Chu Ran smiled apologetically, then said, "I'd like to rent a Creation room."
"We only have a Basic Creation room, 100 carats per hour."
Chu Ran reluctantly prepaid for four hours.
The first piece of Black Divine Stone was about the size of a fist.
Chu Ran placed it in the high-temperature box for the first and most important step of Basic Creation: refining and concentrating.
Chu Ran focused her mind, held her breath, and tentatively released her Spiritual Power, slowly entering the Black Divine Stone. She soon felt the resistance mentioned in the manual.
She didn't rush but pushed her Spiritual Power into the Divine Stone bit by bit, occupying every space as much as possible. When she could no longer inject Spiritual Power, she turned on the high-temperature box switch. The temperature rose rapidly, and a faint red glow appeared on the surface of the Divine Stone.
Chu Ran wiped the sweat from her forehead, concentrated, and used the Spiritual Power gathered inside the Divine Stone to compress it.
This time, the resistance inside the Divine Stone was much greater than before. It felt like a child pushing a boulder.
By the time the Divine Stone was compressed less than a quarter, Chu Ran was drenched in sweat, and her nerves were throbbing with pain.
Not enough!
To produce a Basic Creation of qualified size, the Divine Stone needed to be compressed by more than half.
Chu Ran couldn't help but try to inject a bit more Spiritual Power into the Divine Stone, but this time, the power was forcefully repelled.
This piece of Divine Stone had already reached its limit for carrying Spiritual Power. Adding more wouldn't increase the compression force.
Chu Ran gritted her teeth and activated her Spiritual Power again.
No good!
The Divine Stone was barely compressed to a third, and then it couldn't be pressed any further.
The refining and compressing of the Divine Stone only had one chance. That meant if it wasn't compressed to at least half in the first attempt, the resulting Basic Creation would definitely be unqualified.
Chu Ran stared intently at the Divine Stone. This time, she wrapped the remaining Spiritual Power around the surface of the Divine Stone, trying to compress it from both inside and out.
It was useless.
It even increased Chu Ran's burden, making it hard to maintain the Spiritual Power inside the Divine Stone.
If Dr. Sun had been there, he would have advised Chu Ran to give up on this piece of Divine Stone.
But he wasn't.
Chu Ran bit her lower lip, hard enough to draw blood, using the pain elsewhere to stay conscious.
"Chu Ran, I hope you understand that explaining to the public that the Chu family never intended to harm you is a win-win choice."
Old Master Chu's calm face appeared in a call projection.
Like a kind elder giving the most sincere life advice to a rebellious child.
"Standing against the Chu family will leave you with nothing."
"Even if you are He Yi's child."
Chu Ran stared at the Black Divine Stone. The pain was causing hallucinations.
What did she do then?
A faint golden light began to appear in her eyes. The shadow deep in her heart silently spread, infiltrating her Spiritual Power.
Her normally colorless and formless Spiritual Power became visibly tinged with gold.
The inside of the Divine Stone suddenly became restless, like a flock of sheep that had broken out of their pen encountering a fierce sheepdog, shrinking back in fear.
The Black Divine Stone shrank rapidly.
Chu Ran snapped back to alertness in an instant.
Oh, I just hung up on him and gave him a permanent residence permit in my blacklist.
I accept the kindness that came to me because of her, and I should also inherit the hatred she left behind.
Chu Ran sat on the floor, sweat streaming down her face. The Black Divine Stone in front of her had already shrunk to a third of its original size.
She reached out and touched her eyes, which felt slightly hot. This feeling...
It was invoking a deity.
At the studio entrance, Hu Meng looked at the silver wind chime swaying in the wind and sighed.
After a moment of contemplation, Chu Ran set aside the anomaly and took out the compressed Divine Stone, placing it on the forging table.
Next was durability.
This step was relatively easy for Basic Creations.
It didn't require too fine a polish. Under the wrap of Spiritual Power, it only needed to be shaped as many times as possible.
What to make?
Chu Ran looked at the oblong Black Divine Stone, measuring it with her hands. "Keep it simple for the first time. Make a long rod."
Her memories of killing the Zerg were very fuzzy.
She couldn't remember which deity had possessed her.
But she really wanted to smash the Chu family.
Decision made, Chu Ran picked up the hammer beside her.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
Four hours later, a finger-length black rod lay on the forging table.
Chu Ran put the hammer back in its place and carefully examined it. Not bad—the thickness was basically even.
But she would have to keep this as a memento.
Chu Ran picked up the rod, squinting slightly. Would it trigger abnormal data in a test?
She really needed to buy her own set of tools as soon as possible.
When Chu Ran left, Hu Meng was charging while drinking some sugary water.
Seeing Chu Ran, she asked naturally, "Finished? Want a free glass of sugar water?"
"Just trying it out today," Chu Ran wiped the sweat from her forehead. "With my Spiritual Power, it's already good that I lasted this long."
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Even that genius who came out of Old Street before wasted over ten pieces of Divine Stone before forging his first Basic Creation," Hu Meng comforted.
"Mm, I know," Chu Ran put the sugar water glass back on the table. "I'm too tired. I'll go back and rest."
Hu Meng didn't mind. She adjusted the poorly connected wire. "You can buy a monthly pass next time you come. It'll give you a 1% discount."
"Okay."
When Chu Ran reached the ground floor of her building, the older women were still chatting.
"Aunt Wang's grandson is so lucky. He only lost one hand."
"Yeah, even though almost a tenth of the Garbage Dump came back to life this time, at least half of them were missing arms or legs. Old Zhang's son has been so busy lately he can't even come back. It's all orders."
"I heard this time they replenished the Garbage Dump with people released from Third Prison."
"Third Prison? Isn't that..."
The women glanced at Chu Ran, and their voices suddenly dropped.