Yu IlHan, who had first come home, became stupefied by the flood of photos that came through his mobile messenger, which came from Na YuNa, because his mobile messenger app automatically added her as a friend the moment they exchanged numbers.
The photos contained information on the building inside Gangnam reinforced district, that he was supposed to take over. At the end of the message, there was a curse message, saying that she would contact him frequently. He really wanted to delete her number immediately, but for his aims, there was a need to keep in contact with her.
Na YuNa also knew this, so this may have made her send cute and annoying emojis, trying to become closer to him.
More than that.
âWhat do I doâŚâ
Somehow, he now had become an owner of a building. And this was no ordinary building, but one inside the Gangnam reinforced district where many ability users, hired by various VIPs and those in power, were keeping strict security!
[Loan them out for rent, and youâd become filthy rich.](Lita)
[Itâs kinda funny how theyâre bragging about âreinforced districtâ, when the ones protecting them are only around level 40, but it is for sure that this would become the center of Korea for a while. Itâs no loss owning it, right?](Erta)
That was true; by selling a staff and a robe, Yu IlHan had instantly entered the center of Korea.
Just having a lot of money didnât allow one to enter the Gangnam reinforced district. Above all, the ones with the vested interests would not allow it to happen.
However, somehow, Yu IlHan now had a connection with Kang MiRae, who was one of the top-runners in both the ones with vested interests, and in financial power. As a result, he could enter the center of Korea too easily.
The problem was that Yu IlHan didnât find that fact that helpful.
âThis kind of building is doomed with a stomp from a monster, though?â
In the current world, there was nothing more false than visual treasures. Of course, Yu IlHan had no such greed in money in the first place, but the world as it is right now was like that as well.
Do they know? That the land that theyâre desperately guarding, is just a delusion that would collapse with the appearance of a single shadow leopard.
âi wonder if they donât know, or they canât do anything even if they know; since theyâve been to other worlds and all.â
[Strong people over level 50 are not that common.](Erta)
[Humanityâs growth rate is exceptionally fast. Wouldnât the guarding forces become stronger as well?](Lita)
Yu IlHan truly wished that it would become so. And he was moving around for that objective as well.
At that moment, Lita clapped her hands and spoke to Yu IlHan.
[Perhaps, that woman, may have given IlHan the building in order to draw him to her side?](Lita)
âYeah, thatâs probably it.â
Yu IlHan also expected that much. She may have thought that Yu IlHan would do something if Gangnam was in danger, even if to protect his own assets.
Thinking that Na YuNa was the one to bring it up, he judged that she wasnât such a klutz.
â20 billion was fine too.â
âOf course, that would only work against people who were greedy for money. Yu IlHan only wanted to enhance the Empressâ power in the first place, so there was no way he would become obsessed with protecting the building; he couldnât care less.
He couldnât care less, but he thought that he might be able to achieve something he wanted to do with that building.
âThat building would receive everyoneâs attention.â
[Well, it is in the yolk part of the commercial center of Korea.](Erta)
[So, there were some famous brand stores but some left this time. Well, the Great Cataclysm shakes the original standards.](Lita)
Yes. A developing industry might start to regress, and a completely unattended industry might develop as well. Earth, which was advancing and making different standards to other worlds, was making a society unseen anywhere else, after the Great Cataclysm.
However, there was one industry that would never collapse as long as monsters existed in the world.
The arms industry.
âThatâs good. Iâll just sell here.â
[Youâre quite optimistic?]((Lita)
âWell, anything would never end if you hesitate. I should get this over with quickly and do something else.â
[Work again without rest!?](Erta)
Playing soccer in physical education class in middle school was like that. He didnât want to play but he needed to at least pretend he was playing, but the ball wonât come his way; he would get treated like an invisible man, and to just leave, he was scared.
And as such, he felt the time until the end of the class was so long. If there was a room of mentality and time, then it was probably there. (T/N: No idea what this means)
[Whoa, there are 14 floors too!](Lita)
[There are 5 floors underground as well. Until B3 is a parking lot, but 4th and below seem to be locked.](Erta)
[You should contact a management company.](Lita)
[This jewelry looks really nice.](Erta)
[IlHan, give this noona a necklace.](Lita)
These angels, despite looking like they had no desire for worldly items, were being delighted after looking at the details of the building. It seemed like women were the same whether they were higher existences or not. Rather than that, they sure did talk when they were talking about how this was all Na YuNaâs scheme and whatnot just a moment ago.
However, Yu IlHan didnât stop them. In his head, another plan was already forming. Enhancing the people of Earth, with this building as the center!
âLetâs decide on a brand name.â
[How about Angel Love?}(Lita)
[Letâs go with Unique.](Erta)
Rejecting Litaâs nonsensical suggestion, Ertaa suggested. However, Yu IlHan shook his head.
âIâm embarrassed so no.â
[How about Y&L?](Lita)(T/N: One of the reason why I changed Rita to Lita)
[I can see your intentions clearly in that name. Then letâs go with Savior.](Erta)
After that Angelove, Hammer of Hephaestus, Feather Wing, God Hand, and such embarrassing and exaggerated suggestions came out, but Yu IlHan ignored them all.
âLetâs go with Vanguard.â(T/N: Zhan Long, anyone?)
Vanguard, the front most soldier of the battlefield. This name contained Yu IlHanâs desperate wish to fall behind, as he was unintentionally at the front most of the people of Earth.
As soon as he decided to act, Yu IlHan moved quickly. First, he cleared up the problem regarding the transferring the rights to the building, and had a meeting with the people related to the building. The wolf skull mask was too well known as a sign of Sungdaein Bolt, so he used another mask.
The people never seemed to have imagined that the owner was the strongest ability user in Korea. The tenants all finished talking with him, and the only fact they were able to get was that their new owner had a grade 8 syndrome.
And some, left the building with sufficient compensation.
Yu IlHan bought an apartment near the building he received. Once, this apartment boasted the greatest price in Korea, and now, it became even more expensive due to being within the Gangnam reinforced district, but since Yu IlHan had 150 billion won, he bought out the entire top floor. tens of billions flew away like that, but he didnât mind.
[My IlHan spends his money so well too. So cool.](Lita)
[Thatâs because he doesnât have any desire for money.](Erta)
Never did he manage a building in his life, so he hired a management company, like what Kang MiRae had advised, and decided to not care anymore about it.
The only thing important to him was the space for himself to use and manage.
He also moved his workshop to the 5th underground floor of the building. Angels helped him out in this one. Somehow, only the males were summoned, but they all had good impressions towards Yu IlHan.
[Aha, so this is the promising guy?]
[I think you might be able to become an angel some day.]
[No, we canât give him a cast of an angel to this kind human.]
[Thatâs true.]
All the things in the workshop was moved to the 5th underground floor of the building in Gangnam, and while they were at it, they also enhanced the protective magic on it. On the building, and on some of the floors too! Thanks to the fact that Yu IlHan had become an Angelâs Partner, he could receive some minor help like this in everything he did.
âGood environment.â
Looking at the underground workshop that kept its silence due to the soundproofing magic, and the eternal flame that burned strongly within a bigger, new furnace, Yu IlHan smiled.
âThen should I start?â
He didnât go through mana crafting. Using the byproducts from monsters between level 30 and 40, which he had a pile of in his Cross Bag, he made swords, spears, axes, hammers, shields, breastplates, shoulderplates, shinguards, boots, gauntlets, etc.
As he didnât use the byproducts from Metal Hearts or Quegnae, they were mostly made of bone or leather, but even so, their performance was truly vicious to the point that they couldnât be seen easily in other worlds as well. For example, there was something like this.
[Frightening Hard Leather Gauntlet]
[Rank -Rare]
[Defense â 1,900]
[Options â 10% increase in attack power in close combat.]
[Durability â 1,500/1,500]
[A mass produced armor that the worldâs best smith had made using low quality materials. Other smiths would curse on their own ability upon seeing this.]
Such weapons with nonsensical performance were produced in units of tens per day. Because Yu IlHan didnât put his heart into it? Yu IlHan had never not put in his heart in anything, and even if he did, there was no way a single blacksmith would produce tens of weapons per day.
Yu IllHanâs work had already escaped the range of an ordinary personâs reason. He looked like he wasnât moving fast, but despite that, swords and shields and breastplates kept popping out.
[I donât think heâs at a point thatâs possible by just hammering on metal for a few hundred years. He isnât even using metal either.](Erta)
[Did you just realize that it was strange?](Lita)
Yu IlHan thought that now was the most important time for him. Earth had gone crazy, and it seemed like the 2nd Great Cataclysm, planned 150 years in the future, may arrive at any moment. Reta Karâiha was nagging him to grow fast, and it was unknown what other forces may be targeting Earth from another world other than dragons.
Even so, he kept hammering away.
He had to live a very long time when the Earth was stopped, and during those years, he had learnt to live correctly and not quickly. Being hasty would make things fail, and trip over a stone.
Yu IlHan thought that now was the time, that he had been announced the shocking news from Reta Karâiha, to walk on the right path.
Endlessly, truly endlessly he hammered away and raised his techniques beyond perfection, raised Eternal Flame, tried to feel mana by sticking as close to the angels as possible, tried to listen to other souls than Reta Karâiha, and checked on the skills that he had learnt.
He reconfirmed his titles, saw the limits of his status points, looked back to the techniques engraved in his body, not the skills, and rechecked on his equipments.
Then he thought not about the ones he had to do, but the ones he could do.
The worst villain appearing in an anime once said something nonsensical that great responsibility followed great power, but Yu IlHan thought that power thatâs swung around by responsibility would never become strong.
To Yu IlHan, power was not something to protect today, but the ability to make tomorrow.
While Yu IlHan was working, a lot of things happened outside as well.
There was an interior reconstruction in the 13th and 14th floor of the building, a corporate was formed, the brand, Vanguard, was registered, Lita did her special training, and the interior construction in the top floor of the apartment had ended. He hired people to work in his shop, and made a passport.
2 weeks flew past like that. Just as Yu IlHan was about to rest after making a spear, a few green lines of texts appeared on his retina.
[From a dimension far away, the God of Smithing, ???, has discovered you.]
[The God became shocked at your ability to make miracles without the power of miracles. He wants to give you a blessing.]
[If you fulfill two more tasks, the blessing of the God of Smithing, ???, would descend upon you. The contents of the tasks areâŚâŚ]
Becoming dizzy at the hook that came from a direction that he had never imagined, Yu IlHan read down the text again.
However, he had neither read wrong, nor was it an illusion. He didnât know who the God of Smithing was, but it was true that he wanted to give blessings to Yu IlHan so suddenly, when he was just working. It seemed like this God truly had a lot of free time.
âErta, it says here that the God of Smithing will give me blessing after I do some homework.â
[âŚâŚHeh, I am not surprised at all.](Erta)
Erta, who rolled off from the top of Yu IlHanâs head, said that in mid air with her legs trembling. Calmly placing her on his palm, he asked.
âIs this God of Smithing and the God you follow the same guy?â
[No.](Erta)
âAre they existences on an equal level?â
[Not at all. Lord God is a unique existence across all the worlds, but they arenât like that.](Erta)
âThat means that they arenât unique, right? Are there like hundreds of the same God of Smithing?â
[No, it was ½ probability, but unfortunately, you guessed wrong.]
Erta replied with a small smile.
[God of Smithing, God of Warriors, Goddess of BeautyâŚâŚ They are each unqiue, but they do not exist.](Erta)
âOh my.â
Yu IlHan became shocked.
He didnât even ask and Erta gave him a simple answer!
[I think youâre imagining something very rude right now.](Erta)
âI thought you were pretty.â
[So it was something rude.](Erta)
Yu IlHan said a lie that wouldnât work at all, but Erta replied coyly while touching her black hair. (T/N: So Erta had black hair⌠I thought all angels were blondâŚ) She seemed to become slightly happy even though it was a lie. With a faint smile, she continued.
[They donât exist for real. They are only false egos that were born after countless records of a specific field had gathered. They could be called a byproduct of the Akashic Record.](Erta)
âSuch nonsensical things are possible?â
[Why are you able to live and breath here right now?](Erta)
Yu IlHan lost his words. So he asked something else.
âThe blessing he wants to give me?â
[What can an ego made of records give out? Of course, records. Whatâs different about a blessing is to the rewards of the Heavenâs Quest is that we add our power into a record that you already have, but they process a completely new record to give you.](Erta)
âWhy?â
[Because more records related to smithing would pile up the more you progress as a smith.](Erta)
All records and achievements by Yu IlHan as a smith would enhance the abilities of the God of Smithing. He wasnât sure what that blessing would be about, but it should probably enhance his smithing abilities.
So, putting it in an old-fashioned way, it was a win-win scenario.
He accepted that point, but there was something that he still couldnât understand.
âIf a God is only a false ego, then what the hell is holy power? The power that Na YuNa wielded; healing injuries and strengthening the body.â
[I will explain about that to you next time, so just know that it is a type of mana for now. Anyway, if itâs you, there wonât come a time where you would use holy power of the God of Smithing, so donât get your hopes up on that.](Erta)
âQuick-witted as alwaysâŚâ
Yu IlHan inwardly imagined himself doing tanking, dealing, and healing all by himself, but his expectations had been completely shattered. Just as Yu IlHan was stretching himself with a sigh, Erta asked while tilting her head.
[So, what are those tasks? You said that he didnât give the blessing out for free?](Erta)
âNot telling.â
[Are you picking a fight?](Erta)
âNo, not that.â
Yu IlHan ended up laughing. However, his laugh contained unconcealable rage.
âThat fucker isnât telling me what the tasks are.â
[âŚâŚ]
It was fortunate that this God was a false ego beforehand.
If he didnât, then he would have wandered around several worlds looking for this God of Smithing, to smack him, in vain!
Authorâs notes
1. There was a reader who asked about God some time ago. I hope your questions were alleviated a little.
Read Latest Chapters at wuxiaworld.eu
2. Thanks for the passionate reactions. It should be better for me to not say whether it is harem or not. Iâm scared that I might be led by the majority. There is an ending Iâm thinking of, but it might become different according to the progression, so I wonât give you a clear answer from now.
What I can tell you now is that because Yu IlHan has no interest in romance (Because heâs busy surviving) it would take a long time before romantic details appear, and the opposite sex he feels the closest with is Lita, but he is thinking of her as a family, not the opposite sex. The path our IlHan has to walk is 90 thousand li, so you donât have to focus on just Lita! Of course, I find Lita cute as well, though!
Translatorâs notes
Romantic details do appear⌠Thatâs like⌠in X more chapters thoughâŚ. (X is censored due to being a spoiler)