My attributes are increasing infinitely Chapter 450: Blacksmith
Previously on My attributes are increasing infinitely...
Lilia and Ethan dashed onward until the landscape they'd fled vanished completely from view.
Initially, subtle noises persisted. Faraway yells. Perhaps locals stumbling upon the crimson stains. Or maybe silence. Gradually, those echoes dissolved too. In no time, the woods enveloped them alone. Countless stems soared skyward, resembling columns upholding the heavens. The atmosphere chilled. Moist. Untamed.
Lilia tripped and clutched a trunk to regain her balance.
"I can’t... I can’t run anymore," she panted.
Ethan halted right away. He'd been matching her speed, yet it still outpaced what a regular lady could handle. Gazing at her slender frame heaving up and down, a subtle ache pierced his heart.
He'd pulled her into this mess.
"Yumiko," he queried silently, "what’s our next move?"
[Master, a settlement lies one hundred kilometers to the east. Still, linger in the woods for another seven days. Your form will finish its rapid development phase. At that point, your looks will settle into a youth's phase. Following that, the shifts will ease considerably.]
Ethan gave a small nod.
He faced Lilia.
"Aunt, let’s remain in the woods for seven days."
Her gaze fixed on him as if he'd proposed leaping into an abyss.
"Stay? In this place?"
"I received a legacy from a supreme expert," he explained steadily. "That’s the reason for my swift growth. It won’t last. Hiding here a week will make me appear more mature. Folks won’t freak out. We’ll gain more security."
Lilia gazed at him intently. Just seven days prior, he resembled a small child. Now his words flowed with eerie composure.
"Yet the woods hold dangers too," she murmured. "Loggers wander in. Hunters prowl. And further within... tales speak of eerie occurrences."
"They won’t reach our spot." Ethan assured her with a grin.
"What about wild animals?"
He grinned.
"No harm will come."
He spoke truly. Lacking energy arts, his bodily power and soul had become freakish already. He managed to shift items via sheer mental might. Soul experts dominated this realm, and he neared their domain.
"Hold on here."
He ventured a brief way off and pressed his palm against a hefty toppled branch. Applying measured might, he carved and molded it solely through force and accuracy. Splinters drifted down like flakes. In moments, a level timber slab emerged.
Rough yet practical.
He set it before her.
"Aunt, stand on it."
She blinked.
"Why?"
"Give it a go."
With reluctance, she mounted the slab.
Ethan concentrated.
The board rose.
Lilia’s eyes bulged as the earth fell away below. She didn’t quite feel devoid of weight, but buoyed. Upheld. As if poised on serene waves.
"Ethan..."
He offered only a comforting grin.
Then he began striding.
The timber followed him, hovering steadily in the breeze like the woodland bore her aloft. Foliage whisked by. Limbs yielded. Gloom danced.
They journeyed that way nonstop for four hours.
At last, the foliage grew denser. Rays battled to breach the overhead. The breeze grew thick and timeless. Ethan paused.
"This depth suffices."
He refrained from pressing on. Further in lurked mightier soul creatures. Even he avoided needless risks now.
Over the ensuing seven days, they existed like phantoms.
They avoided lingering anywhere extended. Should Ethan detect motion or catch remote axes or chatter, they shifted spots at once. By dark, he pursued game silently. Stags. Hares. One time a feral pig.
Lilia observed with mounting wonder.
Every dawn brought a fresh change to him.
Taller.
Wider frame.
Keener traits.
On the seventh day, the evolution halted.
[Master: Ethan Hunt
Physique: 320 Tonnes
Spirit: 320 Tonnes
Talent: Infinite Comprehension]
He now appeared as a sixteen-year-old lad. Slender. Sculpted. His visage held innate balance that would spark envy in aristocrats. His gaze stayed serene, nearly idle, but subtly perilous.
He came back from foraging, slinging a stag casually across his back.
Lilia gawked without restraint this time.
"You’ve turned far too striking," she remarked with a playful smirk. "Wherever you wander, women will stir chaos."
Ethan chuckled.
"Let them. That’s for future Ethan to handle."
She shook her head with affection.
"Time to exit the woods," he declared. "We’ll trade the stag, secure lodging in the village, and begin anew."
Yet he glanced rearward.
"I’ll unravel your secret another time," he thought to himself. He’d glimpsed something astonishing back there and aimed to puzzle it out alone, bypassing Yumiko.
He advanced.
The breeze shimmered softly.
In a blink, they surged dozens of meters forward. Then repeated. And again.
As they progressed, he pondered internally, "Yumiko, any idea on the divine fruit’s location?"
[No, master. Its fate is veiled by the Tower. My power falls short to pierce that safeguard.]
He breathed out gradually.
Naturally, simplicity eluded it.
By dusk, the timberland eased. The stems opened to fields. Afar rose a humble village encircled by timber barriers.
No sentries by the entrance.
No checks.
They passed through unchallenged.
Ethan bore the stag still.
"Hey!" a fellow shouted. "Trading that?"
"Yes."
"I’ll offer fifty silvers."
The deal seemed just. Ethan accepted without debate.
He passed the stag and claimed the currency.
Afterward, he located a simple tavern. Thirty silvers for dual chambers over five nights. Fair enough. He settled the bill promptly.
The next dawn, he departed at first light.
To gain sway, he required fame.
And fame demanded prowess.
He strolled the lanes until spotting his target. A forge nestled amid two grander structures. The placard dangled askew.
An elder pounded sluggishly, every blow missing vigor.
Ethan entered.
The aged smith peered up.
"What brings you, lad?"
"I seek employment."
The elder guffawed.
"This place scarcely sustains me. No wages to spare. Try Henry Smith for labor. They draw real patrons."
"Payment can wait," Ethan responded evenly. "Let me borrow your gear. I’ll craft an item that draws crowds rushing over."
The elder squinted.
He’d intended to shutter the forge that day. Decades of fading had exhausted him. But this bold youngster intrigued him.
"Hahaha. Alright. Demonstrate your skill."
Ethan approached the hearth.
"Yumiko."
[Understood.]
A method emerged in his thoughts.
[Basic Weapon Creation]
Before the details fully integrated, an impulse awakened within.
[Ding! Infinite Comprehension activated. Basic Weapon Creation has been upgraded.]
[Chaos Ember Creation Technique]
Ethan’s mouth quirked faintly.
Nice.
He grasped unrefined ore.
He immersed the ore in flames and concentrated.
He didn’t merely warm the metal.
He broke it down.
Through his senses, the essence’s framework disintegrated to core elements. Flaws appeared like fractures in crystal. He refined them. Reshaped them. Reformed them.
The aged smith’s grin vanished.
His pounding arm stilled.
Ethan raised the radiant ore and started forming it. Every hammer blow rang true.
The clang resonated uniquely.
Time ticked by.
Beads of perspiration dotted Ethan’s brow, born of focus rather than fatigue. As the edge solidified, he stretched his mental reach and inscribed.
A symbol.
The Chaos Ember Creation Technique enabled etching symbols of principles into arms, granting the armament the symbol’s trait. He’d grasped all cosmic principles eons ago. Thus, inscribing one proved effortless.
He infused modest strength, not excess.
Sufficient to let this edge slice through all beneath martial grand master level.
In typical scenarios, forging such from plain ore defied possibility.
Yet the Chaos Ember Creation Technique transcended usual limits.
The symbol merged flawlessly into the edge.
Upon cooling, vapors erupted in a fierce sizzle.
Quiet blanketed the forge.
Ethan seized the completed dagger and offered it to the elder.
"Test it on that iron bar."
The aged smith accepted it dubiously. He snatched a sturdy metal shaft from the side and slashed.
The bar cleaved smoothly.
His inhale hitched.
He tried once more. And repeated.
Each pass the dagger sliced with ease.
The elder’s grip quivered a bit.
"This... this defies common craft," he breathed.
Ethan merely grinned.
"Display it by the entrance."
The elder regarded him as if beholding riches.
"Your name?"
"Ethan."
"Well, Ethan," the elder uttered deliberately, gaze gleaming after years, "it looks like my forge stays open today."