"Gem Faceting"
On top of the painting on the card, a colorful gemstone is cut into a special geometric shape. The light passes through these breathtaking crystal faces and angles, and then the world appears 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 burst into Ed's mind. At this moment, his brain was like a difference machine, reading the data on the punched card accurately at a stable rate.
The vast and complex knowledge overwhelmed him.
Under the impact of a huge amount of information, his brain seemed to have entered a state of overload: he could not think, lost his language ability, and could not even move his fingers.
Fortunately, this state ended quickly and my mind returned to calm again. Many terms of gem faceting emerged in my memory, like the shells left behind after the tide recedes——
Checkerboard facets, spider web facets, butterfly wing facets, starburst facets... including the pupil facets of the cat's eye stone on the one-eyed spider, and even some facets that he couldn't understand and that were divorced from geometric concepts. .
"Uh, is this...?"
Ed felt like the world was spinning in front of his eyes. He held his forehead with his hands and mumbled in confusion.
[This is a normal phenomenon, and it will return to normal after a while. Now you lie down on the bed and fall asleep. 】
Sylvie seemed to have no intention of giving Ed time to breathe and recuperate, but continued to order the next step.
"But aren't I just in a dream now?"
Ed suppressed the nauseating dizziness, held his forehead with his right hand, and raised an index finger with his left hand to express doubts.
[I need you to enter the second dreamland, which is more chaotic and more malleable. 】
"Okay, I'll try."
Ed took a deep breath and silently recited the number ten. When the shaking feeling that day subsided a little, he lay down on the shabby wooden bed in the room. There was an unstable creaking sound from the old wooden bed——
He guided his consciousness downward again, heading deeper into the dream.
…
My consciousness seemed to have entered the deep sea of silence, complete with darkness. There seemed to be something swimming around like fish, with silent ripples rising and dissipating, but their presence could not be touched.
[Now, imagine an irregular crystal, anything. 】
Irregular crystals…
As Ed's mind gradually formed, a pitted colorless crystal appeared in front of his eyes. Several crystal clusters protruded abruptly from the crystal bed, like beetles with their legs in the sky.
[The Keeper program can fine-tune the parameters of items in dreams. Choose a faceted structure and forge it with your will, perfecting its shape. 】
After finishing speaking, Ed's hands were indeed ignited with pure white flames that were so thin that he couldn't feel the temperature of the flames at all.
However, when he slowly brought his hands burning with pale white flames closer to the crystal, the crystal slowly melted into a suspended spherical liquid like mercury, turning into a dazzling ball of light.
Which facet should I start with...?
He repeatedly searched through his memory and finally chose a classical Volunis facet that was easier to obtain - "Royal Asylum".
This facet originating from the "Lake" secret script can project a single energy barrier forward when activated. Ancient elven nobles often wore "Royal Protection" faceted gemstones on rings or necklaces to protect themselves from assassinations or other sudden threats.
Different from the iron-shaped knight's shield that was common in later generations, the shape of the "Royal Asylum" is closer to the kite-shaped shield of the late Volunis. It is pointed and slender, like a drop of tear flowing to the sky.
He kept recalculating the structure of "Royal Asylum" in his mind. As the details became clearer, the liquid crystals changed shapes and gradually formed a water drop shape...
Suddenly, seemingly due to uneven heating, an undetectable crack appeared on the crystal surface.
Then disaster happened - as the crystal solidified, the crack spread rapidly like cancer and was irreversible.
Until the final irreversible situation, the crystal shattered into countless fragments.
If this were Catalina's birthstone, the consequences would be unimaginable...
[It’s okay, continue. 】
Ed rubbed his palms, held a breath in his heart, and reconstructed an irregular crystal.
This time, he tried to heat the crystal surface evenly as much as possible, allowing the crystal to gradually solidify from a more stable state.
Finally, the transparent crystal gradually formed a stable shape, and the shining facets expanded and extended along the coordinates of the center of gravity of the gemstone, forming a perfect tear.
The "Royal Asylum" facet engraving was successful.
Normal gem facet carving requires complicated polishing and cutting, and part of the quality will inevitably be lost in the process. In his dream, Ed could use the strange pale white flame to melt and re-solidify the gem.
Best of all, there is no quality loss whatsoever.
After confirming that the crystal state had stabilized, Ed carefully pinched the colorless crystal suspended in the darkness.
I saw the crystal projecting 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 revolver, aiming it at the invisible barrier.
Bang——, the bullet shattered the barrier, but the warhead also underwent obvious deformation.
[The effect against traditional projectiles such as bows and crossbows will be better. After all, there were no gunpowder and bullets when the elves invented this facet... Anyway, it's not bad, at least it's not lower than my expectations. 】
Sylvie commented.
Ed reviewed in his mind the details that could be improved just now, and tried again. This time the crystal surface was more crystal clear, obviously making some progress.
He fired the bullet 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 did not break immediately like before.
[From today on, do this exercise every night before falling asleep. In this way, you should be able to master the melting method by the next full moon and use it to treat Catalina's crystal malignancy. 】
"Yes, I know."
Ed nodded, and then the pale white flames engulfed his vision and sent him back to reality...
…
When he woke up, it was dark and the streets were already deserted when he looked out the window.
[What are you going to do next, join the Divine Adjustment Bureau? Or simply be a free person like your sister? 】
"I don't think I have a choice."
There was no one around at the moment, so Ed directly said softly:
"Mr. Eaton's meaning is already clear: either I join the Bureau of Divine Adjustment, or I can only operate under the supervision of the Bureau of Divine Adjustment from now on. Rather than doing this, it is better to join the Bureau of Divine Adjustment directly."
[Hmph, it seems you are not as stupid as you look. 】
Ed casually put his arms on the windowsill and 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. How could the Divine Bureau not afford it? suspicion."
Pale white flames appeared in front of the window, like a slender finger writing on the window fog:
【Do you regret it? 】
"What do you regret?"
[I regret getting involved in this series of things. When you got the Arthur character card, you had the chance to walk away. There are many countries and regions in the world, and there are always places that the Bureau of Investigation cannot or does not want to control. 】
"Who knows? Maybe I'll have a bad conscience, although I don't remember ever having such a thing."
Ed gently pressed his forehead against the window and showed a heartfelt smile:
"For some reason, when I think that there are people like Arthur and Catalina in the world who are willing to believe in me, I feel like I have to do something."
[You sound like a noble person, my dear good sir, but being noble is a useless virtue. 】
"Who says it's not the case? As long as the Bureau of Investigation is not aware of your existence, I will be safe for the time being."
Ed closed his eyes, preparing to leave these worries until tomorrow.
"——Good night, Sylvie." He waved goodbye softly, and the pale white flame text gradually extinguished.
He reached out and turned off the light. In the room with only dim light, the outline of the incomplete moon shadow made him feel lonely again.
Before falling asleep, he couldn't help but open the window, put his elbows on the window sill and looked out:
To his left, the orange-red gas lamps were warm and pleasant, making the city look particularly 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."
