Chapter 62

Chapter 12: The Tower (4)

With all the rounds completed and just waiting for a reset, a visitor came to the tutorial.

"What a mess."

The man, draped in a blue robe, looked down at the ruins with a gaze filled with irritation.

Even his attendants, who had followed him, had their expressions stiffen.

The situation was far more serious than what they had been briefed on.

Not only were there no survivors, but everything that had been painstakingly gathered, built, and achieved while avoiding the island's eyes had vanished in a single day.

There was not even a trace left.

It seemed that a proper investigation would be impossible under these circumstances.

And.

All information about the "Heart" had also disappeared.

'What a damn build.'

'I should have known from the moment he started getting greedy. What the hell did he do to end up like this?'

'I thought we could finally stretch our legs now that Lord Leont has become one of the Five Gods... Damn it!'

The attendants ground their teeth, thinking of the deceased Build.

At the same time, they had to gauge their master's mood.

"Find it by any means necessary. Turn the earth upside down, turn the tutorial upside down, do whatever it takes!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, sir!"

The attendants bowed their heads and quickly disappeared, kicking off the ground.

The man looked at the ruins where the Arangdan had once stood with a burning gaze.

His teeth were clenched.

"Right at such an important time..."

His name was Leont.

One of the Five Gods who ruled the Blue Flower Island, the eighth clan, and a former member of Team Artia.

* * *

"But won't you really teach me metallurgy?"

After some time had passed.

When Yeonwoo thought Heneba had calmed down, he quietly spoke up.

Heneba's eyebrow twitched again.

"You...!"

"This time, I'm not joking. I want to learn, even if it's just the basics."

His tone was serious.

Heneba realized Yeonwoo was sincere and quietly put down the hammer he had been pounding.

He then picked up the pipe at his feet and put it in his mouth.

'Come to think of it, he said he was a heavy smoker.'

As Yeonwoo calmly looked at Heneba.

Puff—

White smoke spread thickly.

"What are you trying to do?"

"There's something I want to repair."

"Repair? What is it?"

"I'm sorry, I can't show you."

Yeonwoo fiddled with the pocket watch in his pocket.

When it returned to him, it was already old and broken, with only the hour hand left and the mechanism damaged.

But inside, it was an artifact with various magical devices embedded, making it difficult to tamper with.

Yeonwoo wanted to fix it and open it.

To see if there was anything else inside.

To find any other clues he might have missed.

Or, more than anything, because it was a memento from his brother, he wanted to restore it as much as possible.

And he thought Heneba might be able to repair it.

Heneba was not only skilled in metallurgy but also in alchemy and magical engineering.

But Yeonwoo didn't want to show the pocket watch.

He still couldn't trust Heneba.

If he was as close to his brother as he claimed, he would recognize the pocket watch immediately.

While he now believed Heneba was a good person, that didn't mean he could trust him.

Most importantly.

'I want to fix it myself.'

This was something his brother had left him.

Shouldn't he fix it with his own hands?

It might seem like a pointless stubbornness, but to Yeonwoo, it was a personal vow.

"Then there's nothing I can do."

Heneba nodded calmly, exhaling smoke.

His reaction was different from what Yeonwoo had expected, which was that he might get angry.

"Are you not angry?"

"Why should I be?"

"You're demanding I teach you a skill without even explaining the situation."

Heneba's lips curled up in a smirk.

As if he found something amusing.

"Seems you know how unreasonable you're being, don't you?"

"..."

Puff—

"Go on. If you're not going to tell me, I don't care. What kind of person comes to the tower, turning their back on the world, without a story? If I grabbed any random person passing by and asked them to tell me their life story, I bet I could write a novel."

As he spoke, Heneba laughed. Various emotions flickered and disappeared in his wrinkled eyes.

Yeonwoo realized it was regret.

"You're probably no different. Especially with that ridiculous mask, I can tell you have a dark side. Hehehe."

Thud!

Heneba took another puff of his pipe and set it down.

It was the first laugh he had let out since meeting Yeonwoo.

A new emotion replaced the irritation and wariness in his eyes as he looked at Yeonwoo.

Heneba picked up his hammer again.

"I don't have time to teach you properly because of the spell you cast. I'll just give you the basics, and you'll have to learn the rest by watching."

"Thank you."

"Hmph! Don't think I'm doing this because I like you. I'm just bored. Bored."

Yeonwoo pretended not to notice Heneba's slightly red ears as he snorted.

He thought, 'For someone who looks so tough, he's quite shy.'

* * *

Contrary to his initial words about learning on his own.

Heneba started nagging as soon as Yeonwoo picked up the hammer.

He kicked the bellows if the work wasn't good enough and threatened with the hammer if the posture was wrong.

As a result, Yeonwoo couldn't make a proper hammer strike for hours.

But in a way, this was natural.

Everything in the forge was dangerous.

The furnace, the molten metal—any mistake could lead to serious injury.

Even a player who wouldn't flinch at minor injuries needed a solid foundation.

Especially with the custom-made tools of a dwarf.

Heneba, despite his words, couldn't just leave the beginner Yeonwoo alone and had to interfere.

However.

Thanks to this, Yeonwoo was able to quickly acquire basic knowledge.

Clang—

Clang—

Only after Yeonwoo had finally taken a proper stance and started hammering did Heneba sit down.

'So, he's not a complete idiot.'

Puff—

He took a deep puff of his pipe to calm his excited mind.

His thoughts became clearer.

But contrary to Heneba's expectations, his wrinkled eyes were drawing a strange curve as he observed Yeonwoo.

The red-hot metal spread and folded repeatedly under the rhythmic and repetitive hammering.

Typically, a beginner's work would be marred by various mistakes: improper force distribution, incorrect folding techniques, or the wrong melting point of the metal.

But Yeonwoo, using his Dragon Eye, found the exact points that needed hammering, controlled his force perfectly, and repeated the spreading and folding as needed.

From one perspective, his movements were mechanical.

But from another, they were those of a blacksmith with a good grasp of the technique.

It was impressive.

Heneba had lived for over 300 years, holding only a hammer.

The last 100 years were spent in the tower, a place where only the best from various worlds gathered.

Naturally, he had met many different people.

Skilled craftsmen, talented young ones, those with good sense but lacking in basics.

Some had come confidently, wanting to learn from him, only to be sent away with a scolding.

But this kid was different.

He had no knowledge when he first picked up the hammer.

But every time Heneba pointed out a mistake, he corrected it, and his posture gradually improved.

This was the first time he had seen such a person.

'Or was it the second?'

'Grandpa, grandpa! Teach me that too! It looks so fun? Teach me, okay?'

A voice from the past, now a distant memory.

Strangely.

Damn it.

The image of that guy, hammering away in front of the fire, seemed to overlap with the kid in front of him.

Heneba shook his head.

'Am I getting old? I'm having all sorts of pointless thoughts now.'

After chasing away the memories,

Heneba threw his pipe at Yeonwoo, who had just made a mistake.

"Hey! Your angle is all wrong!"

Heneba's nagging started again.

* * *

The streets were deserted at night, unlike the crowded daytime.

Yeonwoo left the forge and walked back to his lodging, following the moonlit path.

He had prepaid for a month's stay, so he could return at any time.

'Has it been about half a month since I came here?'

The unfamiliar path had become familiar. What he had only seen in the diary had become a part of his daily life.

'What an interesting dwarf.'

For the past few days, Yeonwoo's routine had been moving between the cafe, the streets, and the forge.

He was learning metallurgy to fix the pocket watch, but more importantly, he was getting used to the life his brother had once lived.

It was all enjoyable and interesting.

Especially his daily interactions with Heneba were the most fun.

Despite his constant grumbling and temper tantrums, Heneba was straightforward and easy to deal with.

Yet, he had a soft heart, always checking if Yeonwoo was comfortable and if he was learning metallurgy well.

He felt a bit guilty for teasing him so much.

But he also understood why his brother had called him "like a father."

Heneba was a truly warm person.

'You thought you had lost everything. But it's a relief to know you have something left.'

Yeonwoo was not the type to trust people completely. Even when he did trust, he always had a bit of doubt.

But even he could see that Heneba was not the type to betray or abandon someone in a difficult situation.

He could at least believe that Heneba had not betrayed his brother.

But because of that.

Yeonwoo didn't tell Heneba who he was.

He didn't want to drag him into his troubles and make him suffer.

Just knowing what kind of person Heneba was was enough.

And he could feel at ease.

Because his brother's life was not in vain.

'Once the Eye of Gyes is complete, I'll leave the forge completely.'

He had already learned the basics of handling the metal and had observed the refining process to some extent. He planned to practice and improve on his own later.

Whoosh!

A cold wind blew.

Yeonwoo brushed his hair back and looked at the moon in the night sky.

He had entered the tower as he had hoped.

He had learned about his brother's life and the connections he had left behind. He had experienced everything his brother had enjoyed.

Now, there was only one thing left.

'To climb the tower and meet them.'

Of course, he needed to be fully prepared for that.

Even though Yeonwoo had become much stronger in the tutorial, the real enemies were far above.

The Rankers.

They were the ones who existed at the very top of the tower.

Places like the outer regions of the tower or the lower floors, where only "wanderers" lived, were too lowly for such noble beings.

They might not even know about Yeonwoo, who had set a new record in the tutorial, or they might just dismiss it with a "Oh, I see."

So, Yeonwoo thought he needed to become stronger as quickly as possible.

To stand shoulder to shoulder with them, to meet them eye to eye, he needed to hold them accountable for his brother's death.

The wall of the Rankers was too high and too steep.

'And to become that strong, the Eye of Gyes is essential.'

Yeonwoo thought of the Eye of Gyes, which Heneba was probably hammering away at, and quickened his pace.

Of course, just having the Eye of Gyes was not enough.

More importantly, his own training was crucial.

'What I gained from the tutorial is much more than I initially expected. I need to make it all my own.'

Yeonwoo was already in the process of organizing what he had learned from the tutorial.

As he reviewed to see if he had missed anything.

"What is this?"

Yeonwoo stopped at a street corner and frowned at the five people blocking his path.

They leaned on crutches, exuding a menacing aura, and quickly surrounded Yeonwoo.

He thought they might be scouts or investigators, like the ones he had avoided a few times before.

"White mask. Red leather armor. That's you. You've been ignoring our warnings and frequently visiting Heneba's forge recently."