Ball of Nothing

Zero might have left Half Moon Village for Endow Hill but the villagers did not let the young doctor take the party away from them with his absence. If anything, they were more fired up.

"The new village head sure knows how to work us hard," Vrald mock-complaint and Gerald rolled his eyes at his friend's remark. There was no real bite behind his words.

"As the stand-in leader of the Technology Research Department, I would like to take the lead in preparing the best gift for Village Head Zero," Raj announced.

Tambolt gave his old friend a scandalised look. "Who made you the stand-in leader? Wiser trusts me more, you're just an assistant!"

Seeing the internal squabbles, Lovina grinned and declared that the Magic Research Department would be the first to finalise their gifts.

"Oh no," Zenobia disagreed with the sneaky witch. "I believe the Business Team will succeed in that. None of you has any connections that we do."

Qin Yun smiled silently at the side and Roovan raised a brow. Connections? Did the Chieftess really want to compare her connections with the Hannya House?

Not one to back down from a challenge, Clowis promptly declared that it's a competition. "The Defence and Security Team will be making a move first. You can continue fighting over who's going to be the first to give Zero his congratulatory gifts but we already know what we're doing."

The cockatrice descendant then turned to his crew and pumped his spear high into the air. "Let's catch the elusive Celophanaur and present it to Zero!"

The Hunters cheered and quickly took their leave. Thankfully, Mitchnew was not present as she had been summoned by the divine doctor for special lessons. If the dark elf was present, she would have rolled her eyes and walked away. how was that any different from a regular feast preparation?

Cleo looked at her Agricultural team and smiled. She had no idea what kind of gift they should prepare for Zero to congratulate him but they all agreed that if Zero could get his hands on medicinal plants for his pill-making experiment, it would make him very happy.

"I guess we should start building the new garden," the dryad mused.

Chowkah agreed with a low groan and set off to work. The Agricultural team took their leave and the other groups followed their example, emptying the village square one at a time.

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Back in the lab, Raj, Tambolt and Hyelin panted heavily, worn out from their battles of shouts and brawling. Wiser wasn't around for their meeting but he did tell them to create a weapon suitable for Zero on his travels. The poor inventor was busy attending something called 'school' at the moment.

All three lab members had several drawings of their proposed weapon idea. In fact, Wiser would be proud of how reasonable some of these ideas sounded when compared to the Pigeon Cannon. However, he would also yell at them for not considering Zero's desired occupation. Why would a doctor have any need for retractable claws fashioned after Werewolf paws?

"The Sushi Roller is the perfect weapon for Zero!" Raj huffed. "Fashioned from magic carpet, it serves a double purpose to sit and fly during travels or wrap around enemies, suffocating them to death. My weapon is perfect and bloodless! Not to mention, it comes with waterproof features. With this, there is no need to worry about pitching tents."

Tambolt huffed at the genie. "Magic carpet my ass! Zero doesn't even need a tent! My mithril pipe is the best. Acts as a telescope as well as a melee weapon. One good swing and even an ogre can be taken out after Lovina enchants it."

Hyelin the pixie raised a brow at the pipe. It was just an ordinary pipe and an ordinary sushi mat built with ridiculous size and materials. The men in the lab lacked serious creativity. Thankfully for her pixie bloodline, Hyelin was able to think out of the box.

"The both of you are too old fashioned!" she complained.

"Why would Zero want to carry such unsightly things on his travels? I propose something more inconspicuous. Besides, a weapon is only good for getting out of a sticky situation. Zero won't be needing such crude objects like that."

Hearing their youngest member point out their flaws, the two older lab members stared at their blueprints. There was truth in what Hyelin said.

"Therefore, I propose this. Behold! Shuriken needles!"

There was a pregnant silence and not even the birds outside made a single noise. The pixie-sylph blinked and decided that maybe it was a bad idea.

"A shuriken needle?" a familiar voice asked, startling all three lab members.

Hyelin was the first to turn around and recognised the old man at once.

"Doctor!"

Hua Tuo smiled. "Hello there, you were having a lively discussion so I decided to listen in on it. Those are some rather interesting weapons. To think that Wiser has already told you about the mission, you're all too overly enthusiastic."

"What brings you here? How is Zero?" Raj asked.

The physician smiled. "Zero's currently training in combat with Mitchnew and Ruth at the moment. I came here to ask a favour of the lab to make Zero's weapon that Ruth and I had finalised after considering Zero's fighting style."

With that, the fight over the best weapon for Zero was concluded. Still, the lab members couldn't help but feel slightly curious about the design. Would it be more magical and practical like Raj's design, more simplistic and sturdy like Tambolt's design or more unique and sneaky like Hyelin's design?

When the design was revealed, all three lab members were stumped. It looked simple and sturdy but was practical and magical. Hyelin was slightly depressed that her unique design of stealth was not included.

"This is a retractable tonfa that will become a walking staff when there is no mana being pushed into it. We require it to also act as a magic staff. There is a ring that is a divine level artefact. King Yama's Ring aids in magic channelling and we wanted Zero to have a weapon for both magic and melee. Please research on how you can fuse a magic artefact into a crafted weapon. At the rate of zero's learning progress, I would give him about three more months before he has completed his training completely. Can you get a prototype up by then?"

The three lab members studied the detailed blueprint and discussed more details with Hua Tuo for the rest of the afternoon.

Back in the abyss, Wiser was brain-drained after taking so many classes at the Academy. He returned to his dormitory and flopped onto the bed when his intergalactic communicator beeped. It was a text message from Tambolt about Zero's newly commissioned weapon from Hua Tuo.

Just as the inventor was about to rest, he jolted wide awake. How does Tambolt have an intergalactic communicator?

The communicator rang and Wiser answered cautiously. "Hello?"

"Wiser, it's us!" Tambolt's loud voice came clearly from over the speakers. The strategist winced at the volume.

"Wait, how did you get a communicator?"

The blacksmith laughed. "We didn't get one, we made one. Lovina helped, We're testing out the uses for magic stones and communicators right now after modelling the magic circle in Hua Tuo's phone. Hey, listen. There is a finalised weapon design that was given to us by the doctor and the vampire. However, we need your opinion. Unlike normal magical devices like the communicators, what do you think about the possibility of fusing a magic artefact into a weapon?"

Wiser raised a brow. "Whose crazy idea is this?"

This time, none of the lab members answered, too afraid as they looked at Hua Tuo who was still present in the room.

"It was mine. Can it or can it not be done?" the doctor asked and Wiser froze.

Carefully thinking of a way to phrase his words, Wiser explained. "Theoretically, it could be done with many difficulties. However, nobody has succeeded before. The reason why magic artefacts are not fused into weapons is that they possess intelligence. It's not something we could simply smelt down and forge together hoping that it would work. Magic weapons often evolve into artefacts on their own after being nurtured by strong users. However, combining an already awakened magic artefact with a brand new weapon is going to be very tricky."

Hua Tuo nodded. He thought so too. However, it has to be done. Zero cannot wear a ring that can be easily be recognised by others. Using the ring as a power source was also out of the question because it could only be powered by King Yama. Zero would only use it as a medium for mana channelling and having to focus pouring mana into the ring while fighting with combat is going to be impossible. It's like asking Zero to sew six different stitch patterns at the same- oh wait. Hua Tuo felt conflicted. If there was anyone who would be able to easily defy common standards, that would be Zero. Who knew if Zero would be able to fight using combat and magic at the same time with different mediums?

Hua Tuo shook his head at the thought. No, he shouldn't be thinking like this. Even though his student was very capable, it is his duty as a teacher to provide the best for his apprentice so that he may succeed and surpass him.

Wiser groaned. "The Academy might have a few ways to help me with this. However, I don't think you should get your hopes up. Creating a fusion is hard and near impossible even if we had a divine weapon. The stronger the tier of magic and wills, the more stubborn the personality. I could find a way to help the artefact and weapon coexist using some form of contract but that's about it for now."

The physician heard it and nodded. A contract would work too as long as the ring is hidden. Zero should not be seen wearing a ring as powerful as that. Although that was true, the main reason was that Zero was far too young to be committed. A ring would deter any girls from approaching Zero and Hua Tuo wanted his apprentice to also experience romance during his travels. It didn't matter if it was puppy love or something small, life was all about going through the ups and downs. Little did he know that Zero wasn't interested in any sole individual as much as the existence of life itself.

"Please update me on what you manage to find," the physician told Wiser before letting the lab members take over with the conversation.

As Wiser listened to the crazy rambles of his lab mates, he began to question how any of them were able to make ingenious inventions. However, for some reason, Wiser was beginning to feel like a huge weight had come off his shoulders. Listening to his friends argue about the law of gunpowder usage helped relax him despite the ruckus.

Wiser was living in the old dormitory room that Beelzebub and Zero once shared for a brief period. Nobody else was sharing it with him this time because Lord Baal had specifically requested that Wiser had VIP treatment and was allowed to have active magic barriers activated while he was in the Academy. Lucifer allowed it because Wiser was a human and while many demons were curious and supportive of coexistence with humans, there were still some who harboured hatred for them.

Slowly but sure, as the arguments escalated, Wiser found his eyes getting heavier. It didn't take very long before the tired student fell asleep with the sound of explosions in the background coming from his communicator. It was also the first time in weeks that Wiser finally relaxed enough to fall into a deep sleep.