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?'

someone whom I hated much more than the Union, it would be none other than the individual that brought me

pain I had

grinding together sounded across the

"Huuuu."

took a deep breath, trying

a time for everything

I

Cli- Clank—

be visiting Malvil and seeing how much

sword, especially since the ones I have been using weren't the right fit for

***

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

being so close to the

I went there, it would feel as though

to

"You're finally here, human!"

main building of the facility center, Malvil

there talking to the secretary, and only greeted me once he saw

you long enough... I was already done a couple of days ago." He grumbled, looking at

"That fast?"

but

blamed, I put all of my focus on training

"Follow me."

to the secretary, Malvil brought

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

Stepping over the

Thump—

in a thin white cloth onto

moment he unfurled the cloth and my eyes paused on the sword,

this the

a while to process the…sword in front of

like it. Rather, it looked

completely nothing that would make it look like a sword, the thing

me

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

was

over the body

"How beautiful…"

You call that thing

I managed to keep my

minutes passed that Malvil finally regained himself and coughed

that, almost lost

replied with a

what's with that

appeared that my face was quite obvious as

"Nothing. I was just curious if

"Of course it is."

his small hand

the

this is

yes, I could tell that

ignorance is such a

counter and

then proceeded to walk towards the sword

one last glare, he handed

understand once

asked, confusion dying my face. Why in the world

"Just take it."

the hammer in

"Now hammer the sword!"

serious he was being, I calmed myself down

things related to his profession, so without wasting any more time, raising my hand which held

your mana before you do

downwards, Malvil's voice traveled

"Got it."

my eyes, I channeled all of my mana

Vooom—!

side suddenly started to

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