Empty Barrels (2)

Shui held the crystal blue and dark blue teardrop earrings up to his eyes and examined them closely. There was still more than a week remaining until the deadline, but it was nearly complete; only the last touch was left. From the resources he had gotten from Kaitlyn, there were two bottles, each containing blood from one of the twins. Though the wielders of his artifacts faced near zero resistance, by using their blood he could make the artifact linked to their very source so that only they could use it.

It would be enough if he simply put the earrings in the blood of their eventual masters, but that seemed like such a waste to him so he instead decided to use their blood to draw the symbol of 'Link' on each of the earrings. Although he normally inscribed symbols by carving them into the artifact, it would also work if he used liquid that had nature energy in it like a cultivator's bodily fluid.

The crystal blue earring made of frost hawk's beak was for Dia. For this earring, he used a mixture of seven parts of Dia's blood and three parts of Diana's blood. Usually only the blood of the person who would use it would be added to the artifact, but since he was using the blood to draw 'Link', he deduced the ratio required to amplify the connection between the two earrings and their future masters while also strengthening the bond between the earring and its future master. Even if the ratio was wrong, as long as there were no other errors the result would be around the same as his base expectation for the artifact.

After the inscription on Dia's earring, he used blood with the same ratio with Diana's blood being more dominant, to inscribe on the dark blue earring. When he finished both inscriptions and they faded into the items, Shui looked at the pair of earrings in front of him and nodded approvingly.

"This is good."

He then placed the earrings in a small box he had made with spare materials and put it into his satchel. With the earrings finished, Shui shifted his focus back to his own cultivation. In the end, the main purpose of learning forging was to make money. Even if he did gain the occasional enlightenment while crafting, it wasn't comparable to the increase in power he gained from cultivation.

Though he hadn't lost even once, Shui could tell that Kate was quickly catching up to him. Before she found out about his cultivation, she was strong enough to beat the weakest person a level above her, now he was confident she could challenge anyone in the seventh level of the Mortal Realm even though the difference between seventh and sixth level was much greater than the difference between the sixth and fifth level. However since she couldn't beat him, she wasn't proud of her improvement.

One time he had even praised her, but she thought he was being sarcastic.

"Even if that's true, it's not enough. I'll definitely beat you one day."

With her resolve set, Shui had to admit that she would be a worthy opponent eventually so he couldn't fall behind. Not to mention his promise with Alice. For these reasons, he had to keep getting stronger.

In terms of energy cultivation, Shui didn't think he would have a problem until he reached the peak of Mortal Realm. By simply training patiently he believed reaching the ninth level would come naturally. The only thing that concerned him was the perfect limit of Mortal Realm. Even though he had read countless books in the Primordial Library, the only thing he knew about the perfect limit was that it was a super rare state that resulted from completely comprehending a realm. However even though he felt the path to the peak of Mortal Realm, it still felt lacking when compared to the perfect limit. Luckily, there was still time before he had to worry about it.

For soul cultivation, Shui had no idea how he would be able to advance any time soon as all of the resources useful for the soul weren't things he could find easily. So far he had only gotten one resource and it was a wraith's core that only dropped from a wraith on very rare occasions. He had bought it at an auction for two hundred gold but hadn't used it yet.

As for body cultivation, Shui felt that he might be able to make a breakthrough as long as his preparations were in order. He had almost reached the peak of one-star saint body and was sensitive enough to transcendent force to get a vague feeling for the vitality of living beings. This allowed him to sense presences and auras even clearer than before. He wasn't fully confident at that time, but the current him believed he would be able to break Rune's defense without using his nature energy.

He also didn't forget to research the attack method he had come up with by using inscriptions. Since he had decided how he would gain combat experience, he had to ensure he had a few more trump cards ready.

As he focused on cultivation, the time to present the earrings quickly came. During the wait, there were more times when Shui spotted Bartos arguing with certain elders regarding the selling of harmony series artifacts and every time he witnessed it, a pensive look appeared on his face. He couldn't make any sense of it; he couldn't understand what was the point in pressuring Bartos when there was nothing they could use to force him to obey. Their actions amounted to nothing but harassment yet, it seemed like there was more behind it.

Shui and Yur used the same attire as last time to meet with Kaitlyn and those she brought along in the auction house. When they entered the room Shui and Yur were in, Yur placed the box with the earrings on a table.

"Here is the requested artifact."

"May I?" Kaitlyn asked, to which Yur nodded.

Once Yur gave her permission, Kaitlyn opened the box. Though she had seen many treasures, the pair of earrings still froze her in surprise. She quickly regained her composure before taking them out and holding them in front of the twins. Without Yur or Shui needing to tell her, the aura from the earrings was enough to distinguish which was meant for Dia and which was meant for Diana.

The moment they attached the earrings to their respective ears, Dia to her right ear and Diana to her left, they felt the connection between them strengthen and immediately looked at each other in shock. Without even speaking they could accurately tell what their twin sister was thinking.

"Dia, what colour am I thinking of?"

"You're not thinking of a colour, you're thinking of steak."

After confirming the strength of the connection, all four of those from the Glaize clan looked amazed. Though they knew of artifacts that allowed for telepathy, this was the first time any of them had seen something similar.

Kaitlyn looked back at Yur in fascination. Even without confirming how the earrings affected the twins' battle ability, she was satisfied. Since none of the harmony series was above supreme special-rank, she guessed that that was his limit, but based on the quality of his artifacts she believed he was only limited by his own strength rather than his skill. That means as long as he was given enough resources it was possible she would witness the birth of a grand forge master.

"Are you satisfied?"

"Yes Sir, it surpassed my expectations. It truly is a masterpiece."

"Hm. Now then, my payment."

Shui walked to her and received a small bag that was bursting with gold before returning to Yur's side.

"Oh Sir, may I ask if you would like sign a contract with my humble clan. I can promise you that the terms will be very favourable."

"I'm fine."

Without even a second to consider her offer, Yur refused. Though they didn't mind trading, neither him nor Shui of them planned on blatantly jumping ship. Bria's irritation rose when Yur refused Kaitlyn so quickly, but since she didn't want to interfere with her master's plans she kept her mouth closed. Rather than Bria's obvious irritation, Shui was more worried when he felt a sudden chill due to the aura coming from Kaitlyn that quickly vanished.

"I see, well then I look forward to our next deal."

After a slight bow, she and her group left the room. Once they left, Bria finally complained about Yur without restraint.

"I can't believe he didn't even consider your offer, Mistress! That man is too arrogant, he probably isn't even that strong. We should teach him a lesson to remind him of his place."

"Then there would be no point. I can't guarantee I'll have his full ability if I force him into submission. Dia, Diana, can you sense anything?"

After being named by Kaitlyn, the two looked at each other and then shook their heads.

"It's weird, even for a custom artifact I don't think I've ever seen one without a hint of the creator's aura."

Dia replied to Kaitlyn while Diana nodded. Since she already suspected this would be the case, Kaitlyn wasn't disappointed by this news. Even though she had been rejected, she now simply needed to wait for the seeds that she had planted to bear fruit.