The Birth of Asura

"Aaaaargh! I'm dying!" Cain screamed at the top of his lungs. He didn't really know what was happening, but he felt like he might actually die!

"Oh...?!" Tae-hyun gasped in admiration. Right now, Cain looked exactly like a Pokémon undergoing evolution.

There is a saying: "three heads and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠six arms." An Asura straight out of myth, possessing three heads and six arms! Although Cain only had one head, he now had six arms, presenting an incredibly intense and imposing figure.

As soon as the mutation finished, Cain shrieked in despair. "What the hell is this?!"

It took about thirty minutes for Cain to regain his senses.

"Cain, but seriously, you look really cool."

"This isn't the kind of 'cool' I wanted..."

He wanted the handsome, dashing kind of cool—like Smith! Instead, Cain was drifting further and further toward looking like a muscular, monstrous beast.

"It would've been even better if your heads multiplied too..."

"What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing." Tae-hyun quickly changed the subject.

Wait. Actually, this looks pretty good.

Tae-hyun marveled as he inspected Cain's status window line by line. Cain was complaining, but he was honestly being ungrateful. He had hit an absolute jackpot. Sure, his appearance now resembled an Asura, but setting that aside, his physical defense had shot up, his magic resistance had increased, and he gained all sorts of attack power bonuses... To be honest, Tae-hyun was even a little jealous of the six arms. For a tank like Cain, once he got used to them, they would be incredibly advantageous.

"Ugh, these arms feel so weird!"

Thwack! Cain accidentally smacked his own head with one of his new arms. Tae-hyun pretended not to see.

The blue metal human... At first, I thought he was a complete nuisance, but he's surprisingly useful, isn't he?

Why did players usually avoid physical mutations? It was because they had no way of knowing whether they would roll a good option or a bad one. Unless they had absurd luck and rolled amazing defensive mutation options like Cain just did, there were simply too many duds. But Tae-hyun saw an unexpected business opportunity here. What if they combined the power of Archisus with the blue metal human?

Should I set him up in a temple and host a handshake event?

The blue metal human would get the friends he so desperately wanted, and players could raise their stats or obtain new abilities for free! Of course, there would still be some duds. Cain only got this lucky because of his 'Archisus's Slave' class buff combined with Tae-hyun's divine Authority buff, and the power of ordinary temple priests wouldn't stretch that far. But still... humans were creatures who willingly spent tens of thousands of dollars just to pull an item with a 0.01% drop rate. Even if the success-to-dud ratio was fifty-fifty, players would flock to them like clouds.

"Do you have a name?"

- No...

"Then I shall bestow one upon you. From now on, you are... Archisusman."

"???"

[???]

- That's a bit...

As the blue metal human froze in bewilderment, Cain hissed in a whisper. "He's upset! Because you put zero effort into that name!"

- ...What a magnificent name...! Sniffle, sob...

"Hey! Don't cry!" Cain panicked and tried to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soothe Archisusman as the giant metal being began to tear up. If he started crying, the surrounding area would get caught up in his emotional storm again!

"Archisusman. I know of a wonderful place for you."

"It's probably The Valley..."

Of course it was. It was indeed The Valley.

"Ohhh! Your Majesty!!"

"We were so worried about you, we couldn't sleep a wink last night!"

The goblins rushed over the moment Tae-hyun emerged.

"...But who is this gentleman...?"

The goblins suddenly froze. The person standing before them looked vastly different from the Cain who had entered. Especially his arms!

"W-were his arms always six?"

"I think they might have been..."

"Well, he did always look a bit peculiar."

As the goblins whispered among themselves, Cain felt a surge of indignation.

"Ah, right. Since his arms have multiplied, I want to equip him with a few more shields. Do you happen to have any good weapons?"

"Of course! Please, follow us!"

Is this heaven? Tae-hyun thought that if heaven existed, it would be a place where items were given out for free and angels did all the work. If so, this place was paradise itself!

"By the way, Your Majesty."

"If you're asking about the blue metal, of course I brought it back."

"Ohhh! Truly magnif—no, that's not what we were going to ask... Who is that behind you...?"

A metallic golem they had never seen before was walking awkwardly toward them. And behind him...

"Aaaaargh! It's the mine mutants!"

- Screeech! We are bad! We are bad!

"To proudly declare themselves evil, what terrifying monsters! Goblin Golem Grenadiers! Hurry over here! We must stop them!"

"No, calm down. Those guys are his subordinates." Tae-hyun pointed at Cain.

The goblins gasped in shock. "You subjugated those mindless mutants who can't even be reasoned with? How on earth did you manage that?"

"Uh, well, you see... with sincerity?"

How could he possibly tell them that Cain was of a similar race, so they just understood each other? The moment he said that, the goblins would start whispering.

"Sincerity! As expected of Your Majesty!"

The Underground Alliance Goblins shed tears of deep emotion. Indeed, the hero who decapitated a tyrant like Uipoatl was truly on another level!

Behind them, the Archisus Chimeras began weeping tears of their own. They had no idea what was happening, but since the goblins were crying, they decided to join in! Thanks to that, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the mysterious metal golem was able to slip by without further questioning.

- Why... must I enter this...?

"Because it's too dangerous for you to walk around completely exposed."

Tae-hyun had hastily constructed a temporary golem suit on the spot. Calling it a golem was generous; it was closer to a containment seal to lock Archisusman inside. If anyone touched him unprepared, it would result in an absolute disaster! Tae-hyun planned to build a dedicated temple deep within The Valley and release him there.

- Ah, I see... Those friendless losers are jealous of me, so they want to attack...

"??"

Archisusman was bizarrely optimistic!

"Cain, keep an eye on him. I'm going to go craft a sword with the goblins."

"Huh? What about the rest of the party?"

"Ah, right."

Tae-hyun called over the other party members who were waiting at the goblin base.

"Can we watch too?"

"No. Nobody except Cain is allowed to go anywhere near that thing."

"!!!"

He was so envious! Tae-hyun couldn't tear his eyes away from the goblins' forge. Even the forge in Tae-hyun's own territory was an incredibly rare, top-tier facility in Pan-On. It was a unique facility that other guilds would kill to have even one of! Yet, the forge in this underground base was on an entirely different scale. It was a forge the size of a small fortress!

"Do you like our forge, Your Majesty? The secret is that we use the entire power source of the castle."

Seeing this, Tae-hyun made a firm resolve. He would steal someone else's castle as quickly as possible!

Tae-hyun carefully took out the blue metal, Akiranium, which he had brought in a metallic box.

But no matter how I look at this, it seems like radioactive material...

Its properties screamed radiation!

Right... that must be the lore behind it... Tae-hyun stopped overthinking.

As the blue light radiated outward, the goblins trembled with overwhelming emotion. The precious metal they had desperately tried to acquire but never could was right here! It was barely enough to craft a single sword, but that was more than enough.

"Alright! Shall we begin crafting now?" Tae-hyun shouted enthusiastically, looking at the goblins. For a blacksmith, crafting a weapon was the most thrilling moment! If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he used this blue metal to craft a magic sword, just how much experience would he gain? He would take another massive step closer to the Legendary tier of Blacksmithing.

"Uh... Your Majesty."

"?"

"It will take some time to melt it down..."

"Well, of course. How many days?"

"Half..."

"Half?"

"About half a year...?"

"..."

Tae-hyun's face froze solid.

"Ah... damn it. Half a year is way too long."

If it had only been a few days, he would have stayed by their side, helping out and farming skill experience! But half a year was out of the question. The goblins promised to call Tae-hyun to craft the sword together once it was fully melted, but since Tae-hyun had wanted to obtain the magic sword as quickly as possible, his disappointment was immense. It felt like someone had handed him a gift only to snatch it away!

Nothing I can do about it... I'll just have to do other quests first.

Lamenting wouldn't change anything. He had to clear his other Archisus quests first.

"The Erangs Kingdom's Demon Realm subjugation quest..."

"?" There were posts on the Pan-On community board that he hadn't seen before. Tae-hyun clicked on them to see what was going on.

"!"

The King of Erance, who had been poisoned by a demon, had made a firm resolve and was summoning a subjugation force. It was on a scale that surpassed even the recent Nevuchadnezzar subjugation quest! While Tae-hyun had drawn in the holy knights of various orders using his massive network of connections and righteous justification, the King of Erance was gathering knights, holy orders, and mages using raw power and gold. With such a massive force assembling, players would naturally think, Oh? This quest actually looks doable, and tag along.

Meanwhile, Cain received a whisper from a member of the Power Warrior Guild back in the territory.

Having developed it as a habit, Cain's first instinct was always to deny everything.