Lucky God

Even knowing that the next step in the production process would be a nightmare, Gongshu Key couldn’t just walk away.

Regardless of whether Chen Miemie was messing things up, the friendship between their two guilds still had to be considered.

“Fine. I hope you can manage to make at least one,” Gongshu Key said, setting the bar low—just one success out of eleven tries.

Chen Miemie nodded, clenched his fists, and promised to do his best.

The first step in making the multicolored candles was to blend moonlight into the oil wax.

Though Gongshu Key was only responsible for carving the micro-array formations, she also knew the steps ahead.

“Take a portion of oil wax, put it in a ceramic pot, heat the bottom until it melts into liquid, then keep the flame low,” Gongshu Key recited Step One.

The tools were available on-site, and Chen Miemie followed her instructions.

“Use a glass rod. Stir slowly from left to right, creating a vortex in the liquid in the pot,” Gongshu Key recited Step Two.

This step was simple, and Chen Miemie completed it easily.

“Keep the stirring speed steady. Now use your ability to project moonlight into the center of the vortex, letting the light sink down into the liquid to the bottom of the pot.” That was Step Three.

At this point, Chen Miemie had a question: “Moonlight doesn’t have a physical form. Even if I shine it on the liquid, it won’t sink to the bottom, will it?”

“Normally, no—but this special oil wax is different. Right now, it looks like a clear liquid, but it’s still wax. When light enters, it reflects repeatedly inside, and a tiny amount gets trapped, stored in the wax.”

Chen Miemie didn’t fully understand, but he didn’t bother digging into the details. All that mattered was the result.

“Then how much light do I pour in? When should I stop?” As he stirred, he conjured Rainbow Moonlight and aimed it into the pot.

“That depends on your feel for it. This is where practice makes perfect.”

“What kind of feeling?”

“Pouring light into the oil wax is like blowing up a balloon. If you blow too little, the balloon is tiny and the result is poor. If you blow too much, the balloon pops.”

Chen Miemie’s antenna-like strand of hair shot up, forming an exclamation mark: “You mean... it might explode?”

“Yeah, it might explode.” Gongshu Key was momentarily distracted by his hair, and when she snapped back to look at the pot— “Stop right now! Don’t you see the bubbles coming up?! It’s about to explode...”

“Boom!”

An explosion rang out. The ceramic pot shattered into pieces. With a flash of light, the oil wax shimmering with Rainbow Moonlight splattered everywhere.

Chen Miemie and Gongshu Key were left grimy and disheveled, their clothes covered in wax spots and several scorch marks.

“Chen Miemie!!!”

“Um... I’ll pay for your pot,” Chen Miemie said weakly.

“This isn’t about the pot!”

“It’s my first try, and I didn’t pour in that much light. I didn’t think it would...”

“Not that much light? Even if it worked, this is still just a single candle! How much light do you think one candle can hold?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll be more careful next time.”

Gongshu Key wanted to say, “What ‘next time’?” But then she remembered what Mortar Granny had told her privately that morning:

“About Chen Miemie—he’s no ordinary member of the Silver Moon Court. He’s their next guild leader. Our guilds’ friendship going forward depends on you two—the new generation.”

Snapping out of her recollection, Gongshu Key calmed down completely.

“Let’s have some fruit first to recharge.”

Chen Miemie felt a bit embarrassed. He had come to ask for help, blown up her place, and now she was offering him fruit.

“What kind of fruit is this? Looks like a lemon?” Chen Miemie took the small yellow fruit.

“This is a Blood Purifying Lemon. It helps restore energy and lift your spirits.”

“Can I eat it directly?”

“Yes, just cut it open and eat it.” Gongshu Key handed him a small knife.

Chen Miemie cut open the Blood Purifying Lemon. The flesh inside was a clear, blood-red color, with a smell mixing rust and fresh herbs.

Naturally, Chen Miemie wasn’t afraid of poison—his own blood was made of pure water anyway.

He took a big bite.

“Aah! So sour! So sour!”

Gongshu Key chuckled inside: Of course it’s sour, it’s a lemon. That’s what you get!

Chen Miemie heard the whispers of Pure Water in his ear:

“Composition identified. I know this lemon. The Blood Purifying Lemon only grows near extremely pure water sources, and its roots must absorb trace amounts of toxins to bear fruit. It’s considered a rather precious fruit.

A small dose—you’ll just feel more alert. Eating one is a small dose.

A medium dose—it can detoxify blood, curses, or other negative effects, but the process is extremely painful, like having your blood vessels violently scrubbed.

An overdose—it causes the blood to congeal into ‘blood stones’ inside the body, which will kill you from sheer pain.”

Chen Miemie cursed under his breath: “Damn.”

The Molting Clinic really wasn’t a normal guild.

Earlier, Forbidden Fruit had mentioned they grew a Blood Curse Cherry, and now there was this Blood Purifying Lemon. It was all bloody, sinister, and vicious—their ruthlessness was obvious.

As Chen Miemie grumbled mentally, he forgot to wonder why the Silver Moon Court was so chummy with a guild like this.

He quietly slipped half the untouched lemon into his pocket and changed the subject: “Let’s keep going.”

The second try began.

This time, Gongshu Key kept a sharp eye on the pot.

Normally, failures didn’t blow the pot up. Mostly, the moonlight just refused to merge with the wax, resulting in a murky, unevenly colored liquid.

But with Chen Miemie, the moonlight seemed especially “obedient”?

He could talk and stir at the same time.

He directed the moonlight exactly where he wanted it to go, and it followed his orders. When he said, “Don’t come out,” the light that had entered the wax stayed perfectly inside.

After ten years in the trade, Gongshu Key had never seen or heard of anything like this.

She kept muttering to herself: Rainbow Moonlight is the most chaotic of all. This is way too abnormal today.

They did this three times in a row, and each time, the Rainbow Moonlight harmonized perfectly with the wax—quick and flawless.

Once Chen Miemie’s part was done, Gongshu Key’s carving step wasn’t something that could fail.

And just like that, three Rainbow Light Candles were complete.

“Chen Miemie, why don’t you join our guild? With your control over Rainbow Moonlight, you could be the next guild leader here, too.”

Chen Miemie flatly refused.

He wanted to go back to the righteous Silver Moon Court, not stay in this den of wickedness.

But Gongshu Key’s shock didn’t end there.

Twenty minutes later, when three Frost Moonlight Candles were successfully made in one go, she completely lost it.

“You... you... you’re the legendary Hand of Luck!”