I Make Them (4)
Engraving on the artifact, which had its form created with harkanium, and filling it with the liquid metal El Hazra, during the inlaying process it was a more difficult and tiring process than he had thought. It was because one mistake would lead to an overall failure.
However, Yu IlHan perfectly tuned the strength of his arms, which were trained from his many years of practice, and proceeded with the work. As is, he didn’t even consider failure and was giving life to the artifact without a moment of rest.
Yu IlHan’s figure as he worked with intricate hand movements that were neither overflowing nor insufficient, was truly reverable – purer than anything and beautiful.
Rita probably had monopolized this side of Yu IlHan for 1000 years. She alone must have kept watching the figure of this lower existence concentrating in one type of work and in the end, surpass his limits.
[Aah. I think I can understand it a little bit.]
Erta understood just a tiny bit, about why Rita, who was treated nobly even amongst higher existences, fell for a lower existence, who had nothing special about him. Just a tiny bit!
At that moment Yu IlHan put down his tools. The tiny metallic sound returned Erta back to reality as two sentences came up on Yu IlHan’s retina
[You have awakened Blacksmithing Lv Max.]
[You have earned the title – ‘Creator of Myths’. All effectiveness of productive activities increase by 20%.]
The sentence, which appeared like a declaration that there was no further realm to pursue, like dismantling, and the title which would be a huge help to Yu IlHan in the future.
Just with these, Yu IlHan thought that picking up the hammer was worthwhile. He had succeeded.
While carefully placing the Trap of Destruction, he spoke to Erta.
“I’m done.”
[......What!? You mean already?]
“What do you mean already?......Let’s see, five hours have passed though?”
Yu IlHan would also lose the flow of time while working, so he could only tell her after looking at the clock.
After she realized that he wasn’t wrong, Erta reddened her face. This was because that meant that she had watched him working while forgetting the flow of time for 5 hours.
[Even if it’s 5 hours, it’s way too fast. Did you really complete it according to the blueprint?]
“Don’t be like a mother-in-law and check it yourself.”
She confirmed. It was perfect. It was to the point that she was dumbfounded.
Just who would believe that this was made by a human? She could only be dumbfounded.
However, like Rita, Erta also couldn’t praise other people obediently. (T/N: Tsundere alert.)
[Khm, I guess this counts as a pass. However, there’s still the mana crafting process with the fecinom and the magic stone.]
“I was waiting for that.”
[Th, that’s true. The angels were going to help with that, weren’t they.]
Yu IlHan also looked forward to how the artifact, which possessed a high level of magic that he couldn’t understand despite having made it himself, would be completed.
When he looked at Erta with shiny eyes, she kept coughing awkwardly in order to forget the figure of Yu IlHan working, and continued speaking.
[Please wait for a moment. I will call my colleagues right away.]
“How about Rita?”
[She won’t be coming.]
After Erta cold-heartedly cut apart Yu IlHan’s question, which was full of hope, she did a truly unbelievable action. She had caused a shiny yellow ring to appear above her head!
“That’s the fluorescent light that only existed when I was young!”
[It’s an angel’s ring!]
After retorting against the tackle that she was expecting, what Erta did was none other than communication. She had sent messages to her colleague angels who were on standby in heaven.
The angel’s ring was a symbol of an absolute bond that surpassed the constraints of time and space, as well as that of the world. It was an exclusive ability to angels that could transfer one’s own emotions, intentions, and will to one’s colleagues who have the same angel’s ring.
Soon, four to five people who emitted brilliant light like Erta appeared inside Yu IlHan’s workshop. There were both men and women, but their common points were that they were all handsome men and beautiful women.
[Erta, is it true?]
[Check with your own eyes, Fashta. The evidence is here.]
[To think that a human made a Trap of Destruction, I can’t believe it.]
[However, this doesn’t smell like it’s from heaven. This is indeed an object created purely with a human’s power on Earth.]
Erta clapped and called the angels, who were starting to express bits of disbelief, exclamation, fear, and such feelings.
[There’s not much time! We need to get to work immediately!]
[That is true.]
[Yes, that is true.]
[Will the mana crafting go smoothly? I’m curious.]
The angels started gathering while chatting as they all placed their hands on Yu IlHan’s shoulders, head, and back respectively.
At that moment, an enormous pressure fell on to his mentality.
[Begin, human.]
[We will lead the direction of the will. You only have to will that you want to finish the Trap of Destruction.]
[Yu IlHan, this is the same as when you first did mana crafting. If you concentrate with the magic stones and fecinom in one hand, and the Trap of Destruction in the other, we will do the rest.]
Was this what higher existences are? Despite the fact that only their hands came in contact, their souls, high wills, and the noble mana weighed Yu IlHan, who was only a lowly human, down.
Despite the fact that they had no hostility towards Yu IlHan, just by confronting them, he automatically received damage. A 4-dimensional wall which couldn’t be surpassed existed between them and Yu IlHan.
If he was an ordinary human, he would have lost conscious immediately. He could only endure with the will that didn’t corrode even after living for a thousand years.
It wasn’t only his fighting power and techniques that he polished over those 1000 years. The will to never give up on his life and the belief to continue forward. The steel-like heart that held him up for countless years allowed him able to stand in that place and retain consciousness.
“Fuu......”
He slowly took deep breaths in order to calm himself and stand firmly.
He held the magic stones and fecinom in his right hand and the Trap of Destruction in his left hand. The angels were chatting as they wanted while looking at that scene. He ignored all of them and quietly closed his eyes.
Then he imagined. The scene where all these fused into one.
He wished. The birth of a dungeon which could imprison all the animals that have evolved after acquiring strength and reason.
[......Focus.]
[Don’t show me a scene where you get swept by a human’s will. The name of the angel cries.]
[Ha, really, just how did such an interesting human appear? I don’t think it’s a problem with the 1000 years......]
[I said focus, Ahata.]
The angels also emitted mana and will at the same time. If their power was directly applied, then they will achieve the same results from when it was made in heaven, so all their power and will were displayed through Yu IlHan.
Amongst them, some thought ‘Wouldn’t the Trap of Destruction perhaps be finished even without us?’ for a while when they looked at Yu IlHan’s strong will, but after acknowledging that that was throwing away all their pride as higher-existences, they immediately erased that thought from their head.
Yu IlHan’s will and the will of the angels interconnected with one another, starting to change the Trap of Destruction. The overwhelming mana activated the magic engraved in the Trap of Destruction, and the power of fecinom transferred inside it. The workshop was filled with bright light.
[More.]
[Just a little bit more.]
[O, human......]
The mana crafting finished not long after. The fecinom and the magic stones in his right hand had disappeared as if washed away, and replacing that, the Trap of Destruction started to emit a faint red light that possessed an unordinary aura.
It was the birth of a truly perfect artifact.
[‘Meticulous’ ‘Earthly’ Trap of Destruction was completed.]
[Mana Crafting has become Level 7. The quality of the finished artifact increases.]
Yu IlHan also opened his eyes carefully after those lines appeared on his vision.
As he thought that the weight in his palms disappeared, he saw that the completed Trap of Destruction was floating on his palm. Several tens of metallic rings enveloping the cube inside as they spun was a truly wondrous sight.
[Even though I was prepared for about 10 failures.]
[To think that we would succeed immediately......]
The angels appeared dumbfounded. Although Yu IlHan also felt proud, as he felt his effort was acknowledged, the limits of his mentality was approaching, so he carefully distanced himself from the angels.
“First, get away from me. Your consciousnesses are too much of a burden to me.”
[That’s true. We even forgot that you were a lower existence.]
[Yes. Well done, human. ......No, I think it’s rude to treat you as those other humans.]
[His name is Yu IlHan.]
[Yu IlHan, thank you. I half-disbelieved it, but its a truly exceptional skill. If possible, I even want to watch you while you’re working on the metallurgy process.]
[We don’t even know whether it will work properly.]
At that moment, one of the angels tackled.
[We need to experiment with it.]
[That’s very reasonable.]
[Yu IlHan, we shall go together. Perhaps, it will help your mana crafting if you look at the process of the birth of a dungeon.]
When the work was done, the angels started chatting loudly again, but this time, they talked differently. Factions were split into those who felt uncomfortable that he had such a firm will and ability despite being a lowly human, and those who wanted to acknowledge his ability and desired to raise him.
Of course, as they were good existences (as opposed to evil) at the core, there was no one who harbored ill intent towards him.
[My thoughts are the same. Yu IlHan, don’t you want to have a look at the scene where the Trap of Destruction activates?]
“No need to talk twice about it. Let’s go.”
He always welcomed new information and stimulation. There was no reason why Yu IlHan should reject that proposal.
While Yu IlHan was wiping off the sweat on his face with a towel, the angels started confirming that the Trap of Destruction was for real. However, one of the angels, who was exclaming about its aesthetic beauty, suddenly shouted.
[Whoa, this has an alpha option and a beta option!]
[What?]
[Meticulous, Earthly......It’s true.]
Yu IlHan perked up his ears while wiping off his sweat. Erta, who noticed that, explained with a sigh.
[We call the additional attribue which gets attached to the product of blacksmithing and mana crafting, ‘option’. It appears randomly according to luck, materials, and the ability of the smith. Normally, there are two, alpha and beta, but both appearing in the first creation is unprecendeted. Are you satisfied?]
“You know everything, don’t you?”
[Yes, I know everything.]
After confirming the Trap of Destruction, Yu IlHan went out with the angels. As he couldn’t fly, two angels grabbed his arms while flying, but honestly, although it looked very uncool, Yu IlHan was joyful just with just the fact that he was flying in the sky.
The streets were still silent. There were the sounds of monsters howling from somewhere, sounds of soldiers desperately shooting guns, and sounds of flying helicopters. He truly felt that the apocalypse had arrived.
[Hey, this human isn’t an angel. There is a need to cast invisibility magic on him.]
[There isn’t. Unless he attacks first, there is no way he would get found by humans.]
[What? No way......]
Yes way.
[They really can’t recognize him?]
[As expected, the sole dropout......!] (T/N: Yu IlHan can mean ‘sole’/’unique’; the ‘sole’ used in this line is literally ‘Yu IlHan’)
The angels looked at Yu IlHan, who was realizing a miracle with his human body, in shock, and Yu IlHan was annoyed. He resolved that he wouldn’t mix with these angels, who looked at him like a monkey in a zoo, after he finished this quest or whatever it was called.
The place they had arrived was at the top of a hill.
In front of Yu IlHan, who looked forward to how the artifact would activate, Erta, who was holding the Trap of Destruction, took a short, deep breath before throwing it.
“Hey!”
[Watch, Yu IlHan.]
While the Trap of Destruction was falling, the metallic ring which were spinning on the outside suddenly expanded in size.
The ring which had a diameter of just 20cm increased to 1m, 3m, 8m, and without restraint before it became thin to the point that it couldn’t be seen as it scattered into the air.
No, was it really ‘scattered’? While Yu IlHan was in doubt, at that moment, the second and third ring began expanding and scattering in order. While looking at that scene, the angels nodded their heads in satisfaction.
[So until now it’s going smoothly.]
“......”
That meant that the phenomenon that happened just now was not a failure. Perhaps, were the metallic rings created with that intention in the first palce?
While Yu IlHan was concentrating his consciousness...
The Earth trembled.
Monsters started gathering towards the hill.
Author’s notes
MC’s not a pushover... T^T
This is in the end, a ‘quest’. Meaning that MC had the choice to reject. MC does what he wants, he’s not doing it just because he’s told to
Erta did not threaten him. In the first place, Yu IlHan asked a question first and Erta only answered the truth
God is definitely not omnipotent nor omniscient. This is one of the most important reasons why this novel can make sense.
God and angels don’t scam humans. The difficulty of the quest is directly proportional to the rerward, and if even this is doubtful... then one cannot trust in anything. T^T
The reason why the reward was not given prior to the quest was because Erta could not judge whether MC will succeed the quest, and if he does, how succesfully, and what would MC need at the end of the quest;; I should add this bit.
MC did not ask about the reward as he already received a satisfying reward (Eternal Flame) for his previous quest. You can take it that he’s ‘trusting’ them
Eternal Flame is a too OP reward. It seems like my descriptions were insufficient. As to how good, it will be revealed as the story goes on so look forward to it!
The prefix option and the postfix option will be changed to alpha and beta. I took this from mabinogi, and as expected, it’s no good. Teehee!
Translator’s notes
Some of the angels speak in ancient form, (English equivalent would be thou/thy and the like) but I know none of those things, to hell with that.
As seen up there, ‘Yu IlHan’ can mean ‘solitary’ or ‘unique’ (just anything that has to do with being alone)(I guess his name was one of the reasons why he was left out). While his father, ‘Yu YongHan’ can mean ‘useful’. This will come up later
tiny spoiler: [...A useful skill.] “Dad skill?”
Ehem, nobody’s thinking of Totsuka Saika from Oregairu when they read ‘Trap of Destruction’ right?
Time to read chapter 65 of EER on Munpia! ❤