Chapter 631 Silium (2)

Belto.

He was a dwarf who had lived in Elvenheim more than a century ago.

No one knew what circumstances had brought him to Elvenheim.

All they knew was that Elvenheim’s sole dwarf had been exceptional.

True to the nature of his race, Belto was skilled at everything he touched.

Elves were a race that relied on the aid of spirits and animals and primarily wielded bows.

To them, Belto was indispensable.

He excelled at construction, bow-making, and countless other crafts, becoming a central figure in Elvenheim.

But there was one thing Belto did better than anything else...

Mining.

After crafting an item he called the Miner King’s Pickaxe, Belto had declared:

“Orichalcum must be a mineral found only here in Elvenheim. It resembles black amethyst, yet it is incredibly hard. It is a magnificent mineral unlike anything possessed by elves, humans, or even dwarves. It makes no sense to leave something so extraordinary rotting inside a mine.”

Belto rushed into the mine and brought about a revolution that very day.

He bestowed the gift of orichalcum upon the forests of the elves.

Arrowheads he crafted from orichalcum were several times superior to those made by ordinary elves.

Armor he crafted from orichalcum could not easily be penetrated even by the arrows of Gordon, King of the Elves, one of the greatest kings of his age.

Belto never extracted a tremendous quantity, but the orichalcum he brought back each year unquestionably transformed Elvenheim.

Belto, the elves’ treasured friend.

One day, he had approached Elder Verua in a state of breathless excitement.

“I found an even more extraordinary piece of orichalcum!”

“What?”

Considering Belto’s normally quiet and serious disposition, his behavior was unfamiliar.

“The orichalcum was white. I believe it has remained embedded there for an immense length of time, absorbing the finest essence from a place filled with orichalcum. I compared a fragment of it to ordinary orichalcum, and the results were astonishing.”

“It possesses far greater elasticity and durability than ordinary orichalcum. Yes—the human world’s adamantium. That white mineral could be called the human world’s adamantium without the slightest exaggeration!”

The human world’s adamantium.

Verua had been delighted when he heard those words, precisely because they had come from Belto.

With the innocent expression of a young child, Belto had said:

“Someday, I will extract that white orichalcum.”

Their friend Belto, also known as the Legendary Miner.

He had sworn that he would one day extract the white orichalcum, but he never fulfilled that wish.

He had entered the mine to extract it and never returned.

That was right.

Belto, the friend of the elves.

They had not even been able to recover his body.

With Belto’s disappearance, the white orichalcum was recorded as nothing more than a “legendary” mineral that would remain beyond anyone’s reach forever.

And yet, now—

“......Impossible.”

It rested in the hand of a human who had been granted only three days inside the Orichalcum Mine.

Its appearance was identical to orichalcum, but its mysterious white color gave it an otherworldly quality.

Verua also realized that he had misspoken.

If you found something else, then it belongs to you.

He should have insisted otherwise.

Even if the man had found something other than orichalcum, Verua should have claimed it belonged to the elves because the mine was theirs!

But Verua himself had already acknowledged that it belonged to the man.

Had those words come from an ordinary elf, it might not have mattered.

However—

“That’s the white orichalcum Belto spoke of, isn’t it?”

“How did he...?”

Verua had publicly declared that the mineral belonged to the man in front of the other elves. There was no taking it back now.

Setting that aside, Verua wanted to know something.

The white orichalcum his friend Belto had desired so desperately.

“Do you know the name of this mineral?”

The man answered.

“Silium.”

A name meaning a secretive and mysterious mineral.

At long last, the mysterious orichalcum that had remained hidden in secrecy had emerged from behind its veil.

The name suits it perfectly.

Verua made a request.

“May I examine it?”

“Yes.”

The man readily granted permission.

The moment Verua inspected it, he cried out.

“Gasp...!”

Belto’s words.

Verua had once wondered whether they might have contained at least a hint of exaggeration.

Adamantium, the mineral of the gods.

He had believed such a material could exist only in the land of the gods.

Forgive me for doubting you, my friend...

But everything his friend Belto had said was true.

Verua rubbed his eyes and examined it again.

(Silium)

Grade: Transcendent

Restriction: Level 600 or higher Master Blacksmith

Difficulty: Highest

Special Abilities

· Cutting power increases by 270% when crafting a sword.

· Penetrating power increases by 256% when crafting arrows.

· Strength and Dexterity increase by up to 89%.

· Attack Speed increases by up to 310%.

· Durability can increase without limit.

Description: Contains every advantage of the legendary mineral orichalcum. It weighs half as much as orichalcum, yet possesses twice its strength, making it superior to any other mineral. It could be said to stand one grade beyond Transcendent.

Verua possessed a deep understanding of ordinary orichalcum.

Taking that into consideration, the increases to cutting power, penetrating power, Strength, and Dexterity—

Even the increase to Attack Speed—

Every one of them was two to three times greater.

It appeared that because the mineral had developed somewhere other than the land of the gods, it had not received a divine-grade classification.

However, the statement that it stood one grade beyond Transcendent meant it could likely rival even the lowest Mythic grade.

Elder Verua was also one of the rare elves who wielded a rapier.

Even now, he carried the rapier Belto had gifted him, crafted from the lowest-quality orichalcum.

He imagined what would happen if a reasonably fine rapier were crafted from Silium.

An attack that once required two strikes would need only one.

That was the result of its enhanced cutting and penetrating power.

On top of that, the wielder’s Attack Speed would become three times faster.

If the wielder could originally thrust five times per second, that number would rise to fifteen.

The weapon would strike harder while also attacking far more often!

Of course, that assumed it was placed in the hands of an excellent craftsman and forged into a reasonably fine weapon.

TREMBLE—

Verua’s body shook.

Was it because he was about to let this man steal Silium from directly beneath his nose?

No.

It was because the extraordinary properties of the Silium his friend had described were real.

“Why are you...?”

The man asked as Verua shed tears as large as beans.

Verua explained everything.

Once the entire story had been told, Verua felt the weight of his responsibility as an elder.

“Would you be willing to sell us five hundred grams of Silium?”

Even at a glance, the piece of Silium in the man’s hand appeared to weigh approximately two kilograms.

Two kilograms was enough to craft a single sword.

Verua knew that losing five hundred grams would be a severe sacrifice.

However—

“This Silium would teach us elves a great deal. It would also serve as proof that Silium, a mineral resembling adamantium, existed in Elvenheim for all those years.”

That alone held tremendous significance.

Verua made his decision.

“We will purchase it for one million Gold.”

Minerals were ordinarily priced by the quantity required to craft a single sword.

In other words, two kilograms of Silium would be needed.

Five hundred grams of Silium was certainly not worth one million Gold under ordinary standards.

But rarity was special.

At times, an object’s value was simply whatever price someone was willing to name.

Yes, surrendering five hundred grams would not be an easy decision.

In the end, Verua knew the man would refuse to sell it.

Gordon, King of the Elves, might even hold Verua responsible once he learned what had happened.

And yet—

“I’ll sell it.”

“......”

Elder Verua had been certain the man would fail and had sent him into the mine partly to mock him.

This was a man who had overcome countless hardships because he needed orichalcum.

After being treated so harshly, Verua could not understand why he would agree to sell it.

“Why...?”

When Elder Verua asked, the man looked around and smiled.

“This Silium was the wish of a dwarf who once lived upon this land. To the elves, it is proof by which they can remember a dear friend.”

He met the eyes of the elves one by one.

A stranger from another land was comforting them.

“That is why.”

“......”

“Those five hundred grams of Silium are the elves’ memories.”

“Ah... Ah...”

Elder Verua gasped in admiration.

The man had not merely considered the material value of Silium.

He had recognized the memories it represented.

Through his own hands, he had fulfilled Belto’s lifelong wish and returned the result to the elves.

Tens of thousands of elves would now be able to see Silium for themselves.

They would look upon what the dwarf who had lived in their land had left behind and remember their friend.

Then the man spoke.

“In exchange, rather than paying me one million Gold, how about allowing me to keep the twenty percent of the orichalcum I was supposed to give you?”

Verua was moved once again.

That twenty percent of orichalcum could not possibly compare to one million Gold.

How much could the man have extracted in a mere three days?

He was even showing consideration for the elves’ impoverished finances.

“Thank you... I will never forget this kindness.”

Elder Verua.

He immediately carried the Silium the man had obtained to Gordon, King of the Elves.

Before Gordon, whose long silver hair flowed beneath a crown woven from noble leaves, Verua delivered his report.

“He possessed only two kilograms of Silium, yet he willingly handed over five hundred grams. Though we offered him fair compensation, I would never have sold it in his position.”

“Furthermore, he sold it because he understood that it represented the memory of our friend, the dwarf Belto. In exchange, he merely asked that we waive the twenty percent share of the orichalcum he had promised us. It was practically a gift.”

“......”

Gordon, King of the Elves.

In all his life, he had never seen Elder Verua speak so excitedly about another person.

Verua’s entire account was delivered to Gordon without omission.

Had the elves still possessed orichalcum...

They would never have been threatened by Vadalla, the dark elf, in the first place.

Now, by acquiring the new and extraordinary Silium, the elves had opened the way to new possibilities.

Gordon also realized why Elder Verua continued speaking so passionately about a single human.

Gordon rose, understood Verua’s feelings, and proclaimed:

“Tell the elves that we have gained a new friend.”

That declaration—

It marked the first such occasion in a full century, since the time of the dwarf Belto.

At the same time.

Hyunsoo was listening to a series of notifications.

[Gordon, King of the Elves, makes a proclamation!]

[He announces that the elves have gained a new friend for the first time in one hundred years.]

[He may receive the respect of the elves and, at times, learn archery with their assistance.]

[A friend of the elves is special.]

[You may purchase every item sold by the elves at cost.]

DING—!

[You are the first human to become a friend of the elves.]

[You have gained 3 to all stats.]

[You have gained 200 Fame.]

Hyunsoo smiled contentedly as the notifications continued without end.

One notification in particular pleased him more than the others.

Becoming a friend of the elves meant—

[You are the elves’ only human friend!]

[You have been granted access to 54,301 quests associated with the elves!]

It meant he could experience countless stories stemming from them.

I did give them five hundred grams of Silium...

Hyunsoo did not regret it in the slightest.

He checked the Silium inside his inventory.

[You currently possess 5.5 kg of Silium.]

For the record, Hyunsoo had never once said that he possessed only two kilograms of Silium.

Of course, through Belto, Verua had probably possessed a rough idea of how much Silium existed in the mine.

However—

He could not have known that Hyunsoo’s first-entrant benefit doubled the quantity of minerals he extracted.

Furthermore, one of the artifacts Hyunsoo had borrowed from the kingdom, the Miner Mother’s Necklace, granted an additional forty percent of any mineral extracted.

But while Silium was important, there was another reason that mattered even more.

Orichalcum.

The reason Hyunsoo had chosen the elves’ twenty-percent share of the orichalcum instead of one million Gold.

[You currently possess 111 kg of Orichalcum.]

That twenty percent of the orichalcum was worth far more than one million Gold.

“......Sniff.”

Hyunsoo was overwhelmed with emotion.

This was the moment the nation of Hyun became the only nation in possession of more than one hundred kilograms of orichalcum.