Chapter 443: That Is the Important Part
No matter how you looked at it, there was no doubt that this thing contained fragments of shattered authority. And right now, that was exactly what Yamato needed most if it was going to evolve.
No wonder it was acting so excited—this reaction was perfectly understandable.
Almost instinctively, Steven asked the three questions any Minecrafter would ask after obtaining a rare item:
"Where did you get this thing? Can it be mass-produced? Can it be mined? And most importantly—do we have enough of it?"
As he spoke, Steven turned his head toward the white-haired girl who had handed over the item, only to catch a glimpse of a look on her small face—something like someone placing a high-stakes bet.
But in the next instant, that expression vanished, and her face returned to its usual relaxed smile.
"Well, how should I put this…" she said lightly while flicking her folding fan. "You could say this is the ashes of one of my older brothers. As for mass production—maybe if you chopped me up, you could get quite a lot. Other than that, I'd say there's basically no way to obtain more of this stuff."
She said it so casually that Steven immediately felt a wave of discomfort toward the fragment in his hand.
Sure, monster drops could technically be considered a kind of 'ashes' too—but this was clearly a very different situation.
Without hesitation, he tossed the fragment toward the eager Yamato beside him, then clapped his hands and turned back to the white-haired girl, not the least bit worried that she might take offense.
"So," he said, "you brought this out as an advance payment for your commission, right?"
"In a sense, yes," Nian replied calmly, nodding. "Your sword will likely need this kind of thing. And in the future, I may have a use for the authority your blade possesses. When that time comes, I hope you'll help me. Helping you now is really just helping myself."
Steven narrowed his eyes slightly.
From the moment he'd mentioned that his sword could awaken an authority capable of severing all things, Nian had clearly begun forming a bold idea.
To be precise, it was an idea that still carried enormous risk, but one that was far more reliable than her previous plan.
"Oh, I get it now," Steven said suddenly. "You want to stay as yourself forever, right? Instead of merging back together with your other siblings?"
Having suffered long-term exposure to all kinds of ridiculous novels, Steven put the pieces together quickly. Nian's identity as a Fragment of God, combined with Yamato's power, made her intentions fairly obvious.
And it fit her personality perfectly. Someone as freedom-loving as her would never accept becoming something else—something that was no longer truly her.
"Exactly," Nian said, smiling. "This is why I enjoy dealing with smart people like you."
She tapped Steven lightly on the chest with her fan.
"My plan is simple. I'll give you leads on these fragments so you can nurture your weapon. And when the time comes, I'll commission you to help me obtain true freedom."
Steven scratched his head.
"But what does this have to do with me getting off at Lungmen? That part I don't quite understand."
After all, he wasn't omniscient—everything he knew came from deduction. Not knowing something was only natural.
"Oh, it has everything to do with it," Nian replied matter-of-factly. "You see, my unfortunate second brother left behind a piece of half-burned ashes as well. If I remember correctly, it should be passing through Lungmen around now."
With that, she finally revealed the true purpose of her request.
"So," she continued, folding her fan with a soft snap, "while you're helping me look for my poor brothers and sisters… could I trouble you to deal with that thing as well?"
"Mm, that's not a problem."
Steven narrowed his eyes slightly.
"For me, this is nothing but pure profit. I just don't quite understand one thing—your relationship with that second brother of yours… isn't very good?"
Fragments containing authority were incredibly effective as fuel for Yamato. By his estimate, if it swallowed two or three more pieces like this, it would be able to support the consumption required for activating its separation authority at least once.
There was absolutely no reason for him to refuse this commission.
What puzzled him was something else.
From Nian's earlier behavior, it was obvious that she genuinely cared about her siblings. So why would she be willing to hand over what was essentially a part of her unfortunate second brother—his authority fragment—to someone else?
It didn't make sense.
"No," Nian shook her head, denying his guess outright. "I barely knew my second brother at all. In fact, there are very few people on the entire land who ever truly knew or understood him. So there's no grudge between us—let alone hatred."
She hadn't even met him before. How could she possibly hate him?
"Then why do this?" Steven pressed. "Don't you want your family to come back to life? I mean, if you piece this stuff together, it definitely feels like you could scrape together a resurrection ticket."
In Steven's understanding, these so-called fragments were just pieces of a whole. Gather enough of them, knead them back together, and voilà—problem solved.
No grudges, no hatred—so why do something this morally questionable? This felt way too rough on an older brother.
"No," Nian said calmly. "Let me put it this way—my brother blew himself apart into over two hundred fragments like the one you're holding."
"…Two hundred?"
"Some people say he did it to set up some grand scheme, playing a massive game of chess with himself as the board," she continued. "But in the end, some of those 'pieces' strayed from his original intent… and became things like what you have now."
She paused, then added,
"So before you make a move, I hope you'll take a moment to distinguish which parts are good and which are not. As long as even a tiny bit remains, resurrection is still possible. Cutting away the necrotic parts might actually be a good thing for him."
She waved her hand, as if finally passing off an annoying responsibility, and smiled with visible relief.
"Of course, if you end up devouring all of it, that's fine too. He chose to self-destruct in the first place—if he truly dies, it might actually be a kind of release for him."
Nian continued explaining, completely unaware that the look in Steven's eyes was slowly becoming… peculiar.
"So what you're saying is," Steven said slowly, "he exploded into more than two hundred pieces, and collecting even a portion of them could potentially resurrect a complete version of him?"
"…That should be correct. But that's not the important part, is it?"
"No," Steven replied.
A very familiar, honest-looking grin spread across his face—the kind of smile unique to a Minecrafter, one that usually heralded a bountiful harvest.
"That is the important part."
If cutting off a portion would just let it grow back later…
Then wasn't this basically a renewable resource?
From a certain point of view, cultivating and mass-producing it didn't seem that unreasonable, did it?
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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