Eric stood on the same spot for a long time with a dumbfounded expression.
Beneath his feet lay white sands, and directly some dozen meters away in front of him was a cave with an artistically pleasing white door.
Eric had arrived at the Heart-Shaped Island.
He wanted to curse, but he held back and just stood there silently.
It was already evening, and the 'Make It Romantic' array had started to show its magic. Many colorful, transparent orbs had escaped from their confinement and were floating around randomly, making the entire island mesmerizingly beautiful.
Eric had heard Lysandra's 'farewell', and before he could react or say anything, in the blink of an eye, he was swiftly transported in front of the cave where he had stayed for the past two days.
It happened so fast that to him, the previous image of being near the ocean with his tasty-looking long-eared crush felt like an illusion—as if he had always been in front of the cave and only now woke to reality.
Eric sighed.
He could only imagine how heartbroken Elara must have been, watching powerlessly as her lover was 'extinguished' right before her helpless eyes...
'Hm... Why does this sound like a perfect script for a tragic story—The Rise of a Tyrannical Elven Queen who first slaughtered her mother before beginning her conquest over all elves...'
Leaving that aside, he was feeling a headache.
Eric wondered if Lysandra was intentionally pranking him by sending him to the island and delaying his return to town for at least another week. It would also be difficult to return, as he would need to find a safe place to climb the huge cliff without getting smashed by the violent ocean waves.
Riya was also startled by the sudden change but, after collecting herself, spoke excitedly: "Just go check inside the cave! I have a feeling... some good stuff might be there. Hehe..."
Eric rolled his eyes. He also suspected the same. Lysandra wanted to pass him the dowry but knew he would reject it—so she took the forceful approach, leaving him no choice but to accept.
He snorted coldly to himself. If Lysandra thought she could pawn off her sweetest daughter on him with just a few gifts, then she must have been out of her mind! No matter how much she left behind, he wouldn't share his bedroom with any girl for a long time—which included boys as well...
Riya rolled her eyes. "She must have left behind a cure for you and probably a few other things as well!"
She was very excited. As long as Lysandra left behind more than just elixirs, she would be ecstatic, especially if they were Tier 1 potions or pills. And even if it was just an elixir for Eric's cure, she could confirm whether her initial guess—that she could use his Mana through the Mind Space—was possible or not.
As long as this was possible, many things would become executable for her, and if it failed, she could only continue being a ghost and a psychiatrist, though she could still come up with new ideas.
Eric sighed and started walking toward the cave while grumbling, "She should have just handed it to me if it was just an elixir. I don't think Grandma mentioned that an elixir was a room-sized bottle or something."
Eric was also somewhat excited internally. Perhaps the day had finally arrived when he would have his first time... ahem, his first awakening to become a Mana Wielder!
Riya rolled her eyes. 'Just how many times does he think people can awaken to become Mana Wielders?'
After entering the cave, Eric stared blankly at the completely new makeover of the room.
He was speechless.
Just like in the past, the place was brightly lit with something called luminous stones, but the room itself had changed.
Previously, it was just a mother-daughter pair's room, along with a kitchen, bathroom, and living room all mixed up, but now it seemed to have transformed into a complete, huge living room.
Eric had a deep suspicion that the room's size had also increased, but leaving that aside for now, there were now gorgeous, expensive-looking sofas, tables, and other furnishings, making the entire room look like an emperor's living quarters.
After looking around for a while with a genuinely bewildered expression, Eric's attention was soon caught by something.
On one side of the room, near a clean white wall, a waist-high pedestal stood with a round, black, glossy ball placed atop it.
After moving closer, Eric noticed a note beside the palm-sized dark orb. He picked up the note and began reading.
"Inside this 'Memory Orb,' there is information on the four types of Mana Beasts up to Rank 2 Elder stage."
"Give up, kid. It takes at least two or three early-stage Rank 4 Mana Wielders just to fight a 'Newborn' Rank 3! Don't ask for more—even in your mind!"
"Just send your Mana inside the orb, and you will understand how this 'Memory Orb' works."
Eric's lips twitched. Yes, if only he could send Mana… but more importantly, how did she know he would be cursing her in his mind for stopping at Rank 2 Mana Beasts?
Eric shook his head and put the note back where it was. He then checked the area and didn't find any 'cure' anywhere in the king's living room. So, it must be in the servants room, right?
He turned toward the door that led to his room.
Oddly, he felt something very strange about it, as if he was about to enter a forbidden chamber.
And so, with anticipation, he opened the door—and was once again speechless.
He didn't see his room. Instead, there was a corridor with quite a few doors on both sides.
Eric was truly speechless and even felt his heart thump in fear.
He feared that Lysandra had gone crazy and turned this pitiful hill into a beehive.
If the hill collapsed upon him, he might enjoy getting crushed once again.
Eric calmly opened the first left door closest to him, and as soon as he walked in, he nearly fell onto his butt.
"Impossible!" Even Riya was shocked.
The room was massive.
Eric estimated that the room was as huge as a football stadium—it was probably even bigger than the hill's base!
Eric and Riya were truly shocked.
Eric and Riya both stayed silent, wondering if they had mistakenly walked into a different dimension or another world altogether.
After a while, Eric gathered his courage and looked around, noticing that the room had three open sections.
He walked around and saw there was a bloody big forge inside! And what's more—it was still burning!
He quickly checked, and indeed, there was ventilation. Thank the evil gods—Lysandra hadn't forgotten that.
After looking around, Eric saw many incomprehensible things, such as countless coin purses on tables. After reading the short note, he learned these were Space Pouches, and an Apprentice Rank would be able to use them. Inside them were more blacksmithing materials.
Other than those pouches, there were many metals and various materials on countless shelves around the room. Each of the three sections had different materials.
Eric had no idea what some of the machines were for. He even saw a sewing machine and was speechless.
He also saw an anvil, hammer, metalworking tools, and even woodworking tools—along with many other unrecognizable tools—so he didn't bother with them for now.
Similarly, there were 'Memory Orbs' on each of the three sections, and the notes beside them said that they contained knowledge on armor, weapon smithing, and tailoring.
Eric had no idea what Lysandra wanted from him—a blacksmith son-in-law? Yeah, although he had many interesting weapon and clothing designs in his head from Earth's cosplay world, he had no interest in becoming a blacksmith.
"Blacksmithing can earn us lots of money!" Riya exclaimed with excitement.
Eric waved his hand. "Yeah, you can come out and work on them if you're that interested."
Riya was speechless.
Eric left Riya to her depression and noticed something that made his eyes go wide.
"I-isn't that?" Eric gulped.
He quickly dashed over and stood in front of a hammer beside the forge. There were quite a few beautiful designs things scattered around, but this hammer took almost all of his attention.
"I don't think it's that guy's hammer—it's different!" Riya commented, equally speechless.
Eric snorted. How would she know?
Although visually it was even more high-class, the overall shape was similar to 'that' hammer.
It was deep blue in color, with various beautiful symbols or designs carved into it.
Eric even felt that if he could successfully wield it, thunder might come out of it.
The more Eric looked at the hammer, the more he felt he was the destined one to lift it—and so, he tried.
"Huh?" He was bewildered, having used enough strength to lift nearly 200 kg—yet he still failed.
He frowned and finally used all his strength, but no matter how much he tried, it seemed stuck to the ground, as if it were a part of it.
Eric started gasping for breath.
It seemed he was not the destined one...
His motivation to live shattered, and he grew depressed.
Riya consoled him: "I think this is something only Mana Wielders could lift. Probably many other tools here are the same."
Eric sat on the ground, ignoring the heat from the forge beside him.
After coming out of depression, he shook his head in denial. "Even a Rank 1 won't be able to lift such a heavy thing. I'm sure."
After killing so many Rank 1s, Eric had some grasp over their stats. He could even say that probably not even a mid-stage or late-stage Rank 1 would be able to lift it.
Riya thought for a moment and guessed, "You probably need to send Mana to lift these things up? And those symbols... I have a feeling they're not just for aesthetic looks."
Eric nodded in agreement.
Even though he was proud to be ignorant, he at least knew that blacksmiths don't forge elixirs, so this room was probably only there to make him salivate without touching anything.
"But all this is honestly too much..." Riya said, both amazed and bewildered.
Leaving aside space pouches and whatever was inside them, the entire soccer field-sized area contained too many metals, tools, and more.
Many of them glowed with different colors. Though she didn't know what metals those were, this was undeniably a massive resource warehouse.
Riya couldn't understand what Lysandra was planning by providing so many resources to Eric—he probably wouldn't even be able to use them all up within a few years, even if he worked non-stop.
Eric pondered deeply before answering, "I think she's just too desperate to sell her daughter to me."
Riya slipped and fell. Perhaps Eric wasn't wrong anymore...
Eric continued muttering internally, "According to the note, she says all the resources range from low-grade Tier 1 all the way to peak-grade Tier 2. She also mentions I'll only be able to work that far if my stats are reasonably high and I use the tools she provided—otherwise, forging even early-grade Tier 2 would be very difficult until the late stage of Rank 3."
Riya nodded. She had also read the note together with Eric.
She guessed these 'helping tools' might be truly exceptional; otherwise, forging peak-grade Tier 2 might require a Master Rank blacksmith.
For now, she would remain uncertain until Eric used those Memory Orbs.
Eric continued with a thoughtful look, "There was this one line mentioned—'Try as far as you can to improve your stats.' So, I'm guessing she gave such massive resources just to play around with them and 'train' stats."
"I think working out with so many metals while making armor and whatnot will definitely help improve strength and probably constitution stats."
"My guess is she's training me. But what makes no sense isn't the amount of resources, as she might be wealthier than we originally thought—but why do so much for me, or rather us..." He recalled Lysandra's farewell words and felt that she knew of Lyria and Livy, as she mentioned 'three' before throwing him onto the island.
Eric shrugged and stood up. "In any case, we'll know the truth after checking out the other rooms... probably."
Riya quickly nodded, with deep excitement bubbling inside her heart.
She didn't want to imagine too much to avoid disappointment, but she couldn't help it. She was already salivating just from her imagination.
Eric headed toward the door opposite the Blacksmith room.
Eric, as well as Riya, was quite excited. It was like opening 'winning boxes' full of surprises waiting for them to uncover.
Eric just hoped that no clown jumped out and said it was a bummer and his luck sucked.
After opening and entering the room, Eric looked around in complete daze.