Hail the King

-Deep inside the tunnel behind the underground cave-

This was a space that was much larger than the [City of Heroes]. This place was surrounded by an icy, bottomless abyss, leaving the tunnel as the only way to come and go from here.

Cracks could be seen everywhere on the ground, making it look like a dry river bed. However, the heat that could be sensed through the cracks told everyone that this place was way scarier than a dry river bed.

In the middle of this space, there was a pyramid-like mountain of white bones. It was about 700 meters tall, the diameter at the bottom of the mountain was more than 1,000 meters.

The bones were very reflective, and blue will-o’-the-wisps were burning from time to time, adding to the strange yet mystic beauty of this place.

More than a dozen simple tents were constructed beside this mountain of white bones, and crisp metal-colliding noises sounded from around the tents. From these sounds alone, one could tell that the blacksmith who was doing the forging must be a master. That person was able to turn the ear-piercing noise into rhythmic music, making people fell for it.

Suddenly, a blue magic energy flame flashed on a portable magic teleportation station that was located beside the tent.

Then, Fei, Brook, and Torres appeared on it.

“Almost nothing changed……” Fei glanced around and noticed everything. Compared with the huge changes that took place in the [City of Heroes], this mysterious space didn’t get altered that much. The only thing different was that there were a few more tents.

Of course, Fei knew the reason.

Every 20 days or so, terrifying ice blocks would be jetted out of the dark abyss, and the cracks on the ground would also shoot out terrifying Flames of Earth Core. The drastic difference in temperature would create rainstorms and tornadoes, and the wind alone could blow Nine-Star Warriors away.

Since the environment in this place was so terrible, it was meaningless trying to construct permanent buildings here.

However, since the Flames of Earth Core was required to melt the [Demons’ Remains] and [Black Stone Essences], most of the forging of weapons and armors were done here. During the days when there was no rainstorm and tornado, the busty blacksmith from the Diablo World, Charsi, would bring her disciples from Chambord here. They would live in these tents and forge items with iron hammers beside the magic furnaces that could suck the energy from the Flames of Earth Core underground.

“Huh? Alexander, you are here? Long time no see! Eh, you are a lot more handsome and cuter than before! I heard that you are going to marry our [Flower of Rogue] soon? You are very lucky! It is rare to see a powerful, cute, and gentle female rogue like Elena……” As soon as she saw Fei, Charsi, who was swinging her hammer and forging a huge weapon, greeted Fei passionately as she swiped the sweat off her forehead.

Charsi was such a simple yet warm-hearted girl.

Out of all the NPCs from [Rogue Encampment], she was the only one who ignored Fei’s identity as the supreme leader of the camp as well as the King of Chambord; she treated Fei like a real friend. Ever since Fei got her that magical hammer, she had been very passionate toward him and called him handsome and cute.

“Eh, thanks for the hard work,” Fei walked up and greeted the members in Charsi’s team.

There was a ton of renovation happening every day. If it weren’t for Charsi and other blacksmiths such as Samuel who all worked day and nights, the progress wouldn’t be that quick. Cain, Akara, and Fei only came up with the ideas and the blueprints, and actually turning the blueprints into reality required a lot of skill and confidence. Everything in Chambord that had magic runes engraved on them was made by Charsi and her assistants.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Charsi’s team of 50 to 60 people worked the hardest in Chambord, and they deserved a lot of credits.

“Hahaha, it is not hard at all! We are used to it. If I don’t swing the hammer and forge something, I would feel like I lost my loved one!” Charsi showed Fei her magical hammer as a bright smile appeared on her face and her red ponytail fluttered in the air.

This girl was a born-blacksmith; the most enjoyable thing in her life was forging.

In reality, every person in [Rogue Encampment] was obsessed with something. For example, Akara and Cain were in love with magic research, Charsi was obsessed with forging, Merchant Gheed was great at reading other people’s minds, and Military Leader Kashya was crazy about killing enemies…… It felt like all of them were living for their passions, and no ordinary people could understand them

To Fei, they were all top talents, and he was desperate for their help.

“Yeah, if I don’t listen to Master Charsi’s hammering noises for a day, I could feel like I haven’t eaten anything for the whole day……” this female blacksmith’s no.1 disciple, Samuel, smiled and said to the king as well.

This man was the former no.1 blacksmith at Chambord, and he didn’t want to admit defeat to Charsi. Now, his attitude completely changed, and he saw Charsi as his master. Out of all the blacksmiths here, he got the most progress in skills. He was able to forge a magic item on his own now, and he was a rare blacksmith that even thousands of gold coins couldn’t recruit.

The passionate NPCs from [Rogue Encampment] were helping Fei by teaching and raising groups of talents.

Fei went to watch these blacksmith work. He saw Ed Hazard’s father, Terry Hazard, working here as well.

This man lost his right leg in the battle against the black-armored enemies, and Fei designed a prosthesis for him. Now, this man was able to stand straight and continue his passion for forging.

The king got interested in forging as well after seeing everyone doing it, and he gave it a shot as well. However, he destroyed six pieces of work-in-process items that were close to becoming magic items in a row, so he gave up; it looked like he didn’t have talent in this aspect.

Soon, the blacksmith started to pack up. They took down the tents, put their tools away, and left this place using the portable teleportation station.

The event that would occur every month was about to arrive.

The chilly energy from the abyss was getting more and more intense, and ice blocks shot out from the abyss. Also, more and more heat energy was coming from the cracks on the ground.

Since the rainstorm was about to hit, the blacksmiths who were weak wouldn’t be able to stand up against this situation.

Under Fei’s persuasion, Brook and Torres also left with the blacksmiths; Fei was the only one who was there.

Soon, as clapping noises sounded, huge drops of water fell. The rain got more aggressive, and it felt like someone was pouring water out of a gigantic bucket.

Bam Bam! Bam!

Huge pieces of ice blocks were tossed up from the bottomless abyss, and the Flames of Earth Core started to appear. All the moisture in the air around Fei was evaporated and turned into liquid before falling onto the ground.

As the cold and hot air mixed, the terrifying tornadoes appeared.

When Fei first encountered this a year ago, he almost lost his life. It was fortunate that he tied himself to a stone pillar made from [Black Stone Essence]; that move saved his life, and it also allowed him to see the mysterious altar at the bottom of the mountain of white bones.

Compared with a year ago, Fei’s strength had improved drastically.

Faced with the heavy rainstorm and tornadoes, Fei created an invisible energy sphere and blocked off everything two meters away. Without being affected, Fei calmly walked forward.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The crazy wind blew all the pieces of [Demons’ Remains] into the air.

Soon, the entire mountain made of white bones flew into the air, and it looked like a cloud of bones in the sky. The bones spun and circled in the air as if they were alive, and the ear-piercing bone-grinding noises made when the bones hit each other resonated in the area. The entire scene was terrifying.

As the white bones flew into the air, it revealed the mysterious no-name altar which was at the bottom of the mountain of white bones.

Fei walked toward this mysterious altar and stared at the blue portal on it; he wasn’t sure if he should enter or not. After all, he didn’t know where it led to.

As the king thought about this question, he looked away from the portal and focused onto the scriptures that were lightly engraved on this mysterious altar.

He made some discoveries.