Alloy (1)

By now, even saying "I've seen it all" felt exhausting. The Forest of the Four Seasons was a tangled knot of insolvable enigmas.

The best approach was simply to accept things quickly and move on. After all, hadn't I run into a talking gorilla just recently? It was probably best to just… go with the flow of the river, while keeping meticulous records of everything.

'Why is it that everything I find is so completely useless for the short term?'

What I needed were immediate survival supplies, not raw resources like this. Sure, with raw minerals, one could theoretically forge armor and craft all sorts of tools. But doing so took an excruciating amount of time, and I didn't even possess a blast furnace. It was the quintessential white elephant—too good to throw away, yet useless to keep. Even knapping flint like a Paleolithic caveman felt half-baked by comparison.

'And it's not like I can take this out and sell it either.'

I let out a heavy sigh. Mining this Mithril out looked practically impossible anyway. Unless I carved out the entire bedrock beneath my feet, I had no choice but to leave it alone. Well, looking on the bright side, it meant an inexhaustible supply of resources. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If I could just build a blast furnace and acquire the necessary smithing proficiency, nothing could be better.

'The problem is that acquiring that level of skill will take years at minimum.'

Sighing once more, I turned around. Regardless, what had to be done had to be done. My routine kicked off from early morning—a daily rhythm that had grown quite familiar by now. Heading up to the river, catching fish, and feasting to my heart's content.

Today, oddly enough, only a single fish was caught in the trap, leaving a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.

'Good thing I still have reserves saved up from earlier catches.'

For now, there was plenty of leeway. But if fish kept trickling in one by one like this, it would eventually become a serious problem. After finishing breakfast alongside my animal companions, I set to work.

First on the agenda was delivering an Adult Mandrake Root to GonnaBeADuke. Following that, I planned to stop by the Orichalcum Cave to pick up some Orichalcum. While Orichalcum was originally intended for crafting a reinforced door—a project since scrapped, rendering the mineral unnecessary—I figured having a few chunks stockpiled couldn't hurt.

'I'll build the blast furnace after lunch.'

From the looks of it, that project would demand both brainpower and brawn simultaneously, so taking it slow was wiser. The dwarf had mentioned that molten iron burned nearly as hot as magma, and Mithril, having an even higher melting point, would burn hotter still.

'He said… I'll need charcoal too, right?'

To achieve higher temperatures, charcoal was an absolute must. To melt actual iron, immense thermal output was required. That alone made the road ahead look bleak, but there was at least one silver lining: the furnace's size. Since its sole purpose was melting ore down into liquid, it didn't need to be massive. Even so, letting my guard down was out of the question, given that I'd be dealing with fire—the quintessential double-edged sword.

'Thank goodness I've been diligently hoarding charcoal all this time.'

Originally, I only used it for doing laundry and deodorizing the cave; who knew I'd end up using it for a smelting furnace? Truly, charcoal was a divine, all-purpose miracle. I'd have to put in more effort to produce even more of it going forward.

Having completed all preparations, I set out to secure the Adult Mandrake Root and the Orichalcum. As usual, the Fast Tree Sloth clung to my back, while Wonmo accompanied me as my adorable bodyguard.

Thwack! Smack! Crack!

“Kweeek! Skreeeech! Kwaaark!”

First was the Adult Mandrake Root. By now, the capture method was second nature. Calling it a capture method was generous—it was just beating the crap out of it—but whatever worked, worked. Once the Adult Mandrake was secured, I headed for the Orichalcum Cave. Thankfully, no dangerous beasts crossed our path along the way. Part of that was familiarity with the route, but it was also because I maintained meticulous vigilance.

'Orichalcum acquired. But wait, does this even need refining?'

The thought occurred to me as I scooped up a few chunks of Orichalcum scattered across the ground. Perhaps it required no extra processing at all; Princess Chaeng-gu and KingLeor had put theirs to use the moment they received it. Or maybe that was just an innate property of Orichalcum. I'd have to ask the dwarf later.

Back at the cave camp, I completed the exchange of goods with GonnaBeADuke. Given his mention of the Goddess's blessing, I suspected he hailed from the Holy Kingdom.

'Come to think of it, Adult Mandrake Roots trade without a hitch, don't they?'

Did the system deem them devoid of an ego? Those things bellowed terrifying battle cries and even exhibited hive-mind colony behavior. It was downright bizarre, but I shrugged it off—if it worked in my favor, why complain? Overthinking it would only give me a headache.

'Not bad at all. Sturdy.'

The boots I received from GonnaBeADuke emphasized raw durability, exactly as demonstrated in his video. They were so dense and solid they practically outclassed the boots crafted by the dwarf's friend. In exchange, however, they fell short in the comfort department.

'Still, they're a perfect fit for my needs.'

The dwarf's boots for scouting already explored terrain, and GonnaBeADuke's boots for venturing into the unknown. Categorizing them like that made the most sense. And for lounging around inside the cave, sneakers did the trick.

'I should get just one more pair.'

Since each pair served a distinct purpose, having a backup was essential. With that in mind, I immediately hopped onto the Gallery and submitted a post. People might assume the trade offer was closed otherwise.

The moment I spotted Princess Chaeng-gu's comment, I sent her a direct message right away. In return, I planned to provide her with more Orichalcum. With resources like that, the more the merrier.

I inspected the CCTV orb received from Princess Chaeng-gu. Overall, it was a dark, purplish-black sphere, roughly the size of my head.

'Should I hang it up like a fermented soybean block?'

Mounting the thing would be a chore in itself. Still, since I planned to stay holed up in the cave all day today, there was no urgent need to install it right away. Turning it over in my hands, I tapped the CCTV orb twice.

Flash!

“Whoa.”

Sure enough, just as Princess Chaeng-gu had described, a slit peeled open like an eyelid. It looked unmistakably like the slitted eye of a reptile. Just looking at it sent a chill down my spine; it radiated an intense aura of I am watching you.

Tap, tap, tap—

Three taps, and the eye quietly sealed shut. Next, I pressed down firmly with my thumb.

With a soft hum, a holographic display flickered to life in the air. Projected on the screen was my own face, captured from an overhead angle looking down.

“Look at that.”

No matter how closely I looked, my skin had cleared up remarkably. Not a single blemish or trouble spot in sight. After studying the hologram for another moment, I shut it off.

Now that I understood how the CCTV operated, it was time to dive into training. Not a single day of cultivation could be skipped.

'Starting today, I'll be consuming the Neidan too.'

I was scheduled to receive the second Mnemonic Oral Formula from the Heavenly Demon. Its general premise was not surrendering one's body to the heavens, but rather reading their natural flow. I worried it might contain even more abstruse, poetic terminology than the first verse, but that was fine. If I didn't understand, I'd just keep hammering at it until I did. I never expected this path to be easy anyway.

'I should take the Neidan after lunch, once digestion is well underway.'

The river fish possessed properties akin to spirit elixirs. Ingesting a condensed beast core immediately after a meal might trigger an internal energy overdose. Since danger was best avoided whenever possible, waiting until everything had settled made far more sense.

'And I still need to catch a crab for the dwarf.'

Today was packed on multiple fronts. Not a single task could be put off. In that case, I had to take care of what I could right now. After lunch, I'd get straight to building the blast furnace.

There was no need to build the furnace excessively large, so long as it could reduce Mithril to molten slag. However, the various specialized materials had to be sourced from the dwarf. Above all, the most critical element was heat-resistant stone—stones capable of withstanding blistering temperatures well exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius.

'He promised he'd provide those.'

He had also promised to provide bellows to pump in airflow. In truth, he was practically supplying all the raw components. When I asked if this was really okay, he replied that being given the chance to sharpen a Mithril blade was reward enough. Every time I encountered something like this, I couldn't help but marvel at how quintessentially dwarven he was.

Flop! Splash!

Heading back up to the river, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠found two fish thrashing in the fish trap. At least that was a relief. After roasting them in the stone oven for a meal, I got ready to proceed.

Before that, however, there was something I needed to inspect: the Mithril deposit at the back of the cave. An endlessly regenerating Mithril vein was a godsend, but a persistent question nagged at me.

'Just what kind of mechanism allows this to restore itself?'

Its regenerative prowess rivaled that of a severed planarian. Furthermore, it had regenerated to the exact extent of what had been mined yesterday—no more, no less. I wondered where its core lay. Part of me worried that it might suddenly awaken like that Earth Guardian construct.

'Better keep my guard up.'

The chunks of Mithril I had mined yesterday amounted to quite a sizable pile. Now it was just a matter of smelting them down and pouring the liquid into a mold. Judging that all preparations were in order, I opened the chat interface and sent a message to the dwarf.

That big of a deal? Being cooped up in this place, I had no clue what was unfolding across the outside world. People had occasionally posted about things hitting the front-page newspapers, but I'd ignored them, assuming they were just shitposting.

An alloy combining one legendary mineral with another. That was my goal. Around this shelter, there were so many lying around that I practically tripped over them, so the novelty had long worn off for me. But to an outsider—especially an artisan dwarf—the reaction was bound to be on an entirely different level.

Although the dwarf let out a scoffing laugh as if hearing the most preposterous idea imaginable, his follow-up messages arrived within seconds.

In the end, a dwarf was always a dwarf.