Chapter 372: Stars Reaver

"Hehe," Arthur snorted at the pun. Li, however, didn't seem to understand the wordplay. As Arthur stared at the wooden doll, he found that it didn't seem to be of the humorous type. "Uh, I don't know." He answered.

"Ja..." The wooden doll's jaws opened with a creak. "Useless." It said before resuming to pull the wagon away. Arthur looked at the contents of the wagon and found it to have countless doll parts.

"That was... eerie," Li muttered, and Arthur couldn't help but agree.

They began walking behind the doll's cart, trying to see where it would go. The wooden doll pulled and pulled without feeling tired, going deeper into the city. The building became more elaborate, but they were abandoned as well.

Arthur and Li kept walking behind the doll as if it was their lighthouse. They didn't know what they were expecting to find, but it was better than wandering.

The doll stopped in front of a dilapidated building that looked different from the others. This one looked worn out as if it was older than the rest.

The puppet let go of the cart and walked toward the building, pushing its swinging door open. It disappeared inside with no signs of coming out as the two waited.

"I think we should go in, My..."

"Yeah, let's go in." Arthur interrupted. He wasn't against being called a Lord, but making Li call him as such now feels like manipulation. He felt like he was using time travel to make Li admire him.

The rough texture of the swinging door touched his fingers as he pushed it open. Even though he was just a spiritual being now, he retained his five senses. The inside of the building was dark, and the sawing of wood was the only sound that separated it from a haunted house.

"Is this the carpenter the doll asked about?" Li spoke in the darkness, but Arthur didn't have an answer. The only light came from a lit room on the far end of the hall.

"I need fixing, old man,"

The voice of the doll came from the room. Arthur and Li stood at the door, watching what was happening inside. The puppet was talking to a figure standing by a workbench.

"Did you bring the other broken parts?"

The voice was hoarse. The language it used was fluent Yalveran, and it spoke it even better than Li. Arthur tried to peer the shape of the figure, but it wore a giant dirty cloak that prevented him from doing so.

"They are outside, but I need fixing now." The doll demanded, desperate and with an edge to its voice. "I kept looking for you in the city, but you always wander around."

"I have things to fix, after all." The figure replied gruffly. "You also guided some guests over to me."

Despite referring to Li and Arthur, who were standing by the door, the figure didn't turn to meet them. Instead, it kept talking to the doll, who also ignored them.

"I couldn't care less. Fix me now!"

"Granting you a powerful ego was my worst mistake," The figure sighed and turned around. It reached out toward a screwdriver and grabbed the head of the doll.

"Ahh!" The doll gave a few shouts as its screws turned. After the process was over, the figure pushed the puppet away and returned to its post.

"Bring the broken parts and leave me alone," The gruff voice said as it resumed working. The doll passed by Arthur as it left the building.

Li and Arthur looked at each other, not knowing if they can just walk into the room. They waited for a bit before Arthur walked inside after seeing that the figure had no intention to acknowledge their existence.

"Are you the carpenter?" Arthur asked as he stood behind the figure.

"That depends. Are you a doll that needs fixing?" The carpenter said without turning. "If yes, I am. If not, I'm not."

"I determine your identity by who I am and what I want?" Arthur asked with interest. The carpenter paused as it kept working, but Arthur knew it was going to answer.

"That's how you humans think it is, so why not?" The carpenter paused. "All humans come to this place expecting spirits to fawn over them and beg them for a contract."

"Spirits see it as a chance to be free, I guess,"

"Free?" The spirit stopped working as it slowly turned to Arthur. "You think that by contracting humans, we are freed from the Spirits Realm?"

Arthur could now see half of the spirit's face. It had a charcoal woody face that resembled the doll they just saw. However, it moved like a human, unlike the robotic movement of the doll.

"That's what the gatekeeper told me," Arthur shrugged nonchalantly under the glaring eyes of the spirit.

"Hah," A hollow and dark laugh escape the spirit's mouth. "I would expect nothing less than the follower of that liar."

"Liar?" Arthur raised his brows. "Are you talking about the Spirits Sovereign?"

"You are not as dumb as the other humans," The wood spirit smirked. "When contracts were first proposed, the strongest spirit proclaimed it as the beginning of a new era. The Sovereign didn't tell us about pain, about feelings, or about how corrupted humans were."

"You choose your contractor, so isn't it..."

"You change!" The spirit roared, shaking the wood building. Arthur looked at the surface of the walls, and wood tiles peel off as the spirit's anger was unleashed. "Human beings break, and what surfaces from within them is something dark that even the gods fear."

Its voice almost turned to a whisper at the end. Arthur didn't need to sense the state of its existence to tell what it felt as its emotions dripped from its voice.

"You were hurt by someone you trusted," Arthur looked at the black surface of the doll. "But should that determine who you are?"

The words disgusted Arthur himself because he knew it wasn't that simple. He knew that feelings weren't a painting that one paints but the world. We don't choose how we feel because they weren't logical.

"Save your ideal words for yourself, human," The doll turned and resumed its work. "What do you want from me?"

"I know they are ideal, but isn't the point? That we shape the world into what we want, instead of accepting it as it is?"

"I never received a visitor who's this chatty," The spirit snorted. "Speak of your purpose in my city."

"We are looking for the Spirit of Gravity," Li said, choosing to ignore the topic they were discussing. The carpenter paused and nodded.

After placing down its chainsaw, the carpenter walked out of the building. Arthur and Li were surprised that it was this cooperative. Next, the wood spirit took them toward the deeper parts of the city where a giant palace stood.

"Every floating island has a spirit that controls gravity," The carpenter said. "However, this one is a bit unique, as it's guarding something."

"What is it guarding?" Li asked with expectations. 

"A spiritual weapon, I assume." The doll turned to Arthur and stared him in the eyes. "Are you the seeker of this spirit?"

"No, he is." Arthur gestured toward Li. The carpenter shook its head and sighed.

"You humans always bite more than you can chew." The spirit said with exasperation. "He's too weak to contract this spirit, nor is he capable of wielding the spiritual weapon."

There was silence after the wood spirit said that. Li clenched his fist hard as his body trembled. Arthur didn't try to defend him because that would hurt his pride more.

"You are indeed too weak, Li," Arthur said to the man, who turned toward him. "However, weakness simply means you can grow stronger."

"Stronger?" Li released his fist. "Here?" He seemed confused but convinced by Arthur's words. "You are right. The only way is forward, and the path of strength is an endless one."

"Haha," The spirit laughed as it heard their conversation. "Ignorance is bliss. Let's go into the palace." The spirit led the way and walked into the empty palace.

Arthur and Li followed after through the silent building. The silence was almost suffocating, and sharp spiritual energy overtook the place.

They reached the grand hall of the palace. On the throne of the court sat an ethereal spirit with a sword resting on its hands. The spirit had an ethereal body, but a plain mask covered its face.

As Arthur saw the mask, his suspicions were confirmed. The mask this spirit had was the same one that Li wore all the time. However, he had yet to know if the mask was the spirit itself or a curse.

When they stepped into the hall, they felt a crushing pressure push them down. A gravitational force surrounded the spirit sitting on the throne.

The spirit rose without talking as the carpenter beside them laughed mockingly. Arthur frowned when he felt the power contained within the sword.

"This spirit is a protector to Stars Reaver, the weapon of a demigod. Unless you can wield the sword, you can never contract this spirit."