Why didnât he think of it sooner? Why didnât he notice it earlier?
For the next few days, the mysterious egg continued to occupy his thoughts.
âIs it really the symbol of an Outer God?â
YuWon couldnât sense anything. He started thinking maybe it was his imagination. For the Tutorialâs reward to be related to the Outer Gods⊠Not once did he nor any of his comrades ever think of this possibility.
âThereâs no way to be certain yet.â
Tmp, tmpâ
YuWon went outside for a walk.
âBut if itâs trueâŠâ
Would the thing that hatches from this egg be a valuable companion that helps YuWon� Or would it bring destruction and ruin like the Outer Gods in his memories?
YuWon shook his head. He was thinking too much.
There was nothing he could do right now. He couldnât just throw away the egg, nor did he know how to hatch it at the moment either.
What he needed was time.
âWhat a stupid, ridiculous gamble.â
YuWon let out a baffled laugh.
The egg of an Outer God?
Most creatures that hatched from eggs recognized the being that was with them the longest during incubation and the one they saw for the first time after they hatched as their mother. Thatâs why some Rankers went through the trouble of obtaining eggs of mythical beasts to have them as companions. If they raised them right, a mythical beast could become a powerful ally.
âIf I can properly hatch and raise this eggâŠâ
YuWon stopped his train of thought, shaking his head.
âLetâs stop dwelling on it.â
Overthinking things was a taboo. Right now, he had to focus on the object in front of him.
Tshhhhhâ
YuWon entered Vulcaroâs workshop.
âIâm here.â
âWait just a minute.â
Fwooshâ
Vulcaro didnât even bother turning his head to see his guest. He put the crystal in fire and started refining it with a knife. The crystal slowly started changing shape after it was blasted with intense heat.
âIt must be unbelievably hard.â
This was the first time YuWon was witnessing the refinement process for a fragment of âthe Big Three.â
Normal refinement of crystals was done by slowly chipping away at them with a knife, but the fragment of the ăHelm of Invisibilityă couldnât even be scratched without first being submerged in fire.
Vulcaro carried on with the refinement.
Some amount of time passed.
âNgh.â
Vulcaro stretched his back before submerging the fragment in water.
Tssssshâ
The hot fragment instantly evaporated dozens of liters of water, filling the workshop with steam.
âSo youâre here.â
Vulcaro wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead with a towel as he walked over to YuWon.
The two sat down on wooden chairs facing each other.
âYes. You told me to come over.â
âI have something to ask you.â
âSomething to ask?â
âWhat type of weapons and armor do you use? If you use a sword, what type of sword is it? Is it long and thick? What kind of armor do you prefer? How light or heavyâŠ?â
âWhy do you ask?â
âI ended up with by-products from the Crystal,â Vulcaro answered as he pulled out a small bottle with black powder held inside. âI want to try making something with this.â
Powder that came from refining the ăDark Divine Crystal.ă There wasnât a lot of it, but its value couldnât be underestimated. As the ăDark Divine Crystală held such great powers, this powder was more valuable than most crystals.
YuWon had no reason to refuse an item made from the Crystalâs by-product.
âHadesâs Scythe was made from the powder that came out while refining the fragment, butâŠâ
âDonât you need other materials?â
It wasnât easy to obtain materials that could support the power of the ăDark Divine Crystal.ă And knowing Vulcaroâs personality, he wouldnât want to use this kind of material to make some half-assed item. However, YuWon didnât possess any materials of that caliber yet.
âI donât have any materials like adamantium, but I do have something similar. Since itâs not the refined Crystal, mythril should be enough to handle the powder.â
âMythrilâŠ?â
âI have some on hand.â
Thunkâ
Vulcaro got up quickly from his chair, knocking it over. He then walked over and grabbed rebar off the wall. It should have been pretty hot from the heat inside the workshop, but Vulcaro held it unphased.
âItâs about 1.8kg.* Itâs not that much, but itâs enough to make equipment by mixing it.â
*PR/N: 4lbs
Mythril wasnât that hard of a material, but it was a rare mineral that possessed great mana conductivity, and depending on how it was crafted, it could even gain mana resistance.
Inside the Tower, mythril was considered a pretty rare mineral. With just about half a kilogram, you could mix it with metal to make a pretty decent item. Yet here was Vulcaro, casually owning 1.8 kilograms worth.
â1.8kg of mythril⊠That should fetch quite a price.â
YuWon currently had over 100,000 points, but that was nowhere near enough for 1.8kg. At the very least, heâd have to pay 300,000 points.
âI could pay for it if I exchanged the Asgardian bills for points, butâŠâ
Counting the points that YuWon took from the Jackals, he currently possessed a total of 500,000 points. However, there was no way for him to currently exchange that many Asgardian bills into points.
âI guess I can only buy only a third of it.â
While YuWon was weighing his optionsâŠ
âYou can give me the money later. Iâll put it on your tab.â
âYouâll put it on my tab?â
It was a shocking offer. He was offering to put hundreds of thousands of points worth of mythril on a tab for a new player that had just arrived on the 1st Floor.
âAnd what if I end up running away without paying?â
âItâs my greed as a craftsman that makes me want to create a proper item with this. Iâm offering this to you because Iâm impatient. So if you end up taking the item and running away without paying, I wonât hold a grudge against you.â
âStillâŠâ
âIf you really wanna get technical about it, the item that you left me with is dozens of times more valuable than this mythril. Actually, you canât even quantify the value of this item with points.â
Unsurprisingly, Vulcaro knew the true worth of the ăDark Divine Crystal.ă And thatâs also why he had decided to trust YuWon with his mythril.
âYou trusted me for some reason, so itâs only fair I do the same.â
To put 300,000 points on a tab on a whim⊠YuWon had to hold back his grin. Vulcaro was still exactly as he remembered.
âLook over there and pick some equipment. If thereâs something you like, Iâll start production based on itâŠâ
âI need a sword.â
Shingâ
YuWon instantly pulled out a sword and handed it to Vulcaro with the handle facing towards the blacksmith.
âThe weight doesnât matter. As long as itâs not so heavy that I canât wield it, Iâll get used to it quickly. As for the shape and length, this is an adequate size.â
âA sword you sayâŠâ
Vulcaro carefully inspected the sword YuWon handed him. It was the ăWell-Sharpened Swordă YuWon had purchased in the Tutorial. It was a simple, no-frills sword that wasnât very difficult to make.
Vulcaro smiled widely with a confident expression.
âThatâs actually my speciality.â
It was the first time he had smiled after meeting YuWon.
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator â NumbaWon
Proofreader â BringTheRayn
Join our discord for updates on releases! https://discord.gg/MaRegMFhRb
* * *
A week later in the Olympus guild house located in the center of the cityâŠ
Clackâ
In the large yard of the house, Agamemnon was putting on his heavy, silver-tinted armor. His subordinates helped secure it in place and brought him his sword.
âIs everyone here?â
âYes, sir. We have gathered up all our players between the 1st and 10th Floors.â
âHow many?â
âAround 200, sir.â
Agamemnon nodded his head to his subordinateâs reply.
200 players. That was a number equivalent to most mid-sized guilds. It had taken a few days to gather that many men.
âAs long as we do this right, we should be able to get off the hook for failing to manage the Jackals properly,â Agamemnon said with a resolute face. He then shook his head. âNo, maybe even better. The Ruler of the Skies might even take notice of us.â
The Ruler of the Skies. Hearing that name filled Agamemnonâs men with hope. Even though they knew how dangerous the mission they were about to set forth on was, they were able to cover up their fear with anticipation.
Agamemnon looked back at his men and smiled.
âTo think this kind of opportunity would come to me.â
A few days ago, he had been in despair, having learned that the Jackals had been completely exterminated. He was about to completely lose his position within Olympus and get demoted to being an ordinary player.
Thankfully, the will of the Tower hadnât abandoned him. No, instead it had presented him with an opportunity, similar to how players who made it through difficult trials were given great powers.
âWhereâs the location?â
âThe location isâŠâ
Agamemnonâs eyes widened at his subordinateâs answer. It was a completely unexpected location.
âNo wonder he wasnât found until now.â
His subordinate nodded his head at Agamemnonâs words.
In order to find âhim,â they searched every corner of the 1st Floor for a long time, but they had been unable to find even a trace. It was only now that they were able to locate him.
Agamemnon took his sword from his subordinate and fastened it to his waist.
âWhat about reinforcements?â
âTaking the Administratorâs intervention and the Towerâs restrictions into account, a suitable reinforcement has just arrived.â
âGood.â
Agamemnon mounted his horse and braced himself to set out.
â⊠Letâs go.â
Clop, clopâ
Clopâ
Olympusâs army of hundreds of players, including Agamemnon, set out for their mission.
* * *
Slashâ!
Thudâ
A five-meter-long giant snake fell to the ground. With its belly sliced open, it twitched around, bleeding, until it went limp, the life extinguished from its eyes.
[You gained EXP.]
[Heaven-Slaying Starâs completion rate increased by 0.006%.]
The completion rate slowly crawled up.
YuWon swung his sword to get the blood off of it.
On the ground, a relatively large, bloody mess of wolves and panthers laid dead. They were all prey that YuWon had hunted on the 1st Floor.
For the past ten days, YuWon had focused on hunting. It was partly because he didnât want to just waste time while the refinement was being finished, and it was also to increase the [Heaven-Slaying Starâs] completion rate.
âI guess I really canât level up much on the 1st Floor.â
YuWonâs hunting speed was incredibly fast, but there was a limit to the amount of EXP he could rack up on the 1st Floor. After a whole ten days of hunting, he was only able to level up once. It was an extremely stunted pace, but he couldnât get greedy and climb the Tower.
âIn order to achieve a higher record, I need the refined fragment.â
So the only thing he could do right now was wait while increasing the [Heaven-Slaying Starâs] completion rate.
As YuWon was about to continue huntingâŠ
Dingâ
⊠The player kit inside his pocket rang.
Currently, there were only two people who knew YuWonâs player numberâHargaan and Vulcaro.
YuWon sheathed his sword and checked his kit.
The messageâŠ
[ Vulcaro : I finished the refinement. Come on over.]
⊠Was the news he had been waiting for.
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