God Of Crafting

Chapter 142: Growth pains (double chapter)

Whatever it was that Claire said as my exhaustion took over...

Well, with my consciousness cutting off the moment my body performed an emergency shut-down, I could only try to guess.

Yet, when my consciousness finally returned, the distinctive sound coming from just nearby quickly wiped the idea of guessing from my mind as I inherently focused not on the past, but on the present.

'Is she still...' I thought as I slowly pried my eyes open, only to then start blinking them rapidly to get rid of the surprisingly painful itch on them.

It felt as if someone forced me to keep my eyes open while having my face submerged in salty water before making me stare right into the sun for hours upon hours only to then throw a fistful of powdered pepper in my face at the end, just for a good measure.

'Why is it so painful?' I asked myself, struggling to accept the idea that I've actually pushed my body to the point that mere recovery from exhaustion could turn into such an ordeal.

It just didn't make any sense. Sure, going for two days without a moment of rest would put a strain on anyone... But it was still something I was perfectly capable of pulling out even before I finally managed to force my way onto the path of cultivation.

And now? As a cultivator of a sixth stage with designs on quickly reaching the seventh level of mortal cultivation?

'This amount of exertion should never come at the cost of so much fucking pain!'

Quelling the inner desire to scream out in pain, I squeezed my eyes shut and kept them closed for quite some time, all the way to the point where the itch finally, somewhat subsided.

And throughout this entire process, only one set of repeating sounds that only alternated in their fine details accompanied me.

'I can't tell how long I was out. I can't tell what's going on with me. Just what did...'

Before I could finish the thought, I forced my eyes open. And just like attacking someone else in the middle of them speaking, doing the same for myself proved to be a great way to bear with the pain that returned the instant I dared to expose my eyes to the air again.

"Haaaa..." I released a long sigh, trying to find anything to focus on other than the burning pain in my eyes. Once I've finished my sigh, I clenched my fists to the point my nails started to dig into the skin of my inner palms.

Once that no longer appeared to work, I clenched my ass instead, as if there was some brutal gay rapist on the loose, ready to challenge my sexual orientation the very moment I dared to lower my guard and relax.

In the end, it took me quite a while to finally get myself accustomed to the pain... Only for it to pretty much vanish the moment I've learned how to feel it... but keep it in the back of my head, along with the whole library of the things I didn't have the time to study, investigate, or solve.

Now, however, with my eyes working once again, I leaned my head over to the side to investigate the source of the sounds I've kept hearing ever since I woke up. And just like I assumed, it was Claire making all of this white noise as she patiently and carefully did her best to replicate the steps I've showcased, steps necessary to turn a bunch of half-products into a finished device.

Just like I did during the showcase, Claire first picked up the charging cable before gently pressing it into the indentation of the device's frame while using her other hand to slightly bend away the plastic lock.

Claire raised her eyebrows a bit, mildly surprised by the question.

"You didn't know?" she asked, leaning her head slightly to the side. "Well, it's no more but a small bit of trivia I've heard somewhere... But apparently, our eyes are pretty much a... hmm..." A frown appeared all across Claire's forehead as she sank into her thoughts in search of the right way to translate what she meant into proper words. "Our eyes are like parasites?

The foreign entity within our body that just happens to connect to our nervous system?"

Claire shook her head before raising up from all fours to sit on her heels as she knelt down with a slightly puzzled look on her face.

"The thing I remember best is that there are cases when one's own immunity system attacks their own eyes, recognizing them as a foreign object invasive to the body?" Claire muttered with just the same amount of confidence in her own words as she had in what she said before. She then shook her head, as if to put this whole topic aside.

"Either way, it's pretty standard for those pains, in those who actually get them, to start with eyes. If those really were the growth pains, then you will have to endure the pain in your head next, then your heart, your lungs, your stomach, and finally your..."

As Claire's eyes moved further and further down as she ran down the list, her gaze only stopped when it fell upon my crotch.

"Well, what I actually meant to say..." she muttered with a bashful blush on her cheeks, "is that once those pains move from your lungs to your stomach, I want you to tell me right away so that I can try my best to help you soothe those pains..." she whispered while reaching out and placing her hand down over the center of my pants while bashfully looking away, making it seem as if just saying those words, despite how many times we went at it already, still was enough to make her all shy and embarrassed.

"Dully noted. I will be sure to report whenever I go through any of the paints you mentioned," I said with a small, slightly amused smile... Only for my face to sink as I looked over Claire's shoulder only to see quite the impressive number of devices she finished while I was asleep.

Claire did a great job for sure, diligently working while I was getting some of my much needed rest. Yet, for all the great work that she did... she merely just scratched the surface of how massive this project actually was.

"Changing the topic, how many did you finish?" I asked, hoping to turn our attention elsewhere before Claire's request turned into a match that would star the fire in our loins and lead us to wasting even more of the already precious little time we had.

"About... Eighteen?" Claire took only a moment to count the number of devices she finished. "I didn't test any of them, though, so that's a step we will still have to go through."

I nodded my head to indicate I'd heard her before tapping my knees and then standing up, only to reach out and help Claire do the same.

"Then, we shall get to working, shouldn't we?" I suggested as I threw a mournful glance towards the hundreds of circuit boards, thousands of cables, tens of thousands of the spricur stone Chihiro procured... and roughly about two hundred plastic cases where all the elements were to be rooted to turn into a bunch of half-product into a finished device.

"And as we work... Would you mind telling me more about that spiritual world?"

Claire raised her eyebrows a bit... while already moving to bring the boxes with the parts a bit closer, so that we could both have them within our reach. Stay tuned with

"Where did that come from?" she asked while raising one of her eyebrows only to plop down onto her knees right by my side as she planted the plastic case onto her lap before reaching to grab the cable.

"I just thought that since we are going to likely spend the night trying to complete the rest of those," I panned my hand over the boxes to indicate what I've meant, "it wouldn't hurt for me to know why is it that your father is so desperate to break through his bottleneck in time... Or why is your mother refusing to give up on that world and return back to be a part of your family again."