The item I found was neither a weapon nor armor.
Yet, it was something whose name was even more widely known than most armaments.
Its true identity was none other than…
[White Feather Fan]
The White Feather Fan.
The feathered fan is said to have been wielded by Zhuge Liang, and a symbol closely associated with him.
It was somewhat ambiguous to call it a powerful weapon, yet it was as famous as many legendary arms.
If it was the White Feather Fan, wouldn’t it be easy to craft, and not too difficult?
With that thought in mind, I tried to make it.
[‘Implementing White Feather Fan.’]
[Please select the material for the White Feather Fan.]
At first, just to test, I used some materials I had on hand.
Since the White Feather Fan was a feather-made fan, I tried inserting a suitable feather among the S-rank materials.
But the results were…
[Satisfaction 31%]
[Success Chance 12.57%]
[Do you want to start crafting?]
“Oh!”
For the first time, a meaningful satisfaction and success chance appeared.
This was doable.
With that in mind, I began researching the White Feather Fan more.
“A fan made from the hundred-year-old Great Spiritual Bird Jajo… What, it’s not just any ordinary fan?”
The White Feather Fan.
I had thought it was merely a famous fan with nothing special.
I assumed the greatness was in Zhuge Liang, not the fan itself.
But that was not the case.
The White Feather Fan was made from extraordinary materials, and its power was a mystic ability to observe the past and the future.
It was a much more remarkable item than I had expected.
That said, I wasn’t sure how useful that power would be to me.
Looking into the past was unnecessary.
And looking into the future wasn’t really meaningful for me, who wasn’t a combat hunter.
Or…
Now that I thought about it, that wasn’t entirely true.
If I made the White Feather Fan, I could check in advance the percentage and success status of crafting when using ‘Myth Creation,’ like I was doing now.
“Let’s do it.”
My resolve was firm.
I would make the White Feather Fan.
However, I decided to discard the materials I had just tried and use new ones.
[Three-legged Crow’s Feather]
An SS-rank material leftover from making the Heavenly Bow, the Three-legged Crow’s Feather.
Since the amount was too little for armor, I had replaced it with Dark Griffin feathers, so these were the remaining feathers.
The quantity was small, but enough to make a single fan.
‘Though the color is completely the opposite.’
The Three-legged Crow.
A crow with three legs.
True to its name, its feathers were black.
This was the exact opposite color of the pure white White Feather Fan, but since the White Feather Fan was made from the Great Spiritual Bird Jajo, I thought such material should be included, so I chose it.
[Satisfaction 73%]
[Success Chance 65.11%]
[Do you want to start crafting?]
As expected, the success chance had risen significantly.
My understanding must have helped.
I was someone who had properly read and clearly remembered Zhuge Liang and the context in which he used the White Feather Fan.
This confirmed that the success rate in Myth Creation is calculated comprehensively from suitable materials for the item, understanding of the weapon, and my own skill.
Anyway, as soon as I nodded to the system’s question,
[Crafting begins.]
Item creation commenced.
Myth Creation.
Making the White Feather Fan from with my own hands.
Though I hadn’t fully grasped the situation, the moment crafting started, such doubts vanished completely.
I am a blacksmith.
I hammer to create items.
Nothing more, nothing less.
“Bang!”
I hammered with greater focus than ever before.
Sparks flew out.
The Three-legged Crow’s feathers gathered, the shape of a fan taking form.
At that moment, the White Feather Fan’s power came to mind again.
‘The power to observe past and future.’
There was one power perfectly suited to recreating that ability.
That was…
“Blaze, could you engrave the Rune of Time on this?”
“Okay!”
The Rune of Time.
The rune I had tried engraving in my room before, aiming to turn it into the Room of Time and Space, but had failed due to excessive difficulty.
If I used that, wouldn’t it greatly raise the success chance of making the White Feather Fan?
Thinking this, I asked, and Blaze breathed blue flames onto the fan.
The Rune of Time faintly began to be etched.
My hammer swung down.
“Bang!”
Indeed, the Rune of Time.
No wonder my past self gave up.
Even though I hammered with all my might, the rune’s glow barely grew.
That said, I did not give up.
“Bang!”
They say “Many a little makes a mickle.”
In the end, it’s just a battle against time.
A battle to see who gives up first.
In that fight, I swung my hammer calmly.
“Bang!”
How much time passed?
One hour?
Two hours?
No, judging by how the sun outside the window sank and the room grew dark, it had to have been at least half a day.
Could it be that the Rune of Time, which hadn’t wanted to glow no matter how hard I hammered, finally acknowledged the effort of a half-day’s hammering?
“Swoosh—”
The Rune of Time faintly glowed.
At the same time, a smile spread across my lips.
This was it.
I could do it.
System messages kept popping up, obscuring my view, but I ignored them and hammered on in silence.
“Bang!”
The moon rose and set.
The sun rose and set.
Whether the Myth Creation difficulty was too high, or the rune’s difficulty was too great, or the two combined made it so challenging—I wasn’t sure.
But regardless of the success chance, the completeness of the item being created was clearly felt.
The White Feather Fan was taking shape.
The more I hammered, the more the Three-legged Crow’s black feathers faded to white.
Then, after some time…
[Crafting complete.]
[‘White Feather Fan’ obtained.]
I had truly succeeded in crafting the White Feather Fan.
“It’s done…”
It was a joyous moment, but after days of nonstop hammering, my stamina had reached its limit.
The moment I finished the work, my vision turned black.
***
As soon as I opened my eyes, I ordered delivery.
I must have been starving for days; my stomach was clinging tightly to my back.
I was so hungry I didn’t even look at the menu properly, ordering whatever came to mind.
Kimchi stew, sweet and sour pork, pizza, chicken, katsudon, pho…
Without thinking, I ordered food from all over the world.
“Ugh, I’m so hungry. Blaze, what do you want to eat?”
“Meat!”
“Alright, eat as much as you want. If it’s not enough, I’ll order more.”
I stuffed myself in a frenzy.
It felt like I ate three or four times more than usual.
My appetite had been growing lately anyway.
Even I didn’t understand where all this food went, but only after eating so much did I finally catch my breath.
“Phew, I nearly died from hunger.”
I must have been so hungry the rumbling woke me from sleep.
I was even searching for food in my dreams, so that says it all.
Anyway, only after filling my stomach was I able to look at the item I had made.
“Wow, this is well made.”
The handle was crafted from the finest wood.
Above it, the elegantly arranged Three-legged Crow feathers.
Though the feathers, once black, had completely faded to white.
This was the White Feather Fan, known as Zhuge Liang’s symbol.
My first successful ‘Myth Creation.’
I checked the White Feather Fan with a fluttering heart.
[White Feather Fan]
Form: Fan
Grade: EX
Restriction: One recognized by Volcanus
Description: The fan is called the symbol of Zhuge Liang, Prime Minister of Shu Han, capable of seeing the past and future.
Abilities:
1. Past – Allows observation of the past of a designated place.
2. Near Future – Allows observation of the immediate next moment’s success or failure.
3. Future – Allows observation of the future approaching the user.
“EX grade, huh.”
EX grade.
I had seen this rank before when I obtained Blaze.
It means ‘outside the standard ranks.’
It seemed that items made using Myth Creation are produced as EX grade.
“The abilities are simple too.”
Normally, higher grades come with stronger, more varied powers.
But the White Feather Fan had only three.
Just in case, I placed the White Feather Fan on the anvil in the center of the room and tried using the ‘Past’ ability.
Then.
“Oh.”
The scene of me making the White Feather Fan flashed before my eyes.
It was so brief and fragmentary that I couldn’t grasp the details, but it was the first time I had seen myself creating an item.
After using the ability, “One of the feathers has darkened.”
Then it gradually returned to white, so it wasn’t permanently stained black.
It seemed the ability had a cooldown time after each use.
Next, I tried using the fan’s second ability.
“Hmm…”
It didn’t activate.
Reading the abilities again, I realized that to use that power, the ‘situation’ had to be right.
So, I tried Myth Creation again.
I selected some items and inserted materials.
[Satisfaction 1%]
[Success Chance 0.01%]
[Do you want to start crafting?]
An absurdly low chance popped up.
Then, when using the White Feather Fan, the scene of the item breaking due to crafting failure passed before my eyes. Â
“Oh.”
Again, one feather darkened.
I was glad I had made the White Feather Fan.
With this, I could pre-check the success or failure of item crafting without wasting precious materials.
Thinking that, I checked the last ability of the White Feather Fan.
‘Future.’
The power to see the future approaching the user.
The description didn’t specify the time or place of the future that could be viewed, so I had to test it myself.
I hesitated a bit, but using it seemed the right move.
With that thought, I immediately activated the White Feather Fan’s power.
White light began flowing from the feathers.
The white light swallowed not only my room but my entire vision.
“W-What?”
Fortunately, my vision recovered quickly.
But nothing had changed.
I was still inside my room.
Though… something seemed odd.
I had just finished eating and hadn’t cleared the dishes yet.
But the dishes were neatly cleaned away, and the shape of the room had subtly changed.
Not drastically, but enough to notice.
As I considered this, I looked up.
“Seven o’clock?”
Strange.
When I used the White Feather Fan, the sun had been high in the sky.
Also, the fan was no longer in my hand.
What on earth was going on?
Just then, the floor trembled violently, like an earthquake.
“Kugugugugugu~!”
If it were an earthquake, I would run outside or hide under the desk, but without thinking, I dashed toward the balcony.
Through the wide-open window.
“Wow…”
I faced a gigantic tower soaring in the middle of the city.