Blacksmith vs. the System

"How interesting?" Eleanor asked.

"Not much. I was lucky enough that they weren\'t very well organized. Once I rolled a few burning logs, they were so sure that Maria was attacking them, they scattered in chaos, allowing me to go in and out with minimal fuss."

I could see that they wanted to talk about the minute details relating to my safety, but after everything I had seen, focusing on the implications was more critical than discussing the unimportant details of my escape. "So, do you want the bad news first, or the horrible ones?"

"That bad?" Maria asked. I nodded. "Let\'s just start from just bad before moving to horrible."

"Fine. The dungeon creatures are resistant to heat. It didn\'t even register the presence of a Flame Bolt."

"That\'s hardly a spell," Eleanor commented. "I\'m sure they can\'t resist Maria\'s attacks."

"True, but it was just the weakest monster. The stronger ones will be even stronger when it comes to that."

Eleanor paused. "It doesn\'t make sense. If the dungeon is about to break, you can\'t just encounter the weakest monsters on the first floor."

"She\'s right," Maria said, but her tone lacked the relief Eleanor showed. "But, I\'m guessing that part relates to the horrible part of the news."

"Exactly," I said. "Whoever is supporting Thomas is more influential than we think. They have arranged for someone to manipulate and modify the dungeon." Maria\'s eyes widened as I gave her a summary of the salient points, the dungeon\'s nature, the two entrances to the dungeon, and his attempts to shatter the gate.

"You can\'t be serious," Eleanor gasped. "I didn\'t even think that dungeons could have multiple gates leading outside."

"Neither did I," Maria said. "The team we called only adjusted the internal gates. Are you sure that it led outside?"

"Most likely," I admitted. "I didn\'t check it, but every other detail looked that way. Not to mention, the way Thomas appeared lends credence to it. But, we can find out," I said, and removed the satchel from the bag. "I managed to pick it up while retreating. His personal bag."

"How?" Maria asked. "The team we called to modify our family dungeon acted like they would defend their secrets with their lives."

"Well, he kind of … did," I said.

"Devon," Eleanor said, her tone suddenly sharp. "I distinctly remember you saying that you went in and out with minimal fuss merely a minute ago. Fighting against a mage is not a minimal fuss."

"It wasn\'t a fight," I said. "I was running away from the dungeon just as he was trying to retreat inside. He was already exhausted from whatever he was doing, and his bodyguards were positioned to defend against the attacks from the outside. He tried to rely on his magical defenses, and they failed against my mana attack."

"And, your escape afterward," Maria said, catching on my deflection.

"Fine," I muttered, realizing that trying to let them keep focused on the topic was only making them more determined to get the full details of the story. Admittedly, a part of me was glad for it. It had been a while since someone worried for me while ignoring the material benefits.

So, I told them the full story, from the initial distraction to how I escaped from the dungeon, though I still made sure to undersell just how close It had been to a total disaster, particularly where I escaped from the fortress, and how Thomas\' arrogance of flying letting me get away from a potentially deadly envelopment.

At the end of the story, Eleanor spoke. "There\'s no individual adventure for you in the future. You can\'t be trusted to take care of yourself," Eleanor declared. Maria nodded seriously.

I nodded, seemingly accepting it. I wasn\'t exactly burning with a desire for adventure in the first place, and if the situation required it, we could discuss it then. "We have more important topics," I said even as I passed the satchel to Maria. "Do you mind seeing if you can break the magical defenses on it? It might have something valuable."

"Sure," Maria said, then closed her eyes. "Actually, it\'s not a complicated one. Do you want me to teach you how to break it?"

"I would have loved it, but we better not waste time," I said even as I pulled the crystal and lizard claws from my bag. "I want to forge a metal to resist the heat aura of those beasts."

"What\'s the use?" Eleanor asked. "With that much, we can only forge a few swords. Maybe a set of armor at most."

"Two things. First, it\'s never a bad idea to confirm the usefulness of such an item. And, once we do it, we can try to reverse engineer to create that effect manually somewhat," I said.

"And if we can\'t," Eleanor asked.

"Then we can see if we can purchase anything that has the same ability from a similar dungeon, and having a sample will still help. At worst, we\'ll know raiding the dungeon for some extra material will be a valuable strategy."

"Are you mad?" Eleanor said. "You just escaped there. Do you want to return there?"

"Oh, believe me, that\'s the last thing I want," I replied. "But, I don\'t want to see the people of the town being burned alive by the presence of the monsters even less. I just fought against a weak monster, and it managed to hurt me despite my armor. I don\'t need to see to know how the guards will fare against them."

That silenced Eleanor for a moment. "Fine," she grumbled in frustration.

We fell silent, and I focused fully on the forging process. It was too similar to forging anti-corrosive material. The parts from the beast carried the effect, and the dungeon crystal helped to stabilize it.

I sighed. If I had the necessary raw materials, I could have created enough armor and weapons to equip the whole town in less than a day. Unfortunately, that particular "if" was not something that was easy to solve.

It wasn\'t like we could just go visit every dungeon and ask for their materials. Not when I suspected that doing so would create even more enemies.

"Is this it?" Eleanor asked as I passed the cooled-down material to her.

"I think so," I said. "Do you mind putting it against the rock?"

"Just cast it, it\'s not like your spell will hurt me," she said.

I frowned. "Maybe, but it\'s not a good habit to make the experiments any riskier than they have to be. Not when we\'re literally playing with fire."

Eleanor looked at me, but I had no intention of complying with her ideas. "Fine," she said with a frown and put it on the ground, and when I gestured to her, she pulled back. Only when she was behind me, did I raise my hand and throw a Fire Bolt.

[-100 Mana]

One that had been dispersed an inch before it could even touch the metal. "See, no harm," she said.

"Doesn\'t matter," I said even as I approached the metal, and touched it. The lack of damage was not surprising, as my sole magic spell was hardly an object of danger. I didn\'t know if it was more about my limited Essence — which was pitiful when compared to Maria\'s overwhelming numbers — or the low quality of the skill.

It was a question I wanted to answer, but with everything going on, I always had more important experiments.

Due to the limited impact of my spell, the lack of damage was not surprising. However, there wasn\'t even a hint of damage, not even some heating up — which I would have identified with Observe.

It would likely resolve the impact of the dungeon monsters as smoothly as my anti-corrosive metal. Too bad its production was entirely reliant on dungeon material. If I had a sufficient amount of material, it would have taken me merely a day to create enough equipment for everyone in town.

Unfortunately, unlike anti-corrosive alloy, I didn\'t have unlimited access to the necessary materials. I could probably fashion a sword or two, maybe a full set of armor at most, but it would be the limit of it.

However, I didn\'t focus on that for the moment. Hopefully, Maria and I would be able to come up with a method if we cooperate properly. If not … Well, that was a topic for the future.

"… So, this is the metal that\'s supposed to protect us against those flame lizards," Eleanor said as she twirled the material in her hand.

"Yes. Hopefully, we will find a way to replicate it without dungeon materials now that the dungeon is not as big of a threat —" I started, only to freeze, and start cursing.

"What\'s wrong?" Eleanor asked.

"I haven\'t delayed the breaking of the dungeon for as long as I thought," I said.

"What do you mean —" Maria intervened, before she gasped, her eyes widening. "I see," she said, immediately catching what I was leading at.

"Spill it," Eleanor said.

Maria spoke. "Rosie\'s letter warned us that the dungeon would break in three days, but that likely assumed that it was a natural break. Since it was an external intervention, it will be shorter."

"Not necessarily," I intervened. "It\'s possible that whatever he did to that dungeon entrance hastened it, but there\'s a chance that it\'ll take longer."

"Don\'t tell me you want to go there again?" Eleanor said.

"Hopefully, the answer is there," I said even as I looked at the satchel in Maria\'s hand, the enchantment half broken. Admittedly, I wasn\'t sure it would be enough. Even assuming there was a conclusive answer in there, there was no guarantee that Thomas\' supporters wouldn\'t just send someone else to break the dungeon.

"How long do you think it\'ll take to break?" Eleanor asked.

"Probably another hour," Maria said. "The enchantment is simple, but a mistake is enough to destroy the contents. We can\'t afford it."

"True," I said, then looked at Eleanor. "Maybe we evacuate the town into the dungeon as a precaution?"

"Do you think that\'s necessary? We have invested a lot in the town. We can\'t just abandon it."

"At least, let\'s evacuate the farmers, claiming that we discovered a way to make it more productive or something. We can leave the task to Harold, so it won\'t be too suspicious. And, in case of an emergency, we can quickly level them up as well."

Eleanor looked at Maria, who nodded. "Fine, we can do that," Eleanor said. "I\'ll inform Harold."

She took off, leaving us to our tasks.