Keeper Program

"Gem Faceting"

On top of the painting on the card, a colorful gem is cut into a special geometric shape, and the light passes through these breathtaking crystal faces and included angles, and then the world is presented in some incredible way.

The card melted like chocolate on his palm, and the silver-white metal droplets then penetrated into the skin like mercury.

Immediately afterwards, a tsunami of knowledge about gem facets poured into Ed's mind like an explosion.At this moment, his brain was like a difference engine, reading the data on the punch card at a steady rate without any errors.

He was overwhelmed by the huge and complicated knowledge.

Under the impact of a huge amount of information, his brain seemed to be overloaded: he couldn't think, he lost his language ability, and he couldn't even move his fingers.

Fortunately, this state ended soon, and my mind regained its calm.Many nouns of gem facets emerged in memory, like shells left after the tide receded——

Chessboard-shaped facets, spider-web-shaped facets, butterfly-wing-shaped, star-shaped facets... including the pupil-shaped facets of the cat's-eye stone on the one-eyed spider, and even some facets that he couldn't understand and deviated from the concept of geometry .

"Uh, is this...?"

Ed just felt that the world was spinning in front of him, and he put his hands on his forehead, murmuring deliriously.

[This is a normal phenomenon, and it will return to normal after a while.Now you lie down on the bed and go to sleep. 】

Sylvie didn't seem to intend to give Ed any time to breathe and recuperate, but continued to order the next move.

"But am I just in a dream right now?"

Ed tried to resist the nauseating dizziness, rested his forehead with his right hand, and raised an index finger with his left hand to express his doubts.

【I need you to enter the double dreamland, which is more chaotic and more malleable. 】

"Okay, I'll try."

Ed took a deep breath and silently recited the number ten.He didn't lie down on the dilapidated wooden bed in the room until the feeling of overturning eased a little that day. There was an unsteady creaking sound from the old wooden bed——

He once again guided his consciousness down, heading deeper into the dream.

……

Consciousness seems to have come to the silent deep sea, pitch black.There seems to be something swimming around like a fish, and the silent ripples appear and dissipate, but their existence cannot be touched.

[Now, imagine an irregular crystal, anything you like. 】

Irregular crystals...

With the gradual construction of Ed's thinking, a pitted colorless spar appeared in front of his eyes, and several crystal clusters protruded from the crystal bed, like a beetle on all fours.

[The keeper program can fine-tune the parameters of the items in the dream.Pick a faceted structure and forge it with your will, perfecting its shape. 】

After speaking, Ed's hands really ignited a thin pure white flame, and he couldn't feel the temperature of the flame at all.

However, when he slowly approached the crystal with his hands burning with pale flames, the crystal slowly melted into a suspended spherical liquid like mercury, turning into a dazzling ball of light.

Which facet to start with...?

He searched repeatedly from his memory, and finally chose a more accessible classical Volunian facet—"Royal Asylum".

This facet derived from the "lake" secret text can project a single energy barrier forward when activated.Ancient elven nobles often wore the "Royal Sanctuary" faceted gemstones in rings or necklaces to protect themselves from assassinations or other sudden threats.

Different from the iron-shaped knight shields that are common in later generations, the shape of the "Royal Asylum" is closer to the kite-shaped shields of the late Volunician period. It is pointed and slender, like a drop of tears flowing to the sky.

He kept recalculating the structure of the "Royal Asylum" in his mind. As the details became clearer, the liquid crystals changed their shapes and gradually formed a drop shape...

Suddenly, as if due to uneven heating, a tiny crack appeared on the crystal surface.

Then disaster struck—as the crystal solidified, the crack spread like a cancer, irreversibly.

Until the final irreversible situation, the crystal shattered into countless fragments.

If this were Katarina's birthstone, the consequences would be unimaginable...

[It's okay, continue. 】

Ed rubbed his palms, held his breath in his heart, and rebuilt an irregular crystal.

This time, he tried to heat the crystal plane as evenly as possible, allowing the crystal to gradually solidify from a relatively stable state.

Finally, the transparent crystal gradually formed a stable shape, and the shining facets expanded along the coordinates of the gemstone's center of gravity, forming a perfect tear.

"Royal Asylum" facet engraved successfully.

Normal gem faceting requires complicated polishing and cutting, and some quality will inevitably be lost in the process, but Ed can use the strange pale white flame to melt and re-solidify the gem in his dream.

Best of all, there is no loss of quality.

After confirming that the crystal state had stabilized, Ed carefully pinched the colorless crystal suspended in the darkness.

I saw that the crystal projected a kite-shaped invisible barrier forward along the optical axis where the facets meet.

Don't know how strong it is?Ed used his consciousness to construct his 9mm caliber pistol revolver, aiming at the invisible barrier to shoot.

Bang——, the bullet shattered the barrier, but the warhead was also visibly deformed.

[The effect against traditional projectiles such as bows and arrows will be better. After all, there was no gunpowder and bullets when the elves invented this facet... Anyway, it’s not bad, at least not lower than my expectations. 】

Sylvie commented so.

Ed reviewed the details that could be improved just now in his mind, and tried again. This time, the crystal surface was more crystal clear, which obviously improved.

He fired at the barrier again, this time the bullet hovered in the center of the barrier.

Although the barrier was covered with dense regular cracks, like a snowflake magnified several times, it didn't shatter instantly like before.

[From today onwards, practice once every night before falling asleep.That way, by the next full moon, you should be able to master the Melting method, and use it to cure Catalina's Crystalline Malignancy. 】

"Yes, I know."

Ed nodded, and then the pale flames obliterated his vision, sending him back to reality...

……

When he woke up, it was dark and the street was empty from the window.

[What are you going to do next, join the God Investigating Bureau?Or just be a free man like your sister? 】

"I don't feel like I have a choice."

There was no one at the moment, Ed said directly and softly:

"Mr. Eaton's meaning is already obvious: Either I join the God's Bureau of Investigation, or I can only act under the supervision of the God's Bureau of Investigation from now on. Instead of doing this, it is better to join the God's Bureau of Investigation directly."

[Hmph, it seems that you are not as stupid as you look. 】

Ed put his arm on the window sill casually, looked out the window, with a little helplessness in his words:

"From the moment I came back to life, I'm afraid I have been included in the list of key surveillance. What's more, when dealing with Floyd, I also used the same ability as Arthur. suspicion."

A pale flame floated in front of the window, like a slender finger writing on the window mist:

【Do you regret it? 】

"Regret what?"

【Regret for getting involved in this series of things.When you get the Arthur character card, Ben has a chance to walk away.There are many countries and regions in the world, and there are always places that the NBS cannot or does not want to control. 】

"Who knows? Maybe I'll have a bad conscience, though I don't recall having such a thing as a 'conscience.'"

Ed gently pressed his forehead against the window, showing a heartfelt smile:

"For some reason, the thought that there are people in the world like Arthur and Katarina willing to believe in me makes me feel like I have to do something."

[You sound like a noble person, my dear good sir, but nobility is a useless virtue. 】

"Who says it's not? As long as the God Investigative Bureau doesn't realize your existence, I'm still safe for the time being."

Ed closed his eyes, ready to save these troubles for tomorrow to solve.

"-Good night, Sylvie." He waved his hand softly to say goodbye, and the pale white flame words gradually went out.

Reaching out to turn off the light, in the room with only dim light, the silhouette reflected by the shadow of the incomplete moon made him feel lonely again.

Before falling asleep, he couldn't help opening the window, leaning his elbows on the window sill and looking out:

To his left, orange gaslights warmed the city, making it seem so tall and majestic.But when he looked to the right, there was still a night fog as deep as thick ink.

The East District is like a root system buried in the dark soil, providing a steady stream of nutrients for the entire city...

"Good night, Silvermist City."

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