Charles and Tsubaki entered the Dungeon with the two newly crafted weapons. Uninterested in upper-floor monsters, they went straight to the nineteenth floor.
It didn't take long to find a suitable target—a Baku Bear, a bear-like monster that started appearing on the nineteenth floor.
Though massive in size, the Baku Bear's strength and endurance were inferior to the Minotaurs found on the sa level. Its true threat lay in its exceptional speed.
On the way down, Charles had already explained the two weapons' abilities to Tsubaki and had told her about obtaining the Mystery developnt ability.
Naturally, Tsubaki couldn't wait to experience the power of these special weapons for herself.
She took aim at the Baku Bear and hurled the Hamr of Return. The short-handled war hamr blasted through the air with a sonic boom and struck the unsuspecting Baku Bear dead-on.
The mont it connected, the monster exploded into a black mist, completely obliterated—even the magic stone inside it was shattered.
This, of course, wasn't because the Hamr of Return possessed the legendary destructive power of the original Mjölnir. The credit went entirely to Tsubaki's terrifying arm strength.
As a blacksmith with dwarven blood, Tsubaki's strength and endurance were at the very peak even among first-tier adventurers. Even a casual throw from her carried imnse destructive force.
She opened her hand, and the hamr, still spinning after destroying the Baku Bear, reversed mid-air and landed cleanly in her palm.
After giving it a few test swings, Tsubaki grinned. "This hamr has a great feel, and the power is impressive too. So tell , Charles, what exactly are you dissatisfied with?"
From a blacksmith's perspective, Tsubaki found the Hamr of Return to be an outstanding piece of work. An unbreakable weapon with special properties—there were only a handful of weapons in all Orario that could compare.
There was a trace of irritation in her voice, though not directed at Charles—but rather at herself.
She was known as Orario's top blacksmith, a title that was both a reputation and a source of personal pride.
She had always worked hard to live up to that title. But within her own Familia, a younger mber like Welf was proving to have even greater talent when it ca to forging magic swords.
Tsubaki didn't envy Welf. Instead, she threw herself into self-improvent.
But now, Charles—a junior—had awakened the Mystery ability.
With so many promising up-and-cors catching up, she couldn't help but feel restless. Though, in her case, that restlessness transford into burning motivation.
That particular feeling? She had no intention of telling anyone.
Charles let out a sigh. "Maybe it's just that the results didn't match what I envisioned. But honestly, what I've achieved so far is already pretty good."
He picked up the Spear of Certain Hit and aid it at another Baku Bear that had erged from who-knows-where.
Charles could sense that the spear's targeting had activated, so he imdiately hurled it.
Gungnir, the original, was known as the Spear of the Heavens because its flight resembled a teor streaking across the sky.
With arm strength not inferior to Tsubaki's, Charles gave his spear a truly divine trajectory.
The Baku Bear, having already spotted the two of them and being highly agile, imdiately began to evade.
But to its surprise, the Spear of Certain Hit curved mid-air, veered around obstacles, and impaled the bear to a tree.
The monster instantly dissolved into mist, its shattered magic stone clattering to the ground.
Charles hadn't used any advanced techniques during the throw—the spear had corrected its own trajectory. That arc? Entirely the weapon's doing.
He walked over and pulled the embedded spear from the tree trunk.
So far, the trial results were promising. What remained was fine-tuning the details.
For instance—was there a distance or ti limit on the Hamr of Return? Would it fail to return if it was away too long or traveled too far?
How far could the Spear of Certain Hit track its target? Could it pursue sothing it couldn't see? These were the kinds of things he needed hard data on.
Now that his impatience had cooled, Charles clearly understood that with his current level, he couldn't forge equipnt that defied natural laws.
Sure enough, just as he expected, the Spear of Certain Hit couldn't lock onto anything outside of his line of sight. However, once locked on, the spear would relentlessly pursue the target—even over long distances—until it made contact.
That said, if the target's defenses were strong enough, or if soone simply intercepted the weapon with brute force, the spear couldn't inflict much damage.
As for the Hamr of Return, it was limited by visual range—it could only return if it was still within sight.
Seeing the look of dissatisfaction on Charles' face, Tsubaki couldn't help but grit her teeth.
Oh, so you've got Mystery and now you're too good for your own genius work, huh?
Still, the testing helped Charles understand the limits of his current capabilities. It also gave him so direction for his future divine artifact replication efforts.
With the test complete, the two of them began making their way back. But just as they arrived at Rivira on the eighteenth floor, they ran into so familiar faces.
"Riveria, Dionysus, Tiona—what a coincidence. What brings you all here?"
Tsubaki saw acquaintances and waved enthusiastically, running toward them.
Riveria looked up as Tsubaki approached. "Tsubaki."
Tiona added, "And Charles! We heard you got into a fight with the Braver from Freya Familia. Is that true?"
Riveria pulled Tiona back. "Tiona, that's a terribly rude question!"
Charles waved it off. "It's fine, really. I don't mind."
Riveria gave a gentle smile. "As long as you don't take offense. But I'm afraid your timing's not great. Sothing rather troubleso happened in Rivira."
Tsubaki raised a brow. "And that's why you're all here? Don't tell the Guild gave you so kind of mission?"
Riveria sighed. "It's worse than a Guild mission. Let's go sowhere more private to talk."
She led the group to a tavern. Inside, Charles saw Finn, Gareth, Ais, and several other Loki Familia elites.
Oh, and Bete.
It was the first ti Charles had seen him since that night at the Hostess of Fertility. He didn't look too different, but there was an unmistakable exhaustion on his face—he clearly hadn't had decent rest in quite a while.
When he saw Charles enter, Bete instinctively ducked into the shadows, deluding himself into thinking no one could see him.
Alcohol-induced humiliation was just like a middle-school identity crisis—always the source of one's darkest regrets. Especially when that humiliation damaged the Familia's reputation. No wonder Bete couldn't hold his head up.
Charles didn't have the heart to tease him. He was far more interested in what had brought the Loki Familia elites down to the eighteenth floor.
Then he spotted sothing sitting on the table—a transparent crystal ball, about the size of two fists. What made it strange was the tiny green fetus floating inside.
Charles looked to Finn.
Finn nodded. "That's right. We've acquired the monster infant you ntioned. This whole incident stems from that."
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