Chapter 015: Harvesting Stars

“Legend has it that the God of Fire spent hundreds of years searching for hundreds of magical beasts and rare ores, gradually forging this furnace. All the carvings on it depict the magical beasts sacrificed in its creation. It seems this furnace contains the soul energies of many such beasts.”
“This furnace has only been opened twice—once by the God of Fire to craft his own divine artifact, and the second time by the lord to create a divine artifact as well.”
“We of the Bilu tribe obtained this furnace by pure chance. Yet among the dwarves, we never dared to use it. Now, we’re thousands of miles away from their territory. Even if we do use it, could other dwarven experts sense it?” said the Great Elder.
Upon hearing the Great Elder’s words, Du Fan understood why the furnace had only been used twice—once by the God of Fire and once for his own purposes. It turned out that after the Bilu tribe got it, they didn’t dare to use it!
Looking at the furnace in disbelief, Du Fan couldn’t believe the God of Fire had spent so much time creating such a furnace, yet it provided great convenience for him. If he could truly craft a divine artifact, he would surely be extremely grateful to the God of Fire.
“Let’s begin,” ordered the Great Elder to the dwarves beside the furnace, staring intently at it.
At his command, the dwarves beneath the furnace eagerly piled wood into its base, filling it completely in just a few minutes.
After that, one dwarf carefully stepped forward, took out a fire-gathering pot, and smashed it down onto the wood.
“Whoosh!”
With dry wood and intense heat, the flame ignited instantly as soon as it touched the wood. A massive fire burst forth, turning the dark furnace red-hot in an instant.
“Pour mud! Pour water!” shouted the Great Elder, his eyes gleaming as violent energy surged toward the burning wood, intensifying the fire even further.
Watching the Great Elder’s actions, Du Fan carefully observed the flames at the bottom of the furnace. Thanks to the Great Elder’s efforts, the fire had grown more than twice as large as before.
All the dwarves standing around the furnace quickly dropped to the ground, swinging their axes and chopping down nearby trees. In no time, dozens of trees lay fallen.

“Blow the bellows, Second Elder, Third Elder, come help me!” The First Elder roared. His upper body’s clothes were instantly torn apart by violent energy, and his height, originally around 1.3 meters, soared to about 1.5 meters. Immediately afterward, the Second Elder and Third Elder rushed over, as violent energy surged toward the First Elder.

“Great Fire God, please grant your people their true form…!”

As the First Elder chanted, his height continued to rise, eventually turning him into a giant of immense stature. His fiery red hair hung loosely behind him, and his muscular upper body revealed enormous amounts of energy.

“The Fire God’s true form?!” Du Fan stared at the transformed First Elder, feeling a surge of anxiety.

It should be noted that the current First Elder was merely an ordinary domain expert, his strength even slightly inferior to Du Fan’s. Yet the energy he possessed was so great that even a lower-tier god would find it hard to match.

However, what Du Fan saw was not as simple as he had imagined. The First Elder was using a divine technique exclusive to the Fire God among all gods. Strictly speaking, the First Elder didn’t possess a divine essence, so the abilities he could unleash were somewhat limited, not as fierce as those used by the Fire God’s followers.

“First Elder, be careful!” Du Fan warned the four-meter-tall First Elder before slowly floating in the sky at a distance to observe.

The First Elder’s movements were swift. He grabbed a giant hammer over two meters long and began pounding the Magic Blood Mud relentlessly.

“One, two, three…”

With each strike, the dwarves below counted, as it was an unspoken rule among them. For crafting ordinary weapons, dozens of strikes might be needed, but for divine artifacts, it was completely different. With each strike, the First Elder consumed an incalculable amount of fire energy. Yet one advantage of his Fire God’s true form was that he could freely control the fire energy within a fifty-mile radius at will.

“Boom…!”

Several large dark clouds rushed rapidly toward the First Elder’s head, with intermittent lightning flickering within them, growing stronger by the second.

“Lord, congratulations in advance—there’s a nearly 80-90% chance of creating a divine artifact this time,” said Second Elder Zhang with a smile, looking at Du Fan beside him. Perhaps due to the immense energy expended earlier in helping the Grand Elder, even a master craftsman like him was now pale-faced.

“Oh? Is that so?” Du Fan looked at Second Elder Zhang in surprise before turning his interest to the Grand Elder, who was hammering the Magic Blood Mud. He asked curiously, “Why is Second Elder Zhang so sure?”

“Heh, experience, I guess,” Second Elder Zhang replied with a hearty laugh. “Our dwarf race once tried to create a divine artifact, but we failed. It was similar to this situation.”

Hearing Second Elder Zhang’s words, Du Fan was truly surprised. He didn’t expect the dwarf race to have attempted to create a divine artifact. If this was true, where was such an artifact then?

“Lord, there’s no need to be surprised,” Second Elder Zhang said proudly. “Look at the hammer in the Grand Elder’s hand—that’s our dwarf race’s treasure. Though it hasn’t been given a name yet, it’s already on the verge of becoming a divine artifact. That’s why we call it a pseudo-divine artifact.”

“A pseudo-divine artifact?”

As Du Fan murmured, dozens of bolts of lightning suddenly descended from the sky, targeting the Magic Blood Mud created by the Grand Elder.

“It’s coming! Third Brother, go!” Second Elder Zhang called out, leading Third Elder behind him toward the direction of the furnace, with fierce energy surging from their bodies.

“Break it!” the Grand Elder roared, swinging his massive hammer at the special energy formed by the lightning strikes. The energy that had just been assembled collapsed instantly under his blow.

“This…” Du Fan stared in astonishment at the lightning in the sky. He never expected such a small bolt of lightning to have such powerful effects—it was beyond his expectations.

“Great Fire God, please grant your people boundless divine power, so that your people…”

As the Grand Elder chanted, he continued to hammer away without stopping. All the lightning in the sky seemed to coalesce slowly, gathering above the Magic Blood Mud to form a fist-sized cluster of thunder that writhed like a giant snake among the dark clouds.

“Boom!”

With the lightning striking down violently, the Grand Elder delivered the final blow. The mist made of elements now covered the Magic Blood Mud.

“It worked!” The Grand Elder wiped the cold sweat from his brow and said to Du Fan, who was not far away, “Lord, channel your domain power here, and a divine artifact suitable for you will appear.”
“Grand Elder, take a rest,” Du Fan said with a faint smile. With a wave of his hand, he released a gentle stream of star power. Meanwhile, the sun disappeared from the sky, replaced by a multitude of stars, with meteors falling toward the divine artifact.
Du Fan reached out and grabbed something that emitted golden light as it flew out of the mist toward him. As soon as it landed in his palm, he felt the intense power of the Morning Force within it. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was a ruler over ten feet long, its star-shaped pattern reflecting the stars in the sky, constantly twinkling.
“Lord, please give this divine artifact a name,” the Grand Elder asked, now back to his normal height and looking exhausted.
“Well, this ruler…” Du Fan hesitated for a while, frowning at the large ruler in his hand. After a long pause, he smiled broadly and said, “Let’s call it ‘Star Picking’!”
He gently swayed Star Picking, and the stars inside were released immediately. The surrounding leaders and the six elders immediately felt as if there was a nebula swirling around them, with stars shattering!
“Excellent!” Du Fan was overjoyed. Star Picking was indeed an offensive divine artifact, just as he had envisioned!
Star Picking had two skills. One was Star Transformation, which released the star power sealed within it, turning it into star combat energy that could take the form of weapons for combat. The other skill was a group attack ability! It involved channeling one’s own star power into Star Picking to unleash Star Shattering! This skill scattered the starlight condensed within the star combat energy across a vast area, then triggered explosions of that starlight, causing massive, indiscriminate damage throughout the starry region!
On the third day after the creation of the divine artifact, another major event occurred in the Gavin Empire. Prince Gavin, the Regent, issued an edict to oversee the entire empire, declaring September 23rd as the day for the grand wedding of Duke Du Fan and Princess Angel!
September 23rd was the anniversary of the founding of the Gavin Empire. In the eyes of others, the Regent choosing Du Fan’s wedding date to coincide with the anniversary was a tremendous honor!

But it was only after that incident that people suddenly realized that the National Foundation Day was merely the festival that was closest in time at that moment! One day before His Highness Fischer issued the decree to the whole country, the imperial order had already been delivered to Du Fan’s residence. “Can’t wait at all!” Upon hearing the news that Fischer had issued the decree, Du Fan’s lips twitched, revealing a barely noticeable smile. “Du Fan, what are you planning to do?” Naixiu asked from beside him. “What else can I do?” Du Fan walked toward the door. “Now that His Highness has issued the decree, how can there be any turning back? Besides, he didn’t mention you at all. Hmph, I’ll make him feel embarrassed! Naixiu, there are still 27 days until September 23rd, right? That’s enough time for us to hold a grand wedding!” “Haha, I’m really curious to see how His Highness Fischer, who thinks he’s so superior, will react when I get married to you first!” Du Fan said with a laugh. “Then where are you going now?” Naixiu asked eagerly as Du Fan stepped toward the door. “To inform all the important people to attend our wedding!” Du Fan suddenly turned back and pointed at his eyes at Naixiu. That blink of his eyes filled Naixiu with joy. After nearly half a year of effort, Du Fan’s administrative system in the four southern provinces was operating very efficiently. Under his orders, commands were continuously issued!