Crossover Anime: From DanMachi to Becoming a Garbage Scavenging Master

At the heart of the primordial vortex, not far from the seed of the world.

In the once empty void, an extravagantly designed witch's castle has appeared out of nowhere. Its spires pierce the void, and its high walls are inlaid with glowing geometric patterns. Its dark purple exterior seems to be a product of a fusion of futurism and gothic style.

Zheng Tianxing stood at the castle gate, staring at the two black tower dolls on his left and right, each gazing at him with the same expression. His eyes twitched slightly.

The two dolls had stiff expressions, slightly different from the one they had seen in Mellentown. They stood blocking the doorway like two guardian statues—except their eyes could move and were fixed on Tianxing.

"I remember..." Tianxing rubbed his temples, "Last time I came, Heita said she was going to build a collection room. When did it turn into a castle?"

One of the Black Tower dolls replied somewhat stiffly: "14 hours and 35 minutes before Lord Tianxing's departure for Orario, Lady Black Tower approved a proposal from a certain doll regarding the construction of a castle."

"..."

Oh ho ho, so it's Lady Black Tower's puppet empire that's back.

It seems that with the Black Tower doll developed from the artificial body, Ms. Black Tower's research life is about to get back on track.

"Can I go in now? I need to talk to her about something."

The doll coldly refused, "I'm afraid that won't work. This is Lady Black Tower's private time. If you need anything, Lord Tianxing, please leave me a message."

The other doll next to it, as if in automatic response mode, added: "Hello, I'm currently unavailable and won't be able to contact you for a while."

"..."

Tianxing watched the two puppets talking back and forth, and was speechless for a moment.

Just then, a familiar voice came from inside the door: "Alright, Tianxing, come in."

Tianxing pushed open the door and entered.

The corridor was piled with all sorts of collectibles he had picked up—floating metal cubes, translucent optical devices, containers that looked like some kind of biological specimen, and some strange objects that had no apparent purpose and shimmered with a faint light.

Occasionally, a black tower doll would walk by, carrying a tray or moving something, its movements perfectly synchronized, like a precision component on an assembly line.

He walked through the bizarre corridor and finally pushed open a wooden door, entering a room decorated like a witch's cottage.

Black Tower sat in a high-backed chair deep in the room, several semi-transparent holographic screens floating in front of her, densely packed with scrolling code and data streams. Behind her were two puppets; one was fanning herself with a fan, while the other stood quietly beside her, holding a steaming cup of black tea.

Tianxing stopped and began to stare at the Black Tower's face.

His expression was somewhat subtle—as if he was curious about what had just happened outside the door.

Black Tower's finger paused slightly, and the data stream on the screen also stopped.

Her expression froze for a moment, then a slightly unnatural blush crept onto her face.

"...The puppet is functioning normally."

She coughed lightly, her tone returning to its usual calm and composed manner, though her speaking speed was slightly faster: "It's a default reply that was set a long time ago. I didn't want to be disturbed during my research, so I had the dolls handle it this way uniformly."

She paused for a moment, then added in a slightly lower voice, "The new doll didn't have time to update the system... so it missed setting your permissions."

Tianxing didn't speak again, but nodded somewhat blankly, looking as if he understood but not quite.

Black Tower's ear tips also turned a little red.

She took a deep breath and waved to turn off the holographic screen in front of her. Seeing this, the black tower doll beside her silently retreated to a corner of the room, like a statue that had suddenly lost its command.

"Speak, what do you want?" Black Tower's tone returned to calm, but the fingers holding the teacup tightened slightly.

Tianxing didn't beat around the bush: "I brought the swordsmith Chun, whom I told you about before, to Mellen. She's seen the prototype of the relic system and is very interested now."

"I'd like to confirm your more complete direction for future advancements, Black Tower."

With a light tap of his fingertip, Black Tower fully unfolded the analytical data of the folding knife ritual.

"The conclusion is clear—the folding knife ritual should not be just a one-time reinforcement method, but should be deconstructed and reconstructed into a growth system that can be repeatedly used."

"I re-analyzed the ritual process of that world, breaking it down into twelve trials. Each trial contains a fragment of a rule. As participants progress through the trials, they gradually resonate with the fragment, eventually gaining its approval and learning and using the power it contains."

Tianxing followed her train of thought and continued, "So, the reason the swordsmith was brought here is because a physical object is needed to hold the fragments of the rules. Therefore, the form could be a sword, or it could be any other weapon?"

Black Tower nodded: "That's right, that's indeed the current design."

Tianxing frowned and asked with some concern, "But with Chun's current level, I'm afraid she can't create a weapon that can withstand this level of power."

"She can't yet create a weapon that perfectly contains power. But our primary goal right now is simply to keep the experiments running and collect data. Using the prototype she forged, combined with your power to embed some of the power from the fragments of the rules, is enough to support the first round of testing."

Tianxing's lips curled slightly, as if he had already thought of some interesting possibility. "So for now, let's build the framework first, and then gradually optimize it. However, with these prototypes in front of us, Hephaestus, the god of forging, will probably be unable to suppress his curiosity and will take the initiative to come to us."

He then asked with some concern, "Wouldn't it be better if this relic system directly integrated its power into the user? Wouldn't constantly introducing new power from new worlds allow for rapid strengthening?"

Black Tower shook his head: "It's not as simple as you think. Once the ritual is complete, the way the rule fragments are used will be fixed, leaving no room for a new system. Moreover, the powers of different systems are inherently incompatible, and forcibly integrating them into the body carries extremely high risks."

She paused, then added, "However, this system shares the same origin as the grace system, and the existing grace system will not be affected in any way, so there's no need to worry about that."

"As for why it's made into an accessory—" Black Tower took a sip of tea and continued, "Users can change accessories at any time according to their current needs, making it very flexible. Moreover, when worn, it resonates with the Grace system, increasing some basic stats while accelerating experience gain. All things considered, it's no worse than directly integrating it into the body."

At this point, she smiled and mentioned another consideration: "There's one more thing. If it's not directly integrated into the body, it won't be as easy to be suppressed or unable to exert full power when entering a new world due to differences in systems. In addition, the World Seed has a high energy level, so the accessories themselves are subject to very limited interference and attenuation, and can maintain a reliable power wherever they go."

"Truly reliable! She truly lives up to my most respected Lady Black Tower!"

Tianxing nodded, accepting the plan. Changing the subject, he asked, "Since that's the case, it's settled then. By the way, how are the recent trapping experiments going? I've collected quite a few more fragments of rules lately."

Without saying much, Black Tower directly pulled up a video recorded from outside the world.

In the scene, the sea level in that world is rising continuously. Amidst the towering waves, the enormous figures of prehistoric beasts tumble and rise, and the boundary between the sky and the sea has blurred into a chaotic mess. Above the ruins, a figure with a full head of white hair is locked in combat with a shadowy demon. Laughter pierces through the wind and waves, faintly drowning out the demon's howls.

Tianxing stared at the screen for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening.

"This... must be the world of One Piece, right?"