The Author's POV

Rumble—

With a low rumble, the ground shook and the doors of Henlour opened up.

Without saying anything, we entered the gates.

"Welcome back."

Greeting us at the entrance of the city was another dwarf. By now, most people already knew who we were, and hence, whenever they saw us, they would greet us.

"Thank you."

Greeting them back, we once again entered the city.

Rumble—

It wasn't long before a low rumble sounded again and the gates closed shut behind us.

"Go get some proper rest. We will start our preparations for the elven domain over the next few days."

"Got it."

The first thing we did was go back to our own residences to get changed.

Having stayed in the nearby forests for over a month, everyone needed to get a proper bath.

Although our tents were indeed advanced, they still didn't have showers built in them. As such, whenever someone needed to wash, they would need to go to a nearby river to get cleaned.

Actually, I did briefly pass by Henlour a week ago to talk to Malvil about my sword, so it was only a week for me.

"Huam."

Once I arrived at my residence and separated myself from the others, I headed for the shower.

Turning the valve on, I let the warm water fall on my tired body, which had a couple of scars on them, before i relaxed completely.

Once I was done with the shower, drying my hair with a clean towel, I sat on the bed.

As I sat down, the water droplets that dropped down from my body traced down my toned body before they reached the clean bedsheets, wetting them.

"Let's see if anyone contacted me during all this time."

Opening my desk drawer, I took out my watch and booted it on.

Since there was no signal outside of the city as the dwarves tried to limit most outside communications, I had no idea about what had happened while I was gone.

It wasn't even a moment before a long string of text appeared on my watch. All of them coming from the same individual.

"Oh, Malvil called me."

'Is he finished with the sword?'

Him calling me only meant one thing: the sword was almost ready.

After the incident with Inferno, and after spending nine months improving my swordsmanship, I was finally able to convince him into forging a sword for me.

Not many had such a privilege, and so I was very happy with this development.

"That aside, I also feel much better now that I no longer have the tracking device inside of my head working."

Thanks to Jomnuk's coaching, Ryan was able to develop to the point where he could now easily hack into my chip and tamper with the device.

He could turn it on and off whenever he wanted to. This was a great piece of news to me as I could definitely make do with it in the future.

Especially at the conference where I was going to meet up with the Union.

With the chip tracking device off, they would of course be unable to tell that I was 876, but for sure I was going to let them understand that they had messed with someone extremely petty.

Well, that was granted if the opportunity for it came. If there wasn't, I could just wait for later.

'Right, that fucker will also be there…'

Recalling a certain face inside of my memories, my lips tugged upwards.

'I've still got quite the score to settle with you, don't I?'

than the Union, it would be none other than the individual that brought me to

I had

grinding together sounded across the

"Huuuu."

took a deep breath, trying to

everything and now

getting changed, I headed for the door of my

Cli- Clank—

and seeing how

leave for the elven domain with a new sword, especially since the ones

***

thing that I hated about the fourth level, it would without a doubt be the

the earth's core, it

as though I was inside

wasn't pleasant, to say

"You're finally here, human!"

the main building of the facility center, Malvil came to greet me at the

more like he was already there talking to the secretary, and only greeted me once he saw

of days

"That fast?"

but I merely shrugged

training instead of anything else. Though, I was

"Follow me."

goodbye to the secretary, Malvil brought me to

had been there, it was a mess. With equipment sprawled all over the place and scrap pieces of metal on the floor,

used to this. Stepping over the garbage, we

Thump—

thin white cloth onto the table, producing a dull

eyes paused

this the completed

front of me, if it could even be

it. Rather, it

a sword, the thing that

tell me that he

pride, he would never show me something like this unless there was something more to

who was looking at the sword with traces

and tracing it over the body of the piece of metal, Malvil

"How beautiful…"

You call

loud but I managed to keep my mouth shut throughout

of minutes passed that Malvil finally regained

almost lost

I replied with

what's with that

appeared that my face was quite obvious as Malvil

calmly replied, "Nothing. I was just curious if this was the sword that you were planning on

"Of course it is."

slammed his small

towards the long piece

is the frame of the

I could tell

is such

and picking up a small white hammer that was adorned with

proceeded to walk towards the sword

last glare, he handed me the

understand once you

that to me?" I asked, confusion dying my face. Why in the world was he giving me the

"Just take it."

question, Malvil shoved the hammer in my hands and pointed at the

"Now hammer the sword!"

just how serious he was being, I calmed myself down quickly and stared at the sword

his profession, so without wasting any more time, raising my hand which held onto the hammer, I prepared

mana before you do

I could even swing downwards, Malvil's

"Got it."

my eyes, I channeled all of

Vooom—!

the hammer's side suddenly started to glow, lighting up the room

frame, Malvil shouted, "Now! Hammer