Chapter 1434: Chapter 1434

=Kind of hard to be hated when you're just a simple old man making weapons and tools all day.=

A vast majority of the Kaijin Lords that had existed prior to Zhen Liu were known to be, in a word, natural disasters in human form.

The Devout Heretic was thought to be a revolutionary hero when he stopped the Omninarii Empire's attempt to take over the world, but he was also painted as a genocidal maniac when he blew up their home island…and most of the populace.

The Invulnerable Storm Queen was both reviled and respected by the people of the Pearl Scale Empire, respected for her act of saving slaves but reviled for having ended entire bloodlines during her crusade.

The Damned Drunkard was a name whispered in shadows when one thought of the undead, although he himself was a bit of a lazy, drunken goofball of a ghost.

Either way, most Kaijin Lords had mixed reputations that always seemed to be coated with a layer of fear.

However, there were a select few of them that seemed to be respected and revered by practically everyone.

These oddballs amongst the oddballs tended to use their affinity to [Chaos] and their kaijin to do good. Or at the very least, they made sure not to step on anybody's toes while they were off doing their own thing.

The Rainbow Smith was one such fellow.

Pathos commented as he pulled up the picture of the aforementioned Rainbow Smith for Zhen Liu to familiarize himself with.

=To be more precise, his kids found the library alongside him and one of them had almost become the Kaijin Lord of the era until he accidentally became one in order to protect the tykes from the fury of a wild aether beast of some kind,= Logos commented. =Now that I think about it, he was kind of doting dad like you.=

"Eh? I don't have kids."

<=Except for the kaijin.=>

The term "blacksmith" is used rather ubiquitously to refer to "someone who works with metal," but the term actually refers to those who work with iron and steel.

In reality, there are as many types of "smiths" as there are types of metals. As well, there are those who specialize in specific weapons and tools.

Goldsmiths, whitesmiths, silversmiths, coppersmiths, bladesmiths, and more. As long as there was a type of metal that existed in the universe, there was a smith dedicated to it.

Now, the Rainbow Smith was called by that moniker because he was known to work with all types of metals and make all sorts of tools and weapons…but with odd caveats.

Rephrasing, caveats that were odd by the standards of this world.

It's a known fact that incredibly powerful aether treasures, those beyond the Gold tier, have a chance of developing a form of sentience.

These "living" treasures were usually significantly more powerful than any other ones that exist in the same rank, and some have been said to be able to take on the form of mortals and beasts.

However, because these treasures were now living things, many of them had a tendency to develop personal preferences or demands to be treated a certain way outside of combat.

This was normal in the eyes of most aether warriors. It was not normal, to them at least, to give this same treatment to weapons below the Gold tier.

The Rainbow Smith insisted that every tool and weapon, regardless of their rank, still had a spirit to them. And that these spirits, when treated right, would make the tool greater than what could be seen by mere mortal eyes.

And there was actually some merit by this claim.

Many who had managed to get their hands on a custom piece made by the Rainbow Smith reported that they had not only noticed a growth in their cultivation progress, but that the piece they commissioned seemed to grow alongside him.

Little did anyone know, that was because the Rainbow Smith would mix in [Chaos] into all of his works.

"Is it safe for me to assume, that like the doll maker, the Rainbow Smith made all of his kaijin out of the weapons and tools he made for himself and his family?"

Proving this statement, Logos and Pathos produced several pictures of these tool and weapon born kaijin. Surprisingly, they didn't look as mechanical as Zhen Liu thought they would be.

If anything, they resembled the yokai Zhen Liu remembered reading about in his younger years. The kind that would be born from items infused with plenty of meaning and care.

"That...kind of makes sense, but I'm also a little disappointed," Zhen Liu commented at the sight of the kaijin. "I am assuming none of these guys became abominations when the Rainbow Smith passed?"

<=Correct. The Rainbow Smith passed peacefully, as did they.=>

"Good to hear..." Follow current novels on novel~fire~net

Despite the sterling reputation the Rainbow Smith, and the fact that his cultivation has reached a state where he could easily live several centuries, life had a tendency to be surprisingly cruel.

The Rainbow Smith ended up contracting a disease that would later be identified as a type of metal poisoning in the future.

This disease would prove to be fatal to the Rainbow Smith, and the much beloved kaijin lord of this era would die from it.

The legacy he left behind though would be forever carved into history.

His children would go on to become famous heroes and founders of clans that still hold dominion in the heartlands of Dozing Salamander, while the treasures he made would become famous centerpieces for many legendary warriors.

But the one legacy that would outshine all of these things, was that of a small hamlet that he had transformed into a powerful city state with a history that went beyond even a millenia: Rainbowden.

Rainbowden was located at the border of the three biggest empires on the continent and was considered the ultimate ground of neutrality for these great empires.

At least, that's how it was for the first few centuries.

Over the years Rainbowden had become home to proxy wars of sorts, where the noble houses of each empire would challenge each other for control for the best resources, the best treasures, and the best craftsmen money and power could buy.

And it was smack dab in the middle of this shit show that Zhen Liu would find something more valuable than all of that: the inheritance of the Rainbow Smith.

=After the old man had died, his family had arranged two funerals for him,= Logos explained to Zhen Liu. =One ludicrously massive one where everyone who only knew him in a tangential manner would attend, and one very humble one where those who actually knew him would bury him with what he loved.=

Pathos picked up while presenting a picture of a massive mausoleum surrounded by broken weapons and tools.

After explaining this, Pathos then switched to the picture of a small catacomb that held a very simple coffin and was surrounded with racks of very simple looking tools.

Zhen Liu could tell at a glance that these tools were made with more love and care than the ones in the mausoleum.

The sight of this simple burial made Zhen Liu feel...odd.

He didn't feel pity for the man's simplicity, or sad that his tomb was so small.

Rather, he felt that this was... appropriate.

And that he was going to be a right bastard for disturbing such serenity.

Then again, it was arguably better that he was going to be the one it break it. Especially after he learned about who exactly were living in Rainbowden and was attempting to carve it up like a holiday turkey.

"Alright, you told me the goal, but what are the obstacles?"

=Well...discarding the fact that the underground catacombs of the city had kind of become a hotbed for aether beasts of dubious nature, the noble houses that have managed to sink their roots in are gearing up for a yearly competition of theirs, a weapons tournament= Logos explained.

"A weapons tournament?"

=In other words, expect a lot of warriors with a lot of their own goals and ambitions.=