Congratulations, you have won the 4th event - Arena!

Do you want to accept your reward or would you like to forgo receipt to improve your final rewards?

Your reward for winning the 4th event is:

Passive skill combination token (low epic)

“I would like to use it to improve my final rewards.”

The window disappears and I look at the palm of my hand, clenching it into a fist and then opening it.

What a cowardly little bitch.

Sure, he was about to lose. He gave his all, and I overwhelmed him. But still! What the hell. Fight me, show some pride, and don’t just look at me like that! Goddamned Patience, is it his subclass, is that why?

Savant my ass.

I don’t remember the last time I felt so frustrated. He’s more talented than me, he has some amazing skills, he was mentored by a Champion, and declared a Champion candidate. Yet he thinks so logically. It's as if he’s weighing everything, without taking any joy in the fighting.

And now he’s hiding. I went looking for him. I’ve scanned the entire area of the tournament, but I couldn’t find him. So I can’t even try to punch him to vent.

As has become my custom whenever I’m annoyed, I pull Biscuit closer to my chest.

We are alone in the living room in the huge armchair I’ve reserved. Biscuit is quiet, and I have a suspicion he is sleeping off a large quantity of meat he found somewhere.

His small body is soft and warm, and I can sense his heart beating calmly and hear his breathing. The fur on top of his head is pleasantly soft as I pet him.

I wonder if I should start referring to him as an ESC, emotional support corgi, or ESFA, emotional support future absolute, or ESAO, emotional support animal overlord? It could be something to think about in the future.

I pull up my status and check the skills that leveled up after I left the Arena.

[Resonance - lvl 45 > Resonance - lvl 46]

[Mana Domain - lvl 38 > Mana Domain - lvl 39]

[Mana Domain - lvl 39 > Mana Domain - lvl 40]

[Mana Crown - lvl 22 > Mana Crown - lvl 23]

[Mana Crown - lvl 23 > Mana Crown - lvl 24]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 45 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 46]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 46 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 47]

At least the rewards are nice, damn it.

Once this tournament is over I need a break. Somewhere with fewer people. Maybe once we get the twins out of that Black Tower I can disappear for a bit and do some hunting on my own. Staying with them all the time could also slow their growth and mine as well if the danger isn’t high enough. It sounds like a good plan, I would think.

But for now, I have a few hours before the last event, so I may as well visit Miwa and check out her arm.

Before that, I can put the items I made into the store.

I open the interface, and as I do, I put in twenty mana stones. Each of them qualifies as a rare quality item, and they shouldn’t sell for too high a price. But I’ve inscribed each one personally, making the same sort of exercises for mana manipulation that I gave Vega and Channeler.

I’ve already tested them to my satisfaction. Vega and Channeler have certainly made some decent progress. So I set a starting price of 300 shards and time of auction until the end of the tournament.

I won’t complain about an extra few thousand shards before it's all said and done.

I find Miwa in her workshop as always. She almost seems to live there.

After a minute or two, she emerges, and her expression isn’t quite what I remember. It's hard for me to guess what emotion she is feeling. Maybe she watched the duels or maybe she heard something?

“So, about the guy. You know, the number 1 crafter…” I start carefully.

The moment I mention that person, her eyes light up, and her stance opens a bit. She may still be hesitant, but she definitely has a strong interest in hearing me out.

“Can you bring me to them? My offer is still on the table, I’m willing to let you examine my arm.”

“Well… about that…”

“Oh, did they refuse? I can add ten rare grade items I made. I can throw in some of the ones I made for my group members too. I will owe them, and it will be a lot of work to make new ones, but I can do it.”

“It’s not that. Let me show you something.” I request, walking past her and into the workshop.

Inside, I find a corner with a metal table covered in inscriptions. After grabbing some low-quality mana conductive metal from a nearby pile, I start releasing mana, suspending it in the air.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Thermal energy flows from me, and I surround that metal, imitating a furnace and keeping the heat even. I gradually increase the intensity, and as it starts to melt, I move my mana to mix it evenly.

Miwa stands somewhere off to my side, at first seeming like she wants to interrupt, before settling in to watch.

I stoke the heat, and my golden flames envelop it as I cut off the air. Continuing an experiment I’ve been working on in an effort to learn how it might change the result. As it reaches the proper temperature I begin to release kinetic energy to hammer the metal.

As time goes on, I slowly start absorbing heat from the dagger. It took me some time to get it right, and even then, there are imperfections. Cooling it down too quickly will only serve to ruin the final product.

Of course, it could always be worse. I could use water to cool some parts, there are alloys, and oils I could have added into the mix, I could have tried layering the metal, heating it to different temperatures, and heating it for longer. I’m certainly not starved for options and I definitely have plenty of room to improve in the future.

But for now, I just let it cool as I work on shaping the molten metal into a bracelet as thick as my pinkie.

At the same time, I use my skills to engrave inscriptions across the surface of the item and lace some more along the inside. It would definitely work better with a different alloy to serve as the base, but then it would take longer as well.

The process still takes over 2 hours, and Miwa silently watches without saying a single word the entire time.

When it's all said and done, I let the bracelet drop to the table with the clang of colliding metal.

I check the results Identifying it as a low rare artifact bestowing an effect that will allow its owner to endure high levels of heat as it absorbs the excess and redirects it away once the storage reaches capacity.

“It’s you…” Miwa says, finally breaking the silence.

“Yup.”

“You…why would you call yourself that… never mind, forget I said anything! You should have told me earlier! I’ve been admiring your items for a while.” Miwa gushes, picking up the bracelet and smiling brightly, showing me the item, “They are ugl… that is to say they lack aesthetic appeal, the metals are often a mess, having been worked at excessively high or low temperatures. They are clearly amateur work.”

“Uh, okay?” Is she trying to start a fight?

“But at the same time, I can feel the enthusiasm and the raw talent. And the inscriptions are amazing! I don’t think there is anyone from our round of the tutorial better at working with them. And even on the floors, people like you were rare.”

Miwa continues to talk and talk. She talks about the item and the materials it's made of. She asks about inscriptions, and she points out mistakes I made.

Without hesitation, she presents me with a notepad full of notes on crafting. There are experiments she performed, alongside their results. Along with a few methods of smelting from Earth. Methods for working metals and more.

The notepad alone is extremely valuable, but she even gives me a pair of mana stones with more information. One she got from the second floor and one from a blacksmith who worked under Champion Keiron.

There is no hesitation at all. She only tells me she already read and memorized it all dozens of times over.

In her group, there is no one she can talk with about crafting properly, so she is happy.

So I tell her about Nevan and his alloys and the things he showed me. I show her the arcane alloy he made, which I keep on me at all times. I even let her see Flamebearer.

Miwa seems like she’s going to pass out from excitement at any moment, as she jumps from item to item, peppering me with questions.

In the end, I show and tell more than I had planned. But she reminds me of Cael, the craftsman from the 4th floor, a bit too much honestly. There is not a single sign of greed in her actions, and I just can’t see her selling the items I leave her with for simple profit. All I see in her is a pure love for the act of creation, nothing else.

She also shows me the arm, and I examine it and the way it's connected to her body. I examine the material and inscriptions. I even copy most of them into one of the many mana stones I keep on me.

I make Miwa move the hand, send mana through it, and activate the various inscriptions. We even activate some she didn’t know about, like one particularly efficient example that serves to make her arm even stronger, and a few more she will have to examine on her own. The arm seems to have been shielded from examination by anyone other than its owner, so it's difficult to parse even as she allows me all the time I need.

Still, I learn a lot and I believe that knowledge will stay with me, add to what I currently have, and allow me to create better things in the future.

Unfortunately, she still rejects my offer to buy her arm. She doesn't care about the possibility of receiving a new arm, courtesy of Lily.

I could offer to rent her Biscuit for a few hours, but something tells me she wouldn't accept, and I have nothing more valuable than that so I give up.

Lastly, I inscribe a mana stone for her. Miwa has a skill that allows her to manipulate flames, but the inscriptions I created should allow her to practice and improve that skill. Maybe even evolve it.

She is probably happiest about that part.

When I finally leave, she thanks me repeatedly and bows profusely, her behavior having done a complete one-eighty over the course of my visit.

I wonder if she saw something in me when I was crafting, just like I saw in her when she spoke about her love for the art of creation.

I spend some time with Min-Jae and examining his eye. It works very well, and I don’t find any problems.

When Vega was still here, I also checked her eye. I might have gotten a bit paranoid after reading the contents of the mana stone that cowardly asshole Savant gave to Lily. Thankfully, it seems like everyone did a good job, and Vega's weakened Mana Wavelength Iris fits her well.

I wonder if I might be able to sell my eyes sometime in the future, perhaps I could even give a few away, weakened versions of course. Just pull it out, have Lily or another healer weaken it with my help, and then fit it to another person, and sell it.

Logically, it shouldn’t affect the trait itself, at least I don’t think it should. I’ll definitely need to learn more before going through with it.

Min-Jae is still acting embarrassed, and it's fun to see. Just that short spar won’t change much, but he is a smart boy, so he should be fine. He will probably get his ass kicked a few times before that, but that's to be expected.

To be honest, if I see him doing it again, I might beat him up. I dealt with a lot of bullying growing up, people called me the brother of a murderer or poked fun at my mother.

Of course, I’m a hypocrite too and I bully others as well. BenDover is an example, or to a smaller extent, others. But at least I’m an asshole who has enough power to be an asshole without getting killed by some vengeful chump. Meanwhile, Min-Jae is weaker, and it could cost him his life later. He can mimic me once he gets stronger.

With little more than an hour until the last day of the tournament, we get a new notification.

The 5th event - Chronicle of the Past will start in 1 hour!

Everyone will have the opportunity to engage in a 1v1 combat challenge with one being from the database of the Earth’s tutorial. Beings such as natives from the already completed floors.

Every participant will be given 1 challenge, so choose wisely!

Challenged beings will be of the same quality as an Avatar, possessing no memories other than those required for combat. They do not possess emotions or the ability to talk and have no motivations other than defeating the challenger.Note: There will be no rewards for the 5th event. Your performance will be included in the calculation of your final rewards instead.