a new master.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Fine, then. I’ll call you Ruby for now. What was that about the artifact space?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Understood, Master. I’ll be Ruby until you say otherwise. The artifact space is where we currently are. The default state is that of nothingness. To make use of my powers, it is best for you to set up the space to match your preference. If you would like, I can peek into your memories to set up the space for you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...You can read my mind?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Only with your permission, Master.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Sure.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang was already having trouble keeping up with what was happening, so he happily offloaded the bothersome task away. He didn’t really care if the space was just a spartan room.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The darkness suddenly receded, and the entire room became a blur of lights. The next thing Li Lang knew, he found himself inside a ce he was familiar with and he instantly became nostalgic.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He nced around and took in the scenery of theboratory he had spent much of his time in.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He quickly headed for the door, but when he tried to hit the button to open it, his hand phased straight through.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Master, this is just an illusionary space with the projection of the room you frequented the most. It is limited only to this area.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see…” The excitement that had abruptly welled up within him dimmed just as quickly as it came before it exploded back upward in a rollercoaster of emotions, as he excitedly pondered how this artifact space worked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Are you satisfied with this, Master?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes. Thank you. Anyway, tell me how you work. How is this possible? What principles are behind it?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sorry, Master. I don’t know myself. It justes naturally to me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Never mind, then. I’ll have time to investigate it myself soon enough.” Li Lang swiftly reined in his excitement and took a seat in his familiar chair.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So, tell me. What are the powers that you mentioned having?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Master, I am a rare and invaluable artifact that specializes in helping crafters such as alchemists, cksmiths, and other creators hone their craft!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And how so, specifically?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You can test out new recipes and crafting techniques in this artifact space without expending any materials as long as it is in my knowledge repository.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">As a scientist in his previous life, Li Lang’s interest was instantly piqued. What the Red Stone had described sounded surprisingly simr to an advanced variation of a virtual simtor.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Show me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Sorry, I can’t, Master.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm? Why not?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“My knowledge repository is currently empty, Master. There’s nothing I can reproduce. You’ll have to find materials to let me absorb it first.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">At Ruby’s mention of materials, Li Lang nced around at the specimen storage of hisb. He quickly remembered how they weren’t real, but when he nced over at his equipment, he abruptly shot up and ran to thergest machine present, which was surrounded byyers of protective ss.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why is my auto-analyzer different?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He closely examined therge machine that was one of the backbones of everyb back in his world. The auto-analyzers took care of much of the tedious work of analyzing the makeup andpound of whatever was inserted.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It is part of my power, Master. I can help ‘simte’ equipment you are familiar with to help in your craft, but your cultivation is too low. You can barely supply enough Qi to use just the tiniest fraction of my powers. I took the liberty of finding the oldest model of auto-analyzer from your memories to more urately represent what the machine is capable of right now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wait…So this auto-analyzer is actually usable and not just decoration?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes! Even without my memories, I’m sure this is the first time I’ve seen something like it, but it should work perfectly as long as my powers can handle it!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Numerous research topics surfaced in Li Lang’s mind as he found out his precious machine worked, but he knew many research topics were irrelevant now. The projects that he could weaponize weren’t so easy to create without the industrial backbone of an entire star sector behind him. It would be close to impossible to source all the raw materials and other specialty equipment involved in the production of bio-weapons he knew of.


    <span style="font-weight:400">In the first ce, Li Lang didn’t even know if this world had the same materials or followed the samews of physics. All the scientific knowledge he had umted may bepletely useless!


    <span style="font-weight:400">He shelved all his wild thoughts as he continued to learn from his newly acquainted artifact spirit.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Do you have any function that can help me cultivate?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sorry, Master. I do not have knowledge regarding that topic.”


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">I guess things aren’t that convenient, but this virtual space should be able to help me in other ways…</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">Several ideas about how he could leverage Ruby ran through Li Lang’s head, but he needed more information before he proceeded with any one of them. He knew too little; he didn’t even know how to start cultivating.


    <span style="font-weight:400">With his yearning for cultivation rekindled, he nced over at the floating red orb.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ruby, how do I get out of here?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I can do it for you, Master!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">In the blink of an eye, the scene around Li Lang changed. He suddenly found himself lying t on the ground in the middle of the forest. He stared up at the night skies that were illuminated by the numerous stars above. It was a sight he had rarely seen in his previous life, as the nightlights of the cities had drowned out the stars.


    <span style="font-weight:400">He noticed he had one hand ced on his forehead, gripping onto something. When he opened his hand, he found that he had been holding onto a dull, red stone.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So it wasn’t a dream, after all.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Master, I am very real! Would you like to enter back into the artifact space to confirm?” The child-like voice rang directly into his mind.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...No, it’s okay. Are you going to be in my head from now on?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I am only able tomunicate with you, Master, when you are holding the stone against your head.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see…Tell me about what you know about where we are.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m sorry, Master. As I previously mentioned, my memor—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The voice abruptly cut off as Li Lang moved the stone away from his head. He stared down at the stone for a moment before bringing it back up by his ear.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Master, that was rude!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sorry, I just wanted to test it out.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You can trust me, Master! I wouldn’t lie to you!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...They say the next town over is half a day away, so I guess I’ll have to find shelter for the night first.” Li Lang quickly changed the subject.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Seeing how Ruby had no useful input, he stowed it away and prepared to traverse the forest.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The glimmering forest shouldn’t be too dangerous for him. It had no Qi beasts and was somewhere Zi Zun hadn’t minded them visiting despite their young age.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Dredging up his memories, Li Lang headed for the rocky cliff area where a road leading to the next town should be. He walked cautiously, being mindful of each step. Whenever he spotted any new type of nts, he would gather them.


    <span style="font-weight:400">It didn’t take long for him to make it out of the overgrowth into a t barren stretch ofnd beside a cliff wall that stretched further than what his eyes could see. He could hear the sound of water pouring down nearby as well.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I guess this will have to do for tonight…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He ced his bags against the cliff wall and sat down, hugging his knees. Heid out the nts and branches he had collected before he took out a piece of dried jerky and munched on it while he held up Ruby to his head.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Can you add these nts and sticks I gathered into your knowledge repository or the auto-analyzer?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, Master, but they will be permanently destroyed in the process of recording their data into my knowledge depository. Once they have been added, you can then ce them in the auto-analyzer. Should I proceed?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The items before him quickly faded from view. It was like they had evaporated but in a matter of seconds.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Bring me into the artifact space.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Understood, Master!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang blinked and found himself inside his familiarb once more. This time, he wasn’t lost and immediately walked over to the auto-analyzer.


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">This model…is one I’ve seen in a museum back in my student days…It should work the same way, right…?</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">He nced around and found the items he had gathered were neatly ced in a pile on the table beside the machine. He didn’t hesitate and moved to pick out a simple tree branch and threw it into the tray.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Right as he shut the cover behind the tray, the mechanical arms came to life and brought the piece of wood further into the machine. Li Lang watched through the transparent ss as it went to work, impatiently tapping on the table.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Report, ETA!” He yelled out after a minute.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang expected the synthetic voice of an AI to respond, but what he got instead was Ruby.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Master, ETA is six hours, nine minutes, and eleven seconds.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...What? It normally doesn’t take more than a few minutes!”


    <em><span style="font-weight:400">This stupid antique!</em>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sorry, Master…You will have to increase your cultivation to be able to use more of my power if you want more processing power.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...Forget it. Take me out of the artifact space. I’m going to sleep.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Understood, Master!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Li Lang quickly found himself back in the real world, staring at his knees. Before he could look up, a voice rang out from above him at a shockingly close distance.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Good, you’re awake.”