God Of Crafting

Chapter 182: First knob, first setting... call for green!

"Okay, I'm ready!" Chihiro called out just loud enough for his voice to carry over all the noises made by the machines within the factory, pass through the considerable distance of the narrow corridors, and then reach the small microphone recently installed just outside of the control room.

"Haaa..." I breathed out a long sigh as I stared down the window and into the factory floor with one of my hands on the first of the power knobs and the other at the ready.

'It's all or nothing now, huh?' I thought, gritting my teeth as if to mentally prepare myself for whatever the outcome of the last and most important of all the tests we did.

To a degree, I've already got more than I initially bargained for. Even if my understanding of this golden sphere entity would turn out to be true only on the surface level, the results would already be much bigger than the input, making it a perfectly good investment.

But...

The very core idea behind this project of turning electrical power into spiritual power that cultivators could absorb has yet to be proved on the scale that only this factory in the whole wide world was capable of creating.

'Sure, we've been using those machines for quite a while already, but on this scale...?'

Even though all that was left for me to do at this point was to turn the knob, now that I faced this moment of truth, I just couldn't help but keep getting more and more worried.

"You are overthinking it again, aren't you?" Claire spoke softly, only to approach me from behind and then wrap her arms around my chest while pressing herself against my back.

"I don't think anyone can blame me for it," I countered, stealing a glance at the floating, golden orb only to then shake my head and focus back on the console. "This is the moment when this factory either becomes the most important place in the world, or the most...."

At this point, I realized I didn't really know how I was supposed to continue. And so, rather than digging even further into this path, I simply shook my head before starting again.

"It's just hard not to overthink things when we are both aware of just how much rides on the results of me just... turning that knob."

For a moment, Claire stayed silent, as if slowly taking in what I said and then processing it, only to then take her time to figure out a proper answer.

As it turned out, Claire's answer had nothing to do with her voice, though, as rather than speak up, she just pulled me a step away from the console before relaxing her hands and then turning me around.

"Hmm?" Not sure what to expect, I simply looked down... only to see Claire let go of my waist and grab my hand before bringing it up, sneaking it up her shirt and then holding it against her chest.

"Grab it," Claire suddenly ordered with a determined look on her face.

"Is there anything wrong with being simple?" Claire asked, as if reading my very own thoughts, before gracing me with a simple yet lovely smile of hers.

Or rather, it was a simple smile only on its surface. Yet, the closer and deeper I looked, the more I realized just how complex it was, with Claire's worry, relief, affection, and consideration mixing inside of her eyes, turning her smile more and more lovely with every second I spent staring right into her warm, welcoming eyes.

"No," I smiled myself as I dropped my hands down to the indentation of Claire's waist before pulling her in and kissing those full, red lips of hers. "I guess not."

Seeing me smile, Claire's own smile grew in turn, which only prompted my own lips to curve more, reaching even further to the sides of my ears. That, in turn...

Well, putting it in simple words, the more I smiled, the more Claire smiled in turn, which then affected my own smile, all in a virtuous cycle of our smiles reinforcing each other.

Before long, our mouths reached the limits of how far they could stretch sideways. And as the slight pain of the excess stretching sobered both of us up for a second... we realized just how weird and unnatural faces we were making in this silly, friendly contest of smiles of ours, only leading us to both erupt in giggles first and then outright, full-blown laughter.

"I really love just how... natural it feels to be by your side," Claire said as she pressed her face against my chest to stifle her laugh.

"GUYS! DO YOU EVEN HEAR ME?! JUST HOW MUCH LONGER WILL IT TAKE YOU?!"

The sudden, sharp sound of Chihiro's agitated voice pulled our heads from the gutter, forcing us to rapidly switch our focus from each other to the actual matter of importance, the first practical test of using the factory for the purpose it was designed from the very beginning.

"Oh yeah, sorry for that, sir," I quickly pressed the intercom button on the console before speaking right into the mic. "There was a small..." I hesitated for a second as I glanced down at Claire, still pressed tightly against my chest.

As if feeling my stare, she suddenly pushed her head up and gave me a playful glance, clearly curious just what kind of excuse I would come up with on the spot.

"A small technical issue, but we are all set now," I quickly added, finishing up my explanation. "We are ready when you are."

A moment of silence followed.

"Good," thankfully, Chihiro's voice went back to normal. "Now, let's get this started before you two lovebirds sink down in each other's eyes again, okay?"

'I guess the ruse is up, huh?' I thought, only for the corner of my mouth to twitch in a small, helpless smile.

By now, however, our minds were back on the right track. And so, I wasn't going to let anyone else distract me from the task at hand, the task that would finally either prove or disprove the worth of this whole project.

"Here we go then," I announced, only to bring my hand past Claire's waist and lay it down on the first of the ten power knobs controlling the flow of energy throughout the whole system. "First knob, first setting..." I twisted the knob just one step, "call for green!"