Published at 10th of March 2026 6:54 am

Chapter 7414 The Edge of Oblivion

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Letting other design spirits take a look at the tier 3 Destroyer spear was an inspired idea.

Just like Yaika, each spirit possessed a distinctly different way of observing reality.

They could all look at the same object but interpret it completely differently.

As the supposed God of Dwarves, Mechs and Craftsmanship, Vulcan's perspective was a lot more grounded in the material.

He paid particular attention to the craftsmanship of the Destroyer weapon. He was easily able to deduce dozens of characteristic design choices. His eye for the art and craft of weaponsmithing easily allowed him to deduce clues that Ves had overlooked.

Aside from that, he also possessed another advantage.

As the patron god of many craftsmen, he had access to a lot of knowledge. While much of it was redundant, he still knew much more than Ves could ever fit in his head!

"This is a weapon designed and developed by a team of Terran mech designers and engineers under the leadership of Master Smith Hernan Diorio." Vulcan drew on his vast reserves of knowledge and trivia to inform his other self. "It is also the outcome of an experiment."

Ves reacted with surprise after hearing that. He did not get the impression that the weapon was experimental in nature. Its design and composition seemed pretty boring and standardized from his perspective.

"Experimental in what way?"

"It may not look adventurous from your perspective, but not everyone has the habit of pursuing an extreme every time you innovate. The experiment is modest. Master Smith Diorio attempted to develop a tier 3 Destroyer weapon that possessed the penetration power of an armament that was one tier higher. To do so, he designed the speartip so that the front of this component was made with materials that belonged to that tier."

Ves immediately frowned when he heard that. What Vulcan just said was not as simple as it sounded.

Destroyer particles were extremely dangerous and volatile. Trying to control them was a nightmare, especially when they were compressed into very high concentrations. Any changes or deviations in the environment could easily cause catastrophic problems!

"According to the data, the sharpness and lethality of this weapon is not comparable to true tier 2 Destroyer weapons." Ves said as he called up his own knowledge. "While Saint Rosa Orfan does not have the resonance strength to properly control a higher-tiered Destroyer weapon, I suppose we never could have gotten our hands on this weapon if the experiment succeeded."

The dwarven spirit gruffly nodded. "The Master Smith took a slight risk only to end with a disappointing outcome. If successful, the tier 3 Destroyer spear should have become much more scalable to their wielders. A senior ace pilot did not have to upgrade to a better weapon because the Destroyer weapon should have been able to accommodate his superior resonance strength. Unfortunately, the experimental weapon did not possess the capacity to concentrate more Destroyer particles at the front of the speartip. The distribution of particles has remained stubbornly even."

It was like trying to separate hot air from cold air in a completely simple room by hand. It was practically impossible for any simple human to accomplish such a feat.

Ves could see what Hernan Diorio was going for. The modifications may not be large in scale, but a successful implementation would have been a game changer in this field!

Spears were particularly well suited for this experimental approach. The Master Smith simply made use of a similar principle applied to regular spears with transphasic heads and applied it to a Destroyer weapon.

However, the Master Smith tried to be a lot more frugal and only changed the material composition of the edge and part of the structure underneath. This was such a small proportion that the success rate must have been abysmally low.

However, Master Smith Diorio's caution and risk mitigation paid off. Even if his experiment failed, the outcome could still be salvaged.

Vulcan confirmed that with his next words.

"While the Master Smith felt disappointed by the result, he was still able to recoup most of his costs by selling the failed experiment at a slight discount. Terrans heavily covet high-tier Destroyer weapons no matter their shape or properties. The Destroyer spear still reached tier 3 standards according to standardized testing, so it is still a usable product. The main disadvantage of owning it and wielding it is its greater volatility. Due to the special nature of its edge, the weapon has become more unstable and is more prone to leaking destructive energies. This is why its subsequent owners have never valued it too highly."

"I see. I suppose it was too good to be true to win a proper high-tier Destroyer at a grand auction."

Ves felt slightly disappointed after finding out that the precious Destroyer weapon in his possession turned out to be a mildly defective product.

Perhaps its lethality, toughness and many other parameters matched that of other tier 3 Destroyer weapons, but its greater instability made it harder and more cumbersome to control.

Ves had always assumed that the weapon's frequent outbursts and tendencies to harm its own wielder was typical to its product classification, but the truth was that proper tier 3 Destroyer weapons were considerably less dangerous to their owners!

Fortunately, the difference was not exaggerated enough to turn the failed experiment into an outright suicide weapon.

So far, Saint Orfan and the Riot Mark III had made adequate use of it. The former's willpower was barely sufficient to suppress most backlash reactions while the latter possessed so much superdimensional resilience that it could tolerate a lot of exposure to destructive energies.

In fact, before the Riot Mark III went on a rampage with the powerful weapon, the Dark Zephyr Mark III also wielded it with good effect!

Ves had never heard any complaints from Saint Tusa-Billingsley Larkinson about the risks and temperament of the tier 3 Destroyer spear.

This indicated that the 'failed' nature of this powerful armament was not as dramatic as it sounded.

It simply failed to achieve its slightly ambitious target. That was all.

The side effects were not trivial, but not too concerning either. At most, Saint Tusa and Saint Orfan had to divert more willpower to keep their weapon in line than usual.

The perfectionist Terrans who were used to wielding more controllable weapons might not be able to tolerate this flaw, but it didn't matter too much to the Larkinsons.

Of course, part of the reason why that was the case was that the ace pilots in question never wielded anything superior.

Their ignorance saved them from experiencing the same kind of disappointment as the Terrans.

Ves inwardly shook his head. He tried to focus on what was important to his current goals.

"What name did Master Smith Hernan Diorio have in mind for this creation if his experiment succeeded?"

"The Edge of Oblivion." Vulcan readily supplied the answer. "That would have been its name if the Master Smith did not spontaneously derive another name at a later date. This has never come to pass. Diorio held himself to such rigid standards that even minor flaws disqualified his creations from receiving proper names. In his particular weaponsmithing tradition, defective products did not deserve to represent his craftsmanship to the public. They were not only denied names, but also lacked signatures, maker's marks and even brands. It was already considered fortunate that they still got sold."

Ves could understand this mindset when it came to mass production.

Products needed to be consistent and surpass minimum standards in order to reliably meet the expectations of many customers.

Letting any defective product get sold not only betrayed the trust of a single buyer, but also affected the reputation of the entire line, especially if such incidents became more frequent!

However, Ves personally had a different mindset when it came to custom or artisanal products. To him, mild flaws did not necessarily disqualify a product from getting sold and used. So long as the buyer was properly informed about them, then it was up to him to decide whether to make use of it anyway.

That was why Ves felt a little let down by the Terrans. They scammed him during the grand auction by withholding important information about the tier 3 Destroyer spear.

Of course, caveat emptor also applied. Ves did not know nearly enough about Terran Destroyer weapons to exercise proper judgment in that case.

Not that Ves would have passed the weapon over if he had any other choice. A defective high-tier Destroyer weapon was still a powerful armament in its own right!

Ves personally felt that the Terran Master Smith behaved too much like Gloriana in this case. To deny such a magnificent if unstable Destroyer weapon a proper name and attribution was far too exaggerated.

He turned towards the weapon floating within a protective cage of azure energy shields and grew a little more emotional.

"Your maker may have denied you, but I am different from him. I am not Hernan Diorio. I do not hate your imperfections. Every little mark and flaw makes you unique. You are different from other tier 3 Destroyer spears. In my care, you will only become more distinctive over time. If you will allow me to override your old maker's work, I will promise that it will be worth it. Saint Orfan can bring you unimaginable heights so long as you cooperate. You are a Larkinson as long as you remain in our possession, so take heart and look forward to the future."

Vulcan's expression grew a little emotional after witnessing his principal's behavior.

"I approve of your sentiment. Though the Destroyer spear is not truly alive and intelligent enough to comprehend or acknowledge your meaning, your attitude is much better than that of the Terran Master Smith. Hold on to that as you work on the weapon. If it ever gains life, it will remember what you have done before."

Ves grinned. "That is exactly one of the things that I have in mind. Sooner or later, I will upgrade it into a superdimensional Destroyer weapon. That will also be the instance where I will attempt to bestow life onto it. My goal is to turn it into a proper high-grade artifact that has surpassed the limitations of its physical form. It may take a few years before I can apply this upgrade, but this will definitely be a big moment for our clan."

He did not aim for anything too ambitious such as bestowing it with the same kind of liveness as the Flower Parasol Mark II.

He would already be happy if it gained just enough intelligence and awareness to match an ordinary second order or third order living mech.

Vulcan looked thoughtful. "Will you restore it to the point where it can wear its intended name with pride?"

Ves shook his head. "I think not. I admit that 'the Edge of Oblivion' sounds cool, but… if the metamorphosis is so great that my ownership surpasses that of its original maker, then I think I deserve to put my own stamp on the weapon. In any case, it is not as if Hernan Diorio has retained the right to object. From the moment he treated it as his abandoned child, he has no qualifications to make any further decisions."

It didn't matter anyway.

He checked the name on the galactic net and found out that the Master Smith remained behind in the old galaxy.

Diorio had long moved on and created numerous other Destroyer weapons since that time. Given that he was such a perfectionist that he disowned his defective products, his actual productivity must have been much higher!

He was clearly a craftsman used to failure. There was no way to convince such an old and established master smith into changing his attitude towards his less-than-perfect children.

What a pity.

Learning about the history and original intentions of the supposed Edge of Oblivion had certainly been helpful to Ves. He developed a slightly greater intimacy for the tier 3 Destroyer spear.

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