The full moon hung precariously over the night sky.
The ever-present silver moonlight illuminated the entire Ferde Wilderness, casting a pale white glow on the barren land. Link could be seen running across the Ferde Wilderness under the watchful gaze of the moon.
In order to keep his actions a secret, he did not summon the conspicuous Wind Fenrir and merely cast a Level-1 Cat's Agility spell on himself.
Link took almost 15 minutes to reach the beach, which was around ten miles away from the Scorched Ridge. By the time he reached the beach, he was already exhausted and placed his hands on his knees while panting heavily.
After all, he was not a Warrior and did not have a strong physique.
He then heard footsteps beside him. Link did not even need to look to know that it was Vance. Sure enough, Vance's voice sounded a few seconds later, "Young lad, what are you trying to pull running here at this hour?"
Link finally caught his breath and wiped the perspiration off his head before saying, "I secretly escaped from the camp. Celine is watching my back for me. Currently, no one knows I am here."
Vance was startled and asked, "Is it that urgent?"
Link knew the intention of those words and briefly described the situation of the war in the North.
"In order to gain the upper hand in intelligence, the Dark Elves had once again summoned high-level demons to aid them in battle. It seems to be working well, and the kingdom is losing their footing. In order to defend against the possible sneak attack from the Divine Gear, the pope is bringing the Holy Grail back to Orida Fortress."
Link did not mention this information to anyone else, including Celine. However, he was comfortable sharing this information with Vance. After all, this old guy had a thousand years of wisdom running through his veins.
Upon hearing Link's words, Vance looked and him and sighed, "It is good to be young. You have the courage and drive to face the Divine Gear. If I were in your shoes, I would definitely get as far away as possible instead of running here to create some magic puppet."
Link then smiled bitterly and said, "I am left with no choice as well. If the Dark Elves head south, everything that I ever cared for will be destroyed. I can only face them head-on."
Vance then headed towards the cave as he said, "Then, let's begin. I have a feeling that the resurrected Nana will have the power to rewrite history!"
Link had also recollected himself from the tiring journey and entered the cave. He first cast an Illumination spell in the cave before saying, "Where did we stop the last time?"
"Methods to increase Nana's offensive power. You mentioned that you were going to try adding the power of space distortion," Vance smiled as he said.
Link patted his head upon hearing this reminder and recalled his previous thought process. He then took out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down the magic equations on the side of the enchanting stone table. He spoke as he wrote, "The power of space is extremely unique. It has a basic property of being 'malleable.' When space is bent past a certain limit, a terrifying phenomenon called space fissure will happen."
Vance then took a look at the equations Link was writing and could vaguely understand the theories behind it. Upon hearing the final sentence, he gasped, "Space fissure? It has a similar concept to opening a gate to another dimension, right?"
Link then shook his head and said, "It is not the same. If I liken the space to a pool of water, then opening a gate to another dimension will be like linking two pools of water with a water pipe. There would be no rupture or tear in space. The two originally separate spaces would merely be connected. However, the space fissure creates a crater in the pool of water, causing water to flow out of the hole."
The fine difference between the two was a source of debate in the game by many guilds. The trigger for this debate was none other than the increasing mana intensity of the World of Firuman.
A faction believed that the reason for the increasing mana intensity was due to the Dark Elves constantly using cross-dimensional summoning magic to summon demons. However, there was another faction that believed it was due to the summoning of various Divine Gears by the different races of Firuman throughout history, and the reason for the increase in mana intensity was merely a side effect of the Divine Gears.
Previously, Link merely thought that these guilds had too much time on their hands. However, after delving deep into the principles of the World of Firuman himself, he realized that the latter faction was the correct one.
A Divine Gear could tear through space easily. When a tear in space happened, the energy within the Sea of Void would enter Firuman through this tear, resulting in the increase in mana intensity.
Naturally, the impact of a single Divine Gear entering the world was minor. The World of Firuman had not yet experienced any major changes. However, as the races continued to strategize against the Dark Serpent and come up with ways to summon their own Divine Gear to go against it, the collision between these forces would then cause the mana intensity to rise drastically.
However, Vance did not fully understand the characteristics of space. He then asked in a worried tone, "If that is the case, won't the water in the pool eventually run out?"
Link then shook his head and said, "No, it is the exact opposite. Not only will the water not run out, something else will be added to it…Well, this has nothing to do with our magic puppet as of now. Let's get back to the main topic."
He then pointed at the equation and said, "The power of mortals definitely cannot cause a tear in space. However, we can distort them. If this distortion frequency is high enough, a space turbulence which possesses incredible destructive force can be created."
Vance then replied in shock, "You are referring to the space turbulence? If we can really accomplish that, then Nana will possess the power to destroy every being on the World of Firuman."
"Yes, that is exactly my thoughts!" Link's eyes gleamed as he exclaimed. His eyes seemed as though he had witnessed the wisdom as far reaching as the countless stars in the galaxy.
He then half sprawled on the enchanting table and tried to figure out the equation. He spoke with fervent passion, "In theory, all beings will be affected by some sort of spatial turbulence, including the Divine Gear! This is because for the Divine Gear to exist in Firuman, it will have to conform itself to the principles of this world. If we can vibrate it at a frequency high enough, it is possible to eject the Divine Gear out of Firuman before its expiry… Look, if we do this, we might be able to increase the frequency just a little…"
Link spoke at a fast speed and even mad some logical leaps along the way. Vance tried his best to keep up with Link and listened intently. When he was truly lost, he would stop Link and request for him to explain again until he understood the principles. After Vance understood Link's idea, he then gave his suggestions and comments on the feasibility based on his experience in magic puppet creation.
This process repeated itself over and over again. On a stone table in a rundown cave by the coastline, a human race magic prodigy and a one-thousand-year-old Magician pieced together a magic puppet that was bound to leave her name in the annals of history.
At that moment, the two creators of the magic puppet had no idea what she would be able to achieve in the future. They were only doing their best to make Nana more perfect in their eyes.
On the first day, Link only slept three hours on top of a cold rock. Luckily, it was summertime, and Link brought a blanket with him on this trip. Coupled with his young physique, he was able to hold on.
When he woke up, he cast an Elemental Healing spell on himself and immediately became energetic again. He then once again immersed himself in the heated discussion.
Link was fully focused on Nana's creation and had placed everything else at the back of his mind. He felt himself transforming into a burning flame, and Nana was the mineral on top of this fiery passion.
It was a process where the flames of wisdom were forging true gold!
Vance similarly gave up on his decadent lifestyle and did not sleep for the entire duration.
While Link slept, Vance tried to educate himself on the space equations that Link wrote so that he could better understand the power they were dealing with and also to keep up with Link's thought processes. While Link was awake, he would then give suggestions based on what he had understood.
He felt as though he was a full 900 years younger, back to the times when he first started learning magic, when his heart was still filled with curiosity and anticipation.
"This is how life should be!" Vance exclaimed as he delved even more fanatically into the creation of Nana.
All in all, these two prodigies had gone insane!
The World of Firuman had once again made a full rotation around the sun, all in the blink of an eye.
By the third day, the two of them had completed Nana's right hand.
This was Nana's master hand, the one she would use to wield her dagger. It thus had to be the most delicate structure in the entire body. In order to create this hand of the reaper, Link used the best materials he brought and made many adjustments together with Vance. After nearly a hundred adjustments, they finally created a beautiful hand with features similar to one of a young girl, but a power equivalent to that of a terrifying ancient dragon.
They completed the torso on the fourth day. This would be the source of Nana's majestic strength.
They then started building the main body…Nana would still be flat-chested. There was no other way. When the body was moving at high speed, a huge bosom would only become a burden to the body, greatly affecting the body's balance and was prone to damages. For example, when Nana had to come to a sudden stop, the bosom would continue to move forward due to inertia and risk breaking off from the body.
That would be awkward.
On the sixth day, the two of them attached a pair of beautiful slender legs to Nana's torso.
This pair of legs would be Nana's driving force. There was even a coordination field attached to the legs to ensure that Nana could make a turn if she wanted to while traveling at an extremely high speed. When needed, Nana could even make use of sonic explosions to walk in the air or maintain aerial battles for a short amount of time.
On the seventh day, the two of them completed the left arm.
From Nana's past battle experiences, the left arm was usually used to maintain the balance of the body. However, the left arm Link and Vance created was not much weaker than the right arm in terms of both strength and flexibility.
Both of them believed that after a few more battles, Nana would definitely familiarize herself with the use of the left arm and fully utilize its potential.
On the ninth day, both of them created Nana's weapon. It was a pair of daggers.
This time around, Link had pushed his enchanting skills to the limits and handpicked the best materials for this weapon.
When this dagger was completed, the Storm Lord's sword uttered a faint sound before falling silent again, choosing to not give his comments.
However, that sound alone was enough to show his astonishment.
Player has successfully created an Epic quality weapon, Omni points +200 (payable in 100 days), please name your weapon!
The in-game system had immediately rewarded Link with a hefty reward of 200 Omni points, a testament to the power of the two daggers.
Link then asked Vance, "What should we name these dagger?"
Vance then shook his head and said, "I shouldn't be the one naming them. You did most of the work. You should do it."
"We have two daggers, let's name one each," Link said.
"That's fine," Vance nodded and continued. "You take the main dagger wielded by the right hand."
Link then thought for a moment before he started writing down a line of beautiful runes on the dagger surrounded by multiple air ripples, spelling "The Last Nightmare."
Vance then thought for a few moments as well before carving onto the near transparent left-handed dagger, "Whispers of the Forest."
When Vance wrote down the last word, an in-game system message appeared in Link's field of vision.
Weapon naming Completed.
Main Weapon: The Last Nightmare
Sub Weapon: Whispers of the Forest
Quality: Epic
Main Weapon Effect: Able to trigger the space distortion effect while attacking. Has the ability to destroy any mortal beings.
Sub Weapon Effect: This sword has practically no quantitative weight. The user can use this sword to accomplish high-speed defensive movements from any angle.
Combined Effect: Space Fortress. This property ensures that the two daggers are protected by an almost impenetrable barrier.
(Note: Nana's little toy)
So far, the body and weapons were already completed. Link and Vance then exchanged glances and started working on the final step, which was to fix the heart of the puppet onto Nana's head.
They did not make any changes to the features and shape of the head, merely improving on some minor details. However, the interior of the head, also known as the heart, had received a tremendous upgrade. Apart from keeping the battle experience memories intact, everything else had been upgraded.
This took the two of them a total of ten days, more than the combined time of what they used to create Nana's exterior and weapons.
Three o'clock in the morning.
When the sun rose on the horizon, Vance gently placed Nana's head on her body. Link then used the magic field to repair the runes connecting her head to her body.
Two hours later, everything was completed, and the sun was already high up in the sky. A golden ray of sunlight illuminated the cave and landed right where Nana was lying.
"She should be waking up soon right?" Vance was slightly apprehensive.
"I have not activated it, hold on…Alright, it is activated," Link whispered.
On the enchanting table, Nana still lay flat on the ground, seemingly lifeless. After around 15 seconds, she suddenly blinked and sat up on the stone table.
"Nana, Alive."
The voice was as crisp and sweet as before. However, her tone was no longer monotonous and robotic. She sounded exactly like an ordinary person.