Chosen: Beyond Fate

The long night passed without Ji Jue even noticing.

Inside the makeshift workshop in the motorhome, it was only when the alarm clock rang that Ji Jue sluggishly realized morning had arrived.

Thanks to the enhanced stamina that came with being a Chosen One, staying awake all night wasn’t much of a problem. Besides, he’d managed to get plenty of rest during the journey. After a full night’s work, the furnace roared to life once more, and brilliant silver light illuminated his eyes.

Ji Jue grinned. “Mission accomplished! Thanks, Mr. Ball!”

“We’re bros. No need to be so polite!” the devil’s work ball replied. “Been a while since I last saw you. Your craftsmanship has definitely improved. At your level, if you brush up on your theory, you should be able to go get a license.”

Ji Jue shook his head. “I’ve still got a long way to go.”

He knew his own strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. He wasn’t so full of himself as to think a few months of study was enough to cross a hurdle that had taken countless people years to overcome.

His skills were simply far too lopsided. Among all his crafts, aside from the Dissociation Technique, which he had been steadily improving, the one he had grasped the most was Fluid Alchemy. After all, when used with Pacifier outside the workshop, it was incredibly practical. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be used to qualify for a craftsman’s license.

His grasp of modern alchemy wasn’t low by any means, but nearly all of it was concentrated in practical application. It wasn’t entirely due to his hard work either. More than ninety percent of his progress came from the insights he gained while Deus Ex Machina digested the essence of Supreme Benevolence. Since his theoretical foundation couldn’t keep up, all he could do was reproduce answers, but oftentimes he had no idea why a certain value or step was correct.

Of the four fundamental disciplines, his proficiency in Purification and Integration was absurdly high. His Elevation was decent, but Transformation, which required experience, theory, and practical skill in equal measure, was still firmly at the apprentice level. If he wanted to improve it, there were no shortcuts he could take. He would have to pour in money and spend endless hours practicing.

Even if he somehow got a license through sheer luck, all he’d be capable of would be making knockoffs and imitations that looked convincing on the surface. Ji Jue couldn’t tolerate becoming a joke of a craftsman. If Professor Ye ever saw him do that, she’d probably be tempted to expel him herself.

He’d just have to take it one step at a time.

“Come here,” Ji Jue beckoned to the furnace. Instantly, the mercury flowed out like a tide without any input from him into the open toolbox at his feet.

At first glance, it looked no different from before it had gone into the furnace. But after a full night of Purification, every trace of impurity had been removed. The bone fragments were gone as well, replaced by a soft, luminous sheen shimmering across the mercury’s surface. Under the light, they resembled numerous tiny crystals, refracting delicate strands of color that shifted and flowed with endless intricacy.

Ji Jue flicked his hand and snapped his fingers. In an instant, the dormant mercury burst forth, spreading out before him to form a solid iron wall. Unlike its former pure metallic silver sheen, the wall now had a faint transparency to it, almost crystalline.

“What the hell? Don’t tell me you botched it!” the devil’s work ball said mockingly, sounding genuinely taken aback. “You’d have been better off letting that blessing rot in the vortex. What the hell did you make?”

The Iron Essence blessing was meant to enhance the strength, hardness, and rigidity of any material. Its effectiveness depended on the user’s understanding of the Ruins Path and the amount of spirit matter invested.

But one thing was certain. Given the name Iron Essence, it should naturally lean toward metal! So how had this brat worked on it all night only to end up making something that looked like glass?

“Why don’t we test it and find out?” Ji Jue replied with a grin, flicking his finger again.

The mercury wall expanded outward, forming a branch-like extension as thin as paper. As spirit matter poured into it, it became increasingly transparent. And then, an invisible force exploded in midair. On that wafer-thin mercury crystal surface, a barely noticeable fine crack had appeared.

Just as Ji Jue was about to flash one more smug grin, the crystal suddenly snapped clean in half. It fell to the floor and quickly dissolved into scattered droplets of mercury.

The finished product he had poured so much spirit matter, time, and effort into had been destroyed during its very first test!

“What the hell?”

“HOLY SHIT!” The devil’s work ball sounded even more shocked than he was. “What kind of insane durability is this?! What kind of drugs have you been taking, kid?”

To put some pressure on Ji Jue, even this simple strength test had been calibrated to match the power and scale Professor Ye normally used during her evaluations. Under normal circumstances, even a solid iron wall would have been reduced to powder with a single slash, let alone a sheet this thin.

And yet this test target actually held its form?

Even more astonishing, during the strike, it had felt the slightest hint of resistance, as though the blade had momentarily cut through something tangible. In other words, if both sides had been supplied with comparable amounts of spirit matter and wielded by users of equal caliber, that slash might not have broken through at all.

After a quick scan with its analysis module, realization suddenly dawned on the devil’s work ball. “Something’s off. This structure... Minerva? When the hell did you learn this?!”

“It’s a long story.” Ji Jue subconsciously touched his abdomen, but the familiar mark was no longer there. He couldn’t help but sigh.

Now that his horizons had broadened, he believed more and more that using the Sword of Minerva to chop down that old lightning bastard had been a complete waste. It felt like using a priceless treasure for a trivial task.

While refining and forging the Iron Essence blessing, he had deliberately tried to imitate the crystal structure Mrs. Wen had created, basing it on his own understanding. Unfortunately, he had fallen really short of reproducing the real thing. At best, it was a rough imitation. Even so, it had pushed the theoretical upper limit of Iron Essence’s durability up by a considerable margin.

Calling it stronger than steel wasn’t just an exaggeration or a figure of speech. On the surface, it was just a sheet of mercury. In reality, its interior had been divided into a multitude of layers and structures modeled after metallic crystal lattices, dispersing impact and vibrations while blocking the erosion and spread of spirit matter. Both its physical and spiritual resistance had effectively been pushed to their theoretical limits, bringing the Iron Essence blessing to its full potential.

By Ji Jue’s estimate, if deployed at full strength, the mercury wall could easily withstand the blast of dozens of jin of combustive explosives. As for whether the people behind it would survive the shockwave... that was another matter entirely.

With that, the biggest weakness in his defenses had finally been patched up, at least for the time being. He wouldn’t have to worry about it anytime soon.

After putting away the devil’s work ball, Ji Jue spent quite a while comforting Horsey, who had first suffered a grievance and then been ignored all night. He nearly fed it every single piece of the white cut chicken in the fridge to soothe its wounded feelings.

Ji Jue sighed earnestly while stroking its dashboard. “There, there, sweetheart. I’m doing all this for our future! I just made a very normal mistake any engineer would make. Hey, don’t be mad. Look, haven’t we already arrived at Quancheng? From here on out, there’ll be tons of materials and treasures. You can eat as much as you want. Of course, of course, you’ll get the first pick of everything! Who do you think I’m doing all this for? Isn’t it all for you? For this family?”

The more he spoke, the softer Horsey’s horn became. Meanwhile, Ji Jue’s tone grew increasingly stern, almost indignant. “You don’t actually think I’m the kind of guy who’d forget all about you the moment I see a nicer ride, do you? I only did it to earn more money so I can replace your chassis sooner! If I hadn’t swallowed my pride, how could we ever afford premium engine oil and lubricants like we do now?

“You really ought to reflect on yourself. Don’t let this happen again, got it? Stay here and think about what you’ve done. When I get back, I’ll see how you’ve been behaving. If you’re good, I might even consider getting you that winch kit you’ve had your eye on...”

With that, Ji Jue left Horsey, whose engine was still whining pitifully, and strolled off toward the motorhome.

Only the devil’s work ball, having witnessed the entire exchange, opened its mouth to speak, only to stop itself every time. “Bro... if you keep being this much of a scumbag, I’ve got a feeling your own ride’s going to run you over one day.”

“Cut the crap. What nonsense is that?” Ji Jue shot back with a glare. “This is true love, okay? This is the bond between a man and his ride. You wouldn’t get it. If anything, it ought to be thanking me!”

Just as he finished speaking, a grateful honk sounded from behind him.

“See?! What did I tell you?”

The devil’s work ball spent a long moment trying to come up with an appropriate string of curses, only to give up in the end.