Chapter 173 The player said: Let there be light!
"Shanks, Shanks?" Vale waved in front of Shanks. "Why are you suddenly spacing out? Are you half asleep?"
Shanks looked up at Violet, a thousand words stuck in his throat, finally turning into a soft sigh: "My arm."
"An arm, ah, your arm has grown back?" Violet nodded affirmatively. "That's a good thing, Shanks."
No, it's bizarre that someone's severed arm suddenly grew back after they took a nap!
Shanks looked at Vale, and a sudden realization dawned on him: "So the doctor who treated Whitebeard a few years ago really was you!"
Anyone who isn't a pirate who just escaped from Impel Down and is completely clueless about the maritime situation should be familiar with the doctor who rose to fame a few years ago. Because of the amazing healing effects shown on Newgate, the Navy, the World Government, and the pirates have never given up searching for her all these years.
Even Hongo, who had seen a blond-haired, spirited figure standing on the bow of the Moby Dick from afar, remained expressionless as he commented on the treatment results—it seemed more like magic than medicine.
At this moment, feeling his regrown left arm, Shanks confirmed the judgment of the Red-Haired Pirates' Good Doctor in the state of worldview reconstruction.
It was truly amazing, like magic.
As Shanks thought about it, he tore off the left cuff and looked at his upper arm with a hint of helplessness.
Hmm? No?
The muscles on his upper arms were full and smooth, and his skin had the rugged honey color of a seaman. There were a few marks left from sleeping on his arms, but other than that, there were no other scars or the pattern that consisted of a circle and two lines with black hearts at the top that intersected vertically from the center.
Shanks' previously tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and he breathed a sigh of relief, dismissing his nascent speculation that the ancient ruins were a trap set by the World Government.
Fortunately, the pattern didn't appear along with his arm, otherwise he would have had to find a way to lose his arm again.
One instance could be explained by negligence or an accident, but breaking off in the same place twice is too suspicious. However, that mark appeared after Captain Roger disbanded his pirate crew, returned to Mary Geoise to pursue the truth, and then broke with his biological father and left.
That symbol has intricate connections with the World Government and the Knights of God, and Shanks dares not let such a ticking time bomb stay on his person.
Fortunately, while the magical tent in Violet allowed his severed limbs to regenerate, it did not cause the mark to reappear.
Indeed, as a former left-handed swordsman, Shanks had quite a few scars on his arm, but all of them have now disappeared. Since the scars didn't appear together, the mark that was left later naturally wouldn't appear automatically as the arm grew.
Shanks clenched his fist. Apart from the stiffness from not using it for a long time, the bone and muscle condition of this arm was perfect.
Valerie's gaze was involuntarily drawn to those honey-colored muscles as she stared at Shanks.
“Shanks.” Violet raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You don’t even have armpit hair.”
"Pfft! Cough cough cough!!!"
Shanks choked on his own saliva, his face turning red. He looked at Val with horror, unable to believe that she had just said such a thing.
But Valerie felt her surprise was quite reasonable. Look at Shanks' legs under those floral shorts; this guy clearly doesn't have any good hair care habits.
So Shanks, despite his exposed leg hair, secretly shaves his armpits in the captain's cabin bathroom in the middle of the night?
Violet thought this was unreasonable, but then she thought about it and realized that Shanks only has leg hair because it would be visible, while armpit hair is not normally visible, so the modeler simply didn't bother to model it and just canceled it?
Wait, if that's the case... uh, speaking of which, Shanks clearly has red hair, so why is his leg hair black? Shouldn't they be the same color normally? Did he dye his hair or his leg hair? Shanks' public title is Red-Haired, so his hair color is probably real. So, did he dye his leg hair?
Perhaps after sleeping in the tent, apart from an exceptionally strong feeling of hunger, Vera's body and mind had recovered to their best state. Vera's mind was quite active at this moment, so active that she was almost unable to control it.
So much so that after a while, the thoughts in my head were like wild horses that had broken free of their reins, and before I knew it, they had wandered off somewhere.
Valerie and Shanks exchanged a glance, then simultaneously looked away awkwardly.
"Hooh-"
The sudden sound made the two, who were already embarrassed, turn their heads again. Valerie looked at Shanks, but before she could speak, he skillfully scooped her up and stood up.
Shanks placed his left hand on Griffin and gently stroked the patterns on the hilt. Although he hadn't used a left-handed sword for several years, he still felt the joy emanating from Griffin the moment his palm touched it.
Long time no see, old friend.
Shanks lightly patted Griffin's scabbard with his palm, and Griffin trembled slightly in response.
As a swordsman famous for his left-handed swordsmanship, Shanks' loss of an arm greatly weakened his combat ability. Even his old friend and rival, Hawkeye Mihawk, lost interest in fighting him after learning that he had lost his favored left hand.
However, Shanks himself is a rather carefree and optimistic person. He has his right hand even if he loses his left. He quickly made those who fantasized that he would be discouraged or even lose all his fighting ability understand that a true genius can train his other hand in a short time, even if he loses his original dominant hand.
Shanks had thought he had mastered the sword technique in his right hand to the point where it was indistinguishable from his left. But now, as he actually gripped Griffin with his left hand again, Shanks finally understood that it was different.
No wonder that even though the people on the high seas had forgotten that Shanks was once a left-handed swordsman, Mihawk still had no intention of fighting him.
Shanks patted the overly excited Griffin helplessly, not expecting that his sword understood even better than he did the irreplaceable importance of his dominant hand.
Although the timing of the restoration of the left arm was somewhat unexpected and inexplicable, in this perilous ancient ruin, this unexpected change was still very advantageous for them.
At least now Shanks can hold Vale between his arms while using his other hand to be on guard and defend.
...Although facing an enemy that has no physical form at all, this behavior has a certain humorous quality to it, like outsmarting thin air.
The terrain at the ancient ruins site is flat and open, and apart from a few scattered clockwork monsters and various strange collapsed creations, it is almost completely unobstructed.
The crimson light emanating from the cracks had an extremely dangerous effect of lowering sanity, but it also completely illuminated the ruins. This allowed Shanks, who had already memorized the ancient map provided by Val, to proceed along the clear route in his mind without expending any extra effort.
After making two more tents and resting along the way, Shanks and Val finally reached the end of the map.
Compared to the surrounding structures that are now dilapidated and unrecognizable, the buildings at the end point marked on the map, which is also the core of this ancient ruin, are still in relatively good condition.
These buildings are both rugged and exquisite, giving the impression that people from the future have traveled to the Stone Age and are using limited materials to recreate the technology of the original world.
The buildings have four floors, gradually narrowing from bottom to top. The entire structure is carved from a dark gray-purple stone, with dark yellow minerals and fist-sized purple gemstones between each floor. These gemstones have only undergone the simplest cutting and have been inlaid into the stone.
Shanks tilted his head at a distance and used his Observation Haki to sense the danger: "No danger."
After saying that, he led Vera closer to the building.
With a thought, Violet switched her character back to [Liberator], believing that this most knowledgeable character in the background story could provide her with more information for investigation.
[You have discovered the Ancient Pseudoscience Station]
[Ancient Pseudoscience Station]
[Detectable][Destructible]
[Description: A scientific station imbued with mysterious power. Approaching it will grant you access to forbidden knowledge and unlock even more astonishing technologies. When did these underground civilizations arise and when did they perish? Perhaps the nearby murals and runes will answer your questions.]
[You have unlocked the Topaz Necklace (Magic Amulet)], [You have unlocked the Emerald Necklace (Construction Amulet)], [You have unlocked the Starcaller's Staff], [You have unlocked the Dismantling Staff]...
The constant ringing of the technology unlock notifications echoed in Vera's mind, and a flood of information overwhelmed her thoughts, causing her to momentarily fall into a state of mental overload and stagnation.
Fortunately, there were no dangerous monsters at the core of the ancient ruins, and Shanks stayed by her side vigilantly, so Val was able to relax and focus on digesting the unlocked technology.
Compared to the technology and magic she has already unlocked, these are much more advanced. However, it seems that these technologies will not be automatically learned after construction is completed. In other words, all construction needs to be carried out near the [Ancient Pseudo-Science Station]. Once you leave the range of these science stations, even items that have been made once will not be able to be made.
Violet gasped. Did this mean that if she wanted to build any more useful technologies in the future, she would have to return to the center of this ancient ruin?
She wanted to build a [teleportation focus] here so that she could teleport herself directly here using the [teleportation staff].
However, the technology and magic here are significantly more advanced than in R'lyeh, and Violet is worried that the one-way teleportation might encounter dangerous changes here.
If one day you fall asleep and hundreds of shadow creatures are teleported from underground to R'lyeh, you're doomed.
Violet couldn't help but imagine hundreds of illusory black shadows standing densely packed on R'lyeh, a chaotic scene of demons dancing wildly.
Then R'lyeh will truly become R'lyeh, exploding just from getting close or even just glancing at it!
Phew—it's better to play it safe.
Violet quickly glanced at the newly unlocked crafting list and decided to craft the [Star Summoning Staff] first.
The crafting of the [Star Summoning Staff] requires four Nightmare Fuel, two Wood, and two Topaz. Each Topaz requires three Orange Gems to craft, and each Orange Gem requires three Purple Gems to craft.
In other words, a single [Star Summoning Staff] requires a full nine purple gems!
Currently, the only way for Violet to obtain amethyst is through the special clockwork monsters in the underworld that are inlaid with amethyst, but even so, the drop rate of the gem after defeating them is only 50%.
Just crafting one [Star Summoning Staff] took away a third of her stockpile, even after she entered the Ancient Ruins, dealt with many clockwork monsters, and obtained several new gems.
So she's that poor. What if she manages to take care of all the clockwork monsters in the underworld? These aren't shadow creatures; as long as you're ruthless enough to lower your sanity, they can keep spawning around you... Wait a minute, in the photo Doflamingo gave her, the pacifist robot that the World Government was researching seems to have a purple gem embedded in it.
According to the intelligence provided by Stussy, the Pacifista robots are positioned as powerful mass-produced robots, a powerful tool to replace the Seven Warlords of the Sea and deal with the pirates.
Does this mean the World Government has a stable source of amethyst? Hmm, she was a little tempted.
Calm down, calm down...
Violet took a few deep breaths to suppress the dangerous thought that had just crossed her mind.
[You have crafted the Starcaller's Staff]
[Starcaller's Staff]
[Description: A staff imbued with dangerous and powerful energy, its magical energy compressed to its limit, causing the topaz at its tip to radiate a sun-like glow. Consuming 20 sanity points upon use summons a [Dwarf Star]]
[Dwarf Star]
[Description: A small star summoned by magical power, resembling a miniature sun. It is immovable and indestructible, and will exist in reality for four days after being summoned. The dwarf star provides extensive illumination, allowing crops to grow at night and in caves, provides a large amount of heat, increases the ambient temperature, heats the heating stones, and enables basic cooking.]
Violet raised the Starcalling Staff, composed of bent living wood, writhing ghostly figures, and a topaz imbued with powerful, concentrated magic.
A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she lowered her voice, speaking in a tone that was ethereal and looked down upon all living beings.
"God said, 'Let there be light.'"
A star, surrounded by flames and with a pale white center, slowly rose into the sky. Its light illuminated Val and Shanks, the rough yet exquisite ancient pseudo-science station, the broken murals and runes around it, and the mysterious marble base that had collapsed in the very center.
Shanks looked up in disbelief, his eyes reflecting the light of the dwarf star.
After hundreds of years of darkness, these ancient civilizations buried underground are once again bathed in sunlight.
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Author's Note: Violet: Playing with memes [doge emoji]
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