“The Evil Emperor’s true inheritance will be yours in eight days, but Father said that if you feel bored while bedridden and recovering, you can take this book out to read first and lay some early groundwork.”

Charles glanced indifferently at the cover, imprinting the four seal characters 《制器详解》 in his mind.

With a soft laugh, Charles took the item in hand, then tentatively asked, “Your name is Lily, right? If I want to bring something in here, how should I do it?”

The young girl didn’t answer, only looked over expressionlessly. Charles suddenly felt a bit foolish—he already knew how to bring things in and out of this Sun and Moon Spirit-Refining Gourd.

※※※※

When Charles emerged from the gourd, he found that the book 《制器详解》 had indeed appeared in his hand. His whole body felt somewhat sore and achy. This must be the aftereffect of training, and with the pain from his injuries, it was especially uncomfortable.

Charles clicked his tongue inwardly—the effects of training inside the Spirit-Refining Gourd really did reflect on his actual body. Yet, though his body was exhausted, his mind felt even more energized. Spirit-refining, spirit-refining—could it be that this Sun and Moon Spirit-Refining Gourd also had an effect on one’s spirit?

What surprised him even more was that he had trained inside the gourd for over three hours, but upon coming out, it was still not yet noon—only a little more than a quarter of an hour had passed. Just as the bamboo slip had said, after activating the time-acceleration ability, one hour inside the gourd equaled half a day outside.

For the next two days, Charles continued to recuperate in bed. Each day, he would also spend several hours inside the Spirit-Refining Gourd practicing martial arts. But as King Foster had predicted, he grew increasingly bored.

With this gourd, it was as if he had gained half a day more each day—and a half day full of energy at that. While it was convenient for his own cultivation, he had nowhere to spend his surplus energy. To make matters worse, none of his rowdy friends came to visit—perhaps blocked by his grandfather.

At first, Charles had no interest in that 《制器详解》 book, but after a whole day of utter boredom, he finally picked it up for a look.

And as soon as he opened 《制器详解》, the second sentence at the beginning moved him deeply, banishing all thoughts of mere distraction and bringing a look of seriousness to his face.

“—Gongshu Ban was disabled and could not learn martial or immortal arts, yet he wielded the power of crafted devices to slay the crocodile dragon. This shows that the art of craftsmanship, when mastered, can rival the Heavenly Rank!”

He had heard of the former’s deeds before. The so-called ‘crocodile dragon’ was a powerful demon beast that once ravaged the southern state of Great Chu, said to possess terrifying demonic power, on par with martial experts of the Heavenly Rank.

Yet such a demon beast was indeed slain by Gongshu Ban with the power of crafted devices. Legend had it that it was some unknown divine artifact—even the crocodile dragon could not withstand a single blow from it.

This ‘Charles Foster’ might truly be the one who understands him best. If it had been any other words, he might have treated 《制器详解》 as nothing more than a pastime, losing interest after a page or two.

But after reading this line today, Charles found himself much more patient.

His martial meridians were ruined, his path of martial arts cut off. Though he had been self-indulgent and reckless these years, deep down he was still unwilling to accept it.

The art of craftsmanship, when mastered, can rival the Heavenly Rank—Charles did not expect to surpass the Heavenly Rank with crafted devices like Gongshu Ban, but if he could merely possess the power to contend with the Heavenly Rank, he would be satisfied.

Chapter Five: Beads Up the Sleeve

Turning to the fourth page of 《制器详解》, Charles was already drawn in by the book’s contents. This was no ordinary manual on crafting devices, but a compendium of killing tools! Even though these were only the most basic parts, they were still shocking.

—Sleeve arrows, blades hidden in the soles, the killing magpie, repeating crossbows, and so on.

These things seemed ordinary, but just by estimating from the book’s descriptions, Charles could tell that these devices were extraordinary, far superior to similar items on the market.

What was most enticing was that all these devices shared one trait: the recoil when firing was almost negligible.

Nowadays, the Mohist arts flourished, and there were many mechanical hidden weapons in the world, but ones like those in 《制器详解》, which even ordinary people could use, were exceedingly rare.

And they didn’t seem very complicated—if materials weren’t lacking, he might be able to make them himself.

A sudden urge rose in Charles’s heart—he was a man of swift action. Once he had the idea, he wouldn’t hesitate.

As for materials, Charles would never be short. The fief of Duke An, Wuyang, Jie County, had thirty-seven thousand households, with annual land taxes alone amounting to one hundred fifty thousand taels of gold. There were also sixty thousand tenant farmers and private slaves, and nine thousand qing of land. In today’s terms, one qing equals fifty mu, so nine thousand qing is four hundred fifty thousand mu, all top-quality farmland, most yielding three shi per mu annually. The Ying family of Wuyang, mindful of their reputation, refused to exploit the locals, collecting rent at a fair seventy-thirty split with the farmers, yet this still brought in forty thousand shi of fine grain per year. At the current market rate of three and a half taels of silver per shi of rice, that’s one and a half million taels of silver, equal to one hundred fifty thousand taels of gold.

All this money was managed for him by his grandfather Richard Foster, with most of it used to support the private army of the Duke An’s household, but each year he was still allotted ten thousand taels of gold for personal expenses.