God Of Crafting

"Whew!"

I shook my head a little to signal Claire to raise the protective mask off my face.

Cultivators or not, when it came to grinding stuff, I refused to acknowledge the idea of grinding down metal without proper protection. No matter how strong we were, whether or not we could crush trees or even metal bars with our bare hands… if a red-hot, dust-grain-sized piece of metal were to shoot at high speed into our eyes, we would be no better than mere mortals in suffering through such an injury.

"Is it done?" Claire asked as she put both masks away and leaned over the finished product.

"Yeah, it should be," I replied, bringing the ring closer to my eyes as I inspected every nook and cranny, looking for anything that could turn it into a failure.

Yet, no matter how hard I looked, it was just perfect—within the limits of what I expected and aimed for, that is.

The grinding line wasn't flawless, with some parts of the coating still covering areas of solidified Ruband oil… but those parts were just a part of the structure, not the surface that was supposed to come into contact with the ring user's finger. This slight flaw was purely aesthetic.

When it came to practicality, however…?

It was all but finished and in as perfect a state as I imagined it to be.

Meaning, all that was left for this project was to test whether my designs would actually apply to reality.

"Would you like to give it a try?" I suggested, turning my eyes from the ring to Claire's face.

Seeing her expression, her eyes light up as she turned them from the ring to my face, only to then move them back to the ring and reverse back to me again…

"…Could I?" Claire raised her eyebrows slightly. "I mean, I thought you were crafting it to make future projects easier, so why would I need to…"

Chattering away, Claire revealed just how much she didn't expect me to offer her the chance to be the first to use this ring… let alone ever show the initiative of letting her use it again.

This wasn't exactly surprising, even with how happy our relationship was.

As a crafter myself, I could feel the sense of attachment to all of my creations, an attachment that only came with pain when I saw those creations used in ways different from what I projected for them.

Heck, to a degree, it pained me even to see people use those creations in my place!

And when it came to this ring, something created as a crafting tool to begin with, those feelings only grew stronger.

But just like Claire decided to go all-in on her relationship with me, I was more than happy to do the same. And right now was the perfect moment to showcase that I was there for her not only when our lives or futures were at stake but even in the small moments.

'You learn of one's true character not when it comes to something grand, something that happens a few times in one's life at most. The prose of life lies in the small stuff,' I recalled one of the rare drops of wisdom my parents shared that stuck with me.

From a certain angle, it was easy to grit one's teeth and make the tough choices in grand scenarios, when the perceived payoff of those decisions would be multiplied by the moment's importance.

But when it came to building a healthy relationship… or even something deeper, just like one's own character—it was those small bits and pieces that mattered.

"Come on," I said, smiling openly. I didn't even try to hide the genuine happiness I felt from Claire's surprised yet excited look. "Just try it already. While crafted as a tool, I expect it to be quite fun to use!"

Claire gave me one more look to ascertain I wasn't joking around before cautiously reaching for the ring, occasionally casting a glance at my face as if to ensure I wouldn't suddenly change my mind and lash out at her.

By the time her fingers gently tapped the ring, her face grew all the more vigilant, as if she thought I might flip right at the last moment. Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire

In the end, however, nothing like that happened, and Claire managed to slide the ring onto her finger without issue.

Yet, rather than moving on to check out its practical applications, Claire simply raised her hand to the artificial light of the workshop and then spread her fingers, as if to get the best look at how the ring sat on her finger.

'Is it just me, or…' I squinted my eyes slightly, only for them to twitch before I desperately relaxed my face to avoid letting my thoughts show.

Right now, Claire wasn't looking at this ring as the tool it was intended to be.

Instead…

'Don't tell me, does she want me to ring her up?'

I gulped.

Yet, before I could utter a single word about this topic, Claire's lips stretched into a wide smile as she turned to the side and stretched out her hands, pushing just a bit of her spiritual energy into the ring.

At first, this energy transformed into a string that rushed forth, latching onto the first object it encountered, using the transferred spirituality to coat some materials' box.

Then, as Claire shifted her thumb's position over the ring, the box suddenly flew toward us, accelerating so quickly it nearly turned into a projectile by the time it reached her hand!

Thankfully, just before the box could crash into her, Claire shifted her thumb's position again, changing the ring's purpose from pulling to pushing the coated object away. She lowered her hand to gently place the box on the floor.

"Woah…" Raising her eyebrows slightly, Claire moaned faintly… only to jump when I stood up and wrapped my arms around her from behind, hugging her tightly.

"Tell me, dear, is it just me," I paused momentarily, tightening my hug as if reluctant ever to let her go, "or would you like me to give you a slightly different kind of ring?"