Chapter 2415: One of the Driving Forces of Human Progress
Platinum Eye.
Having just finished her homework, Xiao Yuan went to the workshop that Old Lady Lu had prepared for them to continue carving ore. Before long, Tan Qi came over to call her for dinner. Without lifting her head, she said, "You eat first. I'll be there in a bit."
Tan Qi didn't leave. Standing in place, he said, "Better eat first. An empty stomach makes it harder to concentrate."
"I'm really not hungry yet." Xiao Yuan's hands didn't stop moving. "I'm not as talented as you, so of course I have to work harder."
Tan Qi simply sat down to wait for her.
"You go eat first," Xiao Yuan said. "You don't need to wait for me."
Tan Qi dawdled as he picked up a nearby book. "I'm not hungry either."
Seeing that he refused to leave, Xiao Yuan didn't say anything more. She just carved the stone in her hand with even more effort. But she truly had mediocre talent. After practicing for so long, she still ended up cutting herself because her hand lost strength.
The carving knife fell onto the table. She covered her hand and stifled her voice.
Tan Qi immediately stood up and came over. Seeing that the wound wasn't big, he fetched the medicine kit to treat her.
"If you really can't learn this, you can learn something else," he suggested while treating the wound. "Besides tool-making, potions can also be helpful."
Xiao Yuan was a bit sad. "I'm not very smart. I can't even carve stone. How could I learn to make potions? My deskmate brought a potion-making book to school a few days ago. I borrowed it to read, but I couldn't even pronounce the names of those potion formulas clearly."
Tan Qi couldn't think of a better way to put it, so he remained silent.
Just then, the door opened, and a voice followed in. "Then switch to something else to learn."
The familiar voice made both children's eyes light up. Xiao Yuan jumped off the stool and quickly ran over to Xu Huo. "Uncle! Li Chun, big sister!"
Xu Huo nodded. "Eat first."
Fang Jie, who had already prepared the food on the table, saw the two little ones come out and couldn't help smiling. "Having one teacher at home who forgets to eat and sleep is enough. Now there are two more."
Xiao Yuan felt a bit embarrassed and apologized to her. Fang Jie pinched her cheek. "Hurry up and wash your hands for dinner."
Xu Huo and Li Chun also sat down at the table. Old Lady Lu was quite welcoming to them. After a few bites, she brought up the ore. She was very much looking forward to Xu Huo bringing good ore.
Among Xu Huo's current collection, the best was the ore he obtained from District 014. It seemed to contain Time Power. The overly concentrated power radiated in the form of rays, somewhat similar to the "Angel's Eyes" left by Dr. Wu. However, "Angel's Eyes" had already been made into a tool and, being a part stripped from another tool, was not used frequently in combat.
Primordial Stones with special properties could cause surrounding ores to slowly evolve into Subclass Stones. Subclass Stones with special properties were excellent materials for crafting tools and instruments. Therefore, Subclass Stones had always commanded high prices, and Primordial Stones were even more so. There had even been rumors of a single Primordial Stone being exchanged for an entire district.
Xu Huo had never shown the ore containing Time Power to anyone since obtaining it. Taking it out to craft a tool was clearly impossible. Without a suitable Artificer, he didn't want to leak the information either.
Furthermore, after gaining a deeper understanding of Time Power, he became even more curious. Why could Time Power be stored in a single ore? After all, based on the experience of Super Evolvers, Time Power could only be borrowed and could not be fixed.
Of course, the existence of Pumpkin City seemed to have shattered this understanding, but Xu Huo didn't know the principle. Perhaps observing that stone was one way, as it was the only possible contact with a Hyperdimensional existence he had.
He certainly wasn't short of Subclass Stones either. Besides the ones Yan Jiayu had given him at Rose Castle last time, he had also found quite a few from the luggage compartments of other players.
"I've already paid the tuition," Xu Huo said with a smile, looking at the old lady across from him.
"I'm not asking for it for nothing," Old Lady Lu said. "You give me Subclass Stones, and I'll make tools for you. For good Subclass Stones, I won't charge a crafting fee, and I'll even pay the game certification processing fee for you."
Xu Huo seemed quite tempted, then asked, "Are there any tools that can be used without restrictions and don't require game verification?"
"Of course there are," the old lady immediately said. "Aren't instruments one of them?"
After speaking, she stared into his eyes. "I know what you're thinking. Although game certification adds restrictions to tools, it also acknowledges their value. Only after tools are graded can they circulate conveniently through various channels. If you treat tools as consumables, how much money can you afford to burn through?"
"It's not just that. Game certification is also a process that reinforces tools," Fang Jie said. "For example, the paper contracts commonly used by players. Although the materials used to make them are special, they are still so thin and easily damaged. They also lack the ability to bind players. Only through game certification can the contract be guaranteed to be effective."
"The contracts we sign during our usual transactions are also like this."
"And as for naturally spawned tools, the vast majority that can be preserved have undergone game certification. Otherwise, they might have perished at the moment of their birth due to unrestrained consumption."
"When a new Instance is born, tools often appear along with the Instance site. At the moment of their birth, without human intervention, how does the game impose restrictions on these tools?" Xu Huo followed up with a question.
Fang Jie shook her head. "Such Hyperdimensional products are already beyond my understanding."
"Alright," Old Lady Lu lightly tapped the table. "Eat your meal properly. If you have something to say, say it after you finish."
After the meal, the two children took Li Chun to the yard to play with the robot Fang Jie had just made. Old Lady Lu and Xu Huo stayed indoors to chat.
"You young people, running and jumping isn't enough. You look at the sky and want to fly. You even want to wrestle with the game. First, become a Super Player before you talk about that." Having lived to such an old age, the old lady had seen many people with all kinds of ideas.
Xu Huo smiled. "Curiosity is one of the driving forces of human progress."
The old lady took a sip of tea, her expression clearly saying, "You think you can fool me?" She then added, "Players use the game's products and still want to use these things to cause trouble for the game. I don't know whether to call you whimsical or overestimating yourselves."
Xu Huo didn't mind. "Well, people need a bit of an unattainable dream to make life worth looking forward to."
Then he asked about Xiao Yuan and Tan Qi's studies.
Both children were doing well in their cultural courses. As for learning tool-making, Tan Qi was more talented. Xiao Yuan wasn't actually bad either, but having a talented person beside her made her seem a bit clumsy.
"Diligence can make up for lack of talent. Since I've accepted the tuition, I'll teach everything I'm supposed to teach." Old Lady Lu clearly liked the two children very much. Her expression softened considerably when she talked about them.
However, this smile didn't last long before it was interrupted by a loud shout from outside:
"Great-aunt! I've come to see you!"