Chapter 93: Crafting Magic and Uncovering Spirits

[Enmity of the Yuki-onna]  

Form: Staff  

Grade: SSS  

Restriction: Level 95 or higher  

Description: A staff forged by condensing the dark energy of the Eastern Great Youkai and the Enmity of the Yuki-onna.  

Attack Power: 1,000  

Abilities:  

1. Harsh Cold – Adds frost to spells cast, reducing enemy movement and attack speed.  

2. Enmity – Absorbs a portion of mana from defeated monsters.  

3. Bewilder – Has a chance to inflict the ‘Bewilder’ status on attacked enemies. Bewildered enemies either freeze or attack their own allies.  

4. Winter Evening – Can activate ‘Winter Night,’ which strengthens proportionally to the stacks of ‘Harsh Cold’ on nearby monsters.  

Winter Night: Creates an area of frost around the user, its scale and chill growing with the accumulated Harsh Cold stacks.  

“Nice!”  

The SSS-grade staff was born just as I wanted.  

Well, I used two S-grade materials, not just one, so it was bound to come out SSS.  

Lately, my skills were such that even using only A-grade materials would, if lucky, produce SSS-grade items.  

“Should I make the equipment suit a magician as well?”  

I immediately started crafting gear for Combat 4.  

As befits a magician, not iron armor but cloth armor.  

No, that wasn’t enough, so I made a robe-type armor.  

The hat was a pointed wizard’s hat, and the shoes matched the hat’s sharp style.  

I wasn’t so focused on design that I neglected performance.  

All the materials used were related to mana, so while the defense might be a bit lacking, the mana-related abilities were robust.  

[Crafting completed.]  

[‘Magician’s Robe’ acquired.]  

[Crafting completed.]  

[‘Magician’s Pointed Hat’ acquired.]  

As soon as all the equipment was finished, I infused the Soul of the Blacksmith into them.  

[The Soul of the Blacksmith is infused into Enmity of the Yuki-onna.]  

[The Soul of the Blacksmith is infused into Magician’s Robe.]  

[The Soul of the Blacksmith is infused into Magician’s Pointed Hat.]  

[The Soul of the Blacksmith stirs.]  

[Please give the Soul of the Blacksmith a name.]  

“Combat 4.”  

[The Soul of the Blacksmith’s name has been set to ‘Combat 4.’]  

Combat 4 was born.  

With the staff and robe ensemble, the vibe was completely different from the assistants I’d made so far.  

“Please take care of me, Master.”  

“I’m counting on you too. Ah, and…”  

While I welcomed Combat 4, the most important step remained.  

If this didn’t go as planned, I might have to dispose of Combat 4, much as I hated to.  

That was…  

“Can you use magic?”  

Whether Combat 4 could use magic.  

Combat 4 was created with the image of a magician in mind.  

If it couldn’t use magic, it would just be holding a staff and fighting in fragile cloth armor.  

That wouldn’t be practical at all.  

Better to send it away before I get attached.  

“Magic…”  Combat 4 lowered its head.  

Then it stood up and raised the Enmity of the Yuki-onna in its right hand.  

For a moment, Combat 4 focused silently on the staff.  

Just as I was about to regret thinking it had failed.  

“Sssshhh—”  

A chill began to radiate from the Enmity of the Yuki-onna.  

No matter how good the staff was, the staff alone couldn’t use magic by itself.  

This was proof that Combat 4 could wield the staff and cast magic.  

“Ssssshhh!!”  

“Ah, wait! Wait! Stop for now!”  

Barely stopping the freezing chill creeping through my room, I went into the mine to properly check Combat 4’s strength.  

***

“Mining 1!”  

“Long time no see, Master.”  

“Yeah, been well?”  

“Of course.”  

“And Mining 2?”  

“Adapting well. Recently, we divided the first zone and have been mining in our own areas.”  

“Good. Any problems?”  

“No particular issues.”  

“Good, good.”  

As soon as I entered the mine, I found Mining 1.  

As always, it was swinging its pickaxe diligently.  

Even strengthened ore golems weren’t a threat to Mining 1.  

Since Mining 2 was doing well too, there was nothing to worry about.  

“Spinning Unit No. 1, how’s it going?”  

“No issues.”  

Zone 2 was fine as well.  

The problem was Zone 3.  

“Logging Unit No. 1!”  

“Master, you’re here.”  

“Anything suspicious?”  

Suspicious places.  

I meant the Haephaestus’s Forge.  

Since forges had been found in both Zone 1 and Zone 2, I’d told the assistants in Zones 3 and 4 to be extra alert for any forges.  

“Sorry, we haven’t found anything yet.”  

“Hmm, really?”  

Unfortunately, they hadn’t discovered any.  

I’d even prepared in case there was something.  

A pity.  

But as I was about to leave, Logging Unit No. 1 cautiously asked,  “Master, I’m a bit confused about what you mean by ‘suspicious.’ Could you come and check a few places with me?”  

“Oh, of course. Let’s go right away!”  

I supposed it would be hard for the assistants to fully grasp what ‘suspicious’ meant.  

I had only mentioned signs like strange paths, sudden dimming of light, or cracks in walls—features seen where forges had been found so far.  

No matter how smart they were, assistants who spent all day mining would find it hard to clearly identify ‘suspicious’ areas.  

“This is the first spot.”  

The first place we arrived at was in front of a huge tree.  

Zone 3 wasn’t exactly covered in trees, but it was mostly made up of them.  

Among them, this tree was particularly large and thick.  

“Hmm, no forge here.”  

The disappointing thing was that this tree grew right in the middle of the path, not on a wall.  

Cutting it down probably wouldn’t make a forge suddenly appear.  

“Have you tried cutting it?”  

“Yes. But it’s slow going, so we’ve put it on the back burner.”  

“Really? Well, since we’re here, let’s finish it. Call 2 as well.”  

“Yes.”  

Soon after, Logging Unit No. 2 arrived.  

Their attack power was a bit lacking, so I quickly upgraded both their weapons to match their level and boost their strength.  

I even picked up an axe myself for the first time in a while.  

“Alright, let’s start!”  

“Yes.”  

We swung with all our might.  

But.  

“Crack!”  

“Huh?”  

The axe barely scratched the surface of the tree, only biting into the bark.  

It felt like all we’d done was peel off the outer layer.  

I wasn’t so rusty at chopping that it should’ve been this bad.  

I worried the assistants might be doing better than I thought, but—  

“This tree is harder than expected.”  

“Yeah.”  

Logging Units 1 and 2 felt the same.  

That’s probably why they’d put it off.  

I thought about just leaving it all to them, but this was the moment a master should show their authority, right?  

Still, mindlessly hacking away didn’t seem wise.  

“Hold on a sec!”  

“Yes.”  

“Blaze, like last time! You know what to do?”  

“Yeah!”  

I began upgrading the axe.  

Just like when I was mining Celestial Stone in Zone 5.  

I engraved runes on the axe.  

Two of them.  

The axe would be overloaded and basically single-use, but if it could bring down this tree, the mission would be accomplished.  

[Upgrade complete.]  

Having done this before, the upgrade went smoothly.  

One rune on the handle, one on the blade.  

Then I swung the axe hard.  

“Crack!”  

The overloaded axe bit deep into the tree.  

“Impressive, Master.”  

“Right?”  

However, this was a makeshift axe I carried around temporarily.  

It’d be a shame to use the proper axes of Logging Units 1 and 2 like this.  

“Crack!”  

We kept chopping in rhythm.  

Where I’d struck, Logging Unit 1 swung, and where its axe withdrew, Logging Unit 2 struck.  

Then my turn again.  

The three axes worked as one, and the sturdy tree slowly began to fall.  

Wood creaked.  

After a long time swinging axes, the tree finally gave way.  

“Boom!”  

It fell.  

As it toppled, the trunk turned into a neatly trimmed log like the others in Zone 3.  

I wondered what kind of tree had made us work this hard, so I checked the item info.  

[Millennium Old Tree ] 

Form: Wood  

Grade: S  

Description: An ancient tree with thousands of years of history. The old tree carries a faint but distinct ‘Spirit.’ 

“Whoa!”  

An S-grade material.  

On par with Adamantium.  

No, judging by the Blacksmith’s senses, it was definitely a better material than Adamantium.  

Moreover, reading the description—  

“Spirit?”  

It said the tree was imbued with spirit.  

Not long ago, I’d come to understand what that meant.  

The stone fragments taken from the two statues guarding the tower’s entrance had a similar spirit.  

“Anything else?”  

“Does this meet your ‘suspicious’ criteria, Master?”  

“This is enough! If we see anything even slightly odd, we’ll check it out!”  

“Then please look at this corner first. The angle here differs by about five degrees from the rest.”  

“No, let’s skip such trivial things.”  

“Then please follow me this way.”  

After that, we followed Logging Units 1 and 2, searching for more suspicious places.  

Honestly, there weren’t many truly suspicious spots.  

But I stuck with them, hoping to find more Millennium Old Trees.  

“All right, this one looks promising too.”  

“Crack!”  

We managed to secure two more S-grade wood materials.  

Not Millennium Old Trees, but different types, so they could be used well elsewhere.  

“This is the last one.”  

Following Logging Unit 1, we moved to the final spot.  

I figured it would just be another huge tree like before, so I was ready to wrap up and move on to the next zone.  

“Huh?”  

“It’s just a big stump. No suspicious traces, so I didn’t report it.”  

Where Logging Unit 1 led me was a gigantic tree stump.  

The base of a tree.  

A stump, blocking the path completely.  

I couldn’t even imagine how huge the tree had been.  

“No way…”  

Before I realized it, I found myself moving toward the giant stump.  

I could feel it.  

Faint, but familiar energy coming from within.  

Actually, even if I hadn’t felt it—  

“Anyone can see this stump is suspicious!”  

For a human, there was no mistaking this was a suspicious area.  

Unfortunately, my beloved assistants weren’t human.