Ball of Nothing

A few days passed peacefully at the foot of Endow Hill. Mitchnew enjoyed spending time with the young doctor. It brought her great joy simply chatting with the apprentice in training. Zero proved to be more intelligent than anyone else thought he would be. Despite being young and inexperienced, the teenager was able to quickly grasp difficult concepts. However, the dark-elf realised that Zero fumbled a lot around whatever involved Mathematics.

The ex-assassin took it upon herself to keep Zero occupied. Unknown to Zero, both his teachers were busy making huge preparations. They would often go behind closed doors and discuss things for hours before emerging totally worn. Zero wondered why he wasn't allowed to listen in on their discussions and Mitchnew gently explained to him that it was a teacher's thing. The young doctor simply accepted it and asked no further, respecting their privacy much to the seamstress' surprise. She thought that he might actually throw a fuss over it and demand to be kept informed.

Zero might act childishly and sometimes like a spoilt child at times but Mitchnew found out it was due to the coddling in his upbringing ever since he'd regained his consciousness. The Great Gods were slowly but surely losing Mitchnew's respect as she got to know more. In fact, the ex-assassin was wondering if having Truen around was a good idea. In comparison, she thought that Demon Lord Baal was a better guardian and friend. At least he didn't give in to Zero so easily and lectured him when the teenager was wrong.

"Ouch!" Zero quickly pulled back as the needle pricked him for the nth number of times. Although he wasn't getting any better with the fine needlework practices, Zero was slowly getting the hang of fixing his messes with automatic healing magic.

Mitchnew didn't even flinch. She didn't smell blood this time, unlike the first two hours during their very first practice. Zero had been impatient and wanted to complete the task as quickly as possible. The teen tried his best to keep to the even spacing as told when doing basic basting stitch. However, some of them were too long and others too short. Mitchnew didn't say anything about his first needlework but Zero felt bad about it. The dark elf and pat his head gently and went through the areas that Zero needed to improve on.

For the whole day, Zero meditated lightly while he worked on perfecting his basic stitches. Mitchnew taught him all six basic stitching patterns - Running Stitch, Basting Stitch, Cross Stitch, Back Stitch, Blanket Stitch and Slip Stitch. Hua Tuo overheard their lessons and didn't comment on it. To be honest, Zero doesn't need to master all the fancy embroidery techniques to perform traditional surgery. It didn't matter how ugly the surgeon's needlework was, as long as they could close up the huge wound with threads that wouldn't tangle until the body can heal itself up, it was good enough. Removing the stitches would be easier than stitching cut up flesh together. However, he didn't stop the dark elf from imparting her skills. His apprentice looked very determined to perfect the craft so Hua Tuo was more than happy to allow it to occupy his student.

While Zero focussed on improving the accuracy and speed of his needlework, Mitchnew was listening to the teachers' conversation.

"I don't want him killing," Hua Tuo was firm about it.

Ruth nodded. He could understand. This was for self-defence. Although it wasn't his speciality to work on the defence, the Roth vampire was an experienced combat veteran. using the sleepless nights to practice and think, the vampire managed to pull together a style that would suit Zero greatly. Using the teen's medical knowledge and Hua Tuo's suggestion to borrow the art called Tai Ji of his previous world, Ruth finally created a style that could be fought bare-handed and with a customised weapon that was easily available anywhere.

"I looked through all your suggestions for weapons that were non-lethal. Many of them looked promising but inconvenient. You mentioned that Zero would be constantly on the move, travelling from place to place and maybe even through dimensions. As such, I wanted to use materials easily obtained from any environment to create on short notice if Zero's weapon is broken, lost or stolen in a fight. This is my weapon of choice."

Hua Tuo took a look at the sketch made by the vampire. It wasn't easy for Ruth to understand the uses of many weapons Hua Tuo suggested. However, the physician was impressed. Although the Roth Vampires didn't really use many weapons, the Roth survivor was still able to grasp their fundamentals very easily.

The Sage God had initially recommended using a set of acupuncture needles as weapons but Ruth disagreed. Zero might be a master of poison, medicine and acupressure points but that method of fighting just proved too scary. Anything could happen during a fight and acupuncture needles weren't infinite. Ruth worried about the resources and agreed that while it was a good idea, that should never be Zero's main weapon.

If anything, the vampire thought that the staff similar to Grandma Moppo's walking staff was the best choice. However, there was a concern about the flexibility of the weapon. The staff was a mid-ranged weapon and would only prove cumbersome in a close-range battle. Ruth wanted something that was retractable. Also, he knew that Zero was a caster. They might have to talk to some people if they wanted that staff to be both a melee and magic weapon. According to Hua Tuo, Zero received something from King Yama that served the same purpose of magic channelling. Even Merlin approved of its quality so if the lab members were able to somehow fuse it into his new weapon design, Zero would have the perfect weapon.

Mii listened silently in a corner of the room. She was attending the meeting on behalf of Wiser who was tasked by the Great Gods to create Zero's weapon. So far, she found the proposal to be good. However, there was one issue.

"Where will you get the materials for such a staff? King Yama's ring is a treasure and no ordinary wood will be able to fuse with it. It has to be something like a branch from the Tree of Life or Gaia's branch."

Ruth and Hua Tuo fell silent. Mii had a good point. They stared at the drawing of a retractable tonfa that transforms into a walking stick in the non-combat mode. The concept was great but nobody had answers to it.

"If we're lucky maybe Lord Mammon has something from the auction-"

Mii sighed before Hua Tuo could complete his sentence. "If you want the tonfa to grow, it requires life magic. Do you really think that the auction house would have something like that?"

The strawcherry was feeling frustrated. She'd checked with Coux before this and Wiser. There were two main concerns about developing such a weapon. Firstly, Coux didn't have the resources to make a Godly Tiered weapon. Wiser was also unconfident about fusing the magic ring into the crafted weapon. King Yama's power was strong and that ring was something that King Yama had nurtured in the Purgatory for a very long time. Even if they had the resources, Wiser didn't know if his lab members would be able to craft such a thing. Theoretically, they could. However, there were many uncertain factors when dealing with Godly Artefacts.

Still, Hua Tuo wasn't disheartened. The physician had a thoughtful expression on his face that gave Ruth some hope.

"It might be possible. If you're talking about branches from trees of the Godly Tier, we have a few in Heaven. They're just in a little bit of trouble right now. Nobody knows where the next Tree of Life is going to be found at but the last Tree of Life was found right here on Endow Hill. If someone could revive the withered Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, that would be another good tree to use. I also think that Gaia would not mind giving us one of her branches if it is for Zero."

Mii frowned. "How do you know that it will work? Such a magic imbued weapon doesn't yet exist in this world. Magic weapons crafted by dwarven smiths are usually carved by elven mages with runes. They require prayer power to work. Magic wands are blessed branches that spirits reside in. Not much crafting is done there. Nobody has ever made a magic channelling wand on this new Earth. They were things from Merlin's world when they were still working on elements and the philosopher's stone."

Ruth didn't know what Mii was talking about but Hua Tuo understood. By creating such a thing, it would be a major technological breakthrough for this world. When that happens, there would be ambitious people who will try to challenge the higher authorities. The war between humans and Gods might happen again.

The discussion was interrupted by Zero's shout.

"I did it!" Zero whooped in joy. Ruth couldn't help but be curious. What was his student up to this time?

Mitchnew looked amused as Zero continued to draw invisible lines in the air. The needles and cloth were held up using magic and there were six different projects going on at the same time. Ruth let his jaw all open at the ridiculous sight. Just when he thought things would finally settle down into something similar to normal, Zero had to pull off another logic-shattering way of doing ordinary things.

"Oh, you're done? Check this out! I might only have two hands but with this, I can do six different kinds of training at the same time!"

Hua Tuo deadpanned. Leave it to Zero to try to automate his menial tasks. What's the point of training into the traditional way of surgery when you had a student who could simply magic up a solution? The Sage God didn't understand. Why couldn't his student simply do things the way it was normally done? Why would he ask Zero to learn to stitch if he was still suing magic in the end? Might as well tell Zero to use healing magic to heal it all up instead.

At this point, the physician didn't know who was worse. Baal might have influenced his student too much and taught Zero how to be lazy in a more creative way. It was unacceptable.

With a resigned sigh, Hua Tuo gave up and left to prepare lunch. At least this time, Zero wasn't causing him any trouble. That was improvement already and Hua Tuo counted his blessings.

"Who wants dumpling noodles for lunch?" he asked and immediately, Zero requested for three servings and a side of extra dumplings.

Annoyed, Hua Tuo snapped at his lazy disciple to set up the waterwheel if he wanted to eat. The physician was only further triggered when he didn't see Zero move from his spot but heard the waterwheel behind being put to work.

Was there nothing that Zero would do manually now? The Sage God couldn't believe it. Still, he couldn't deny that it was extremely convenient. If he had the ability to use magic as Zero did, he would have done the same. Sadly, he could only blame his mortal body for only possessing meridian channels. If only cultivators were able to pull off such tricks, Hua Tuo would never have to hand make all his dumplings.

Mitchnew saw the dark cloud of gloom over the physician's head and decided to lend him a hand as the old man looked very lonely making dumplings by himself in the corner. Ruth had long excused himself to hunt and forage for ingredients. He might not have stayed long in this humble abode but he was already familiar with Hua Tuo's house rules. Those who didn't work didn't get to eat. Now that he had the Strong Stomach skill, he'd be damned if he missed out on any meals.