Lucian walked through the forging ruins, looking around with curiosity.
As expected of a forging ruin, this place was completely different from the other ruins scattered throughout the Lands Between.
Weapons in various stages of forging and all kinds of smithing tools could be seen everywhere in the forging ruins. Even the ceiling was covered with them.
The weapons came in all sorts of shapes and forms. Every type of weapon could be found here, and their degrees of completion varied greatly.
Some could barely even be called weapon blanks, while others were already complete enough to be used in battle.
Most of the weapons the Misbegotten had been wielding earlier had also simply been picked up as half-finished products from inside the ruins.
And all the weapons that were close to completion shared one common characteristic.
Without exception, every nearly finished weapon was engraved with strange flowing-pattern characters across its surface.
Judging from the appearance of things, however, this special script known as "Smithscript" seemed to be engraved only during the final few stages of forging.
Lucian casually picked up an axe that was almost finished and examined it.
[Smithscript Axe (Incomplete)]
Recalling Messmer's explanation, Lucian tried infusing it with a small amount of magic power before throwing it toward the side.
The unfinished axe whistled through the air and embedded itself deeply into the wall.
With a thought from Lucian, the magic power within it activated the Smithscript.
The axe that had already flown away suddenly returned to his hand.
Lucian became somewhat interested in this technique as he recalled Messmer's explanation.
Apparently, within molten steel, letters were carved into layer upon layer of folds.
These were letters that belonged to metal by birth, as well as their souls.
Smiths would uncover these letters and use them to anchor the souls of weapons.
These unique letters were the Smithscript.
Weapons whose souls had been uncovered in this way could all return to their wielder's hand after being thrown.
Even Messmer's great spear had been reforged using the smithing techniques of the Realm of Shadow and engraved with flowing patterns.
That was why it possessed the same throwing effect and could be used freely in that manner.
Unfortunately, that had all happened before the Crusade.
At present, none of Messmer's subordinates possessed smiths capable of using these forging techniques and engraving Smithscript.
Lucian held the Smithscript axe in his hand and attempted to imitate the technique Messmer had once used, condensing countless great spears.
During their brief clash earlier, Messmer had already used this signature technique of the "Impaler," leaving a deep impression on Lucian.
Unlike the phantom weapons in Morgott's hands, which were purely condensed from the power of Gold, Lucian could clearly sense that the great spears Messmer had created back then were all real.
Perhaps that was another benefit of the special effect of Smithscript, which anchored the souls of weapons.
Unfortunately, no matter how Lucian tried, the unfinished Smithscript axe did not react in the slightest.
Lucian shrugged, put the axe back where he had found it, and continued walking deeper into the ruins.
The Misbegotten occupying the outer reaches of the ruins had all rushed out earlier, only to be wiped out in one fell swoop.
There were now no creatures inside the ruins to disturb Lucian's exploration.
Lucian made two rounds through the smithing ruins and quickly found the blocked-off passage.
A gigantic metal gate appeared before him.
The gate was extremely thick and heavy. Its surface was covered with scars left by weapons and claw marks from the Misbegotten, yet it had never been breached.
Lucian turned his head and began searching the surrounding area for a possible mechanism.
Before long, he discovered one on the second floor of the ruins.
Unfortunately, the condition of that mechanism seemed rather poor...
After walking over and picking up the half of the lever that had been snapped off, Lucian shook his head.
Enter the forging ruins.
Miyazaki's malice.
The mechanism doesn't work.
The Misbegotten had clearly wanted to enter the deeper parts of this forging ruin.
Unfortunately, they really did not have much in the way of brains. They had even managed to break the handle of the mechanism...
Lucian tossed the lever, broken into two pieces, to the side. Purple gravitational magic appeared in his hand.
Under Lucian's control, gravity flowed through the inside of the mechanism and pulled it upward.
As the mechanism activated, the heavy metal gate began to tremble as well. It slowly shifted aside, revealing the passage behind it.
Beyond this gate lay the true interior of the smithing ruins, where the core area was located.
Lucian followed the passage and continued forward.
Here, Lucian finally found the inhabitants Messmer had mentioned.
He had only just entered the passage when a puddle of high-temperature 'Flame Slime', radiating heat like molten lava, fell from the ceiling and crashed toward him.
Such a slow attack naturally had no chance of hitting Lucian, and he easily dodged it.
Lucian stood where he was and closely examined the little creature.
Although their forms were completely different, this thing was practically identical to a Silver Tear.
Especially when the slime extended part of its body and transformed it into a needle-like spike before stabbing toward Lucian, he became even more certain.
That movement was exactly the same as a Silver Tear's.
It did not even bother pretending otherwise.
'FromSoftware's ancestral recycling of assets, huh?'
Lucian casually summoned a gust of wind and slammed the puddle of slime against the wall, leaving it there to find somewhere to amuse itself.
Messmer had told him that the inhabitants of the forging ruins had already surrendered, so Lucian did not harm the slime.
Just then, a heavy flying object came whistling toward him like a cannonball, striking toward the side of Lucian's face.
Without even turning his head, Lucian simply extended one hand and blocked it beside him.
The enormous flying object's heavy attack was firmly stopped by his palm, yet it continued pushing forward, its remaining momentum whipping up a violent gale.
Surging force burst through the object and left a huge depression in the wall beside Lucian.
Yet Lucian remained standing exactly where he was.
That tremendously powerful blow could not even make his arm bend.
Lucian merely looked at the object in his hand, rather surprised.
...A fist?
The sudden attack was actually a massive stone fist.
It was an enormous fist resembling a chunk of shattered rock, mixed with a large amount of metal and roughly half the height of a person.
Not only that, but its surface was also engraved with Smithscript characters.
The heavy giant fist finally lost all momentum and crashed heavily onto the ground.
Lucian followed the direction from which the fist had come.
At some point, a gigantic golem as steady as a mountain had risen from its slumber deep within the ruins.
Although it was not as tall as the Golems commonly seen throughout the Lands Between, its body made from a mixture of iron and stone possessed an extraordinary amount of mass.
Its raised right arm pointed directly toward Lucian.
Clearly, that was where the giant fist had been launched from.
The Smithscript characters on the giant golem's fist began to glow.
Then they suddenly disappeared, and the fist reappeared on the body of the Smithing Golem.
Seeing that its attack had been ineffective, the Golem Smith slowly walked toward Lucian, remaining highly vigilant.
Lucian shook his arm, then took out a flag bearing Messmer's emblem and waved it toward the Golem Smith.
This was something Messmer had given him specifically to verify his identity with the Golem Smiths.
Once their identity had been verified with the Golem Smiths, the creatures inside the forging ruins would no longer attack them.
It was just that Lucian had not even been given the opportunity to perform the verification earlier before the Golem Smith had already launched its attack.
After identifying the object being used to confirm Lucian's identity, the Golem Smith visibly lost its hostility.
As it walked over, the Golem Smith stammered out:
"Please... do not hurt... them..."
Lucian looked at the Golem Smith curiously. He had not expected this kind of golem to be capable of speech.
The golem technology of the Lands Between really was a form of black magic.
These statues even genuinely possessed souls. There were even Imp Ashes in the game.
Still, this was the first time Lucian had encountered a golem that could actually speak.
The Living Magma that Lucian had just blown against the wall wriggled its way over to the Golem Smith's side.
The Golem Smith crouched down halfway, extended its enormous palm, and gently scooped up the slime, even reaching out to pat its "head."
Watching the friendly interaction between the Golem Smith and the Living Magma, Lucian cleared his throat twice before speaking to the golem.
"Where are all the ancient meteoric ore materials kept?"
"I want to confirm their condition."
The fact that the Golem Smith could speak made communication much more efficient.
After hearing Lucian's purpose for coming here, the Golem Smith silently stood up. Holding the puddle of 'slime' in its hands, it began walking deeper into the ruins.
Lucian silently followed, taking the opportunity to look around as they went.
There were no monsters inside the forging ruins, let alone any enemies powerful enough to be called a boss.
That made sense. After all, this place had already been conquered once.
The only reason it had been left intact was because of the ancient meteoric iron preserved inside.
Soon, under the Golem Smith's guidance, Lucian saw the ancient meteoric ore being preserved here.
Among countless blazing forging furnaces, ancient meteoric ore of various sizes and shapes glowed faintly red, suspended in a state perfectly suited for forging.
The condition of these pieces of ancient meteoric ore could be maintained indefinitely, and they could be taken out and forged at any time.
However, once they were removed, if forging did not begin immediately, they would not quite turn into a complete lump of scrap metal, but their quality would still deteriorate considerably.
Therefore, without a smith who had mastered the corresponding forging techniques, these processed pieces of ancient meteoric ore were difficult to transport or make use of.
Looking at the meteoric ore, which was obviously top-tier material, Lucian nodded with satisfaction.
Lucian knew absolutely nothing about forging, but that did not stop him from judging that this was excellent material for armor.
After all, he dealt with all kinds of weapons every single day.
Lucian had no idea how to forge armor, but he knew perfectly well what happened when the weapons in his hands struck an opponent's armor.
With armor made from material like this, he felt that cutting through it would not be so easy.
That was good enough.
The quality of the ancient meteoric ore was indeed as excellent as Messmer had said.
Even without adding any other materials, armor forged purely from ancient meteoric ore would already possess rather impressive defensive capabilities.
And there was still quite a large amount of ancient meteoric ore preserved within these forging ruins.
Forget forging a single set of armor. There was more than enough to make four or five sets.
Lucian could completely make several sets of armor with different appearances and effects, then rotate between them.
Dragonscale Set on days one, three, and five; Ringed Knight set on days two, four, and six; and on Sunday, become a Lord of Cinder.
Just thinking about it felt amazing.
Furthermore, once different supplementary materials were added, the armor would gain different effects and specific resistances, allowing it to perform better in different environments.
Next, all he had to do was bring Master Iji to the Land of Shadow, and the forging could begin.
On the way back, he would also bring Sif along.
There was a chance that Sellen might come too.
Thinking about how he would have to bring quite a few more people into the Land of Shadow, Lucian could not help finding the situation somewhat amusing.
This was clearly a place that had been sealed away precisely to conceal the truth and bury its secrets.
And now people were coming and going whenever they pleased.
It was somewhat ruining the Land of Shadow's original worldbuilding.
——
After confirming the condition of the ancient meteoric ore, Lucian could technically leave already.
However, following the excellent tradition of "Well, I'm already here," Lucian decided to explore the entire place first and see if there was anything else worth scavenging.
In any case, after his identity had been verified, the other inhabitants of the forging ruins would no longer actively attack him.
Lucian therefore continued moving through the ruins unhindered.
Finally, Lucian reached the most central area of the forging ruins, the Forging Altar.
Within the furnace fire of the altar, a pitch-black greatsword was continuously being subjected to the flames.
The name of the greatsword soon appeared before Lucian's eyes.
[Ancient Meteoritic Ore Greatsword]
Looking at the heavy, enormous, and unbelievably rugged greatsword, Lucian swallowed.
His heart was instantly won over.
Yes.
Lucian remembered now.
He had always been a greatsword warrior!
Seeing that the weapon did not have any special "Incomplete" designation, Lucian confirmed that it had already been finished and was ready for use.
Lucian boldly removed it from the altar and held it up in front of himself, carefully admiring it.
Its solid, dependable thickness and weight.
Its reassuringly long blade.
It was clearly already among the finest of greatswords.
And most importantly, there was its wild, domineering appearance.
At this point, Lucian was completely unable to put it down.
There was just one thing that puzzled him.
Why was the design of this greatsword so strange?
That enormous, sharply pointed triangular blade.
The irregular, almost saw-toothed edge.
And that strange, heavy center of gravity concentrated around the middle...
Although it was precisely this imposing design that had made Lucian fall in love with it at first sight, a normal greatsword would never be designed like this.
It was incredibly primitive and crude, almost as though someone had simply picked up a suitably shaped piece of meteoric iron and decided to use it as a weapon.
The only weapon with a somewhat similar design was the Ruins Greatsword.
It was likewise an unusually shaped greatsword with an equally bizarre design.
Lucian picked up the Ancient Meteoritic Ore Greatsword and tried channeling magic power into it.
As the magic flowed into the weapon, dazzling white light began to shine from within the meteorite blade, which was covered in cracks.
The white light then spread over Lucian's entire body, driving his movement forward.
Lucian felt his whole body suddenly become lighter.
He surged forward at incredible speed while carrying the greatsword, as though he had transformed into an arrow.
At the end of the charge, even more violent white light erupted from the blade.
Destructive radiance engulfed the surrounding space.
After releasing the Ancient Meteoritic Ore Greatsword's weapon skill once, Lucian now had a general understanding of the weapon.
Without a doubt, this was an extremely excellent greatsword.
Lucian found it even more comfortable to use than the Starscourge Greatsword.
Its upgrade level was not low either.
It had already been upgraded to +8, meaning it was not far from becoming a god-slaying weapon.
And most importantly...
This weapon had practically been designed according to Lucian's personal aesthetic.