Lindarth. 48th Floor.
The roaring of fire and crackling coals resounded from within the massive furnace at the end of the workshop, blown into life by a bellow attached to its side.
Shelves of boxes filled with metal bits of various materials and racks of mid to high ranked weapons rested against the stone walls, lining all four sides of the workshop. While large metal grinders, anvils, tables, and various metallurgy tools and machines filled the space at the center.
A loud clang of steel hitting steel echoed, bouncing off the stone walls.
Lisbeth stood before her massive anvil table, raising her trusty blacksmith hammer up, then striking the red-hot shield resting on the table.
*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*
She moved with practiced precision, her eyes never leaving the shield on the table, making sure no mistakes or imperfections would happen.
Then soon, she let out a relieved sigh as she wiped the non-existent sweat off her forehead with her fore arms.
"Alright. That should do it."
With another durability-restoring commission done, Lis placed her hammer on the anvil table, lifted up the shield, and placed it on the "commision" racks near the stairs leading up to the shop.
All she had to do was wait for the owner to return and take the rest of her commission fee.
"Hm?"
Just then, the familiar sound of her shop bell ringing resounded from beyond the door to her shop.
"A customer?"
Lis patted the white apron above her dark red flared skirt. Then, she straightened her dark-red top, checked her puffed sleeves, and adjusted the red ribbon atop her chest before she began making her way up the stairs.
She could hear the voice of her NPC store-tender, Hanna Heinemann welcoming the customer.
She was a lifesaver, especially while she was too busy with her commissions. But while she wasn't, she would greet her customers personally.
After all, she wasn't a big-time blacksmith. She wanted to give the best customer service to the few customers who came to her shop.
"Welcome to Listebth's Smith Shop~ How may I help-"
"Lis! It's been so long~!"
Lisbeth immediately snapped her head up from her bow and saw two familiar figures in her shop.
"Ah, Asuna! It's been a while!"
Her expression brightened as the two ran up and leapt into each other's embrace, hugging tightly.
"Geez~ It's been so long since you came and visited! Did you forget about me? Have you been maintaining your rapier well?"
"I'm sorry! I've been busy lately so I had to go to the nearest blacksmith from where I'm staying for maintenance."
Rather than not using her service, Lis was more concerned for her best friend's well being. After all, she had seen how difficult it was to grind on the higher floors. It was the reason why she chose to stay as a blacksmith and support-type player.
She couldn't imagine the difficulty of grinding on the higher floors and the pressure she'd experience as a "Clearer".
Lisbeth then tilted her head, looking at Yuuji who was still standing near the entrance.
"You! You're not going around dragging Asuna to your insane grinding sessions, right?"
Yuuji raised his hands and shook his head in surrender.
"N-No I'm not…! We're way past the optimal level for grinding now…"
"Huh?! That means you've been grinding away like crazy before, right? Geez, do you even understand the concept of "work-life balance"?"
"... I do."
"Hm?"
"...I'm sorry."
"Hmph!"
Asuna smiled helplessly as she was held tightly in Lis's protective embrace.
The banter, or rather, Lis berating Yuuji for his "reckless" actions had now become more like a friendly greeting between them.
And while Asuna knew how careful and prepared Yuuji was for all of his actions, it wouldn't hurt for him to be reminded to relax once in a while and not push himself too much.
Yuuji let out a helpless sigh and lowered his hands. And as he did, he pulled his hood back, hiding nothing from his close friend.
"It's been a while, Lis."
A brief moment of daze, before Lis quickly responded back to him with cheeks now turning into the color of her hair.
"Ah, it's been a while…"
She could feel her heart thumping loudly in her chest, and she instinctively separated herself from Asuna, afraid that she would notice it.
"Anyway, what can I do for you today? You messaged me yesterday telling me you'll be coming for something."
She dismissed the feelings bubbling in her heart and went into business mode.
"Mm… Actually, aside from visiting, Yuuji wanted your help to make a new sword."
Lis blinked. She looked at Asuna, then towards Yuuji. A look of confusion and surprise on her face.
"Huh? Are you serious?"
Yuuji nodded.
"Yes. I need a new sword. Something better or at least on par with my "Savior"."
"What happened to that sword?! Did- Did you break it?! It should be impossible to break! What in the world did you do to it?!"
Yuuji shook his head and quickly brought out "Savior" to show her.
"I didn't! I just need… Another sword like this."
Yuuji could feel the piercing doubt, curious, and confusion from her stare. But soon, she relented and let out a sigh.
"Alright… I won't be asking questions, at least for now. Let's go to the back."
Yuuji and Asuna followed Lisbeth to her workshop attached to the side of the shop through the door at the far back of her shop.
Yuuji then placed "Savior" on the anvil table at the center of the room, letting Lisbeth inspect it with her blacksmith skill.
"It's still as ridiculous as I last saw it…"
She murmured under her breath, but her words were clear for Yuuji and Asuna to hear in this room, with barely the sound of crackling embers at the furnace that had now died down considerably.
Lisbeth had seen her fair share of high-leveled weapons. She had even made a few weapons and equipment for some of the current clearers with the rare monster drops Yuuji and Asuna sold to her.
But this single sword surpassed every single thing she had ever seen.
Every single one of its stats and stats boost was ridiculous.
'And even then, I know this isn't why he's overpowered…'
She snorted inwardly.
Other players with their envy and narrow minds might think that the "Sword God" was only able to reach such a height because he got lucky by getting a ridiculously overpowered weapon.
But it was actually the opposite.
He, himself, was so ridiculously overpowered that he was capable of making this kind of broken weapon in the first place.
That said…
"Hm… Well, I'd be happy to make one for you. I've raised my blacksmithing skill quite a lot thanks to all the materials you've given me. But I don't have the materials for this level-"
*Clatter!* *Clatter!* *Clatter!* *Clatter!* *Clatter!*
A myriad of materials, from extremely rare ores, to special monster drops, to Floor Boss's last-hit drops, all poured out of his inventory and onto her anvil table.
"Uwah-! Watch it!"
A pile soon appeared before her. A pile of rare materials that even a few, if sold, could set anyone comfortably for a year without having to go out of a safe zone.
"You…"
Lisbeth couldn't even find the word to retort in response…
Some of the items, she recognized, and it was enough to make her speechless. Those she didn't… she knew they were even more valuable and rare just by looking at it.
"These are some that I assume could be useful as material for the sword… What do you think?"
"..."
Lisbeth couldn't find the words to describe her feelings as she stood before a mountain of all Blackmist's dreams. Shock, awe, excitement, disbelief, nervousness, everything seemed to swirl into a cloudy mix in her heart.
"They're… amazing. Honestly, I don't even have the words. You're so ridiculous…"
"Eh?"
Asuna smiled helplessly at her friend's reaction.
Although she had been spending most of her time with Yuuji, she had somehow retained a sense of what is normal thanks to people like Lisbeth, Lux, Yuna, and Silica.
She understood full well how ridiculous it seemed for a single player to take out this many rare and high-ranking item drops and materials.
"Hm… For a start, I can use this dragon's fang to add to the weapon's damage and high ranking crystal catalyst to make it more durable and increase its enchantment success rate. But you don't have much in the way of high level ingots, huh?"
Yuuji shrugged disappointedly.
"Well, I don't have the blacksmithing related skills to trigger any rare ingot drops from monsters."
"Mm, that makes sense."
Lisbeth fell into silence for a moment. Then, her face lit up with an idea.
"Hey, how about this? I heard that there's a crystal-eating dragon that drops high-grade material on the 55th floor! How about we get that!"
"A dragon… 55th floor… Is it that ice wyrm field boss?"
"That's it!"
Lisbeth pointed a finger to Asuna in exclamation.
"Is that true? We killed that field boss once before, but it didn't drop any useful items."
Yuuji and Asuna had expected it to drop rare items or even a piece of high-level equipment from the field boss. Especially because it was quite strong compared to the other monsters on the 55th floor.
But instead, it dropped a measly few Cols and low-ranking equipment that players would riot about. The rewards for defeating it wouldn't even begin to cover the expenses and danger they would've spent to kill it.
Thankfully, Yuuji and Asuna didn't really spend much to actually kill it, aside from time.
"You need a quest and a master smith to be in your party to get it! Or so people say. I'm not sure, since no player had actually gotten it."
Yuuji weighed his options.
If there really was a rare and high-leveled ingot that could make a sword on par with Savior, then he would definitely do it. But the information was vague, at best. There's a chance that they're just wasting their time.
"What do you think, Asuna?"
Asuna thought for a moment, before turning to Yuuji with a smile.
"Why not? Let's treat it as a little vacation. It's been a while since we all hung out too!"
"Alright."
Yuuji nodded and turned towards Lisbeth.
"When are we going?"
"Let me get my stuff and pack up! How about tomorrow?"
"Sure. We'll prepare as well. See you tomorrow."
--------------------------------X--------------------------------
55th Floor.
The night before their planned trip to the 55th floor, Yuuji had gathered intelligence beforehand regarding the rumored quest that would drop high-grade materials from the white wyrm field boss.
He asked Argo if she knew regarding this obscure quest, and in a rare turn of events, he answered negatively.
[Argo: "I'm not sure… I've heard rumors of it, but I've never been able to confirm it. In fact I was thinking of asking you."]
[Argo: "But from my own investigation, the small hamlet a few kilometers north from Granzam might give you some answers."]
[Yuuji: "Is that where the quest NPC is?"]
[Argo: "I don't know. It's the only place no one looked. Though I'd suggest you bundle up before going there."]
With her hint and advice, Yuuji, Asuna, and Lisbeth headed to the 55th floor with a set of thick coats and jackets, as well as shawls, ear muffs, gloves, thick snow boots, and goggles prepared in their inventories.
The geography and landscapes of the 55th floor was largely inconsistent. In fact, the difference in biome between each region was so drastic that it was difficult to believe that they belonged on the same floor.
Granzam, the main settlement of the 55th floor, was located in an area of hilly grass fields with gentle breeze and warm air.
The Labyrinth was located in an arid and desolate wasteland devoid of any vegetation and riddled with multiple, orange red canyons.
While the western region of the floor consisted of fields covered in large amounts of snow and ice, even in the hottest days of summer, and were notable for its snow-covered mountain ranges.
With the location of the small hamlet Argo mentioned narrowed down by Ai, the three began trekking their way to the northern corner of the snowy western mountain. It was only after they encountered snow did they bundle up into their winter outfits.
It made movement and combat a bit more difficult, but it was much better than suffering from the cold debuff, which slowed them greatly before it began damaging them bit by bit after a while.
This time, since they're travelling with Lisbeth, Yuuji and Asuna didn't want to subject her through their usual travelling… habit.
So instead of killing every single monster that came their way, Yuuji had Ai help him navigate through the snow to avoid encounters with monsters so they could arrive at their destination as soon as possible.
They soon arrived at the small hamlet nested at the far northern corner of the 55th floor's western region.
"We're finally here…!"
Yuuji began to look around as Asuna tended to the exhausted Lisbeth, who was already holding her knees and catching her breath.
"Let's see if we can find anyone here. There might be the quest NPC we need to talk with to receive the quest."
They entered the village and Yuuji immediately led them to the largest house, which was barely a few meters wide.
He knocked on the wooden door, the mere action of which made some snow that had piled up on the eaves to fall.
"Coming…!"
An elderly voice resounded from within. And after a while, perhaps a few moments too long that they began to worry if the person inside had forgotten about them, the door opened.
"Oh my…! Travellers…! What a rare sight indeed."
"It is nice to meet you sir. Apologies for the trouble. We are here to ask if you were to know about the dragon at the West Mountain."
"Ooh! Brave adventurers, are we? I happen to know a few stories about it! Come in…! Get warm…!"
"Thank you very much. Then, we will intrude."
The three entered the old man's humble abode.
And they won't be leaving it for hours.
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AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~! Please comment your thoughts~! I would love to hear what you think about it~!!!!
Also, if you'd like to read additional chapters ahead and get a pdf version (Light & Dark), please feel free to check out my at patr_eon.com/verglasx ~!
Thank you~!