Please Touch Me, Master

WHOOSH!

Bi Chen was currently on his heels, rapidly escaping the fierce attacks of his opponent—the Rank 2 Abomination. It was chasing him now, after realizing that its long-range and careful attacks were ineffective.

With the Abomination hot on his tail, he snickered and unstrapped one of the many pouches that dangled on his body. 

These pouches were dark, almost black, and they contained rock-like substances in them. 

Bi Chen couldn't find any leather or proper items to use as pouches, so he opted for the next best thing—his skin. Zombies naturally regenerated after some time, which meant their skin could be harvested infinitely—like a kind of glitch.

Well, not exactly.

'Even though I'm Level 10 and I have considerably more Essence than before, these skin pouches can only last for half a day before they dissipate.' He smiled. 'It's been nearly ten hours since I made them, which means I only have about two hours to finish this fight.'

Despite thinking this, Bi Chen wasn't in any kind of rush.

He had already considered it before.

Without an ounce of hesitation, he launched the pouch in the direction of the Rank 2 Abomination while also tearing off the tip of two of his fingers.

With his index and middle fingers now wounded, blood would naturally spurt out. However, there was not even a trace of blood that flowed out despite the brutal way he ripped open his fingers.

Instead, the blood seemed to be coagulated—gathering at the very tip of these two fingers.

"Hehe…!"

Once the pouch reached the Rank 2 Abomination, who disregarded it—almost like the object was nothing more than a grain of sand—Bi Chen stopped to take a shooting stance. He faced the monster, used his uninjured hand to support his wounded one, and arranged his fingers like he was shooting a gun.

Both fingers pointed at their target, steadied by his other hand.

All of this happened at once.

Then—

"Bang!"

PEW!

Oily dark blood shot out of his fingers like bullets, both of them making a thin noise of discharge as they crossed the rather shrunken distance between Bi Chen and the Abomination.

But… they did not hit the Abomination.

That wasn't their target in the first place, after all…

The blood bullets slammed into the pouch with the rock in it, ripping apart the brittle skin to expose the lustrous piece of stone hidden inside.

—Crafting Stone!

VWUUUSSH!

An eruption of bright blue flames erupted, consuming everything in its surroundings. It easily burned the patch of flesh, using it as fuel to increase in intensity as it diverted its full force towards the closest thing to it—the Rank 2 Abomination!

"KIARRRRGHHH!!"

The creature screeched, feeling a burning pain sear into its side. 

Compared to its immense size, the flames were rather small—nothing more than flickering azure lights—but they hurt the Abomination immensely.

Why?

It was simple, really.

Crafting Stones reacted to Essence, and a common way of Crafting, Refining, or Deconstructing Artifacts was using one's own blood as fuel. As such, the moment Bi Chen's blood came into contact with the Crafting Stone piece in the air, it was set ablaze.

But… this still left a lot of questions unanswered.

For one… why would the flames for Crafting and Refinement affect the Rank 2 Abomination in any way? Well… 

'Right now, the piece of Crafting Stone can be tricked into doing one of three things: Crafting, Refinement, or Deconstruction. For the purposes of this battle, I chose Deconstruction! It thinks the Rank 2 Abomination's body is a material I have put up for deconstruction, so it's targeting it and doing whatever it can to process it and break down all of its Essence.'

Even if Bi Chen had chosen Crafting or Refinement, the same effect would be achieved, as the Crafting Stone would have to first of all melt all the materials and remove impurities before it could create something new or refine an existing object.

However, this process was rather slow and ineffective.

Bi Chen wanted quick results!

'The fires of Deconstruction are the best when it comes to swift, explosive power. It simply destroys all impurities without consequence and breaks down its targets rapidly!' Bi Chen beamed at the sight and smiled.

He wasn't at all surprised by this effect. After all, he had tested this out on other Abominations and even himself.

It was a surefire method of attack.

'But… it's not powerful enough to inflict serious injuries on the Rank 2 Abomination…' 

Bi Chen sighed a little.

'Blood and Crafting Stone create fires that burn Essence and remove impurities, but the Rank 2 is too strong for the white and blue fires. My best bet is to use up more blood and increase the intensity of the fire, but that would be too much for the Crafting Stone shard, and it could self-destruct.'

He didn't want that to happen.

Bi Chen went to great lengths to make these Crafting Stone shards, killing himself once to create them, and even when he sacrificed himself to probe this Rank 2 Abomination the first time, he made sure to create a second Crafting Stone.

These two Crafting Stones were then broken into pellets, which he was using for his current attacks. But, they weren't expendable resources.

They could be used again and again.

'If I forcefully increase the power of the blast, the Crafting Stone shards will be destroyed. A Basic Crafting Stone can handle white, blue, and even yellow fires, but these are merely shards. They don't have the same durability as the full thing.'

If he used the method he had in mind, it would be too much of a waste.

'What should I do?' As he had this thought, the Rank 2 Abomination had recovered, and the flames had nearly died out—only showing small flickers of white.

Despite seeing this, Bi Chen remained calm and deeply analyzed his situation.

'Should I just go all-out like this? I could always use Ash to make more Crafting Stones. No… even though she doesn't lose any Level after death, the time period of her recovery is too long. I'll be needing her help in getting stronger, and I also need to make her stronger as well.'

He couldn't lose sight of the big picture for small gains.

'Then, should I try that other method?' Bi Chen pondered on this matter for a long time, uncertainty flickering in his eyes as he had a very deep thought.

"ROOOOOARRR!!!"

The enraged roar of the Rank 2 Abomination spurred him back to life, causing his expression to shift only to leave behind a serious demeanor on his face.

At this point, he was no longer torn on his choice.

Bi Chen made up his mind.

'Let's go for a Refinement Failure!'