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Chapter 555: Antares Back Story
"This lava core is situated right in one of the deepest layers of the world, and it taps into one of the World’s largest currents beneath."
"You couldn’t get a better flame to forge a weapon than the flame right below us. And that’s why this is perfect."
"But I can see it. The true essence of this lava is barely used by whoever is using this place."
"There’s no Runic Circulation Lines drawn to better absorb the essence, and they’re just purely borrowing the lava instead of the essence within it. It’s like using steam to cook instead of borrowing the flames themselves."
"In such a way, only about 10% of this lava core room is actually used, and the other 90% is just sitting there. If they could absorb even just 30%, they would’ve been able to craft better weapons. Tsk, tsk. Dumb idiots," Antares muttered, as Ryuk shrugged.
"They’re not dumb. That’s what you get in a wild world. Pretty sure, in more years—maybe even centuries—they should understand things better and be able to tap out more power."
"Things take time and energy to slowly learn and discover," Ryuk said, as Antares nodded with apathy before he instantly got to work.
Ryuk watched him move to the huge anvil in the heart of the room, scooping a bit of lava with his bare hands.
Immediately, a metal appeared in his hands as he dipped into the lava and quickly began etching bizarre runes on the walls, on the Anvil, continuing towards the entire ground.
Ryuk noticed the environment getting searing hot the more he continued, but the Titan worked feverishly, and he simply sat at the side, remaining quiet.
Silence passed for an hour before he felt Antares scraping disappear, and he opened his eyes to the sight of the entire area having become a large halo of blazing, furiously roaring fire.
All around, standing in it, looking at the runic lines with focused determination in his gaze, and half-naked, was none other than Antares himself, who slowly turned his attention to Ryuk.
"You can’t happen to actually be a blacksmith, can you? You look like the head of blacksmithing from your expression..." Ryuk said, as Antares shrugged his shoulders.
"I wouldn’t dare to call myself a good blacksmith amongst my tribe. It’s dishonorable to the true blacksmiths."
"But I can say, I’m one of the best apprentices there is," he said, as Ryuk scoffed but nodded in respect.
"Quite the humility, I’ll say you have. Aren’t you like the General amongst your race?" Ryuk asked as a couple of metals began appearing in Antares’ hands, hammers, tongs, etcetra, all being placed by the side of the anvil as he shook his head.
"You know, Ryuk, to become a blacksmith from my tribe, you need one thing above the rest. Mass. Not just power."
"You need overwhelming strength gained from mass, which, unfortunately, I didn’t have, as I was small."
"You don’t have mass? You’re a hulking 5-meter creature! Even bigger than the Titans!" Ryuk said, and it was Antares’ turn to scoff.
"Idiot. I’m the runt of my race. My dad is a hulking 12-meter-tall creature, and he barely passed the mass exam."
"To even inhabit the blacksmithing place, you need at least 15 meters in height alone to be allowed. The Blacksmithing General is 25 meters in pure height and a colossal figure."
"At a height of 5 meters, everyone in my race easily towers above me."
"Oh, so you’re like the anomaly?" he said as Antares chuckled.
"Yes, that’s what they call me."
"I wanted to be a blacksmith. It was every kid’s dream."
"We Aetheris barbarians aren’t metal lovers—we are blacksmiths. But when the test came, and the requirement was to carry a blacksmith’s hammer..."
"My fingers span couldn’t even cross the handle of the hammer, even when I tried to use both of my hands to hold it."
"I failed."
"And ever since then, I’ve gone on a different path from all of them."
"I got myself a place among them eventually."
"But still, of course, I wanted to be a blacksmith."
"So I guess I might even hold more knowledge about it than most of them... just that I lack the perfect form for it," he explained as the sound of a laid tsshh was made, and the heat was unusually unbearable, shooting up a few tens of thousands of degrees.
"This will take seven hours. And I can’t afford to have my concentration broken. A mishap, and everything goes down to flames—and I only have enough material to go at it once."
"So whatever you do, keep it down," Antares warned, as Ryuk shrugged, walking off the area as he stood at the edge of the place, looking at the brightly flowing magma beneath him before he jumped down and disappeared.
Antares slowly shrugged at it, before his gaze locked back on the metal find, and immediately, his focus sharpened as he got to work.
"Time to get back my power..."
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[Spiking Hot, is it not?]The system notification flashed as Ryuk hovered 3 meters above a sea of brightly burning lava beneath him, his pupils flaring with intensity as he nodded.
"Yes. It’s really hot. Even with my Endurance.
"Anyone at the Mid-Cataclysm stage would’ve been lit on fire by just standing this close..." Ryuk replied back as he hovered aimlessly around the sea.
There was nothing but rock and more lava, and he continued down until he found a place where the lava sea seemed to continue, branching at a side.
"A cave. Of course. I’m underground," Ryuk muttered as he was about to simply continue and walk past it when a notification flashed:
[The Cave. It’s Not Naturally Made. It’s Man-Made.]The system said as Ryuk finally paused in his footsteps.
"It’s man-made?" he asked just to be sure, as he looked at the dark cave that was surprisingly black, even though the flaming lava was flowing within and ought to be providing illumination.
It was pitch black.
"I guess we can check it out a little, then. But nothing should be able to survive down here for so long. Even I would have to get out in a day or I’ll most likely catch fire," Ryuk said before he moved toward the cave and lazily floated into it.
But the instant he entered into the open cave, its mouth suddenly caved in and it sealed itself shut silently.
Bizarre red lines seemingly carved from lava appeared over the surface of the rock before they dissolved into it.
Now, the cave no longer exists, as both sides of the rock faded in with the surrounding walls perfectly.
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A/N:
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In and Out_SnowySmoos
