Wasn’t this perfect? If it had been a cultivation-based heritage , it would probably have been useless except as a reference source . Even if it turned out he could cultivate the Void , he still had his own path to follow . But this? This was amazing . As for the fact it was created in a time without the Dao , Zac wasn’t worried . Most people would probably have to refit the technique , but Zac strongly suspected he was an exception .
He’d long since realized there was something special with his relationship to the Void , and the vision of the First People had essentially confirmed it . They’d called the Dao poison , and just touching it was like matter and anti-matter colliding . That wasn’t Zac’s experience at all . He found no issues activating skills with Void Energy , even if they were based on the Dao .
Zac could even imbue the skills with his Dao Branches , which should be downright impossible . His bloodline made the impossible possible , acting as a bridge between the Void and Dao . This was the true marvel of his bloodline , rather than instant skill activation or having an extra energy reserve .
My creation is called Cosmic Forge] . No matter your path , no matter the material . Everything can be refined by the Cosmos! At the highest level , the Cosmos itself can be refined . I wish you luck , inheritor! -
With those parting words , the final motes of light entered the pick . The floating seals had disappeared at some time and turned into small sigils that lined the handle .
Zac felt a tremendous pull of Void Energy when the final mote of starlight was gone . Luckily , he’d been fully replenished by the unique environment while undergoing the impartment , and he let the pick eat its fill . The pick was like a black hole , and Zac was eventually forced to stop it when he only had 20% of his Void Energy remaining .
At least it was enough to form a preliminary connection to the tool , though Zac wasn’t sure if the hammer could be considered a Spirit Tool . He could tell it followed a completely different path . Zac did sense a connection to the tool like he did with Verun and Alea . His lips twitched—it had only absorbed less than a tenth of a percent of what it required .
Holding the hammer up , he knew what to do . The hammer had to first be filled with Void Energy to recover . The whole inheritance had almost been drained for eons , and it would have been unable to withstand the Heavens for much longer . After the hammer was replenished , Zac would have to infuse Daos from all seventeen peaks into the tool . By that point , it would be fully stabilized .
Until then , it would be damaged when exposed to the environment . It would be a lot of work , but Zac was confident he’d be able to repair the hammer before leaving the Perennial Vastness . He could even do it while earning Mana in the various Red Zones . Seventeen Missions , seventeen months . That would take him through environments based on all the Dao Peaks . It would provide him the treasures he needed and valuable experience dealing with Daos uncommon in Zecia .
The impartment building felt hollow and empty with the sun gone and the braziers extinguished . Zac sent a command , and the hammer turned into light that entered his Soul Aperture and then the new hidden compartment that had opened . There , it reformed into a miniature version of the firefly sun and began orbiting the new brand that appeared .
Zac spent the next thirty minutes scanning the sigil , even if the vast majority of the technique was still sealed . The section he could access by infusing his will only covered the concepts displayed in the visions . It was the first chapter , which Dasorm Called Cosmic Infusion] . It wasn’t a method to craft gear , though .
Cosmic Infusion] contained two techniques . The first was to extract Truth and Aether from a base material . The second technique was to infuse the unique energy into a piece of gear .
For example , he could take a Life-attuned Natural Treasure and extract its essence before infusing it into a normal dagger . With enough essence , the dagger would turn into a Life-attuned weapon . Not only that , but by accepting more energy , its quality would slightly improve .
According to the method , there didn’t seem to be a limit to how much essence you could infuse into an item . Of course , the worse the base item , the more demanding the process . Stacking infusions also increased the difficulty . Still , this seemingly simple solution would probably drive most blacksmiths mad with envy .
Even an apprentice blacksmith could craft a decent weapon if they only focused on tempering and shaping . The real difficulty came when you wanted to infuse Dao . Even unattuned weapons relied on the Dao , from the blacksmith’s comprehension to his technique . These things would impact the product . It was doubly true for attuned weapons , which were far more popular . And attunement was something you had to infuse during the forging process . If you wanted to add an affinity later , your options were limited , and none were optimal .
The first alternative was to reforge the item to add attuned materials , which often was more difficult than crafting a new one . You didn’t only have to retain the old weapon’s spirituality , arrays , and pathways , but also infuse new ones that wouldn’t clash with the old . There was a high risk of damaging the internal wiring , so to speak . Even if you succeeded , there was a high risk of degrading its quality and potential for growth .
The other alternative was only possible with Spirit Tools , and it was to feed the weapons attuned materials as they grew . This was the path Zac had taken with his Spirit Tools , albeit mostly by accident and necessity . However , there were detriments to this path . Every new item swallowed made the internal workings more complex . The risk of mismatching increased , and gear suffered from impurities just like cultivators .
Love’s Bond] was still fine thanks to the System overseeing the evolutions through the Divine Investiture Array] , though evolving to D-grade would finally exhaust the array he got from the Tower of Eternity . Verun’s Bite] was a lot worse off in that regard . It had swallowed all kinds of weird things over the years . Unidentified treasures , bones , dragon blood , and pure Dao of Life . Zac would sooner or later have to slow down its progress and focus on harmonizing and purifying the weapon .
With Cosmic Infusion] , you sidestepped most of the downsides of both method . You only extracted the essence of the raw materials , so there were no impurities to speak of . And the infusion process could almost be likened to a rebirth of the material . As long as you succeeded with the infusion , whether it was the first or the fiftieth , it would result in a homogenous item with little to no internal conflicts . In other words , a Spirit Tool as perfect as one created by the System itself .
The biggest downside was that Cosmic Infusion] could only create single-affinity items on its own . Luckily , the inheritance hinted that wouldn’t always be the case . The first chapter was completely unlocked , and it also provided a preview of the next one . It was a companion technique to the first called Cosmic Extraction] .
The details were vague , but it sounded like Zac would be able to extract clashing or unsuitable elements from equipment . For example , if Ogras found an amazing spear attuned with Shadows and Death , then Zac could remove the Dao of Death while keeping the rest intact . Beyond that , Zac had no idea what kind of techniques Cosmic Forge] held . However , things like fusion and alteration were likely candidates .
Interestingly , there was not a single mention of actually forging equipment in the available information . It all referred to improving existing items . In a sense , it was more accurate to call it a refinement technique than a crafting technique . Of course , judging by Dasorm’s introduction , actual crafting techniques would no doubt appear in the later chapters .