Chapter 134: Against the Mythical Armaments
Originally, Dean Silver thought that Rast’s talk about going into seclusion for a month was merely an exaggerated rhetorical expression.
Just like how university students would say they were locking themselves in to study before final exams, but in reality still played games and slacked off…
After all, when faced with boring studies and looming deadlines, even the dullest novels, games, and anime suddenly became incredibly interesting and attractive.
However, Dean Silver did not expect that Rast was not just talking — he had truly put it into practice.
For a whole month, Rast locked himself away in the mechanical lab of the Ashen Institute.
Not only did he not leave — he even ate and slept inside the lab.
He left behind only Dean Silver, a ferret, staring speechlessly at the silent and empty student dormitory.
At that moment, man and ferret reached an emotional resonance — Dean Silver suddenly understood how those elderly people in the news must feel when they look at their empty homes after the New Year.
Lonely, desolate, cold.
"Little Shaya is trapped in the Nightworld… and that kid Rast is in seclusion."
Dean Silver scratched her head with a little paw in frustration. "Even Little Tina has been busy tracking the Gravekeepers lately and hasn’t returned to the academy in months…"
When they hadn’t begun investigating the Gravekeepers, things had seemed calm and uneventful.
But once they decided to delve deeper — even the initial intelligence they obtained was startling.
The defection of Ingrid, the director of the Inspection Bureau, was merely a tiny fragment of the whole picture.
Digging further — the feudal nobles of the various territories within the Granwell Kingdom, powerful figures in the imperial capital, senior officials of the military and the administrative bureau… every faction and organization, every level of the Empire had shadows of their involvement.
More than a third of the elites within the Empire were entangled in this.
Of course, the vast majority of those elites did not have direct connections with the "Gravekeepers", and many were not even aware of the name itself… rather, they were indirectly involved via secretive organizations like the "Bronze Rose", caught in its web of influence.
Slave trade, missing persons, organ trafficking, hallucinogenic drug transactions… even collusion with foreign cults, sacrificing hundreds of their own citizens in their fiefdoms to exchange for better political resources and promotion opportunities.
The deeper the investigation went, the more shocking and blood-drenched the truths became.
Unknowingly, such an evil network of power had already become deeply rooted within the Granwell Kingdom.
Even though over the past decade, things had slightly improved under the reign of the emperor Allen, father of Shiltina and Ophelia, these entrenched powers were not so easily eliminated.
Too many people, too many events were involved… even the imperial family’s resolve for a grand purge was met with tremendous resistance.
So much so that Shiltina had no choice but to temporarily set aside her Nightworld conquest to assist the Empire’s military in rooting out the corrupt factions.
Although Shiltina herself never liked assuming the title of imperial princess… regardless, her bloodline and heritage meant she had inseparable ties with the Granwell Kingdom.
And this upheaval in the Empire had already affected her homeland — the Autumn Leaf Domain where the "Rangers" family resided… both emotionally and rationally, she had reasons to get involved.
Naturally, with Shiltina being occupied—
That also meant, aside from Akxia and Rast, Dean Silver’s last meal ticket was now gone too.
"Just when I’d finally found a third meal ticket besides Little Shaya and Little Tina… I thought I could finally live a carefree life of luxury, leveling up while lying flat."
"But… why—"
"Why did it turn out like this?"
Feeling her rank advancement, which had been rapidly progressing beside Rast and was only a step away from breakthrough, now stall due to her meal ticket running away from home, Dean Silver looked utterly devastated.
She rubbed her growling stomach and suddenly recalled a memory from many years ago — back when she was just an ordinary snowfield ferret, a survival instinct engraved into hers genes for enduring long winters without enough food—
"Hibernation."
…
Starfall University, Ashen Institute, Mechanical Research Lab.
The door to the First Test Chamber, which had been sealed for two weeks, quietly opened.
Rast slowly stepped out from behind the steel door.
There was a hint of weariness in his movements, but his eyes remained bright and clear.
If it had been a typical hot-blooded, impulsive youth, they might have grown bored and impatient with the tedious blueprints and modification experiments.
They wouldn’t have lasted half a day before slacking off.
But for Rast, there was no such trouble.
In Deep Blue Port’s near-infinite time loop, his mindset had been refined to the extreme.
For someone who spent thousands of loops and several years honing his sculpting skills just to please himself—
Whether he was confined in the Ashen Institute studying blueprints for a month or a day, it made no difference to him.
"According to your request, the mechanical modifications for 'Iron-Crested Moon' and 'Sevenfold Perspective' have been completed."
"Since their original structures were already mechanical, the process went fairly smoothly."
"That said, even though the world has entered the information age… due to tradition, most of the Nightwalkers in the academy still prefer to use weapons like blades and swords."
"So the emblem armaments they receive from Nightworld quests are mostly cold weapons like those."
"Someone like you, who has always used firearms from the beginning — and even obtained two firearm-type emblem armaments from the Nightworld — is actually quite a rare case."
A kindly, aged voice came from behind Rast.
It belonged to an elderly woman with silver hair, dressed in a plain white research robe.
Though clearly advanced in years, she appeared to be in good spirits.
Several sleek, silvery mechanical messengers, etched with rune circuits, floated gently around her.
Based on Rast’s firsthand experience, the technological level of the present-day world where Starfall University was located was roughly equivalent to that of his former life on Blue Star.
However, due to the presence of the supernatural, of "Night Blades" and sequence ranks, and of magi-tech, rune circuits, and other elements absent from his previous world—
These fantasy-infused elements had merged with conventional science to form an entirely new path of development.
Take, for example, the [Machinist] profession.
One didn’t need to be a Nightwalker, nor step into sequence ranks… by relying on mental power and mechanical understanding alone, even a completely ordinary person could wield power comparable to the extraordinary.
Ophelia, for instance, was a once-in-a-generation genius on the Machinist path.
Had she followed the typical cultivation route of the extraordinary, given her age and foundation, it would’ve been impossible to achieve such astonishing success at such a young age.
Naturally, becoming a Machinist didn’t conflict with sequence advancement or possessing a "Night Blade" — the two paths could be pursued simultaneously.
Many Nightwalkers whose Night Blades weren’t suited for frontline combat — those better at analysis, deduction, or logistics — often took up the Machinist profession as a secondary role, using technology to compensate for their combat shortcomings.
On the other hand, aside from emblem armaments and Nightworld-rewarded items, most extraordinary weapons — including firearms — could not be brought into the Nightworld, and even if they could, they often couldn’t be used…
This rule of the Nightworld significantly limited a Machinist’s power there, making them only able to unleash their full combat strength in the real world.
But for the Ashen Institute of Starfall University — the pinnacle of current-world machinist technology — this rule was not entirely inescapable.
If one started from an existing emblem armament or extraordinary item and performed mechanical enhancements and modifications, it was possible to bypass the Nightworld’s restrictions and bring these mechanical creations inside to assist with conquering historical echoes.
Of course, such mechanical modifications depended on the compatibility between the original item and the machinery.
Turning Shiltina’s rapier into a Star Wars-style lightsaber versus modifying Rast’s sniper rifle into an anti-materiel rifle — clearly, in terms of cost, difficulty, and effectiveness, the latter had greater potential.
Buzz buzz—
A crisp mechanical sound rang in Rast’s ears.
A small silver mechanical messenger hovered beside him.
It extended a mechanical arm and gently placed two emblem armaments into Rast’s hands.
Rast received his "Iron-Crested Moon" and "Sevenfold Perspective".
With a thought, the two modified armaments transformed into flowing light and vanished.
Per Rast’s request to the Ashen Institute, the external appearance of these two main weapons had not changed much after modification.
Instead, all the enhancements focused on range, power, and the use of various alchemical bullets to counter different enemies in different situations.
To put it plainly, he had upgraded his "Iron-Crested Moon +0" and "Sevenfold Perspective +0" into "Iron-Crested Moon +11" and "Sevenfold Perspective +12".
Of course, modifying these two firearm-type emblem armaments wasn’t the main focus of Rast’s month in the Ashen Institute.
"I’ve troubled you during this time, Dean Agatha."
He looked at the elderly woman before him and expressed sincere gratitude.
Although she gave off a warm and gentle vibe, the silver-haired woman named Agatha was in fact the dean of the Ashen Institute at Starfall University.
Like Dean Silver, she bore the title of dean… but the Ashen Institute under her leadership was the university’s key department responsible for providing equipment and weapon support.
In terms of importance, the Ashen Institute ranked just below the Lionheart Institute, which led the Nightworld conquests, and stood on equal footing with the Ruins Institute, which focused on Nightworld intelligence, rule analysis, and the lost histories — vastly more significant than side branches like the Magical Creature Institute.
And Dean Agatha herself, according to public records from the Ruins Institute, was currently one of the continent’s strongest known Machinists.
Having such a top-tier Machinist personally spend a month helping him upgrade his gear and prepare for battle… Rast couldn’t help feeling puzzled.
He had never felt like Dean Silver held such sway.
All it took was a greeting and a submitted application, and the head of an institute had shown up to assist.
Had he unknowingly owed some snow ferret a massive favor?
"It wasn’t because of that ferret."
As if sensing what Rast was thinking, the elderly silver-haired woman chuckled.
"That little ferret still owes me a grilled fish cake, definitely not that influential."
Dean Agatha looked at Rast and gave a gentle smile. "It was that little girl Ophelia who asked me for help."
"Although that young lady never enrolled in Starfall University, I was invited by the royal family to serve as her tutor for a while. You could say I was her first teacher in the Machinist field."
"She seems to owe you and Akxia quite a debt, and has felt guilty about it for a long time… so she specially came to me, asking me to help you bring Akxia back from the historical echo."
So, it was because of Ophelia?
Rast was slightly stunned.
She didn’t meet him in person, but asked her teacher to help instead…
He had thought the second princess was a cold and cunning black-bellied type.
But now it seemed — she was just a tsundere.
"Ahem, let’s not get off track."
"The prototype has also been fully calibrated."
"Now then, let’s take a look at your brand-new, custom-made weapon…"
As she spoke, Dean Agatha’s tone carried a hint of anticipation.
She looked toward the crystal-like mechanical core on the experimental table nearby, gleaming with a metallic luster.
Then, she spoke clearly, one word at a time.
"A mythical armament designed to face legendary creatures and myth-tier enemies—"
"『Forbidden Catalogue 0-13: Zenith Sword Prototype』"