5335 The Temptation of the Crown
The Metal God Method devised by Cynthia sounded incredible.
It fit Vulcan's conditions and needs to an impressive degree. Even in ancient times, it was a luxury for a True God to expend her full effort into tailoring a cultivation method for a single individual, especially one that had a lot of special needs.
The only truly outrageous part was that Vulcan most likely had to pass four insane challenges in order to complete the final and ultimate stage of the new cultivation method!
Despite Veronica's complaints, Cynthia remained unmoved by them. "A high-end cultivation method like this is rare and very much sought after. The resources and effort needed to succeed in one are higher, but you will thank yourself later for going through this effort. If Vulcan finds it far too difficult to merge himself with the Iron Resonance Crucifix Crown by himself, then maybe he should wait until Ves has advanced to Star Designer. By then, the two of them can pool their efforts together and produce a better result."
She was right. Compared to most other cultivators who could only really practice a single method, Veronica had multiple choices to dedicate herself towards.
Ves, Blinky and Vulcan all pursued their own form of cultivation. Only one of them had to succeed and advance to the rank of True God in order to lift up the other ones.
From that perspective, practicing a difficult and challenging cultivation method did not seem like a big deal.
At worst, Vulcan would remain stuck at the final bottleneck for as long as Ves had yet to become a Star Designer.
Veronica calmed down after this. It was unlikely for Vulcan to remain stuck at the final junction for an excessively long period.
"Okay. I'll do it." The cyborg cat said. "Can you teach me how to practice this method?"
"Very well. Be prepared. The cultivation method that I have made for your incarnation is dense and difficult to digest. Simplicity is not one of its virtues."
Having dabbled in cultivation science himself, Veronica quickly grew dizzy as she attempted to decipher the thick and heavy tome that her mother produced.
The complexity of the Metal God Method was unlike every other method that Veronica had encountered. The necessity of merging four different cultivation approaches together in a way that made sense for Vulcan forced Cynthia to add a lot of elements that responded to specific conditions.
Veronica found that it was much like software programming in a sense.
Fortunately, Vulcan did not need to comprehend and master the entire cultivation method right away. It was conveniently split up into multiple stages that rose in power and sophistication.
In order for Vulcan to get started, all he really needed to do was to attract the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown and reform the Heart of Steel. He could slowly work towards the more complicated creation cultivation and deity cultivation aspects after he had reformed his foundation.
"Do you understand now, my dear?" Cynthia asked after she patiently explained the first couple of chapters.
"Uhm, I think so. The first stage sounds simple enough at least."
"Good. I suggest that Vulcan should begin to practice it right away. I need you to tell me whether Vulcan is able to obtain possession of the crown. I am confident that my solution will work, but if this artifact remains stubborn, then I will have to make corrections."
"I understand. I will get on it right away."
The Metal God Method might sound great, but that did not change the fact that it was experimental in nature. It was better to try it out while Cynthia was available to help at any time.
"Make sure you inspect the condition of all of your incarnations." The mother advised. "As soon as Vulcan starts to practice the new method, many changes will occur. You need to keep track of them in order to minimize the chance of accidents. Do not let the crown take you by surprise."
Veronica seriously nodded. This was sound advice that applied to every scientific endeavor.
"I shall go do that. Once I am done, I will enter my System space and check out whether the crown has messed around inside."
It took a while to make proper measurements of everything.
Once Ves entered the System Space as his normal self, he carefully inspected the various stations and observed no oddities that indicated that the crown had attempted to subvert its new abode.
It wasn't until Ves entered the Sacred Temple and checked his Status by habit that he had noticed a shocking change!
[Status]
Name: Ves Larkinson
Profession: Senior Mech Designer
Specializations: Mutual Growth
Ascension Points: 172 AP
"What?! Why do I have 172 Ascension Points?! I am pretty sure my balance dropped all the way to 135 Ascension Points after my last big expenditures. I don't think I have done anything to earn so many AP out of the blue. I haven't finished any serious mech design projects and I haven't completed any missions either."
It made no sense for the Mech Designer System to hand out 37 Ascension Points for free. Ves had lived with it for quite a few years, so he knew that it was impossible for it to give him an early birthday present!
It wasn't until he entered the Sacred Hearth and laid eyes on the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown that he deduced the most likely answer.
"It has to be you." Ves accused. "You are the only variable that could have produced this change."
He recalled when he initially obtained the crown.
Ves first gained possession of the powerful artifact on the 95th day of the Age of Dawn.
Today was the 132nd day of the Age of Dawn.
This meant that the crown had rested inside the System Space for 37 standard days.
This was not a coincidence.
Ves narrowed his eyes.
The crown sent a clear and obvious signal with this action. So long as he continued to leave this ancient artifact in place, he could continue to harvest 1 AP per day without doing anything special.
Temptation suddenly overtook his mind.
A single Ascension Point did not hold much value, but it was a different story if it continued to trickle in over time.
Ves could earn 365 AP in a standard year.
It would only take 3 years for him to be able to afford an expensive enlightenment fruit like the one that contained the Divine Blacksmith Records.
Ves could obtain many more benefits out the System if he actively worked to earn additional Ascension Points on top of this new passive income!
However, the premise of earning 1 AP a day was if he allowed the crown to occupy his Divine Core.
He had a feeling that once he transferred the crown to Vulcan, its energies would begin to feed into his incarnation instead.
"Nothing comes for free." He reminded himself. "There is no way the crown is selfless enough to give away this benefit without earning a return on investment."
Ves only had to recall the instance where the Polymath had gone mad to experience a sobering chill.
While it sounded nice to harvest 1 AP a day without doing any effort, Vulcan could make much more effective use of the crown.
This was because unlike Ves, Vulcan's Heart of Steel offered sufficient protection against the nefarious artifact's subversion attempts!
It was not easy to earn a profit. There was no point in chasing after a lucrative reward when Ves wouldn't be able to stay alive and uncorrupted long enough to take advantage of all of the benefits!
Even if Vulcan's ability to exploit the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown was only 10 percent as effective, Ves would still go for this option because the risks were drastically lower!
Despite this logic, it took a lot of determination for Ves to make up his mind.
"I can't... allow myself... to grow complacent."
As much as the Mech Designer System frustrated Ves at times, it had always been fair to him as far as he was aware of. It offered clear prices for every product or service and also established clear rules on how to earn more points.
If Ves was being honest with himself, the rewards offered by the System were much more valuable in relation to the amount of work he needed to do in order to earn them! He would have never been able to make so much progress if the prices accurately reflected market demand!
In short, the Mech Designer System had already been generous enough to Ves. It offered rare and virtually unobtainable rewards in exchange for a relatively modest amount of labor.
It had taught Ves the importance of working hard. It was doubtful that he would have turned into a highly productive workaholic if not for the System spurring him on all of the time!
It was antithetical for the System to suddenly award Ascension Points when Ves had not done any of the work required to earn them. He even felt repulsed by the very concept.
There was a substantial risk that he might grow complacent one day!
Once he had lost so many competences due to growing dependent on the crown, he had little choice but to keep it around in order to sustain a high degree of growth.
"What a nefarious scheme!"
Ves had to hand it to this ancient artifact. It picked the right sort of incentive to tempt him into keeping it around. He had no doubt that the prospect of earning easy APs would have corrupted him to the point of imparting his future as a mech designer!
Though Ves was not completely certain about his judgment, he sensed enough of a threat from the crown to gain a greater sense of urgency.
He had to pry it off his Divine Core right away!
"Vulcan! You know what to do! Get to work!"
A manifestation of a bearded and dwarven version of Ves appeared inside the Sacred Hearth.
The incarnation and design spirit had already studied the first chapter of the Metal God Method.
Much of the processes had been adapted from the Heart of Steel Mantra, so it was not that challenging for Vulcan to comprehend them in a relatively short amount of time.
The bearded design spirit stood before the Hammer of Brilliance, which was the current manifestation of the incarnation's Divine Core.
As soon as Vulcan started to practice the first but most crucial processes of the first chapter, the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown started to shake!
Ves silently observed his dwarven incarnation at work. He never thought about it before, but it turned out that it was possible for him or his incarnations to cultivate while time technically remained frozen outside!
The System Space even produced the exact same amount of exotic radiation as Ves' current position in the Red Ocean.
All of this had many implications, but Ves didn't care about that right now. His only priority at the moment was for Vulcan to succeed in his endeavor.
Numerous changes took place. The incarnation's Divine Core started to shake and pulse as it appeared to undergo a subtle but fundamental transformation.
Woosh.
It happened in an instant.
In one moment, the crown remained firmly attached to the Hand of Creation.
In another moment, the crown lifted itself in the air and rapidly surged towards the Hammer of Brilliant before firmly rooting itself to Vulcan's Divine Core!
Success!
The first chapter had done its job!
Ves didn't exactly know why, but the Iron Resonant Crucifix Crown had somehow regarded Vulcan as a much better catch.
Just like a scumbag who abandoned an average girlfriend for a much more attractive woman, the crown did exactly what Ves and Cynthia hoped for! It turned out that luring the crown away was not as difficult as they anticipated.
"I kind of feel insulted." Ves grumbled. "You could have at least shown a bit of reluctance. Am I that bad of a target?"
Oh well. The ancient artifact had become Vulcan's problem now. Ves grew a lot more reassured now that there was a strong layer of separation between himself and the cursed crown.
