Chapter 299

"Another batch is complete, apprentice. Prepare for the next set," I ordered as I grabbed my hammer tighter, ready to forge another batch of weapons...

A routine that had been going on for almost a month at this point. Since the meeting with the fourth prince, followed by the spies of another prince — the second prince, but disguised as the spies of the crown prince — I had been busy.

Mostly with my forging. My weapons spread around the Empire, delivered to every border. Both the fourth prince and the crown prince — hence the disguised spies — each ordered almost fifty thousand sets of weapons. Up to this date, I barely completed about ten thousand of them.

Well, officially.

I had another surprise. I created another workshop under the first, one that was hidden below the capital, filled with enough wards to keep it hidden ... to the point that I used some of our valuable darkness mana sources to ensure its safety, isolating it from the System.

Of course, ordinarily, there was a reason that people didn't use completely independent magical wards to create weapons. Every monster part was unique, requiring the judgment of the blacksmith to perfectly meld into the structure of the weapon. It was impossible to attain uniformity, therefore impossible to rely on the wards to automatize anything...

Except for replacing monster parts with pure mana.

Naturally, I wasn't the only one who came up with such an idea, but considering even the most ordinary enhanced weapon required hundreds of mana to properly forge that way, no mage was really crazy enough to do so when their mana took almost a day to replenish.

For me, converting hundreds of thousands of mana points was a trivial achievement, allowing me to produce more than ten times the weapon I had forged. Then, using various disguises, I made sure that they were distributed across the Empire. Some, I added to the royal deliveries but manipulated the delivery orders to keep that knowledge from reaching the upper echelons. Some were sold into the black market by 'enterprising thieves'.

Some, I even allowed them to be discovered by various villages and towns in hard-to-reach areas, in the form of a ruined caravan after a monster attack that I personally arranged after destroying it repeatedly.

All of those measures ensured that the weapons were distributed at each corner of the world...

At the same time, the transformation of Silver Spires was going on with excellent speed. With both princes competing to steal the credit for that incredible achievement, tens of thousands of mages without noble blood were transferred to the place, most already at their level limit.

Of course, the process was not smooth, and many noble students left the school in protest, but that was hardly a problem. Helga confirmed that the ordinary students with their level limit were far more enthusiastic about learning, determined to squeeze even the smallest advantage from the situation.

Increasing Helga's Knowledge Spark collection significantly. And, even for me, the rewards were not exactly negligible. I collected quite a bit of Purified Spark, enough to have a healthy reserve.

Of course, the most important advantage was her domain. As her domain got stronger and stronger, so did her power ... and so did the multiplier effect on my Intelligence stat.

[Intelligence: 51]

It wasn't at the point of matching my Endurance, but every progress counted.

However, while I was thinking about those things, another apprentice just joined. "What's going on?" I asked.

"A-a messenger from the fourth prince arrived. He says it's urgent."

"Very well," I said with a sigh, put my hammer into my tool belt, and walked out. A messenger without a warning only signaled one thing. The prince was getting impatient.

Pity. I wanted to make contact with Oeyne before I had to face such an important confrontation, but it didn't matter. "Tell every apprentice to stay inside the base. I'm not responsible for the safety of anyone who leaves the workshop while I am away," I said.

I had already reinforced the wards enough to handle anything but an explicit military siege just in case, with some interesting self-destruction mechanisms to handle extreme emergencies. But those measures would only protect the people who trusted my warning and stayed inside.

Hopefully, they would listen.

I walked into the courtyard, and found the messenger standing rather than taking a seat. Another display of patience. "Grandmaster. My Prince is asking for your presence in strongest terms," he said.

His rudeness would have been enough for me to run away if I wasn't confident in my abilities. "Alright, let's go and handle this repair job," I said, watching the messenger tense.

He was clearly aware of the nature of the task. Interesting.

Yet, he didn't even conceal the hint of annoyance on his face as he stepped into the carriage, gesturing me to follow. I stepped inside, acting like I didn't notice two dozen guards following us from a distance.

Or the fact that some of those guards actually belonged to the guilds rather than the royal family.

I ignored that, because the location of the spear was an impossible clue ... that, and the existence of two parties was a boon for me. If I dealt with them and disappeared, they would be blaming each other first before digging into the issue.

I acted obedient even as the carriage left the capital, and almost a hundred guards joined the mix. Clearly, after the previous — fake — attack, the fourth prince wasn't taking any chances.

Too bad his forces were already filled with enough spies to make that unnecessary. Clearly, those spies weren't in his inner circle, or they wouldn't need my help to steal the spear.

I wondered exactly what they had planned for me.

I said nothing much, staying silent as the carriage moved. A long while later, we arrived at a cave entrance. "Please, this way," the servant said as he led me inside, four guards accompanying us visibly, while four others were hidden behind a magical field, hidden from ordinary view.

Further confirming that they were planning something.

I followed them even as they led me to a prison.

Not literally, of course. No, it was a nice room, furnished expensively enough that it wouldn't be amiss in the royal palace. Yet, the opulence didn't matter when contrasted by the sudden weight of the wards I could feel on top of me, restraining my physical strength.

In a very obvious manner.

"W-what's going on!" I shouted in mock panic. The door opened, but there was a glimmering barrier remained.

It was the same servant that escorted me. "Please wait patiently, Grandmaster. Someone important will attend to you soon. Meanwhile, please enjoy our hospitality. He gestured to the table, which was piled with some of the most expensive food I had ever seen, no doubt made by the royal chiefs.

Aware that I was still being watched, I first looked angry, even trying to flip a chair, only to be prevented by a jolt of energy. It didn't even hurt with my Endurance, but I acted like it was painful.

I made a show of raging for twenty minutes before calming down, and stumbled toward a large pitcher of chilled wine, enjoying a great deal. A predictable response from someone without magic trapped in a cage they couldn't resist.

Too predictable, even, but I trusted my acting skills to sell it.

Interestingly, I had no idea exactly why they imprisoned me. I expected that, but at least I expected them to show me the spear and see whether I could repair it before locking me down. Yet, they just imprisoned me the moment I arrived, and did it decisively.

Fascinating.

I made a show of drinking and getting slightly drunk, as the magically reinforced alcohol was enough to make someone with about fifteen Endurance drunk. By acting tipsy, I was signaling that it was around twenty.

"I can't believe it," I raged several times, but stayed tipsy. I could already feel the presence of people at the other side of the door, and I wanted to have a talk.

When the door opened, I turned toward it with a blaring gaze ... only to actually feel surprised. "Oh, I feel honored. The guild sent its strongest dogs to attack me," I said as I looked at the two warriors, and ignored the old man behind them. "It's a pity you're cowardly enough to need a ward to do your work."

The old man, was one of the two legendary blacksmiths in the capital, and the only one that worked for the guild. Naturally, the guild had other legendary blacksmiths, but others were not in the capital.

"Oh, Legendary Blacksmith Hetra," the old man intervened with a chuckle, using my name, but my title was rather surprising. Clearly, he was convinced that I was hiding my capabilities. After some consideration, I decided to play along.

"H-how do you know that?" I gasped.

"Please, do you really think a mere grandmaster could provide the exquisite weapons you seemed to create in seconds? Not to mention, the courage to challenge the guild in one of our home fields. Only Legendary Blacksmith could have the courage."

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Well," he said, his smile smug. "That's the question, isn't it?"

—

{Strength: 45 Charisma: 45

Precision: 45 Perception: 45

Agility: 45 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 45 Intelligence: 54

Endurance: 72 Wisdom: 45}

{Purified Divine Spark: 56280}

{Pseudo-HP: 15000 Mana: 20000}

{ADDITIONAL SPARKS

Light - Chosen 7.4

Nature - Chosen 10

Knowledge - Chosen 10}

{MINIONS

GODDESSES

Elven Goddess

Goddess of Knowledge}