Chapter 77

In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

After brushing the blacksmith several times, the divine forging hammer [Heraldic Males] required for the quest was nowhere to be found, and everyone's thoughts converged: the hammer must not be on the blacksmith but somewhere else. This was indeed the most likely scenario, as so many players had brushed the blacksmith so many times without it ever dropping. If it were really hidden somewhere in the barracks, it would be quite troublesome, considering how difficult it would be to find such an item in such a large place. Surely, someone had considered searching the barracks, but no one had found it...

The group of friends had no leads, and even Ziyuan Qianyu, who seemed to know the most, shook his head. After a few more waves, the blacksmith had been brushed enough. Not only had Alpha reached level 20, but Shouji and the others had each leveled up to 18. It was about time to stop, as these kids were all high school students, and Alpha suggested they stop playing and go to bed, as they had school the next day.

At first, the kids were reluctant, but Alpha, pretending to be a seasoned adult, shared a tragic story about how he had lost points on his college entrance exam due to staying up late playing games. He then painted a picture of a wonderful college life. Eventually, the kids were convinced and obediently agreed to listen to the "uncle."

This small battle added four more young friends to Alpha's group, especially Ziyuan Qianyu. Alpha felt that although this kid was sharp-tongued, he possessed a calmness and sensitivity that the others lacked, and his skills were also excellent. This was Alpha's conclusion after comparing Ziyuan Qianyu's healing abilities with those of the priest he had met in the Pale Canyon.

Alert, perceptive, and confident, with an extremely accurate grasp of the situation—this was Alpha's assessment of both. As for the lolicon thing, well, please don't mind those details...

The kids called him "uncle" repeatedly, and when Ziyuan Qianyu asked Alpha when he was going to log off and mentioned that middle-aged men should go to bed early to protect their kidneys, the other boys' lecherous gazes made Alpha break out in a cold sweat. Alpha quickly said he would go to bed early and that his kidneys were fine.

—Is this girl's sharp tongue a natural skill? Otherwise, how could an 18-year-old know that kidney problems are a common pain for middle-aged men?

"I'm still young," Alpha muttered as he watched the kids leave, then continued searching for [Heraldic Males].

The blacksmith's habit was really bad; he didn't properly store such a divine forging hammer, leaving it scattered around. In the end, no one knew where it was when he died. Alpha felt this was similar to not telling someone your bank account password before you die.

Thinking about this, Alpha suddenly had an epiphany: Could this guy have entrusted [Heraldic Males] to someone else?

There wasn't much information about the blacksmith in the game, and at least no one had heard of the blacksmith being close to anyone. If he had to guess...

"The Harevich family has no weaklings"!

Alpha suddenly remembered the blacksmith's line before casting [Crushing Combo]. At the time, Alpha just thought "Harevich" sounded familiar and didn't pay much attention to the meaning. Now, he realized that the blacksmith was clearly saying he wasn't a weakling, and further, that he was part of the "Harevich" family!

Of course, his dying words, "I despise myself, the only failed Harevich!" further confirmed this. This was obvious...

—If the blacksmith had entrusted [Heraldic Males] to anyone, it would certainly be to someone from the "Harevich" family!

"Harevich, Harevich, why does it sound so familiar?"

Alpha muttered as he logged off to search the internet for everything related to "Harevich." Unfortunately, most of Alpha's [Scholarly Expertise] was in religious knowledge, so he couldn't directly use it to search for the five keywords "Harevich."

When Alpha found all the information related to "Harevich" in "Dungeons & Dragons," he realized he had come full circle, and the target was right in front of him:

"John Harevich, owner of the blacksmith shop 'Silver Hammer,' Master Forging Instructor, Neutral Good alignment, Level 45, part-time Warrior."

Looking at this simple yet comprehensive description of Old John, Alpha's mind drifted to something else...

...

...

"...Have you never thought about what this hammer is made of?"

In the "Silver Hammer" blacksmith shop, Old John Harevich, who was about to close up, was dragged by Alpha to sit down and chat.

Old John yawned and glanced at the large hammer on the anvil, shaking his head slightly:

"Actually, from my great-great-grandfather's... well, a very long time ago, my family has wanted to take this hammer apart to see what it's made of... Ha... sigh..."

Old John yawned again and continued:

"...Unfortunately, without [Heraldic Males], none of us can even chip a piece of iron from it. This is one of the reasons I want to get [Heraldic Males]. I think a good hammer might be able to break it open..."

"...If there's nothing else, I want to sleep. Lazy kid, you know staying up late is like suicide for old men."

"Actually, I want to discuss [Heraldic Males] with you, like where it might be..."

Alpha smiled and used [Mage Hand] to lift the large iron hammer and spin it in a circle—36 points of strength made this task effortless.

"You got it?!"

Old John's sleepy eyes suddenly opened wide, and he sprang up from his rocking chair, moving with incredible agility, more like a full-time rogue than a part-time warrior.

"No, I haven't got it, but I think..."

Alpha handed the large iron hammer to Old John, stood up, and said clearly:

"The [Heraldic Males] you want might be this one!!!"

"This is impossible. This hammer is just a pile of heavy scrap iron."

Old John jumped up as if he had been burned by molten iron, pointing at the large hammer and shouting:

"Perhaps you don't know, but this hammer is like a wooden one; it can't even make a shallow dent in a red-hot iron block. I'm also puzzled as to why such a heavy hammer can't even dent soft, molten iron, but..."

Old John suddenly stopped, as he had already figured out the problem.

A heavy hammer that can't dent molten iron—doesn't this itself suggest that the hammer is extraordinary?

Or perhaps he hadn't mastered the technique to use it, or this could be the mysterious divine forging hammer [Heraldic Males]. Most artifacts have various annoying quirks, just like this large hammer.

The logical contradiction had initially proven the hammer's extraordinariness. Now, it was time for Alpha to explain everything from a historical perspective:

"Actually, this hammer was the only legacy the blacksmith left to his family before trading his soul with Antariel—Jacques Harevich, the blacksmith in the barracks."

Alpha smiled, and Old John thought for a moment, then shook his head:

"Jacques Harevich? No, no, no, there is no such person. I can be sure that the Harevich family history has no such member. I could recite the 507 generations of the Harevich family tree at the age of 15, and there was no Jacques who worked in the barracks."

Without commenting on Old John's memory, Alpha simply chose to demonstrate his [Scholarly Expertise].

Alpha's [Scholarly Expertise] had reached 31 points, with 20 points from level 20, 10 points from the Northshire Abbey library, and a recent level-up in the Defias Outpost archives.

"Blacksmith, originally Jacques Harevich, the 31st in line to inherit the Harevich family, the second Defias guard to accept Antariel's soul trade after Bloodbird.

Given the Harevich family's outstanding contributions to Northshire, the 31st in line to inherit the Harevich family was changed to Dave Harevich, and the Harevich family was allowed to remove Jacques Harevich from the family tree."

"This... Dave Harevich, no wonder, Dave Harevich didn't become the family heir until he was 40..."

Old John looked at Alpha's [Scholarly Expertise] panel in surprise, muttering to himself.

The description given by the Supreme Law could not be wrong, and he remembered that Dave Harevich indeed "ascended" to the family heir at the age of 40. Adding Alpha's description of the events at the abbey—like the blacksmith's slogan...

...Old John had long believed that the large hammer in his hands was [Heraldic Males].

—In fact, the old blacksmith at the Defias Outpost had already started thinking about how to restore the suspected [Heraldic Males] hammer to its original form.

"I think I can start by cleaning its surface with strong acid—do you know [Acid Splash]? Oh, sorry, I forgot, you can't cast any spells—hey, cheer up, I've always thought this hammer was extraordinary..."

Old John excitedly told Alpha, seemingly unconcerned about the notorious traitor in his family's history, who had betrayed Northshire, the Silvermoon Alliance, and even the entire Azeroth.