Awakening the Divine Spark
Chapter 228: Daniel.

Chapter 228: Daniel.

There was no one in the room, but Lee was positive someone, a man, just talked to him. And it wasn’t like Qin Yujian who knew how to produce sound without her being present. There was a person around, and apparently a knowledgeable one.

"Who are you?" Lee probed, but there was no answer.

This wasn’t his first time in jail, and even though he hadn’t done anything wrong this time, he had mixed in criminal circles enough to know about the concept of a plant. It was unlikely the mighty elemental lords were using such trivial attempt to get information from him – the plausible scenario was that the other person, the one who just spoke considered him being a plant.

Judging by the context of what the man said, he was likely an artificer, and contrary to Lee – a real one. Lee would’ve loved to converse with him, but the best thing he could do for now was to say nothing.

He inspected his room, or rather – workshop, verified the bars in the window and the hatch weren’t easily removable, and sat down to meditate. He was in a pickle without an obvious way out, and his guess was that he had nine months of time, maybe a year at most.

It would be the reasonable time for him to fake-forge the artifacts he had on him, the four swords and the trousers. Afterwards his inability to craft artifacts would come to light.

He sorted the swords, and chose the shabbiest one he was going to fake-forge first. If Lee was honest with himself, Flaresteel, the worst of the weapons he had, was an incredible two and a half feet long sword, designated for a fire element cultivator.

It was unlikely anyone below elemental lord’s level could afford it, much less wield it, but Lee somehow had to pretend he was capable of crafting it. He had no other choice but to take his chances, and for now decided to follow Bastil’s advice, and not cause any trouble.

After calming his mind, the next morning Lee began to work on the list of the necessary materials. Almost as if guessing Lee’s actions, the man who spoke to him yesterday, spoke again.

He said, "Artifacts are really hard to make. They require a lot, a lot of materials. And the time it takes ... Remember! The sooner you finish your work, the sooner you can start on the next one! Work hard! Don’t let the others down!"

Lee was startled by the voice, but even though this time he guessed the direction it was coming from, the contents mattered much more. The person, while maintaining plausible deniability, was trying to tell him to ask for extra materials and remind that he had to take his time while crafting.

And the last part was the most important – all the artificers locked up in the castle apparently did their best to work as slow as possible.

Lee had no clue what kind of extra materials he had to list. Maybe the fellow inmates were creating something that could blow up the place. Or maybe they used the surplus materials to trade the prison guards for food.

The problem was, Lee wasn’t certain what kind of materials he needed in the first place. He didn’t want to stand out, but he didn’t want to entrust his fate to a random inmate and let someone else write the list for him.

He struggled a bit, but in the end went with the common sense and compiled a list of materials needed for a high quality sword from a regular blacksmith. Then he added a bunch of fire sparks, leather, gemstones and some other things. Lee was sure he could give any leftovers back, in his case, the fake-leftovers.

There was some paper and writing utensils on the carpenter’s bench, and he used it as a desk. After finishing, Lee went back to meditation, but the man’s voice disturbed him again.

"Show me the list!" He demanded.

The voice came from the corner where the drying rack stood. Upon closer inspection, Lee noticed a palm-sized spot that resembled a stone, but when he touched it, it felt more like a leather, except colored like a stone. He pulled it out and looked in the hole, only to see an impatient eye staring back at him from two feet away on the other side.

"How’s it going!" Lee said, "I’m Lee!"

"You bastar ... Show me the list!" The man on the other side urged.

"I’m sorry!" Lee said, "If Lord Bastil finds out I’m communicating with anyone ..."

"Show me the list!" The man said for the third time, forcefully trying to sound calm, "If you mess up, we’ll all pay!"

Lee pondered for a moment and passed the list through the hole.

He honestly didn’t want to test Bastil’s patience, but it went both ways. If the list was suspicious, he might loose his head instead of a finger. And a moment later his neighbor’s suspicion proved to be correct.

"What the fuck is this! What imbecile have they caught now?" The man cursed, and through the hole Lee saw him getting up ... and jumping away on one leg.

Lee’s hair stood on end realizing Bastil wasn’t joking in the slightest. If for every mistake they cut off a part of him, he would be dead in half a month!

"Take this!" A moment later a different list was showed in the hole, and to Lee’s surprise was written in his own handwriting.

"Not bad!" He evaluated the style. There were only few minute mistakes, but the man was stressed and in the hurry, and it was him who noticed, not an outsider.

"What do you mean, not bad? At least you can craft a good chest armor with this!" The man barked back.

"Oh, I can’t." Lee said, "I want to craft a sword with fire properties!"

"But you ..." The man on the other side grew desperate, but then froze, and whispered, "Quickly, give it back! Apologize for the list not being ready and promise to compile it by noon!"

Then he closed the hole on the other side, and hopped away. Lee followed the suit, grabbed a fresh piece of paper, sprinkled a few droplets of water on it, and smeared more on his face, energetically rubbing his eyes.

He had no clue what appearance he had to have after a good cry, but hopefully the person who was about to arrive didn’t know as well.

It turned out to be Bastil again, and the man was annoyed to no end seeing Lee with an empty piece of paper in his hand.

Lee noticed him reaching for the sword at his side, but fortunately the man changed his mind and left without saying a word. Lee had no clue how things worked around here, but when a moment later a guard brought in a bowl of stew, he guessed that Bastil’s early appearance was only a coincidence.

"Don’t try to fool around here, kid!" The man on the other side whispered, when they were alone again.

He made a new list, this time with materials necessary to craft a sword, and passed over.

"Sure, thank you!" Lee said, then thought for a bit, and added, "My name is Lee."

It seemed that for some reason the man on the other side inwardly struggled for a moment, but then said, "Daniel! Will you be able to craft that thing?"

"I’ll manage." Lee said, "How long should it take here to forge a very, very good sword?"

"Probably a couple of months." Daniel said, "But you can’t stall your first work for too long! They aren’t fools."

"Thanks again!" Lee said, "Do you need anything from the list?"

"First you pull through and then we’ll talk!" Daniel said, and Lee didn’t hear anything from him for the next days.

He also didn’t initiate a conversation, but focused on planning how to properly fake a crafting of an artifact.