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nThe sun had started to rest for the day, giving way to a cold, breezy night.

nHowever, on this particular night. Viktor enjoyed his sleep under a much warmer condition, for he had cleaned the best room in an abandoned monastery and made it as comfortable as possible.

nHe even made sure Barry did a deep cleaning on every nook and cranny by checking every place. On the now pristine floor, a goose-feather mattress has been set up, and a sweet scent wafted from a flickering candle on a small drawer next to the bed, setting a beautiful mood even amidst the gloomy darkness.

nNow, all he needed to do was wait for the main character to come and join him. A smirk appeared on his face when he thought what they would be doing through the entire night.

nUnfortunately, like how she always did, the princess would take her 2 hour preparation before doing part of her weekly routine. It involved a long and nice shower, a detailed routine through several kinds of beauty products, and an exercise of the body and mind to keep things perfect.

nAs always, those agonizing two hours only served to further warm his loins.

nHowever, Viktor was unable to have them all.

nCurrently, a blue husky and a little rat Gucci waited in the room, accompanying him in his suffering. In anger, he glared at them and said as discreetly as possible.

n“When she’s here, you two get out! Do you hear me?!” said Viktor while pointing his fingers at the two creatures.

n“Woof woof!”

nThe blue husky barked in a carefree tone while the golden lemmings ignored him as usual. Once again, the thought to throw the rat away as far as possible resurfaced in his mind, threatening to take over.

nViktor took a deep breath to calm his emotions and decided it would be best if he redirected his mind to something else before he went stir-crazy. For starters, he decided to check his stats that he hadn’t checked for quite some time.-.

nViktor Romanov

nStrength – 29 Agility – 49 Endurance – 30

nBattle Power – 36 Spirit Force – 37

nEarth realm – initial stage

nCore of Anvil – Stage 2: 4.5%

nThe first thing Viktor noticed from the array of texts was how little metal essence he received from all the metal he found along the way to the monastery. He could feel the bitter disappointment that gradually creeped into his heart.

nHe did a rough calculation, and found out it was about 5 times harder to gather metal essence now. For example, when he extracted metals from an abandoned car, previously he could get about 2% on stage one, but now that he had advanced to stage two, he only got less than 0.5%.

nThe difference was truly depressing.

nRather than stewing in his desires and feel tortured, it would probably be best for Viktor to do some experiments with his ability. Maybe that would also help settling the persistent itch he felt.

nHe had been thinking about doing this for most of his time, and now it was probably a good time to give it a try.

nImmediately, Viktor took out all the melee weapons he looted today and put them on the table.

nHe then touched the alien bracelet on his wrist. Even though the bracelet is unable to access his data, he discovered that it had a function that allowed it to scan what appears to be ordinary items and get their basic information that way.

n0131 – Sword – Tier 1

nLength 90 centimeters, width 13 centimeters, weight 12.5 kilograms

n0126 – Saber – Tier 1

nLength 95 centimeters, width 15 centimeters, weight 14.5 kilograms

n0588 – Mace – Tier 1

nLength 128 centimeters, width 28 centimeters, weight 35 kilograms

n0421 – Spear – Tier 1

nLength 185 centimeters, width 5 centimeters, weight 18.5 kilograms

n0249 – Dagger – Tier 1

nLength 39 centimeters, width 3 centimeters, weight 7.5 kilograms

n2064 – Axe – Tier 2

nLength 82 centimeters, width 15 centimeters, weight 19 kilograms

nAll the alien weapons he had collected had a ‘tier 1’ modifier on its description, while the ax was of a higher level. Even without the scanner, Viktor could tell the weapon was much stronger and sharper even from a glance alone.

nThe normal combat knives, or even any weapons made of metal Viktor carried could not be scanned at all. From this, Viktor assumed that those alien weapons he possessed must have a higher level of metal essence.

nWith that in mind, Viktor finally decided to give his theory a test.

nHe chose the biggest, and most unusual item; the mace

nNot only because of its seemingly higher level, the reason he had chosen the mace for this risky experiment was because he didn’t think he would be using it in combat any time soon. Hence, instead of gathering dust in the ring, he decided to sacrifice it in the name of progress.

n“Here goes nothing.”

nViktor placed his palm on the mace and subsequently closed his eyes. Right as he started thinking about the skill, just like he had many times before, he saw through the millions of particles inside the metal. However, unlike before, he could feel how the particles scattered before his eyes were much purer than any metal he had ever extracted before.

nMetal Extraction

n30 medium-level metal essence extracted

n48% progress to stage two Anvil core

nCore of Anvil stage two : 52.5%

n“Wow!!!”

nIt was only one object, and he was able to fill almost 50% of the required amount! Viktor was so excited that he decided to do whatever it took to upgrade his core to the second level today. Naturally, by sacrificing those items he obtained.

nOut of all the weapons he obtained, Viktor personally thought that the sword and saber were something easier to use for his bodyguards. Hence, he decided to shelve them away for future uses and extract the spears instead.

nMetal Extraction

n25 medium-level metal essence extracted

n27% progress to stage two Anvil core

nCore of Anvil stage two : 79.5%

nAs he extracted them, Viktor realized that the amount of metal essence he obtained may have something to do with the metal volume, hence he decided to take the saber as the third one in hopes that it would answer his conjecture.

nMetal Extraction

n18 medium-level metal essence extracted

n20% progress to stage two Anvil core

nCore of Anvil stage one : 99.5%

n“Blyat!!”

nViktor couldn’t hold himself from cursing when he saw the irritating percentage. For a moment, he thought that this thing was toying with him by displaying such a so-close-yet-so-far end result.

nOnly less than one percent more, and he would be done. Viktor gritted his teeth, took all the metal he had collected today for upgrading the sledge, and extracted some of them to finally get the 0.5 percent he needed.

nAfter the deed was done, Viktor immediately felt the spirit core which was located on his inner plexus started to heat up before the awaited notification came.

nMetal forged successfully.

nCore of Anvil – Stage 2: 100%

nYou have successfully forged Core of Anvil – Stage 2

nYour spirit core has been upgraded to stage 3.

nYour spirit force has increased by 5 points.

nYou have learned a new spell – Metal-tempering

nAs the heat settled into warmth and cooled down, Viktor could feel a great power flow throughout his veins, all radiating from his spirit core.. The feeling was nothing less than exhilarating, and he could not wait to give his newfound power a try.

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