God Of Crafting

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"…now. With how things are, it would be best if we could expand, but ultimately… it's not up to us to decide."

My consciousness slowly returned, pushing away the numbness of sleepiness as, bit by bit, my brain regained its cognitive powers.

"Normally, I would expect the government to go all in for something of this worth, but now that you mention it… Thinking back to the past, the Manhattan project also only aimed to make a few bombs rather than kickstarting the entire atomization of weapons, engines, and electricity."

At first, I could hardly make sense of what I was hearing.

The moment I did, however, I suddenly jerked up, ready to tear into whoever it was that was clearly discussing the future for the factory—a future that could only be derived from the knowledge of how it works. A set of comparisons that clearly hinted at the speaker having said knowledge.

And with this being merely a vaguely familiar voice, I could be damn sure it wasn't someone I'd shared the secrets of my project with!

"…"

I jumped up to my feet, my cultivation already ramping up…

Only to then stop when I saw Nova standing with his arms crossed over his chest while resting his back against the wall of the small control room.

It wasn't the sight of the high-ranking police officer that made me stop, however, but the presence of Chihiro just a few steps away from him.

"Come back!"

Before I could utter a single word of protest, something grabbed at my waist… only to pull me right back to the couch in the back of the control room.

Next, most of my body fell back onto the sofa's cushions… only for the sensation below my head to feel slightly different.

It was still soft, but also much more firm, sturdy, and… warm?

A single look up revealed Claire's worried face, whose position allowed me to figure out the situation.

From when I collapsed from exhaustion back at the power plant's control room, I somehow ended up back at the factory, with only the emergency lights powered by the in-house generator going, my head resting down on Claire's lap while Chihiro discussed the details of the factory with someone I'd never really approved of.

'Things happened, I guess,' I thought, fully aware that with how things hit the fan back at the power plant and how Chihiro pulled up the chief of staff card, we no longer had the luxury of operating on nothing but personal feelings.

"Before you get any more surprised, I'll assume you somehow forgot the guy," Chihiro, noticing the small commotion I'd caused, turned his eyes over. "This is Nova. Up until a few hours ago, he was merely a police major, making him the seventh-highest policeman by rank in the whole city, with executive power only outmatched by the general and his vice. Ever since then, however…"

Chihiro hesitated a bit, clearly not all that comfortable approaching the next topic.

"Ever since our meeting at the power plant, the chief of staff appointed him as a direct point of contact between us and his office. He was also given the authority to fully manage this operation under our advisement and creative control."

Rather than wasting time excusing himself, explaining why this happened or how there was no avoiding it…

Chihiro just explained what was going on. And between his intonation, choice of words, and brief statements, he made it clear that this was all a done deal rather than something open for deliberation.

"I understand," I attempted to nod my head… only for Claire's hands to quickly lock my head in place, stopping me as she brushed her fingers through my hair.

'What is she, touch-deprived or some…'

Taking a second to look up instead of ahead, I caught a glance at Claire's face.

A look that was enough to shut my thoughts up before tearing at my own facial muscles.

How could I question her motives when she had such a worried look on her face?

"But to get things in order," I closed my eyes and relaxed down, allowing Claire to do with my head however she wished. "First, you've succeeded, right? And if so… how?"

Just like Chihiro didn't need to elaborate on why Nova's presence was a done deal, I didn't need to elaborate on where this question came from either.

Some things were simply too obvious to be debated.

"To be perfectly fair, I fell a bit short of what level I could reach if the power hadn't died off," Chihiro admitted, only to put a small smile on his lips as he gently shook his head. "In fact, you might be better off asking Claire about it. She was the one controlling the whole factory while all I did was just cultivate in peace all the way until there wasn't any spiritual energy left for me to absorb."

Hearing this, I opened my eyes and looked directly into Claire's slowly relaxing face.

For as great as it felt to have her fingers gently brush through my hair and carefully massage my scalp, I couldn't help but notice how patting my head like she did seemed to calm Claire down even more than it did me.

"It all started when that golden orb…" Claire came out of the gate storming, fully aware it was her turn to speak, only to say a few words and quickly hesitate. "Well, long story short, it gave me a vision of all the power going down. Not sure exactly when it would happen, I pretty much closed the outflow valves and made the spiritually-infused air circulate within the system. Then, I controlled those valves while raising the output to bring the Qi density in the air to its limit, only to then shut the outflow valves closed when the power went out and the emergency system kicked in."

As she explained the precise steps she took, Claire's face was a picture of confidence. Only once she approached the end of her explanation, hints of anxiety and self-doubt surfaced in her eyes.

"If only I'd figured it out in advance, I could've tried to redirect the power from the emergency batteries back into the system, but…"

Claire gritted her teeth, only to then look down when I reached up and grasped her hand, giving it a slight squeeze.

"Your father completed his breakthrough," I stated, only to steal a quick glance at the man and his much more vibrant aura than before. "And while there wasn't enough energy for him to cultivate all the way to his new limits… This entire thing was about just helping him break through the bottleneck, was it not?"

I waited for a second, giving Claire an opening to answer, only to then open my mouth and speak again.

"You did a great job, dear. And while you turn your eyes only to what you could've done better, I, on the other hand, am quite happy you didn't do it."

"Huh?" I managed to catch Claire so off-guard, her lap that served as my head's pillow jerked up a bit as she nearly jumped.

"Those batteries were just a failsafe for if something went wrong. They were never designed to supply power back into the system. And I'm much happier with your father now having to properly cultivate than you risking it all just to cut him some slack."

Saying that, I squeezed Claire's hand once again.

"I know I'm always the one making you worry, but…" I looked up and locked my stare with hers, "I do worry about you quite a bit too, you know?"

For a moment, we just stared at each other with all the tender love and care we had for each other. And judging by the changing look in Claire's eyes, she first understood and then accepted the meaning I'd brought up.

She wasn't the only one worrying about her partner in our relationship. And while I couldn't deny being prone to finding myself in dangerous situations given my questionable track record of attempted kidnapping, outright battle, and then today's whole mess…

That didn't make it any easier for me to imagine a scenario where Claire put her own safety in jeopardy just to bring out the most from my project, both for my own sake and for the sake of her father and her clan!

"Okay, get a grip, you two. It's not really the time for your lovebird routine," Chihiro commented, somewhat upset by our casual display of affection.

Whether it was the affection part that upset him or how casual we were about it, however, I couldn't really tell.

"If it's not the time for us to grow on each other as partners, then what is it the time for?" I asked, openly annoyed by Claire's dad trying to make us hit the brakes, even if I was fully aware the situation pretty much called for it.

"Now is the time to scrap every last device in this factory, turn it back into base parts, and then bring it all back to your warehouse, where Nova will have a pleasant time taking stock of everything and doing his best to draw the schematics for everything," Chihiro revealed with the same kind of look on his face as before, making it quite clear this point wasn't open for debate but was a necessity that absolutely had to happen.

As for why… from what little I could remember of the things that happened before I fell asleep, I recalled just enough hints to make an educated guess.

"As for you," Chihiro turned his face back to the officer, only to then allow a small, pitying smile to emerge on his lips. "I really do hope your department has a good physician, because with the amount of writing you're about to do, it's not a question of if you will get a carpal syndrome, but how soon."