Chapter 178

# Friend of the Fairies (2)

“Oh! The friend of the Dwarves! Long time no see!”

It was the voice of the Dwarves’ Great Patriarch, Bangart.

Bangart welcomed me while looking behind me.

“But why are you alone?”

He was asking about the other Dwarves who had accompanied me to the Western District.

I’m sure he was worried. Humans were not the only ones who fear the Western District. Dwarves despised going there as well because of the demonic aura.

I heard that there were some Dwarves who challenged the Western District and died too. We lost some of our friends during this trip as well.

“Goonto is safe. He is helping me out in my hometown right now.”

Bangart who had been worried relaxed his expression again.

“Ah, is that so? Haha. Then why are you here on your own?”

Of course, I was here to get some Jewels of Fortification. Nobody had more Jewels of Fortification than the Dwarves.

There was also something I wanted to test out.

“I came here because I need Jewels of Fortification.”

“Didn’t you take a lot of them with you last time?”

I did. They probably don’t have many left here if I consider the ones Goonto’s group brought with them as well.

However, was this the only Dwarf village?

Although Dwarves were very independent, they gathered together well for two things.

Those two things were mining and blacksmithing.

They should be able to get more Jewels of Fortification from the other villages if they need it.

“I used them all fortifying my brothers’ weapons two levels. I used all of the ones I had on me. It is now time to fortify them another level, but I cannot do it as I do not have any more jewels.”

“W, what? Three levels? Is that even possible?’

Why would three levels be a problem? My weapon and armor set have both already been fortified five levels.

Honestly speaking, I was looking forward to the sixth level fortification as well. It was because my friendliness with the fairies increased significantly after finishing the Fairy’s Quest.

Thanks to that, my Jewel Alchemy experience level exponentially shot up as well. It had instantly shot up from level 4 to level 5.

[Jewel Alchemy: Advanced Level 5, 21%]

“I’ll know if I try. But I am lacking jewels. I think I would need a significant amount of them to challenge the third level.”

Bangart’s lips were pretty much curled up to his ears at this point. The ‘brothers’ I was talking about were the Dwarves, and Bangart’s son Goonto was included in that group.

Even Dwarves had a similar paternal love for their children.

“Good thing I asked our neighboring villages for some jewels not too long ago. Feel free to take as many as you need.”

I followed Bangart into the underground storage room.

It was full of jewels as Bangart had mentioned. They were not all Jewels of Fortification. There were a lot of Jewels of Luck and Chaos Jewels as well.

Honestly speaking, I didn’t care for Jewels of Luck anymore. I can get as many of them as I want now.

It was the same for the Jewels of Fortification. Although they were rare in the human world, they were quite common in the Dwarf world.

And I was already a brother of the Dwarves.

But Chaos Jewels were different. This was a precious jewel for the Dwarves as well. It was also the most precious item when trading with humans.

Even the king of the Ameri Kingdom has to work hard to find a Chaos Jewel.

There were a total of 31 of those Chaos Jewels here.

I wanted to take them all for myself. No, I wanted all of the Chaos Jewels the other Dwarves Villages had as well.

How could I make that happen? I looked at the jewels for a moment and suddenly came up with a decent idea.

However, I wonder if I can haggle for a bargain?

I need to keep a poker face if I want to haggle. I need to make the Dwarves get nervous first.

Then I need to show them my abilities first.

“620 Jewels of Fortification. This should be enough to have some left over even after fortifying the brothers’ weapons. Should I fortify the other brothers’ weapons as well? Of course, that would include your weapon, Great Patriarch-nim.”

“Oh, will you do that? I’m sure all of the brothers would work together to give you a fitting reward if you do.”

That doesn’t sound bad.

However, I never said I would fortify the weapons of the Dwarves here. It’s not like all of my Dwarven brethren were gathered in this village.

“I wish to make a deal with the other Dwarf Chieftains as well if possible. I will fortify five weapons from this village and five weapons for the five other Chieftains. Great Patriarch-nim, can you send the invite to the other villages?”

“That’s not hard. All of the other Chieftains are curious about you after hearing stories. I’m sure they will be here in a moment if I invite them.”

Stories about me have already spread?

I suppose it makes sense because Jewel Alchemists are rare even for Dwarves. My skill level is overwhelmingly high as well.

“Then let’s hurry. I’m sure Goonto and the other brothers are waiting for me with their eyes almost popping out by now.”

“I’ll send the invites right away.”

The Dwarf Village’s Volcanus Temple.

Dwarves soon started to almost stampede out of there a few minutes later.

But there were too many of them. I said I would fortify a total of 10 weapons, but over 100 Dwarves had gathered.

But that was not it. Other Dwarves continued to gather inside the temple.

I looked toward Great Patriarch Bangart.

“I thought I said that I was only going to fortify ten people’s weapons.”

Great Patriarch Bangart had a slightly awkward expression on his face.

“I know. But how can I stop them from coming? Just treat the other Dwarves as spectators.”

I then noticed exactly ten Dwarves gathering together away from the others. Based on the fact that they each had a weapon on them, they must be the ones who were chosen to have their weapons fortified.

I wasn’t losing anything from it.

In fact, this was good for me. The reason I invited the other Dwarf Chieftains was so that I could show them my abilities.

That way, many Dwarves would be desperate to receive my fortification, bringing many Chaos Jewels to trade with me.

That meant that this was a chance to raise my value!

‘I need to make their eyes pop out with this chance.’

“Then shall we get started? Did you all bring Jewels of Fortification with you?”

The Dwarves each handed over Jewels of Fortification.

However, they all had different expressions on their faces. The Dwarves from Bangart’s village all looked excited while the other Dwarf Chieftains looked at me with suspicion.

Just wait a moment, you’ll see.

I didn’t rush. I should hurry if I considered Harrison’s group waiting for me in Avanguarde or Goonto’s group waiting for me in Titan Valley, but I needed to take advantage of an opportunity given to me.

“The first fortification is free. However, you will need to bring Chaos Jewels if you want the second level or higher.”

The other Dwarf Chieftains looked slightly shocked after hearing my comment.

“Something past the second level of fortification is possible?”

“The rumors must be true!”

“I knew that would be the case and brought a Chaos Jewel with me. I will definitely confirm if this human’s words are true today.”

Why don’t you have those conversations where I can’t hear it?

This atmosphere felt as if they were threatening me.

Of course, I didn’t even pretend to listen. Bangart just waited at the end of the line as if he didn’t hear anything either.

I received the Jewels of Fortification from one of the Dwarves.

There were a total of three of them.

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 8%]

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 7%]

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 7%]

‘Oh, what the hell? Why are the Fortification indexes so low?’

The three Fortification indexes combined was only at 22%.

Of course, the highest fortification index I can combine right now was 22%.

But that was after 1 or 2 percentage points were decreased in the combination process.

Combining these three jewels would at max give a 20% limit.

“Do you not have any with higher fortification indexes? This is only going to be disadvantageous for you.”

“Aren’t those three enough to easily get past 15%?”

“15% is easy. But are you satisfied with that? Don’t you want to fortify it with something over 20% while you are at it?”

“Hmm? Something over 20% is possible?”

They seem to be looking down on my abilities.

I guess it makes sense since Jewel Alchemy is a rare skill even for the blacksmithing Dwarves. They probably don’t believe that I can combine jewels to get past a 20% fortification index.

But they were not stupid. He quickly took another Jewel of Fortification out of his pocket and handed it to me.

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 7%]

This should help me reach the highest fortification index possible. I had to combine one extra jewel, but I didn’t use any mental strength combining jewels anymore.

I first combined an 8% and a 7% jewel.

The combination was quick. It was over in less than one minute.

‘Is it at about 14%?’

I opened my palm to check the results.

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 15%]

‘Oh! 15% came out. Hmm? 15% came out?’

I was satisfied with the good results before my mind jolted awake. This meant too much to just be satisfied.

I had succeeded in a 100% combination without losing even 1%. That meant that I managed to combine jewels without losing any Fairy Energy at all.

I quickly called Great Patriarch Bangart over.

“Great Patriarch-nim. Could you please come here?”

“What is it?”

Bangart quickly came over.

I quietly showed him the results. Bangart just checked the information with his eyes as the fortification index would cut in half once he touched it.

There was no need to compare it with the beginning materials. The blacksmith occupation quest was something given by Volcanus.

Bangart just worked as a proxy.

That was why Bangart was able to quickly figure out what happened.

Bangart smiled so much his lips looked ready to rip.

“You finally accomplished it!”

I then heard a voice in my head.

Pages: 1 Pages ( 1 of 2 ): 1<You have completed the second occupation quest for Best Blacksmith.

Your friendliness with the fairies has permanently increased by 300 as a reward.>

My friendliness with the fairies had increased by 1,000 just now at Peria Mountain. That was why I wasn’t too excited about it going up by 300.

However, there was significance to the fact that I had completed the quest.

The other Dwarves dropped their jaws in shock as well. The fact that I was challenging the Best Blacksmith title using Jewel Alchemy was shocking.

However, I had already completed the second quest and was waiting for the third.

Bangart seemed anxious as well. He quickly delivered the god’s message.

“I will immediately give you the third quest. Go up to Peria Mountain and complete at least one of the Fairy’s Quest.”

‘Huh? What the heck?’

Bangart’s jaws dropped as soon as he gave me the quest.

“My goodness. You have already completed a Fairy’s Quest. Then the third quest has been completed.”

<You have completed the third occupation quest for Best Blacksmith.

You have received a Chaos Jewel as a reward.>

‘Oh, a Chaos Jewel!’

I had gathered a good number of Chaos Jewels already.

However, both Jewels of Luck and Chaos Jewels were things that were the more the merrier.

Furthermore, I had received it as a quest reward. The quality should be different than ones that miners had mined from the ground.

I quickly checked it out.

[Chaos Jewel: Detection Index 91]

‘Wow! A detection index of 91!’

I had over 50 Chaos Jewels already.

However, the highest detection index was barely 67.

Honestly, 67 was very high and I shouldn’t say barely. Most Chaos Jewels only had detection indexes of under 20.

There was nothing I could do about it. The miners mined them with 30-40 detection indexes but it fell by half as soon as it changed hands.

That was why it was impossible to get Chaos Jewels with high detection indexes unless I mined it myself.

Even then, it would be hard to find one higher than 50.

But 91…

‘I need to use this at a very important time.’

Bangart gave me the fourth quest while I was doing that.

But the atmosphere was serious this time as well.

“This is the fourth quest. Go visit the Fairy on Peria Mountain and earn the title of ‘Friend of the Fairies.’ Gasp!”

Bangart gasped.

He was not the only one. My ‘Friend of the Fairies’ title that was hidden was temporarily revealed once the quest was given.

The Dwarves who saw the title almost fell down in shock.

“How is this possible?”

“A Friend of the Fairies!”

“Who is this human?”

“Is he a Dragon pretending to be a human?”

This feels odd. It’s definitely good, but I can’t hold it in because it’s so good.

It’s really hard to maintain a calm expression.

I wonder what the reward would be this time.

<You have completed the fourth occupation quest for Best Blacksmith.

You have received a Fire Elemental as a reward.>

Translator: Miraclerifle