Chapter 108 - 105: Doudou’s Workshop
"Fine, fine, here. How many Gold Coins can this make?"
Despite the lumps of gold before his eyes, Qin Xiaoxia felt none of the usual excitement that came with wealth.
Although they were just three gold nuggets not much bigger than eggs, they were still quite heavy. Doudou had to use a bit of strength to hold them.
After weighing them in his hands a few times and estimating based on experience, Doudou started counting on his fingers while his eyes darted around in their sockets.
Then, he put on a profound look.
"It can make one!"
SMACK~
He got a rap on the forehead.
Qin Xiaoxia couldn’t even be bothered to look at the little rascal. ’That’s not how you embezzle things.’
"So how many, really?"
His voice was faint, but it was clear his patience was wearing thin.
Just as Qin Xiaoxia understood Doudou, Doudou could often read Qin Xiaoxia’s emotions as well.
"It can, it can make four... but I don’t have enough Magic Power. I can only make one at a time."
"Then how much Magic Energy Crystal will it take for these four Gold Coins? Think before you speak!"
When it was just gold, Doudou had the guts to try and skim a little off the top. But he knew the importance of something like Magic Energy Crystal; even if Qin Xiaoxia hadn’t stressed it, he wouldn’t dare mess around.
"Oh, that doesn’t take much. The small piece you have left in your hand is more than enough to make dozens, even hundreds of Gold Coins."
Qin Xiaoxia nodded.
’That’s more like it.’
But this comparison only made him feel the sting of the Magic Energy Crystal consumed by the Weaving Technique to create that gold even more sharply.
"Sigh!"
Qin Xiaoxia couldn’t help but sigh.
"Do you have any other requirements? Like a workshop, tools, an assistant, or anything?"
"Yes, yes, yes! I have lots of requirements! I want a small hammer that I can lift, and an anvil. It would be best if someone could help me stabilize the pressure when the gold is infused with Magic Power—just give them access to the Secret Realm. And I want lots of snacks!"
"This work uses up a lot of stamina and Magic Power, so I’ll need to replenish them constantly! It’s not because I’m a glutton!"
Qin Xiaoxia exasperatedly tugged on Doudou’s ear.
"Alright, alright, you can have it all. Even if you are just being a glutton, you’ve earned it."
"What about time? How long to make one?"
"Hard to say. I still need to get a feel for it. If it’s fast, maybe one night. If it’s slow, who knows? Besides, I’m not sure if this world has any rules that would restrict me from making Wishing Gold Coins."
"Rule restrictions? What worlds have rule restrictions?"
"Other than Magson, I’ve never been to any other worlds. How would I know?"
Doudou replied with self-righteous confidence, then weakly added.
"But I heard that extremely unstable places like the World of Fallen Fragments won’t work. But no matter the world, you can always use a fully forged Wishing Gold Coin."
The Wishing Gold Coins of the Mischievous Elves are actually in a league of their own; in a way, they could be considered a grand creation.
In essence, these Gold Coins should be held in the same high regard as the monumental feat of the Fairies who created Weaving Secret Realms, but their lesser effect makes them seem less significant.
The structure of a Wishing Gold Coin is similar to a solidified, special Technique that can stabilize and stimulate the strongest qualities of Wish Magic Power. Who knows how those little troublemakers invented them in the first place.
"Alright, you can give it a try first."
Qin Xiaoxia wasn’t too worried about whether Earth’s environment could produce Wishing Gold Coins. After all, many Magic Power skills were unaffected, so the impact on Wishing Gold Coins probably wouldn’t be too great either.
Before, Wishing Gold Coins were in extremely short supply; they had to be used sparingly. It was a good thing he hadn’t squandered them, otherwise, not only would the chuuni baguette boy have gotten himself killed, but they also wouldn’t have obtained the Mother Crystal Ore.
Taking it a step further, he might have been passing the Winding Loach River on his way to clean the old house, only to be dragged down and killed by a Swamp Monster.
But as he came to better understand the principles behind Wishing Gold Coins and the function of Doudou’s Wishes, he developed a clearer awareness of their limits.
Simply put, it was the limit of the power to "change."
The word "wish" itself represents a change desired by the wisher.
A Wishing Gold Coin is not a Dragon Pearl, Doudou is not a Divine Dragon, and he certainly isn’t a Lamp God. With its feeble Magic Power, the wishes it can grant are extremely limited.
This could be divided into direct change factors and indirect change factors.
Wishes that only affect a single person or involve few direct change factors are more likely to be fulfilled. The influence of indirect change factors is secondary. However, if changing an individual would have a wide-ranging direct impact, the effectiveness of the wish is greatly diminished.
Take a simple example.
If Qin Xiaoxia were to buy a lottery ticket and directly wish to win the grand prize, what would be the result?
He’d probably win a few hundred or a few thousand at most.
Even though it’s just one small lottery ticket, you have to consider how many people bought a ticket for the same drawing. You would be forcibly changing the fate of the masses.
Conversely, if you wished to change the numbers on your ticket before the results were announced, you could change them as you please, because the cost would be no different from just buying a new ticket.
On the other hand, if you were to play cards against someone like a God of Gamblers from the movies, wishing to win money would be simple.
This was just Qin Xiaoxia’s own analysis. The degree might vary, and there might be other factors, but he was sure it wasn’t far from the truth.
But regardless, he didn’t plan on testing any of it. In his view, these were now unnecessary options.
...
In the afternoon, Qin Xiaoxia took Doudou to a large market. He bought hammers of all shapes and sizes, as well as some other auxiliary tools that Doudou said were useless but Qin Xiaoxia thought might come in handy. The only hard thing to find was an anvil.
Just as Qin Xiaoxia was about to give up and make do with a random piece of iron, he happened to find a small anvil while casually browsing a second-hand market near the pet street.
On the way back, Qin Xiaoxia casually boarded a bus while carrying two bags heavy enough to crush a grown man.
Doudou, meanwhile, happily carried a rabbit cage with two little white rabbits inside, which he had bought with his own saved-up pocket money.
The surrounding uncles and aunties all cast benevolent gazes at the cute child playing with the rabbits.
Only Qin Xiaoxia, the corner of his eye twitching, watched the two rabbits and offered them a moment of silence.
By the time they returned to the Association Secret Realm, it was already past dinnertime.
Usually by this time, if Doudou hadn’t eaten yet, he would have been raising a huge fuss. But today, high on the excitement of forging new Wishing Gold Coins, the first thing he did was rush to set up his workshop.
The old house in the Secret Realm was lacking in every way except for rooms, so it was easy to find a suitable one for him.
As the elated pair, one big and one small, passed through the empty hall, the Shadow of the Red Demoness was staring blankly at the red-haired Statue of Comir.
With a thought from Qin Xiaoxia, the Shadow of the Red Demoness followed them to Doudou’s new forging workshop.
It was convenient to do things inside the Secret Realm; even if they broke the house, it could be quickly restored.
After a CLANG and a BANG, a stone platform was set up for the anvil, and auxiliary Sealing Techniques were engraved. Doudou also had the Shadow of the Red Demoness beautify the workshop a bit, adding two food storage counters and even building an earthen stove.
To be honest, when Doudou was building the earthen stove, Qin Xiaoxia originally thought it was for melting Gold. But after learning that the melting was done entirely with a Technique and seeing Doudou bring back pots and pans from the kitchen, he understood that the little rascal was going to "hone his culinary skills" again.
In Doudou’s words, shaping the Gold Coins with Moldable Energy often involved a lot of waiting. Since he had to watch over it and couldn’t leave, he needed to find something meaningful to do.
"Honing my culinary skills is a very meaningful thing to do!"
Doudou said self-righteously.
Snack storage counters, colorful decorations, a place for raising pets (or maybe not pets), an earthen stove with pots and pans, and the anvil platform with its Sealing Technique.
This was the workshop that Doudou had designed himself, strongly insisting that Qin Xiaoxia not interfere with its final completion.
PS: Chapter 1/3.
I’ve learned that today is the birthday of my book friend, With the Tide of Flowering and Withering. I’d like to wish you good health, may all your wishes come true, and a happy birthday!