Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 140

Hephaestus’s nagging went on for a long while. He seemed to have understood what the entire situation was as he barraged YuWon with lectures about how suicidal it was.

Only after a significant time had passed and the tea that Merlin had asked for arrived did Hephaestus calm down.

Clack—

After putting down his teacup, YuWon looked into Hephaestus’s eyes. A vein bulged on Hephaestus’s forehead. Even after having said so much, YuWon didn’t seem to have listened to a single thing he had said.

“When did you come here?”

“It’s been three days. I came to go sightseeing around Britain.”

Although Hephaestus said that, it was obvious that wasn’t the truth. Because it was Hephaestus that had alerted YuWon that Son OhGong was looking for him.

“Now that I think about it, where is that guy?”

“‘That guy’? The monkey?”

“Yes.”

“It’s still early morning for him. He’s still sleeping and splayed out on his bed.”

Hearing the two’s conversation, Merlin let out a dry laugh. Even if he was just a clone, to call the one and only “Heaven’s Equal” just a monkey… And YuWon, the one who heard it, didn’t seem to be bothered by it either.

“But really, why are you here? If it’s because of Son OhGong, you being here won’t be much help either.”

“Seeing that you’re still impolite, you’re probably fully recovered now. I said I’m here for sightseeing, you punk!”

“Really?”

“Yeah. That’s right. What other reason would I be here?” Hephaestus subtly checked YuWon’s reaction.

It wasn’t just once or twice that he’d done this, and YuWon could tell just by looking.

“So, I’m only saying this since I’m here anyway…” His voice went quiet towards the end.

He was just saving face before, and this was the real reason.

“The Stone of the Sea. You still have it, right?”

“The Stone of the Sea?” Merlin turned his head to look at YuWon.

The 「Stone of the Sea.」 A legend well known throughout all the worlds on the 20th Floor. To the one who holds the 「Stone of the Sea,」 powers of a god theirs will be… and so on.

“So you were the one who had it?”

“Somehow.” YuWon didn’t deny it.

From the start, Merlin wasn’t someone who desired others’ treasure, and it also wasn’t something one could steal just because they wanted to.

Right now, 「Kyneē」 was no different than any other part of YuWon’s body.

“I’ve brought most of the materials. Since Camelot should have smithy, I can use that for a bit,” Hephaestus said and turned to Merlin. “Is that fine?”

“The best blacksmith in the entire Tower is asking to use it, who would have problems with that? Use it to your heart’s content.”

Seeing Merlin’s fascinated expression, YuWon shook his head. Although he knew their personalities were very compatible, he hadn’t expected them to meet this early.

“What are the materials? Adamantium? Mythril?”

“There’s nothing like adamantium to pull out the power of the Stone. They synergize perfectly with each other.”

Since he had adamantium with him, he had probably earned a lot of money after starting to smith again.

“How much?” YuWon asked.

“2 kilograms.”

“1.25 million including the crafting cost, how about it?”

“1.5 million. You punk. I’m the one who got all of this together. Why are you trying to scam me again?”

Although they’d known each other longer now, from the beginning, Hephaestus had been greedy for money. As a favor for saving him from Olympus, he had given YuWon a lot of discounts, but it was unrealistic that he could do that forever.

After thinking for a second, YuWon nodded. He wasn’t wrong.

Also, unless you were a messenger working for an Administrator, the number of people who could haggle with Hephaestus was…

“Then, let’s settle on 1.4 million.”

Not zero.

100,000 points wasn't nothing. He needed to save when he could because there would be more opportunities in the future to use them.

Also, since Hephaestus wasn’t offering something out of his own goodwill but engaging in business, he wouldn’t be offended by haggling either.

“1.4 million…” After thinking over it for a bit, Hephaestus nodded. “Alright, sure. Let’s do that.”

Hephaestus’s main goal wasn’t to make money in the first place. The items he made were worth a million points at the baseline. If he wanted money, he could make a disgusting amount of it, but points alone couldn’t buy the process of creation that he found so much enjoyment in.

“How long will it take?”

“Since I’ve made two things that are similar to it already, I got used to it. About…” After calculating for a second in his head, Hephaestus nodded. “Three days. I’ll finish it between then.”

Hephaestus’s eyes sparkled.

Even if he usually was a grumpy and mean ahjussi, as the one wielding the hammer, there was no other that could compare to him in the Tower. He also had enough passion and skills to back it up.

“Three days…”

Bzzzzt—

YuWon pulled the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 out of 「Kyneē」 and held it. Then he gave it to Hephaestus.

“I’ll leave it in your care.”

[You have used 1,400,000 points.]

* * *

Translator - Jreaming

Proofreader - BringTheRayn

* * *

After getting the 「Divine Sea Crystal,」 Hephaestus immediately went to work. Rather than sightseeing, he looked pretty prepared to craft equipment.

“How is The Round Table doing?”

“A nation without a king cannot stand for long. Even more so if that king disappeared because of betrayal.”

Britain’s current situation wasn’t too good. Lancelot was the king but also one of the two High-Rankers that held up The Round Table.

“Even after the incident happened, they fought about whether Lancelot was innocent or not, if Arthur was real or not, and other useless things. It just shows how great Lancelot’s influence was all this time.”

The vestiges of Lancelot’s influence covered The Round Table. Rather than pursuing the fleeing Lancelot, The Round Table had gone through internal strife because of the knights who insisted on his innocence. The situation had bloated so much that some of the knights who had sworn loyalty to Lancelot were trying to withdraw from The Round Table as well.

“The Round Table has split. It’ll be difficult to exhibit as much influence as before.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Regret it?” Merlin shook his head. “It should’ve been like this sooner. Pruning away the rotten parts to allow new growth is only natural.”

Fortunately, Merlin didn’t seem to be too shocked by this.

He was the remaining pillar of Britain and its mental support. If he was fine, then Britain would be able to stand back up again in the future. Actually, he would be able to grow the Lancelot-less Britain and the guild to be even more prosperous. And…

“What is this?!”

Arthur.

Britain could now throw away the shadow of the “King of Knights” for itself.

“It was the body you wanted so badly.”

“This thing?”

At the training grounds far away from the palace. In the place where he had fought Thal and Lollit, YuWon was testing out Arthur’s new body.

“Yes. Didn’t I tell you? I’d be able to get you a pretty decent body soon.”

“Lancelot’s body?”

“For now, this is the best.”

Arthur strongly declined Thal and Lollit’s bodies. Respecting his wishes, YuWon didn’t touch them. In the first place, being inside a body he didn’t want would hamper his ability to bring out his true strength. However, Lancelot’s body was different.

“No matter how much you hate the guy, he was someone who climbed up to be a High-Ranker. It’s probably better than your body when you were alive, and definitely not less.”

“But still!”

“If you don’t like it, you can go back to the body you were in before.”

“…”

Arthur seemed to go into deep contemplation as he stopped talking.

Well, it was understandably stressful to enter the body of one’s enemy.

But it wasn’t like he could stay in the Orc’s body forever.

After standing there like a stone for a second, Arthur asked a question.

“…I’ll ask you one thing.”

“Yes.”

“Will the things you will do from now on be helpful for the safety and growth of Britain?”

He was insinuating that if so, he would put up with his body right now.

The answer was simple.

“Yes.”

“You answered pretty quickly.”

“Please accept it as a reflection of my confidence.”

Britain and The Round Table were important places. They, who had mastered the chivalric mindset, were one of the few guilds that came forward to fight against the Outer Gods after overthrowing Lancelot. It was only natural to nurture that Britain right now.

On top of that, YuWon’s ultimate goal was to protect everyone from this destruction.

“Is that so.”

Only then did Arthur nod.

“I’m in a position where I’ll have to follow everything you tell me to do anyway. Without you, I would not have been able to stand in this world again, and I also promised you that at the start as well.”

YuWon had delivered Arthur’s words to Merlin as requested. Even after that, he helped in avenging Arthur by killing Lancelot.

“I swear to you.”

Clack—

Arthur knelt in front of YuWon.

Even though people had knelt before Arthur in the past, it was the first time he had knelt before anyone.

“I will never betray you and fight with my all for your cause.”

[You have received the complete loyalty of the ‘King of Knights’ Arthur.]

“You are my king.”

[You have received the oath of the ‘Death Knight Arthur.’]

[The proficiency of ‘King of the Dead’ increases.]

[The strength of ‘Death Knight Arthur’ is recovered.]

Shwooooo—

A chilling flow of mana oozed out of Arthur’s body. It was an even stronger arcane presence than before. This was the moment the “King of Knights” completely awakened as a Death Knight.

“I accept your oath.”

“You don’t have to be polite with me anymore. You are now my ki—”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“…”

Arthur stopped speaking as if dumbfounded, and YuWon just shrugged while looking at him.

“Talking too much is tiring.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Go back for now. Since it’s decided that you’ll use that body, you’ll need some time getting used to it as well.”

YuWon stretched his hand forward.

Shwoooo—

Arthur’s body turned into black smoke and was sucked into 「Kyneē.」

Arthur’s soul had completely submitted to him. His body was also procured from a High-Ranker, Lancelot. In some sense, Death Knight Arthur might have been closer in strength to Arthur when he was alive.

“I’ve seen something incredible.”

A voice from far away.

Dwoong—

As YuWon lifted his gaze, he could see a head peeking out from the side of a cloud high up in the sky.

“For the exemplary ‘King of Knights’ to serve another king.”

Son OhGong, known as “The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal” and “Victorious Fighting Buddha.”

He had been waiting for YuWon for quite some time now. It was probably at least since Arthur had knelt in front of YuWon.

“Since I’m done with my business, how about you come down here?”

Fwip—

As YuWon finished saying that, Son OhGong leapt from his cloud.

There was nearly no sound of him landing, just like a leaf gently falling to the ground, even after dropping down hundreds of meters.

Son OhGong scratched his head and asked, “When did you wake up?”

“Earlier than you.”

“Looks like I really was asleep for a while.” He let out a long yawn.

Son OhGong really did sleep a lot. When bored, he would sleep for a few months or even a few years at a time. This was also true for his main body. Surprisingly, even while sleeping like that, he would still get stronger.

“You know, right? If I didn’t help you, you would’ve been dead.”

Seeing Son OhGong trying to take some credit for himself, YuWon smirked. That personality really was the same, clone or not.

“I wouldn’t have been there if you weren’t going to help.”

“Why did you think I would help you?”

At Son OhGong’s question, YuWon became uncharacteristically stumped. Just how should he answer his question?

Fwooosh—

Son OhGong’s two eyes each changed color, one to a crimson red and the other to gold.

[Golden Cinder Eyes.] The eyes symbolic of Son OhGong that can see through all truths and all lies.

Those eyes were now looking at YuWon.

“You know me, right?”