Chapter 24: The Forge of Hephaestus

With a racing heart, I checked the item’s information, and sure enough—

[Spatial Duffel Bag]

Type: Bag

Grade: S

Restriction: Level 1 or higher

Description: A spatial bag imbued with the creator’s obsessive desire to craft a spatial pouch.

Abilities:

1. Expansion – Can hold items up to seven times its original volume.
   
2. Connection – After storing items, the bag can be placed inside the inventory.
   

“Spatial! It’s really spatial!”

I actually made it.

A spatial duffel bag.

Frantically, I scooped up all the ore and thread scattered around me and stuffed them into the bag.

One, two, four, six, sixteen.

The pile of ore and thread on the ground dwindled rapidly.

The duffel bag was large, but with the sheer amount of ore and thread, it should’ve been full long ago.

“Phew, yes! This is it!”

The ore and thread kept going in without stopping.

Seven times the original volume, was it?

This was more than enough.

After filling the bag to the brim with enthusiasm—

“Phew!”

I managed to stuff all the ore and thread scattered on the ground into the bag.

The next part was the real deal.

Swish.

The duffel bag went into my inventory.

Just moments ago, my inventory was so full it couldn’t hold any more thread.

But now, the bag, packed with all that thread, slipped in without a hitch.

In other words, the inventory recognized the bag as just a single, ordinary item.

If I made several of these bags, it’d be like multiplying my inventory space!

“Well, now that worry’s out of the way.”

Just then, as if drawn by the sound of my hammering, a Thread Golem approached.

If it had been a bit faster, it might’ve caught me off guard, but too late.

I’d already made the Spatial Duffel Bag, and I was lighter than ever.

“Come on, then!”

After that, I didn’t stop hunting Thread Golems until my inventory was full again.

The allowed time in the Mine was four hours.

During that time, I went absolutely wild, smashing Golems like crazy.

[Your Level has increased.]

Thanks to that, I leveled up a lot.

I gathered a ton of materials, too.

I might’ve overdone it with the Thread Golems, so I returned to Area 1 to hunt Ore Golems and gather more ore. That’s where I am now.

I’m mining to make up for the ore shortage compared to thread.

Only about five minutes remain.

Wanting to hunt one last Golem before leaving, I ventured down an unfamiliar path.

But then—

“What is this place?”

It was different from the areas I’d seen before.

The same dirt walls lined the dark corridor, but there were signs of artificial refinement.

As I went deeper, the rough, uneven dirt walls gave way to a polished hallway.

A pristine corridor made of glossy, marble-like stone.

At the end of the corridor, I saw a stone door, clearly man-made.

“This is…”

Something was written above the stone door.

It was probably the name of the place.

But the writing wasn’t Korean or English.

It was a language I’d never seen before.

No, I wasn’t even sure it was a language.

It looked like a worm had crawled around, taken a sharp turn, gotten dizzy, spun in circles, and collapsed.

And yet—

[—stos’s –ge]

It was strange.

The unfamiliar writing started to feel readable.

No, could I even call it reading?

It was as if the letters were alive, shifting and transforming to become legible to me.

[Hephaestus’ Forge]

Soon, the true nature of the writing was revealed.

Hephaestus’ Forge.

I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was clearly important to me.

After all, my ability was called “Hephaestus’ Descendant.”

And then—

Wooong—

The stone door trembled, and something appeared above it.

[Hephaestus’ Furnace]

The name “Furnace” appeared, along with an image of a furnace.

That wasn’t all.

Below the furnace, the items required to craft it were listed.

[Iron Ore: 100]

[Tin: 50]

[Mana Stone: 50]

[Blue Ore: 10]

“Collect all this?”

That’s a massive amount.

The ore I’d gathered over four hours wasn’t enough.

Sure, I’d split my time between Area 1 and Area 2, so I only mined in Area 1 for two hours, but still.

I never expected to run short on ore.

And then—

[Mithril: 5]

[Adamantium: 1]

“What are these?”

I’d heard of them before.

Mithril, the silver of fantasy worlds.

Adamantium, often called the strongest ore in fantasy.

But the reason I muttered in confusion was that I’d never once obtained either of these while mining.

They seemed incredibly hard to get, and they’re required already in Area 1?

I was dumbfounded, but then—

[Time limit has been reached.]

[Hephaestus’ Mine is closing.]

Shaaa—!

The time limit ended, and I was kicked out of the Mine.

I was a bit startled, but the meaning of the stone door was clear.

“Make a furnace, right?”

Using the materials listed on the door.

Just in case, I opened the Auction House.

First, mithril.

[Mithril Sword]

[Black Tribe’s Silver Spear]

[Demon Hunter]

More items than I expected popped up.

The problem was the price.

They were all high-level restricted items, with at least S-grade, so the prices were astronomical.

Even so, I didn’t need finished items, so I searched for mithril ore.

“Why is there no ore?”

Mithril ore didn’t exist.

Same with adamantium.

No, with adamantium, there weren’t even items made from it listed.

If I bought mithril items and used the Disassemble skill, I could get mithril.

But with adamantium, there were no items to even disassemble.

“Why?”

As someone who’d just stepped into the world of Awakened, I had no idea.

And it’s not like I had anyone to ask.

Wait, no, there was one place.

The Mir Guild.

Didn’t they say I could contact them anytime, even if it wasn’t about joining, and they’d treat me to a meal?

Surely the Mir Guild could answer a question like this.

With that thought, I contacted the Mir Guild.

Not long after, a reply came from them.

• It’ll probably be hard to find.
  
• Ores are usually bought up by the Hunter Association.
  
• High-grade ores are often sold directly to top-tier forges rather than listed on the Auction House.
  

“The Hunter Association?”

This was news to me.

It makes sense—only Hunters would know this kind of thing.

Apparently, materials like mana stones and various ores obtained from killing monsters in Gates are sold directly to the Hunter Association.

Like a cash item you get straight from a Gate.

That’s why there was no ore on the Auction House.

• To receive ore distribution, you need to be officially certified by the Association. Even then, mithril and adamantium are a bit tricky.
  
• Especially adamantium, which is so rare it’s usually traded directly to top-tier forges like Kang Ho-deok’s.
  
• Oh, but of course, we believe Vulcanus-nim will soon take a place among the top-tier forges.
  

“Ugh.”

I thought with over 20 billion in my account, buying mithril or adamantium would be no big deal.

I never imagined there’d be things money couldn’t buy.

Was I going to have to give up on entering Area 1’s forge?

But then—

• If you absolutely need it, we might be able to connect you.
  
• We’ll start by looking into adamantium, the hardest to find.
  
• We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
  

Their response was more enthusiastic than I expected.

Answering my question was already more than enough.

I never imagined they’d offer to find adamantium for me.

“Well, if they’re offering, I’m grateful…?”

Normally, I’d politely decline, but if I refused here, I had no idea how to get adamantium.

So, I sent a thank-you message.

If it comes to it, I can repay them later.

“Alright, I’ll leave adamantium to them.”

If they find it, great. If not, no big deal.

I was curious about the stone door I just found, but it wasn’t urgent.

With adamantium taken care of, next up was mithril.

I browsed the Auction House for mithril equipment, starting from the lowest price.

“Ugh, why is everything so expensive?”

I sorted by lowest price, but the cheapest was still over a billion.

Is this right?

Maybe if I mined a bit more, I’d find mithril?

I considered holding off.

But—

“What’s the point of saving?”

Honestly, I have over 20 billion just sitting in my account.

I haven’t even decided what to spend it on.

In times like this, investing is the answer.

In games, don’t you spend all your early money on investments to get bigger returns later?

“Yeah, what’s the difference between games and reality?”

This is an investment.

This is an investment.

This is an INVESTMENT!

[‘Mithril Mace’ has been purchased.]

I had to repeat it three times before I could hit the buy button.

It felt like my blood money was draining away, but the leading digit in my account was still intact.

Mithril Mace.

I chose it because it was relatively cheap among mithril equipment and seemed to have a high mithril content.

Clang!

The moment I received the item, I swung my hammer.

No need to check the mace’s details.

I went straight to disassembling.

It’s tougher than I thought.

Most of the items I’d disassembled so far were ore or thread.

Rare ores weren’t easy to disassemble, but they weren’t this hard.

The points popping up were almost as difficult as crafting an item.

Well, whatever.

“Compared to actual item crafting, this is nothing.”

This was manageable.

I kept hammering away.

With each swing, the thick mace gradually broke down.

[Disassembly of ‘Mithril Mace’ has been completed.]

Finally, the disassembly was done.

And now, the exciting mithril farming time!

[Mithril Fragment obtained.]

[Iron Fragment obtained.]

[Mithril Fragment obtained.]

Two mithril fragments!

Having crafted and disassembled various items, I could tell.

I had a rough idea of how much mithril was in this mace.

In that sense, the amount of mithril I got was at least 80% of it.

From what I read online, disassembly skills usually have low efficiency, so most forges avoid it.

“What do they mean, low efficiency?”

That didn’t apply to me at all.