AN: Here we go with another chapter.

  On another positive note, I am feeling pretty happy today, so expect another chapter to appear soon.

  1st Question of the week:

  Who do you guys think is the coolest and the strongest lightning user?

  Now, here is the chapter:

  ~Razen Antares Gremory~

  Floor 39- Day 100

  “Do you think 5 tons is a good amount of Dark Iron ore?” hummed Antares while collecting another couple of kilos of said ore inside his Pocket Space.

  Midna massaged her temples; “With five tons you could probably make a house of the stuff,” the imp felt like groaning out loud; “Much less forge a few toothpicks as practice.”

  The Devil chuckled, “Heh, there is never too much ore Midna,” he winked at the imp, who avoided her gaze a little bashfully. “Fiiine,” she whined; “You guys made quite a good time anyway.”

  Neptune snorted, “We basically ran through these monsters,” she shook her head; “I felt that the monsters on this floor are quite a bit stronger than those Daemons,” the purplette sighed; “And we’ve been killing them with such ease…”

  “Well, those Obelisks we are learning from aren’t just for show.” Eu pointed out, internally exceptionally gd Antares had suggested it. Remembering something, Eu turned towards her lover; “Talking about learning… what about those Online Csses you had booked for us?”

  Antares cupped his chin; “Ehhh, probably canceled or postponed,” he shrugged; “The teacher seemed reasonable enough, so I don’t think she would mind… Although I already paid her, so she will probably take it as a free period.”

  “And considering that it is we who didn’t appear on time, she probably thinks it’s our fault, so if you still want those csses, I will have to book them… again.” The male Devil sighed.

  “I don’t think they are necessary right now,” Eu shook her head. “We will probably know more than our teacher by the time we exit this pce, so csses would be redundant.”

  “True,” Neptune agreed with a nod; “Albeit there must be other interesting stuff to learn, so we shouldn’t discard it.”

  “Purple seems to be the reasonable one,” pointed out Midna with a slight frown. She still hadn’t talked about exactly how Antares can access the web, but she decided to wait until he is ready to tell it himself instead of pressuring him uselessly and generating animosity. “While this… course that you had booked may be useless now, maybe there is something on the web that isn’t?” she then sighed; “But don’t quote me on that, all that I know about technology is secondhand stuff I’ve overheard in The Tower, so…”

  “Take everything you say about it with a grain of salt?” completed Neptune, and Midna nodded.

  Antares smiled; “Yeah, I was already pnning to keep my ears on the ground for anything remotely useful,” he chuckled, “but it’s good to know we are all on the same page.”

  “Now, I guess we already spent way too much time under a mountain,” started Antares with a hint of tiredness seeping into his tone; “So this is a good time as any to return to the surface, eat something warm, and rest for a bit.” The girls unanimously agreed.

  Returning to the surface was a rather easy affair. Antares always made sure to be perfectly aware of where he was mining so he wouldn’t suffer an accident or get lost; he was sure that as long as he continued to respect the rock and stone, the earth would gdly reciprocate.

  Returning to their camp, the quintet quickly split into their respective functions. Eu and Neptune went to organize things, prepare the tents, and clean. Midna flew around and scouted the surroundings to make sure no monster would blindside them, again. Antares and Pyra, on the other hand, went towards the campfire to cook.

  “Antares,” Pyra called in her usual shy tone; “c-can I cook this t-time?”

  “Alone, you mean?” he raised his eyebrow. Pyra hesitated and nodded.

  The Devil smiled and gestured with his hand, “Feel free. If you need any help, all you have to do is ask.”

  “Hn”

  The red-haired girl skipped towards the bonfire, only to stop and turn towards Antares; “Could you..”

  “Ah, sorry!” Antares replied apologetically, “I forgot it myself.” He then summoned a table, cooking utensils, and their food supply from his Pocket Space, earning an adorable thankful nod from Pyra.

  Antares then saw Pyra change, the previous shyness almost entirely bleeding off her person, a determined and sharp gaze taking its pce. The Devil keenly noticed how her eyes continued shining their usual red; ‘No Mythra…So it’s all Pyra, huh… But they are the same person?’ Antares filed that confusing line of thought for ter and refocused on the earnest girl.

  Pyra was now carefully cutting a very succulent-looking steak, the slices of her knife careful but extremely precise —and while Faerie Feast noticed quite a few avenues where she could improve, Antares had to mentally commend her on how much she had evolved –it was impressive.

  With the steaks carefully cut, Pyra started to make the sauce, Antares quickly noticed she was making the Honeybadger Sweet Sauce, a recipe they had bought from a hermit cook on floor 37 –something that used Deca Bee Honey, Kes Mustard, and Minotaur Queen Milk amongst many other ingredients that made a delicious sauce that has been the favorite of the group for a while.

  Antares had to praise that hermit dude for creating it, the 1000 Dream Coins he had to pay were definitely worth it, principally considering that whatever they made while using this sauce always filled them with energy and helped make casting smoother.

  Pyra suddenly froze, her head whipped back and forth looking between the different ingredients, an expression of confusion slowly growing on her face. Antares could see the poor girl was starting to panic, she began flipping through the different condiments and sauces searching for something that wasn’t there.

  “Pyra…” Antares mumbled, a little unsure if he should intervene or not.

  The girl looked at him, tears forming at the corner of her eyes; “C-Can you h-help me?” Antares nodded and smiled warmly; “Of course,” he approached the girl and gave her a comforting side hug, before refocusing on the sauce; “If I am not mistaken, you were putting the powdered horn of a Fire Devil Mantis. But to not destroy the taste of the sauce completely, you need to apply the Mint Gravel Leaf juice first, now-”

  Antares then started instructing Pyra, relying on his experience and Farie Feast's prowess. The girl, at such a close and intimate distance from her crush, started committing many more mistakes, but the Devil patiently expined and helped her, which only made Pyra fall all the harder for him.

  When the properly sauced stakes were sizzling above the bonfire, Antares nodded his head, satisfied; “That was a job well done, Pyra-” Before he could continue, Pyra kissed him—on the cheek—making the Devil freeze.

  “Thank you, Antares,” the sealed Bde smiled brightly, her blush growing to the point her whole face was beet red; “…for being there for me.” She added in almost a whisper.

  The two stayed like this, in silence, both lost in each other’s gazes –they felt like this moment could stretch on forever, and they wouldn’t mind it –a precious and intimate moment that will always remain in their memories as something precious.

  Sadly, their precious moment was suddenly interrupted when a certain imp plopped on top of Pyra’s head; “You go, girl,” she whistled suggestively before smiling; “Finally pounced, huh. I am so proud~” Pyra felt a rather massive desire to become an ostrich.

  Before Midna could continue her teasing spree, an icy cold hand suddenly gripped her ear, making the imp release a surprised “ouch.”

  “Come here Midna,” the Cryo user said with a sweet smile that promised danger for the imp; “I need help with something.”

  “*ought* Is it urgent?” the imp dared to ask; “Because I am *ought* busy with something.”

  Eu rolled her eyes; “No, you are not.”

  “Wait *ought*, wait *oof*-” Seeing the horny imp being dragged by her ear, Antares and Pyra looked at each other, a brief unspoken conversation occurring between the two before they burst out ughing.

  ~Razen Antares Gremory~

  Floor 40- Day 101

  “Huh, a prize?” mumbled Neptune in surprise when she saw a rather ostentatious pque.

  Eu raised her eyebrow. “What do you mean?” She stopped and read the pque, her expression twisting into curiosity.

  Seeing the pque had grabbed both girls' attention, Antares couldn’t help but become curious himself, and the moment he nded his eyes on it, he finally understood why.

  [8777th Bcksmithing Competition]

  [Compete against your fellow smiths to decide who is going to be the next Legendary Bcksmith.

  Rewards:

  1st: Legendary Smithing Hammer + Legendary Bcksmith Title

  2nd: Epic Smithing Hammer

  3rd: Rare Smithing Hammer

  4th: 10000 Dream Coins

  5th: 2500 Dream Coins

  6th: 1000 Dream Coins

  7th: A Talk With Grandmaster Smith Gelbardolzan Kaldurac McTorke

  Location: Pza of Nagashtrada,

  Fee: 120 Dream Coins(You must bring your own Equipment. Materials are on the house.)

  Countdown: 6:12:54:47]

  “A Legendary item?” Midna whistled a little impressed; “And on the 40th floor to boot? These guys don’t joke around, huh.”

  “Do you think they brought it from the upper floors?” asked Neptune while looking at the magical version of a digital clock, a little distracted.

  “Oh. Definitely.” Midna instantly agreed; “While it is not impossible to drop one here, the chances are so low you might as well make one yourself.”.

  “Well, maybe they made this one,” pointed out Eu while looking a little impressed at the fancy material used on the pque.

  Midna hummed while cupping her chin; “… Nah.” But while her reply was negative, she started to feel a strange nagging feeling at the back of her mind that Eu was right.

  “Oh, very articuted response, congratutions?” poked Neptune with a teasing smirk.

  “Don’t even start, purple.” She rolled her eyes; “As if you are any better, I distinctly remember someone saying quite a few— ”

  Neptune jumped and covered Midna’s mouth, making only strange and muffled sounds echo from the imp that now had an aggrieved expression on her face. Neptune gritted her teeth; “Really, Midna? That was our girls’ talk, you can’t-”

  Eu coughed on her hand, making both troublemakers straighten and stop instantly.

  “Are you thinking about entering, Antares?” asked the bluenette shamelessly changing subjects.

  “Kinda?” he sighed; “I didn’t even start learning a profession, yet…” he scratched his head, feeling a little awkward; “Part of me still doubts if I even should start learning one to begin with.”

  To everyone’s surprise, it was Pyra who acted first; “It will b-be good for you,” she put a comforting hand on Antares' shoulder and smiled; “I know Devils are made for war, but–”

  Antares rested his hand on top of Pyra’s; “I understand,” he briefly closed his eyes; “I may not need it due to my Species, but I do want a hobby, principally in a pce like this.”

  Neptune looked a little enviously at such an intimate scene, but she knew the ck of progression of her retionship with Antares was mostly her fault; she had plenty of opportunities, after all. It still doesn’t mean she can’t be envious of how fast Pyra is progressing, albeit it’s a good kind of envy.

  “...being without internet is really doing a number on you?” the purplette probed, trying to forget her chaotic emotions for a moment.

  Antares shook his head; “Not exactly, since I’ve been able to cast magic and shatter rocks with a single punch, the entertainment I usually found online started to become severely cking.” Antares combed his hair back with his fingers; “The fact that I can’t exercise, can’t feel my muscles growing, my Ki expanding… I miss it, the sensation of being stronger after each training session, of exercising to my limits and breaking them over and over again.”

  The gamer girl sighed; “Yeah… this pce is pretty realistic—so much sometimes you may forget it isn’t reality. I don’t dislike it here thought, plenty of interesting stuff around,” she sighed and shook her head smiling a little awkwardly; “Still miss a good videogame or novel though.”

  Eu sighed, “I had just started reading The Hobbit before we were whisked here,” She grumbled cutely, earning a small ugh from the others.

  The group finally decided to proceed towards the city—weirdly enough, the pque was simply in an empty outpost on the road a few kilometers before the Crafter’s Capital proper. Antares found it quite weird that there was no one on the outpost, but it was not like he hadn’t seen weirder.

  They continued walking on what Antares noticed with an idle interest were Roman Highways –made of ft stones, gravel, and cement, creating a very stable and easy-to-navigate road.

  At the corners of the road, there was a swathe of trees of many different shapes, sizes, and colors.

  Eventually, they finally reached the City of Crafters –it was a massive cyberpunk-like sprawling fortress, with walls as high as a Frost Giant and a titanic double gate made of forged and enchanted brass with engraving as epic as its ranking.

  On top of the walls, there were automatic ballistae and many other anti-siege equipment, they pointed at the sky, the road, and even at key pces inside the city –almost as if they were prepared to put down an enemy at any time.

  Thanks to the city being built upon a mountain, Antares could also take quite a good look at its buildings and he was almost made speechless –robust structures made of heavy engraved stone and brass, strong metallic pipes pumping steam, and other unknowable materials, contraptions of such a complexity that they would make even the most inventive engineer green with envy.

  And while some buildings leaned more to the side of practicality, plenty of them beheld a more artistic and ostentatious fir, with delicate and eborate engravings, gss sculptures and windows, and even colored steam that took many forms. Others appeared to be massive skyscrapers filled with pipes and almost no windows, while some looked like they came straight out of an industrialist wet dream.

  Sadly, the only other detail Antares could see so far away was the fact that the city was built into and on top of the mountain, creating a sort of yered city that, with his limited architectural knowledge, felt like an impossibility itself.

  Seeing everyone’s stunned gazes, Midna smirked; “Pretty cool, huh? This is the Capital of Crafters, The Metropolis of Builders, and the Megacity of Creativity,” the imp then grumbled under her breath; “Also known by its absolutely me name of the Layered City.”

  “That name is k-kind of cool,” mumbled Pyra, a little distracted by the beautiful city before her.

  “… is that Dwemmer architecture?” muttered Neptune in a tone of awe.

  “Now that you pointed it out, it really does look like it.” Antares cupped his chin; “Albeit there are quite a few differences, mainly of a more artistic variety.”

  Neptune nodded; “I can see that, but I have to admit the building into and on top of the mountain looks pretty cool.” She then turned towards Midna; “Let me guess, the richer districts are on top of the mountain?”

  Midna shook her head; “The opposite, the richer you are, the closer to the core of the mountain your house is.” She then smirked at the purplette; “There is a reason why a bunch of Dwarven bcksmiths founded this city inside a volcano after all.”

  “Volcano?” Eu arched her eyebrows, trying to visualize it, and the bluenette had to reluctantly agree –the mountain where the city was built did indeed have a volcano-like shape.

  “Are they using magma to p-power their forges?” asked Pyra with shining eyes. She was quite impressed with what she was able to analyze with her processor.

  “Yup,” Midna flew and patted Pyra on the head; “Got it right red. In the generation of the first Dreamers,” Midna pointed at Antares; “The Arch-Grandmaster of the Adventurers Guild, together with his teammates, sponsored the creation of the Crafters Guild, who ended up building their base here.”

  “What you see,” Midna gestured to the city, “Is a combined work of the First Dreamers and the Twelve Dwarven Archcrafters, who ter founded the Crafters Guild under Sirzechs and company.”

  “As you can already deduce, The Crafters’ Guild has many subbranches –Bcksmithing Guild, Potioneers Guild, Alchemists Guild, Enchanters Guild, and so on.” Midna then took a deep breath and smiled happily.

  “Do we have to join a guild?” Asked Neptune while slowly walking forward.

  Floating beside the purplette, Midna shook her head; “Not necessarily, but it certainly helps.” She then patted Neptune on the head and flew away before the gamer girl could swat her. “Although you do not need to fear joining a Guild—their rules are pretty loose—so as long as you do a commission or the other from time to time, you’re golden.”

  “That’s nice, I was worried it was one of those predatory subscription systems for a second.” Antares shook his head while following Neptune.” Still aren’t joining one unless it becomes necessary.”

  “It used to be like that subscription method, but the bigwigs quickly noticed a sharp decline in individuality and creativity, so they went back to the more forgiving model,” Midna floated and plopped down on Antares’ head; “Albeit I’ve heard a few rumors that the higher your rank goes, the more ced you become with the respective guild. But that is quite obvious in hindsight.”

  Pyra hummed and followed behind Antares; “What if we want to c-create our own Guild, is it possible?” asked the shy girl, who Antares noticed was slowly building her confidence, something that made his smile deepen quite a bit.

  “Well, it’s certainly possible,” Midna combed Antares’ hair with her small hands, the Devil had to admit it felt quite pleasant. “But it is very bureaucratic in a way –albeit, if you drop a Guild Order or a Knight’s Writ—which are both Unique Grade Items by the way—no one can say no or slow down the process.” Midna then chuckled lightly; “Still, the current system is a million times faster, a Guild Order is considered one of the rarest items, so its drop rate is absolutely abysmal –just a little bit of time wasted in red tape is nothing in comparison.”

  “So we either created a guild with a lot of wasted time and paperwork, or we drop a Guild Order….” mumbled Neptune, lost in thought; “At least there are other options besides the drop.”

  “Do you want to create a guild, N-Neptune?” the red-haired girl asked.

  “In parts, it would be quite cool, but I honestly don’t want the responsibility.” The purplette shook her head; “And you, Eu?”

  “Creating a Knight Order sounds interesting…” Eu whispered back deep into her memories, a rather gloomy mood overtaking her.

  Sensing his lover’s distress, Antares immediately held her hand, smiling warmly at her in support. Eu smiled back, her gloomy mood improving like flowers in the spring. “But I don’t think now is the right time for it, perhaps outside?” she added between smiles

  The group continued walking and making small talk while they slowly approached the city, a smile on each of their lips.

  [center]~Razen Antares Gremory~[/center]

  [center]Floor 40- Day 104[/center]

  Waking up on his third day at the Layered City, Antares couldn’t help but want to stay in bed. He felt Eu’s soft body pressed against his, her cute snoring sounds of someone who is very deep asleep, and worse of all, her heart beating rhythmically on his chest –her presence so comforting, so warm and cuddly that almost all of his minds instantly ruled against getting up.

  Since the group had arrived at the city, Antares has been doing his best to learn as much about bcksmithing as possible. He has been going over and over to all the bcksmithing shops he could find, where he would fake perusing their wares while he intently focused on copying the forging process of the Masters' Smiths of different species and skills. And while there isn’t a Crafting Talent in specific, the combination of Antares' current Talents allowed for a simir effect.

  Of course, Antares didn’t simply steal their techniques without at least buying something of value and leaving very generous tips that more than covered what he learned –he could’ve just asked them for csses, but he honestly didn’t want to waste time convincing a stubborn fool to teach him, doing idiotic tests to prove proficiency, or any other hair-brained stuff that will make him was time.

  He has also been religiously reading any material on the subject he can get his hands on, reading the plethora of e-books he had bought about bcksmithing on the Devilnet—and a couple he acquired in the Layered city—and has been religiously reading them with two of his Goetias while the main one operates his body.

  After some encouragement from the girls, he finally decided to enter the competition. So he has just 3 days and a few hours to become as good at bcksmithing as people who have been practicing their entire lives. Antares intellectually knows he probably wouldn’t be able to win 1st pce, but any of the prizes would honestly be better than nothing, not to mention he was quite excited about the competition itself.

  Eu let out a cute yawn and moved around a bit, snuggling even closer into Antares’ chest. “…Are you awake?” She whispered, likely worried about waking him up.

  “I am,” Antares chuckled, “You look absolutely adorable right now.” Eu blew a strand of her hair from her face and Kissed Antares –a deep, passionate kiss that sted for quite a while.

  Separating from his lover, Antares sighed sadly, “Unfortunately, I have to go.”

  “You are going to start forging, I take it?” asked the bluenette already missing the warmth of her lover.

  “Yes, finally managed to find a pce that would rent me out a workshop for a couple of days,” Antares then grimaced; “It was expensive… principally with the competition around the corner, the prices were sky high.”

  “Well, it was already a miracle you found one to begin with.” Pointed out the bluenette with an easygoing smile; “Although I still think it’s absurd the Bcksmithing Guild did not have vacant workshops for renting.”

  “They did not have vacant workshops for me,” corrected Antares while putting on his clothes. Eu huffed at the association and closed her eyes once more, feeling a little zy about getting up right now.

  Eu tsked; “So they prefer to save a workshop for some high-ranking bcksmith that may not even attend the event than rent it out to a new member?”

  “Don’t need to get worked up over it, Eu,” Antares kissed her on top of the head; “I already have quite the good workshop to practice on.”

  “Still.” She sighed before looking at Antares in the eye; “You won’t be sleeping, will you?”

  “You know me well,” Antares smiled softly. “Yes, to get to a respectable level of smithing, I will have to.”

  “And the fact that you will be close enough so your Talents can feed off a bunch of super-experienced smiths has nothing to do with it?” she asked with an all-knowing smirk, knowing her lover is almost anxious to learn from others in the competition.

  Antares scratched the back of his head, “Hehe.”

  Eu hugged Antares and gave him a goodbye kiss; “Don’t forget to say goodbye to Neptune and the others, they will undoubtedly miss you as well.”

  And nodded and did so, unsurprisingly, the girls were already up and about; the weeks on the road, constantly harassed by weak but annoying monsters, sharpened their sleep schedules something fierce. Antares swiftly approached them. By now they had nothing more to discuss besides desiring good luck to each other –they had long since talked about everything they possibly could yesterday, so it was a smooth and quick goodbye.

  Exiting the Inn where they were temporarily staying, Antares sent it one st look and almost ughed out loud –the inn looked surprisingly like the Silver-Blood Inn in Markarth, it wasn’t a coincidence Neptune suggested this one, surprisingly it didn’t have stone sbs as beds —the beds being made of a very comfy and firm material—but it did have that mostly Dwemmer look to it, Antares had to admit it brought him down memory ne for a bit, he has long since lost count of how many hours he spent on Skyrim. So seeing a pce like this was nothing short of nostalgic.

  Shaking his head, he continued walking forward toward the depths of the mountain, his destination was one of the more high-end crafting districts, a pce called Baldiru District.

  The streets were packed with people, even going into the lowest districts in the depths of the mountain, Antares rarely, if ever, saw the traffic of both steampunk carriages and people diminish. It was like the entire street and every corner was Tokyo during rush hours, an absolute nightmare to navigate.

  Antares was quite gd at his bout of luck yesterday. He remembered going to the Bcksmiths’ Guild to ask for a workshop, only to be denied again.

  Exiting the guild, Antares saw a middle-aged man throw a crumpled-up paper over his shoulder –right at his head. Antares could have easily dodged the flying object, but when his eyes saw the word rent written on it, he shrugged his shoulders and picked it up mid-air.

  Straightening up the paper, he saw it was a handwritten rent offer for a Workshop with multiple forges. With his interest piqued, he followed the address on the paper and got himself a deal.

  Arriving at the stiputed address, Antares took in the workshop. It had the typical Dwemmer architecture, the Devil began associating with the Layered City –strong walls made of engraved stones, enchanted brass pipes coming from the ground and the ceiling, and heavy metallic doors that felt like a challenge just to move them.

  Standing before the door was a stocky middle-aged Dwarven dy, she had the typical female brown hair, braided into an eborate ponytail Antares reckons would be an absolute nightmare to redo every morning. She wore a simple tunic made of thick fabric, a pair of leather and brass gloves, coupled with heavy metallic boots that gave her the air of a hardworking Dwarven Architect, who was as sharp with a pencil as she was with a forge.

  “Good morning, Philiah. I hope you haven’t been waiting long?” greeted Antares politely.

  The Dwarven Lady looked at Antares, exposing her earthly brown eyes and delicate eyebrows; “Good, you didn’t call me Miss or Lady today, it seems… you can learn.” She said in a tone that always managed to sound slightly reproachful without being condescending.

  Antares just awkwardly smiled back, not willing to start a discussion with his nddy for the next three days.

  She looked once over at the Devil’s armored form and scrunched up her nose before picking up a Brass key from inside her robes; “Here is your Key. Don’t be a nuisance, pay on time, and we won’t have trouble.”

  “Understood.” Antares nodded and picked up the Key before turning to Philiah; “I will be forging for three days straight, day and night, without stopping. Is there any problem with that?”

  Philiah's face contorted to one of absolute fury for a moment, before she looked at Antares' clueless expression and defted; “To ever presume a dwarf will have a problem with the sound of a forge is a grave offense, boy.” Antares had to admit Philiah knew how to be condescending when she wanted to.

  “We are born to the sounds of the mountain’s heartbeat and the whistle of the steam engine,” she gestures towards the surroundings; “Open your ears, open your heart, there has never been a moment of silence since the first dwarf stepped here.” she then put her left fist on top of her heart; “To us, the sound of metal hitting metal is indistinguishable from our own heartbeat, it will do you well to remember that.”

  “Okay?” Antares unsurely replied, trying to be as polite as possible.

  The Dwarven woman just sighed under her breath and extended her arm with the Key; “Have a good forging,” Antares carefully picked the key; “And may the heartbeat of the mountain follow your hammer’s strikes.”

  “Thank you, Philiah.” Antares picked up a sack filled with 3000 Dreamcoins. “And here is your payment. Thank you for the workshop.” The woman picked up the money and turned back towards her house, which was right beside the workshop itself. Antares was a little surprised that the house was barely a Brass entrance carved on a rge rock, but considering the size of the city the dwarves built under the mountain, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was an entire mansion underground.

  Turning towards the one-floor workshop, Antares went towards its engraved brass door, inserted the brass key, and twisted it. It felt exceptionally heavy, like he was twisting a small mountain instead of a simple door. The door released clicks and ccks, and a low *pshhhhh* sound of great jets of steam being released.

  With the mechanical sound of many oiled gears moving, the door slowly opened, showing Antares a very dark workshop. Rolling his eyes, he turned towards the wall close to the door and saw another keyhole. He then inserted the key, twisted it, and closed the door.

  Sealed from the outside world, Antares saw what appeared at first gnce to be a very simple workshop, but looking better, there were over 9 forges ready to use with unlimited fuel from the underground magma network, so there was definitely more than met the eye. In the middle of the room was a very heavy anvil made of a shining bck metal, which sat upon a small, wide podium that was also made of a dark grey metal that emitted a purple aura, followed by a sensation of heaviness. ‘An epic rank, here?’ Antares mumbled, a little surprised at the quality of the anvil.

  Spread throughout the workshop were a few brass tables, brass chairs, and a couple of brass crates piled up in a corner. In the rightmost corner, Antares saw a small door that led to a fully furnished apartment –sleeping quarters, kitchen, bathroom, and even a living room.

  The workshop was pitch bck, but for a Devil like Antares, that didn’t matter. So he didn’t even bother to turn up the lights.

  He began working.

  With a wave of his hand, he summoned the supplies from his Pocket Space –hammers, ores, ingots, oils, and everything else a bcksmith might need. It was then that he noticed he had forgotten something a little bit essential; “... I forgot the protective equipment.” Antares sighed in frustration.

  “You know what?” he mumbled while looking at the slowly heating forges; “I will go bare-chested and bet on my regeneration and Authority.”

  Massaging his temples, he removed his armor and upper clothing. He then searched around the room for a bit and finally noticed—much to his growing shame—that two of the ‘forges’ were smelters instead, without hesitation, he dumped his Dark Iron ore inside them until both of them were full. Impressively, each smelter seemed able to hold around 1 ton of Ore.

  With two tons of ore being smelted into ingots by the Dwarven Smelters, Antares turned towards the biggest forge –the one that had the fewest steps separating itself from the anvil in the middle.

  Looking a the glowing magma inside the forge, Antares was internally gd he had slowly been getting better when it came to his fear of fire, and things seemed not too bad when the fire didn’t come from a hostile source, so he could forge with some peace of mind at least.

  Feeling a little lighter that he didn’t need to concern himself with the fire, the Devil picked up a couple of Dark Iron ingots he had acquired yesterday. Summoning a Common Grade Bcksmithing Hammer from his pocket space, Antares put the ingots inside the forge.

  The heat of the dwarven forge before him bristled and burnt his skin, but his absurd regeneration passively negated it, turning the process into a constant cycle of sharp burning pain and relief.

  Pushing through the pain, he carefully positioned the ingots inside the forge, and then he facepalmed; “I could’ve used Force Telekinesis or even a simple Steel Plier,” he dragged his palm through his face; “What is happening to me? Did I leave my brain at the Inn or something?”

  Summoning a common grade Steel Plier from his pocket space, Antares used it to carefully pick the st ingots and put them on the forge, his hands still bristled and burneddue to how hot the fire was, but it was more lightly and less painfully, to the point it barely even registered before his passive regeneration took care of it.

  Antares calmly waited while the ingots were heated. When the first ingot was shining in an almost magma-like color, Antares used the pliers to carefully pick it up, but when he got up to go towards the Anvil, he started hearing strange sounds of moving gears and geysers of steam being released.

  With a slightly confused gaze, he saw how the dark anvil in the middle of the room automatically approached the forge he was working on—the Devil felt honestly speechless for a moment, his Science Talent working overtime to help him figure how such a thing was possible, but the heavy use of enchantments and steampunk-like engineering more than clued him at quite a few possibilities.

  Roughly half a meter from him, the Anvil stopped. Carefully putting the melting ingot on top of the anvil, Antares raised his eyebrow when he saw it instantly glue itself to the surface. He tried to move it around, but the molten piece of metal didn’t budge. But when the Devil thought about picking it up and putting it back into the forge, he easily moved it.

  “It responds to intent?” excimed a rather surprised Antares –it was the first time he saw an artifact like that.

  Once again putting the incandescent metal on top of the anvil, he willed the metal to lock itself in pce. Gripping the hammer with his right hand, he started to strike the Dark Iron.

  With each impact, Antares felt the vibrations reverberating through his body, the metal under his hammer slowly being molded by his strikes. It was a very awkward thing at first, Antares' sheer inexperience with the act quickly showing itself, but the days and hours he spent learning from many different Masters were quickly paying themselves –Antares improved, fast. With each strike he adjusted his position, with each swing his posture changed, his wrist movements became more precise, more accurate –his skill slowly growing to match his knowledge.

  To see himself improving, to feel that each movement you make is better than your previous one –Antares lived for that, it was an almost pleasurable experience for him.

  But eventually, the metal started to cool off and lose its mouldability. Antares quickly picked up the plier to heat it on the forge once more. Putting it back into the furnace, he waited for a bit before transferring the incandescent metal to the anvil again; ‘What a pity this anvil doesn’t maintain the temperature.’ But the moment he thought about heating the metal, the furnace shone in a low red light, and the Devil visibly saw the metal stop losing heat, it was almost as if there was a furnace inside the anvil too.

  “It can maintain the heat as well?” Antares muttered in surprise. “Does it syphon the forge’s own heat for it?” he added curiously while he went back to hammering at the metal.

  The anvil, of course, did not answer any of his schizophrenic mutterings, but the Devil was far from caring about something like that at this moment; his concentration was fully on the metal piece in front of him.

  Slowly, the ingot started to take shape, it’s fat rectangur form changing to a leaner and sharper one.

  Like a new Skyrim character, Antares decided to start by forging the cssical Iron Dagger—Dark Iron Dagger in this case—it was a straightforward way to start and he had observed plenty of those being forged by a myriad of different bcksmiths in these tree days, so he had enough confidence in his knowledge and copied skills to somewhat succeed.

  Slowly, he started to ftten the ingot more and more, each of his strikes reverberating through the workshop, the brass pipes syphoning the smog and fog that came out of the forge and piping it up the mountain, while the workshop itself seemed to echo Antares' hammerings that thundered like a heartbeat.

  The Devil briefly wondered if he should try folding, but one of his Goetias quickly vetoed that, as he should at least forge one simple dagger first. And that is what he did, he continued hammering away at the ingot until he managed to make it roughly dagger-shaped, somewhat dagger-shaped.

  Following the process, Antares proceeded with Hardening, and once again, the moment he thought about it, a barrel filled with fresh-smelling unknown oil popped up right beside the anvil. Already getting used to the absurdity of the pce, Antares used the pliers to carefully quench the ingot inside the barrel.

  The sizzling sound the metal made while cooling down sounded quite pleasant to the Devil’s ears, rexing even.

  Picking the quenched metal from the barrel, Antares put it once again on the anvil, only to feel disappointed when the usual magical piece of equipment didn’t do anything. “Does it only maintain heat or something?” he mumbled a little sadly while putting the metal on the forge once again.

  When it has been heated enough, he put it back on the anvil, hammered it a bit more and then quenched it again. Such a process repeated itself quite a few times before Antares finally felt it was time to finish things.

  By now, his so-called Dark Iron Dagger was looking quite good for a first attempt; it was still just a rough sb of metal in the general shape of a dagger, but the Devil felt momentarily proud of himself.

  But the dagger wasn’t finished, he still needed to sharpen it —and a steampunk grindstone just appeared besides Antares, making his brow twitch for a moment as he almost got a scare from it. ‘This workshop is surprisingly high-tech, totally worth the 1000 coins a day ratio,’ he added mentally.

  Sighing, he got to work on sharpening and making a proper edge for the dagger. Much like the forging process itself, Antares skill started absolutely abysmal, by with each turn of the steampunk grindstone, he got better and better –the angle which he positioned the bde improved, his swaing movements got straighter and firmer, and slowly an almost perfect edge started to form on the recently forged bde.

  Finishing the sharpening process, Antares smiled once more –he briefly thought about making a propper wooden pommel and everything, but he honestly didn’t want to waste time with that right now, so he just wrapped a leather strip around the grip of the dagger and tossed it at one of the brass tables in the room

  Looking back at the heating ingots inside the forge, Antares could already feel the future tiredness in his bones; “One of a hundred,” he mumbled before going back to work.

  .

  .

  .

  AN:

  We finally see a little bit more of a city inside the tower; like it was stated in the chapter, the Layered City is somewhat special as it is a sort of crafting hub for the pce, so a lot of people congregate and simply stop here.

  Antares finally started his journey with a profession, and while smithing and any other profession he tires in the future (Alchemy, potioneering, enchanting, etc.) will never be the main focus of the story, I will from time to time make a chapter about them, I fell like they are a nice change of pace.

  The next chapter should be coming in a couple of minutes, so stay tuned. :)

  Answer:

  For the coolest lightning user, hmmm… it may be cringey, but it was part of my childhood/teenage years, so I will go with Full Power Sasuke/Indra, and for the strongest… perhaps Chu Feng from Martial God Asura? (There is probably a more powerful one that I do not know.)

  ~ClearSkySage