The others had no objections. Coincidentally, the direction Vashi and Yang Qi had gone earlier had a river, so they headed straight there.
The group stopped about fifty meters from the riverbank, which was considered a safe distance.
After all, star beasts also needed water, so riverbanks were dangerous zones. However, since they needed a water source for cooking, staying relatively close was more convenient.
The cooking duty didn’t fall on Ke Yunyao. Duan Yang and Jiang Tian took it over.
In fact, the Beast Research Department was also nicknamed “the military’s logistics cooks.” Although the name sounded odd, the department was extremely important. In the military, drinking nutrient solutions alone was not enough—they needed energy from properly ranked star beast meat to sustain their bodies. Thus, Beast Research students were among the most popular in the military, aside from mech crafters and potion makers.
Jiang Tian became the head chef, Duan Yang the assistant, while the others were responsible for gathering firewood and passing tools.
Well—there were no tools yet.
So Ke Yunyao decided to forge a knife first so they could cook.
“Wait a moment.”
Without waiting for anyone’s reaction, she found a relatively safe spot under a tree and sat down.
She then sorted through the mineral materials they had collected and selected an S-rank star iron ore.
Alright, this one will do.
After choosing the main material, everyone watched as Ke Yunyao took out a furnace that looked very similar to a potion cauldron—just larger.
They exchanged glances.
What is she doing? Why did she take out a “potion furnace”?
Is she going to use that to forge a weapon?
Something feels off… are weapons made with furnaces like that?
Meng Lingling immediately thought Ke Yunyao was trying to show off. If she was forging a weapon, she should just forge it—why bring out a potion furnace to attract attention?
Hmph. Let’s see what she can actually make.
However, Ke Yunyao was not showing off. This was simply her habit. She believed that using a “potion furnace” allowed impurities in minerals to be removed more thoroughly.
At least, that was something she couldn’t achieve with pure spiritual power alone.
For example, during exams, when she used only spiritual power to refine ore, she could remove about 95% of impurities. But with the furnace, she could achieve nearly 100% purification.
The difference might seem small, but it had a huge impact on the final product.
This method came from a spontaneous idea she had while switching between potion-making and weapon-forging. She tried it on a whim—and the results were unexpectedly good—so she kept using it.
Another benefit of the furnace was better material fusion, not just for ores but for multiple types of materials.
Like now.
Ke Yunyao first activated the S-rank source stone placed on the furnace, then threw in the star iron ore. Once the furnace reached a high enough temperature, she infused spiritual power to remove impurities from the ore.
Then, under everyone’s confused gazes, she added two medicinal plants.
That action left everyone stunned.
They wanted to speak but hesitated, unsure how to stop her, since none of them were experts in this field.
However, remembering her second-place ranking in the entrance exam, they ultimately chose to trust her.
Meng Lingling scoffed internally, but only dared to huff quietly. She could tell that furnace was not ordinary. Anyone who could use something like that definitely had an unusual background. She didn’t dare provoke it, though she remained unconvinced.
Of course, Ke Yunyao wasn’t acting randomly.
The two plants she added were A-rank “Yanxing Grass” and A-rank “Huangwen Grass.” Star iron had two main weaknesses: poor flexibility and poor corrosion resistance. These two plants happened to compensate for both weaknesses, improving the material significantly.
Inside the furnace, the two purified plants had already turned into liquid droplets. Using her spiritual power, she guided them to merge with the purified star iron.
After a long while, the original ore inside had turned into a black-green lump.
Almost done.
Ke Yunyao infused spiritual power into it and began shaping it.
The lump was small, so she decided to make only one knife.
A sudden image of a kitchen knife appeared in her mind—and in that instant, the black-green lump took the form of a cleaver.
Well… whatever. It was already shaped, so she didn’t bother changing it.
She withdrew her spiritual power from the source stone, and the furnace temperature quickly dropped.
She pulled out the newly forged knife.
Vashi and the others stared at it—and instantly recognized it was clearly a kitchen cleaver. Their expressions went blank.
So that’s why she told them to wait?
All that dramatic setup… just to make a kitchen knife?
For cooking, as long as it could cut meat, couldn’t they just make something simple?
Was all this really necessary?
Yan Cixi coughed lightly. “Yunyao… is it finished?”
Ke Yunyao looked up. “Not yet. I still need to carve the inscriptions.”
“Cough cough cough…” Everyone nearly choked on their own saliva.
“A kitchen knife… still needs inscriptions?” Ma Kaluo muttered in disbelief.
Ke Yunyao felt a bit awkward. She had originally intended to make a proper weapon, but the image in her mind had turned it into a cleaver. Still, it was fundamentally a weapon.
Blushing slightly, she tried to explain, “It’s not a kitchen knife—it’s a weapon. It’s… also a weapon. Not really, but it can be a kitchen knife too. Forget it—you’ll understand later.”
Rather than explain further, she decided to let the results speak for themselves.
Without wasting time, she restarted the furnace and poured in a tube of A-rank star beast blood she had collected earlier, along with several thumb-sized A-rank mineral stones.
To the others watching, it looked like a chaotic stew.
But Ke Yunyao was actually preparing engraving ink for inscriptions.
She purified the minerals with spiritual power, ground them into fine powder, and mixed them with the purified star beast blood, forming a blood-red liquid.
She turned off the furnace and stored the liquid in a prepared container.
Now the engraving ink was ready.
Next came inscription carving.
She picked up an engraving pen, dipped it into the liquid, took a deep breath, held the cleaver in one hand and the pen in the other, then exhaled and focused entirely on the tip of the pen.
Her spiritual power flowed along the ink as she began drawing patterns on the blade.
Everyone held their breath.
It was their first time witnessing a mech crafter inscribing runes—an extremely rare opportunity.
And normally, such a process would never be shown to outsiders.