Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 116

Even though it was just a dream, he felt like he fought pretty hard.

This was just a recreation of the past.

YuWon swung the sword that was created from grinding down Hephaestus’s hammer and swung it again. He swung it until the sword broke and turned to dust.

At some point, YuWon regained his senses.

Woosh—

Wind blew in through the slightly open window. As he looked outside, morning had come.

‘Is it still early morning?’

He woke up earlier than expected.

There was no need to sleep further, but since he just got out of the dungeon yesterday, he was planning on sleeping for the whole day. But now, he didn’t even want to sleep any more.

Trill—

As he poured himself a cup of water, his consciousness became alert.

He remembered the dream clearly.

“Damn it.”

They were able to kill a lot, but they were killed just as much in return. Asura, who fought while clearing the purple wave at the front, ended up getting his final head eaten by the Outer Gods.

As YuWon thought back to that moment, his stomach churned.

Tap—

He put the cup back down on the table.

To reconcile his frustrated heart, he internally repeated his magic-like mantra, ‘The future can be changed.’

That was why he had come to the past.

There weren’t many things that had changed yet, except him. The changes that came to the Tower because of YuWon were still too small.

‘This is the start.’

* * *

“Get out, you punk!”

Fwoosh—

Smack—!

The hammer immediately flew at him, but seeing that it was flying towards his chest and not the head, he was probably not intending to kill.

YuWon didn’t dodge the hammer, and a considerable amount of pain struck his chest.

Having not really expected his hammer to actually hit, Hephaestus was surprised for a second.

“Has your anger subsided now?”

“What took you so long to come back?”

“I went to a faraway place.”

“Not even doing the test, just what did you do…”

YuWon could hear all the mumbling and grumbling from him.

Since Hephaestus knew that he didn’t take the test, he probably did try to check where YuWon was.

“I’m sorry.”

“Tsk. Is where you got hit alright?”

“It hurts a little.”

“Why didn’t you dodge?”

“Wouldn’t getting hit decrease your anger? Even better if you feel sorry.”

“…You stupid punk.”

Hephaestus scratched his head in frustration. But since he wasn’t angry anymore, he didn’t throw his hammer again.

YuWon had seen him get mad on multiple occasions, and the method to stop him from being angry was to get hit once or twice since he wasn’t throwing to kill but to vent his anger. It did hurt a bit after getting hit, but it was much better than Hephaestus staying angry.

“Fine, so what did you do all this time? Let’s hear your story.”

“I went to a dungeon.”

“Until now? Just one?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not at a level where you would struggle with a single dungeon…”

“It was a bit difficult.”

“Difficult?”

“It wasn’t a normal dungeon.”

Hephaestus made a curious face, not being able to understand what he meant.

He was one of the people who knew YuWon’s skills the best. YuWon already had the strength to fight Chryses on the 1st Floor, and the item 「Kyneē」 he was currently wielding was also a creation made by Hephaestus’s hands.

The 21st Floor. For there to be a dungeon that YuWon found difficult to clear below this low-level floor…

“Looks like you’ve been to another weird place again.”

Hephaestus picked up the hammer that had fallen to the ground.

He didn’t ask any more. The dungeon had already been cleared, and as a blacksmith, dungeons weren’t something that Hephaestus was interested in.

“Did the crafting go well?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a relief.”

“I had to stop myself multiple times when I just felt like destroying it.”

YuWon followed Hephaestus into the storage room.

The storage room was still as fantastic as ever. It held the masterpieces of the best blacksmith of the Tower, Hephaestus. If any one of these were to be taken outside, it would create a huge commotion. When Hephaestus ran out of money to live or to buy materials, he would take one or two of these out and sell them.

“Where did I stick it… Ah, it’s here.”

After going through the items he piled up, Hephaestus pulled out a wooden chest.

“Here. Check it.”

YuWon took the wooden box and opened it. Inside, he could see a gem shining with brilliant, blue light.

He felt as if the entire sea had been condensed into this small, beautiful gem.

[True Divine Sea Crystal]

ᗌ The fragment imbued with the water created at the beginning. Made of water mana.

ᗌ Classification: crafting material

ᗌ Can rule all oceans.

ᗌ Can change mana to water attribute.

ᗌ Summon [Sea] (limited)

ᗌ 50% increase in resistance against water-attribute mana.

ᗌ 30% decrease in water-attribute mana consumption rate.

The overall specs of the item weren’t that different from the 「Divine Dark Crystal.」 The difference was that the item’s attribute was water and the effect to ‘rule all oceans.’

‘“Rule all oceans”… I can’t exactly tell what this will do.’

He felt that it was different from when he controlled the Leviathan and other sea monsters at the test on the 20th Floor. Rather than living monsters, he felt that ‘oceans’ had a much broader effect.

Understanding the effects of “rule all oceans” would probably only be possible after trying it out himself.

“For now, embed it in Kyneē and use it. It’ll be much better than using it by itself.”

“Is that possible?”

“If you just create a small groove, it’ll work. I’ll just have to work on it a bit. Give it to me, I’ll finish it in about half a day.”

YuWon took off 「Kyneē」 and gave it to Hephaestus.

Hephaestus took out his crafting blade immediately and started the delicate work. As it was made with an adamantium base, changing 「Kyneē」to have even a small groove wasn’t an easy job.

YuWon waited for him to finish his work.

It was late at night.

A groove was made on 「Kyneē,」 and Hephaestus embedded the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 in it.

“This is just to make it easy for you to carry it around, but it’s not finished yet. If you want to use both of them, you’ll need to get another similar item.”

Fwip—

YuWon equipped 「Kyneē」 on his hand again. It was only a small groove, but it felt unusual. He felt that the glove had become a little colder as well.

YuWon checked 「Kyneē」 up and down and asked, “Is there a method to just strengthen Kyneē’s power directly?”

“Strengthen the item?”

“Yes. By using other materials or using mana.”

Hephaestus fell deep into thought for a second.

Strengthening a completed item… A method like that currently did not exist.

But YuWon knew. Later on, Hephaestus wouldn’t just create items, but he found a way to strengthen them, and he shook the Tower with this knowledge. Hephaestus was definitely someone who was capable of it.

As expected…

“Strengthen, strengthen it…”

Hephaestus sounded like he found a clue as he continued to mumble.

YuWon waited for him to finish thinking.

If he was able to realize the method to strengthening it earlier than before, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to use both fragments, the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 and the 「Divine Dark Crystal.」

“You’re pretty useful sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

“Don’t overestimate yourself.” Hephaestus turned away and gestured with his hand. “Money is fine. You paid your keep today at least.”

Hephaestus started to work in his forge. He probably had a lot of ideas.

Although it might have been a story that one heard in passing and forgot, that wasn’t the case for Hephaestus.

Although he had worked for half a day already, Hephaestus didn’t seem to be tired as he lifted his hammer again and started hammering away at an item he had already created.

‘It’d be better to leave him alone.’

YuWon said his goodbyes and left Hephaestus’s workshop.

He received the 「Divine Sea Crystal,」 and there were only a few days left until the 21st Floor’s test.

For about three and a half months, he had remained on the 21st Floor.

“I guess I’ll start climbing again.”

* * *

Translator – Jreaming

Proofreader – BringTheRayn

* * *

Day arrived.

In Hephaestus’s forge, there were many swords, spears, armor, and other such things laid out around the floor. They were all half-broken or bent, and the items had all become useless.

“Strengthen…”

Hephaestus fell deep into thought while holding the hammer in his hand. He had experimented multiple times, but they were all failures. He had tried many methods, such as increasing the strength of an item by imbuing it with more mana or fusing it with a new item.

“It’s difficult.”

It didn’t come easy to him. However, the words YuWon left behind still echoed in his head.

He had lived his entire life hammering away to create new items. Although he always liked and enjoyed doing it, there was no person that wouldn’t get bored from doing the same thing everyday.

It was the same for Hephaestus.

However, the field of ‘strengthening’ was something that Hephaestus was unfamiliar with.

‘This would be doable with those strengtheners and enchanters, but at the end of the day, those are temporary. One can’t permanently increase the abilities of equipment.’

A wrinkle appeared on Hephaestus’s forehead.

‘Strengthen. Strengthen…’

His blacksmith senses were speaking to him. It wasn’t an impossible task. That was why he needed to find the method.

Hephaestus felt himself get fired up as a blacksmith for the first time in a while.

Bang, bang, bang—!

At the top of the stairs that led to the ground floor, someone was knocking on the forge door.

“Who’s here so early in the morning?”

Hephaestus frowned as his concentration completely broke.

After glancing at the door, he lifted his hammer again and went to hammer away at a perfectly fine sword again.

But then, the knocks continued.

Bang, bang, bang—!

“You brat!”

Hephaestus stood up from his seat angrily.

The knocks constantly broke his concentration. He lifted his hammer like he was going to beat someone up.

But then…

Boom—!

“…What?”

That wasn’t the sound of a knock, it was the sound of the door breaking.

‘Is it Olympus?’

It was strange. It hadn’t even been a year since the Administrator of the 1st Floor gave them a warning. He had felt that they wouldn’t be able to move as they pleased on the 1st Floor for at least a few years, maybe a few decades. Because in the end, if they were to antagonize the Administrator just to take Hephaestus away, they would lose more than they would gain.

‘There’s no way Father wouldn’t have calculated that. Then, is it an underling?’

Grip—

He increased the strength of his grip on the hammer. He brought out his mana and readied for combat.

Step, step—

Someone was walking down the stairs.

From just the steps, he could tell that it was only one person. If that was the case, it was doable.

The steps grew closer.

Long legs first, he could see the figure of the unexpected guest.

“Hey, Ahjussi.”

A young voice like that of a teenager. Lanky arms and legs and a white fur coat.

“You’ll die if you swing that. So how about you put that down?”

“You…”

The unwelcome guest who had come in after breaking down the door was someone Hephaestus had known for a long time.

A long time ago, he had come here to ask him to create a long staff for him.

“Just what are you doing here, you monkey?”

“Huh?”

The unexpected guest’s eyes grew wide.

The one who called himself “The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal.” Son OhGong.

He looked in surprise at Hephaestus and asked him, “You live here?”