Chapter 381 - It’s you…

Congratulations, you have won the 4th event - Arena!

Do you want to accept your reward or would you like to put it away to improve the final rewards?

The reward for the winner of the 4th event:

Passive skill combination token (low epic)

“I will use it to improve the final rewards.”

The window disappears and I look at the palm of my hand, clenching it into a fist and then opening it.

What a cowardly little bitch.

Sure, he was about to lose. He gave his all, and I overwhelmed him. But! What the hell.

Fight me, show some pride, and don’t just look at me like that! Goddamned Patience subclass, is it because of it?

Savant my ass.

I don’t remember the last time I felt so frustrated. He is more talented than me, he has some amazing skills, he got mentored by a Champion, and was declared a Champion candidate. Yet he thinks so logically. It's as if he weighs everything and doesn’t even enjoy the fighting that much.

And now he is even hiding. I went looking for him, scanning the entire area of the tournament, but I wasn’t able to find him. So I can’t even try to punch him to get rid of some of my frustration.

As always, when I’m annoyed, I pull Biscuit closer to my chest.

We are alone in the living room in the huge armchair I reserved. Biscuit is quiet, and I have a suspicion he is sleeping after eating a lot of meat he got from somewhere.

His small body is soft and warm, and I can sense his heart beating calmly and hear his breathing. The fur on top of his head is nicely soft as I pet him.

Should I call him ESC, emotional support corgi, or ESFA, emotional support future absolute, or ESAO, emotional support animal overlord? Something to think about in the future.

Summoning my status, I check the skills that leveled up after I left the Arena.

 [Resonance - lvl 45 > Resonance - lvl 46]

[Mana Domain - lvl 38 > Mana Domain - lvl 39]

[Mana Domain - lvl 39 > Mana Domain - lvl 40]

[Mana Crown - lvl 22 > Mana Crown - lvl 23]

[Mana Crown - lvl 23 > Mana Crown - lvl 24]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 45 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 46]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 46 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 47]

 At least the rewards are nice, damn it.

After this tournament is over, I will need a break. Some place with fewer people. Maybe we can get the twins out of that Black Tower and then I will disappear for a bit to hunt on my own. Staying with them all the time could also slow their growth and mine as well if the danger isn’t high enough. It sounds like a good plan, I would think.

But now there are a few hours before the last event, so I better visit Miwa and check that arm.

Before that, I can put the items I made into the store.

I open the interface, and as I do, I put in twenty mana stones. Each of them is of rare rarity, and they would sell for not too high a price. But all of them are inscribed by me, same sort of exercises for mana manipulation I made for Vega and Channeler as well.

After I checked a few times, they seemed to work. Both Vega and Channeler made decent progress. So I set a starting price of 300 shards and time of auction until the end of the tournament.

A few thousand shards before it's over is not something I will complain about.

***

I find Miwa in her workshop as always. She seems to live there.

After a minute or two, she gets out, and the expression on her face is a bit different from before. It's hard for me to guess what emotion she is feeling. Maybe she watched the duels or is it something else?

“So, about the guy. You know, that 1st ranked crafter…” I start carefully.

The moment I mention that person, her eyes light up, and even her stance changes a bit. She is still hesitant, but there is a strong interest radiating from her.

“Can you bring me to them? As promised, I will let you examine my arm.”

“Well… about that…”

“Oh, did they reject? I can add ten rare grade items I made. I will include the ones I made for group members too. I will owe them, and it will be a lot of work to make new ones, but I can do it.”

“It’s not that. Let me show you something.” I pass by her into the workshop.

Inside, I find a corner with a metal table covered in inscriptions. After grabbing some low-quality mana conductive metal from a nearby pile, I start releasing my mana to keep it in the air.

Thermal energy flows from me, and I surround that metal, imitating a furnace and keeping the heat even. I gradually increase the intensity, and when it starts melting, I move my mana to mix it evenly.

Miwa stands somewhere by my side, at first about to say something, but quickly shuts her mouth and just watches.

I increase the heat even more, and my golden flames envelop it as I cut off the air. It's something I experimented with as of late to see if the result somewhat changes. That and kinetic energy I release now, imitating hammering the metal.

After a while, I start absorbing some heat from the dagger. It took me some time to get it correct, and even so, there are some imperfections. Cooling it down too quickly messes up things.

Of course, it can be much more difficult. I could use water to cool some parts, there are alloys, and oils I can add into the mix, layering the metal, different temperatures, heating it for longer. Lots and lots of options and something to improve in the future.

But for now, I just let it cool down while shaping the melted metal into the shape of a bracelet as thick as my pinkie.

At the same time, I use my skills to create inscriptions on the surface of the item and some inside of it. It would work better with different metals added to the mix to serve as them, but it would also take much longer.

The process still takes over 2 hours, and the entire time Miwa doesn’t say a single word and just watches.

When it's done, I let the bracelet plop on the table where its metal clings against the metal surface.

Checking it, it's low rare and with the effect of allowing its owner to endure more heat as it absorbs it and redirects it away when its storage is too full.

“It’s you…” Miwa finally breaks the silence.

“Yup.”

“You…why did you pick such a nam… nevermind, forget that! You should have told me earlier! I long since admired your items.” Miwa picks up the bracelet and smiles brightly, showing me the item, “They are ugl…they lack aesthetic appeal, metals are often a mess, melted at too high or low temperatures. They are clearly extremely amateurish.”

“Uh, okay?” Is she trying to start a fight?

“But at the same time, I can feel the enthusiasm and the raw talent. And the inscriptions are amazing! I don’t think there is anyone from our round of the tutorial better at them. And even on the floors, people like you were rare.”

Miwa continues to talk and talk. She talks about the item and the materials it's made of. She asks about inscriptions, and she points out mistakes I made.

Without hesitation, she also gives me a notepad full of notes on crafting. There are experiments she made and their results. Some ways smelting is done on Earth. Ways to work with metals and much more.

Just that notepad is extremely valuable, but she even gives me mana stones with more information. The one she got from the second floor and from the blacksmith who worked under Champion Keiron.

There is no hesitation at all. She only tells me she already read it all dozens of times and remembers it easily.

In her group, there is no one she can talk with about crafting properly, so she is happy.

So I tell her about Nevan and his alloys and the things he showed me. I show her the arcane alloy he made, and I keep on me at all times. I even let her see Flamebearer.

Miwa seems like she will pass out from excitement as she jumps from item to item and keeps throwing questions at me.

In the end, I tell and show her more than I had planned. But she reminds me of Cael, the craftsman from the 4th floor, too much. There is not a single sign of her being greedy or having intentions to use the items to become rich or something. Just a pure love for the act of creating beautiful items, nothing else.

She also shows me the arm, and I examine it and the way it's connected to her body. I examine the material and inscriptions. I even note most of them into one of the many mana stones I keep on me.

I make Miwa move the hand, send mana through it, and activate inscriptions.

We even activate some she didn’t know about, stuff like making her arm stronger with extreme efficiency with mana, and a few more she will have to examine on her own. The arm seems to be shielded from anyone else other than its owner, so it's difficult even as she lets me.

Still, I learn a lot and I believe that knowledge will stay with me, add to what I currently have, and allow me to create better things in the future.

Unfortunately, she still rejects my offer of buying her arm. She doesn't care about me offering her a new arm regrown by Lily. I could offer to rent her Biscuit for a few hours, but something tells me she wouldn't accept, and I have nothing more valuable than that so I give up.

Lastly, I inscribe a mana stone for her. Miwa has a skill that allows her to manipulate flames, but the inscriptions I created should allow her to practice and improve that skill. Maybe even evolve it.

She is probably happiest about that part.

When I finally leave, she thanks me all over and even keeps bowing. Her behavior is so different from before.

I wonder if she saw something in me while I was crafting, just like I saw in her when she talked about her love for creating.

***

I spend some time with Min-Jae and examining his eye. It works very well, and there do not seem to be problems.

When Vega was still here, I also checked her eye. I might have gotten a bit paranoid after reading the contents of the mana stone that cowardly asshole Savant gave to Lily. Thankfully, it seems like everyone did a good job, and Vega's weakened Mana Wavelength Iris fits her well.

I wonder if in the future I could be selling or giving away weakened versions of my eye. Just pull it out, have Lily or some other healer work with me to weaken it and fit it to another person, and then sell it.

Logically, doing that shouldn’t affect my trait at all, at least I think. I will learn about it more before actually doing so.

Min-Jae is still acting awkwardly, and it's fun to see. Just that short spar won’t change much, but he is a smart boy, so there should be some effect.

To be honest, if I see him doing it again, I might beat him up. Bullying is something I went through a lot, people called me the brother of a murderer or gave names to my mother.

Of course, I’m a hypocrite too and I bully others as well. Bendover is an example, or to a smaller extent, some other people. But at least I’m an asshole who has enough power to be an asshole and won't get killed by some revengeful chump.

Meanwhile, Min-Jae is weaker, and it could cost him his life later. He can mimic me if he becomes stronger.

When 1 hour until the start of the last day of the tournament remains, we get a new notification.

The 5th event - Chronicle of the Past will start in 1 hour!

Everyone will be able to engage in a 1v1 combat challenge with one being from the database of the Earth’s tutorial. Beings such as natives from the already completed floors.

Every participant will be given 1 challenge, so choose wisely!

Challenged beings will be of the same state as Avatar, possessing no memories other than the ones required for combat. They do not possess emotions or the ability to talk and have no motivations other than defeating the challenger.

Note: There will be no rewards for the 5th event. Your performance will be included in the calculation of your final rewards instead.