Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"Everyone speaks of Mr. Blood with admiration. My life's medical skills have earned their worship, even though Mr. Blood has never appeared in public."

"I can publish any paper and it will be followed by countless people."

"But aside from the pen name Mr. Blood, how many people actually know Warfarin?"

"Why would I abandon my real name and use a pen name? My papers and medical skills are so popular, why are there so few people who truly know me?"

Is it because I am indifferent to fame and fortune?

At this point, she gave a mocking laugh, "Most people in the world are just ordinary folks. In their eyes, how could a Sarkaz or a Blood Demon become a renowned doctor?"

"Do you know what they said about me when I went to study there?"

"Oh my god, she wouldn't steal patients' blood to drink, would she?"

"In their eyes, I became a doctor just to steal blood!"

“This is the vulgar masses,” Warfarin said, looking into Xia Yu’s eyes. “They may never have even seen a Sarkaz in their entire lives, but they can talk about our ‘atrocities’ with great relish over tea.”

“I’m not a great person, I can’t change these things,” she laughed self-deprecatingly, “I can’t change people’s prejudices.”

"But at least, I can be a cornerstone. I can use my medical skills to change the situation where the Sarkaz are losing their lives to Oripathy every year."

"At least that's what I thought when I went to study medicine."

“But looking back now, and thinking about all those years,” Warfarin said, bowing her head, “I haven’t been able to achieve even a fraction of what I had back then.”

"I can not be reconciled!"

“I know that Kal'tsit is always mysterious, but she definitely knows more than I do. Since she says that the path of the Deep Sea Hunter is a dead end, then it probably is.”

"But I'm not willing to accept this..."

"Over the years, what have I accomplished besides a little bit of empty fame?"

“Even if what you say is very touching,” Xia Yu said, stepping forward and patting Warfarin on the shoulder, “I will not help you obtain the blood.”

"Ha," Warfarin looked up and glanced at him, "After all I've said, don't you feel anything at all?"

“I do have some feelings,” Xia Yu smiled, “but when I get to the point, I don’t know what to say.”

"After all, you don't seem to need any comforting."

"Who said I don't need it?" Warfarin gently slapped his hand away and pouted. "I'm a girl too, okay? Why don't I need comforting?"

Xia Yu smiled but did not reply.

He knew that Warfarin was mostly telling the truth.

She probably knew that the path of a deep-sea hunter was truly a dead end.

Otherwise, with her abilities, she really wouldn't be able to do anything to Skadi.

Even if we don't say we'll defeat her, we can at least make her bleed a little.

Don't forget, she's a blood demon who's lived for who knows how long.

But her flawed plan when she attacked Skadi... probably meant she really didn't place her hopes on the Deepsea Hunter.

That's why Skadi didn't do anything to her, but instead played along with her in this farce.

Deep down, Titi is a gentle person.

137mm Giant Cannon!

“Hey, let me tell you,” Nian lay on the sofa, looking dejected, and patted the crimson spear beside him, “Making that thing is going to be really difficult for you. Luckily, I haven’t lost my skills over the years, otherwise you’d probably have to wait several more months to see the finished product.”

"The feel isn't bad," Xia Yu picked up the spear from beside her, waved it casually, and nodded in satisfaction.

The Spear that Pierces Death Thorns (GáeBolg) is, of course, just a replica, used by Xia to hold treasures.

Although I have accumulated some wealth, I still need to save where I can. Having a vessel to load the pseudo-spirit origin and release a Noble Phantasm using the Holy Grail is always better than having none at all.

Of course, this only applies to some common Noble Phantasms. Others, such as Ea, Maana the Sky Boat, and Karna's Spear, would probably not save much even if there were replicas.

However, in Terra, those world-destroying treasures are generally unnecessary; the Thorn Piercer is enough to easily defeat most people.

Of course, commissioning the legendary blacksmith Nian to create weapons also had the idea of ​​filling the Gate of Babylon.

After all, such a large warehouse can't just be left empty forever, right? Although it's unlikely that they'll have a warehouse full of Noble Phantasms and treasures like Gilgamesh did, they still need a few weapons to make it look impressive.

However, Xia Yu did consider making drastic changes.

If Gilgamesh, that rich guy, can't learn how to use his Noble Phantasm to smash people, then perhaps a different approach might work.

For example, he once saw a photoshopped image online where the golden ripples of the Gate of Babel no longer shot out one magical weapon after another, but hundreds or thousands of AKs.

Just thinking about it is exciting.

Of course, forget about AKs in Terra, and regular firearms don't seem to be very powerful either.

The most powerful firearms are almost all in Laterano; they don't export them at all.

But if we look at it another way, does it have to be a firearm?

Terra has things like city defense cannons...

Install hundreds of city defense cannons in the King's Treasury, and then, with a wave of his hand in front of the army, all those cannons will fire at once.

Just thinking about it is exciting.

After obtaining the knock-off version of the Gate of Babylon, Xia Yu has been trying to figure out how to use it.

The idea for the city defense cannon came to me when I visited a phonograph studio in Letania.

However, this isn't something you can just think of and use immediately. To make the city defense cannons automatically fire and reload in the Gate of Babylon, someone still needs to do some serious modifications.

The most suitable candidate I could think of was Rhodes Island's chief engineer, the unscrupulous merchant Kroos.

Don't let her money-grubbing appearance fool you; just look at her medical vehicle and guard vehicle, and you'll know she's quite skilled in those areas.

Rhodes Island's ability to thrive on this land today is inseparable from the maintenance and repair work done by her and her team of engineers.

“I’m telling you, even though I don’t use spears much, I can tell that your technique is completely amateurish,” Nian, who was lying on the sofa, couldn’t help but speak up as he watched Xia Yu casually wield the weapon he had painstakingly crafted.

"Even if you find a few reserve operators who are skilled with long guns, they would probably be more proficient than you."

"Isn't that normal?" Xia Yu replied matter-of-factly to her question. "I've never learned how to use a spear. Everyone has their own expertise. It's perfectly normal for others to be more skilled than me."

"Then why do you want me to make this spear for you?" Nian paused for a moment, then seemed to realize something and exclaimed, "Oh, you want to learn how to pass the time from scratch, right?"

"How could I forget that? You are also an immortal being."

After she finished speaking, she recalled the huge pile of blueprints that Xia Yu had given her, and felt that something was amiss.

The blueprints included all sorts of weapons—swords, spears, halberds, and so on. Did he plan to learn all these weapons at once?

“Others use spears as guards,” Xia Yu casually put the Piercing Thorn Spear (replica) into the Gate of Babylon, and said leisurely, “But I’ve taken a spear, hmm, maybe I can be a sniper?”

That's right, he doesn't intend to use the Piercing Thorn Spear in melee combat; it's purely a projectile.

"Do whatever you want," Nian shrugged and said, "It's your weapon anyway."

"Just remember our deal and don't renege on it."

“It’s impossible for me to renege on my debt,” Xia Yu smiled and said, “But what exactly do you want me to do? You only said it was related to your sister?”

“It’s nothing really,” Nian sighed, raising his head with a worried expression. “You know how evil you are to those ghostly things.”

“I have a younger sister, a real one. I haven’t seen her for many years. She just hid away because she was afraid of those ghosts.”

"She's been out of the public eye for so many years, she's probably developed social anxiety, but it doesn't seem very responsible to just pull her out of her own world like this."

“But then you appeared,” Nian said, her previous worried expression vanishing as she smiled and put her hand on Xia Yu’s shoulder. “It’s not easy. After all these years, I’ve finally found a chance to cure my poor sister’s social anxiety.”

"The moment you fasten that chain around her, the things she fears will be immediately blocked out."

"When the time comes, she'll finally see the light at the end of the tunnel after being afraid and locking herself in her room all these years, and she'll definitely cry and beg to come with you!"

"Oh, by the way, do you want a wife? We're all immortal beings like you, and our family doesn't ask for a dowry. We'll give you a beautiful woman for free..."

"Stop, stop," Xia Yu quickly interrupted, "How did the topic get so off-topic? Is this about a wife? Why are you talking about matchmaking?"

He looked at the smiling Nian with a wary expression.

Ha, you make it sound so easy. All that rambling and eloquent talk is just a way to trick me into helping you fight aging, isn't it?

While it's not entirely impossible, well...

That's a god, after all! A god that you twelve brothers and sisters had to work together to recreate!

Need more money!

For example, the weapons used to fight against evil spirits on the border of the Great Yan, well, you should know about them by now, right?

“You don’t even want a wife who’s given away for free,” Nian sighed, patting Xia Yu’s shoulder. “What, one isn’t enough?”

"I do have a few sisters..."

"Don't give me that nonsense," Xia Yu rolled her eyes at her and slapped away the hand that was on her shoulder.

Haha, after all this talk, you're still just a sister who's far away. Why don't you go and be one yourself?

What, trying to get something for nothing?

“I know what you want,” Xia Yu said slowly, taking a sip of tea. “You don’t need to bring up the topic of sisters.”