As the black fog receded, Fang Mo's vision quickly returned.
"Haha, I, the Block Man, am finally back!"
Feeling rather pleased, Fang Mo muttered to himself and promptly raised his head to begin observing his surroundings.
He found himself not in a city but rather what seemed to be a winter forest. Trees covered in a layer of frost surrounded him, snowflakes were falling from the sky, and the ground was blanketed with a thick layer of fallen leaves and snow, crunching under his feet.
"Where on earth have I ended up?"
Looking around, Fang Mo felt a bit disoriented.
The north wind howled through the forest, and Fang Mo felt as though he were embracing the winter itself, giving him the illusion that winter was truly coming.
"Damn, could I have ended up in Siberia?"
Seeing the snow falling more heavily, Fang Mo instinctively opened the map: "This can't be right... I was in Cuba the last time I checked. Cuba is supposed to be subtropical. I even saw coconut trees by the shore last time. There's no way it should be snowing!"
"Never mind, I'll deal with it later."
Shaking his head, Fang Mo decided to put the issue aside for now.
He was certain he had returned to the world of the X-Men. As for where exactly he was or even which timeline he was in, it didn't really matter. Even if it was the worst-case scenario of reversing the future, what difference would it make?
No matter how powerful those so-called Sentinel robots were, could they be more powerful than him?
With this thought, Fang Mo felt reassured.
Though he was in the world of the X-Men, half the reason he was there was because he had been chased out by Xiao Yao. His intentions had been too obvious…
As the saying goes, "Once you have a taste, you want more." Fang Mo kept wanting to play around with his little partner in strange ways.
Being chased out of the house seemed quite reasonable, didn't it?
But since he was out now, Fang Mo decided not to think about those messy things anymore. Once his little partner finished her module, they would have plenty of time to play in the future. For now, the most urgent matter was to test his new weapon.
With this thought, Fang Mo focused his mind.
The figure of his stand, Steve, appeared instantly.
With a wave of his hand, Steve cooperatively raised his arm and handed over the newly crafted katana.
In the next second, a flash of white light appeared, and the reality transformation was activated.
A beautifully crafted katana appeared in Fang Mo's hand.
Fang Mo looked down and examined it, finding the katana quite attractive. It had a white handle, an antique bronze tsuba, and a scabbard wrapped with a golden ribbon, giving it a light and agile feel, completely different from the massive swords he usually used.
"Nice, this will work perfectly as a cage for dogs."
Fang Mo nodded in satisfaction, then drew out a greatsword from the End dimension.
This sword currently housed Pochi. Fang Mo intertwined the two weapons and, with a thought, transferred Pochi into the katana.
Unlike his initial days as a novice…
Fang Mo was now very familiar with the Soulbound trait.
Because of this, he didn't even need to extract Pochi from the sword to re-seal it. He could transfer the sealed object between the two weapons effortlessly.
However, after sealing Pochi, the katana's appearance did not change, but an intense, turbulent force seemed to surge within the scabbard… This was different from other weapons, likely because the katana came with its own scabbard.
After a brief thought, Fang Mo swiftly drew the katana.
A cold blade flashed, and the mere aura of the unsheathing blew the surrounding fallen leaves and snow far away, creating a vacuum around Fang Mo.
"This sword, surprisingly good…"
Fang Mo felt a bit surprised: "No wonder it's made with four components. It seems like I can make two for showing off in the future."
Indeed, like the broad sword of Tinkers' Construct.
The katana of Tinkers' Construct also required four components to craft.
Initially, Fang Mo didn't pay much attention to this. Even when helping Atomic Samurai forge swords in the One Punch world, he had Xiao Yao handle it.
Even Fang Mo was sometimes influenced by preconceived notions. In the Minecraft world, the broad sword's percentage damage was excellent, and after perfect crafting, it could take down the Ender Dragon in one strike. So, Fang Mo subconsciously thought the broad sword was the best, even in the real world.
But in reality…
After the Broadsword was materialized, it could not inflict percentage damage like in the game.
The strength of Tinker's weapons after being materialized largely depends on the number of its components. The Broadsword, with four components, naturally has an advantage over weapons like daggers and greatswords.
However, the Katana also has four components.
Therefore, in terms of strength, it is actually no different from the Broadsword.
Of course, apart from the advantage of the number of components, the remaining factors that determine the strength of a weapon are Tinker's enhancements, original enchantments, and the strength of the entities sealed within the weapon.
The reason Clausolas is stronger than Laevatein is because the Celestial Ego is stronger than the fire giant Surtr.
It's just unfortunate that Fang Mo has not unlocked the Deification Module yet; otherwise, the Sharpness enchantment could directly break the X-level limit, making it even more invincible.
Speaking of enchantments...
When Fang Mo was crafting this Katana, he recalled the Life Enchantment he had unlocked not long ago and decided to apply it to this Katana.
"Emmm..."
Fang Mo muttered, glancing down at the weapon in his hand.
As of now, the sword seems to show no signs of life, nor does it insult him like Aatrox would.
"Does it need to level up?"
Fang Mo pondered, suddenly coming up with a possibility.
Yes, Fang Mo still had some memory of the Life Enchantment. In the game, it seemed that this enchantment required constant use of the weapon, causing it to grow along with its owner. Fang Mo wondered if it needed to be used or if it needed to consume some durability.
With this in mind, Fang Mo began to look around.
Though snow was falling heavily, Fang Mo's mini-map had a biological radar function, so he quickly spotted a beast icon not far away.
Gripping the Katana, Fang Mo walked in that direction without hesitation.
Soon, he discovered a cave. Inside, he found a bear. Of course, he had no thoughts of protecting animals, so he struck with his sword.
Without any suspense, the bear was killed with one blow.
At the moment the bear was killed, it seemed as if a certain dormant power in the Katana was awakened. Fang Mo suddenly heard a faint whimper, resembling a dog's cry, and then he felt a slight tickle at his feet.
Looking down, he saw a dog at his feet, shivering against his leg, seemingly frozen.
"...Where did this dog come from?"
Fang Mo was momentarily stunned but quickly figured it out.
Yes, he had previously asked Xiao Yao to enhance this Katana, and she had casually added ten Dogecoin as enhancements. Dogecoin, a joke item in Grey Technology 4, were marked with an annoying dog's face.
The enhancement effect of this item was that when attacking or being attacked, it could summon a Shiba Inu phantom to fight for the holder.
Fang Mo couldn't remember the exact summon probability, but it was something like a small chance to summon a muscular DOGE and a high chance to summon a crying weakling Cheems. Judging by the pitiful look of the Shiba Inu before him... it was clearly the latter.
"Wait a minute..."
At this thought, Fang Mo suddenly slapped his forehead, "Did Xiao Yao tell me that the real Cheems in the real world had died?"
"…Woof?"
Hearing this, the little Cheems seemed scared and took a step back.
"You..."
Fang Mo sighed, feeling that this dog was really weak. Although he was interested in the various enhancements of Tinker's tools, the dog summoned by this enhancement... was it really not just for show?
After thinking for a moment, Fang Mo asked directly, "Do you know what you are?"
"Woof... whimper..."
The response was very simple.
Accompanied by a whimper from the little puppy, Fang Mo roughly understood its meaning.
In short, it didn't know what was going on either and mysteriously appeared here. However, it was certain about one thing: Fang Mo was definitely its master, and it would obey him no matter what. Beyond that, it knew nothing.
"Is that so?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Mo made a rough judgment.
The puppy's statement sounded familiar, similar to the other MC creatures he had summoned. They were always muddleheaded until Fang Mo summoned them, at which point they suddenly gained intelligence.
But the current problem was...
Fang Mo wasn't sure how to continue testing.
His original intention was indeed to test this knife, and the enhancement by Dogecoin was part of it. However, he suddenly realized there seemed to be an issue with this knife.
Fang Mo initially wanted to test the life enchantment system.
However, the life enchantment was not activated; instead, the dog coin effect was activated, causing a trembling puppy to appear.
The Tinker' Guide indeed mentioned that dog coin enhancement could summon Shiba Inus, but the problem was how this summoning was determined after being realized. Would it always exist, or would it disappear after a while?
If this thing always existed.
If Fang Mo wielded this knife to perform Phantom Sword Dance... wouldn't there be dogs everywhere?
"Forget it, let's not test it for now."
After thinking it over, Fang Mo decided not to test the weapon for now. It would be troublesome if there were a bunch of dogs around, and if the dog disappeared after a while, he could continue testing then.
For now, it was better to explore the map first.
Using the minimap's ability, Fang Mo noticed a narrow road not far away.
Since there were signs of human activity, it would be easy. He could walk along the road, find someone to ask, and figure out where he was and the current timeline.
With that in mind.
Fang Mo started walking towards the distance.
"Whimper..."
Seeing Fang Mo suddenly leave, the shivering puppy let out a cry and quickly followed, looking pitiful with its head down.
Fortunately, the road was not far from where he was.
After walking for a few minutes, Fang Mo and the puppy reached the road.
Perhaps due to the heavy snow, the road was quiet with no vehicles passing by. But Fang Mo didn't mind and walked along the road. Soon, he saw a small town in the distance.
It was a very dilapidated and small town.
Most of the buildings were made of cheap iron sheets or pure wood, looking shabby but effectively blocking the wind and snow.
In the town's open parking lot, many rugged trucks were parked, loaded with lumber.
"At least there are living people."
Seeing the town, Fang Mo breathed a sigh of relief: "So it's not a reversed future timeline... Is it the apocalypse then?"
Thinking about it.
Fang Mo walked into the town.
Seeing many people enter the nearest building, Fang Mo followed them inside.
Pushing open the door, Fang Mo found that the building was not a shelter but something like an underground casino.
The architectural style was rough and casual, with the spacious interior filled with heavy smoke and alcohol scents. To keep warm, open flames burned in fire pits, and many beast pelts were hung on the walls as decorations.
The room was filled with heavily made-up women laughing and talking business with men.
The smell of cheap perfume mixed with the men's sweat, the acrid smoke of firewood, alcohol, and the sourness of vomit... All these mixed together in the stuffy building, making breathing a luxury.
"Whimper..."
The little puppy following Fang Mo almost vomited directly.
Luckily, Fang Mo had the Evertide Amulet, which allowed him to breathe freely if he wanted, so he looked relatively calm.
But just as Fang Mo was about to grab someone to ask for information.
A noisy shout came from the front. Fang Mo instinctively looked up and was stunned to see an old acquaintance being brutally beaten on the fighting stage.
"Damn... Uncle Wolf?"