Chapter 175

Whoosh!

After closing the housing door and turning it back into its card form, Merlin teleported to Aidelin’s smithery.

“Dang, you sure know how to appear out of nowhere.”

Aidelin muttered his comments while manning his furnace’s flame. His property was relatively well-fortified, so he felt a bit discouraged that it could be broken into so easily.

“Well, it is my specialty, after all. By the way, did the event start?”

“If you’re referring to the New Continent, yeah; everyone’s left. It was a pretty grand sight.”

At this, Quiet Heaven, who was perched on Merlin’s shoulder, turned to Merlin and whispered.

“I guess you’re late, no? You haven’t even finished your flying shuttle.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have my Gate Ring, and if that doesn’t work, I can always go by sea.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Merlin’s swimming skill had reached S Rank, and he could reach speeds nearing 500 kilometers per hour. Without flying in any way, Merlin could travel at a rate comparable to an airplane. Moreover, Merlin could use teleport as easily as breathing. Of course, he had a limited amount of mana, so there were restrictions, but Merlin didn’t have to worry about movement speed.

“Anyway, here’s the gear. It came out better than I expected.”

“Alright, let’s see… Unique Rank 3?”

The typically always-calm Aidelin widened his eyes in surprise. Rare and Unique rated items possessed completely different values. Rare items often dropped from high-level monsters and sometimes appeared from crafting; however, this wasn’t the case for Unique rated items. In the entire game, there were only around a hundred Unique items. With that in mind, it was safe to say there were few cases where a user crafted a Unique item.

“Then, I’ll be taking off.”

“Wait a moment. Are you interested in becoming business partners?”

Having already taken a few steps forward, Merlin laughed heartily after hearing Aidelin’s words.

“I’ll think about it.”

As Merlin responded, his red robe shook before disappearing. Even in battle, Merlin could move through space at will, making it quite difficult to find an exploitable opening.

“Such an elusive guy.”

After realizing that Merlin had vanished, Aidelin grinned and put on the gauntlets he was given. As the gauntlet’s magic circuits synchronized with him, he felt a heavy yet pleasant magic power flowing through his body. This was something Aidelin had sought for a long time; it was the most vital puzzle piece that completed his fighting style.

“That kid will probably be angry once he learns of this. I completed my gear set before him.”

He smiled. Aidelin recalled how others called him an old-timer who couldn’t let go of the past, a person who pursued his interests and craft with no regard for what others thought.

Aidelin was a master artisan and had even been referred to as a national treasure before. He only pursued one path his entire life, and he always believed that his work had the most merit.

However, as the years passed and he grew older, he became an antiquated existence in the modern world. Neither his son nor his grandson understood his craft or aspirations. Moreover, no one commissioned his work anymore. Under the banner of being a living cultural figure, he was rapidly becoming a socially useless existence.

Aidelin felt trapped as if he was slowly being suffocated. His acquired skills and knowledge were not valued or required by modern society. He was a human cultural heritage asset, a mere stepping stone to pass old technology to future generations who wouldn’t develop his craft any further. When he came to this realization, Aidelin grew despaired. It was to the point where he wanted to give up altogether.

However, at the same time, he knew. The life and path he had traversed were too heavy to give up.

“Yet, all that changed with DIO.”

He was no longer an ill-tempered old man who lived in his own world, a world filled with so much anger but without any outlet. Due to this change in perception, his inability to communicate or relate to others, especially his family, disappeared.

The weapons he made in DIO were masterpieces, as they possessed power comparable to modern weapons. He could create beautiful patterns on his blades, and his weapons had a level of [Performance] that everyone acknowledged, so his creations weren’t just praised by fellow artisans alone. At last, he’d become a blacksmith in the truest sense. That made him immensely happy.

Woong.

It made his outlook on life and the world brighter.

Woong. Woong.

A huge amount of spiritual qi rose from Aidelin’s body, beginning to shake the chakra that Aidelin had previously deployed.

To not be swept away by the flow of spiritual qi, Aidelin quickly opened his chakra ‘gates’. Aidelin opened his 1st Gate, the Connecting Gate, before opening the 2nd Gate, the Weighted Gate. He then opened the 3rd and 4th Gate, the Giant Gate, and the Exchange Gate in succession. With all four gates opened wide, Aidelin began to communicate with the world.

And finally, an unknown space that he had not been able to reach until now was revealed; he had succeeded in opening the 5th Gate, the Virtuous Gate. When Aidelin realized the truer meaning and concept of steel, his chakra awakened.

“Ah, is this what they call True Origin?”

Aidelin groaned as he felt a heavy energy tightly envelop his body as if he was being swathed in steel. This was a state that existed on the same level as an internal energy swordsman physically materializing inner qi to create sword qi or a pure spiritual power user who could compact spiritual qi and create a Spirit Stone. Aidelin had reached a level of comprehension and understanding about a concept, so he was now able to exert control over that concept. His deep ‘understanding’ and ‘comprehension’ of steel affected his reality.

/Weapon Production skill has increased to A Rank!/

/You have acquired the title, ‘Ruler of Steel’!/

/You have acquired the special ability, ‘Special Reinforcement’!/

As he saw the messages popping up, Aidelin realized that he had become one of the few Masters that existed in DIO.

***

“Ack!”

“Get in formation! The frontline should maintain a constant barrage of attackers and tanks. Make sure you guys don’t die!”

“Ah, healers! Remember to give out proper heals! Heal! Heal! Ack!”

Among the countless flying shuttles littering the sky, at the center, Adol was fighting a group of monsters that had landed on his shuttle. Each and every monster was powerful.

“Ugh! They sure are disgustingly powerful.”

Adol gritted his teeth as he used Shield Charge to ram the monsters and send them flying off the side. These monsters had shown up to destroy the users’ flying shuttles, and since the weakest monster was Level 8, they weren’t easy to defeat. Furthermore, these monsters were doing everything in their power to achieve their objective.

“Kyak! Die, you scum!”

Boom!

A draken struck out with its massive sword, which soon collided against Adol’s shield. Of course, it was almost impossible to break through Adol’s defense unless one possessed an absurd amount of power like the Orc Hero Sungmuk. Actually, that wasn’t true. At the present moment, Adol now surpassed the Orc Hero’s past power level.

Adol’s shield technique was formidable enough to resist all existing attribute-based attacks, and his shield was a Rank 1 Rare item that was infused with countless defensive spells.

‘Even if I faced a train head-on, I could stop it.’

When it came to shield arts, Adol could proudly state that he was one of the top practitioners. In fact, as a powerful tank, Adol was in high demand by the upper echelons of the user base when they organized a party. One could even state that Adol was looked upon as nobility. Since he was at such a level, the opposing monsters were able to quickly realize this fact as well.

“Burn, my blood.”

“What?”

Adol momentarily flinched after feeling a strange aura emanating from a draken’s body.

“Shoot! Everyone, take cover!”

As he shouted, Adol ran forward. It was the tank’s job to protect other players in the most dangerous situations.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

“Kyak!”

However, the draken’s powerful self-destruction occurred a beat faster than anyone expected. Its body exploded, and its bones and flesh were thrown out in all directions like shrapnel from a claymore bomb. Fortunately, due to Adol’s actions, the users behind him escaped relatively unscathed.

“Wow! I feel like throwing up.”

“Wait, why isn’t the age protection for minors active here?”

Some users frowned as they saw the blood and flesh that stained the deck completely red. However, few actually vomited. This was because most players who could go on an expedition to the New Continent were advanced users at Level 7 or higher and were familiar with fighting.

Even if monsters burst into gold-colored powder instead of blood, a majority of players used their fists to attack an enemy. Hence, these users already felt the sensation of breaking bones with their punches or feeling a sword cut through flesh. On top of being experienced fighters, they were also protected by DIO’s system.

“By the way, why are these guys so toxic? Do they have some vendetta against users?”

“They’re really coming at us with everything they’ve got. The monsters on Dynamic Island would retreat if they were at a disadvantage.”

“Besides, why are they calling us passengers? Shouldn’t we be referred to as customers?”

“You expected them to shout ‘I love you, customer’?”

“At the very least, they should be calling us users or players.”

Woong!

A colossal whale circled in the air as it gave off a deep and intense cry. On the whale’s back were countless monsters.

[Fight. When the blood of the last passenger spills onto the ground, only the species that killed the most passengers will feel the joy of eternity by my side.]