Chapter 96
Su Jing stood in the open space in the center of the living room, away from the furniture and heating pipes. A dark fireproof mat was temporarily laid out on the ground—she had the housekeeping robot fetch it specifically to avoid accidentally damaging the villa's facilities when testing her superpowers.
She raised her hand and scanned the system panel to confirm that the "Ore Control Ability" status was "Activated, current proficiency 1%" before taking a deep breath and focusing her mind on her personal space.
The next second, a bright yellow light slowly emerged from the void—it was a piece of gold crystal ore weighing about 2.5 kilograms, with a warm metallic luster, and the surface still had fine gold powder left in the vein, like being wrapped in a layer of flowing starlight.
The gold crystal ore did not fall to the ground, but hovered 1 meter in front of Su Jing, rotating slightly, as if being pulled by invisible threads.
Su Jing could clearly feel the connection between her mind and the ore, as if she were holding an invisible rope. She could accurately perceive every slight tremor of the ore, and even "see" the evenly distributed energy patterns inside the ore.
"First, define the outline of the dagger." Su Jing murmured to herself. With a slight thought, the suspended gold crystal ore immediately stopped rotating, and its edges began to shrink in accordance with her intention—
The originally irregular blocky ore, like wax melting in warm water, slowly outlined the general shape of the dagger: about 25 centimeters in total length, with the blade accounting for 15 centimeters and the handle accounting for 10 centimeters. The lines were smooth and without any stiffness.
There was no sound during the process, only a bright yellow light that rippled slightly with the shaping, as if the mineral itself was actively responding to the changes in intention.
Next came refining the cutting edge. Su Jing focused her mind on one end of the ore, and the originally rounded edge gradually became thinner and sharper, as if it were being repeatedly polished by countless invisible whetstones. The curvature of the cutting edge was precisely controlled at 15 degrees, ensuring both sharpness and preventing it from being too thin and easily broken.
She can even adjust the thickness of the blade with her mind, gradually transitioning from 5 millimeters at the base to 1 millimeter at the tip, with a cut as smooth as if it were cut by a precision instrument, without a single burr.
Finally, there's the detail of the handle. Thinking about the comfort of everyday grip, Su Jing gently pressed her mind on the handle, instantly carving three evenly deep anti-slip grooves. The grooves curved along the curve of the knuckles, each about 3 millimeters wide and 1 millimeter deep, just enough to hold the fingers in place.
The handle also has a specially designed circular hanging hole at the end, making it easy to hang on a belt later. The whole process is seamless and takes no more than 1 minute. An irregular piece of gold crystal ore is transformed into an exquisite metal dagger.
The dagger hovered in mid-air, its bright yellow blade gleaming with a cold light. The anti-slip texture on the handle was clearly visible under the light. It weighed just right in the hand—about 1.8 kilograms, neither too light to be powerful nor too heavy to hinder its swing.
Su Jing gripped the knife hilt, her fingertips able to feel the unique coolness of the gold crystal, yet it wasn't piercing; instead, it carried a gentle energy, completely different from the ordinary metals she had encountered before.
"It's time to test its sharpness." Su Jing gestured to the housekeeping robot "Chef 1" to hand over a spare low-carbon steel plate—2 centimeters thick, which was originally intended to reinforce the villa's doors and windows, and its hardness far exceeds that of ordinary metals.
Holding the golden dagger, she aimed it at the steel plate and made a light, effortless cut. Without any resistance, a soft "sizzle" was heard, and the steel plate instantly split open with a clean cut. The cut was so smooth that it reflected the dagger's bright yellow light. There were no metal shavings like those from a regular knife, only fine metal powder falling with the cut.
She then retrieved the iron rod that had fallen from Jack's team earlier—a solid iron rod with a diameter of 3 centimeters, which had previously been barely broken with a laser gun.
Su Jing raised the golden crystal dagger, aimed it at the middle of the iron rod, and with a slight flick of her wrist, the dagger sliced through the iron rod as easily as cutting butter. With a "crack," the iron rod snapped in two, the break clean and without any deformation—even neater than a break made by a laser gun.
The iron rod broken by the laser gun will have slight char marks, while the cut made by the gold crystal dagger will only have a cold, hard metallic luster, with no obvious change in temperature.
"It's really comparable to a laser knife." Su Jing was delighted and tested it several more times: cutting through thick canvas and slicing through hard rocks (which the robot used to need a drill to penetrate), the Golden Crystal Dagger handled them all with ease. The blade showed no wear at all, and after slicing through the rocks, the bright yellow luster of the blade became even stronger, as if it had absorbed the trace metal elements in the rocks.
After testing its sharpness, Su Jing began to check the stability of her ability. She used her mind to make the dagger spin in mid-air, sometimes turning it into a short blade, sometimes lengthening the blade, and even tried to carve simple patterns on the blade—the bright yellow gold crystals changed flexibly with her thoughts, without a single stutter, and the consumption of mental energy was less than expected: after continuously shaping and testing for half an hour, her mental energy was only consumed by 20%, which could be recovered in a few minutes of rest, which was more than enough for daily use.
"My powers are fully usable." Su Jing put away the golden crystal dagger, letting it float back to the "power materials area" in her space, feeling much more at ease. She walked to the window, wiped away the thin frost on the glass, and looked at the still dense snowflakes outside—
The outdoor temperature was still -62℃, but with her mineral-controlling abilities, she could not only make weapons, but also repair the metal parts of the villa, reinforce its defenses, and even use the minerals to make parts for heating equipment, giving her an extra layer of confidence in surviving the apocalypse.
The housekeeping robot "Chef 2" brought a cup of hot milk, and the screen displayed "Current indoor temperature 22.5℃, sufficient coal in the heating furnace, no abnormalities detected."
Su Jing took the milk, her gaze falling on the "Number One Store in the World" icon on the system panel—
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