"The sword is finished."
In his hand, he held a razor-sharp blue blade elongated katana. It was on the longer side and reminded him of the weapon of choice of a certain white-haired villain. This blade that could boost water-based attacks and control would make it to the hands of Zhang Zhi.
"I better just send it over, if I personally deliver this thing to him he'll make a fuss about it…"
During the years spent in this world, he never got used to the way people treated him. To some extent, he saw himself as the thirty-something loser from his old life. Even after achieving all of this success it was still hard to see himself as someone above the rest.
His people saw him as some kind of deity able to bring them towards the promised land. If he bought into it all it would be a very slippery slope. He could see himself becoming something similar to Wang Long that lost it. The man actually thought that he was some kind of chosen being and everyone else was an NPC in his story.
From Zhang Dong's perspective on the other hand everyone wasn't that different. The amount of power and even their intelligence was highly dependent on their environment. If someone was lucky enough to be born in the higher regions of the empire their life trajectory would be wholeheartedly different from that of someone that started in the lower region.
Perhaps after all this is over he could establish a new and fair regime where at least people had a chance to reach their true potential. It was of course impossible to make everyone happy and corruption would always exist. His aim would be to at least make the world around him a bit fairer and to guarantee baseline living conditions for people that were dealt a bad hand.
"Before that ever happens I need to finish all of these repairs and enhancements."
While the sword was finished this wasn't the only piece of gear that needed to be created. On a large workbench that he was looking at, his own white armor was being reconstructed by a peculiar-looking machine. There were several mechanical arms on the sides injecting spiritual energy in short bursts which made it look as if it was being welded.
His crafting abode upgrades had been reset down to zero after he made his way back to this world. After taking care of Wang Long he was finally able to put some spirit points into enhancing it once more. However for some reason after getting in contact with Wang Long's system this place had also shifted.
Previously it had the feel of a medieval smithery. The old dancing system that was implemented in one of the earlier models was luckily gone. Through his faction window, this place could now produce items en masse. He just needed to throw the required resources into a large furnace that was ten meters high and twenty meters wide.
The scenery was more modern now, it looked like a giant car factory with various machines. He didn't quite understand it all but it did do the job for him and supplying his forces with powerful weapon replicas wasn't hard. What he needed to do was just design a model that would be then multiplied by the machines.
For the time being the assembly line was in full swing. They were creating battle armor for the soldiers that would boost their fighting power to an extreme level. With all this gear on his soldiers would be able to easily combine into grand battle formations that were on the level of nascent soul masters. Now even some of the weaker practitioners could be of use in battle.
"Even though I'm here it's still hard to comprehend that such a place exists and whoever I might be going up against next can just make things like this, what is this immortal realm?"
Zhang Dong had come a long way since his journey started. At that point, he didn't really think about the system he was equipped with. However now it was different, it was something that could affect the world to a high degree. Even at his current level, he would not be able to perform most of the acts this system could.
Creating small subspaces wasn't something that was above him anymore but materializing equipment just with spiritual energy was not something he could do. It would take quite some time for him to examine every machine in this factory and then recreate it with the correct materials. Some of the intricacies inside of them were somewhat a mystery.
His knowledge was still limited and he needed more of it. Perhaps there were other ways of building up his power than defeating the enemy emperors. His best bet was still his predecessor that managed to counter the old system programming.
'If only those records weren't so old, most of the information had been lost and Bob would need more computing power to scavenge through what was left.'
While this was true he wasn't left with anything. There were still bits and pieces here that he could reverse engineer back. Even the nuclei that were scattered through the empire along with treasures like the dimensional regalia could aid him in ascending to the next level. He just needed time to comprehend what it took to become a true immortal. If he wasn't able to retrieve the cube the Empress stole it would be the only way.
"It will be hard to go against something that made this system possible…"
He opened up the system screen where Zhang Zhi and his prestige unit section was. There he saw an equipment panel that reminded him of old MMORPG games. The sword that he created first was placed down on a special bench. When it was there an icon of the sword appeared on the inventory screen. Then by dragging this item towards Zhang Zhi's right hand he could drop it to equip it.
The moment the pixelated version of the sword made it to the right side weapon square, the real sword vanished from the bench. This was a first try at the new mode of equipping his closest warriors. Zhang Zhi would be quite surprised when the sword appeared on this side as if it belonged to him. To make the blow to his senses easier, Zhang Dong attached a little note to the sword hilts with the explanation.
Thanks to the faction's latest enhancements he could actually monitor Zhang Zhi. Just as the weapon was equipped he could see a rather confused Zhi almost falling over. He was just on his way to a military facility where the new soldiers had arrived as the weapon appeared strapped to his side. A few other people were walking behind him so the light of teleportation caused them to jump away in fright.
However the weapon carried something with it that Zhi could recognize. Zhang Dong's holy aura was all over it so the fright and confusion quickly changed to interest. The little letter that he attached to it was red with haste and was followed by bowing.
"Look at them go…"
It was a strange sight to behold. Without him being physically there, the people were starting to prostrate themselves to thin air. They must have thought that he was somewhere close by and trying to pinpoint his position. The sight of them bowing in all cardinal and intercardinal directions was truly interesting.
"This is a handy feature, I'll be able to supply him with new weapons and items even during battle…"
Zhang Dong could already imagine it. If Zhi found himself in danger he could quickly drag over an item to resolve the problem. There was a limit to what it could be as this only worked with specific items that the faction system approved off. He could only drag things like weapons, armor, and pills.
He could not for instance shove a flying treasure through it, there was no designated spot for flying mounts. At most he would need to create something that could perform both functions of a weapon and a means of transportation. The only downside was that he would actually need to do it by hand. Monitoring what Zhi was up to 24/7 would be hard even for him and stall his current crafting.
'I should be able to equip him in power armor though, I just need to finish it first…'
His own power suit had been mostly restored after the tussle with Wang Long but it also needed to be improved further. His own safety came before that of his men, at the moment he could only give them limited support. The long Odachi sword that was handed over would need to suffice for now.
"Well then, while they prepare for their own battle I need to get back to work."
With his hand occupied with a large hammer, he descended into the improved crafting area. There more generalized furnaces and smelters were already heating up the crafting materials. Not everything could be done by the robots and the factory setup. He needed to actually create the blueprints and the item in question by himself.
The next one on his agenda was Liena's battle fan. This item would need to be even better than the one that he gave to Zhi. He was clearly biased towards his wife and would even dive into his secret stash of rare materials to push this fan over the limit of nascent soul. His aim was to create something that could go beyond it.
While the world didn't allow for the creation of immortal grade items they still existed. The flying golden bastion was one of those items that had been left behind and another was the dimensional regalia. Both of them were quite versatile in their function and had a similar feature of becoming stronger by absorbing spiritual energy.
The regalia was a small world in itself and the inside was comparable to a large continent from his old world. The golden palace continued to become larger and the arsenal it was equipped with could not be stopped by normal means. Even he himself would probably be unable to burst his way through the defenses easily.
Yet they were not directly weapons at the immortal level. Something like a proper sword or other type of weapon would make things easier. Instead, he would need to somehow study these two items and finally emulate the thing that made them go over the heavenly grade.
'This might take a while but before Zhi and the others make their move it will be some weeks, let me get to it!'