The Apocalypse Grinder - Chapter 315

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None of the sword-blades Ronan had forged until that point had earned a handle. Most of them would break after one swing empowered with his mana. This one might survive just two or three, but he at least wanted recognition from the system for his effort. Even if it was just a few more points in the relevant masteries.

He had practiced making a few handles up until that point, but the process wasn’t too difficult. Rather than go for anything particularly complex, he simply opted for a basic wooden handle. He drilled a hole into it, where the thin metal bar sticking out of the base of the sword-blade could be slotted inside, and then whittled down the outside until it was a smooth cylindrical shape. He had made the handle in such a way that once it was attached, it would not slip off unless extreme duress was applied, or it broke.

After that he wrapped it in some strips of leather he had made from the fox pelts he acquired from taking out a few of the more aggressive foxes while on his strolls around the city to collect materials. It was a little crude—the blade itself was certainly the pinnacle of the weapon, rather than the handle and crossguard—but it would suffice. The system agreed.

Congratulations, you have successfully crafted an item!

Savage Slicer Lv.71 (Rare)

This weapon appears to be poorly made at a glance, but that is only due to the crude handle. The blade itself is free of imperfections and was forged using mostly pure iron. It can slice through flesh with ease when wielded by the right warrior.

+10 Strength

+4 Agility

+2 Dexterity

Wounds dealt by this blade cause 1.05x more bleed damage

+6 [Crafting IV] Mastery

+9 [Weaponsmithing III] Mastery

Not only were the stats the greatest of any weapon Ronan had made, but it even had a bonus effect. That wasn’t unheard of—plenty of his items in the past had unique effects—but those were all of a much higher rarity and had been given to him by the system rather than forged with his own hands.

He lowered the blade and stored it in his inventory. He wanted to test its edge; to see if it lived up to its moniker. However, he had nothing in the room that would suffice as a target. The mountain of metal ingots had been replaced by a mountain of speartips, knives, and sword-blades. Most were trash, but a few were usable. Likely not more than once, but often one hit was enough to score a kill. No, Ronan needed a living target. And he knew exactly where to find a suitable one.

Ronan stared up at the boss tower again. It had only been… I actually don’t know how long I was crafting for. I sort of fell into the rhythm. I barely need to eat or drink at this point, so it’s hard to notice the passing of time. Maybe like a week? It can’t have been that long, because it sounds like the fight is still going on up there. As he finished that thought, a window shattered and what looked like a person flew out into the open air.

They screamed as they fell, gathering speed until they whizzed towards the ground in a blur. The sound as they hit the ground was rather anticlimactic, little more than a dull thud. Their body was replaced by a goopy sack of skin that jiggled when Ronan kicked it. Blood, flesh, and broken bones jostled within, plenty of it splattered across the asphalt too. Gross.

Whatever was happening on the hundredth floor, he would be able to find at least one target to test his new sword on. Whether it turned out to be a person or a fox, he wouldn’t know until he reached the top of the tower.

Climbing the tower wasn’t difficult. Every floor was empty. Whoever had been slain there had been long since reclaimed by the system, their corpses turned to mana, whether they were a fox or a person. Ronan found it fascinating that mechanic of the system continued outside of the tutorial. He had originally believed it to happen because the monsters in the tutorial were created by the system and thus not ‘real,’ but it also occurred once he returned to his homeworld, and even to people who had existed before the integration.

In any case, it didn’t take him long to reach the door that led into the hundredth floor. Interestingly, it wasn’t that loud inside. He wondered why, given that he had believed a fierce battle for the sector pillar would be taking place. He pushed open the door and walked inside, curious to see what he would find within.

The scene that greeted him was within the realm of expectation, but it was still a shock. Hundreds of people were standing around the room in near-perfect stillness. Not just humans, but even those weird shapeshifters who could merge, and another species which Ronan had at first mistaken for humans but quickly realised weren’t when he saw their pointed ears and too-sharp features that gave serious uncanny valley vibes. Whatever they were, they were caught, just as the shapeshifters and the humans were, in the Trickster’s illusion. Ronan recognised it immediately. All of them had glossy eyes and were standing too still for it to be natural. And at the centre of the strange display, resting at the base of the magnificent tree that was the sector pillar, was Vulparis, its orange fur as luxuriant as ever. The little fox was licking at one of its paws, but its glowing eyes snapped open and locked onto Ronan the moment he entered the room.

He didn’t make a move right away. He could take down Vulparis with ease, even though it was a higher level than him at that point. His stat gain from his class and sub-classes meant he surely eclipsed it. That wasn’t what he was here for.

Ronan looked around the room. There were dozens of corpses lying on the ground, many sporting fresh wounds and leaking blood onto the ground. A battle had taken place, but it seemed rather one-sided from the aftermath.

A woman was kneeling next to the body of a dead man who was bleeding from a wound on his neck. Her hands shot to her face. “No! Johnny! What have I done?” She removed her hands and stared at the blood that coated them, then to the knife that lay beside her. She looked at the fox and wailed. Then she stood up and ran towards one of the windows and threw herself out. Ronan hadn’t moved, so stunned by the strange behaviour. Shit, I definitely could have saved her. I guess that explains the person who fell out of the tower when I was on the ground.

He stared at the fox. He had sort of empathised with the beast the first time he had defeated it. Vulparis spoke about how the foxes didn’t do anything to the humans and that Ronan had been unjustly slaughtering them. He had agreed, but seeing how the fox was taunting and fucking with people’s heads, he couldn’t help but grimace. Then again, all it did was claim the pillar, and I assume everyone here attacked and tried to kill it… It’s a hard dilemma. He wasn’t emotionally connected to anyone there and didn’t have a personal stake in the battle. That made it even harder to decipher his feelings about what had happened.

In the end, he realised he didn’t really care. The iteration would end with him, and all he wanted at that moment was to test his sword. His gaze fell on Lord Rockmore, a smug expression on his face even as he was lost deep in the Trickster’s illusion. Ronan grinned. Maybe it would be better to leave you alive and stuck in the illusion, but this is also going to be fun. He rushed over to Rockmore, summoning the savage slicer from his inventory in the process and swinging it at the frozen man.

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