Aventurine, looking at the scene in front of him was filled with question marks.
What had he just witnessed? Pei Guang took his aventurine fragments, turned them into a complete stone, glued it to a stick—and then used it to smash rocks? And instead of breaking, the aventurine shattered the ground?
Sure, it was a dream, but dreams weren't supposed to defy logic this much!
Aventurine felt his brain itching. He wasn't sure if it was growing a tumor or finally growing some sense, but he could feel his entire worldview being shaken.
He didn't know about other Paths, but the power of Preservation… that, he knew perfectly well.
The power of Preservation could be used both defensively and offensively, but in either case, it was still the power of an Aeon. The cornerstone granted by that power could indeed make him strong enough to complete missions, but the cornerstone itself was fragile.
Not as fragile as an ordinary gem, sure, but if you slammed it against the ground, it would definitely break.
And yet Pei Guang glued it to a stick—and now it could be used for demolition?
Breaking rocks didn't seem like a big deal, but Aventurine could clearly sense that Pei Guang wasn't just breaking stones: he was transforming them into usable materials, and those materials carried pure Preservation energy for anyone to use freely?
But what Pei Guang did next made Aventurine's head buzz even louder.
After confirming that his guess was right, Pei Guang turned toward Firefly. "Hey, Cutiefly~ come here! Take out your beginner's staff."
Firefly obediently took out her staff. Pei Guang forcefully tore the aventurine off his stick, poured some glue onto it, and stuck it onto Firefly's staff instead.
Now her staff had an aventurine embedded in it!
Pei Guang: "Try using your staff now."
Firefly: "Let me give it a shot."
As Firefly began channeling power through the staff, her eyes lit up. The aventurine embedded in it glowed with an amber light, and she felt her body enveloped by a pure, concentrated Preservation energy.
Testing the staff's other abilities, she found that each one was strengthened to varying degrees.
March 7th: "Huh? That looks really fun! Can I try it too?"
Firefly handed her the staff without hesitation.
March took it, surprised by its weight. "Whoa, this is pretty heavy—Cutiefly, you've got some serious arm strength~"
As she joked, she mimicked Firefly's movements and swung the staff. The aventurine glowed again, shining with that same amber light.
At this point, Aventurine couldn't take it anymore. He got up, with an expression he couldn't even define himself, and asked Pei Guang,
"Excuse me… could I borrow that for a moment?"
Pei Guang, who had been beaming with joy, instantly turned serious when he heard that. "Borrow it? Sure, but you can't take it away. If you try to, you're done for."
Aventurine: "Haha, I won't take it away…"
March 7th: "Then I'll lend it to you~"
March handed him the staff. As soon as Aventurine took hold of it, he placed his hand on the aventurine.
But when he tried to activate it… nothing happened.
No amber glow, no Preservation energy at all.
"Huh?"
Aventurine was stunned.
He shook it again: still nothing.
Then he tried swinging the staff down onto the ground, but not only did the aventurine not produce Pei Guang's earlier effects, even the force he used didn't leave a scratch on it.
He secretly tried to activate the aventurine gem, but its response only left him even more confused.
The gem told him that it was still the same as before, completely unchanged, but now, somehow, it disliked him.
"Huh? I got rejected by my own aventurine?"
That's right. Aventurine could clearly feel that he hadn't been abandoned by the Path of Preservation: it was just that the aventurine itself disliked him.
Disliked, not abandoned!
Seeing Aventurine's face full of disbelief, Pei Guang took back the staff. "Looks like you can't use my stuff. What a pity."
After taking it back, Pei Guang removed the aventurine from the staff—because he'd just come up with another brilliant idea.
He pulled out a spinning top from who-knows-where, glued the aventurine onto it, and spun the top between his fingers.
As the top began to spin, the aventurine once again burst forth with a bright amber glow.
That glow spread outward, enveloping everyone—including Aventurine—in the power of Preservation. Aventurine quickly evaluated the strength of this energy.
It wasn't particularly strong, maybe one-tenth the intensity of what he could produce himself, but its purity was off the charts.
And just as Aventurine was carefully analyzing it, Pei Guang's next move made him wonder if he was still dreaming.
Pei Guang pulled out a vine whip, and with practiced skill, began striking the spinning top. Each lash made the top spin faster and faster, and the amber light grew brighter and brighter.
When the glow reached its peak, a faint silhouette emerged from it. With each rotation of the top, that silhouette solidified more and more—
Until it became the image of the Amber Lord himself!
The projection of Qlipoth, about human height, reproduced every detail of the Amber Lord perfectly: so lifelike that any IPC employee would've taken a photo and hung it in their home as a family heirloom.
Seeing the projection appear, March 7th clapped excitedly. "Amazing! Is this your new item ability? You can actually make a projection of the legendary Amber Lord?"
Firefly closed her eyes, feeling the air around her. "I can feel a power protecting us… Is this the power of Preservation? It feels so… reassuring. I didn't think a gem could be used like this."
Pei Guang nodded. "As long as it's worn, it activates! And attaching it to equipment still counts as wearing it. But looking at it now, this aventurine probably has a lot of potential uses. Ah—Aventurine drops aventurines, right? Then… would Topaz drop some topaz?
Damn it, I should've tried taking Topaz down back then! We could've had all kinds of fun items by now!"
March tilted her head. "Yeah! But uh… this Qlipoth—can it only project like that? Is it just for show?"
Pei Guang thought seriously. "Doesn't seem like it? Even though it's just a projection from the top, it's… not responding to me?"
He couldn't find a way to control it, so he and the girls just stood there watching quietly.
As they watched, the projection became more and more real. When it reached nearly full clarity, the projected Amber Lord raised his hammer and slammed it into the ground.
The impact resounded through the air, shaking everyone to their core. The echo of that strike was so profound that even nearby passersby instinctively stopped walking.
It was the power of Preservation: weak in strength, but pure beyond comparison. It was as if the Aeon of Preservation itself were blessing them.
In their hearts, a will arose: "The Will to Preserve."
Damn it! Someone was spreading the Amber Lord's will through the power of Harmony inside the Family's dreamscape?
Even Sunday, who'd been monitoring everything, was at a total loss.
If even Sunday was confused, Aventurine was completely dumbfounded.
He silently took out his phone, recorded a video, and sent it to the company group chat.
Normally, he'd never talk much during missions: after all, walls have ears, and the more you say, the more likely you'll get exposed.
But this time, he had no choice.
Aventurine: "Everything for the Amber Lord!!!"
One video. One simple slogan.
Then, the group exploded with question marks, led by Diamond and the other ten Stonehearts.
Especially Diamond.
He knew that aventurine came from him, and he knew exactly what it could do.
Those Keystone gems couldn't even begin to do something like this!
How the hell did Pei Guang just glue it to a top, whip it a few times, and summon the Amber Lord's projection?
Sure, the IPC had plenty of holograms of Qlipoth: any angle and any size they wanted.
But one manifested through pure Preservation energy, one that could make people feel the Amber Lord's will? That, they didn't have.
Looking at the spinning top, and that aventurine that could summon the Amber Lord's image and spread the will of Preservation, Diamond sent a new directive straight to Aventurine:
"Acquire the aventurine—at any cost."
Reading the order, both Aventurine and Diamond himself went silent. They both wanted to complain, but the words just wouldn't come out.
Was Penacony important? Sure: as a corporate asset, of course it was.
But compared to this aventurine that could unleash the power of Preservation and project the Amber Lord himself?
Penacony didn't matter at all.
Everything the company obtained was meant to be offered to the Amber Lord, and now they had a chance to truly feel his power. That was enough to drive any IPC employee mad with devotion.
That sound, that hammer strike… no recording could ever compare. It was as if they were truly standing before the Amber Lord himself, hearing his hammer resound through their souls.
Even if they conquered Penacony, the Amber Lord would never glance their way. But if they brought back this aventurine, he could watch over them every day, and let his beautiful hammer's song echo in their hearts.
No devotee of the Amber Lord could resist that temptation.