Chapter 70
Today I was planning to check the ring's detailed abilities.
[Memory of Fire]
[Grade: Legendary]
[Effect: You can browse the dwarves' blueprints.]
[You will be able to imitate their techniques.]
[Current Level: Lv.1]
“So it contains blueprints….”
I tried pouring mana into the ring as a test.
At the same time, a book made of mana unfolded before me.
It was a real book I could actually open and read.
A book thicker than the height of a dwarf.
Inside, strange letters were densely packed together with complex drawings.
It was the dwarven script I'd seen on the stone slab on the 29th floor.
Could it be that Sandworm would have to translate every line again? That would be a problem.
“Huh, I can read it?”
Soon I realized that I could read the letters naturally.
The information flowed into my head as naturally as if it were my native language that I had used for years.
“Oh….”
Apparently this ring had a built-in Dwarvish translation function.
Amazed, I started skimming through the list of blueprints spread out before me.
“They really have all sorts of stuff here….”
The more pages I turned, the wider my mouth fell open.
The list was so vast that I couldn't see the end of it.
From simple nails and hammers to all kinds of machinery, it was packed full.
However, upon closer inspection, most of the items were marked in a faint gray.
Only a few items on the very first page of the list were written in black.
“So that's why there are levels….”
I quickly understood the system.
Each blueprint had a required crafting level.
Things I couldn't make at my current level were grayed out.
I had to gain experience and level up to unlock more blueprints.
“Let's see what's here?”
Curious, I flipped through the book quickly.
The farther back I went, the more fascinating items began to appear.
[Mithril Giant Soldier]
[Dimensional Storage Box]
[Magic Battery]
“Wow, they even have this?”
Even the mid-boss I had met on the 25th floor was on the list.
My interest piqued, I even opened the book to the last page.
[Sky Fortress Valhalla]
“…I have to make this.”
My mouth watered before I knew it.
The Dimensional Storage Box and Magic Battery in the middle were useful enough, too.
But a sky fortress?
An island floating in the sky?
I absolutely had to make this, even if it meant squandering my entire fortune.
The dwarves' technological skill far surpassed my imagination.
“What else is there, I wonder….”
Unable to hide my excitement, I scoured the other blueprints as well.
Before long, I found another item that caught my eye.
[Anti-Air Harpoon Cannon: Dragon Hunter]
According to the description, it was a weapon that automatically tracked flying enemies and fired giant mana harpoons.
“An aerial attack method, huh… That would be useful.”
Come to think of it, I had no way to fight enemies in the air.
All my magic was earthbound.
It was incredibly powerful against ground enemies, but if I ran into monsters like flying dragons or griffons, I would be helpless.
“Well, I haven't seen any airborne mobs yet.”
Still, it felt reassuring to have one of these on hand.
I checked the required crafting level for the harpoon cannon.
[Required Crafting Level: 50]
“….”
Silently, I turned the page back.
My crafting level was 1.
The gap was enormous.
“What level was the sky fortress…? No, fuck. When am I ever going to hit that?”
For good measure, I checked the sky fortress's required level again. It was a whopping 100.
A number that made my vision darken.
“No, let's not give up.”
I had no idea how quickly levels would rise.
I decided to think positively.
It's not like I have anything else to do besides climbing the tower.
If I do it little by little every day, it should work out somehow.
“Let's just think of it as new content opening up.”
I looked over the book carefully again.
There were three major things needed for crafting.
First, skill level.
There was no choice but to steadily build up crafting experience.
Second, materials.
This was something I could solve by obtaining them from the tower or buying them with money.
Third, facilities.
In other words, all sorts of forge equipment, including anvils and furnaces.
In the end, the last one was the biggest problem. There was no way I had anything like that at home.
While I was staring blankly at the book, new information flowed from the ring.
[Mana Conversion System Can Be Activated]
[Some facilities and processes can be substituted with mana.]
[Warning: Very dangerous.]
[Mana consumption is extreme and control is extremely difficult, so unless you're a master-class craftsman, do not attempt it under any circumstances.]
[Mana exhaustion, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, heart attack, kidney stones, and 52 other disasters may occur.]
“This was made for me.”
Without hesitation, I activated the option.
Blue mana particles gathered before my eyes, and a translucent hammer and anvil made of light appeared in the air.
“Let's see how hard it is, shall we?”
It felt unsettling to ignore the warning screen outright. For now, I planned to get a feel for things with something easy.
I checked the first crafting quest.
[Crafting Level 1→2]
Make 100 rings (0/100)
Make 100 needles (0/100)
Make 100 nails (0/100)
“…This grind is insane.”
Fortunately, the material was iron, which was easy to get.
I called the broker to arrange materials.
***
There was a brief tussle with the broker, who wondered what on earth I was going to use this for, but I soon managed to get hold of a few iron ingots.
I took out a few and placed them on the anvil of light.
Then I picked up the hammer of light.
The hammer felt heavier than I expected.
“I'm a little worried, though….”
I had never hammered a nail in my life, let alone swung a hammer.
The only tools I had ever used were a Phillips screwdriver and an Allen wrench.
On top of that, I was worried about the tools themselves.
I didn't know much about blacksmithing.
But I did know enough to realize you couldn't just whip up needles or rings with only an anvil and a hammer.
Fortunately, the ring did not require blacksmithing knowledge from me.
When I raised the hammer, the blueprint floating in my mind began to glow and showed me the first strike point.
All I had to do was swing the hammer toward it.
Clang!
A clear sound, like striking a bell, rang out.
The moment my hammer struck the iron ingot, blue waves of mana spread out from the impact point.
Then something astonishing happened.
The once-hard iron ingot moved as softly as clay and began changing shape.
The hammer's only job was to act as a switch that transmitted mana.
The ring and my mana were taking care of the actual processing on their own.
The iron stretched and folded, and every step happened like magic according to my will.
Following the strike points indicated by the blueprint, I brought the hammer down a few more times.
Each time, the iron took on the shape of a ring.
With nothing more than a few hammer blows, a perfectly formed ring was placed on the anvil.
[Ring (Lv. 1) crafted successfully.]
[Make 100 rings (1/100)]
“This is way easier than I thought.”
The warning screen had clearly said mana consumption was extreme and control was difficult, but neither of those was an issue for me.
Encouraged, I kept hammering away.
Clang! Clang!
[Make 100 rings (20/100)]
However, after making about 20 rings, I started to feel dazed.
“This kind of repetitive work isn't suited for an elite like me….”
I still had to make 80 more of these?
A number that made me feel dizzy.
“Ugh… my hands are going numb too….”
For some reason, even my arms seemed to be hurting.
I shook out my palms in the air.
Considering my strength stat, it was strange for my hands to hurt from a bit of hammering.
There was definitely an option built into the magic anvil that consumed stamina.
At that moment, a brilliant idea flashed through my head.
“Clone!”
I immediately pulled sand up from the floor and created an identical clone.
Then I used mana to create another hammer and anvil of light, and put them in the clone's hands.
The clone squinted at me.
“What are you looking at? Get started.”
Though grumbling, the clone started hammering.
Clang! Clang!
The rings began to take shape quickly.
I smiled in satisfaction.
“If I use a clone, the experience should go up twice as fast too, right?”
When the clone completed the first ring, I checked the system window with high expectations.
[Make 100 rings (20/100)]
“What the fuck?”
The experience was unchanged.
What the clone did wasn't reflected in my experience at all.
Apparently, it wasn't possible to coast on skill growth like in comics.
“…I can't give up here. Chohogi!”
I summoned Chohogi.
After bulking up Chohogi's body, I gave it its own anvil-and-hammer set.
It tilted its head, then successfully hammered for the first time in its life.
[Make 100 rings (21/100)]
The count was going up properly.
“Good! Now we just need 79 more!”
“….”
“Hey! What are you doing!”
After glancing back and forth between me and the hammer a few times, Chohogi threw the hammer on the floor and bolted.
Damn, after bringing it into the world and raising it, this is all I get?
It seemed that all that phone-watching had been bad for its upbringing.
I needed someone to work in Chohogi's place now that it had gotten too full of itself.
“Should I make a second unit just for forge work?”
It seemed like a good idea, but there was one problem.
It would require sacrificing another finger.
I had tried it last time, but with only eight fingers, my typing speed on the computer became too slow and it caused too many problems for a comfortable internet life.
To make another clone, I had to find a way that didn't involve using a finger.
“Maybe there's something like a prosthetic hand?”
I flipped through the book just in case.
Sure enough, there was something similar.
“[Flowing Hand]. Crafting level: 10.”
It was a prosthetic hand that changed shape to fit the user's body.
“I like that it keeps changing shape.”
My body disappeared and reappeared fairly often, after all.
An item this flexible was good.
And the crafting level was only 10.
I felt like I could raise it quickly enough.
“Still, that means I have to get it up to level 10 on my own.”
With a deep sigh, I picked up the hammer again by myself.
It couldn't be helped. I would just have to keep raising my level steadily whenever I had time.
I decided to set my own goals.
The first goal was the prosthetic hand.
With this, I could even make a second or third unit to help me with my work.
The second goal was the Dragon Hunter harpoon cannon, my anti-air defense weapon.
I had a feeling I would need it someday.
“Well, if an attack machine shows up before then, I won't need it.”
But there was only one thing I really wanted.
The final goal: Sky Fortress Valhalla.
Someday, I would raise my own star in that sky.
Focusing on hammering once again, I pictured dreams of the distant future.
It was tedious grind work, but with a clear goal, it felt a little more bearable.
***
For the next few days, I did nothing but hammer away at home.
I spent my days in dull monotony, churning out hundreds of rings, needles, and nails.
My crafting level finally reached 5.
I was halfway to my goal.
But I was starting to get sick of the grueling grind.
In the end, I got up from my seat.
“I should take a break first.”
I headed back to the tower.
Smashing monsters' skulls was far more enjoyable than hammering.
I needed something to relieve my stress.
[Entering Floor 31 (EXTREME).]
With the familiar system message, my vision changed.
What spread out before me was an endlessly vast plain.
Beneath the clear blue sky, a gentle breeze brushed past the grass blades.
It was a peaceful scene I hadn't seen in a long time.
But I couldn't let my guard down.
“NPCs start appearing from the 30s floors onward, right?”
I had already familiarized myself with the named NPCs.
The problem was that there was one I really didn't want to meet.
The fact that it could show up randomly anywhere in the 30s floors, with no way to know until it actually appeared, only made my anxiety worse.
Then it happened.
“Waaahhh!”
“Kill them! Kill them all!”
A huge roar that shook the ground came from beyond the horizon in the distance.
One side was a horde of green-skinned orcs.
Compared with the ones I had met on the 5th floor, the difference was in their armament and their ferocity.
Weapons slick with blood gleamed in the sunlight.
And on the opposite side, there were also people.
Human soldiers who looked exhausted, wearing tattered armor.
They were desperately fighting the charging horde of orcs.
The clashing of swords, the shouting, the painful screams.
The smell of blood and dust brushed past the tip of my nose on the wind.
Overwhelmed by the sight, I stared blankly.
The concept of the 30s floors was war.