Seeing someone approach, the knights standing in front of the smithy shot Nova a glance. Not recognizing him, they quickly turned back and resumed their conversation. 'I need to borrow this smithy for a few hours, but…' Nova looked at the dozen knights gathered around and finished his thought. 'I doubt I can get it any time soon.'

He sighed and muttered, "There's no other choice."

With calm steps, he walked up to the nearest knights and asked, "Are you lining up to enter the smithy?"

The knights, who had been chatting among themselves, turned their heads toward Nova once more.

"Is this guy a new knight or something?"

"He must be, or else why would he ask something so stupid?"

"Hey, hey, try to be civil. We're all here to get our stuff done. No need to cause unnecessary trouble."

Scoffs and laughter rang out as every knight, except the last one, ignored Nova.

The last knight, a burly middle-aged man, turned to him and said apologetically, "Sorry, but I doubt you can go first. Everyone here needs to either repair or get a new weapon. But if you feel like waiting, you can join us. Time will fly faster while chatting."

'What a nice knight… reminds me a bit of Kahn,' Nova thought. Glancing at the other knights waiting, he asked, "How long does it usually take to clear this line?"

The burly knight stood silent for a moment before replying, "Five to six hours, depending on how many of them need to recast their weapons."

Nova nodded and moved toward the back of the line, under the watchful eyes of the knight, who muttered, "Luckily he didn't try to cause any tro—"

His words died in his throat, and his eyes widened as he saw Nova pick up the last knight in line with one hand and throw him dozens of meters away, like a pebble skimming across the street. "What…"

Before the burly knight could continue, Nova grabbed the next knight and hurled him as well. The same happened to the others, one by one, until the burly knight, mouth wide open, stared at Nova standing before him.

'I can't be too harsh on him, he's the only one who tried to help when the others mocked me,' Nova thought. He patted the burly knight on the shoulder and said, "You'll enter after me."

His gaze shifted to the group of knights who had ignored him earlier. "If you try to stop me from entering, I'll make you eat mud. Understood?"

One of the knights opened his mouth to protest, but the burly knight immediately silenced him and whispered a few words to the group. Seeing several of their comrades lying on the ground, the others stayed quiet. Heads lowered, animosity still evident in their eyes, but they could do nothing but swallow it down.

Nova walked inside, leaving behind two words that made the few knights standing there tremble with anger: "Good choice."

Inside, the tent was filled with materials, armor, and weapons, packed so tightly that there was barely room for two people to walk side by side. If a third joined, moving without bumping into someone else would be impossible.

He looked around and thought, 'This smithy sucks, but there isn't a better alternative. I need Dreadscape as soon as possible.'

The clang of metal snapped him from his thoughts, drawing his attention to the source. There, a brawny man with bulging muscles was hammering a piece of metal into what looked like a saber.

Without hesitation, Nova approached him. After several steps, he stood next to the blacksmith, who was too focused to notice someone had arrived.

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Nova's eyes lingered briefly on the blacksmith before shifting to the saber taking shape. 'Not bad… but still not as good as that random blacksmith who forged Fragmented Star. I have to give it to this guy, though, he's probably forging random pieces of equipment day and night. If he truly focused on a single piece, he might forge a weapon even better than it.'

Although the blacksmith wasn't particularly skilled, Nova continued observing him, trying to learn anything that might help advance his own forging technique.

After several minutes, with one final clang, the blacksmith raised his hammer and wiped the sweat from his forehead, staring down at the saber on the anvil. "Another average weapon has been finished," he muttered.

"Average? You mean trash, right?"

Nova's voice rang out right beside the blacksmith, causing him to jolt in panic and surprise.

The shock quickly faded, replaced by anger. The blacksmith glared at the young man beside him, eyes burning. "Who gave you permission to enter my smithy? Who are you?" His knuckles whitened around the hammer, and his breathing grew faster with each passing second.

Nova nonchalantly picked up the saber, gave it a few test swings, and set it back on the anvil. "Calm down. I'm here to borrow your smithy to—"

Feeling mocked and insulted, the blacksmith didn't let Nova finish speaking and, instead, swung the hammer straight at him without a second thought.

Furrowing his brow, Nova grabbed the hammer with one hand while his other shot toward the blacksmith's throat. 'What a madman… anyone who hasn't unlocked Aura would've died to that strike.'

"Do you want me to give you an eternal sleep, or will you calm down on your own?" Nova said coldly. The blacksmith's attempted murder had already erased any trace of goodwill Nova might have felt toward a fellow smith.

Gripped by such overwhelming strength that made all hope of escape vanish, the blacksmith became sober, letting out only a gurgle instead of words.

Nova released both the hammer and the blacksmith. "Go stand ten meters away from me. And if you feel like dying, do let me know, I won't let go next time."

Gasping for air, the blacksmith slowly moved back. When he could finally speak, he muttered in a huff, "Someone like you can't forge… you're wasting your time."

Lost in his thoughts, Nova hadn't heard a single word, and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared.

'I can use the bear's bones for the shaft… as for the spearhead…' Nova thought. 'I want to smelt Fragmented Star and use it, but I'm not entirely sure I can bring out its full potential. I might even destroy the sword and gain nothing.'

He shook his head. 'It's best if I hold on to it until I gain more experience, only then I'll be able to unlock its full potential. Anyway, I don't lack materials for the spearhead, I've picked up plenty of good ones from those towns and cities in Blackridge. It's only a matter of finding the one I like the most.'

His mind sifted through his inventory, searching for a material that could both complement him and be suitable for what he wanted. Minutes ticked by as he examined hundreds of items, but nothing caught his eye until he found a purple stone with a faint, inner glow.

[Lightning Rock] (A stone tempered by countless storms, it absorbed lightning until the element became part of its nature, turning its color into a bright purple. Light yet durable, it amplifies lightning magic, letting spells strike harder with less effort.)

'If I can keep the increased lightning affinity from the stone intact, it will complement my wind core and make forming the lightning core easier. Perfect. This will be the main material for the new spearhead.'

He tossed the lightning rock into the forge and was about to turn away, but stopped in place.

"For old time's sake, I'll toss in the old Dreadscape too," he muttered. Nova turned, fished out the old, broken spear, and stared at it for several seconds before tossing it into the forge.

A dozen meters away, the blacksmith saw this and smirked. "I was right. How can a brute like him be good at blacksmithing? Hmph… if only I were stronger, I would've already cut off one of his arms and thrown him out of here."

While waiting for the forge to reach the proper temperature, Nova took a leg from the bear and began working on it, slowly cleaning it until only the pale white bone remained. Then he chopped and shaped it until it felt comfortable in his hands.

'This is the first time I've used a bone as part of my forging. Hopefully I won't waste the material,' Nova thought, and got to work.

Refining and strengthening a bone to serve as a spear shaft was no easy feat; it required following several precise steps before it could be considered ready. Time passed as Nova worked on the shaft, all while keeping track of the materials he had thrown into the forge. Four hours later, under the blacksmith's wide-eyed stare, he finally finished preparing the bone, and the materials were ready to be refined.

Focused, he retrieved his hammer from his Inventory. With a pair of tongs, he lifted the materials from the forge and placed them on the anvil. With a single, powerful swing, he brought the hammer down with all his strength.

The resulting clang rang out like a thunderclap, so violently that the blacksmith's ears throbbed and he felt as though he might pass out at any moment.

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