Chương 85: The Trial Countdown

[Worker Status] Name: Ortiz Designation: Blacksmith Specialist: Versatile Professional Status: Master Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 28, 000 Credits Contract Payment: 1 Collier Chest or equal worth of material. A Blacksmith with the Master professional status was nowhere to be found with a contract payment which he could offer. After spending a good amount of time, Arthur found a Skeleton that he could offer. However, he did not have any knowledge about this first payment, the [Collier Chest]. What is this?

Is it some kind of treasure box? How much is that chest worth? He had a lot of questions and interest about the Collier Chest, but it did not matter now. He held on himself an astronomical amount of materials that he had collected from the quarry and the materials he had hunted so far. He believed it would be enough to satisfy the need of equal worth. Or, that was what Arthur thought. Currently, the material he had was not enough, except for the Night Crystal and Faunite Crystal.

No matter what, he would not spend those. Since it was not enough, the skeletons worked continuously, collecting more material. Eventually, he would attain enough to hire the Master Blacksmith. The blacksmith had the Versatile specialist, which meant he could forge any weapon like swords, spears, shields, and armors. He could definitely use its skill to arm his skeletons with full body armor. Following which, the party moved forward along the flat land of the forest, ignoring ascending the mountain.

They had yet to find a big Horde similar to the Ant Colony. Regardless, monsters were not scarce in this place. That solved their need of searching for monsters, and materials were gathered like a mountain continuously. However, Arthur continuously willed a contract once enough amounts of material were added to the main material. But, it was still not enough.

After walking in a straight line for the entire day, the party exited the forest. On the other side, the horizon appeared orange. The time must be around 5 in the evening. Along the way, they hunted an enormous amount of materials. However, they did not encounter any special monsters similar to the Ability Card monster Ant King or the Norm Night Crystal monster. Arthur wondered if they were truly that scarce. After all, they had traveled for half a day and only found a single monster.

Throughout the journey, Arthur constantly checked if the materials were enough, but it was not. Having finally reached the forest's end, they now stood in front of wetlands and swamps. From where they stood, swarms of monsters could be seen roaming on the water and the lands. Arthur gulped for a second, feeling a little hesitant to even enter the water. Who knew what kind of monsters lived underwater? He was pretty sure his skeletons would not fare any better and would definitely struggle to fight.

Arthur decided to ascend the mountain instead of the swamps; it was a better option. Before that, he wanted to check one more time if they had collected enough materials for the contract. Following this thought, Arthur summoned the skeletons used as a dimensional pocket. The materials brought by them from the Nether-Realm stood like a mountain. Seeing this, Arthur felt he could definitely hire at least 100 Beginner Status workers with the materials.

However, these materials were not accepted as a contract payment by most of the skeletons. Discarding the unwanted thinking, he simply willed the contract of Ortiz. Blink. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. In the next second after he willed his intent, the materials vanished from the surface. A total of at least 5 million credits worth of materials were gone.

[Contract Payment Successful] [Worker Status] Name: Ortiz Designation: Blacksmith Specialist: Versatile Professional Status: Master Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 28, 000 Credits [More Details…] Arthur heaved a sigh of relief; at last, it was enough now. If it had needed any more materials, he would have definitely abandoned the idea of hiring a Blacksmith. Somehow, he had hired a Master Blacksmith, which was a dream a few days before.

The capabilities of a Master Skeleton worker versus a Beginner worker possessed a gap between heaven and hell. Upon clicking for more details, Arthur was shocked. It had only one ability, [Omniforge]. Although he thought it perfectly fit the Versatile specialist title, a Master Skeleton came with at least seven abilities. Looking down at the Blueprint Index, it also showed only one item.

[Divine Blueprint] Description: Blueprint allows one to instantly conceive the complete forging blueprint of any requested creation. The blueprint automatically recalculates itself for any forgeable material, optimizing the design to fully exploit the material's unique properties while preserving the creation's intended function. As long as the material can be forged, the Blueprint can design it. The doubt and disappointment disappeared after reading the description of the [Divine Blueprint].

As far as he could understand, the skeleton would forge any given request with any given materials without spoiling the specialty of the material.

"What a great hire!" Arthur felt very happy. He had obtained a very good skeleton; it was as if he possessed a walking armory. It would forge any weapon as long as he provided the materials. To test this theory, Arthur brought out the Beetle Carcass, which he had kept away from the other materials. The Carcass's description explicitly stated it was great for forging shields. Upon looking at Maan's door shield, it was already tattered from continuous attacks and piercing.

If it were to fight another Norm evolved monster, the shield would definitely break. Thus, Arthur thought to forge a new shield for Maan. Upon summoning Ortiz, the skeleton appeared to be more densely boned than Bathory. A Master Skeleton came with a kind of energy that displayed its capabilities. This same feeling came from Ortiz as well.

"Ortiz, check this Carcass and forge a good quality shield for Maan." Arthur pointed at the Carcass and Maan. This was in case the skeleton needed knowledge of who used the shield, allowing the blueprint to be based on that. Following the order, Ortiz gave a long, hard look at the beetle body and cast a short gaze at Maan. Afterward, it brought out equipment and set up an open-field forge.

As Arthur slowly walked to check the equipment's quality, he noted a realm of difference from what he had bought for his company. The quality of the tools and equipment was top-notch. Hence, Arthur believed the shield forged on it would also be of very good quality. The sun had already set as the first sound of a hammer echoed in the middle of the forest and swamps. Arthur hoped the forging would finish earlier, since they had to search for a place to sleep. It had been two days since Arthur entered this place.

He wondered how many days he had to roam here before he could leave. While Arthur was looking at the horizon of the disappearing sun, a bright light suddenly exploded above him in the sky. Similar to a firecracker, Arthur looked up and noticed numbers counting down. 11: 59: 51 It looked like a timer, and it had started to count down. Emitting a bright neon-blue light, he guessed it could be seen from anywhere.

"What is that timer for?" Arthur asked himself. It continued to count down without disappearing. As far as Arthur could deduce, the countdown must indicate the beginning of something. Was that a timer for the trial to begin? Considering the timer appeared for everyone present in this place to see, it was definitely an indicator for the trial timer. However, didn't Old Man Larry say one must march into the mountain and defeat the Boss to get a key to open the next safe spot? Was the timer for that?

Did that mean even if someone tried over these past two days or the last two weeks, there would not be any result? Did the trial have to start to get the key? Arthur was thoroughly confused by this sudden timer, but he was glad some change was happening. Did this mean it was time for him to prepare to leave this place?

"I guess it is time to visit the Underground Safe Spot to finish my vengeance. It is the right time to take my revenge and free the people before the trial starts," Arthur said to himself as rage boiled in his heart. With the strength he had gained over the last two days, he would definitely kill Victor and his lackeys.

"Now is the right time to hire Techi the Debuffer," Arthur thought. With his own strength added to a Master Debuffer, it would be a 100% success.

"Coburn, you lead the party and hunt a total of 2, 500 Alpha Cores and Alpha Hearts," Arthur ordered. With his party's strength, collecting this much for the contract payment was like child's play.