Edison placed The Source into his inventory orb.
Watching as the glowing stone vanished into the purple haze.
Even in the inventory storage, he could still sense the flame.
"With enough practice," Guide mused, "you could channel those flames during smithing. Might finally craft something worthy of being called Master-grade."
Edison shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "It's not that simple."
"It's not just about slapping magic flames onto hot metal. There's something else... something I'm missing."
He got up and paced back and forth in his stone chamber, boots scuffing against the worn floor.
Five months under Fabby's tutelage had taught him the physical motions perfectly - the hammer angles, the quenching times, the fold patterns.
Yet every attempt at Master-grade crafting ended the same way: good weapons, sometimes even excellent ones, but never that quality he'd seen in Fabby's creations.
"And I can't figure out the breaking point," he admitted aloud.
The unspoken thought hung heavier in his mind: And my master communicates in grunts and hmphs.
Snubby chose that moment to butt her head against his ankle, nearly tripping him mid-stride.
Edison looked down at the poro's wide, innocent eyes and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yeah, yeah... Priorities." He fished out another Poro-Snax from his inventory.
As the little creature happily munched away, Edison exhaled slowly, letting the frustration bleed from his shoulders.
Mastery didn't come overnight.
Not for normal guys like him who got no real talent, and certainly not for someone trying to learn crafting techniques from poro of all living things.
He stretched his arms overhead, feeling joints pop.
"Enough worrying for today."
There would be time for breakthroughs in the future.
"Alright," Edison clapped his hand and suddenly said.
"Guess it's about time to leave this place."
"Oh?" Guide responded with a hint of surprise, "So you've finally decided?"
"Yeah," Edison nodded, his fingers tracing the edge of his inventory orb. "It's time to face it."
Ever since he'd first stumbled into Ornn's forge, one question had gnawed at him - what timeline had he been thrust into?
He knew he probably wasn't around 6000-8000 BN, not with the Hearthblood already wiped out.
But that still left millennia of possibilities, each more terrifying than the last.
He'd never dared to ask Guide for the exact year.
The cost was negligible, just 50 SP.
But the answer might reveal that he's in the era of Shurima's Ascended, or worse, the height of the Great Darkin War.
Maybe even the world-ending Rune Wars.
Any of those scenarios would be very bad for someone like him.
But now, with The Source pulsing safely in his inventory and five months of training, he feel like he could defend himself.
"Guide," Edison said, his voice dropping to a serious tone he rarely used. "Tell me what year it is."
A system notification chimed in his mind:
[50 SP deducted]
[Current SP: 2,660]
The pause that followed stretched like taffy. Then Guide spoke the number that would define his future:
"It's 990 AN."
"990 AN... 990 AN..." Edison muttered, pacing across the stone floor.
Then he remembered.
"That's when Swain rises to power!" A grin split his face. "I'm in modern Runeterra!"
His celebration lasted exactly three seconds before the second realization struck like a hammer blow.
He froze mid-step.
"Wait... that means..."
His eyes widened. "This is around the same timeline as Arcane!"
Edison didn't know the exact dates, but he remembered enough - it had to be sometime after Swain killed Darkwill and formed the Trifarix.
The pieces clicked together with terrifying clarity.
"Hell nah!" Edison yelled so loudly it echoed through the chamber, startling Snubby into dropping her treat.
"No way I'm missing that!"
Memories flooded back - binge-watching the first season of Arcane, the stunning animation, that heartbreaking finale.
After his parents died, he'd never gotten around to watching season two.
Now? He had a chance to witness it all firsthand.
"Now calm down," Guide chided, "Can't you see you're scaring poor Snubby?"
Edison looked down to find the little poro cautiously pawing at his boot, her ears flattened slightly from his sudden yelling.
He immediately fished out another Poro-Snax from his inventory orb and knelt down.
"Sorry for yelling, Snubby," he murmured, offering the treat in his open palm.
The poro's apprehension lasted exactly as long as it took to sniff the snack before she let out an enthusiastic "Prrt!" and devoured it in one bite.
Edison couldn't help but smile as he watched her tiny tail wag.
Poros really are too adorable, he thought, scratching behind her ears.
On impulse, he scooped her up and held her at eye level. "You wanna come with me?"
Snubby tilted her head, her dark eyes blinking slowly. Then, with an excited squeak, she launched herself at Edison's face, licking his nose repeatedly.
"Well, good for you," Guide remarked dryly. "But you'll need to prepare properly. You've still got to cross the entire continent of Valoran. Might want to plan your route before charging off into the unknown."
Edison took a deep breath, the initial burst of adrenaline fading. "Yeah... yeah, you're right. Thanks for reminding me, Guide."
"Oh, what would you do without me?" Guide teased.
"Don't push it," Edison grumbled, though there was no real heat behind it.
He set Snubby down on his pack as he began gathering his few possessions from around the chamber.
As Edison collected the little he owned and placed it into his Inventory Orb, the stone door slammed open an explosive force, making him jump.
He looked up to see the Fabled Poro standing there.
"God, why do you always do that?" Edison complained.
After six months of living here, the Fabled Poro had never once opened that door normally.
At this point, Edison was honestly starting to wonder if he was trying to break the door down on.
But the Fabled Poro simply stared.
Edison met the poro's gaze for a moment, the silence stretching between them.
Finally, Edison exhaled, set down the items in his hands, and said in a straightforward tone, "I'm leaving."
The Fabled Poro didn't grunt as usual. Instead, it just stared at him.
Then, with a deliberate wave of its hammer, it gestured.
Edison's eyes widened as four smaller poros, each wearing a blacksmith's apron, scurried in. Together, they carried something bundled in thick cloth and straps.
The little poros stopped in the center of the room and set the bundle down with a high-pitched yelp.
Edison crouched, eyes flicking between the bundle and the Fabled Poro.
"Is this… for me?"
The Fabled Poro let out a soft hmph and gave a single, solemn nod.
Edison unfastened the straps holding the bundle together and his eyes widened.
A massive, dark two-handed warhammer lay before him. Its head was forged from blackened steel, etched with faint runes that shimmered like smoldering embers in the light of the forge.
The haft was thick and reinforced with iron bands, designed to absorb the recoil of immense blows, while the pommel ended in a weighted spike, balancing the hammer for devastating swings.
Even at first glance, it radiated raw power.
Edison reached out, fingertips brushing the hammer's blackened steel.
The moment his skin made contact, a faint ripple of light pulsed beneath the runes—followed instantly by a soft chime.
A translucent window blinked into existence before him.
[Forgebound Hammer]
Grade: Master
Properties: Fully conductive to elemental energy. Automatically adapts, amplifies, and applies any element channeled through it. Increases elemental output by 30%.
Edison's jaw dropped as he read the description, the words refusing to fully register for a moment. A weapon like this… was far beyond anything he had expected—far beyond anything he had even dared to imagine.
Guide's voice echoed in his mind, sounding just as stunned as he felt.
"…You lucky son of a bitch," Guide breathed, voice cracking just slightly. "This is—this is an incredibly powerful piece of equipment."
"This hammer is deceptively simple, but extremely powerful. It channels any elemental energy you use, amplifies it, and applies it automatically on impact. Fire, ice, lightning—you name it."
Disregarding Guide's enthusiasm, Edison lifted his gaze to the Fabled Poro.
"Is this… really for me?" he asked again, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Fabled Poro gave a solemn nod, eyes steady and unwavering.
Edison blinked. He didn't know what to say.
He already had a few Elite-grade hammers stored safely in his inventory, hidden when the Fabled Poro wasn't looking.
Over the months, through four wartime delta challenges—including two set in medieval battlegrounds—he had found that warhammers were his preferred weapons.
Perhaps it was because of the countless hours he had spent swinging a hammer at the forge, or maybe something else.
Either way, holding one now brought an unexpected sense of comfort.
He looked at the Fabled Poro again. Hundreds of words of gratitude churned in his mind. All of it condensed into two simple words:
"Thank you."