1.
Time flew by.
A month passed.
Investing a long time into a single piece of equipment had clear advantages and disadvantages—something I had realized last year too.
The downside was that accidents happened the moment it clashed with my inability to tolerate boredom.
The upside was...
"I wouldn’t keep at it for so long if it were boring work to begin with."
It was incredibly fun.
In the meantime, Ruby kept attending the academy despite all her whining, while Yeomhwa spent the month rigorously resting as she went back and forth between the tower and the estate.
She said she would rest for at least another three months.
Dolores had also taken a break from climbing the tower, saying it was not as if she immediately went right back to climbing...
"Though I think she’s really just waiting for mine."
She was even carrying around the emblem I had been wearing.
I’ll make it for you soon, Dolores.
...And this is completely off the record, but...
If there was a real secret just between us...
Every Monday morning, once a week had passed, Dolores would express-deliver a paper bag right to my door.
What was inside? Well, it was obvious.
Neither of us said a single word about it. We were both just pretending to be crazy.
Ah... but if I thought too deeply about this, it felt like things would get way too deep, so I decided to believe she was sacrificing herself for the sake of my work efficiency.
I also spent less time talking with the others.
Perhaps they knew I was absorbed in my work, because they seemed considerate enough to give me space.
Yeomhwa and Dolores would look at me pityingly whenever they passed by, though honestly, I had no idea why.
I was having a great time.
There had even been a time in the past when I spoke to no one but Yuna for six months.
Scrape...
Working hard again today.
I had already carved twenty-seven petals.
Thankfully, there had not been a single disaster so far.
Scrape...
There could not be one from now on, either.
Another month passed like that.
If there was one regret, it was that I had been so immersed in work all day that I could only exercise briefly. Muscle growth was probably out of the question.
Mm-hm. Work was more important, anyway.
Of course, Ruby was growing at a record-breaking rate—in every direction, upward and sideways alike.
"Lionel, you’re okay... right?"
Today’s special visitor was Yeomhwa.
Leaning against the workshop window, she watched me.
"I’m fine, though...?"
I really was.
Having the right environment to immerse yourself in something you loved was happiness in itself.
"...Once Dolores’s equipment is complete, I’ll definitely record her climbing and show you."
"Thank you."
It seemed Yeomhwa was bothered by the fact that she could not see the equipment I made actually being used and shining in battle.
Dolores fought inside the tower, and I was here, after all.
She seemed to be planning to record it with something like a crystal ball and bring it to me...
Actually, I planned to watch it live this time too.
Watch Dolores crush everything with the sheer power of her equipment.
I had only found out recently that the community had video broadcasts of rankers climbing the tower...?
Like internet streams. So this time, I was planning to sit in the workshop and watch it with Yuna.
"...Then I’ll be going now, Lionel...?"
"Goodbye."
I bowed my head to see her off.
"...Has she gone?"
Sliiide.
I refilled it again.
It was a little awkward to do that in front of Yeomhwa.
And so, the number of petals I had carved reached fifty-nine.
The end was drawing near.
About another week went by.
Though they said the time of endurance was long, that was a story for the people waiting...
Scrape...
Sweat running down my forehead beaded at my chin.
At last, the final petal.
I refined the tip, then cut a line down the middle of the leaf, adding even the detail of veins.
Shk, shk...
When I stopped my hands and raised my head, somehow...
A single red flower had bloomed on the table.
The flames curled within the Dreadflame Crystal flickered, gradually illuminating the petals before slowly spreading until every petal at the edges shone brightly.
Pang!
Not long after, something appeared before my eyes.
─────────────────
[Muspelheim: Wreath of Dreadflame][★★★★★]
─────────────────
『A flower that bloomed amid dreadflame.』
『Bloomed at the fingertips of a craftsman, it awaits the moment it will be offered.』
─────────────────
【The more it is suppressed by powerful external energy, the more it gathers the power of fire.】
─────────────────
Muspelheim.
It meant the world of fire from Norse mythology.
It was also the world that suited the Dreadflame Crystal better than any other.
"Pangaea."
Now they were finally worthy of each other.
The material was no longer something to be ashamed of.
It even looked like it would be worth trying with Yacharu.
A base plate that gathered the power of earth the more powerful energy touched it.
And a flower that condensed flames the more it was pressed down.
They really were made for each other.
I brought over the base plate made from Pangaea, which had been left untouched for more than two months.
Now all that remained was to place the flower on top.
They were both stubborn bastards who drew in power because neither wanted to lose. What would happen if I put them together?
I carefully placed the flower in my hand atop the base plate.
The instant the base of the flower touched the plate—
Rumble...
"Wh-what the..."
The workbench shook like mad.
Pangaea’s ley lines glowed brown, and that brown energy gradually gathered at the base of the flower.
Before long, red light spread through the petals as well.
Craaack...
"Fuck?"
Thinking I heard something breaking, I quickly lifted the Wreath of Dreadflame, but...
"Huh."
The base plate came up with it.
I hurriedly put it back down.
"..."
I lowered my head to workbench height and glared at the space between the flower’s base and the plate, but...
"There’s no gap."
As if it had bloomed there from the day it was born, the flower was shamelessly stuck to Pangaea.
I had worried a lot about how to join them together.
But they had attached themselves on their own.
"...Fine."
The most important thing when making equipment was never to panic.
I brought over the bowl that had been covered on one side of the workbench.
The small fragments I had set aside when I first split the Dreadflame Crystal—I had periodically ground them into powder whenever my eyes hurt while carving the flower.
Time for them to get to work.
I filled the mold I had prepared along the edge of the base plate with powder.
After packing it tightly with no gaps, I put it into the crucible furnace for exactly ten seconds.
Roar, roar.
Once the grains fused together, they would form the border.
The flower was extravagant, so this side would stay compact. That was the beauty of negative space.
"The last step..."
I carefully removed the mold and fitted it along the edge.
I pressed it down around the circumference... and before long, the Dreadflame Crystal border completely encircled Pangaea.
Press...
I pressed down even the raised sections until they locked together completely.
"...It’s done."
Not long after—
Sizzle...
The familiar mark of a Skilled Blacksmith was engraved in the left corner of the base plate.
"...?"
What was this?
Normally, the equipment’s information should be appearing now...
Just then—
Scratch, scratch...
A thin line extended beside the mark that had just been engraved.
The line slowly reached the right side of the base plate, where it settled in the empty space.
Then the line stretching downward split apart like roots, while the one reaching upward branched out like limbs.
The shape of a tree—a single great tree was engraved in an instant.
On the left was the dwarven mark, and on the right...
"This is..."
The mark of a Child of the Forest.
Pang!
Red light spread between the two marks.
Then something appeared before my eyes.
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[Kargon: Primordial Flower Garden][★★★★✦]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility][- /110]
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[Divine Artifact] [Target Deity: None]
[Blessing][None]
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『A flower of fire that blooms from the earth. People call it a volcano.』
『When the flower of fire blooms, the earth opens like petals.』
『The long conflict between earth and flame ends here.』
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【Volcano】
Mana left behind when the wearer uses magic is gathered underground to form buds of flame.
The more mana accumulates, the stronger the buds become. When the wearer blooms the flowers, the power gathered beneath them bursts through the ground.
【Primordial Flower Garden】
The land where flowers have bloomed becomes the wearer’s flower garden.
Within the flower garden, power accumulated in any location can erupt from another.
Natural calamity.
Eruptions occurring within the flower garden ignore the target’s defenses.
The target cannot defend against them under any circumstances.
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『I can’t believe it... How can the energy of earth feed fire...?』
『Just what kind of world are you trying to show me...?』
- Ignia, Goddess of Fire -
『Ah... ah...』
『What a futile struggle we have carried on for so long...』
- Gaia, Goddess of Earth -
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[Your obsession with crafting and your obsession with the wearer have temporarily surpassed the grade of equipment you are capable of creating.]
[The accomplishments of two different crafting lineages have been contained within a single work.]
The familiar four stars.
And beside them, a small additional star.
"Four and a half stars."
Though it was only a temporary creation, I had surpassed my personal best.
Which meant that if anyone told me to make it again right now, I could not do it even if they beat me to death.
I placed my hand on the emblem.
Brown ley lines glowed beneath the red water lily... and the energy held by those brown ley lines traveled through both marks and flowed throughout the entire emblem.
Kargon, Kargon...
"...The eighty-ninth floor."
The Kargon Mountains.
The place where the history of the Sun Dwarves was said to have begun.
I had returned here in the end.
[★★★★★] [The One Who Tends Fires and Plants Trees]
[Title Acquired ─ 『Boundary Crosser』]
[Reward]
[Divine Artifact Promotion Ticket × 1]
【Promotes a designated piece of equipment into a Divine Artifact.】
At last.
A reward worthy of being called a reward had fallen right before my eyes.
[The divine realm stirs at your progress.]
Along with a single notification whose meaning I could not understand.
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