Do you know how much it hurt me to kill you with my own hands? Do you know how much of a waste it was?

It was like how I felt when Zhang Fei and Guan Yu died while I was reading the Three Kingdoms. I didn’t want to do anything and just blankly stared at the screen for a while.

I did not want to do that again this time. You are too important to waste like that.

That is why I thought long and hard about a method. A method to keep you alive and make you one of my own.

Getting a lot of infamy from making Chief my slave was something I had to do. Having the Infamy Hunter Kaicher come after me was also unavoidable.

That is why I set my mind on changing what came after that. I wanted to change our terrible destiny to a good one.

And one more reason.

Now my goal is clear. It is not getting a 95, or 96 and getting satisfied. It is getting a 100 in this world. To not be under anybody else and becoming an omnipotent presence.

In order to make that happen, people are the most important.

In the game, even though I said I was going to attack the Demon Lord Heros, who was a common enemy to everybody, only about 10,000 supporters moved with me.

If it was not the Demon Lord Heros and I just asked them to put their lives on the line for me, how many of them would have followed? Even if I included my slave brigade, it would have only been a couple hundred people. No, probably not even 100 people.

I will make sure not to repeat such a situation. I will make soulmates who will share life and death with me. And not just your average people, but strong individuals who can represent the continent.

I’ve already made a list of people to s.n.a.t.c.h. Magician, warrior, dwarf, elf, bishop, merchant ……

The first of them is this person in front of me. Kaicher.

He’s currently a.s.sociated with a temple, but once the world changes, he’ll need to break is vow. Then he will remove the priest outfit and stand proudly as just the Crazy Warrior Kaicher.

I hope that this time we do not point our blades at each other, and instead, trust each other to protect our backs.

With that in mind, I will flatter you this one time. I trained my flattery skills from the friendliness lessons at the carwash. I might as well put it to use like this every so often.

“I looked up to it. The name of Kaicher, the Warrior of Light! And I wanted to meet you at least once.” [1]

Kaicher looked taken back.

I hope he’s not taking it the wrong way again.

“If I have the opportunity, I want to show you just what kind of person I am. I just want to make that opportunity for myself. Is that too difficult?”

Kaicher just silently stared at me. He was trying to determine my sincerity through my eyes.

A bit later.

“Fine. I can accept that kind of deal.”

Kaicher took the lovers’ promise from me. No, between us, it’s more proper to say the ‘Promise of Fate.’

He put one on each of my wrists. And then he started to speak like he was chanting a spell.

“The binding condition is 10 days from now. The release conditions are either succeeding in the temple quest or my permission!”

“Agreed!”

I answered without any hesitation.

Once that happened, both pieces of the Promise of Fate turned red for a moment before it returned to normal.

The magic on the hook was being activated. Now, if I cannot keep the promise, the two hooks will combine into one and bind my wrists.

Of course something like that will not happen.

Kaicher did not need to do a ritual of promise. A priest needs to keep any promise they make as it is made in front of their G.o.d.

I li

ghtly smiled.

“Then let’s meet again in the near future. It’d be nice if we can have a meal together and share some stories.”

Kaicher remained emotionless.

But I could feel a tiny tremble in Kaicher’s eyes. He was starting to worry about my strong confidence.

That worry will be confirmed soon.

Today if I’m fast, tomorrow at the latest.

I headed back to the temple. Specifically, I headed back to the charcoal burner pit.

The closer I got to the pit, the hammering noise became louder. The dwarves’ blacksmith shop was right next to the pit.

Tang. Tang. Tang.

I could see the dwarves. They were swinging their hammers without stopping.

I should at least greet them since they are working that hard for me. A friendly greeting.

“Good morning.”

The dwarves stopped hammering and looked at me. No, they glared at me. With extremely rough gazes.

“Stupid human.”

“That dude isn’t even a human. If we remove that mask on his face, I guarantee that there is a dwarf under there.”

Their gazes were rough and so were their words.

However, there was a different sentiment hiding underneath it.

“Acceptance!”

They accepted that I would be able to be the first human to succeed in becoming a blacksmith. Something that was said to be impossible for humans.

No, they had no choice but to accept it. I already finished making the fir tree charcoal and was reaching the end of the fifth quest.

That was why they were melting t.i.tanium and mithril to make a pickaxe. They couldn’t go against a promise they made in front of the G.o.d Volca.n.u.s.

“I think I will be able to finish the quest by tomorrow at the latest. How are the pickaxes coming along?”

“Do not worry. We’ve already asked other dwarf blacksmiths for help. It should be completed by tomorrow.”

“d.a.m.n it. To think that we would end up making pickaxes out of mithril for a d.a.m.n human.”

The dwarves were grumbling.

“No need to hurry. I won’t be taking it right away anyways. Take your time and slowly proceed. But instead, make sure the best effects are on them. Please.”

The dwarf blacksmiths always try their best when it comes to blacksmith work. It won’t be terribly made.

After I finished my short morning greeting with the dwarves, I headed into the shop as well.

The last step of the Blacksmith Occupation Quest.

‘Melt a piece of mithril and make a mithril ma.s.s!’

I first checked my stats.

[Kang Hwi Ram, Level 9]
Dexterity: Advanced Level 2, 28%
Strength: 96
Agility: 89
Stamina: 73
Intuition: 58
Magic: 8
Vitality: 35
Mana: 126
HP: 452
Endurance: 28
Toughness: 21

My vitality went up the most. Stamina went up quite a bit as well.

Thanks to that, my HP was now over 450.

But the thing that was even sweeter was that endurance and toughness went up. I can raise the other stats using the bonus points, but you can’t do that with endurance or toughness.

I needed to use opportunities like this to raise it as much as I could, so I was pretty satisfied with the growth.

It was the saving grace that allowed me to persist through the heat of the Fir Tree Charcoal.
I then checked my disposition window.

Hometown: t.i.tan Valley (Batoru Kingdom)
Disposition: Militant
Fire Affinity: 48%
Water Affinity: 2%
Wind Affinity: 2%
Earth Affinity: 81%
Light Affinity: 100%
Ice Affinity: 2%

My fire affinity was close to 50%.

Endurance and toughness were important for completing this blacksmith quest, but the most important key point was fire affinity.

Thanks to it, I could now proceed without getting severely burnt by the heat of the fir charcoal.

Then shall I start again?

I lit the fir coal and used the bellow to increase the temperature.

Whooosh~

‘Wow! It’s still really hot.’

I kept my HP bar open and watched as it changed.

My HP was not going down yet. I also wasn’t getting any burns.
But I could feel the pain. Pain that I needed to withstand on my own without the help of a pain relief potion.

In order to make a ma.s.s of mithril, the temperature control is important. If it is too low it will not melt, if it is too high, it will evaporate.

You need to maintain that perfect temperature for over 30 minutes to get a high quality ma.s.s. It is impossible to be so precise with the temperature with a hazy mind.

So I just have to clench my teeth and withstand it.

I almost succeeded yesterday. But the temperature went up too high with about 3 minutes left, making all of it evaporate.

I’ve already wasted over 20,000,000 won worth of mithril like that. It cost that much even though I only used the minimum amount of mithril possible.

‘I will succeed for sure today.’

I put more strength into the bellow. The temperature rose even faster as a result.

Now my HP started to go down little by little. It seemed to be about 1 HP per 5 seconds.

But my recovery speed was fast because of my endurance. I can withstand something at this level even without using a potion.

‘Okay. This is the right temperature.’

I didn’t need a thermometer. My skin was pretty much a thermometer now.

I put the mithril on top of the charcoal. I controlled the speed of the bellow to make sure the temperature remained consistent.

Slowly, the mithril started to melt little by little.

Now is the battle against pain. I need to maintain this temperature for over 30 minutes while feeling the heat with my skin.

‘I’m going to go crazy!’

I clenched my teeth.

If I fail this time, I need to repeat this pain again. I’d rather do it once and get it over with.

I didn’t even care about the stat increase message. My full focus was on the temperature.

30 minutes pa.s.sed by like that.

The last piece of mithril finally melted completely.

I quickly took it out and poured it into a mold.

I then stretched my arms and cheered.

“Hooray!”

Did they heard my voice?

The hammering that was coming from outside suddenly stopped. Then the dwarf blacksmiths moved their heads into the shop.

“What? You completed it?”

“Really?”

I made a O with two fingers toward the dwarves.

I can laugh all I want in times like this.

“Ahahahahaha.”

The eyes of the Volca.n.u.s Bishop were the size of a lamp. In his hand was a mithril ma.s.s three times the size of a sugar cube.

I didn’t finish it off so the color was odd, but it was a high quality mithril ma.s.s.

“This……did you really make this yourself?”

“If you can’t believe me, please ask the dwarves over here.”

The bishop looked toward the dwarves.

The dwarves stopped working and came to see the bishop with me.

The reason was simple. This was a historical moment the first ever human blacksmith was being born. To witness such a scene was a big honor for the dwarves.

The dwarves nodded their heads.

“We don’t want to accept it, but it is the truth.”

“d.a.m.n it. I’m telling you, he’s more like a dwarf than a human.”

Their words were rough, but the way they were looking at me were full of approval. The dwarves had already accepted me as a blacksmith.

The bishop smiled really widely.

“Wow. A human really became a blacksmith. Not an anvil worker, but a real blacksmith!”

You gained the ‘refining’ skill.
You have become the first human blacksmith. As a reward, you have received 3 bonus stat points and your fame has increased by 200.
You have received the t.i.tle of First Ever Human Blacksmith. Your fame has increased by 100. You may display this t.i.tle for others to see should you wish to do so.
You have completed a temple quest. As a reward, all of your infamy has been erased.
A mark symbolizing the successful completion of a slave quest has been branded.>
_______________________________
[1] I’m not really sure whether it should be Warrior of Light or Crazy Warrior. So if it is official, I will leave it Warrior of Light. If it is Hwi Ram talking to himself or making fun of Kaicher, I will use Crazy Warrior.