The Multi-Armed Blacksmith
Clang—!
Clang—!
Clang—!
The hammer blows rang out with a rhythm that was both regular and strangely varied in pitch, as if some ancient machine were endlessly groaning through its work.
As they drew a little closer, a massive silhouette slowly rose out of the dark.
A form too vast to call human. Like a giant from myth, its shoulders nearly brushed the ceiling, its body rough as if layered over with dark iron.
And that was not all. Arms sprouted from its back, its flanks, even from its belly.
Those arms, joints twisted grotesquely at every segment, were long and thin as a spider’s. Each hand gripped a heated billet of iron, held the anvil, or tended the flames.
All those arms moved at once, and the blacksmith continued his labor in silence, never once turning his gaze.
His face was hidden behind an iron mask, but within the eyeholes a red light slowly blinked.
The air around them carried the faint scent of metal, scorched dust, and machine oil, seeping outward bit by bit.
Then the blacksmith opened his mouth.
“Chori… it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
A low, deep voice burst from that enormous frame. Unexpected warmth threaded through the resonance.
“Yes! Grandpa!”
Chori’s eyes sparkled as they answered in a bright voice, then bolted toward him at full speed.
Seeing that, Hina spoke softly, as if relieved.
“At least they don’t seem dangerous.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
Minel’s gaze was cold as ice. Weapons in both hands, he slowly moved his feet in the direction Chori had gone.
Hina gripped the Digital Vein and followed, scanning their surroundings.
Chori introduced Minel and Hina to the blacksmith—that they were people of no danger, that they could be trusted.
But the gaze beneath the iron mask did not soften in the slightest. In those eyes was the concentrated insight of long years accumulated.
The blacksmith extended one of his many arms and stroked Chori’s head. The enormous hand enveloped the child’s entire body. Chori sat naturally at his feet and looked up.
Minel asked,
“Same kind as the Merchant?”
He was circling around the word NPC.
The blacksmith’s eyes flashed.
“To compare me to those sly bastards…”
Perhaps he had bad blood with the Merchant.
Minel quietly added,
“Do you trade in Blood Crystals?”
Only then did the edge leave the blacksmith’s eyes. He murmured in a low voice,
“Give me items and Blood Crystals, and I’ll repair and enhance them.”
The voice was deep and heavy enough to resonate through the entire corridor.
The game-like system of the Backrooms. What form would item enhancement take here? He would check right away.
Minel pointed to his leather jacket and asked,
“This is an enhanced item, right?”
The blacksmith glanced at it with eyes worn by the years, then looked away as if uninterested.
“That is a Normal item already enhanced to its limit. It can’t be enhanced further.”
In that case.
Minel looked at Hina.
“Ah—right.”
Hina showed the Digital Vein to the blacksmith. Unlike before, a small light of interest entered the blacksmith’s eyes.
“A Rare-grade weapon. If you want enhancement, you’ll need to give ten Blood Crystals.”
If it raised the level, ten Blood Crystals was well worth investing. Minel took ten Blood Crystals from his inventory and gave them over.
The blacksmith accepted the Blood Crystals and set the Digital Vein on the anvil. Then he took a massive hammer leaning against one wall and, using every single one of his hands, raised it high.
And just like that—brought it down on the Digital Vein.
Boom—!
An impact so great one would think it had been smashed to pieces. The sound roared through the corridor, echoing endlessly.
At the same time a golden light shimmered and for an instant completely filled their vision.
They closed their eyes and opened them again. The blacksmith had already set down the hammer and was holding out the Digital Vein.
“It has been enhanced.”
This simply?
Minel received the Digital Vein and pulled out the Backrooms Compendium.
Level:2
Grade:Rare
Special Effect: Delivers an electric shock if used by anyone other than its owner. Requires no ammunition.
An Arcade item obtainable by succeeding at the event that triggers upon achieving the highest score in the Arcade. Accumulates energy and converts it into laser rounds that deal pure fire damage.
The level had risen from 1 to 2.
But then the blacksmith said something unexpected.
“I can enhance it one more stage beyond this.”
“To level 3?”
“But it will take fifty Blood Crystals.”
Fifty Blood Crystals was a rather burdensome number even from Minel’s perspective. Since Hounds on the 2nd Floor did not drop Blood Crystals, he was even more reluctant to spend them.
But thinking of the Shocker, he needed to push the weapon’s level as high as possible. Being a firearm, it might not work especially well—but that did not mean enhancement itself was meaningless.
“Do it.”
When he handed over fifty Blood Crystals, the blacksmith enhanced it the same way as before. Checking again with the Backrooms Compendium, the level had risen to 3.
Extremely intuitive and honest. He understood now why the blacksmith had gotten angry when compared to the Merchant. Somehow, he felt trustworthy.
“Can you look at this too?”
Minel took out Silence and held it out to him. The blacksmith’s gaze slowly turned to the weapon. After staring at it for a moment, his eyes suddenly flashed.
“An unusual weapon… I can’t tell just by looking. I’ll need a precision appraisal. One Blood Crystal.”
Appraisal separately, consuming a Blood Crystal? How different would it be from the Backrooms Compendium’s description?
Minel handed over one Blood Crystal without hesitation. Then all of the blacksmith’s arms stopped at once. After that, various tools came into his hands—things shaped like magnifying glasses, things like thorns, cameras, scanner-like devices. Their forms varied, but all were clearly tools for appraising weapons.
“This is… Unique grade. Yes… I’ve never seen it before, but… I’m certain…”
The blacksmith hunched over and brought his eyes close to the weapon, analyzing it with precision. When Chori, feeling cramped in his embrace, slipped free, the blacksmith brought his legs together and fixed his gaze even more firmly.
“That gun… is it a set?”
“Should I show this one too?”
“That’s the only way to get an accurate appraisal. But you’ll need to pay one more Blood Crystal.”
“Well, doesn’t matter. Here.”
When Minel handed over Noise and a Blood Crystal, the blacksmith smiled slightly. He seemed pleased.
In that moment another thought flashed through Minel’s mind. Now, without weapons, was the perfect timing for an ambush. He glanced at Hina, and she answered at once.
“Don’t worry. I’m watching the surroundings. Nothing strange yet.”
As expected of Hina. A feeling of understanding without words. Minel crossed his arms as if relieved and watched the blacksmith.
He looked back and forth between the two weapons and muttered,
“Set weapons… when used together their power increases, and using them separately is meaningless. They must be used together…”
“What’s the item level?”
The blacksmith nodded and muttered again.
“That part is special. On the surface it’s level 2… but my eyes can’t be fooled. This is a level determined by the floor.”
After that the blacksmith explained further, but there was no new information not already in the Backrooms Compendium.
Minel brought it back to the main point.
“Can you enhance them?”
The blacksmith narrowed his eyes. After pondering in silence for a moment, he finally opened his mouth in a low voice.
“It’s possible. But given the grade, ordinary enhancement won’t work.”
“Then?”
“Materials are needed. Unique items identical to these. And since they’re set weapons, one Silence and one Noise each. Two in total.”
“…”
The blacksmith shook his head without a word.
“But Uniques… even on the upper floors they rarely appear. I myself, who have lived countless long years, saw one for the first time today. Even if eternity passes, enhancing this will be difficult.”
Countless people had passed through in the meantime, and among them not a single one had possessed a Unique. The blacksmith’s eyes squeezed shut. Deep wrinkles formed on his brow, and his lips trembled.
“To see a Unique weapon by a stroke of fortune that will never come again… and for that very reason it is all the more regrettable. If I could try enhancing this… but… there’s no way there would be not one but two more Unique items to serve as materials…”
“There are.”
Minel’s single word fell like a lightning bolt, and all of the blacksmith’s arms stopped. His pupils wavered as if burning.
“Th-there are?”
“Exactly two.”
“A-are you serious… that you have even two Unique items…?”
Before the words had finished, Minel took out two thigh bones and set them before the blacksmith—the two thigh bones he had found inside the elevator.
Seeing them, the blacksmith’s jaw nearly hit the floor. A voice full of wonder spilled from between his lips.
“Th-this can’t be… r-really…”
“How good is Unique, exactly?”
The reaction was so extreme that he asked out of pure curiosity. The blacksmith grabbed Minel’s shoulders with two arms as if incredulous.
“The grades go Normal, Advanced, then Rare, in that order of quality. Of course there are grades above Rare as well. But Unique grade can’t be defined so simply.”
“Why?”
“Uniques are items that directly interfere with the laws of the Backrooms. So depending on the user they can be worse than Normal items, but if used well they can be better than even Rare and above.”
“…”
“In other words, you can think of it as an unrankable grade.”
What floated up in Minel’s mind was the ‘X’ level of Silence and Noise. Weapon levels that changed according to the floor were connected to the structure of the Backrooms itself.
“What happens if you enhance them?”
“Even I don’t know that.”
“You don’t?”
The blacksmith drew a deep breath and shook his head.
“When you enhance an item, its level rises. Simple structure. But Unique items are different. In this case what kind of change will occur… even I can’t guess.”
“So we only know by trying.”
He nodded.
“Then… will you enhance them?”
Suddenly a question arose. The blacksmith was looking at Minel with eyes that said he would give anything if only he were allowed to enhance them. Why did this blacksmith want enhancement so badly?
“What’s in it for you?”
The blacksmith hesitated for a moment, then finally slowly opened his mouth.
“Same as you. We too can go up to higher floors. See more things, handle more things, learn more things, do more things.”
“…”
“It means we no longer have to remain only on the 2nd Floor.”
Earlier, the words that he could only do repair and enhancement had felt somehow empty. If he went to the upper floors, wouldn’t it become possible, like in a game, to raise item grades or grant special effects and attributes?
The blacksmith’s eyes were earnest. He looked ready to start the enhancement work that very moment.
Minel thoroughly calculated the opportunity cost. The Merchant had sold Unique items cheaply because of the level application. In that case enhancement wouldn’t be cheap either. Even Rare grade cost fifty Blood Crystals. For Unique it would be an astronomical sum impossible to gather even over years.
He would cut off that possibility entirely.
“If you do it for free, I’ll let you enhance them.”
At Minel’s words, the blacksmith’s face twisted subtly.