84 Meh

"And this is the dungeon, it's where our master blacksmiths work and produce their 'masterpieces' as they like to call it. Which is weird because this used to be a torture room for prisoners… Are you even listening?" Asked Harmony.

Will was indeed paying attention, just not to her. He was paying attention to the castle's interior design, taking down some mental notes to improve his own castle.

Will always got easily jealous whenever he saw minecraft youtubers with their amazing building projects. Imagine seeing such a fancy castle with great interior design but lack the creativity to build something like this?

Will has the ability, time, and resources to create such a building. He only lacks imagination.

"Yeah. That's a nice kick." Will said, not making sense in the slightest.

"Of course..." Harmony said, disappointed.

She has had to deal with the new heroes. Honestly, it was disappointing for the most part. Most of the female heroes envied her for her riches and looks, and most of the male heroes looked at her a lot more than she would like to admit.

She has heard what Shaun Quincy has had to say about the heroes, and it wasn't good. Although her father says the opposite, she has a feeling that he too agrees with Shaun.

'At least this one doesn't look at me that much… Or I don't know. Hard to tell behind that mask of his.' Harmony thought. Out of all the heroes, she felt like Will was the weirdest one.

Her 5 nobles were no more than 4 steps away from her, guarding her, and keeping a close eye on Will

"Princess!" Four master blacksmiths said respectfully in unison. They were all men, and were very muscular. They were also tanned due to the amount of fire and heat they had to work with.

One of them even looked like a dwarf due to his short size. The rest were all bulky, and muscular. They all wore what appeared to be a metal collar wrapped around their waists, it's exactly the same kind that Maid had on her neck.

In short, these 4 master blacksmiths were slaves.

"How do you guys make magical weapons?" The Princess asked. Slaves have always been a thing in the kingdom before she was born, this was normal to her.

At that point Will paid close attention.

"With that… thing. The thing!" The shortest one pointed to a furnace.

It looked to be made completely out of smooth stone. The top had a small frying pan. On the bottom of the frying pan was a small, blue fire.

It seriously didn't look any different from a cheap stone furnace.

"That?" The Princess asked. That didn't look anything like what she was expecting either.

"Yeah. Shocking, isn't it?" The short dwarf looked rather happy seeing her confused reaction. She was never really keen on learning about smithing.

"It looks like a furnace. Or is it something else?" Will wasn't sure. At his base he had a weird thing with eyes and tentacles that can enchant his items.

"It's the only one of its kind. Nah, just kidding, it is just a kitchen stove that I was forced to bring from my home. We're just using it because the king cut off our funds so we can't afford nutin' fancy. Ya think he'd appreciate us more, especially since most of the blacksmiths died on the day of the blacks sun."

None of the blacksmiths were happy about this, but they had no right to complain, literally. The kingdom basically owns them.

Before they weren't slaves but actual workers. It's just that after so many blacksmiths died on the day of the black sun the kingdom imprisoned and enslaved them, that way they wouldn't leave and migrate to the empire, as some already have.

The king had a hard time making this decision, as master blacksmiths are the only ones able to produce powerful magical weapons. But ultimately he made the decision to enslave them against their will.

Ordinary people moving to the empire he can barely tolerate. But when his best and only blacksmiths decide to move to the empire? That's too much for him.

"How do you make magical weapons with a simple furnace?" Will felt like he was missing something huge here. He could craft a furnace easily. Does that mean that all this time he could have made magical items?

The dwarf looked at the princess, wondering if he should tell him. He works for the kingdom, not whoever that weirdo is with his weird dragon scaled armor.

"Tell us." Harmony was also curious.

"It's really simple: Mana ores."

Hearing that, Will was confused. Mana ores had that kind of function? Nothing like that could be seen in his brown book, and he had read the book multiple times.

"Mana ores are divided into 4 tiers: Low, mid or medium whatever you like to call it: Advanced, then finally High tier. Low and mid tier mana ores are garbage. Useless."

Will would disagree with that. Low and mid tier mana ores are basically a treasure to him. It's how he is able to make golems.

He has yet to see an advanced and a high tier mana ore yet.

"However, Advanced tier and High tier are national treasures. By only burning those ores can you make magical weapons."

"Burning them?" Will asked.

At that point the blue fire changed back to a red color.

The dwarf blacksmith looked to one of the blacksmiths.

"Jacob, bring me a single low-tier mana ore."

One of the blacksmiths brought back a single low-tier mana ore, per the dwarf's request.

"Observe." The dwarf turned on the stove. It was a basic red fire. But once the mana ore came into contact with the flame, the entire flame turned to a weak blue.

"You see, mana ore is weird. They are durable, not as tough as diamond or steel, but you can't break them with your hands easily. And yet they melt like ice upon contact with any flame, like ice. So making powerful magical weapons only works by burning Advanced or High tier mana ores. Using anything else won't ever, ever, EVER WORK! Of course a lot of luck is needed to make a new magical weapon. It's not hard, it's just a matter of luck."

The blue fire turned back to normal after a few seconds.

Master blacksmiths are used to using advanced mana ores, so throwing it in a fire carelessly like he did will harm the weapon making process

"What else?" Will asked.

"What else? Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention you need monster parts. You place the monster parts on top of the stove, as if you were cooking soup."

"I don't think you can cook soup."

"Well I ain't a master chef, but I am a master blacksmith, you wise-ass. Are you a master chef or something?"

"No."

'But I do have common sense.' Will thought. The dwarf in front of him reminded him a lot like that dwarf in God of War 4, only not as skilled or as funny. Then again this wasn't an actual dwarf but just looked like one. Dwarves do not exist in this world.

"You need monster parts to 'cook' them. They'll melt quickly, and at the end all that'll be left is their 'essence' which is basically a yellow liquid. You'll be lucky to get a few drops. I suggest you use apex monsters for a lot of drops of monster essence, and be sure to melt everything. Amateurs make the mistake of only cooking certain monster parts because they think it's 'higher quality' but it's not. Do I make myself clear?"

"I think so. But what do you do with the monster essence? And how much do you need?"

The dwarf picked up a small flask and threw it to Will.

"A single drop is enough but make sure to keep the essence safe like in a flash or something. After that's done, apply it to any weapon, remember all you need is a single drop and a hell of a lot of luck. Anything works: whether it be a sword, a weapon of any kind, armor, clothes, or even jewelry really. Heck you can even pick a stone and make it into some magical stone or something. But you'd have to be pretty insane to do something like that. My pops, may his soul rest, was drunk one day and made his nipple piercing into a magical weapon, 'course that was only possibly because his skill was legendary. Sadly, it's what killed him."

The legend goes that the legendary blacksmith was so drunk he wasted precious resources and made a nipple piercing a magical weapon. Some say he was not only very lucky but unlucky that day. Lucky because the nipple piercing was actually made into a magical weapon against all odds. But he was unlucky because the magical nipple piercings now had the ability to burn anything it touches, thus burning the poor blacksmith to death.

"Ew." Harmony said.

"Interesting." Will said.

"Anything else? Or are you gonna waste my time?"

"Why use High tier mana res? It seems like a waste to use on weapons that aren't guaranteed to succeed." Will said. Mana ores have great uses for him. He can't imagine using it for anything else other than golems.

Although he hated the word 'luck' he still needed to attempt to make more magical weapons. This reminded him of those video games where one needed a lot of luck to get an item they really wanted.

Will spent so much money on such games and still failed to get the item he wanted.

He vowed to never play a game that relied on 'luck' because he knew that he wouldn't win, the company who made the game(s) can and will only win in the end.

"Wow… I thought you were stupid, but you're really dumb, ain't ya?" The dwarf laughed and left.

"What?"

"Ugh, fine. High tier mana ores are basically almost non-existent. Heck, only three of those things have been found."

"Only three?" Will found that hard to believe.

"Yeah. Have you heard of the only two enchanted magical weapons? The Great Sage and the Empress have one of those each. It was only possibly because those two weapons were made of the essence of powerful monsters, and melted with the flames of a high tier mana ore."

The third high tier mana ore can be found on the tip of the Great Sage's staff.

There is a really notable difference between a high tier mana ore and an advanced ore. High tier mana ores basically guarantee your next weapon becomes a magical item, but they're extremely rare, rarer than any other metal on this world. Advanced ores on the other hand are more common, but the odds of turning an item into a magical item are still very low, but have a better chance compared to the other lower tier mana ores.

Low and Mid tier mana ores are basically garbage. But many still try to find uses to them instead of just throwing them out.

"I think I understand now. Thank you both." Will proceeded to leave. He hastily made his way to the stairs.

"See ya… HEY! WAIT A MINUTE!" Harmony chased Will. She fulfilled her end of the bargain, now Will needed to fill his part of the deal.

Her nobles followed her closely.

"Gimme the gun!" The Princess continued to chase Will

"Don't have it with me right now. You'll get it tomorrow." Will said honestly, not stopping in the slightest.

Will has always seen himself as a man of his word. Since the Princess did fulfill her end of the deal, he is going to bring the gun back to her. But right now it was impossible since he didn't bring the gun with him.

"But-"

Ignoring the Princess, Will was going to message Sandra telling her that he was fine. But, several men stood in his path upon exiting the dungeon.

"Hero Will Connor." The king of the Reyes Kingdom said happily, with his arms stretched out like a parent welcoming his child into his embrace.

Beside the king were not only nobles, but a few heroes as well.

If it was the king alone, Will would have been fine. But meeting the other heroes, his classmates from 2 years ago, his heart skipped a beat, like those times in minecraft when he died in hardcore mode.

'Well… dammit! But…' Will thought this was a bad thing for him, or was it? He had no idea in the slightest

"Dad?" Harmony was equally surprised to see her father there. The nobles behind her kneeled down in respect to the king.

"You 5 you've done well. And especially you, my daughter" The king praised one of the nobles behind Harmony.

All 5 nobles contacted the king as soon as they heard of Will from the Princess. They informed the king where they were while Harmony and Will were talking to the blacksmith.

Upon hearing the news, the king was beyond delighted. The 100th hero, who everybody believed wasn't even summoned, was here, and alive, in his castle!

The king quickly gathered the nearest heroes without telling them why, he only said "There's no time to explain." He thought he had to act fast to make the hero comfortable in the kingdom.

He wanted to bring the Great Sage to welcome him, and to test out what ability he has, but he was sleeping.

"Wait, that's Will?" A hero said, acting shocked.

"Who?" Another hero asked, unsure of who is his.

"Oh my gosh, of course it's him… Who was he again?" One was confused.

"I have no idea."

"I know some Will's from our school, but not this one."

"Wasn't he the quiet one?"

"Be more specific."

"Yeah. We had like 20 quiet guys in our school. But I don't know anybody named Will."

"Ah, it's probably a false alarm."

The heroes started discussing who the person in front of him was. When in reality no one knew him.

Many felt terrible. Many had families, friends who they really wanted to see again. They just really hoped that this 100th hero was someone they were familiar with.

'Yeah, this was to be expected.' Will thought.

He never had friends, and his school was not only large but held over hundreds of students. Will would be more shocked if anybody recognized him.

The only people back in his world who would recognize him would be his family, Alex, Sandra, and maybe Bruce.

"No, I remember." A hero with purple hair, white shirt, and glasses said.

Jeff is his name. And this hero has the ability to remember everything that happened in his life, the only hero in this generation to have this ability. Heroes of the past also have had this ability, it's how this world knows how to make guns, and other types of foods.

Not much of a hero ability really, as people do have this amazing ability back in their home world.

Out of all the heroes, Jeff has been the most useful, providing details to the kingdom, everything important he learned in his life he would share it.

It was probably the only time Jeff thought that school was finally useful for once. As he remembered everything he learned there, mathematics, medicine, guns, pesticides for farmers, and other useful things.

Jeff dyed his hair purple for no reason. He always wore a white shirt and black pants, no one knows why but it seemed like he had an endless pair of white shirts and black pants.

And his glasses are fake. He wears them to appear smarter, to go with his ability.

"Will Connor, someone who always used to sit in the back of class near the window. Got an average of C average in his grades. Was mostly late during school. Never went on field trips. And-"

"Blah, blah, blah! We get it, you can remember everything." Someone said, bored with him. He did the same thing with the other heroes.

Jeff could only recall people by what he saw in school, and only in school. That's because he was also a loner, and never had friends. But because of that he spent a lot of time on the internet and learned more useful facts.

"But Bill, what's your hero ability?" Colby, the one who could fly, asked.

"Will." Ali corrected him.

"Whatever."

'No, yup. This was definitely a bad thing for me.' Will thought instantly. A few seconds with these guys and he's already annoyed by them. Now that he remembers, he was also annoyed with them back at school. Now he remembers why he never wanted to be friends with any of these guys.

'Turns out… it was my fault I didn't have friends… For the most part..' Will thought.

Will's hero ability is what everybody was curious about, especially the king. They all had high hopes that his ability was powerful, after all this is the only hero to have been unsuccessfully summoned.

Seeing their gazes, Will felt like he wouldn't be able to get away.

He didn't need to show them all his abilities, but only one, and he could claim that it's his one and only hero ability.

Will thought of this months ago, should he ever come in contact with the heroes or the king.

Will sprout dragon wings from his back.

"I can make dragon wings appear on my back." Will said. This was the ability he chose to reveal, the ability of his armor.

Revealing anything about his system like his personal storage space, his crafting ability, would be unnecessary. He just hoped that people would be satisfied with this ability and leave him.

"Oh! Maybe you can fly with those." Colby said, as if the idea had only occurred to him.

"..." Will stood silent. What kind of idiotic question is that?

"Cool wings." Someone commented on his wings design.

"Maybe he's strong like Bruce. Catch!" A random hero took out a copper coin from his pocket and tossed it to Will.

Will instinctively caught the coin, but that coin was as heavy as a mountain to him, and Will fell to the ground as his hand was crushed.

"GAH! CANADA!" Will felt his bones on his hand being crushed by a single copper coin. There was a small crack on the ground as soon as it touched the ground.

Will was used to being crushed. For a few times now he had been crushed to death when the caves suddenly caved in, or he'd die from lack of oxygen which is personally his worst way of dying.

"Dude? You okay?" The same hero who tossed him the coin asked worriedly.

This hero has the power to turn anything he touches 1 ton heavier. Much like the midas touch curse, however this hero's power is severely limited: the things he touches can only be 1 ton heavier, no more no less. And there is only a 5 minute time limit on the things he touches.

"I'm… fine! GREH!" Will cried painfully as he slipped his hand out of the coin.

Many of the heroes looked at Will out of pure shock and confusion. It was merely a ton.

A ton equals exactly 2000 pounds. To the heroes it was heavy but they had no problem carrying it. Comparably it would be like ordinary adults carrying a medicine ball.

Will took off his dragon gauntlet, and saw no sign of damage to his armor, which is good because it meant it was resistant, but he didn't focus on that for now, since his arm hurts like hell and his armor isn't making it easier.

Soon as he took off his gauntlet, his entire arm dangled in a way it's not supposed to. The part where the arm is able to bend broke when he caught the heavy coin. (Elbow)

He sucked it up. It's not the first time this has happened. It hurt like hell without a doubt and he wanted to cry and yell, but he didn't do it.

"Your… hand… gross." Many of the heroes saw his arm bend in a way that it isn't supposed to. Some of them even vomited or wanted to.

The majority of the heroes have never seen a wound like this before. Perhaps on the internet but it was different in real life.

A certain tanned girl with twin tails ran towards Will. She placed her hands on his arm and a yellow glow appeared from her hands.

Will's entire arm was fixed in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks." Will said. He didn't know her name. The pain was gone as well. Still this pain was nothing compared to the time he ate the exotic flower.

"Mhm." Olivia, the tanned girl said before stepping back with her group.

"Aren't you a hero?" Chandler, a chubby young hero asked.

Even if something like that happened to any of their arms, their natural regeneration abilities could heal themselves faster than Olivia's healing ability could.

"Good question. I'm out." Will put his gauntlet back on and proceeded to leave. He didn't really know the answer to that question.

A hero is someone with abilities, yet he had a system, something no other hero has, and his body was like an ordinary man's but can come back to life an infinite number of times after he dies.

'Yeah, I should have never come here.' Will thought.

"Um, hero Will Connor?" The king said in a respectful tone, he didn't want to accidentally insult the hero by calling out to him. Yes some heroes were insulted when the king called out their full names.

Will waved his hand at them, and left. The king and the heroes were there, just staring where he was a second ago.

"Respectful heroes, can you make him stay here?" The king asked.

They looked at the king dead silent. They all had the same thought: Meh. Why bother?

If Will was someone important to them then maybe one of them would have. But if Will didn't want to stay then they feel like he shouldn't stay.

"On the bright side at least we know who the 100th hero is. Shame though. I really wish it was my ex." Colby broke the silence and proceeded to leave.

"Didn't she cheat on you with your brother?" Ali asked.

"Yeah. But I do miss her."

"Bruh. His ability is trash, but those wings and armor looked sick!" Another hero said.

"It is cool. Almost like something out of a Souls game or something."

"You play Dark Souls?"

"Used to."

"I seriously don't remember Mill Turner at all. Are we sure he's from our school? We didn't even get to see his face." Another hero asked.

"Who?"

"Tim Tuna, the 100th hero we just saw."

"I don't think that was his name. And you just said two completely random names."

"Did I?"

The heroes left talking about Will. Leaving the King alone in the corridor, with his daughter and nobles.

The king pinched the top part of his nose, calming himself down by softly muttering to himself: 'They're heroes. Remember that they're heroes. They're just kids.'

He really hates it when the heroes don't even listen to a simple order of his. He tries to be patient with them.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I'm gonna leave now." Harmony wanted to chase after Will, but didn't. She was afraid that if she chased him her father might suspect her behavior and find out that she loves Clement, and wants to retrieve his gun for him.

Her father is not an idiot.

"Yeah. Good night." The king left to go to bed.

Harmony looked out the window, it wasn't even close to night yet.