"Sigh!"
Ethan found a large rock beside the Demon Tree and sat down.
This time, he'd boasted too much and ended up making a fool of himself.
"Maybe... I should ask in the World Channel if anyone has Rainbow Beast Cores?"
With no better option, Ethan opened the World Channel in his magic book and posted a message.
[Anyone with Rainbow Beast Cores, PM me with your price.]
He waited for quite a while.
But all Ethan received were junk messages and ridicule from his rivals.
For example...
[Lord Orin of Region 4 @Ethan: "I've got one Rainbow Beast Core. What? You want it? Come on, beg me!"]
[Lord Blake of Region 3 @Ethan: "Lord Ethan, I have two Rainbow Beast Cores. But you'll have to trade me ten thousand portions of food, plus one thousand Spirit Stones, and a hundred Beast Cores of every element. Then I might consider it."]
[Lancelot of Region 4 @Ethan: "I've got one Rainbow Beast Core. What can Lord Ethan offer in exchange? If it's nothing good, don't even bother replying."]
[Player Zyra, My One True Main, Region 2 @Ethan: "Lord Ethan, I've got Beast Cores of all kinds of colors, just not the Rainbow Beast Core you're talking about. Are you looking for five different Beast Cores?"]
"Hm?"
When Ethan saw the message from the player called "My One True Main, Zyra," an idea suddenly came to him.
'That's right!'
'If a Rainbow Beast Core is simply an energy crystal formed after gathering multiple elements together into a balanced state...'
'Then if I fused Beast Cores of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth together...'
'Wouldn't that produce a Rainbow Beast Core?'
Ethan's eyes immediately lit up.
But before that, he replied to each of the idiots mocking him, and even posted a screenshot of his Rainbow Beast Core inventory.
[@Everyone: "Do you really think I'm short on your one core?"]
The other Lords: "..."
"My little disciple, what are you sitting here worrying about?"
Nostradamus had just finished observing the stars from atop the Demon Tree. As soon as he came down, he saw Ethan sitting beneath it with an expression that kept changing, so he casually asked.
Hearing Nostradamus's voice, Ethan immediately opened his eyes.
"Master, you came at just the right time. There's something I want to ask you."
"Go ahead."
Nostradamus stroked his stone goat beard.
Only then did Ethan notice that, at some point, Nostradamus had made himself another new stone face.
The new face looked younger and more handsome, and every detail had been carved with remarkable realism. Even the goat beard had been sculpted strand by strand, making him look like a finely crafted stone figurine.
"Here's the thing," Ethan asked, "I want to upgrade something, but I don't have enough Rainbow Beast Cores. So I was wondering if I could fuse some?"
"Fuse them?", Nostradamus stroked his goat beard again, "Now that's an interesting idea. But the question is, how are you planning to fuse them?"
"With the Fusion Tempering Furnace."
There was no need to hide this from Nostradamus.
Aside from the daughter he hadn't seen in hundreds of years, the old man could be said to have no desires whatsoever.
But after hearing this, Nostradamus shook his head.
"No."
"Huh? Why?"
Now it was Ethan's turn to be confused.
He had thought the Fusion Tempering Furnace could fuse anything.
Who would've thought there were things even it couldn't make?
"It's not a problem with the Fusion Tempering Furnace," Nostradamus continued stroking his beard as he explained, "That furnace is one of the greatest treasures in the world of artifact forging. Other than divine artifacts, there's probably nothing it can't fuse. But..."
Crack!
Just then, Nostradamus accidentally applied a little too much force and snapped off his stone goat beard.
Ethan looked at Nostradamus.
Nostradamus looked at Ethan looking at him.
After an awkward silence...
Nostradamus cleared his throat and quietly stuck the stone beard back on.
"Ahem... I'll continue."
"Okay, Master."
"But the five different energies inside a Rainbow Beast Core, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, or what you call the five elemental attributes...", Nostradamus stopped stroking his beard and instead clasped one hand with the other, trying to keep his restless hand under control, "If you use five elemental Beast Cores to fuse a Rainbow Beast Core, the result will most likely be zero."
"Zero? You mean it'll turn into nothing?", Ethan frowned, "Does that mean creating a Rainbow Beast Core from the five elements requires some special condition?"
"Exactly! You're quick to understand."
Nostradamus couldn't help reaching up to stroke his goat beard again.
Crack!
His goat beard immediately snapped off once more.
Afraid they would fall into another awkward silence, Ethan quickly asked, "Master, then how do you create an environment that can produce a balanced Rainbow Beast Core?"
"There are two ways."
Nostradamus finally stopped making things awkward for himself and continued explaining.
"The first is for it to form naturally inside a monster. But that takes a very long time. It also requires the right opportunity, such as a series of internal changes during the monster's growth, or a mutation that causes the Beast Core to condense."
As soon as Ethan heard that, he knew the first method was absolutely impossible for him.
Skip!
"What about the second method?"