Chapter 518: Lucky Bastard!
Chapter 518
The moment Dame exited the room, Grey immediately decided to get to work. He dropped down on his butt and began drawing magic circles across the ground with steady movements, his fingers glowing faintly with mana as they traced each precise line.
In just two minutes, he was done sketching the circles and wasted no time in shifting his attention to the cores Dame had brought for him.
’Hmm! All of them are earth-tier ranked beast cores. Strange. Why has he never brought me any sky-ranked cores before? Is it that he isn’t strong enough to defeat one? I mean, he’s a stage 4 warrior, so this shouldn’t be impossible. Unless, of course, he’s either hiding something or simply doesn’t dare fight sky beasts.
Still, I wonder what the effect on the weapons or pills I craft would be if a sky-ranked core was thrown into the mix.’ He paused, rubbing his chin in thought before shaking his head.
’No use thinking too much about that now. Let’s focus on the task at hand. But if I could somehow merge two earth-ranked cores together and create a sky-ranked core instead, that would save me the risk of facing a sky beast. It would also save resources. That would be beyond perfect.’
Grey chuckled at his own idea, but in the very next second, his hands froze mid-drawing and his eyes widened as the realization struck him.
"Wait a moment! Merge the cores together! Why didn’t I think of that earlier?!" he shouted aloud, slapping his palm against his forehead in frustration at how obvious it suddenly seemed.
Without hesitation, he erased the circle he had been working on and immediately began sketching another one straight out of his head. It was more complicated, a test of pure instinct and memory.
It took him countless retries, erasures, and corrections, but after thirty full minutes of effort, he finally stood up with a heavy exhale and admired the finished circle etched on the floor.
’Sheesh! That was harder than I expected. I wonder if I ever did something like this in my previous world. My hands are starting to ache,’ he thought, before tossing down two of the twenty cores Dame had brought.
The moment they landed inside the circle, he activated it with a surge of mana. Instantly, the circle lit up brightly, the glowing runes sparking faintly as if alive. The cores rattled violently before beginning to break apart.
Within seconds, both cores shattered into fragments of light and then started pulling toward each other, fusing as if drawn by invisible strings. Grey’s eyes widened in anticipation as he leaned closer.
Two minutes later, the glow dimmed, and a soft clink echoed as something solid hit the ground gently.
Grey stared at it, and the grin that spread across his face was impossible to hide. Sitting before him was a single, complete core. His first attempt had worked flawlessly.
"Perfect," he muttered, picking it up and turning it over in his hand. The pulsing energy inside it radiated far stronger than the original cores.
"But I’m not interested in wasting precious cores to do this over and over again. Better to manage my resources carefully. This was just a one-time test, and luckily, it worked."
He erased the circle again, rolled his shoulders, and began drawing another one for his actual task. His excitement began bubbling once more.
’I can’t wait to see what effect the weapons will have after this process.’
With eagerness flashing in his eyes, Grey dropped one of the swords Dame had gotten into the new circle. Without wasting time, he tossed in another beast core and watched as the runes flared to life.
The glow bathed the room in shifting shadows. After a few minutes of anxious waiting, Grey’s expression froze.
The moment the core’s essence fused into the sword, a faint crack spread across the blade. It was thin at first, but it quickly widened and spread like spiderwebs. His heart sank.
Before he could react, the sword rattled violently and shattered into fragments, scattering into glowing dust before vanishing into nothingness.
Grey stood frozen in silence, his mind blank as he stared at the empty space.
’Ho... how is this possible?! I tried this before, and it worked! I was confident it was going to succeed. Damn it! What the hell just happened all of a sudden?!’ he roared inwardly, his hands trembling as he clenched his fists in frustration at the failure.
"Tch!" He scoffed as he grabbed a spear and tossed it into the circle, then threw in a core and activated it.
After waiting for a few more minutes, the same result occurred again, the spear shattering into countless fragments. Grey gritted his teeth.
He had always been stubborn, and this was no different. Refusing to give up, he tossed the shield into the circle and repeated the same procedure.
But as usual, it shattered, leaving him even more confused and stunned.
"The fuck?! Why the hell am I failing?! This shouldn’t have happened, damn it!" He roared aloud, his frustration echoing through the space, but even then, he still refused to back down.
He grabbed the last sword and hurled it into the circle, dropped a core, and then activated it with his mana.
His heart began thumping louder and louder as he watched the sword glow brightly while the core dissolved into shimmering essence and slowly seeped into the weapon.
"Come on, fucking work already," he muttered under his breath, his eyes locked on the blade with raw anxiety and a sliver of hope.
Ten minutes dragged by, heavy and suffocating, until the result finally revealed itself. To his relief, the sword didn’t shatter like the others. Grey’s lips curled into a wide smile as he quickly cast his appraisal circle on it, eagerly reading the weapon’s effect.
’Wow! This is great. I think Dame uses gauntlets, so this will be useful for his crew instead,’ he thought, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the seemingly plain sword before casually tossing it aside.
He dropped the last spear into the circle and repeated the process. The result was the same failure, the weapon shattering to pieces. The shield followed suit, leaving him with nothing but the pair of gauntlets Dame had brought, the gauntlets he himself had bought, the mask, and another robe.
"Let’s see what I can get if I mix these two." Grey mumbled with a wide grin, determination burning in his gaze. He dropped the pair of gauntlets Dame had brought, tossed in the upgraded core he’d made earlier along with an earth-ranked one, and then ignited the circle with not only his mana but also his Ki.
’I hope this works. This is a personal gift for him. Please work,’ he thought eagerly, his eyes fixed on the glow of the weapon. The sky and earth-ranked cores broke down into essence, flowing steadily into the already cracked gauntlet.
By a surprising turn of events, the cracked gauntlets began repairing themselves, piece by piece, until they looked brand new. But the process didn’t end there.
Instead of finishing instantly like the others, this fusion dragged on, taking far more time than usual. Grey clenched his fists, sweat trickling down his temple, feeling like this might end up another failure.
Minutes stretched painfully, each second heavier than the last. Yet, after a full twenty minutes of glowing and fusing, the gauntlets were finally completed. Grey’s excitement flared instantly, and without hesitation, he cast his appraisal circle over them.
The moment his eyes scanned the information, his mouth fell open in shock. His entire expression froze in disbelief, which earned him a raised eyebrow from Thalos.
"What happened?" The gargoyle asked, watching as Grey chuckled to himself.
"Well, I’ll be damned. Dame is one hell of a lucky bastard," Grey muttered, still staring at the information displayed on the gauntlets.