Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1720 Thunder
“Well, that’s a long story,” Shangluo explained. “This thing is actually a ‘Greek symbol.’ The corresponding symbol is the Golden Bough, which is the symbol of Rome, and the Spear of Apollo is the symbol of Egypt. So this Greek symbol belongs to the gods.”

In Greek mythology, Zeus was the god of the gods, and his image was that of a spear in his left hand and an orb in his right. This meaning was later extended to mean that the spear of lightning symbolized Zeus's divine power, while the orb symbolized Zeus's dominance in the secular world.

Both of these originate from Hephaestus, the god of forging—in Greek mythology, it was not the king of the gods who distributed power among them, but the god of forging. The artifacts of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all came from him, and were distributed by the god of forging.

Then, due to the generational change in the Greek pantheon: in post-Greek mythology, Dionysus, the god of rebirth, became the new king of the gods, and the artifacts that belonged to Zeus now belonged to Dionysus.

Because the artifacts of the Greek gods were not forged by the gods themselves, but by the god of forging, even when these artifacts, which symbolized the power of the gods, came into the hands of Dionysus, their function remained unchanged: the god-king's role was to strike thunder, which is the underlying premise of Greek mythology.

"Wait a minute," Zhu Xianxi noticed something, "So the problem isn't with you, is it with the God of Forging?"

"That's right." Shangluo suddenly realized, "That's right! The Greek artifacts weren't forged by themselves; they had to go to the god of forging! Looks like I'm not a hindrance."

He glanced at the food in front of him—his appetite had vanished because the stress was gone.

"Ah, I'm full."

"Hey, hey, eat some more, you've worked so hard." Zhu Xianxi started wrapping vegetables for him again. This time he wasn't going to pretend anymore. He wrapped three lettuce leaves into a ball, like a shumai, and handed it to Shang Luo. "You've worked so hard, you should eat more."

But I can't eat anymore.

"You won't listen to my advice? Fine. Then I'll have Zhu Ling come and keep you company?"

"No, no, no, I'll eat, I'll eat." Shang Luo was a little scared. He wasn't afraid of Zhu Ling, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to refuse if Zhu Ling fed him.

“Hey, that’s right, eat more. You work hard and it takes a lot of energy—I don’t do that when I eat with other people, except when Zhu Ling was little I would put food on her plate. When Zhu Ling was this age, I didn’t put food on her plate.”

"Thank you then."

"Of course, of course, you've worked hard," Zhu Xianxi replied. "Besides, what's it to me serving you food? Like I said before, you have to get some proper compensation, otherwise I'll feel guilty—have you and Zhu Ling been going on blind dates regularly?"

"Does this even need to be rushed?"

"Of course, this is a very important step in fulfilling my promise to you. Zhu Ling is so cute, I haven't wronged you, have I?"

"We're having a matchmaking session, we're having a matchmaking session."

"Tsk." Zhu Xianxi shook his head. "I'm not rushing you, you two have plenty of time. I was thinking that if you don't plan to get married anytime soon, I need to find another way to repay you. Well, it's nothing else, I've refined two immortal pills here."

"???"

[Maru, your merits are too great to be rewarded with anything but death; you must be given the ultimate reward.]

"Ah, don't misunderstand, this thing is made with heavy metals, it's not edible."

"You scared me!"

"Here, you keep these for now." Zhu Xianxi took the two golden pills out of his pocket. "I was planning to keep them for myself. Here, take them." Although they were called golden pills, they were actually the size of ball bearings, making it impossible to swallow them with your mouth. They felt heavy in your hand, and surprisingly, holding both together felt quite comfortable, like using exercise balls.

"Hey," Shangluo reached out and started spinning it around, "It's actually quite fun."

He realized that this thing was impossible to break no matter how hard he squeezed it. For a celestial being like him, if he were to squeeze any other small object, he could easily crush it to pieces. This [Golden Core] was perfect; at least he couldn't break it no matter how hard he squeezed it.

Zhu Xianxi really had nothing else to give him—after all, a sister isn't something you can just give away. But some things can only be given to Shangluo after they become relatives; otherwise, it's against etiquette and would be harming him.

However, he always remembers Shangluo when he has something delicious or fun to do; he's always been like that from the beginning.

"You can keep this golden pill as a plaything. Or you can use it for other purposes."

"So, what is this?"

“A kind of elixir,” Zhu Xianxi replied. “This is the Nine-Turn Golden Pill that was refined in the Heaven and Earth Furnace for forty-nine days some time ago.”

"Huh? This isn't edible?"

"Yes, it can't be eaten. It might have medicinal properties, but there are too many random things inside, and it's so hard that you can't even measure how hard it is. Anyway, since it's already been made, I can't just throw it away, so I took it out and made it into a toy to play with."

"Could this material be divine chromium? Senior brother, you've succeeded?!"

Divine chromium, a mysterious metal imbued with divine power. In the past, only Dao Ancestors could provide it, but now Zhu Xianxi, who has advanced to the Celestial Realm, seems to be able to refine it as well, which represents a significant step forward for him in the Dao of Alchemy.

"Sigh," Zhu Xianxi sighed, "There should actually be some in here, but I don't know how much. And after it's been refined, it becomes a solid mass, making it impossible to detect. That's why I said this stuff can't be eaten. I don't even know what it is; eating it might cause problems."

"Wow, this looks incredibly powerful! How was this thing made?"

“I used the technique of 'Yao Bian' in alchemy to process it—the base is gold. So if I had to name it, it should be called Yao Jin. But I don’t know what it is now. As I just said, the instruments can’t detect it.”

Even metal detectors typically detect metal through electromagnetic reactions. But this piece of metal doesn't respond to any external changes.

"Good heavens!" Shang Luo exclaimed in surprise, "This thing is that powerful?"

"Yeah, and its performance is even more outrageous than I thought. Try tapping it."

Shangluo tried tapping it with his finger—and he understood what Zhu Xianxi meant:

This thing doesn't vibrate at all because external forces can't cause it to deform.

Shangluo looked at the floor. He suddenly had an urge to throw the ball on the ground—

"Hey! Don't throw it around! This thing doesn't vibrate, but it's incredibly powerful when it hits the ground. I accidentally dropped it on the table earlier, and it shattered the floor tiles. Be careful when you play with it. Don't blame me if you break anything!"

(End of this chapter)