Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 300: Modified - 230 The Difference Between Weapon Transmutation and Enchantment

Chapter 300: Modified: Chapter 230 The Difference Between Weapon Transmutation and Enchantment

"Swish, swish..."

The broom swept across the ground, and Steeran was meticulously sweeping the dust outside the blacksmith shop.

Adventurers watching nearby occasionally glanced at her, and those waiting in line to forge their weapons started commenting on her sweeping technique out of boredom.

"Your stance is wrong, you’ll get a sore back quickly sweeping like that."

"You can tell she’s not used to cleaning."

"#!?"

Veins popped up on Steeran’s forehead as she clenched the broom tightly, and then...

And then nothing. Of course, she couldn’t chase them away with a broom. In the past, she would’ve kicked every single one of them, but not now because she was just a helper at the blacksmith shop.

No helper chases away customers. If she did, a pair of huge fists would instantly punish her.

"Hee-hee." A snickering sound came from the roof not far away. Without looking up, she knew it must be that bastard Merca.

"Just wait until I finish this job, I’ll kill every one of you." Steeran muttered viciously.

As a punishment for messing up the blacksmith shop, she and the Skyrim Strategy Group became Andre’s laborers, responsible for cleaning the area around the blacksmith shop for a week.

She always thought residual shadows wouldn’t have much emotion, but the blacksmith surprisingly got furious when he found his place in chaos, giving each of them a powerful punch, knocking her to the ground before she realized what had happened.

Before being handed a broom by the blacksmith, her mind was filled with, "What just happened?"

After some gloating explanations from her fellow elves, she finally understood the whole story.

What misfortune. Who would’ve thought such a powerful shadow resided here? She was just invited by Luluwo for dinner and unwittingly got into trouble.

She didn’t even get to take a bite before being punished by Andre!

The only consolation was she only needed to sweep the place for half an hour each morning and could rotate shifts with the Skyrim Strategy Group, so only one person had to sweep each day.

Today was the first day, and it was her turn. As expected, Merca and other elves watched her with amused looks, clearly enjoying the show.

"Just wait, I won’t be guiding you through any more easy routes!" she said angrily.

Meanwhile, excited voices of adventurers came from the blacksmith shop.

"Oh my, my weapon is so sharp now, and it can ignite flames during an attack!"

Ever since Andre arrived, such exclamations had become common, and the nearby people had grown tired of hearing them.

Steeran glanced over and saw an adventurer receiving a broad sword from Andre, sparking slightly as he swung it.

Weapon enchantment? It seemed that lucky guy found a Flame Gem.

During exploration in the Sain Dungeon, besides forging stones, a small number of people discovered gemstones named after various attributes like Flame Gem or Poison Gem. Initially, no one knew how to use them, but now they could hand them to Blacksmith Andre to add the corresponding attributes to their weapons.

In Soulslike games, this process is called "transforming", but people in this world refer to it as enchantment.

Steeran remembered last night when someone found out that gemstones could enchant weapons, everyone was excited and noisy. Why?

Because enchanted weapons used elemental forces without consuming magic power!

This was another discovery that contradicted common knowledge. Previously, enchanting weapons in this world meant using magic attached to them required consuming magic power to perform elemental attacks on enemies.

If you didn’t use magic, enchanted weapons were no different from ordinary ones. Although most enchanted weapons consumed little magic power, it still counted as a requirement.

Andre’s enchanted weapons had no usage requirements; anyone could wield them and unleash fiery attacks.

By the way, the power of a transformed weapon increases as the weapon is enhanced, though initially, it might barely ignite weak sparks, just like that adventurer’s sword earlier.

Want stronger power? Want your weapon to become a Flowing Fire Blade? Then collect more forging stones.

Some adventurers had accumulated a batch of forging stones due to the previous lack of a blacksmith. Now, those adventurers had enhanced their weapons delightfully, with the fastest ones upgrading to +3 already.

"Finally, it’s my turn." An adventurer handed his weapon and forging stones to Andre, who took them to the back of the house, placing them in a corner unseen by onlookers, then continued forging the weapon in his hand and said, "Come back and get it tomorrow."

"Yay!"

Steeran watched the blacksmith’s actions, feeling the need to vent something.

Why is the blacksmith always hammering the same weapon? Since he arrived, he hasn’t stopped!

She thought Andre would start working on the handed-in weapons immediately, but he just tossed them aside, continuing to hammer his seemingly never-changing weapon.

The most outrageous part was the next day, the adventurer would receive a fully enhanced forged weapon.

When exactly does Andre complete these? Did I miss something?

Ultimately, Steeran attributed it to the uniqueness of residual shadows. More adventurers were coming to find Andre, and there was no way he could forge weapons one by one, right?

He must have some unique talent or possibly the dungeon itself was helping him.

Anyway, this slight absurdity didn’t dampen the adventurers’ enthusiasm. Instead, Andre’s mysterious nature made people respect him even more.

The elves had already spread tales of Andre’s prowess, saying he could single-handedly defeat a Mud Fish Dragon with one punch, and everyone knew this cheerful and caring blacksmith was actually a hidden master.

Adventurers resting in Academy Gate Town were afraid the bonfire wouldn’t completely drive away monsters and feared attacks—since there were no walls—but with Andre around, everyone felt safe, certain that this master would protect them during a monster invasion.

The clanging sound of iron forging had begun to bring people a sense of safety.

It could even create a sense of belonging for the adventurers.

And also...

"Oh, is this how you exert force?" An elf squatted next to Andre, staring intently at his hammering movements. The earnest look on his face made passersby stop and stare in amazement.

Siwa, a blacksmith and shield warrior from the elf clan, was trying to secretly learn Andre’s forging techniques.

He marveled at every move Andre made, even a random action could make him gasp in astonishment.

"What on earth are you so amazed about?" Steeran asked in exasperation, "The blacksmith’s moves have barely changed."

"You, an outsider, wouldn’t understand," Siwa said without looking at him, focusing intently on Andre.

"Bang!" As a hammer struck down and sparks flew, Siwa let out another "Wow," completely absorbed in the scene.

"..."

No matter how you look at it, this is just an ordinary forging action. How the heck are you, an expert, seeing something unusual?

Steeran didn’t want to talk to this guy anymore. She placed her broom aside, and once she finished cleaning, she would leave.

Today, she was supposed to lead the elves to explore the Magic Academy.

"Heh heh heh," she let out a sinister laugh, "I originally planned to take you through the easy right side, but since you mocked me, you’ll have to experience what hell is like, heh."

An evil aura and resentment radiated from her, causing those around her to shudder. Was this guy about to fall into dark magic?

Digging pitfalls for each other — that’s the harmonious and friendly interaction between elves!

"Yo, finished cleaning already? Our great cleaning master is finally off work." Merca jumped down from the roof, grinning as he tried to put his arm around Steeran’s shoulder, only to be swatted away.

"Go call Auntie, we’re about to leave."

"We’ve been ready, just waiting for you to get off work."

This time the number of elves had decreased by one. Siwa stayed at the blacksmith’s shop and refused to leave, and the other batch of elves they agreed to meet at Lake Lienia had yet to show up.

They could only move out with their current group.

"Not too tired, right?" Vienma asked with concern when she saw Steeran.

"I’m fine, no worries." This concern softened her heart for a moment; she tended to be easily moved when given a bit of care.

But that softness vanished immediately upon seeing Merca and Lizna. It seemed she better lead the elves through the left branch of the academy instead.

It was a good opportunity to test Luluwo’s previous theory regarding the "Crystal Elder". They should have already entered the academy and might even encounter them.

With Steeran’s guidance, and coupled with the good weather, the elves finally found the correct path and soon arrived at the foot of the Reyalucaria Magic Academy mountain.

The Calia soldiers still guarded the checkpoint vigilantly. Was it her imagination, or did the number of soldiers seem to have increased?

But they couldn’t stop them anyway.

Vienma took the lead, casting magic towards a Calia soldier. Mysterious and complex runes lit up in the air, and a "Meteor" shot towards the soldier as she called out the name of the spell.

"Luminous Stone Magic Gravel"x2

A slightly familiar voice chanted simultaneously.

"Bang!"

The two luminous stone magic gravel spells successfully exploded the heads of the Calia soldiers, causing the rest to become agitated and rush towards them with drawn swords.

At that moment, Vienma turned her attention elsewhere, locking eyes with a group of unexpected visitors.

"Oh?" Magic Professor Seth raised an eyebrow, surprised to see old acquaintances here.

"Vienma?" Even the usually silent Hades exclaimed in surprise, his muffled voice coming from under the luminous stone mask.

Turci, the youngest professor, tilted her head in puzzlement, not knowing much about this elf.

"Hey~" Roger greeted Steeran, who responded with a smile. Only these two appeared cordial.

"What are you doing here?"

Vienma’s face darkened as she met Seth’s gaze, sparks seeming to fly between them.

The nemeses met again, unexpectedly at this place.

"None of your business," Seth tugged at his collar, looking equally hostile. The tension rising between them deterred even the Calia soldiers from approaching.

"I see, you’re after this academy’s magic too. Can’t wait to remodel it, huh?" Vienma sneered, her tone starkly different from the soft one she used earlier with Steeran.

"You still harping on about that ’the older, the stronger’ nonsense?" Seth retorted without hesitation.

The air was thick with hostility, and the onlookers couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Even Roger was beginning to sweat.

At that moment, Turci suddenly spoke up.

"Shall we see who can conquer the academy first?"