"Destroy... the Sword...?"
"Wha, destroy the sword...?"
Tur Mah scowled at the utterly unexpected demand, shouting in disbelief.
"You want me to destroy it instead of repair it? What kind of lunatic are you? If you're gonna spout nonsense, get the hell... out!!"
That was when it happened.
His irritated rant cut off abruptly as he caught sight of my hand.
More precisely, the round gem resting atop it.
"This is..."
His eyes trembled.
'As expected, he recognizes it. That reaction is always fun to watch.'
I smirked, one corner of my mouth curling up as if reliving an old memory while observing him.
"You... went to the White Swamp, didn't you?"
"You know it."
At my reply, the look in Tur Mah's eyes shifted slightly as he appraised me.
Only then did he slowly scan me from head to toe.
"That other sword at your side looks decent enough, and the armor you're wearing is crude but seems mid-tier at least. And that belt around your waist... You really hunted down Kuntaka, huh."
He instantly recognized the World Tree belt fastened at my waist.
"I pegged you for a greenhorn, but you're no slouch."
Amur's shortsword and the Giant's Demon Armor were both Heroic-grade items, but they apparently didn't impress Tur Mah much.
The Giant's Demon Armor was especially a masterpiece by Hal-son Woken, who'd forged my beloved sword in my dreams.
'Hal-son would be offended if he heard that. Well, above it lie Legendary and Mythic grades, so a master smith like Tur Mah has every right to dismiss them. Even his failures are Legendary.'
Tragically trapped in the past like a lingering spirit, no one could deny he was the continent's greatest blacksmith and engineer.
"A total newbie wouldn't even make it here."
"Hmph. Could be dumb luck, so don't get cocky. Besides, you got no proof you actually took down the White Swamp's old monster."
Even as he said it, Tur Mah couldn't tear his eyes from the gem I'd brought.
And why not? He knew better than anyone that drops from the White Swamp's ancient boss weren't for just any scrub.
"Whether you believe I slew the White Swamp boss or not isn't the point. What matters is I brought back Kuntaka's pupil—something only obtainable there."
"..."
Tur Mah stared at me stone-faced, but the glint in his eyes demanded an explanation.
"Destroy the sword for me, and this is yours in exchange. The core material you've been hunting for all this time."
He flinched—his shoulder twitched faintly.
"You know it. Kuntaka's pupil is a type of attribute stone called Lazureite. A mineral rich in yellow hues that, with special processing, yields lapis lazuli."
As I explained, Tur Mah's face gradually hardened.
"Sure, the lapis from Kuntaka's pupil is top-grade, but alone, it's worthless. Only when synthesized with dragon scales does the lapis truly shine."
"...No way. Lazuli?"
His whisper was barely audible, but I caught it instantly.
"Exactly. The one gem among top-grade attribute stones that can be chemically synthesized. A mythical stone that exists only in theory, never successfully created. And you know better than anyone where it's used."
I told him straight.
"Ridiculous! Dragons' scales are impossible to obtain in the first place, and even if you did, no one's ever succeeded in the formula for Lazuli—the so-called Fantasy Stone."
Tur Mah scoffed at my words.
"We'll see."
I'd anticipated that reaction.
Then I opened my inventory and slowly withdrew two items.
One was the "Dragon Scale" from the Spirit Devourer.
The other, the final drop from Kuntaka: the "Swamp Moss" item.
Thud!!
Though just leather-like at a glance, the scale hit the floor with immense weight, booming heavily.
Tur Mah stared at the white scale, unable to hide his shock.
"Lanselro's scale...? You hunted the Spirit Devourer too?!"
His face stiffened rigidly.
"Until now, dragon scales were only good for armor at best. But mix them with moss from the White Swamp, and a special reaction occurs."
Without hesitation, I sprinkled the swamp moss over the scale.
Among boss drops, some so-called junk items were gray Normal-grade with unknown uses—usually sold to vendors, but occasionally key materials.
Sizzle...!!!
As the moss touched the scale, acrid steam bubbled up violently.
"Combine a dragon scale with anti-magic properties and the spirit essence from Kuntaka's descendant—the swamp moss—and you get a special item."
The smoke cleared, revealing a scale now dark crimson.
"Dry it for ten days, and a pure white powder forms on the surface. A special dust holding both dragon and spirit attributes."
Tur Mah listened, utterly entranced.
"Mix that powder with Kuntaka's pupil and pulverize the gem again. That separates the lapis lazuli—colorless, bearing no attributes yet infused with unique mana. Lazuli, the Fantasy Stone."
"How do you know this? Dragon scales reacting with swamp moss? Impossible... No, wait. It's not entirely implausible. So if you do this, then..."
Forgotten was his intent to grill me; Tur Mah now racked his brain, piecing together the formula I'd described.
I gave a wry smile at the man lost in the equation.
'Of course you wouldn't know. That formula was discovered after your era.'
What I'd told Tur Mah was one of the great alchemical formulas found by Dion Magi—a mid-tier alchemist now, but destined to become the century's genius.
He shattered the notion that all attribute stones must hold a single property, creating the colorless variant.
'But even Dion admitted referencing your research notes in the process. Something you wouldn't know, Tur Mah.'
I gazed at him.
The duchy fused dwarf survivors' knowledge with magic for magitech, but never matched the ancient Dwarf Kingdom's mechanical engineering heyday under the Four Arcanists.
Proof? They still couldn't build golems.
'One of Dion's greatest regrets before death was lacking the engineering to fully harness his colorless stone.'
Ironically, these men from different eras might have longed for each other most.
One couldn't perfect his machines' core.
The other couldn't find an engineer whose machines could withstand his core.
'This time, I'll complete their masterpieces myself.'
Separate from reviving Chilya or solving the Mangja's Labyrinth compass—this was another personal goal.
'To do that, I need Dion Magi.'
As Steel Kingdom's king in my dreams, I'd always failed to recruit him.
His later Alchemist Guild rivaled the Magic Towers, but sadly sided with the duchy against me.
'Many alchemists died in that war, weakening alchemy post-conquest.'
His death might've even contributed to failing against the Calamity.
'But this time's different. With him, I'll command his alchemists' power—sparking magitech growth beyond any prior run.'
Suddenly, my past achievements felt incomplete.
'Losing to the Calamity was inevitable. I only knew how to strengthen my own power, not absorb others.'
My dream as Steel King fixated on conquest.
But starting in the north this time changed everything.
'Not unification by conquest, but making the entire continent follow me willingly.'
No easy feat.
Unlike dreams pitting me against kingdoms, now players tangled everything—utterly unpredictable.
'But...'
Players, called "outsiders" by NPCs, were the most variable beings. Unlike dreams, this offered new possibilities.
"To think I'd learn a method eluding years of research from a punk like you... Unbelievable."
Tur Mah looked up from the discolored dragon scale.
"The Dwarf Kingdom was mighty but insular. Had you traded with elves, you might've found attribute stone methods sooner."
"Hmph, nonsense. Some things are possible, others not. But... casually spilling this to me."
Knowing their enmity, I didn't argue his retort.
"You like it, right? I haven't shown all my cards. I told you how to make Lazuli, but not how to process it. If my info pleases you, will you take the commission?"
Tur Mah's face flushed, as if burning with embarrassment.
Attribute stones were raw ore—useless without processing into cores for golem or magitech engines.
"As you know, Lazuli defies standard processing. And that's harder than making it."
"Ahem... Hand it over, then."
"Now you're interested?"
"Ahem..."
I smiled faintly at his awkward cough.
"Here."
He examined Tesaro's sword.
"Hmm..."
Silent at first, he suddenly hammered and tempered it repeatedly.
Clang!Clang!CLANG!!!
The strikes grew fiercer; I waited quietly.
"You asked me to destroy this sword, right?"
Some time later, face beet-red, he spat the words amid scorching heat.
"Yes."
"...You're insane. For real?"
"Why? Something wrong?"
I feigned ignorance.
He gripped Tesaro's sword reverse, thrusting the hilt toward me incredulously.
"Obviously! This sword is..."
Sandorim Forest's Blacksmith: Find the Second Clue
Collecting information and clues to solve a quest is never easy.
Thus, sometimes the opposite method is used.
Instead of finding the clue, make the one who holds it reveal it themselves.
"What's with that sword?"
I asked him.
"Does it hold some secret?"