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?'

it would be none other than the individual that brought me to 'that place'

I

sound of my teeth grinding

"Huuuu."

deep breath, trying

was a time for everything

up and quickly getting changed, I headed for the

Cli- Clank—

priority should be visiting Malvil and seeing how much he progressed

elven domain with a new sword, especially since the ones I have been using weren't the right fit for me. They just broke

***

thing that I hated about the fourth level,

close to the earth's core, it

feel as though I was inside a steaming hot

to say the

"You're finally here, human!"

the main building of the facility center, Malvil came

already there talking to the secretary, and only greeted

you long enough... I was already done a couple of days

"That fast?"

annoyed, but I merely shrugged

on training instead of anything else.

"Follow me."

goodbye to the secretary, Malvil

like in the previous times that I had been there, it was a mess. With equipment sprawled all over the place and scrap pieces of metal on the floor,

to this. Stepping over the garbage,

Thump—

in a thin white cloth

unfurled the cloth and my eyes paused

the completed

front of me, if it

it. Rather, it looked

edges, no grip, and completely nothing that would make it look like a sword, the thing that was in front of

tell me that he

would never show me something like this

who was looking at the sword with traces of satisfaction on his

it over the body of the piece of

"How beautiful…"

You call that thing

I managed to keep

minutes passed

almost lost myself

I replied with a

what's with that

my face was quite obvious as Malvil glared

in a show of peace, I calmly replied, "Nothing. I was just

"Of course it is."

small hand on

towards the long piece

is the frame

I could tell

is

his back before walking towards another counter and picking up a small white hammer that was adorned with tiny blue, red, and

proceeded to walk towards

last glare,

you'll understand once you do

dying my face. Why in the

"Just take it."

the hammer in my hands and pointed at

"Now hammer the sword!"

he was being, I calmed myself down quickly and stared at

profession, so without wasting any

mana before you do

swing downwards, Malvil's

"Got it."

my eyes, I channeled all of my mana into the

Vooom—!

started to glow, lighting up the room

metal frame, Malvil shouted, "Now! Hammer the sword right