Where was the best place to forge a weapon? Apparently, in an underground bunker!
Josh was currently inside an underground forge right below Markus's friend's place. It was sweaty, sturdy, and quite concerning. For instance, why were there human bones in a corner?!
"Oh, don't mind these. I was trying to see if human remains could be used to craft something interesting. But it turns out that bones are too brittle. Quite strange, don't you think?" The blacksmith apprentice babbled.
"How so?" Josh inquired.
"Think about it. Superhumans would need to have stronger bones than normal to cope with the increased power. Then why are they so weak? It doesn't make sense!"
Well, this sure was an exciting experiment. This would have given another meaning to a family heirloom. Grandpas's sword? Naw, this IS the grandpa, turned into a sword!
"Makes sense. So, how long will it take you to craft my morphing weapon?"
"Hard to tell. I actually have a few ideas in mind. Anyway, staying anywhere near during the crafting process is way too dangerous. What we'll do is use this big guy."
The apprentice pressed a button, and suddenly one of the walls began trembling and creaking. Actually….never mind. It was a tall and incredibly robust-looking robot. The more he looked at it, and the more perplexed Josh became.
"This is a killer robot, right?"
"What?! No way! It used to be a killer robot! Now, it's my trustworthy assistant!"
"I see…Isn't that blood on its hands?"
"Eh, maybe. Let me clean it up real quick."
This sure was extravagant. Others used killer robots as bodyguards, for training, or even ruthless games. Yet this guy had one in his basement; how shady! It was so scandalous that Josh had to nod and give a thumb up.
"Alright, let's do this. Add these to the pile of materials if you think it can be useful." Josh happily handed over a few things, including the elemental soul and the tormented ectoplasm.
He was using this opportunity to get rid of any weird thing he had ever gotten. The man nodded, toyed with the killer robot for a few minutes, and then happily took a step back. That's when a pool rose from the ground, apparently a mixing vat.
"With this, we are done. Now we go back to the surface and wait for everything to be over."
"I thought only people with the blacksmith class could use magical ingredients?!"
"Well, yeah, but actually no. This is just going to be the initial mixing of it all. Hopefully, it will bring about a nice magical alloy that I will then be able to use to make you a weapon."
"Gotcha!"
The two then climbed back up, closing the metallic trapdoor behind them. Markus and his friend had gone away to do god know what.
"Alright, let's set some ground rules first. Whatever happens, do not open the door to the basement. Are we clear?" He stressed while frowning his brows.
"Alright, but why?"
"It's really hard to tell when the process is actually over. I don't want you causing a catastrophe, that's all."
"Roger that." He would believe in his expertise.
"Nice. 3 …2 …1…showtime!" He happily shouted, with the eagerness of a drunk guy on new year's eve.
Then followed a long silence. But, it could have been longer as it soon turned into a shitshow. Tons of weird sounds suddenly echoed down there, creating a cacophony with one another.
There was creaking, the sound of explosions, the sorrowful cries, the clanging, and even more. It was as if some sound engineer had just played it ALL without care!
"Nice, it's begun."
No shit, it started! With such a commotion happening, Josh freaking hoped it had started. What else could it be? A prank, perhaps?
But it wasn't over just yet. After the sound, the trembling happened. The entire underground began to rumble as it made their floor vibrate. It was as if there was a storm happening down there.
Actually, scratch there. There was a fucking storm happening down there! The floor was becoming wetter by the second as some weird green water seemed to be overflowing.
"Uh, this is weird." The apprentice remarked.
"Weird? Weird good or weird bad?"
"Well, normally, the room down there should be perfectly sealed. This means that the only way for this to be here is if every security measure has been breached…." He said, seemingly pensive.
"Isn't that bad?" Even Josh realized this.
But then the man touched the green water, before gasping softly:
"Ah, I see! This water isn't truly material. It seems to be some kind of specter, probably because of that tormented soul thingy." He explained with relief.
His relief didn't falter when a green ghost went through the floorboard and began hovering around them.
The creature was cold, glowing, and didn't seem to be noticing them. It just had fun floating there, not doing anything in particular.
"Wow, this is amazing! I'll have to record this for future reference. This is great!" He was so deep in research mode that he was a lost cause for sure.
After a while and lots of wails, the phantom finally plunged back into the ground. Did this mean that the process was almost over? Had it been a success or a failure?
That's when the whole phenomenon suddenly magnified out of nowhere. Pieces of the forge began to fall apart as the roar of monsters was heard down there.
Did the whole place become a freaking dungeon?! What the fuck was happening?! But then everything returned to still calmness. It was finally over, or so it seemed.
But then something very peculiar happened.
The metallic trapdoor suddenly opened. That was the weird part: it didn't get blasted off or even slammed open. Nope, it ever-so delicately opened, as if guided by an invisible hand.
The two could only look at each other in puzzlement. The blacksmith bit the bullet and spoke up.
"Let me go first."
Alright, he was the expert after all….
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