Inside the sepulchral vault of the Northern End Cave, the air was so still it felt crystalline. To the twenty-four knights standing guard at the periphery, Arthur was a statue of silver and shadow, a young lord paralyzed by the radiant majesty of the golden pedestal. They saw a man in awe.
They were wrong. Arthur was in the middle of a metaphysical civil war.
[You are already my apprentice, yet you still covet that scrap of paper? Have I not given you the keys to the heavens?]
The voice of Madra, the Undefeated King, didn't just echo; it vibrated in the very marrow of Arthur's bones.
It was the voice of a man who had stood alone against the tides of the Great Demons at the Behen Archipelago and didn't blink.
To Madra, a sword was a divine extension of the soul. To see his disciple eyeing the legacy of a "blacksmith" was akin to a lion watching its cub take an interest in knitting.
"Master, your pride is as sharp as your blade," Arthur replied through the Soul Link, his mental voice a calm lake reflecting a storm.
"But even the Undefeated King requires a vessel. Pagma's legacy is not a replacement for your strength—it is the armor that will house it."
[Explain yourself, boy,] Madra grumbled. The murderous edge of his killing intent softened into the wary curiosity of an old lion.
"You are the greatest swordsman to ever walk the earth," Arthur argued, his thoughts accelerating with the help of Ciel's processing power.
"But even the 100,000 Army Swordsmanship puts a suicidal strain on a mundane blade. If I use Pagma's techniques to forge a weapon of mythic density... if I create armor that channels your Heart Strength without shattering... I won't just be your successor. I will be the one who completes your legend. I will stand on the shoulders of two giants to reach for the throat of the Gods."
A heavy, suffocating silence followed. It was the silence of a Legend realizing his student's ambition was far more terrifying than his own.
[Hmph. Do as you wish. But if your smithing is anything less than perfection, do not dare call yourself my disciple. I will personally shatter any blade that is unworthy of my name.]
With Madra's begrudging blessing, Arthur focused on the glowing interface of his unique AI.
"Ciel, execute the metadata extraction. I want the techniques, the blueprints, and the essence—but do not trigger the 'Open' command. Leave the physical state of the book intact."
Arthur's hand remained flat on the leather cover. To the Morpheus AI—the god-machine governing Satisfy—Arthur wasn't "reading" the book. He was simply a player copying an item.
However, Ciel was bypassing the traditional logic gates. Just as she had reconstructed Madra's swordsmanship from a rusted sheath, she was now "ripping" the raw data of Pagma's book.
A faint, blue digital pulse—invisible to the NPCs—rippled from Arthur's fingertips.
[Scanning 'Pagma's Rare Book'...]
[24%... 58%... 91%...]
[Extraction Complete.]
[Player's Title Plunderer activated and player has utilized 'Plunder' to duplicate the Essence of the Legendary Blacksmith.]
[Synthesizing Hidden Growth Class...]
[Congratulations! You have obtained the Hidden Class: Pagma's Apprentice (Unique/Growth).]
Arthur's eyes snapped open. He hadn't become a Legend—not yet. By opting for the Apprentice title, he avoided the catastrophic level reset and stat redistribution that would have turned him back into a Level 1 weakling.
More importantly, he left the Pagma's Successor class intact within the book. The bait for Grid remained set.
As the new class merged with his consciousness, the world changed. The "feel" of the hammer, the molecular scent of quenching oil, and the ability to see the structural "stress points" in every object in the room flooded his mind.
[Skill Learned: Legendary Blacksmith's Appraisal]
[Skill Learned: Legendary Blacksmith's Craftsmanship]
Arthur turned his gaze toward the racks of "unobtainable" battle gear.
Ping!
As his eyes swept across a heavy, obsidian-colored claymore, a detailed blueprint erupted in his vision.
[Blueprint Recorded: Black Obsidian Greatsword]
Rating: Rare~Unique
Description: Forged from volcanic black iron. Increases physical damage by 15% during the night.
Arthur began to walk the vault. He didn't pick up the weapons; he didn't need to. He simply brushed his fingers against the hilts, the shields, and the breastplates.
"Ciel, record every alloy. Every folding technique. Every magical enchantment etched into these gears. Fill the Blacksmith's Codex."
The knights watched in utter confusion. "Sir Arthur? What are you doing?" Captain Darius asked, stepping closer.
"I am paying my respects," Arthur said, his voice carrying a strange, transcendental resonance. "Every weapon here has a story. I am simply... listening to their tales."
Arthur was effectively "stealing" the entire treasury of the Northern End Cave without moving a single gram of weight.
In a few months, once he secured a high-tier forge, he wouldn't need to rely on the mercy of RNG or boss drops. He would mass-produce the "Forbidden Gears" of the North.
He looked back at the golden pedestal. Grid would eventually come here. Grid would take the book, suffer the debt, and spend thousands of hours hammering iron to pay off his bills. Grid would become a laborer who eventually became a God.
But Arthur? Arthur was the architect.
Imagine a sword with the attack power of Failure, but refined with the weight-reduction of a rapier, capable of executing a 5-joint attack enhanced by the 1,000,000 Army Annihilation Sword.
"Pagma's Successor is a worker," Arthur thought, turning toward the exit. "But Pagma's Apprentice, who is also the Disciple of the Undefeated King... is a Myth in the making."
"We're done here," Arthur announced, his voice snapping the knights out of their daze. "The treasures of this cave are not meant for us today. But we leave with something far more valuable: the vision of what is possible."
Captain Darius bowed deeply. "As you say, Sir Arthur. Your wisdom exceeds your years."
As the group turned to begin the long trek back through the labyrinth, Arthur took one last look at the golden book. The trap for the protagonist was set. The butterfly had flapped its wings, and the storm was coming.
Arthur walked into the darkness of the tunnel, his levels rising, his blueprints filling, and the soul of a King whispering slaughter into his ear.
The original story was about a man who worked hard to become a God. Arthur's story was about a man who knew he was an Absolute, and was simply waiting for the world to catch up.
[Current Status]
* Level: 172
* Class: Disciple of the Undefeated King / Pagma's Apprentice (Unique/Growth)
* Reputation: 1,700 (Continental)
* Blueprints Acquired: 142 (Unique: 12, Legendary: 1)