[The creation of Kynee has begun.]
『Let’s look at the materials first.』
The Cyclops brothers took charge of the process. Yeon-woo pulled out the materials he brought in front of Brontes.
When he took out the core material, the Adamantine Nova, Brontes tightened his fists.
『You really brought it……!』
The Adamantine was made of condensed Adamantium, a mineral that was hard to obtain even in the Tower.
They called it a miracle when even a tiny bit of it was found.
The basic material for Kynee was the Adamantine Nova. A lot of Adamantium was needed.
But what Yeon-woo brought was more than enough to make Kynee.
It was also extremely pure, like a master had crafted it.
『What’s leftover can strengthen the arsenal of Dis Pluto immensely……!』
“That’s mine.”
Brontes spoke excitedly, but Yeon-woo dampened his mood.
He felt like he had been splashed with cold water.
『What?』
“I would like to make this clear before we start. Everything here is mine. Please don’t forget.”
『……!』
“Giving Kynee to Hades is only the price for the favor he’s doing me.”
Brontes’s face crumpled.
『What are you talking about?! The safety of Tartarus is at stake! The Titans and Giants rising up will cause huge……!』
“Only to Olympus.”
『What……?!』
“Am I wrong?”
Yeon-woo looked at Brontes and the other Cyclopes with steady eyes. At the same time, he showed them the Channelings he was connected to.
Brontes gasped.
So many entities were gazing down at him. They were intense and fearsome. Each was the eyes of gods and demons of a superior level. Other than a few, they were looking at Brontes sardonically with disapproval.
Only Athena and Hermes, gods from〈Olympus〉, were pitying him. Even Ares was sneering at him.
Only then was Brontes able to realize their situation.
The Titans and Giants were only beings who were chased away after fighting for the rule of 〈Olympus〉. Gods and demons from other societies couldn’t care less. It didn’t concern them anyway.
The Titans and Giants could invade the stages after the 30th floor once they successfully invaded Tartarus.
But there would be Guardians and other gods and demons watching them.
Even if there was chaos, it wouldn’t be as bad as what〈Olympus〉was going through.
Yeon-woo was saying this was their problem, not his, so they shouldn’t force him to do anything.
What was more, Brontes felt like his soul was being pressed down by Yeon-woo’s every word.
He couldn’t breathe.
The fact that he felt breathless although he was already dead was ironic, but he really was.
It was like the connection he had with Yeon-woo was strangling him.
The chains bound him more tightly the more he tried to resist.
He couldn’t even think negatively of Yeon-woo. Magic power was making him bend to his will and follow him.
‘Respect him!’
‘Submit to him!’
Although there was no sound, it was like voices were ringing in his ear.
As if trying to hypnotize him.
He realized he couldn’t rebel against Yeon-woo.
He thought of trying to destroy himself, but that didn’t seem possible either.
His promise to destroy his own soul if Yeon-woo did things for personal gain had already lost its meaning. He had lost control over his own soul. It was just a part of Yeon-woo’s collection.
How was this possible?
No matter how far his level had fallen, he was once a divine being. The fact that he was bound by a mere mortal was already unbelievable. No, was it different because Yeon-woo was a God Killer?
Brontes suddenly felt scared of Yeon-woo.
The player who he had only considered to be a tool to benefit Hades and Dis Pluto looked like a beast who would swallow them.
A beast with fierce eyes and sharp teeth.
『……Alright. For now.』
Brontes had no choice but to bend to him. Since Yeon-woo had complete control, he had to listen to him.
Steropes, who was relatively more logical and reasonable than Brontes, sealed his lips as he looked in front of him. It was obvious who was victorious in the battle of wits between Yeon-woo and his older brother.
“Will you be alright pressing them like that?”
Creutz carefully walked up to Yeon-woo’s side and asked, but Yeon-woo resolutely shook his head.
“You have to be firm about these things from the beginning.”
Yeon-woo didn’t have plans to lose his dominance any time soon.
* * *
[The first step, ‘Refinement,’ has begun.]
[Current progress: 2%]
『……The most important thing is to work the fire of the beginning of time.』
Brontes pointed at the furnace meant to melt the Adamantine Nova. His face was stiff as he explained, but he was only focused on the process
“Is there a reason why?”
『It’s the only fire that can melt the Adamantine Nova without damaging it.』
“Is the fire from a Soulstone?”
『Right. What Lord Hades attained a long time ago, the stone of Castitas.』
The Soulstone was split in fourteen pieces, the Seven Virtues and the Seven Deadly Sins. One of them was in Hades’s possession. Arges had been creating weapons using its fire.
It was the reason why Dis Pluto was able to last this long.
The fire of the beginning blazed in Yeon-woo’s eyes.
‘If I can learn how to use it…..’
With this, he became sure that it was just the Cyclops brothers who could use the Soulstone properly. If he could learn how, he could unlock the seal on the pocket watch.
『But we’re the only ones who can deal with the fire. The flames can swallow souls if used incorrectly. So in the meantime, I’d like for you to do something else…….』
Before Brontes could finish, Henova headed for the furnace. He had been looking around with a bored face.
Brontes tried to stop him, but Henova was already blowing the bellows.
And…..
Whoosh!
“The fire is too strong. Although the heat capacity of Adamantium is high, if the heat isn’t spread around, there may be impurities mixed in it later. Right?”
『That’s….. true.』
“I’ll watch the molten metal. No matter how high the quality, the impurities have to be ridden of as much as possible for the Holiness to melt into it.”
Henova sat next to the furnace and began to blow at the bellows. The fire swooshed up and settled back down again. He didn’t look like he was struggling.
Rather, he looked comfortable, like it was better to be next to the fire than in the dangerous outside.
『Is it because…… you’re a Black Dwarf?』
Brontes looked at Henova with surprise and cleared his throat, pulling out the other materials. There were 45 Apodis scales.
『You have to close this off on the inside so the movement of holy power is smooth. But the formula is too complicated that it won’t be…….』
“I’ll take care of this.”
“I’ll help too.”
Before Brontes finished, Brahm took the Apodis scales. Victoria followed him.
Brontes frantically tried to stop them.
『You know how to engrave the formula? If you’re incorrect, then everything will go wrong?』
“‘Everything will go wrong’? That’s it?”
Brahm raised his eyebrows. Brontes remembered what Brahm’s identity was.
『……Everything will go wrong, sir?』
Brahm laughed.
“Don’t I have to combine the Kathran liquid and the blood from Hadith’s heart by a ratio of three to one and boil the Trajan with it at 190 degrees for 3 days? And then, after that, I can resonate their sounds with the demonic cores. Right?”
『……Y, Yes..』
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t act smart next time. I probably know more about this than you.”
Brahm took Victoria to the side and began work on the formulas.
After that, other than the process relating to refinement, Yeon-woo’s party was able to do things faster than the three Cyclops brothers.
All Brontes did was tell them the order of how to create Kynee.
It was actually better for them to do the detailed work.
There were times when Henova’s methods were more efficient, and when Brahm voiced his opinions, things progressed even more quickly.
The most knowledgeable out of them, Steropes, was surprised many times.
Yeon-woo’s party was better with efficiency and speed.
They had been looking down on them because they were mortals, so they were shocked.
『Did our skills rust or did the world improve while we were sleeping?』
“It might be both.”
Steropes and Arges looked at the process with strange expressions.
[The creation is progressing quickly.]
[The ‘Refinement’ has finished.]
[The ‘Smelting’ is 34% done.]
[The ‘Forging’ is 19% done.]
……
It was a quicker pace than what the Cyclops brothers expected.
It was all thanks to the fact that they had split up the work.
Henova, Brahm, and Victoria took care of their jobs perfectly, and their results all fell into place cleanly like one person had done it all.
At some point, Arges’s disciples had begun to move busily. Brontes’s hammer moved quickly as he dealt with the core material.
Clang, clang, claang—
Kynee was the pride of 〈Olympus〉, one of the three great artifacts. They thought it would take a while for it to be made. They had even expected the attack of Titans and Giants while they were creating it.
It seemed they were mistaken.
Still, the speed was unbelievable.
Brahm’s knowledge was already greater than what divine beings had.
He hadn’t been called Brahma of Creation for nothing. Moreover, he had once created the Philosopher’s Stone, the endgame of alchemy.
The three Cyclops brothers were also busy hammering, eager not to be defeated.
The speed of the creation process couldn’t be anything but fast.
Yeon-woo was carefully watching the process with his Draconic Eyes.
[The proficiency of Draconic Eyes has increased dramatically. 82, 83, 84%…… 96, 97%…….]
[The field of what you can see of ‘Hochma’ has expanded.]
[‘Netzeth’ is being remade.]
[‘Iesod’ begins to take form.]
[‘Fiery Golden Eyes’ are connected.]
[The traits of ‘Divine Demonic Dragon Body’ are applied.]
His Draconic Eyes, which had grown significantly when he created the Philosopher’s Stone, had grown again.
With Fiery Golden Eyes added on top of it, his understanding grew deeper, and he could apply Divinity as well.
The Divinity he had gained when he caught Astraeus was nothing more than a fancy name.
[Clue of Divinity]
The clue of ‘level.’ It’ll be applied in various fields. The more it is stacked up, the greater the effect, and the growth of your soul will also be influenced.
In other words, it meant that he could use it as a booster for skills and Factors.
No, to be exact, it was readjusting all the attributes he already had for his Demonic Divine Dragon Body.
Thanks to it, Yeon-woo could grow his Draconic Eyes quickly.
[The proficiency of ‘Draconic Eyes’ had increased. 98, 99%…… 100%.]
[Congratulations! The proficiency of ‘Draconic Eyes’ has reached its max.]
[All attributes related to the skill increase.]
[Strength has increased by 15.]
[Magic Power has increased by 20.]
……
[You have gained new understanding related to your skill. Superior skills are being unlocked.]
[The superior skill ‘Heavenly Draconic Eyes’ is unlocked.]
[The proficiency of ‘Heavenly Draconic Eyes’ has increased dramatically and has reached its max.]
……
[A new skill is being found after calculating your attributes.]
[The skill ‘Divine Draconic Eyes’ is unlocked.]
Yeon-woo gained a new, superior skill that was at the level of his Extrasensory Perception.
[The ‘Refinement’ is finished.]
[The ‘Forging’ is finished.]
[The ‘Grafting’ is finished.]
…..
[Only the last process ‘Granting Holiness’ remains.]
[Current progress: 98%.]
After about 10 days, Kynee was shaped, and only the final step was left.