CHAPTER 28: WORK AND THE PAST
To put it simply, sharpening a weapon was actually quite simple. Normally, people would prepare a sharpening stone and a damp cloth. They would put the sharpening stone in a bucket of water and use the cloth to hold it in place before starting to sharpen. Keeping the sharpening stone underwater helped prevent the metal particles produced during sharpening from sticking to the tiny gaps on the surface of the stone, which would cause it to lose its roughness and make it unable to sharpen properly. In particular, if the metal dust filled those gaps, it could also make the surface of the axe blade uneven and deformed, reducing its durability. But 198's situation was different. He had an entire gigantic stone tree to sharpen against. Whenever one spot was no longer rough enough, he could simply move to another spot, so he could sharpen it dry without needing water.
Holding the axe, 198 began sharpening it. According to 198's memories, the axe blade should be held at an angle of about 15 degrees while sharpening. This time, instead of holding the handle, he held the newly repaired blade itself and began sharpening. Unlike the wooden spear from before, the feeling was quite different. Perhaps because this was his first time doing this, his hands felt awkward and unfamiliar with the movement, but 198 continued anyway. After a while, as the muscles in his hands began getting used to the movement, each stroke became smoother.
Every ten strokes on one side of the axe blade, 198 switched to the other side and repeated the process. He kept doing this over and over until the surface of the stone tree was covered with black dust produced from grinding down the blade made from the monster's teeth. Once that area was no longer rough enough for sharpening, 198 finally stopped.
He looked at the axe blade.
Now it was increasingly beginning to resemble a real axe blade rather than a collection of sharp pieces or teeth attached together to imitate one.
198 walked over to the blood-grass plain. Using his knife, he cut a handful of blood grass and brought it back to the branch and his fruit axe. He placed the grass against the surface of the trunk and used the blunt side of the axe to repeatedly pound it. After about twenty strikes, the grass began to turn into a crushed mess and release a red liquid that looked like blood. Its smell was also as fishy as blood, clinging to the surface of the branch's bark before flowing down toward the ground.
198 used the core of the newly sharpened axe blade to collect the drops of blood-grass liquid. With his other hand, he grabbed the crushed remains of the blood grass and used them like a rag, wiping away the tooth dust stuck to the axe blade. He wiped both sides of the blade again and again. After about three passes, the tooth dust stuck to the axe blade had been completely wiped away. 198 then moved to another part of the branch that was still rough enough and continued sharpening.
Normally, sharpening a knife or an axe would take around twenty to thirty minutes. But perhaps because the surface of the branch was not rough enough, or because the material of the axe blade was too hard, the sharpening process took an absurdly long time.
It took 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 17 seconds before he finally finished, making the blade genuinely look like an axe blade.
You might wonder how 198 knew the exact amount of time.
The reason was that although 198 had thought Noci constantly talking inside his head would not be a problem, it actually did affect his concentration. To solve this problem, 198 told Noci to count the time second by second inside his head.
Although this occupied some of his brain's capacity, it allowed 198 to concentrate on his work better. He even managed to reach a state of flow. Perhaps some remnants of the fact that 198 had once been a CPU still remained.
Noci said:
“Father, I don't want to do this. It's annoying. Especially because it means I can't keep telling you that I love you.”
198 replied:
“The main purpose of this is to make you stay quiet for a while so I can concentrate better. Since you're going to be quiet, do the job of a clock for me. Also, keep watching that armored tentacle monster.”
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Noci:
“Okay.”
Inside 198's mind, somehow, Noci sent a stream of information containing an emotion that felt like the choked sobbing of a child. Yet it also carried the feeling of a young woman crying while being hanged.
Don't ask why 198 knew what it sounded like.
He didn't know either.
He simply knew.
Even though after reincarnation, 198's mental tendencies had become more masculine than they had been in his previous life, somehow Noci's crying voice was still female.
Strange.
Putting that aside, 198 picked up his new axe and walked toward a tree. Noci was still counting the time inside his head while also watching the armored tentacle monster, which continued staring at 198 without making a sound.
198 needed to test his new fruit axe.
He gripped the axe with both hands, raised it above his head, and swung it downward.
Thump!
The axe blade struck the trunk.
Unlike the branches, the trunk was much harder. Perhaps because the branches had grown later than the trunk, the trunk was much harder. It was so hard that the hand monsters could only gnaw at the outer bark and break branches, but could not break the tree itself.
The efficiency was actually quite good.
He estimated that he only needed another two hundred to two hundred and fifty strikes before the tree would fall. If he wanted to make it safer, instead of cutting at a 90-degree angle, he could cut at a 45-degree angle so that the tree would fall in the opposite direction from him.
That method would probably take around three hundred strikes.
198 calculated silently in his head.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Every thump was another time 198 swung the fruit axe and struck the trunk.
Inside 198's mind, the ticking sound Noci used to count the time began to change. The repeated ticking gradually turned into something resembling music.
An instrumental piece with a steady rhythm.
Noci had transformed the ticking into music.
While listening to that gentle music in a relaxed state of concentration, 198's mind, following its usual habit, began reviewing his memories.
Perhaps because Noci had altered the flow of 198's memories, whenever he remembered his earlier memories now, he felt as though he were experiencing them again.
The memories from his previous life appeared once more.
198 looked at mk201.
At this moment, he was using the appearance of his previous life. Listening to mk201's words, 198 smiled.
“Hmm. It seems you judged correctly. Even though the fundamental nature of my soul is desire, I didn't turn this space or my appearance into something obscene. I only changed my form into this.”
198 looked down at the flesh on his chest.
His body began transforming into another form, a small figure that looked like a twelve-year-old child. Blonde hair. The same clothes, but adjusted to fit the new appearance.
“Sorry for changing into this form instead of a man. You know, I can't. Because the fundamental nature of my soul is existence, my sexual inclination is toward women. I can't transform into a male form, which makes things inconvenient for you.”
Mk201 smiled at 198.
“You don't need to apologize. I'm bisexual anyway, so men and women are both fine. The reason I chose the female form is simply because I like it.”
The two of them had gone off-topic again.
“So why don't we focus on the question and answer it?”
198 said:
“Sorry for going off-topic. The reason I adjusted the pairing so that I would be paired with you instead of the others is because after analyzing the candidates for Saiker on this ship, from mk001 to mk300, you were the one most likely to help me achieve my goal.
Unlike the others, who were often emotionally unstable, you were strangely calm. Part of the reason is that this soul, the soul of my previous life before it was recycled and became what I am now, is connected to your soul.”
Mk201 took a sip of coffee mixed with matcha before speaking.
“Don't just give me an answer for the sake of answering. I asked for the reason, and you just gave me a reason? That's too stiff. You somehow managed to raise the soul compatibility rate to 89%.
What exactly is the connection between our souls?
And why do you keep your eyes closed?”
198 opened his eyes.
They were completely black and lifeless, with nothing inside, completely opposite to the expressive face surrounding them. She opened her mouth and began explaining.
“First, regarding the compatibility rate reaching 89%, I simply modified the soul by adjusting it and only accepting memories that were compatible with it, making them compatible and changing the soul.
The connection between our souls is because our souls were both taken from the same world.
As for why my eyes are closed, the reason is that although I can simulate the existence of consciousness by simulating the nervous-system responses of my previous brain, those things are still fake.
Even though I can move and act as if I have emotions, they are still fake.”
The eyes represented the soul, especially in this space. Therefore, to increase her likability and improve the chances of negotiation, 198 had chosen to keep her eyes closed.
Seeing the distortion in 198's face, mk201 felt uncomfortable.
It was a strange feeling, one that appeared when she realized that something artificial existed behind gestures that had seemed so genuine just moments ago.
“Hey, that's enough. Close your eyes again. It's uncomfortable. And wasn't this supposed to be forbidden? How are you able to do it?”
198 closed her eyes.
“The ship allowed me to.”
Mk201 looked confused.
“The ship? You mean Saiker, the one operating this ship?”
198:
“No. The ship itself allowed me.”
Mk201:
“What????”