Levi placed a hardwood board onto the central platform of the machine he had named the 'Rune Engraving Machine'.
He raised a finger and pressed the button labeled with the common script for 'Magic Element Gathering'.
A laser beam immediately shot out from the steel needle suspended above the platform. As time passed, the beam continuously adjusted its angle and orientation, yet it left not a single trace on the surface of the hardwood board.
However, everyone present was either a deity or the designer of the engraving machine.
Naturally, they understood that the beam of light before them had actually penetrated into the interior of the hardwood board.
It made sense when one thought about it. Although 'Runes' touched upon the edges of an 'Arcanum', they were, after all, a form of writing.
And anything that could be written could naturally be deconstructed, copied, and mastered.
Before acquiring enough Valis to perform gacha pulls, Levi would not let other people or gods learn the Runes.
Therefore, adding some extra anti-learning functions was quite reasonable.
Three minutes later.
The laser emitted by the steel needle gradually dissipated, leaving behind a hardwood board that appeared unchanged on the outside, but was already fundamentally different on the inside.
Levi stepped forward. With his 'Byakugan' activated, he input a small amount of Magic Power into the board.
Just as he had anticipated, in the next instant, countless magic elements were absorbed onto the latter's surface.
However, due to the lack of a 'Magic Conversion' rune, these gathered magic elements dissipated once more as the Magic Power within the hardwood board was exhausted.
Over the next hour or so, Levi successively tested several other buttons arranged on the engraving machine's operation panel.
It wasn't until he confirmed that all the Rune combinations recorded in the engraving machine's storage chip could be successfully embedded into the hardwood board—and could function after inputting Magic Power—that he finally nodded his head in satisfaction.
Then, raising his right palm, he stuffed the machine before him into his 'Inventory'.
At the same moment, Lind, who had set off at breakfast time and was now standing inside the shipyard at Port Town Melin, performed an action diametrically opposed to that of the main body.
The engraving machine, which had been kilometers away just a moment ago, suddenly materialized in front of her.
Because she had given a verbal warning beforehand, whether it was the onlookers from the gods or the ordinary shipwrights, they merely let out a "Wow". Although there was surprise on their faces, it went no further than that.
Two Dwarven dependents of the God Njord stepped forward. While flipping through the engraving machine's user manual written by Levi, they initiated the Rune engraving process under Lind's guidance.
The other workers took their positions, hauling over a ship that had its outer hull removed in advance.
Whenever a hardwood board was successfully engraved, they would install it in the corresponding position on the ship's hull.
They repeated this operation until the sun set in the west.
After a whole day of hard work, a small fishing boat was fully outfitted.
The workers joined forces to push it into the water, repeating the operation the Njord Familia had performed two days prior.
Only this time, it wasn't just Njord's dependents boarding the deck, but also the captains of the other three Familias.
As the one responsible for the greatest combat power among the group, Lind naturally boarded the ship as well.
She had considerable confidence in the engraving machine designed personally by her main body.
The facts proved her right.
The subsequent joint deep-sea voyage of the four Familias could be described as calm and tranquil; they encountered no danger whatsoever.
It wasn't until it was confirmed that the engraving machine could indeed replace herself or her main body in manufacturing special ships that the Spirit girl, having returned to land, finally bowed to Njord and the other gods.
"I will trouble the four Lord Gods to look after the relevant matters regarding the shipyard from here on out."
"Lady Lind, you are too polite."
Facing Lind, and knowing that Levi stood behind her, Njord's attitude was very gentle.
The other three gods did not treat the young girl as an ordinary adventurer either, and they all returned the bow.
"You and the Ganesha Familia should be starting your operation soon, right?" Njord asked curiously.
The young girl smiled, neither giving an affirmative answer nor a denial.
After several consecutive days of investigation, the hidden stronghold of the 'Dark Faction'—the Evils—had actually been roughly identified by the Ganesha Familia's 'Military Police'.
It was located within 'Daedalus Street', not far from the Soma Familia's residence.
The Third District, where the Soma Familia residence and Daedalus Street were located, was originally Orario's slum.
It could be said to be a hiding place for filth and corruption; even the 'Pleasure Quarter' was actually opened nearby.
Furthermore, according to the news sent back by Alise and the others, Dionysus and his Familia's captain, Filvis, had been running to Daedalus Street quite often in recent days.
Now, combining this with the intelligence interrogated from Zanis and his trusted aides, it was very easy to connect the various threads of cause and effect.
—Clearly, the fellows from the 'Dark Faction' were plotting something in the shadows.
As for the specific details, Levi—who had only watched the anime in his previous life—did not understand them very well either. He only had a vague feeling that perhaps it was related to the 'Corrupted Spirit' in the depths of the 'Labyrinth'.
In fact, having reached this stage, adding the confession of the 'Wine Keeper', the 'Military Police' barely had enough justification to act first and report later, going ahead to conduct a search of Daedalus Street.
But just as mentioned before, although the Ganesha Familia had obtained a certain degree of law enforcement power through the 'Guild', their hands and feet were also bound by it.
For many matters, even if the rules seemed to allow it, this main god had to take a roundabout path in operation.
At the very least, in the scenario where the Guild was not notified in advance, the one to take the blame afterward—no, the one to 'share the fruits of victory'—could certainly not be the Ganesha Familia alone.
With multiple factors combined, Shakti, the captain of the Elephant God's family, had secretly knocked on the door of the Loki Familia's residence the day before yesterday—while her own patron god was heading to Melin—with the help of a 'Cognition Impediment' rune stone.
As for what specific agreement this wielder of 'Ganesha's Staff' reached with the higher-ups of the Loki Familia, Levi did not pay attention to it, as he happened to be manufacturing parts for the engraving machine at the time.
However, afterward, both Familias sent him an invitation for a joint operation.
The three Familias would act promptly at 0:00 tonight.
The Ganesha Familia would dispatch some members to the 'Pleasure Quarter' under the pretext of a routine patrol to interfere with the Ishtar Familia, which had ties to the 'Dark Faction'.
The remaining members would merge with the Loki Familia to raid the 'Dark Faction' stronghold in Daedalus Street.
As for the Hestia Familia, or rather Levi, he needed to dispatch his 'Spirit Clones' to serve as the absolute logistical guarantee for the Loki Familia and the Ganesha Familia.
Levi actually did not mind personally making a move to clean up those members of the 'Dark Faction'.
He did not possess the inexplicable arrogance of the strong, feeling that bullying the weak was a loss of grace.
It was just that, considering he had initially promised Hestia and Hephaestus to lend a hand to the Goddess Demeter and rescue her Familia members as safely as possible, he agreed to this plan after some thought.
Nightfall.
Inside the Hestia Familia residence, six figures rose into the high sky one after another.
Yet, before the gods and high-level adventurers could detect them, the light and shadows around them flickered, and they vanished without a trace.
____
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