I, Stone Golem, only want to forge.

Murphy was taken aback. It pondered for a long time but couldn't recall what it had recently created that was enough to generate a spirit.

But since there's a reward to be won, it doesn't really matter which thing develops a spiritual quality.

[Because of my telepathic abilities.]

The additional ability granted by this Earth Breath skill will be unlocked as Spiritual Perception.

[Spiritual perception: The ability to sense the spirituality of objects.]

......

Murphy waited a while and indeed found that this so-called spiritual perception did not bring about any significant changes.

There was just a strange state where something was faintly visible, and you could vaguely sense its existence.

It pondered for a moment, then activated its visual perception.

He began to look around.

However, this time, something unusual appeared in its field of vision.

On the ice crystals that it had previously only seen as having movement trajectories, a dark blue mark appeared that connected to the sky.

Murphy suddenly remembered what Sri had told him about the so-called curse.

Is this dark mark that connects to the sky the so-called curse?

As it pondered this, it turned its gaze toward Sylph.

To its surprise, Sylph also showed some unusual signs.

More precisely, it was Sylph's ears and the small bag she carried that emitted marks of various colors.

Murphy was clear about the ear-related issues, though.

Its memory fragments contain related records, saying that the seemingly elven ears are related to the elven faction.

Therefore, that mark should indicate the faction of this elf.

The mark in that small bag...

Murphy could actually guess some of it, so it spoke up to confirm:

"Is there jewelry in that small bag?"

Sylph, who was having a great time remotely controlling the spider, suddenly heard Murphy ask her a question and nodded.

"Yes, we always bring three gems with us when we go out. You should have seen the first two: one is red flaming stone, one is a communication crystal for communication, and the other is a healing gem."

Murphy had actually been interested in these gems for a long time, but he hadn't had much of a chance to bring it up before.

Now that it had a little time, it continued to ask questions.

"What is this gemstone?"

Sylph looked at Murphy with some surprise.

"This is a runic gem; someone of your skill should know that..."

Murphy shook his head and pressed on bluntly.

Why are runes engraved in gemstones?

Sylph scratched her head, realizing she'd been caught off guard by Murphy's question. After a moment's thought, she gave a vague explanation.

"Well, runes were originally engraved in gemstones. It seems that the technique of directly engraving runes on weapons has been lost, so it is no longer possible to do it."

It probably developed over a hundred years, and eventually became a faction of its own.

After answering, she pursed her lips, afraid that Murphy's curiosity would flare up and she would continue to ask questions, so she quickly found a way to back down.

"However, I don't know much about these things either. The gemstones were all carved by our village chief."

However, Murphy was somewhat shocked when he heard Sylph's words.

It wasn't the runes or gems that shocked me.

The question is, why did the craftsmanship of engraving on objects get lost?

It felt that the technology behind this thing was very simple; it was nothing more than pouring rune liquid into it during the engraving process.

After the carving is complete, a layer of special lacquer is applied.

In this way, as long as the sword and the rune coexist for a long time, the influence of the rune will naturally connect to the sword.

Even if the runes are worn away later, it will not have any impact.

Why would such a simple procedure be lost?

Murphy was completely baffled.

"Lost in history? Why?"

"Huh? Why was it lost? Because it's difficult. Everyone knows the method of engraving runes, but the main problem is that no one can actually do it."

Sylph was somewhat puzzled. Why did Murphy keep asking such basic questions when his skills were so superb?

It can't be that I don't understand, right?

Is this a test of your intelligence? Don't you feel stupid?

Sylph felt that the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed, so she racked her brains to recall all the knowledge she had and explained it to Murphy in as much detail as possible.

"Because the engraving on weapons is different from that on tools, weapons need to undergo high-intensity wear and tear."

Therefore, each engraving must be extremely deep, and because the intensity of weapon operation is relatively high, the requirement for the integrity of the runes is also relatively high.

You need to complete a set of runes before the rune fluid dries up.

Therefore, it requires both great force and speed.

It requires a high level of energy and physical strength from the engraver.

Those smaller weapons, like daggers, might be manageable, but longswords, greatswords, or shields would be very difficult, wouldn't they?

After she finished speaking, she cautiously peeked at Murphy through the gap in her bangs.

All that could be seen was a stone face.

Murphy: o_O

Those wise eyes, those resolute gazes.

Sylph couldn't help but feel like she was being called on by the teacher to answer a question after daydreaming in class.

The teacher watched in silence as she endured her own torment.

However, Murphy just scratched his head, said nothing, and walked away.

Sylph breathed a long sigh of relief, then took a deep breath.

The force was so great that it even caused the soft flesh wrapped in the robe to tremble slightly up and down.

This shows how nervous he was just now.

But after the initial tension subsided, she suddenly realized what was happening.

Wait a minute, why is she nervous?

Murphy and she were not in a superior-subordinate relationship, nor were they teacher and student, and he did not speak to her in a harsh tone.

Why am I suddenly getting nervous for no reason?

She didn't feel this way even when facing those in high positions in her own country, nor when facing those epic creatures.

Although I was scared, I wasn't as nervous as I am now.

This feeling is like...

Sylph suddenly remembered that when she was very young, she had seen a giant dragon soar over the kingdom.

She seemed to have the same feeling when the dragon looked down.

Sylph's eyes widened slightly, but her pupils suddenly contracted.

Is this the Dragon's Might?!

……

Meanwhile, when Murphy returned to the workshop, she found Little Murphy hiding in a corner, the eggshell seemingly cracked even more.

Murphy could even see two flashes of green light occasionally passing inside the eggshell.

It must be something like Xiao Mo's eyes?

Could it be that this thing is about to hatch?

It shouldn't be this fast, right?

Little Mo doesn't need to eat while it's inside the eggshell, but it probably will after it hatches, right?

I don't know what it likes to eat, so I should prepare some in advance.

So Murphy walked over to Little Murphy, tapped the eggshell, and asked:

"What do you want to eat after you get out?"

After thinking for a while, Xiao Mo actually let out a somewhat indistinct cry from inside the eggshell.

Sharp and immature, somewhat blurry.

"Aww~"

Murphy was stunned for a moment after hearing what it said.

This thing says it wants to eat stone men?

Murphy looked at Little Murphy quietly.

Xiao Mo then awkwardly called out a few more times, as if blaming Murphy for not understanding her humor.

Murphy continued to look at Little Murphy.

Xiao Mo then calmed down, facing the wall in repentance while muttering a few howls.

"Awooooo..."

It roughly means that you can eat anything, but it's best to eat snake meat, or something like the goblin that Murphy ate before.

"You want to eat goblins?"

Little Mo shook its egg body and chirped a few more times.

It means not eating goblins, those disgusting, maggot-like things.

It only eats the bright red goblins that Murphy used to eat.

Murphy immediately understood.

What Xiao Mo wants to eat is probably the fruit of the Strange Serpent Bloodwood.

……

Meanwhile, Will managed to calm the wheelchair down temporarily by promising it would only have one ride.

So, amidst the laughter of the crowd, they finally arrived at the location of the largest village in the vicinity, situated on the lower east bank of the Kulun River.

Of course, perhaps it can be put another way—this place is Lynn's village.