God Of Crafting

'Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds…' I thought back to the words Oppenheimer spoke after realizing the weight behind the project he heralded.

Profound words that struck true at the devastating nature of his creation.

But now that I slowly turned the knob to first close the circuit and then gradually decrease its resistance to allow more of the current to flow…

I found myself with my head empty, devoid of any profound quote I could utter at this moment.

'For now, I have become a transformer, a mutator of energy,' I thought, internally cringing at my poor attempts at coming up with words fitting the situation.

Words that fit the deep meaning behind what was happening, because if someone were to look at me and Claire right now, we would look like a couple of geeks trying to see whether a simple circuit they hobbystically created would actually work.

For an imaginary onlooker, this moment would look like anything but a moment of possibly greatest upset to the current balance of the world. And yet…

I slowly turned the knob further and further, allowing more and more of the electric energy to flow through it. And roughly as I reached the middle of the potentiometer's range…

"I can tell," Claire announced in a low, silent voice as she raised her eyes and looked at my face. "It's working."

I gritted my teeth, but I continued to turn the knob.

Just a single degree. Then another. Then five, ten, fifteen, fifty degrees more, all the way to the point where this potentiometer turned into the part of the circuit of the least resistance, lesser than the resistivity of the cable that provided the current or even the paths on the circuit.

In other words, the moment the knob would turn no more, I've unleashed the full potential of the phone's USB charger onto my now-remodeled Qi condensing device.

And while its effects didn't match the ability of the finished product that I dared not to touch or cannibalize… The results weren't all that far off.

"The Spricur stones…" I muttered as I took a closer look at the far end of the circuit, where the Spricur stones continued to turn the electric charge into spiritual energy that they then released directly into the air.

Yet, no matter how closely I looked… I couldn't see a single sign of them deteriorating, reaching their limit, or anything of the like.

"They are holding strong," Claire muttered, as interested in the results of this small experiment as was I.

Yet, rather than seeing joy or satisfaction on her face, all I could see was growing anxiety and a lack of confidence.

"Do you dislike the idea of calling your father all that much?" I asked, only now realizing that I never really bothered to study Chihiro's and Claire's relationship before, leaving me clueless about the reasons behind Claire's anxiety.

"That's not it," Claire shook her head before biting down on her bottom lip. "I'm just…"

The young woman took in a deep breath, only to hold it in her lungs for a while before taking her time sighing it all out. As she did so, her shoulders fell down… No, they collapsed down, making it clear she was crumbling on herself rather than relaxing.

"I just gave the idea of how this device will change the world a shot," she revealed before going as far as to step away from where the device worked perfectly well only to turn her back to one of the empty machining tables, rest her hands against its edge and then jump up, taking a seat directly on the table only to then lean forward and close her eyes.

"And it's not all that great of a perspective, isn't it?" I muttered in response, feeling the burden of this discovery myself.

I wasn't young or naive enough to simply enjoy this innovation.

Sure, it was something that could change the world for the better, either by providing humanity with pretty much a free source of green energy or by allowing cultivators from all walks of life to gain access to nigh limitless spiritual energy to train with, something that was previously gatekept behind the insane prices of the artifacts that could, to a limited degree, do the same.

It wasn't like this device in particular would have any effect on the world itself either, given how even the finished product I sold to Chirhio while somehow keeping it by my side could do better than the thing right before my eyes.

The thing that worried me, was how this remodeled prototype was a proof of concept. A proof that my idea of turning electric energy into spiritual energy worked.

And with that in mind, what would be there to stop the spiritual world from creating a single powerplant, turning all of its energy into Qi, and then steamrolling the modern world with their now nigh-endless power?

"Claire…" I muttered as I realized the simple truth behind this discovery.

"Yeah?" the girl heavily raised her head as she gave me a tired stare.

For both of us, just thinking about the consequences of this discovery was enough to sap all our enthusiasm for actually proving I was right or creating a device that did indeed work.

"Should we just… destroy it? Destroy it and erase all evidence of it ever working or being built?"

Initially, I wanted to just call Chihiro and have him shoulder the heavy responsibility and burden of using this device. I even figured out that we could take a note from the book of some druglords and install a secret cultivation lab in the basement of some power-hungry factory just to hide the electric footprint of using this device for cultivation…

But be it hiding or asking Chihiro to take care of securing this device and all its later iterations I could easily make…

It still came with the massive risk of someone, at some point, finding out about it. And the moment news were to spread, the world as we knew it would quickly come to an end.

But…

'Is it really my responsibility to hold back progress just because I'm scared of where it might lead?'

This thought stunned me, for it…

It just perfectly aligned with something deep, deep at the bottom of my soul.

"Is it really my job to judge how a new technology will affect the world?" I asked out loud, just for the sake of better processing this question myself.

"Huh?" To the side, Claire jumped a little. After staring at my face for a moment, she heaved yet another deep sigh before shaking her head jumping off the edge of the table she was sitting at, and pulling her phone out as she moved closer.

By the time she stopped right by my side, she was just a single tap of a finger away from calling her dad.

"It's your choice," she spoke softly, her face clear of any hesitation, doubt, or uncertainty.

'It is my choice, huh?'

I closed my eyes and reached deep into my own soul, deep into my own mind, fishing for what it actually was that I wanted.

Was it money?

I already had more of it than I could spend in my lifetime.

Was it women?

With Claire at my side, I would have to be a horny teenager or an outright pervert to wish for more.

Maybe it was the influence, fame, and control, for my records to be written down in the books of history?

Yet, none of those things struck me as something that I actively cared about. They were nice to have, sure, but…

Was the potential cost of achieving them acceptable?

At the end of the line, however, there was only one thing that truly lit the embers of my heart. The one thing that brought an end to my five years' worth of failures.

It was crafting. By definition, wasn't crafting a desire to make things easier; more convenient?

"Call him," I said as I opened up my eyes and looked up to Claire's face. "And after we are done talking with your dad, I think it's high time for me to call my uncle and arrange a private meeting between the four of us."

"What?" Clarie's face twisted in shock, now that I brought up something we just so recently decided to be acceptable only in an absolute emergency. Something that could be done only if unthinkable were to happen, leaving us with no other choice.

And now, I was suggesting to do so?

"Not even your father can shoulder the responsibility and weight of this discovery," I stated while reaching out and pressing the call button on Claire's phone myself. "And unless you want this discovery to truly bring an end to the world as we know it, we need the scientific side of it to be prepared for the change this thing will bring out to the world."

Just as I said it, Chihiro's voice announced that the call had now connected.

"Hello? What's up, sweetie? Is everything alright?"

And as Claire's dad's voice reached my ears, a single line appeared in my mind.

'In my hands lies the spark, and with it, the power to either ignite a future or burn it all to ashes.'

**End of Volume 1**