Chapter 1355

Compared to killing people, the gains from hunting magical beasts were far more efficient and better. It just so happened that the development of the artificial idiot required massive amounts of energy to maintain—if there was a stable supply of sufficient energy, it wasn't entirely impossible to achieve.

"Good!" Red-Eye the mercenary nodded.

His thinking was simple: work for Lin Cheng for five years, and in return he would gain freedom and a spirit weapon after five years. This deal wasn't a loss—in fact, he even came out ahead.

After the transaction was completed, with Lin Cheng's tacit approval, Red-Eye the mercenary directly took his long-handled berserker greataxe, left the blacksmith shop, and set off on the road toward the magical beast territory.

Once this spirit weapon acknowledged Red-Eye the mercenary, it became his exclusive weapon—no one else could use it. Forcing the issue would even result in injury from the weapon spirit's resistance. As for Red-Eye the mercenary, with the spirit weapon's power and the inherited techniques, his strength would greatly increase.

The news that Lin Cheng's blacksmith shop had produced its first mercenary acknowledged by a spirit weapon spread through the entire Boulder Fortress City like a plague. Many mercenaries were curious—who exactly had such great ability to earn a spirit weapon's acknowledgment.

But upon learning it was Red-Eye the mercenary, a mercenary known for his extreme ways, they fell silent.

Any mercenary who had spent time in Boulder Fortress City knew more or less something about Red-Eye the mercenary. Perhaps it was precisely his extreme personality that became the key to being acknowledged by a spirit weapon.

This also led many mercenary groups to begin speculating: while it was true that spirit weapons possessed self-awareness, what they tested was not only overall strength—likely also temperament, or rather, character. Most mercenaries lived a day-to-day existence, because the dangers of the mercenary profession were simply too great. Today they might drink and eat meat together; tomorrow, after a hunting mission, they might be separated forever—such things were commonplace.

Such a passive attitude of muddling through was very likely not favored by spirit weapons. Previously, the elites of the major mercenary groups had not dared to go to Lin Cheng's blacksmith shop for spirit weapon testing—not only because of their status, but also because of the reputation of their mercenary groups. Once they failed to gain a spirit weapon's acknowledgment,

the blow to the mercenary group's overall reputation would also be enormous.

Now that Red-Eye the mercenary had become the first successful mercenary acknowledged by a spirit weapon, the voices claiming spirit weapons were fake gradually faded away. At the same time, the elites of these mercenary groups also began to make preparations.

If spirit weapons tested overall strength while also requiring certain traits, then they had ways to respond.

In Lin Cheng's eyes, she was like a child who never grew up—to put it bluntly, probably because she was too far from home and lacked a sense of security inside.

After some hugging and cuddling, Lin Cheng finally got down to business and explained: "The improved version of the magic crystal internal combustion engine is basically complete. What remains is the mass production issue... For mass production, we need an assembly line. I plan to build it in the Green Fox territory—there are plenty of free laborers there. We'll also need an artificial idiot for intelligent management of the assembly line's daily production, and running the artificial idiot requires a continuous supply of energy."

"I plan to use magic crystals as a substitute for energy for now. As for later... we'll figure it out then."

Although the canyon space was home to the Green Foxes, Valkyrie Ailin, the faithful divine tree, and some small animals, Lin Cheng, as the master of the canyon space, could not enter it. What a tragic thing that was.