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The next day, Hestia invited the Goibniu Familia over and officially began construction on the familia's headquarters.
Alex didn't bother involving himself in that. Instead, he continued going to the Hephaistos Familia, learning forging techniques under Tsubaki.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, another half month had passed.
During those two weeks, his daily routine consisted of nothing but studying forging techniques and reading all kinds of smithing-related books.
Along the way, he also started learning divine script.
Yes, the language and writing of the gods.
If he wanted to forge divine weapons in the future, engraving them with godly runes was unavoidable. Better to prepare early.
Besides that, he paid out of pocket to buy large quantities of forging materials and borrowed the Hephaistos Familia's equipment to practice forging weapons himself.
At first, he could only make ordinary weapons. But as his skills improved, the quality of his creations rose steadily.
Now, he was already able to apply what he learned creatively. By combining forging with alchemy magic, whether it was removing impurities from metal or reshaping it, everything became incredibly simple.
Today, Alex purchased materials worth thirty million valis.
He was going to forge a First-Class weapon.
First, he melted down various metals and fused them together in precise ratios, forming a special alloy.
To ensure hardness, he added orichalcum, the hardest metal in this world.
To enhance magical conductivity, mithril was absolutely essential.
These metals had vastly different densities, making fusion extremely difficult.
But under alchemy magic, there was no such thing as "impossible." Any metals could be merged.
The final alloy was so resilient it could no longer be heated red-hot.
If metal couldn't be heated, it couldn't be hammered. In that situation, an ordinary blacksmith would have no choice but to give up.
But Alex had another trick up his sleeve.
A magecraft from the Einzbern family: metal form manipulation.
Instead of forging it traditionally, he directly controlled the alloy and reshaped it into the weapon he wanted.
And of course, it had to look good. He was a looks-first kind of guy, after all.
Images of weapons from games he had played, along with anime and movies, flashed through his mind.
"This one."
A faint smile curved his lips as the alloy rapidly took shape.
The finished weapon looked exactly like Skyward Pride from Genshin Impact.
"From now on, your name is Skyward Pride," Alex said, giving it a few test swings, clearly satisfied.
The weapon was finished. The only question was whether it had truly reached First-Class level.
He left the forge and went to find Tsubaki.
"Does it count as a First-Class weapon?" Alex asked, handing Skyward Pride to her directly.
Tsubaki took the sword, running her fingers along the blade. Surprise flickered in her eyes.
"You actually fused orichalcum and mithril?" she said, disbelief plain in her voice.
"Is that a big deal?" Alex asked, pretending to be shocked.
"Of course it is! How did you do it?" Tsubaki asked urgently.
"I have a special kind of magic," Alex replied honestly. "It can refine any metal and manipulate its form."
He wasn't lying. He just referred to magecraft from the Type-Moon world as "magic."
"My gods… That kind of ability is absurd," Tsubaki exclaimed, looking at him with barely concealed envy."You're a born blacksmith."
If only she had magic like that herself.
"So?" Alex pressed. "How's the weapon?"
"The forging technique is flawless and very mature. Enchantments flow smoothly without obstruction. Its hardness has reached, or even surpassed, the level of the 'unbreakable' attribute," Tsubaki said seriously."This weapon's value already exceeds that of a First-Class weapon."
She genuinely liked the sword Alex had made.
Not only was the craftsmanship excellent, the appearance was breathtaking.
There were plenty of powerful blacksmiths in Orario, but most of them seriously lacked artistic sense.
Their weapons all looked almost the same.
But Alex was different. Skyward Pride was simply beautiful.
If Alex knew what she was thinking, he'd probably laugh himself to death.
He didn't have artistic talent either. He just knew how to copy.
Tsubaki handed the weapon back and asked, "What's its name?"
"Skyward Pride," Alex answered.
Since he was copying, he might as well copy everything.
"Good name," Tsubaki praised again.
Alex smiled and shamelessly accepted the compliment.
"You've already mastered ordinary forging techniques. There's really nothing more I can teach you," Tsubaki said with a sigh."If you want to go further, you'll have to wait until Lady Hephaistos returns."
She never imagined she'd be completely drained of knowledge this fast.
"Since Lady Hephaistos isn't back yet," Alex asked, "can I learn how to forge magic swords from you?"
In this world, magic swords were weapons that could release magic.
They usually shattered after only a few uses.
That was actually very similar to Broken Phantasm.
If he could forge magic swords and combine them with Unlimited Blade Works, he could instantly unleash countless spells, reaching something close to absolute mastery of magic.
And if he turned magic swords into arrows and fired them, triggering both magic and Broken Phantasm at the same time…
The damage would be far more than just one plus one.
"You want to learn magic sword forging?" Tsubaki asked, surprised.
"Yes," Alex nodded firmly.
"Alright. I'll teach you," she agreed without hesitation.
And so, Alex plunged back into training.
…
One day, Alex suddenly received a private message from Luo Hao.
For the past half month, he'd been too busy studying to pay much attention to the chat group.
He opened the chat window.
Luo Hao: "Little brother, the plot is about to begin. I plan to have you replace Kusanagi Godou and go slay Verethragna and Melqart."
Alex's breathing instantly grew heavy.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance.
But could he really slay a god?
In the Godslayer world, every godslayer was chosen by fate.
Their first god-killing always looked like luck, but in truth, it was destiny.
Otherwise, how could a mere human possibly kill a god?
Even Luo Hao, who had cultivated martial arts to a divine level and mastered countless techniques, still couldn't defeat a god head-on.
He was an outsider, only Lv.4. Was godslaying really possible?
There was only one chance.
He had to take it.
Alex: "Alright. I'm willing to try."
Luo Hao: "Good guts. That's my little brother."
She then posted the mission in the group.
[Member Luo Hao has released a mission: GodslayingDifficulty: 9 starsReward: 100 points]
[Member Alex has accepted the mission!]
Erza: "Godslaying?"
Miko Yotsuya: "Holy crap, even the captain's going to slay a god?"
[Member Esdeath has accepted the mission!]
Misaka Mikoto: "@Esdeath That mission was prepared for Alex by Cult Leader Luo. What are you jumping in for?"
Miko Yotsuya: "That evil woman is totally trying to steal the kill!"
Tsunade: "With Cult Leader Luo there, she won't get the chance."
Brunhilde: "If Alex can slay a god, I must invite him to participate in the war between gods and humans!"
Even though she already knew humanity would eventually win, some of the losses had been far too tragic.
If so, then replace the ones who lost.
Hestia: "Alex, how could you take on something this dangerous without telling me?"
[Member Hestia has accepted the mission!]
Shinobu Kocho: "With Lady Hestia joining, this godslaying should be a sure thing."
Takatsuki Sen: "So the plan is for Hestia to seriously injure the rogue god, then Alex finishes it?"
Kurumi Tokisaki: "Sounds like a great idea."
Miko Yotsuya: "Then wouldn't all of us be able to become godslayers?"
As soon as she said that, everyone tried to accept the mission.
And failed.
Luo Hao had restricted the number of participants after seeing Esdeath and Hestia join.
Anyone else was locked out.
It wasn't that she didn't want others to become godslayers. The problem was that the 100-point reward was meant for Alex.
If too many people joined, the points would be split.
Alex was the one slaying the god. Why should others get a free ride?
Even if Luo Hao didn't care about the points, the Godslayer world didn't have enough rogue gods for everyone.
She knew the story well. The more godslayers there were, the stronger the final king would become.
If everyone in the group became a godslayer, how was she supposed to fight the final king herself?
For all these reasons, Luo Hao chose to limit participation.
Some people complained, but no one dared say much.
After accepting the mission, Alex was immediately teleported out of the DanMachi world and into the Godslayer world.
What he didn't expect was that Hestia and Esdeath were also there.
The three of them were sent directly to the peak of Mount Lu, to the small house where Luo Hao lived.
"Little brother!" Luo Hao smiled the moment she saw Alex.
As for Hestia and Esdeath, she ignored them completely.
In her eyes, there was only Alex.
"Sis!" Alex greeted her with a grin.
Compared to when they last parted in the Type-Moon world, Luo Hao had changed quite a bit, mainly in hairstyle and clothing.
She was now dressed in a pure white moon robe, styled like men's clothing.
Her jet-black hair was braided back into a ponytail.
Paired with her breathtaking features, she looked just like a refined young noble from ancient times.
"..."
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