Chapter 236: The Ultimate Blacksmith Competition (3)

Camila provided Kai with a solution that brought him great relief. In a way, she was like a benefactor to him, and he didn’t feel comfortable pushing such a person too hard.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you participate in the competition. However, I’ll compensate you in another way.”

“... Another way?” Camila, with a slight pout, tilted her head as she asked.

She tried to act indifferent, but her sharply raised eyebrows portrayed her curiosity.

Seeing this, Kai softly chuckled and briefly said, “You must have seen the stream this time.”

“The stream...?

Oh!

No way!”

“Yes way.”

Everyone knew that Kai had teamed up with the Warriors guild to defeat Zatan. More importantly, blacksmiths were people who always had to stay alert and search for good materials, so there was no way Camila, a hardcore gamer, wouldn’t know about it.

“You’re going to entrust me with Zatan’s materials, aren’t you?!”

“How about it? Interested?”

“

Ughh

...”

Conflict flickered across Camila’s face.

At the same time, Kai’s eyes gleamed.

When you press, press firmly.

That was something Kai had learned since childhood.

He took out Zatan’s Hard Shell from his inventory.

Shaking the shell in front of Camila, Kai said in a subtle tone, “Zatan’s Hard Shell. I’m the only one in the world who has it.”

“Y-You’re the only one in the world...?”

“Of course. I exclusively possess all of Zatan’s materials. They’re limited edition.”

“L-limited edition!”

Camila's eyes gradually lost focus, and her gaze locked onto Zatan's Hard Shell as if nailed to it.

Limited edition! It was an enchanting phrase that captivated even the most rational minds, and Camila was no exception.

She looked at Kai with her pouty expression, then nodded. “F-Fine. What do you want? Another armor set?”

“No. It’s been less than five minutes since I received the White Death Dragon set. What I want is the missing piece.”

“The missing piece aside from the armor set would be...” Thinking quickly, Camila suggested the options. “There’s only the shoulder guards and gloves left.”

“Then I’ll take the gloves, please.” He pulled out four additional materials from his inventory. “Use these to create the best gloves you can.”

It was Zatan’s four legs that supported its body!

Taking in the materials embodying four distinct attributes at a glance, Camilla let out a scream of joy. “

Eeeek!

Really? Can I really use these?”

“You proved your skills with the White Death Dragon set. It’s natural to entrust a skilled person with something.”

“Thank you! Really, thank you! Gloves, right? This noona right here will make them perfectly!”

Camila rolled up her sleeves, brimming with enthusiasm!

Seeing her, Kai began packing up his belongings. “I’ll make good use of the White Death Dragon set you made.”

“Sure! I’ll start prepping for the gloves right away.”

Maybe it was just her nature as a born blacksmith. Even though she hadn’t had a break for weeks while making the White Death Dragon set, she immediately began preparing for the next project.

Perhaps wizards, blacksmiths, and engineers...

Kai thought they might be similar in that they all produced results when set into motion.

***

A post was uploaded to the

MID Online

community. With tens of thousands of posts uploaded daily, it wasn’t anything unusual.

-Huh? Why does this post have so many views? hjw1004... This account looks familiar for some reason.

-hjw1004, hjw1004... Yeah, where have I seen this before?

-Idiots. Why don’t you just search by the author’s name?

-Isn’t that Unknown?

└ Stop with the bullshi... Wait, it really is!

Except for the fact that the author was Unknown, the post quickly garnered explosive views and recommendations, landing it in the Today’s Best Posts section.

The contents of the post could be summarized as follows:

[The city of demi-humans, Libertia, is my territory.]

[Recently, there has been a surge of interest in dwarves. So, I’m preparing a small event.]

[The event’s name is The Ultimate Blacksmith Competition. It’s a competition to select the greatest master among the 108 dwarven workshops.]

[The workshop of the winning dwarf will become the only workshop in Libertia.]

[The remaining 107 workshops' dwarves are being considered for deployment to other territories through trade negotiations.]

[Please show your interest and support for the contest.]

As expected, this post turned the community upside down in an instant.

-Libertia belongs to Unknown?!

-Since when? No, how? No, why? For what reason?

-Hmm... I knew he was close to the demi-humans, considering he even dragged them into the battlefield, but...

-I never imagined it was a vertical relationship, not a horizontal one!

As much as the players were abuzz, the journalists wasted no time.

[Breaking News! Unknown declares, ‘Libertia is my territory.’ Is this statement true?]

[Ranked 6th among the most desired cities for adventurers to visit. What is Libertia’s monthly revenue?]

[The city of demi-humans. Its ruler was none other than a player.]

[Game analyst Porter says: ‘This was predictable since the Battle of the Bir Plains.’]

Kai’s influence was massive—on par with the world’s top nine guilds. The world paid attention to his every move, word, and even his simple footsteps. Naturally, a bombshell like this wasn’t going to pass unnoticed.

Meanwhile, at that moment, Kai was casually checking something without a care in the world.

“The Warriors always handle things so well. That’s why I like them.”

The reason Kai could casually drop such a huge bomb was simple. The safety of the territory was guaranteed.

“Territory management interface.”

At his mutter, three windows popped up, whereas before, there had only been one.

[Libertia]

[Haveros]

[Arkan]

The Haveros territory was rated E, and the Arkan territory was rated D-. These were the names of the two territories Kai had received from the Warriors guild for defeating Zatan.

At the same time, a message Kai had been waiting for appeared before him.

Ding!

[You have become a lord ruling over three territories.]

[Title acquired: Noble.]

As expected.

Since the message was well within his expectations, Kai felt neither disappointment nor excitement.

"Check title."

[Noble]

Rank: Rare

Description: A title awarded to one who rules over three or more territories.

Effect: +100 Dignity

For ruling over three territories, the reward felt underwhelming. However, considering it wasn’t a special title, it was to be expected. On top of that, with the Noble title secured, there was no chance of random territory wars being declared by nobodies.

I’ve already announced my ownership of the territory. If anyone has any sense, they won’t touch me.

No matter how powerful the world's Nine Guilds were, they couldn’t recklessly provoke Kai. Two groups had already tried and paid the price with blood before disappearing. Moreover, Kai had recently allied with the Warriors guild during the Zatan raid.

The world now knows I have ties with both Cheonhwa and the Warriors.

Of course, nobody was aware that the Pray guild was also under his command. Like the Holy Blood Order, they were his hidden card—a joker in his deck.

With this, the safety of my territories is practically perfect.

A territory ruled by someone untouchable—desirable, yet too intimidating to attempt to seize, making it an unattainable fruit.

Kai was relieved by this fact and stretched.

"

Phew

. That settles my biggest worry for now... and since Karundal said he would oversee the contest preparations... I’m free again."

Considering the dwarves were deeply involved in the competition, it made sense for Karundal to handle the preparations.

During the resulting downtime, Kai looked at the white spear resting on his desk.

But, what am I supposed to do with this Dragon Horn?

The spear’s attack power and item options were comparable to the Holy Sword. In fact, in terms of attack power alone, it even surpassed the Holy Sword.

But when I use the Holy Sword, damage increases thanks to my swordsmanship skills, whereas this doesn’t.

The Holy Sword’s attack power was fixed at 40% of Kai’s Holiness stat. With Kai’s current Holy Power slightly over 1,600, the Holy Sword’s attack power was 640.

Tsk. Camila went all out making this, and it’s an amazing spear, but...

Regret lingered as he thought he should’ve trained in spear techniques in his spare time.

"I guess I have no choice.”

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The spear was now a white elephant. Kai gave it a regretful look before storing it in his inventory and stood up.

"I could have given it to Blizzard if it was a curved sword instead. Wait, come to think of it..."

Blizzard. Kai wondered what he was up to. Since he hadn’t received a death notification, it was safe to assume Blizzard was alive and breathing.

Though I did mute all other notifications since they were annoying.

Notifications about gaining XP every time Blizzard hunted. Notifications about leveling up every time his level increased. Notifications about stat gains every time his stats improved! The constant flood of messages had annoyed Kai to the point he disabled them all.

"

Hmm.

He’s not slacking off just because his master isn’t around, is he?"

Squinting in suspicion, Kai immediately opened the pet management window.

Wow, Mimic’s level is higher than I expected.

Mimic’s level had already reached 285. Its significant role as a spitter in every critical battle had earned it a substantial amount of XP.

Blizzard was around level 280 when we parted ways in Snowy Mountains...

Kai wondered how much his level had risen since then.

Looking down to check Blizzard’s status, Kai blinked in surprise.

"...

Huh?

"

An unbelievable status window shimmered before his eyes.

[Blizzard LV.318]

Rank: Field Boss

Satiation: 75/100

Loyalty: 98/100

Skill List

[Intermediate Lizardman Swordsmanship LV.9]

[Camouflage LV.7]

[Healing Regeneration, Passive]

[Animalistic Agility, Passive]

[Keen Intelligence, Passive]

[Language of the Kingdom of Rashion, Passive]

“L-level 318?”

What on earth had it been doing? But that wasn’t the only thing that surprised Kai.

“How admirable! He even studied language diligently!”

The Language of the Kingdom of Rashion skill, which hadn’t existed before, had now appeared. This meant that Blizzard could now speak, listen, and write to some extent.

If I reverse summon and then immediately summon Blizzard, I could bring him right in front of me, but...

Kai held back his desire to see Blizzard.

I told him to come back stronger.

The reason Blizzard had gone on his journey was simple.

As the strongest warrior of his tribe, he couldn’t bear it.

He couldn’t stand the fact that he wasn’t even the slightest help to the person he had sworn loyalty to. Kai understood this better than anyone, which was why he had allowed Blizzard’s journey.

“He hasn’t returned yet because he still doesn’t feel satisfied with himself.”

How much more would he grow before he decided to come back? Kai eagerly anticipated that day, suppressing his current excitement.

“I’m so proud of him. I should prepare a weapon as a gift for him when we meet again.”

That was why Kai’s footsteps naturally led him to the auction house.

***

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”

The city of water, Aquaria. After the corrupt lord had been taken out by Kai, a new lord had been appointed to govern the city.

We need to construct an auction house in Libertia as well...

Building an auction house required a significant amount of money. Moreover, most auction house NPCs were human.

If demi-humans were to run an auction house, they’d need training.

The intelligent merfolk could probably be educated quickly to manage it.

As he thought about the future of his territory, Kai visited the auction house for the first time in a while.

“Welcome...

Oh!

If it isn’t our VIP client!”

Kai, having sold countless high-priced items, was already a VIP client of the auction house. As soon as the auction house guide NPC confirmed his badge, they stepped aside, and the branch manager appeared.

With a broad smile, the branch manager escorted Kai to the VIP room and said, "Please let us know the purpose of your visit today, and we will assist you with utmost sincerity."

“I have a few things to buy and a few to sell.”

“I see! Then please specify the category of items you wish to purchase, and place the items you want to sell here.”

Without hesitation, Kai selected the category Curved Swords in the purchase section.

And as for the items to sell...

Kai opened his inventory, the moving treasury.