Chapter 79: The Spear of Eternity

As soon as the repair was complete.

Paaaah!

The massive sword began to radiate a vivid teal color.

When I first saw it, it had only faintly emitted a soft teal glow.

Now, it proudly displayed its true color—a deep, rich teal.

The owner of the sword, the Statue of the Swordsmith, lifted his sword with a face full of emotion.

“Ooooooo—!”

Meanwhile, a message appeared before my eyes, announcing the completion of the repair.

[‘Gatekeeper’s Teal Sword’ has been fully repaired.]

[‘Gatekeeper’s Teal Sword’ has been inscribed with the ‘Restoration Rune Script,’ adding the ‘Self-Repair’ ability.]

This part was expected.

But below that, messages I hadn’t anticipated began to appear one after another.

[A divine weapon has been perfectly repaired.]

[You have gained divine enlightenment.]

[All stats have increased by 10.]

[The maximum level of items producible by the crafting skill has increased.]

[The maximum level of items repairable by the repair skill has increased.]

[The quantity and quality of materials obtained through the dismantling skill have improved…]

Stat boosts.

Skill efficiency improvements.

Everything on my Stat Window surged all at once.

I hadn’t defeated a boss monster, nor had I created anything extraordinary.

I never imagined simply repairing a weapon would trigger messages like this.

More than that—

“A divine weapon?”

The message caught my full attention.

A weapon made by the gods.

No wonder it felt extraordinary; now it made sense.

After all, the weapon had been forged by gathering Cheonjeoseok.

There was no way it was an ordinary weapon.

“Do you like it?”

“I really… really like it.” The Statue of the Swordsmith lightly swung the sword.

A teal afterimage shimmered in the light flowing from the blade.

Then, swinging the sword toward the entrance swarming with monsters—

“Swoosh—.”

“Kwah-kwah-kwang!!”

A sharp, brilliant sword energy swept through the monsters, incomparable to anything I had seen before.

This was the true power of the Teal Sword.

It was more powerful than any monster I had ever witnessed.

Watching this, I fully understood what was meant by “a weapon made by the gods.”

“Truly amazing. And did you inscribe the rune script yourself?”

“Oh, no. Blaze did the engraving, but thankfully, it remains intact even after the repair. The self-repair function has probably been added as well.”

“Someone without divine authority engraving a rune script onto a divine weapon… that’s no ordinary feat…”

The Statue of the Swordsmith lowered his head to inspect Blaze.

But before he could properly examine Blaze, a thick palm suddenly appeared beside him and pushed his head away.

“More importantly, fix my spear quickly!”

“Right. But…”

“Could it be that there’s not enough Cheonjeoseok? That can’t be…”

“No. The Mining Team is extracting Cheonjeoseok well, and besides—”

“Growl—”

“Can I eat something first?”

How long had it been since my last meal?

My stomach felt like it was glued to my back.

***

I quickly returned to my room and ordered everything I could see.

Since the Statue of the Spearsmith looked uneasy, we decided to eat in front of the Tower.

But I had ordered so much that even my hands weren’t enough; I had to ask my assistants to help bring the food.

“Hehe, yes, this is it.”

Chicken, pizza, jokbal, hamburgers, tonkatsu…

The variety was overwhelming.

It was hard to find something missing from the menu.

It was probably three times the usual amount, but so what?

I was starving enough to feel like I was about to die.

Also, repairing the spear was going to take quite a while.

This time, I planned to eat leisurely and rest while the repairs were ongoing, so I had to eat this much.

“Hmm, is this the food these days?”

“Looks strange.”

“Oh, I know that! Isn’t that chicken? It’s been so long since I last saw it. But what did they do to the chicken to make it all bumpy like that?”

“This is called chicken. It’s a dish where the chicken is coated in batter and fried.”

“Chicken? Hoh.”

“Would you like to try some?”

“Is that allowed? I’ve mostly lost my sense of taste, so I’m not sure if I’ll really taste it…”

“A-also, I want one too.”

The two statues showed strong interest in the food I brought.

Since I had plenty of chicken, with various brands and sauces, I gave each statue one whole bird.

Then, carefully holding the chicken box with their huge fingers, they gently brought the chicken to their mouths and popped it in.

“Munch, munch.”

Even a whole chicken was probably just a speck compared to their size.

Their cautious chewing, trying to savor the small piece, was quite endearing.

Regardless, while I was picking at a chicken drumstick-

“Ooooooooot!”

The Statue of the Swordsmith reacted first.

He’d said he probably wouldn’t taste much since he was a statue, but his reaction was very lively.

“Such a spicy flavor! Sweet and hot! I see! So this is called sweet and spicy!”

“My sword chicken is a different flavor! Salty and sweet! The food these days is truly astonishing!”

From their reaction, it was clear their tongues were not statues.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have reacted like that just from eating such a tiny piece compared to their size.

“What’s that long thing? Ahem, no, I’m not saying I want to eat it, just curious…”

“What’s that stretch? It doesn’t look very tasty—not like slime either.”

“Then you shouldn’t eat it.”

“No, no! I just meant I’m curious!”

After chicken, the statues showed interest in pizza.

Reluctantly, I gave them each a pizza.

They were amazed at the chewy texture of the cheese, showering exclamations of praise, while Blaze and I continued eating.

“Phew, I’m full.”

“Me too!”

Finally, I felt some strength returning.

Looking around, I had eaten two chickens, two pizzas, three hamburgers, two tonkatsu, one set of tteokbokki, jjambbong and jjajangmyeon, plus sweet and sour pork.

What an appetite.

But well.

Considering I’d been starving while hammering away, I had to eat this much.

“Finished eating! Then!”

“Yes, let’s start repairing right away.”

As soon as we finished eating, the Statue of the Spearsmith handed me his spear.

It looked more damaged than the sword.

A rough estimate told me this would take longer to repair than the sword.

But.

“Blaze, you know the rune scripts, right?”

“Yeah!”

Now I understood the process.

Before fully repairing the spear, I inscribed the rune script first.

This was a time-consuming, delicate task, but not as difficult as the full repair.

Having inscribed the rune script on the sword once before, I was fairly familiar with it this time.

Soon after, “Production Team! Let’s begin!”

“Yes.”

“Mining Team, there’s not much left, so dig faster!”

“Understood.”

[Using repair skill.]

“Bang!”

The repair began.

I had fully grasped the know-how from repairing the sword.

Sword and spear.

Their shapes were different, so the key points weren’t exactly the same, but since the same person made both weapons with the same materials, the differences were minor.

“Bang!”

With the right force.

At the right timing.

I swung the hammer so expertly I could do it blindfolded.

[Progress: 3%…]

Naturally, the progress bar climbed faster than it had during the sword repair.

Teal light burst out in all directions as the progress rapidly increased.

“Oh.”

“Still impressive to see again.”

“Do you feel like my skill has improved?”

“Truly.”

Skill improved?

I actually thought the same.

I learned a lot during this process.

Maybe because I was handling a divine weapon, I could almost feel the heart with which the god who made this weapon wielded the hammer.

“Bang!”

Continuing to swing the hammer.

The progress rate accelerated, and I could feel my skill improving.

So of course, it was fun.

A broad smile spread across my face as I hammered in a trance.

It was fun.

So much fun.

It wasn’t about the abilities I gained upon awakening—I wondered if I had been a blacksmith by talent all along.

No wonder I hadn’t found my true calling until now.

That thought even crossed my mind.

“A little short, I guess.”

Thanks to finishing the sword repair, I could roughly estimate the amount of ore needed for the spear.

In that sense, it seemed like we were short on Cheonjeoseok.

According to the last status report from the Mining Team, the amount of Cheonjeoseok mined was dwindling.

Maybe, just like I told the Statue of the Spearsmith, the repair would end up incomplete due to the lack of Cheonjeoseok.

As I was worrying about this-

“Master.”

“Hm?”

“It seems this is the last batch.”

The Mining Team poured Cheonjeoseok in front of me.

It looked significantly more than before.

Looking up, I saw all the walls around the Tower had been fully excavated.

Even when scanning with the Legacy of Hephaestus, no more ore veins containing Cheonjeoseok remained.

After briefly inspecting the remaining ore and the partially repaired spear, I smiled.

“This is cutting it close.”

With this amount, I thought I could somehow finish the repair.

“Not much left! Let’s push, Production Team!”

“Yes.”

“Bang!”

I poured in the remaining materials and continued crafting.

Time flew by, and when there was only one piece of Cheonjeoseok left, the spear’s final crack was filled just in time.

[‘Gatekeeper’s Teal Spear’ has been fully repaired.]

[‘Gatekeeper’s Teal Spear’ has been inscribed with the ‘Restoration Rune Script,’ adding the ‘Self-Repair’ ability.]

The repair was complete.

And once again, the system messages appeared.

[A divine weapon has been perfectly repaired.]

[You have gained divine enlightenment.]

[All stats have increased by 10.]

[‘Soul of the Blacksmith’ proficiency has increased.]

[‘Soul of the Blacksmith’ stats, skills, and learning abilities have increased.]

“Oh?”

Stats increased as before, but this time there was a difference.

It wasn’t my skills that improved, but the Soul of the Blacksmith.

In other words, the abilities of my assistants had gone up.

I didn’t know by how much, but since they played a crucial role in my auto-hunting life, this could only be good.

“Ooooooo—!”

While I was reading the system messages, the Statue of the Spearsmith lifted his repaired spear.

Just like the Statue of the Swordsmith checked the sword’s condition by swinging it at monsters, the Spearsmith statue also released spear energy toward the monsters and tested the spear.

Kwah-kwah-kwang!!

Monsters were no match.

Naturally, they couldn’t withstand the Spearsmith statue’s attack and scattered in a straight line.

After the demonstration, the two statues exchanged glances and then returned to their original positions.

With serious expressions, they adjusted their weapons.

The Statue of the Swordsmith sheathed his sword at his waist, and the Statue of the Spearsmith set his spear upright beside him.

Then, with their characteristic dignity, they spoke to me.

“You, challenger.”

“I am the Spear Gatekeeper.”

“I am the Sword Gatekeeper.”

“We acknowledge your skill.”

“Therefore, we grant you the right to ascend.”

“You, challenger.”

“Please climb the Tower and set the fate of the world right.”

With their words, the firmly closed door of the Tower began to open.