Chapter 59

Lancelot, who was a bit dazed by Alpha's "water of soda," suddenly jumped in surprise, his voice clearly trembling.

Alpha found it strange. It seemed that Lancelot also knew about the Time Water, but he was afraid of it as if it were something terrible. From Alpha's understanding of Lancelot, this guy only acted like this when he was being forced into marriage by a certain girl. Otherwise, he would be all over a pretty girl.

— Alpha couldn't help but wonder if this guy had something going on with that woman with the huge chest. Yeah, maybe.

"How about it? You know her too?"

"So, you know her?"

Lancelot countered. Alpha thought for a moment, then suddenly froze, his voice dropping.

"Yes, that... she ambushed me, and I killed her."

"You killed her?! Holy crap!!!"

Lancelot howled like a pig being slaughtered, his voice shaking the heavens and the earth, and Alpha's ears were ringing.

"No, if I killed her, so what—she ambushed me."

"Don't you know who the real King of the Eighteen Hells is?"

Lancelot's howling subsided, and his voice grew weak.

"She's from the Eighteen Hells?"

"… Whether she's from there or not, she's a menace. Why did you kill her…?"

"I didn't know who she was, what could I do?"

Alpha felt wronged. Was it a mistake to kill in self-defense?

"Ah, well, it's not your fault. She's notoriously difficult to deal with. I thought this time she would be busy and wouldn't bother us for a few days—okay, if it's her, she's probably coming after you on purpose because of the last time you killed her."

Lancelot thought for a moment.

"But maybe it will be easier this way. She should be able to contact you and challenge you. If you show some humility, she might give you the item. Although she's difficult to deal with, she has a sense of honor. The Eighteen Hells wouldn't ignore everything for an epic item."

Although Lancelot said a lot, Alpha only understood or heard the part about "she should be able to contact you and challenge you."

"That's too damn unfair."

Alpha thought, and he cut off the private chat.

"How does it feel like something bad is about to happen?"

Lancelot muttered to himself, shaking his head...

...

...

Since Lancelot said to wait for the Time Water to contact him, Alpha wasn't in a hurry.

Actually, Alpha wasn't in a hurry to begin with. The "Touch of Glory" wasn't that important to him. Even if he could exchange it for some suitable equipment, Alpha felt that with powerful martial arts, ordinary equipment wasn't that significant.

But seeing how upset Lancelot was, Alpha decided to listen to him.

After being tricked once, Alpha first mailed Lancelot's two "Divine Power" books, then went to Old John to learn "Forging Basic Arrows" and "Recipe: Forging Basic Light Arrows."

Alpha felt that it was truly fortunate that the recipe wasn't stolen. How long could a level 40+ epic item last?

With "Intermediate Forging," he could learn "Forging Basic Arrows," and then "Recipe: Forging Basic Light Arrows."

Sure enough, after learning "Forging Basic Arrows," the "Recipe: Forging Basic Light Arrows" changed from a red, unlearnable state to a green, learnable recipe.

Of course, he chose to use it. Alpha clapped his hands, and the light yellow parchment recipe turned into light, leaving an orange "Recipe: Forging Basic Light Arrows" option quietly lying in his "Intermediate Forging."

"Two 'Rubies' and one 'Mithril'..."

Alpha muttered, sorting the "Rubies" and "Mithril" Lancelot had sent. Seeing that there was nothing else to do, he decided to make a few arrows to play with.

He spent a silver coin to rent the tools and space, and started making "Basic Light Arrows."

Making "Basic Light Arrows" took much longer than "Smelting Iron Ingots." It took 5 seconds to make one arrow, but the recipe's orange color indicated that using "Basic Light Arrows" to level up "Intermediate Forging" was very effective, at least until "Advanced Forging."

Lancelot sent Alpha 200 sets of "Rubies" and 100 sets of "Mithril," strictly following the "Recipe: Forging Basic Light Arrows" to make arrows.

100 sets of "Rubies" were 2000 pieces, enough to make 1000 "Basic Light Arrows," which would take nearly an hour and a half.

Alpha originally wanted to log out, but remembering that he had been stolen from once, he didn't feel right about it. Although Alpha didn't care about being stolen, being stolen again would be embarrassing—this guy even knew how to blush.

Soon, the first bundle of arrows was ready:

"Basic Light Arrows: Arrows that can deal light damage, causing 20% light damage in ranged attacks.

Additional effects based on the user's 'Forging' level:

Basic Forging: Light damage increased to 25%.

Intermediate Forging: Light damage increased to 30%, with a 30% chance to trigger 'Light Penetration,' dealing the same light damage to all enemies within a 15-yard radius and 2-yard width behind the target.

Advanced Forging: ???

Expert Forging: ???

Master Forging: ???"

Amazing, just the 20% light damage would drive Rangers crazy, right?

Rangers can ambush enemies from a distance, but their arrow damage is not impressive.

— Warriors and Barbarians are heavily armored, Rogues and Bards have excellent dodging skills, Mages and Warlocks have "Protection from Arrows," and even Monks, who wear no equipment, have the incredible "Deflect Arrows," which can knock arrows away in a stream.

Now, with 20% light damage, it doesn't matter if the arrow is deflected by a Monk; the 20% light damage still hits.

Of course, if they see the additional light damage and the 30% "Light Penetration" effect, all Rangers with a secondary profession in Forging would go even crazier.

The additional light damage is not the main point. From "Basic Forging" to "Intermediate Forging," the light damage increases from 25% to 30%, suggesting a 5% increase per Forging level, which is almost certain.

The 30% chance to trigger "Light Penetration" is even more valuable:

A 15-yard "Light Penetration" is a powerful area-of-effect attack, significant for anyone, and especially suitable for Alpha.

— His martial arts deal high damage and have good control effects, but lack area-of-effect damage. Now, with area-of-effect damage and a 30% chance, it's not low. The monsters in the Tower of Oblivion are densely packed, and having an area-of-effect attack would be much more efficient.

This is just the effect at "Intermediate Forging." What other additional attributes would there be if Forging was upgraded to higher levels?

Thinking about this, Alpha's desire to level up Forging to advanced, expert, and master levels grew stronger.

With "Basic Light Arrows," Alpha almost forgot about the "Touch of Glory" and the Time Water. He mused while forging, watching the busy players, which was quite interesting.

The players who originally watched Alpha forging thought he was still AFK and ignored "Waste Guy."

Actually, the people still interested in this were now arguing on the forums.

This time, there were many spectators, and many recorded videos, some even lasting 7-8 hours. Therefore, the forums were filled with various posts related to "Waste Guy" forging endlessly, with different discussion angles.

Of course, the most discussed was "Waste Guy's" background, and various analysts speculated on "Waste Guy's" identity:

Some said Alpha was a rich kid, and the many "Raw Iron Ores" were bought with cash outside the game.

Others said "Waste Guy" was sponsored by a large guild, and some even speculated that Alpha was sponsored by "Maple Snow Capital," and the "Raw Iron Ores" were bought with cash outside the game.

Still, others said Alpha was a kept man by a famous rich woman... of course, the "Raw Iron Ores" were still bought with cash outside the game, but with the rich woman's money...

Indeed, no matter what, all views boiled down to one thing: the "Raw Iron Ores" were bought with cash.

Some enthusiasts even analyzed Alpha's appearance, demeanor, and even physical fitness, all centered around one theme:

— Alpha is suitable to be a kept man.

Clearly, these people believed "Waste Guy" was being kept.

However, Alpha knew nothing about the forum discussions. As someone who never visited the forums, he didn't personally check any posts about "Waste Guy," and at most, Lancelot occasionally mentioned a few things to him.

Now, with no interest in watching the players, Alpha was a bit bored, hammering away and staring at the "Basic Light Arrows" in his inventory.

The number of "Basic Light Arrows" in his inventory kept increasing, and occasionally, due to "Intermediate Forging Skill," he would get an extra one or two:

The "Intermediate Forging Skill" had a 15% chance to forge +1 and a 5% chance to forge +2, a significant improvement over "Basic Forging Skill." Alpha couldn't help but look forward to leveling up his Forging skill even more.

— Not only would it make "Basic Light Arrows" more powerful, but the production would also increase.

However, just as Alpha was daydreaming about the benefits of Forging and waiting for the Time Water to contact him, a masked figure quietly approached him, and Alpha heard a prompt:

"Someone has used 'Basic Thievery' on you..."

"Huh, here already?!"