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Chapter 130

“Pfft! Cough, cough!”

Li Wen’s bombshell statement caught Luize so off guard that she spat out her tea.

Unlike her though, Se-Hoon maintained his composure and asked, as he handed her a tissue, “You mean the Sacred Craftsman?”

“Yes. Although, he is actually far from being the greatest blacksmith of mankind that so many people think he is.”

Li Wen had so casually added information that would shock anyone who had heard of the Sacred Craftsman.

With everything he had heard so far, Se-Hoon began thinking that Li Wen was perhaps the same as the man he knew in the past. So he wanted to confirm it. He calmly asked, “In what way is he a... piece of trash?”

“The biggest problem with him is... well, firstly, that he has no understanding of the value of the equipment he forges.”

Pausing to take a sip of tea, Li Wen then looked at Se-Hoon, his face once again serious.

“Do you know what\'s happening in China right now?”

“Isn\'t it being run by seven S-rank heroes who are acting as a council?” answered Se-Hoon.

“That\'s correct.”

When the Towers of Heroes and the Abyss of Demons first appeared, the world was thrown into chaos by the emergence of heroes and monsters. The presence of superhumans who could completely disregard the existing social structure with their powers and mysterious monsters that contaminated the land paralyzed nearly every nation. So, as a result, many nations collapsed due to being unable to recover from the confusion. And one of those nations was China.

“The seven of them have immense fame and power thanks to their remarkable achievements in the war against the Demon Force. But what truly cemented their power was their Sacred Equipment.”

Sacred Equipment, the moniker given to equipment forged by the Sacred Craftsman personally, were all Legendary-tier and famous for bringing out the wielder’s abilities to their maximum. Sacred Equipment was so impressive that a hero who had barely managed to be rated as an A-rank was evaluated as an S-rank three months after training with a piece of Scared Equipment.

Thus Sacred Equipment became a staple and a target of yearning among all heroes, which naturally led to extremely high prestige.

“Sacred Equipment is more than just ordinary equipment; each piece is a symbol that they have the support of the Sacred Craftsman, a Perfect One. And because of this, no one in China has dared to oppose the seven heroes in charge.”

“...”

“But since they have gained control of the country, thousands of heroes have gone missing, along with countless citizens that can\'t even be accounted for. It’s an open secret that those bastards are committing atrocities that are no less than those done during the war by the Demon Force.”

The utter contempt on Li Wen’s face was blatantly visible. He only continued after soothing his throat with some tea.

“Yet my father couldn’t care less! Instead of taking back his equipment from those bastards, he’s ‘too busy’ and has holed up in his workshop to forge with the materials those bastards bring him.”

“...”

“And then! A few years ago... sigh. No, there\'s no need to discuss that.”

Swallowing down his boiling emotions, Li Wen forcefully regained his composure before looking at Se-Hoon.

“Anyway, in conclusion, I don\'t think my father deserves the high evaluation he currently receives.”

“So what you’re saying is that even the Perfect Ones aren’t perfect.”

Li Wen nodded.

“That\'s right. It\'s a very obvious statement, but most people don\'t think too deeply about it.”

The title of Perfect One doesn’t guarantee that they were perfect—to Se-Hoon, this fact couldn’t be more familiar to him, who had seen all of them die before his regression. Se-Hoon was unlike others, who had never experienced such an unfamiliar concept before.

There’s no way any of them is truly perfect.

They were overwhelmingly powerful, but not invincible beings; they were unshakable, but some of their perspectives were somehow skewed.

Recalling the true nature of the ones known as Perfect Ones, Se-Hoon asked, “So, what do you want from me?”

“Can you surpass my father, the Sacred Craftsman?”

“Pfft! Cough! Hack...!”

Like before, Luize was completely taken aback. She spit out her tea and began coughing violently, even making a choking sound as if she were dying. And despite how it sounded, it was a totally normal response, one that wasn’t an overreaction at all.

After all, it was a question that would make one ask what he was even talking about even if Se-Hoon was a currently active S-rank hero. Yet, not only was Se-Hoon not an S-rank hero but he was a first-year student who had merely enrolled a short while ago. Anyone who heard Li Wen would think he was a delusional maniac.

This is exactly how he was before the regression too.

Thinking that Li Wen was likely still being treated as a delusional maniac who spouted crazy ideas like they were nothing, Se-Hoon turned to Luize to pat her on the back.

When he saw that she had calmed down, he asked, “Are you scouting me right now?”

“You could say that, but I don\'t mind if we just start off as a simple sponsorship. The only thing I ask of you is your continual determination to surpass the Sacred Craftsman.”

“Hmm. So, what do I get in return?”

Instead of belittling Li Wen and saying nothing he said made sense, Se-Hoon chose to ask what he would receive out of it. It was a response that made Li Wen\'s eyes light up.

“I’ll risk my life to obtain anything you need to achieve that goal.”

Facing Li Wen’s determination to even sacrifice his own life, Se-Hoon thought seriously about it for a moment.

“I need some time to think about it.”

“Of course. If you do end up making a decision, please feel free to contact me with the number on the business card I gave you earlier.”

Having said his piece, Li Wen stood up to leave.

“Aren\'t you going to eat?” confusedly asked Se-Hoon.

“Haha. I’m not dull enough to intrude on a date.”

“Pfft!”

“...”

“...”

Seeing Luize spit out her tea for the third time, both Li Wen and Se-Hoon wore peculiar expressions.

Meanwhile, the focus of their attention had turned bright red. She shouted, “This is because you keep saying weird things!!”

“...Ahem. Well then, I\'ll be on my way.”

Bowing his head, Li Wen turned around to leave but was stopped by Se-Hoon, who had suddenly remembered something he wanted to ask.

“Wait. If we do sign a contract later, will I be working with MT Industries?”

When he met Li Wen before the regression, Li Wen had been running the LW Company, named after himself. Currently, though, he was working for MT Industries, which Se-Hoon knew nothing about.

Pondering over how to answer, Li Wen thought for a moment and then shook his head.

“Not at all. I plan to become independent from MT Industries soon. You will be contracting with the company I will be running by then.”

“By any chance, is the current CEO of MT Industries...”

“Caden Miller, one of my father’s disciples.”

Hearing the name the Dream Demon mentioned, Se-Hoon\'s eyes widened as the gears in his head began turning.

“Can you tell me about the device you guys will be exhibiting at this expo?”

Curious as to why Se-Hoon asked, Li Wen answered, “It’s a device that controls surrounding flames. They say it mimics the abilities of the Fire Heaven Greatsword, the only piece of the Five Element Equipment to disappear.”

“I see,” said Se-Hoon with a nod, hiding all expression from his face.

With that last bit of information, Se-Hoon was able to confirm that he had acquired most of the puzzle.

“Then I will contact you once I make my decision.”

Bowing once again, Li Wen turned and exited the restaurant.

A moment later, once she confirmed the door was closed, Luize turned to Se-Hoon.

“Are you really going to work with that guy?”

“We\'ll have to see about that.”

Although Li Wen was an easy way to contact the Sacred Craftsman, just as he had done before he regressed, there were some issues.

Even if the Sacred Craftsman doesn\'t really mind Li Wen, Li Wen truly despises him. If I join hands with Li Wen, my relationship with the Sacred Craftsman will inevitably be off to a bad start.

From the conversation just now, Se-Hoon had also noticed that aside from the grand reason Li Wen mentioned, Li Wen had a more personal reason behind his despise.

“Why does he think I am unfit to be a parent?! In fact, how could someone who took a child that hadn’t even weaned from their parents say such a thing in the first place?!”

Remembering Li Wen’s confession when they made a contract before the regression, Se-Hoon thought about how the Sacred Craftsman had suddenly appeared and taken Li Wen’s daughter while saying he would raise her himself. And in the end, Li Wen hadn’t been able to meet his daughter even once.

Considering the timing... she should be about five years old by now.

To have his daughter taken away overnight without warning, by his very father who he had deemed inhuman, it was no wonder Li Wen was infuriated. So, if Se-Hoon didn’t want to start his relationship with the Sacred Craftsman on the wrong foot, he needed to start with Li Wen.

That guy, Caden Miller, is also a concern...

His device mimicking the effects of the Fire Heaven Greatsword, the drops from the Vermillion Bird, and the special ritual device that Offering created—fitting the pieces together one by one, Se-Hoon fell into deep thought.

Knock, knock.

Opening the door, servants began to set food on the table. And upon seeing the arrangement, which looked quite expensive, Se-Hoon momentarily put away his thoughts.

“Let’s eat first.”

“Yea. After all that coughing, my throat has become...”

There had been some embarrassing incidents, but from how Luize’s expression was able to finally relax, the food seemed to have lifted her spirits.

Gazing at Luize, who had picked up her tea to soothe her throat, Se-Hoon tenderly said, “Enjoy your meal, Darling.”

“Cough...?!”

At Se-Hoon’s unexpected words, Luize, who was just about to sip her tea, suddenly stopped her hands, as if she had slammed the brakes. And upon seeing that he failed to make her spit out her tea for the fourth time, Se-Hoon expressed his disappointment.

“Tsk.”

Narrowing her eyes at Se-Hoon’s tongue click, Luize took a large sip of tea and turned her head, having made a decision.

“Pfft!”

“Argh!”

With all of her might, she spat the tea right in Se-Hoon’s face.

***

Now that Se-Hoon had a rough idea of what to do for each college event, his daily routine became almost monotonous.

Every day he sparred with the invited active-duty heroes at Aqar Quf to identify who Offering’s spies were and then visited Lan Fei to learn about the exhibits and devices at the Hextech Expo, even personally inspecting each of them.

After all that, evening fell and he would borrow a private forging room within the Department of Blacksmithing to work on the mass-produced sword aura equipment submission for the Borsippa’s exhibition.

And like every night so far, he was currently in a forging room.

Shhhnk-

With each pass over the whetstone, the blade honed into a sharper edge.

A few passes later, after confirming that it had been sharpened enough, Se-Hoon doused it with water to clean it and then infused it with mana.

Woong~

As mana seeped into the sword, it underwent two rounds of processing before flowing into the enchantments inscribed on the surface. When more and more mana finished being processed and became optimized for the sword, a faint hum began to resound.

And with it came a pale sword aura and a faint vibration, the source of the hum.

Examining the sword aura of the mass-produced sword aura equipment, which was based on White Light, Se-Hoon narrowed his eyes.

Hmm... the performance seems decent enough.

The completeness of the sword aura wasn’t too bad, as the initial problem of mana consumption had also been significantly improved thanks to Lea’s enchantments. At this level, even D-rank heroes could squeeze out enough mana to perform a few sword aura techniques with it.

The durability isn’t that bad, and it doesn’t seem too difficult to mass-produce.

In the current era where the mass production of sword aura equipment was considered a fantasy, merely showcasing the sword in his hand would undoubtedly astonish everyone.

However, Se-Hoon felt a sense of dissatisfaction.

It just doesn’t meet my standards.

As a regressor, creating mass-producible sword aura equipment was a straightforward task for him, who had knowledge of many improved models that had undergone countless trials and errors.

So, in order for the equipment to actually meet his standards, it needed to show some advancement in various areas on top of being a replica of an actual sword aura.

Since I’ll be personally debuting the first-ever mass-produced sword aura equipment in this timeline, there shouldn’t be any issue with trying to draw out more performance from it, right?

If someone had already created mass-producible sword aura equipment, then there would be no benefit to making an extraordinary effort. Additionally, if he had made an extraordinary effort, bringing out a model that had features that seemed to be only possible decades later, while everyone else was at a similar level, it would inevitably raise questions about his true identity.

There should be no issues right now.

In a time when no one had yet to succeed at mass-producing sword aura equipment, he knew that his creation would set the standard, making it so that there was no real reason to worry about how well he made it.

Upon reaching that conclusion, Se-Hoon tore up the old blueprint in his mind and started from scratch.

First of all, it’s too plain.

While versatility was an important factor for mass-produced equipment, there was no need for its performance to be so bland. Following that train of thought, he took out the enchantment blueprint he had received from Lea, grabbed a pencil, and then began tweaking the enchantment formula.

“If I modify the compression formula a bit... and mimic the state where the synesthetic mindscape is being applied during the manifestation...”

He had only seriously begun learning enchantments after his regression, but he already had a good grasp of the basics thanks to his past experiences, which allowed him to instinctively adjust Lea’s enchantments while redesigning the sword’s blueprint in his mind.

The blade can be honed using a special whetstone, and although it’ll be expensive, coating it with magic stone liquid should enhance its output.

Compared to the initial blueprint that focused on affordable mass production, the new design required a dedicated production line. The potential cost of it was unknown, but he decided to completely disregard it.

It’s not my money, anyway.

Expecting that the expenses would be completely covered by Myers, he fully committed himself to the design, focusing solely on achieving the optimal result without worrying about money or materials. It was the first time he felt so unburdened since he regressed.

Soon, the framework of the blueprint was completed, allowing him to move on to the next step of contemplating what kind of sword aura to replicate.

What type of sword aura would fit best?

While White Light wasn’t bad, the new blueprint called for something more fitting. He began scrolling through various forms and properties of the sword auras he knew in his mind, and soon, one came to mind.

Origin.

The sword aura of the sword left by the previous head of the Myers family, a sword aura that was mixed with Aria’s sword aura—recalling the sword and the waves of its sword aura, along with its characteristics that he had personally seen before he regressed, the new sword aura he wanted to imbue began to take shape in his mind.

A sword aura that forcibly imbues any sword with its own essence.

As if insisting that sword aura should only exist in its form with absolutely no room for deviation, it would proudly color everything in its own hue.

Se-Hoon’s eyes sparkled.

“This is it.”

Now, the only thing left was to create it and then verify the result.

Wasting no time, Se-Hoon stood up and retrieved some steel. He then heated it in the furnace and began hammering it.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Hit by hit, the steel gradually took on the shape of a sword. Falling into a lull, he looked down at the forming sword and a familiar yet loathsome sound echoed in his ears for the first time in a long while.

Swoosh-

The sound of waves slowly rolling in from afar was deafening.

Forging to his synesthetic mindscape narrating the world’s end, he felt a strange sense of calm and continued forging in silence.

Time passed and soon, a straight, long sword appeared on top of the anvil. With the sword completed, Se-Hoon moved on to inscribing Lea’s enchantment which he modified. And upon finishing it, he infused it with mana, producing a deep hum.

Vwoom-

The infused mana surged through the sword’s core as if sucked in, racing along its length. In the blink of an eye, the processed mana whirled into the enchantment, summoning golden cogs that spun vigorously on the blade\'s surface, radiating a golden light.

Then, like a volcanic eruption, the fully processed mana burst out of the blade.

WOOOONG!

A golden sword aura soared from the blade, slicing through the sound of the waves in his ears.

“Wow...”

Though it wasn’t perfect yet, its dazzling golden hue unmistakably marked it as a sword of the Myers family.

Gazing at the prototype, his lips began to curl up in satisfaction from making something impeccable.

[‘Golden Origin’ has been added to ‘Celestial Infinity Blade (S)’.]

“Huh?”

Reading the unexpected notification message that appeared out of nowhere, Se-Hoon immediately opened up the Celestial Infinity Blade’s information message.

[Celestial Infinity Blade] 『S』

[A sword technique that shapes the processed mana within the body into a sword.

It uses all of the body\'s strength to form a sword aura that is sharper and more powerful than ordinary sword auras.

*Additional effects have not yet been acquired

*Nature of the sword aura varies with the mana consumed

*Physical fatigue accumulates with each cast

*Currently recreated swords: White Light, Golden Origin]

“...There’s no way.”

The timing was too perfect to be a coincidence. Deeply feeling that something significant had just happened, Se-Hoon dissipated the mass-producible sword aura and activated Golden Origin.

Vwoom!

Like with the mass-producible sword aura, a hum accompanied the processing of mana within his body. Then, when the processed mana surged explosively into the created sword, an overwhelming force that felt like it would shatter the sword erupted.

WOOOONG!!!!

A brilliant golden sword aura—one far superior to the mass-producible sword aura and perfectly embodied Origin’s sword aura—was manifested in Se-Hoon’s hands.