Chapter 6576 Demoncasting Forge Ves and Ketis both divided the easy D-rank Missions between themselves. They would just have to spend a bit of time in order to complete them and harvest a modest amount of AP. After they were done, they left the Mission Hall and ascended up the Workshop of Creation. Ves admittedly did not really make use of it that often. In the past, he only valued it for the ability to rent workshop space for 1 AP per 24 hours, which could potentially allow him to prolong his stay in the System Space by weeks or months so long as he continually completed enough Missions to cover for his 'daily rent"! Now that the Mission Hall offered three times as many Missions as before, Ves and Ketis could potentially start a Mission-clearing marathon that could last for several years inside the System Space! Hardly any time would pass in reality while the two users harvested a lot of experience, mastered a lot of useful knowledge and improved their design and fabrication capabilities to another level. As long as Ves and Ketis spent their time on completing the right Missions, it should also be easy for the two to maintain a positive balance, thereby ending their marathons with way more AP than when they had at the start! Of course, the premise for all of this was that they accepted enough Missions that they could complete while remaining inside the System Space. When Ves described how he used the Workshop of Creation in the past, Ketis looked awfully thoughtful. "That explains a few times where you inexplicably changed. This actually sounds like a great way for you to earn more AP. Why haven't you done it more often?" "Each marathon takes a lot out of you. I am still human, you know. Spending months inside this isolated space for so long is exhausting. If I stay here for too long, I become increasingly more disconnected to reality. I won't feel the urgency of the Red War, and my love for my wife and children will turn into an abstract concept. In short, you will lose your humanity if you keep slaving away like this. You should only do a marathon once every few years. Well, maybe you can do it a little more often considering that your willpower is much stronger." Ketis certainly looked interested. "I think I will try it out soon." That caused Ves to smile. "It's been awhile since I last did it. Now that we have a lot more Missions to complete, this is a good time for me to start a new marathon as well. Why don't we do this together? I think we can mitigate the sense of disconnect and the loss of social interaction if we work together." "I suppose we can do that, but we don't earn credit if we complete each other's Missions, right?" "That's probably true, but we don't have to work together. We only need to work quietly alongside each other and take breaks at the same time." Now that red humanity's defensive lines were close to reaching their limit, it became more important than ever for everyone to contribute to the war effort. With more AP, Ves and Ketis could gain a lot more out of the System and provide critical aid to the defenders who most needed the additional boost. The two were not prepared to start their marathon right away, but they quickly agreed to settle a few affairs in reality before starting to earn as much AP as possible in four or so days. As they entered the Workshop of Creation, they immediately saw that much of it had remained the same. The only change was that a brand-new forge area had formed against the mountainside. The Demoncasting Forge occupied its own exclusive alcove. While much of the rocks that make up the mountain were gray in color, the rocks that surrounded the new forge were black like basalt. Compared to the ultra-modern instruments and production equipment of the main Workshop of Creation, the tools and equipment of the Demoncasting Forge appeared to be a lot more primitive! There was enough open space to the side to fit mechs and larger objects if necessary. The most prominent feature of the Demoncasting Forge was the constantly burning flame. It looked positively demonic as it not only burned in an unnaturally dark red shade, but also exuded a clear sense of threat that Ves could already sense from this distance! As Ves and Ketis moved closer, they both put up their guards as they sensed the flow of malevolent E energies in the entire forge. The distinctly edgy demonic theme on all of the tools and equipment did not help matters either! Ves did not take the threats seriously. He smirked as he wondered how delighted he would feel if he used the tools to Demoncast for the first time. He wandered over to a rough-edged stone work table and picked up a ball-peen hammer that looked as if it had attitude. Just holding it already caused Ves to confirm one of his suspicions. "This is a Demoncasted product. All of the stuff here that gives out dangerous vibes ara infuced with damone!" "No wonder!" Ketis already felt as if she had approached a den of evil and sin. The Mech Designer System's use of the term 'demons' appeared completely justified! Whatever twisted souls had been stuffed inside the forging tools, they clearly posed a threat to anyone without the means to defend themselves! Fortunately, the demons stuck inside the tools were locked in pretty tight. They also did not appear to be too powerful, though Ves had to exert greater force in order to keep the hammer under his control. "I can already tell that handling these tools will be a pain." He said. "This hammer is constantly trying to fight against me. That is fine when I am just holding it, but if I am using it in my work, then it can jerk around and mess up a critical step. We need to be on guard against that possibility. Perhaps..." Ves formed a small Soul Whip with his free hand and lightly 'caressed' the small blacksmith hammer. It let out a faint screech of agony before it suddenly turned a lot more docile! "That's handy!" Although Ves could tell that the hammer had grown a little weaker and less potent, the lack of resistance more than made up for that shortcoming! Even Ketis began to appreciate the Soul Whip Technique. However, she believed she could handle the tools just fine by herself. She walked over and picked up a pair of tongs. It began to resist her hold, but Sharpie quickly dove into the tool and actually began to provoke a fight against the trapped demon! The tongs vibrated a lot harder for a few seconds before Sharpie apparently won the fight! Ves raised his eyebrows at this demonstration of strength. "Is it that easy for you to subdue a Demoncasted tool?" "The demon inside this tool is not that weak. It was already suppressed. It hardly has any room to fight back." Ketis explained. "I see. That is helpful to know." They put down the tools and continued to explore the Demoncasting Forge. They soon found a series of steles that roughly served as an instruction manual. Even if much of the actual instructions consisted of wordless images instead of clear text, the two mech designers were smart enough to decipher the meanings. "I see" Ves said. "Most of the tools here aren't actually necessary unless we want to forge a more advanced form of D-mechs or D-arms. The most basic version of 'cast' a demon into it through a few ritualistic processes." "D-mechs? D-arms?" "That is how I decided to call the products of Demoncasting. After all, I can't just call them outright demon mechs and demon arms. That is awful marketing. Even if people think that there is something wrong with them, they will be less likely to associate my products with literal evil demons if I use more neutral labels." Ketis would argue that Ves was engaging in a form of deceptive marketing by masking the true nature of these horrible works, but whatever. The steles not only granted them basic instructions on how to use the Demoncasting Forge, but also presented a separate black stone pillar that apparently served as the interface to upgrade the facilities. This one thankfully offered greater clarity. They could upgrade the quality of the provided tools, increase the heat of the demonic flame, increase the security measures to contain the rioting of unruly demons and upgrade various parameters of a so-called 'Demon Summoning Circle! Ves' eyes lit up as soon as he realized that this was the place where he could exchange AP for demons! "It's not here. Wait. It looks like it is placed within a cave. We need to look for an entrance" They easily found it now that they knew what to look for. They entered a dark cave tunnel and soon arrived at an underground clearing that already hosted an underwhelming ritual circle. Though Ves could not understand it at all, he had a feeling that it was barely sufficient for the job. He quickly moved to another stele where he could command the circle to summon a demon of varying strengths. [Minor Demon: 5 Ascension Points --Middle Demon: UNAVAILABLE FOR SUMMONING --Greater Demon: UNAVAILABLE FOR SUMMONING --Demon King: UNAVAILABLE FOR SUMMONING] "I see." Ves said. "What did you figure out, Ves?" "I think I understand the strength division of demons. Did you notice that the demons locked in the smaller tools are clearly weaker than the ones locked in the anvil and other stuff that is a bit larger? The former are probably stuffed with Minor Demons while the latter are infused with Middle Demons. Given their overall strength levels, Minor Demons correspond to the first major cultivation rank while the latter correspond to the second major cultivation rank." "That... makes sense. I thought these demons would be stronger." "That is because we are already strong. A minor demon can still pose a threat to an un untrained civilian." Ketis extended her finger and tapped at the words 'Greater Demon' and 'Demon King! "The previous stele mentioned an option to upgrade the circle so that we can summon a Middle Demon for 100 AP. Do you think we would eventually be able to unlock the option to summon a Greater Demon and... a Demon King?" "That... is an outrageous possibility. I don't believe the System is strong enough to make that happen, but... if we earn enough AP... who knows." It sounded absolutely crazy that the System could become strong enough to summon random Demon Kings and put them at the mercy of its users! Of course, it probably wouldn't be as simple to make use of them. For one, just keeping them in captivity was probably an incredibly difficult ordeal! This was why the upgrade stele also offered upgrades to expand and strengthen the facilities related to keeping the demons in captivity! The two mech designers briefly entered another cave clearing that hosted an underground facility called the Demon Prison, So far, it could only contain up to 5 Minor Demons and Middle Demons. Supposedly, any demon directly summoned by the circle could seamlessly be transferred to an available cell. That luxury did not exist for demons derived from other sources, such as ones created by fusing souls together. "Let's get back to the forge." Ves said. "Why?" "Because I am itching to try it out. I want to create my first D-arms!" "You will need to obtain a demon first, Ves. It costs 5 AP to summon a Minor Demon." "I will try it out later. Now that I have come into contact with actual D-arms, I have a better idea of what they are. I think I already have a demon or two in my possession! Come!"