9 TWANG!!!

The sun was out and shining brightly, signifying the time of day. Zhen Shi was leaning on the balcony staring at his status with a disappointed look on his face. As time passed on the rate of Otaku point gain had slowed down.

He had been unable to sleep last night, not that one sleepless night meant much to a person of his cultivation level, and thus had tried to cultivate but had made very little progress. His progress was actually pretty fast compared to ordinary cultivators as he had the primordial chaos base, but how could it compare to leveling up! As for OP, he hadn't received any in the last 5 hours...

Even Isolde had arrived in the early morning, asking for him, and he had spent some more time chatting with her. She had wanted to speak to him and it was a good opportunity to show off his 'scholarly self'. So he entranced her by showing off his mathematical and scientific knowledge, and also presented several anime and movies as stories made by himself!

But in the end, he had pardoned himself for the day by saying he was still not fully healed and needed to rest, once he got 99 OP.

Otaku Points(OP): 99

*Sigh* System why the HELL, did the rate of OP get so slow??? Is this the LEGENDARY CLIFFHANGER??

Ding!

The rate of OP earned for the current level of has slowed down since the user has neared the maximum threshold for the moment.

But suddenly,

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for earning 1 OP.

Zhen Shi perked up and mentally called out, "System, quickly get me the divine boon from Hephaestus for my divine weapon."

Ding!

Divine Boon request acknowledged. Divine boon gained.

White magical particles suddenly appeared and coalesced to form a piece of paper.

On it were the words,

~IOU

Hephaestus owes 'this handsome and scholarly self' a divine weapon.~

(ʘ‿ʘ)

MOTHERFUCKER SYSTEM! How am I supposed to find the god Hephaestus to pay up this debt. He might even refuse. IS THIS ENTIRE THING JUST A JOKE? But I do agree with how you referred to me. Looks like my influence on you is rubbing off.

System-nii, OMEGA GOOD JOB! ????????

Ding!

The user can use up the divine boon at any preferred time. What is promised will be received.

HAHA!! System, you should have said that from the start. Don't you know shouting isn't good for blood pressure?

System: "..."

System, then use up the divine boon!! Get me my divine weapon!!!

Ding!

Request not acknowledged. Materials must be supplied.

FUCK! SYSTEM THIS IS HIGHWAY ROBBERY.

System: "...."

Fine... I couldn't have done much with them anyways. And he threw the Sky sun bone, Soul Silver and the Gold tier Arachnid corpse at the white paper. His heart ached as he threw away the spoils of his victories so far.

The materials were absorbed by the white paper and the white piece of paper disappeared away, just as it was formed.

????️????️????️

In the divine realm, within a cave in a volcanic mountain, there was a muscular and bearded man dressed in a light leather overall, pacing back and forth while frowning. His face and body were covered in grime while his feet were horridly misshapen causing him to walk about with a rather obvious limp. That cave had been fashioned into the guise of a room with a furnace and an anvil alongside a terrifying pool of silver-white lava that caused the air to wave here and there. But the most surprising objects within this cave were multiple metal automatons. They had the appearance of metallic spheres walking about on tripod legs. The man limping about would occasionally glance at his anvil. This was Hephaestus!

He was frowning over the fact that he hadn't had any inspiration in his craft in a while. Honestly, he was madder over the fact that his wife[Aphrodite; Goddess of Love and Beauty], was cheating on him and the woman he actually loved [Athena; Goddess of Wisdom] had pushed him off when they were having 'fun' together, resulting in him accidentally impregnating the earth titaness; Gaia, who had been nearby. Now not only was he heartbroken, now he even had an illegitimate kid to take care of!

But suddenly a white piece of paper appeared in front of him, which caused him to stop. He was surprised, but not afraid. After all, he was a GOD!

His first thoughts were, What's an IOU? And who is "this handsome and scholarly self"? Has some unknown fellow Daoist reached the god level shedding his mortality? But since when was he in this daoist's DEBT?

However, his questions went unanswered as he suddenly felt a great surge of inspiration to craft a weapon! He was incomparably excited and thus said, "Now to find some good materials." Immediately the piece of paper glowed giving the supplied materials. "Oh? Ugh, what am I supposed to do with this junk? They barely reach the requirement to make a piece of low-quality divine string!"

If Zhen Shi had heard these words he would have coughed up blood.

"Perhaps they are of sentimental value to that fellow Daoist? I'll somehow use them as well to gain his favor" And thinking so Hephaestus lightly waved his hands at the metal automatons which stood silently within the room. This immediately caused them to start walking about with a light clanking sound. Some of the automatons started to prepare the furnace, some cleaned the anvil, some worked on setting the temperature properly while others collected the white lava from the pond. One of the automatons walked over to him revealing materials including divine meteorite, spatial rock, liquid chaos, Mythril, obsidian and much more. If any of those materials had appeared within the mortal plane, countless cultivators would claw each other to death to obtain it.

Now with the preparations complete, Hephaestus limped over to the furnace and anvil. Having collected the materials he easily separated the impurities from the materials in one fluid motion and got started on building the basic weapon skeleton while adding in materials. As the process continued, his hands moved here and about like the skillful fingers of a musician. Divine sparks flew about as a repetitive clang sound was heard within that room deep within the volcano. While he was working, there was a slight smile on his face...

A year passed, just like that. And soon a hundred. Many fellow gods had come to meet him including his wife. But he refused to meet them all! For a god, a century was, nothing much. Hephaestus finally stopped... and overlooked the weapon that had just been born within his furnace.

He was extremely satisfied with his creation which bore all his feelings and ability. Moreover, he was extremely happy as he had forgotten his worries regarding love, by throwing himself to work. Thus he heartily laughed saying, "HAHA!! This must be the best weapon I have ever created... Even the one that I made for Eros is a bit weaker than this. I truly owe that fellow Daoist 'this handsome and scholarly self' a debt for giving me the inspiration to work on this."

He must be of the eastern scholarly faction and even knew I would be in his debt beforehand, so he must be skilled in scrying the future! Now I just have to find him and gift this to him. Still, I hope he is skilled enough to wield this since only someone loved by primordial chaos aether can use it. Even I would not be able to use it at its maximum potential. I believe only Grandma Chaos achieves that condition.

Hephaestus was a god and to gods who had already reached the peak of their ability, especially one like him who didn't care much for power, giving up even this best creation of his to repay a favor was nothing much.

But, suddenly, the white paper glowed, absorbed the finished weapon and disappeared. Hephaestus was speechless.

Fellow Daoist shouldn't we at least meet up? How am I supposed to repay my debt now?

Still, he was greatly impressed by this 'fellow Daoist' and his capabilities. Moreover, he decided to repay him for helping him forget his worries if he ever met him in the future.

????️????️????️

Back in the mortal realm, only a couple of hours had passed. Zhen Shi was pacing back and forth in worry.

Suddenly Zhen Shi realized. Wait a minute, I never mentioned what my weapon would be and the system never asked!

SHIET! WHAT WILL I DO IF I GET SOMETHING LIKE A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, AS A WEAPON! WILL I play MY ENEMIES TO DEATH?

"System quickly make my weapon a sword, a saber or some bladed weapon." After all, it was a man's romance to fight with swords and fly in the sky with them!

Ding!

The request has already been processed and will be arriving shortly. Specifying the weapon would have increased the cost.

FUCK! Since I've already laid the bed I might as well sleep on it. PLEASE LET IT BE A SWORD!!

Ding!

Divine Boon completed. Item received. Will you receive it?

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Of course, I will!

Suddenly a bright golden light appeared within the room. It was lucky that he had previously drawn the blinds as it had gotten slightly hot out. Otherwise many would have noticed this light. A terrifying pressure appeared within the room, this was many times greater than anything Zhen Shi had ever felt. It even caused the space within the room to lightly shake and crack in fear. It seemed GODLY!!

And within this light lay a bow! It didn't look like an ordinary bow and looked more like a gracefully curved laurel wreath. It was intricately crafted and shone with a gold finishing. Zhen Shi was stupefied and completely forgot to complain about not receiving a sword.

Well, at least it isn't a musical instrument. I suppose it just barely meets this handsome and scholarly self's requirement!

If Hephaestus had heard him he would have vomited blood. After all, Hephaestus himself had said this was his beat creation, even after having made weapons for so many other gods. Still, Zhen Shi was extremely happy with it. Moreover, the former Zhen Shi had actually been skilled in the art of archery. So in a way, this was perfect.

Zhen Shi suddenly realized a glaring problem. How the shiet could he take this bow outside? It would be so attention-grabbing by its aura alone making him the target of many.

Ding!

The user should be able to change the appearance of the weapon as required once he binds it.

OH! Of course, I knew that! System I'm disappointed you didn't answer me sooner. Tsk-tsk.

System "..."

So as in his memories, Zhen Shi bit his finger to get some blood out and dropped it on the bow floating in front of him.

Several moments passed and nothing happened. FUCK! Is this the legendary instance of weapon not acknowledging its master?

Zhen Shi stretched out his hand to touch the bow while saying, "System, what should I---" He asked no further because the moment he touched the bow, the primordial chaos base in his dantian sent out a streak of chaos to the bow completely subduing it. Immediately he could feel the connection between him and this bow as if it was an extension of his body.

Zhen Shi was elated as he sensed the impossible power of this bow. Even if he could only use a fraction of its power, it would give him a great power boost! He mentally guided the bow to retract its spiritual pressure and changed its shape to a dark black oak bow with a light gold carving on its body.

Now Zhen Shi wanted to try it out... So with the bow in hand, he left the room. He didn't get too far before running into the old butler.

"Oh, young man, I thought you were feeling unwell?" he said with that kind smile.

"Huh? No, I feel better now and was feeling like stretching my legs a bit and shooting some arrows," he replied. The old butler glanced at his bow, "Hmm... good bow! But where'd you get it from? It wasn't on you when you 'dropped in'. Do you have a spatial treasure?" and asked curiously.

Old man, this is A GOD BOW, made by HEPHAESTUS himself! How could it be just 'good'?

As for the old man's question, Zhen Shi ignored him and said,"Old man, you haven't told me your name yet."

"Ah, Yes, pardon me. This one's name is Alec, Alec Strauss," he said while lightly dipping his head. Zhen Shi nodded, "Old man Alec, do you have any place where I can practice archery?" Alec nodded with a light smile," Of course. This is the count's mansion after all. Follow me, young man," and walked off.

Just as Zhen Shi started to follow him Butler Alec spoke, "Young man, how'd you like to face off against this old man in a bout of archery? Of course, we won't use any Qi or internal energy and put up the targets at a distance of, let's say 1 km? Of course, we can reduce the distance if you wish, and even give this old man a handicap---"

Zhen Shi stopped him with a lightly raised hand, "Cut the crap old man, let's do this. Don't go blaming your old age when you lose," and said laughingly. The old man also laughed as they finally arrived at the archery grounds.

Isolde had been in her room within the mansion staring at the empty and desolate archery grounds with three lonesome targets when suddenly she heard a familiar voice. She was surprised as she continued to look on at the grounds as Zhen Shi and Old man Alec positioned themselves within one kilometer of the targets. These were fairly strong wooden targets used for the training of ordinary foundation establishment soldiers.

Alec looked at Zhen Shi and said "Let's begin. Kid, don't cry when you lose!" Zhen Shi just grinned lightly flicking his hand, as he planned to use action, to silence this old fool.

Isolde was surprised. She had come to believe that Zhen Shi was a well-learned but powerful scholar and found it hard to believe he was an archer as well. She knew that Butler Alec was a very skilled archer who had even served his majesty in the army, and was also very surprised to see him so interested in a young person. Thus she was slightly unhappy at Zhen Shi's dismissive attitude towards Alec.

Alec took out his bow from the side, it looked to be of high quality. He slowly stretched the string with the arrow and let loose! It flew through the air completely ignoring the air and struck itself perfectly in the center of the target.

Zhen Shi was stupefied. He had not felt that arrow with his powerful spiritual sense, meaning he couldn't have dodged it if it was unseen. More importantly, the arrow completely ignored the presence of air shooting perfectly straight, like a fish in the water. 'EXPERT ARCHER!' he thought. Still, he grabbed on to his bow and lifted it. He took an ordinary arrow and tried to stretch the string.

FUCK! It won't budge! Is this a DIVINE BOW? He was unable to do so even with the physical strength of core formation.

Alec and Isolde looked at him in confusion, as he didn't shoot a single arrow. They began to doubt his skill as time passed...

Still refusing to give up, he increased the power of to the maximum on his arms alone causing vermillion scales with inlaid scarlet feathers to grow out of his skin. Thankfully it was hidden by the sleeves of his shirt.

This time he was able to stretch the string to a fairly good distance. He could have managed more if he used primordial chaos, but he decided to hold off as he wouldn't be sure of the full power. Zhen Shi took a deep breath, with the memories of the former 'Zhen Shi' regarding archery in his mind.

He let the arrow loose! Just as the arrow left, a formless energy was added from the bow. It shot forward many times faster than Alec's and struck the target, causing it to explode into countless splinters! If Alec's arrow passed through the air gently, this one completely eviscerated the air.

Alec looked at Zhen Shi disapprovingly. He thought that the kid had maybe added qi to the arows in order to hide his poor archery skills. Since the targets were for foundation establishment cultivators, it wasn't particularly difficult for a core formation cultivator like Zhen Shi to destroy it. However, he failed to note that Zhen Shi's arrow caused the target to explode int very fine splinters in an even manner. This was because Alec was only focusing on the path of the arrow and the target, not the power.

But, seeing his look Zhen Shi understood what he thought. As such, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry!

Isolde had come to a similar conclusion as she watched on with a slightly disappointed face as well. Was Zhen Shi really just bragging??

Zhen Shi laughed, "Sorry old man, I guess I wasn't able to control my strength." He drew another arrow and targeted the next target. Alec nodded. But both Alec and Isolde lightly doubted him in their hearts.

Zhen Shi one again stretched the bow. This time he reduced the strength he imparted on to the bow and concentrated on trying to imitate Alec. He felt the formless but tangible nature of air with the deep connection he had to nature and his aerial roots. Again, the arrow was let loose! The formless energy was added once again, but this time it shot off with the great speed of last time but while causing much less damage to the air. It swam in the air and struck the dead center of the target, but once again the target exploded into fine splinters!

This time Alec was not disappointed. He noted the subtle changes in the arrow's path and also noticed the even nature of the splinters the target exploded into. Thus he began to believe that Zhen Shi might have actual trouble controlling power. But Isolde who knew little of archery completely lost faith in him and even began to think that the tales of gods and science he had said were false as well. After all, since he had bragged so shamelessly to Alec, it was completely possible he had done so before. She started to walk away completely disappointed, but momentarily stopped as Zhen Shi pulled another arrow.

Last time, Zhen Shi had felt the addition of that formless energy. So as he stretched the arrow on the bow he vaguely tried to control and lessen this energy using his will. However, as he did so, that formless energy rapidly followed the stream of his will to enter his consciousness!

He was so surprised that he dropped the bow which gently fell on to the ground.

Seeing this, Isolde was completely disgusted believing he had given up and started to walk off, but... deep in her mind was a sense of loss. Alec, on the other hand, watched on with a light smile,as he felt that Zhen Shi had gained a sudden epiphany at that moment. His rapid improvement in the second arrow had not gone unnoticed by him. Thus, he believed that this kid was an archery GENIUS!

Still, Zhen Shi was completely oblivious to their thoughts as the shadow of a bow, identical to the god bow was forming within his dantian separated from the primordial chaos. He felt a vague connection to the art of archery itself. Within a few seconds, a vague shadow of a bow had finished forming.

Zheng Shi now bent down and picked up the fallen bow. He lightly brushed off the dust that had gotten on it, as he loaded another arrow. Since two of the targets had exploded into splinters, this time he could only target the remaining one with the arrow shot by the old man. Once again he pulled back the string, but this time with almost perfect strength and control. He combined his connection to air and nature with his old memories of archery and even considered a bit of practical physics on projectiles. He lightly changed his posture and lifted the bow slightly higher. He took a deep breath and let it out.

TWANG!!!

The formless energy was added once again. The arrow passed through the air many times faster than before. It was completely silent as it swam through the air. This was unlike the destructive arrow shot at first. It almost neglected the air presence, as it gently followed the guidance of the air rather than opposing it. One instance the arrow was on his bow and the next it had disappeared...

TWANG!!

TWANG!!

TWANG!!

.....

And this sound resounded in the silent archery grounds for a total of ten times.

Isolde who was leaving in disappointment, hearing this loud and repeating sound felt her heart shake. She stopped for a moment and turned back. When she arrived at the window sill, she gaped. What awaited her sight could only be considered as a miracle!

The first arrow shot by Zhen Shi had partially cut Alec's first arrow in half as it too had struck dead center on the target. And every arrow after that had partly cut the previous one in half. One vertical and the next horizontal, leaving a strange but beautiful pattern of splintered arrows.

The sound of the arrows lightly echoed within the grounds and each of this was like an arrow striking her heart. Painful...

Tears started to flow down her eyes as her heart was filled with one feeling. GUILT!!

She whispered in a cracking voice, "I-I'm s-sorryy!!!" heard by none but herself, and at the same time jumped down from the window. One must note that this window wasn't that high and that Isolde had also recently reached the core formation stage.

Zhen Shi who had been reveling in his success and achievement looked back in surprise, to see Isolde arriving before him with tears in her eyes. Although she was crying she still looked very beautiful. She hurriedly hugged him as she sobbed. As she hugged him that sense of loss gradually disappeared.

But for Zhen Shi, one moment he had been gaining insights into archery and the next he was being hugged by a damsel in distress. Zhen Shi didn't know whether to laugh or cry!!!