Afraid of Losing Everyone

Kyros began to gather all the spare swords used in the training sessions and also took the anvil that the mercenaries brought with them.

Kyros sat by the campfire and hammered away at the many swords.

The mercenary with basic blacksmithing skills accompanied Kyros to see what the young lord planned to do.

But as he saw Kyros hammering away, he was rather impressed.

"Lord Kyros. You have such skill!" The mercenary praised.

"Is my form alright?" Kyros asked.

"Compared to the style my family has, it is a bit inferior. But your strikes are rather accurate." The mercenary gave an honest assessment.

"Can you teach me the proper way to hammer and the form as well?" Kyros asked.

The mercenary happily obliged, and the two began to discuss more about blacksmithing.

Kyros had learned a ton of theoretical knowledge. While he was able to create the Dark Armguards, he knew his hammering skills needed a lot of work. And this was exactly what he needed.

The night passed, and even the mercenary went to sleep, but Kyros stayed up late at night hammering away. When he noticed that everyone was asleep, he then brought out the Basic Earth Core.

"Hmm... While I can't easily wield Earth Energy, this Basic Earth Core should have enough energy to help me add some added magic effect on this, right?" Kyros wondered.

And suddenly, Kyros summoned the Basic Earth Core.

He then began to channel the sword, and with the newly learned hammering skills, he began to hammer away.

The power of Earth was sent to the hammer that Kyros wielded, and he began to strike away.

Memories of the Celestial Code appeared, and while Kyros could not fully grasp it, he was somehow able to send the energy into the hammer.

[Earth Artificer Job acquired.]

The notification appeared.

Kyros kept channeling the energy, and after several twenty-some strikes, the magic in the Earth Core was drained.

Kyros sent the item back and looked at the stats.

"It didn't recover the MP. So it has to be in the temple..." Kyros then sent the Basic Earth Core from the Inventory and willed it to appear inside the temple area. Kyros used one of the back areas of the temple where no one could notice it. The Earth Core began to recharge, and Kyros continued hammering without the Earth Magic.

After a minute, the Earth Core had been recharged, and Kyros summoned it back to himself and continued hammering.

The theories of Calaminus were being applied, and Kyros was even able to add his variation.

"Impressive. Having experience wielding the Celestial Code has given you a basic understanding of Earth. While you can't create it, you can redirect it. Pretty soon, you'd be able to wield it!" Calaminus praised.

Kyros was silent and continued to concentrate on improving the spare swords of the mercenaries.

"Wow. So much effort for your mercenaries." Calaminus teased.

"I've seen war and lost my men in battle. I don't want that to happen. And while expending great amounts of gold is reckless to outfit my men, these things that also contribute to my training are perfect. I'm afraid, Calaminus. I'm afraid of losing everyone again. Success Limiter. That is the curse that is befalling me. And while I have ways to survive the fangs of Fate, these people do not have that luxury." Kyros explained.

"Well, at the very least, you have a way to protect your family now."

"I'm not so sure about that. I can feel it now. The call of Fate and how it wants to kill me. Its attack is getting stronger."

"Impossible. You just have the Success Limiter. What you have is Apathy of Fate. This means Fate neither hates nor loves you."

"Yes. But my actions have already changed things! Success Limiter is working double time because I am getting successful! Look at what I've accheived! Fate is adjusting itself to hinder me. It is apathetic of me, which means I won't get any fated benefits. Fate's favor won't shine on me because of this curse. But yet, the Fate that I have to time travel is something that clearly shows great favor. The gods and fallen who created this temple had found the means to bypass Fate or outsmart it. But remember what my mother said."

"Fate's power has its limits..." Calaminus recalled what the goddess said to Kyros.

"Yes. And so, Fate is compensating. The Limit of Fate is swinging to the other side of the pendulum because I am succeeding. It will try to stop me."

"I see. Wow. You are finally learning what Fate is about! Wait... That means your Soul Console is working!"

"Yes. For some strange reason, I can now feel Fate's changes. Let me check my Soul Console." Kyros willed it, and the black screen was displayed once more.

---

Soul Console 1.43

Current Soul Tasks:

Origin Absorption- Level 2

ALERT! Spirit Shackle is limiting the rate of origin absorption. Next Soul Force increase: 13 days.

Soul Unsealing- Level 1

Estimated time of decreasing Spirit Shackle's strength by a discernible margin: 344 years.

God Unsealing- Level 1

Estimated time of decreasing strength of all god seals: Unknown.

Devil Unsealing- Level 1

Estimated time of decreasing strength of all devil seals: Unknown.

Celestial De-Code- Level 1

Estimated time of decoding the Celestial Code: 587 years.

Fate Comprehension- Level 1

Estimated time of decoding the Celestial Code: Unknown.

---

"Incredible! Your Origin Absorption has grown stronger! It can fight the seal in your body!"

"Celestial De-code now displays an estimate. I guess wielding the Earth element helped my body remember and is now trying hard to understand how to use Earth. And Fate Comprehension has finally changed. Instead of a failed task, it now shows an unknown time estimate..." Kyros noted the changes.

"When my foster father arrives in the days to come, I'll just hurry to get them to bring all of the Steele clan here. I try to ensure that everyone gets a level-up, and then I'll tell my father and uncle to send for the kingdom. Let's see how Fate plays his cards. Will he allow the wicked men to come here which will benefit me? Does Fate know that I am the temple? Or has my mother found a way to deceive them?"

"Hey! Now that I think about it, you're right! The temple has a way to slow down the process of Fate. And if it can, why can't Fate target the temple? Is it because it's an inanimate object? What an interesting theory."

"We'll see where this goes." Kyros continued to hammer away. When it was three hours until the alarm would sound, Kyros dragged his tired body and slept in the temple and while activating Pronto.

Aron was already awake even before the temple alarms resounded. Although he had woken up several times during the night as Kyros kept hammering on and on, he was generally well-rested thanks to the temple.

The first thing he did was observe the swords that Kyros spent all night working on.

"I wonder if Kyros repaired the spare swords?" He retrieved one of the swords and unsheathed it.

"Not bad. He repaired the dents! And here I thought we'd have a safer sparing match with these blunt swords." Aron laughed and took a closer look at the swords.

His smiling expression slowly faded as he realized the strength of the sword.

"What did my nephew do to these swords?!" He finally shouted.

"Lord Aron? What happened?" The mercenary blacksmith was stunned at Aron's shout.

"These swords!"

"Lord Aron, did Lord Kyros make a mistake? I can assure you that his skills are good enough to repair the spares!"

"Good enough to repair?! These swords are stronger than your real swords! What good enough to repair!?"

Aron cursed as he showed them the swords.

The amazed mercenaries looked at it, and even the one who thought Kyros some tricks were tongue-tied.

The alarm soon rang, and Kyros awoke.

"Good morning." He greeted happily.

Aron, however, looked at Kyros and immediately raised the swords up.

"How did you do this? Those were spare swords that we bought with cheap change! And now these things are... how?"

Kyros looked at the stats of the swords as he was confused. All he did last night was make sure that the swords were repaired.

---

Definitely not a Spare Sword

Attack: 32

Durability: 30

Can channel Earth magic.

---

Kyros was shocked at the sword stats. The average swords had an attack power of 20. Aron's sword was at 38, and this was considered a top-tier sword among nobles! And if Aron knew that the sword could be used to channel Earth magic, he'd be bewildered. Wizards, battlemages, and other spell casters will love this sword and pay a great price to acquire it!

The mercenaries had swords that the blacksmiths of the Steele clan worked on, and they had an attack of 25 to 29. The small gap of 29 to 30 was the dividing line from normal swords to magic swords. Unless powerful steels were used, average swords crafted by average metals could only go as high as 29.

Kyros managed to change the spare swords that were at 24 and brought it up to 32.

"Oof. How are you going to explain this, Kyros? I thought you knew what you were doing." Calaminus laughed.

"I didn't check the stats! Who knew it would become like this!" Kyros cursed.