Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 479 [A Balance of Arts and Sciences]

Is it human greed, or moral wavering?

of course not!

I, Zhai, have lived a life of integrity and longevity, standing like a divination tree, lying down like a golden disc!

That evening, after returning to Jiang'an Sunshine City, once the night was quiet, Zhai Da immediately took out two pieces of equipment and placed them on the table.

On the left is a royal blue fountain pen.

On the right is a metal ballpoint pen.

During lunch in the courtyard, Zhai Da had already checked and found that it was the same as he had initially expected.

A synthesis path exists!

He had acquired the "Artistic Girl's Pen" a long time ago, and it was even his main equipment at one point. Today, he finally had a crafting path for it. Everything was going according to plan.

If using "manufactured items" to quickly condense special items is a mechanism, then deciding which items to condense is a matter of ingenuity.

The only unexpected thing is that Lu Wei plans to go to Harbin for a while. So it's best to figure everything out tonight.

Synthesis is definitely necessary; the equipment system will inevitably continue to evolve.

He planned to synthesize it and see how much it would change. If it was still in the form of a pen, he would use the [Retro Workbench] to modify its appearance and give the stronger equipment back to Little Wood.

If what comes out isn't a decent piece of work, then we'll have to work overtime to create a new one.

Zhai Da snapped his fingers with his right hand, and a pure gold cane appeared in his palm. His fingernail tapped slightly, and after confirming that everyone in the family was asleep, the cane immediately disappeared.

Zhai Da placed the two pens in the drawer and activated the system in his mind.

Equipment crafting materials and item selection
【The Pen of a Math Girl】, 【The Pen of an Artistic Girl】.

"Searching. A composition path exists. Shall we combine?"

【Yes】

"Preparing for synthesis. Please place all materials and equipment in a real-world space where there are no observers."

"Environmental conditions detected, synthesis is about to begin. Please do not damage the environment or attempt to observe it without authorization."

"It's shielding off fluctuations, collapsing reality, and cleaning up traces."

Not even for a second, not even the drawer trembled slightly.

"Synthesis complete."

Zhai Da opened the drawer.

Good news: It still looks like a pen!

Inside the drawer lay a uniquely shaped fountain pen.

The surface is a blend of royal blue and stainless steel spirals, with sharp ends, and the whole piece is nearly 20cm long.

It looked like a metal skewer twisted together, reminding Zhai Da of a cartoon he watched as a child, where there was a weapon called the Spear of Longinus.

Of course, it's just an animated film and has nothing to do with the real-life "guards' rifles".

The pen's shape is so unique that it could even be considered an "alien stick".

While holding it, you will feel a distinct foreign object on the side of your fingers. When you pull off the cap, you will find that the inside is also spiral-shaped, except that the pen tip is a normal cone shape.

Upon closer inspection, I discovered that a small section could also be twisted off from the back of the buttock.

Upon opening it, I found that it contained a calligraphy brush tip, which is classified as a "gui brush".

Zhai Da thought to himself, "This is troublesome. It will probably be quite difficult to restore it to its original form."
"Congratulations, host. A special blue item has been discovered: 'Arts and Reason': In the long history of mankind, 'Arts' record the past, and 'Reason' determines the future."

Ownership: Owned, Activated

"Equipment Effect 1: The user's thinking, emotions, logic, and memory will all be enhanced by the strokes of the pen, with the specific direction depending on the content being written."

"Equipment Effect 2: When using it, you will not experience mental fatigue; the foreign sensation from the pen will continuously replenish your mental energy. (However, it may still exceed your physiological limits.)"

"Special Effect → Cross-disciplinary Learning: During use, regardless of the field being written, the fragments of knowledge in the brain will work together, greatly increasing the chances of gaining inspiration from other angles." "Unlock Task: Complete literary works (1/1), academic papers (0/1)."

"Note 1: Literature carries the way, reason brings prosperity to the country, knowledge clarifies one's will, and action benefits the world. It is rare throughout history to achieve all of these."

"Note 2: You are just one step away from a brand new outfit."

Zhai Da stared at the system panel for a long time.
Putting aside the fact that this equipment is awesome, tell me first what the academic paper (0/1) means?
My graduation thesis... could it be...?
Forget it, just don’t mention it.

This is undoubtedly a very powerful piece of equipment, even exceeding Zhai Da's previous best expectations.

Two white items were combined to create a blue item. Is it because their compatibility and form are extremely compatible?

Unless one can use the mechanism to condense special items, finding another "pen" type of equipment, especially "one literary and one logical," is truly like finding a needle in a haystack.

Zhai Da picked up this magical "spiral pen." Its design is incredibly cool, and its craftsmanship is exquisite.
Restoring it to its original metallic shape would be quite difficult and would also be a waste of the system's fantastic-level craftsmanship.
As for what the system said about being only one step away from the "new outfit,"...
Zhai Da pondered for a moment, then snapped his fingers.

Offering multi-domain learning capabilities, the [On Systems Engineering] skill, which was always in my inventory, now appeared in my palm.
This is most likely it.
A higher-dimensional perspective, the ability to integrate and apply knowledge from various disciplines and even fields.

What kind of "set" will it become?
Or is the next item, anchored by "pen and paper," an eraser? A ruler?

The former clearly has a higher ceiling, while the latter is somewhat like a "pencil case".
He can now focus on refining "special items," so this is a problem worth considering and trying.

A moment later, Zhai Da picked up the "Artistic and Literary Harmony" and felt the unique sensation that its distinctive design brought to his fingertips.
The continuous restoration of "mental strength" doesn't have an immediate effect; instead of increasing the upper limit, it seems to be making up for the losses.
Wait! Mental power!

Zhai Da's eyes widened: Holy crap! Isn't this my personal power bank?!

------

Lu Wei set off quickly, boarding a plane to Harbin on the third day.

As a graduate student officially registered under the "joint university-enterprise training program" at Harbin Institute of Technology, she can return to the school at any time, which would probably make the old professors in the mathematics department very happy.

As for the "Perfect Match of Arts and Sciences" item, Zhai Da ultimately didn't give it to Xiao Mutou. This blue equipment was a bit too powerful, and it shouldn't be out of his sight until he fully understood it.
It needs time to settle down and confirm that it won't "show its extraordinary abilities".

Zhai Da simply remade a "rocket hammer" pen and returned it to Xiao Mutou.

By the way, he selected two young girls from within the research institute system and assigned them to the "Entropy Project Team" to work alongside Lu Wei.

It wasn't entirely to take care of Lu Wei. One of them was a female employee of the Hongtu project team who already had contact with the entropy group, and the other was a senior student who was undergoing training at the old research institute in Harbin. She was also a mathematics major, which was a good match for her, and she even knew Lu Wei.

In his spare time, he picked out an unimportant part from his past accumulation of silicon carbide research, wrote a paper, and submitted it to an even less prestigious journal.

The system unblocking task only requires academic papers, but graduation theses are not considered, which Zhai Da guesses is related to whether they are published in journals.

The journal basically accepts payment for publication, and it's online the next day. The review process is almost as fast as the payment process. As for physical printing...
Surely no one actually thinks anyone would buy this kind of journal?
Zhai Da really managed to exploit this loophole.

After Zhai Da received feedback that the mission was completed, this powerful piece of equipment, which was "suitable for both literary and scientific pursuits," was finally unlocked.

After seeing Lu Wei off at the airport, Zhai Da watched her beautiful figure disappear into the security checkpoint and suddenly felt a little lost.

Since their reunion, the two have been separated for long periods of time on several occasions, but in most cases, Zhai Da plays the role of "leaving," while Lu Wei always waits obediently at home.

It seems that no matter how much time has passed, there will always be a warm figure busy in the kitchen after you push open that door.

This is the first time that Zhai Da has played the role of the one "waiting".

Of course, Zhai Da wasn't sure how long it would take; he might be back in a week. He just needed time to get used to this feeling.

Ms. Yu and Tang Xiaokui were quite open-minded about this. They said that since Tang Xiaokui was a mathematician and a top student, it was normal for her to have a job.

After Lu Wei left, Zhai Da's dedication to his work reached a new level. Especially after returning home at night, since there was no longer Xiao Mutou to cuddle with, he would simply close the door and hang the curtains on as if they were flying.

Inside the bedroom, Zhai Da locked the door from the inside to prevent Tang Xiao Kui from launching a sudden attack.

Then he walked to his window and jumped backward.

He didn't fall, but seemed to be supported by an invisible recliner, a posture he was most familiar with.

With a single glance, two items flew out of the drawer: a [Slow Time Rubik's Cube (Fake)] and a [Perfect Match].

Zhai Da played with it for a long time, especially the spiral pen, which seemed to have a life of its own, swirling and turning around him.
An unexpected piece of equipment, and an unexpected effect.
The inexhaustible source of mental energy means that the power of thought is endless.

(End of this chapter)