"You've just arrived. Settle in first, and come find me tomorrow." Wu Xinghe gave a few more instructions before turning and leaving.
Yang Kai watched him go.
Only after Wu Xinghe had departed did Yang Kai head toward the three rooms on the left. Wu Xinghe had said these three were vacant and he could pick whichever he liked. Yang Kai wasn't particular about it, so he chose the one on the far end and pushed the door open. The furnishings inside were extremely simple — just a table, a chair, and a bed.
On the table sat a token. Yang Kai picked it up and examined it, discovering that it was the command token for controlling the restrictions in this room.
He spent a little time refining the token, then easily activated the room's various restrictions. They weren't particularly sophisticated — just some measures to block probing and prevent disturbances during rest. Presumably the other rooms were much the same, but for the Artifact refiners here, it was more than sufficient.
Just as Wu Xinghe had said, forging Artifacts consumed a great deal of energy. When you were completely exhausted, you needed exactly this kind of place to recover in peace.
After taking care of that, Yang Kai took a stroll around the valley and found the hall where cultivation resources were distributed. He walked straight in.
The Ink Clan member managing the cultivation resources was a Domain Lord, and upon hearing Yang Kai's request, he didn't ask many questions. He cheerfully handed over a set of seventh-grade cultivation resources.
This left Yang Kai feeling somewhat wistful. After all, among the various human race strongholds, being able to cultivate using seventh-grade resources was an extreme luxury. Resources in the Ink Battlefield were incredibly scarce — most of the time, even the eighth-grade Garrison Commanders lacked seventh-grade resources for cultivation.
Of course, that situation had improved dramatically once the Void Yin-Yang Mirror had been put to use.
Yang Kai wasn't sure how things stood at the other strongholds, but back at Biluo Stronghold, the human warriors could now basically cultivate using the highest-grade resources available — provided they had enough war merits to exchange for them.
The valley's layout was extremely straightforward, practically transparent at a glance. Apart from that Ink Clan warship at its center, Yang Kai didn't spot anything else particularly noteworthy.
Having collected his resources, Yang Kai returned to his quarters and settled in for cultivation.
Keeping track of the time, when the next day arrived, Yang Kai followed Wu Xinghe's directions and made his way toward the warship.
From a distance, he could see numerous figures bustling about on the warship, waves of energy fluctuating one after another.
On a single warship, there were at least a hundred figures working tirelessly, and every last one of them was an Artifact refiner.
Yang Kai had witnessed Artifact refiners repairing warships at Biluo Stronghold before, and it had been just as lively, so this scene didn't surprise him.
But that had been inside a human stronghold. For the Ink Clan to have found so many Artifact refiners was no small feat.
Moreover, this was certainly not all of them. There should be many more Artifact refiners currently taking turns resting.
When Yang Kai arrived, a few refiners sized him up with curiosity but didn't pay him much attention. He easily located Wu Xinghe, who was busy working at one section of the warship.
Wu Xinghe was clearly in the middle of forging an offensive Artifact, his expression focused, the glow of Artifact Fire flickering over both hands. The flame was searingly hot — Yang Kai couldn't tell what type of Artifact Fire it was.
Every Artifact installed on a warship required special crafting, markedly different from what ordinary cultivators used.
After all, a warship itself was enormous, so the Artifacts mounted on it naturally couldn't be small either. This way, serving as the core of an attack array on the warship, the Artifact would unleash far greater power when activated, producing devastating effects on the battlefield.
Yang Kai flashed to Wu Xinghe's side and greeted him.
Wu Xinghe's hands never stopped moving, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He gave a slight nod and gestured to the side. "You're here at just the right time. Help refine these materials. If there's anything you don't understand, consult Junior Brother Sun Jiu."
Yang Kai turned to look and saw a large pile of materials stacked next to Wu Xinghe, each of considerable grade — clearly all the components needed to forge that Artifact.
Simply refining materials posed no great difficulty for Yang Kai. This kind of work amounted to assisting Wu Xinghe.
Yang Kai understood the situation. He knew that his master-level Artifact refinement skill wasn't yet sufficient to play any decisive role in forging a warship. Assisting was exactly appropriate — the task was neither too simple nor too important, a good fit for his current level.
He wasn't the only one helping Wu Xinghe. Before Yang Kai had arrived, a young man had already been doing this work — presumably the Sun Jiu Wu Xinghe had mentioned. Yang Kai had naturally noticed him.
Judging from the fluctuations of Sun Jiu's power as he worked, he was a Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator. Yang Kai couldn't tell which Cave Heaven or Blessed Land he hailed from.
Yang Kai cupped his fists. "Junior Brother Sun!"
Sun Jiu smiled faintly. "You must be Senior Brother Yang?" He had clearly already heard about Yang Kai from Wu Xinghe.
Yang Kai nodded in confirmation.
Sun Jiu continued working as he asked, "Senior Brother Yang, have you participated in forging warships before?"