[LSB] Chapter 100: The City of Blacksmiths

Two weeks had passed, and Julian was finally nearing their destination—the grand city of blacksmiths, Piathus. If he were to be honest, these had been the longest two weeks of his life… literally.

He hadn’t rested in the traditional sense. Instead, he lived in both worlds seamlessly, alternating between them, fully awake in both worlds. The days stretched unnaturally long, and time itself felt warped, yet he adapted.

Surprisingly, life on Earth felt almost slow, despite the massacre he had just been involved in. Perhaps the fact that he was a mutant caused some reporters to stay away.

There has been, however, one who had been quite insistent in meeting him again and again.

Cindo Solis.

She had approached him again, offering him a position in her exterminator team after hearing the fake reports of him killing yet another daemon. He refused, though he had been momentarily tempted when she mentioned commissioning him to craft weapons and armor for the entire Phantom Brigade—made from xylarion and another material she was keeping secret.

Julian refused, but Cindy insisted. In the end, she still handed him a large piece of Xylarion and an alien hardwood, commissioning him to forge a weapon—an ancient blade known as a guandao.

He could very well live dual lives, an exterminator on Earth and an adventurer on Artemia, and a blacksmith on both. But he decided to focus on his Artemia affairs first since doing both seemed unwise. There was also the fact that he much preferred adventuring in Artemia, even more so now that MEGAN could experience it with him.

His movements were also quite limited back on Earth due to his dramatically overgrowing popularity. He and Ellie couldn’t even go out together anymore without people recognizing them. They also had to move out of the hotel they had been staying in for a long time as it was already infested with the media.

And so, for now, Hannah opted to stay with Talia since the two have gotten quite close, while Julian was once again staying on Ceres-9.

Julian had also approached Cyrus about continuing the livestream, and surprisingly, Cyrus told him that he was already waiting for him on Piathus. Cyrus also, very excitedly, told him about the influx of new subscribers… as well as the ungodly amount of money he was earning from the recordings, highlights, and replays of his streams.

Ever since the tragedy during the Streamer Awards, his subscriber count went from several million… to eight hundred sixty million people, and it was growing by the millisecond. His audience went from people who were only interested in the Otherworld Project and games, to almost everyone.

Just yesterday alone, Cyrus had told him that he earned 610,000 credits. Julian didn’t check how much he had actually earned and opted to leave everything financial to Ellie.

And although they were millions of lightyears away from each other, Julian could swear that he heard Ellie scream the moment she checked his bank account.

“A… lot has changed since we last met.”

“I suppose so, Dr. Sanchez.”

Right now, Julian was back on Ceres-9. He was about to start on Cindy’s commission, but MEGAN reminded him that he had a schedule with a therapist. And so, he was currently lying on the bed while speaking to his therapist, who was sitting beside the bed on an unusually large chair.

Sanchez was staring at him, observing him for a few seconds before tapping and twirling her fingers in the air. She was taking notes, and from the way she had a smile on her face, she seemed somewhat amused with everything Julian had told her. She looked at Julian again before finally lowering her hands and asking,

“And what do you think of the changes happening around you? How are you feeling?”

“Great?” Julian muttered.

“Are you telling me that it’s great, or are you asking me?”

“It’s been great.” Julian sat up as he turned his shoulder toward Sanchez, “MEGAN and Ellie seem to be happy, I have more money than we could spend. I think Ellie’s planning on buying property in Topside New York so we would be able to live close to her new friends, and the added security would be good too.”

“That’s good.” Sanchez smiled, but sighed after a few seconds while shaking her head, “But I’m asking how you feel, not how Ellie and MEGAN feel. And only Ellie’s new friends? From how you told the story, they’re your friends too, no?”

“I guess.” Julian hummed, “And I feel very happy. I get to do what I want, create things that I want with materials I haven’t seen before—I am already satisfied.”

“I have known you since you were four years old, Julian.” Sanchez chuckled as she stood up and started walking around, “I’m the one who taught you how to process your emotions, and how to fake them when you can’t. I’m the one who helped contain the violence you have inside of you. And I can tell when you’re hiding from me, and you’re clearly hiding right now. So, tell me… what do you really feel?”

“It’s not enough.” Julian said, not a hint of hesitation in his voice as he also stood up from the bed, “Money, strength—they are… only a means to an end. I want to create.”

Julian then plunged his hand into the shadows, pulling out Searadyn’s Veil from his Shadow Vault right in front of Sanchez.

“Oh?” Sanchez’s mouth slightly opened as she took several steps back, “That is the power you told me about?”

“Yes,” Julian said as he started shifting the forms of Searadyn’s Veil. First, it was a rapier, and then a shield… and then twin daggers. Since he had lost the other half of Searadyn’s Veil, Julian revamped it inside his Shadow Forge so that it would still have three forms.

He twirled the dagger around his hands several times before shifting it into a rapier again.

“I want to create a weapon that could split the entire world,” Julian whispered as he rested his forehead on the translucent blade.

“That’s a very dangerous thought.” Sanchez raised an eyebrow as she approached Julian, “I hope that you mean that figuratively.”

“No.” Julian hummed.

“You know I’m obligated to report you to the authorities if you’re serious about wanting to destroy the planet, right?” Sanchez sighed, shaking her head before walking back to her seat, “So, tell me again that you want to destroy Earth.”

“Oh…” Julian turned his shoulder to Sanchez before plunging Searadyn’s Veil back to the Shadow Vault, “...I don’t mean Earth or Artemia. I want to create a weapon that could split entire planets or an armor that would not get scratched by a supernova.”

“A lot has happened, and yet your obsession for creating has not changed at all.” Sanchez chuckled, once again twirling and tapping her fingers in the air, “I’m truly excited to see what’s in store for you next. You—”

Before Sanchez could finish her words, she was cut off by a small flame that suddenly materialized right beside Julian.

“Julian! We’re like right outside the gate of the city now! You need to come back!” It was MEGAN, who quickly circled around Julian’s head in excitement. She did stop, however, as soon as she caught a glimpse of Dr. Sanchez casually sitting on the side. MEGAN looked at her with wide eyes for a couple of seconds before waving her tiny hands and saying,

“Oh. Hi, Doc!”

“MEGAN?” Sanchez seemed incredibly amused as she stared at her, “When Julian was telling stories about you at the end, I thought you’d be bigger.”

“I can go bigger,” MEGAN sighed as she checked her hands, “But it would consume too much of Julian’s MP, and he doesn’t really have a lot of that. And also, we kinda need to go. Julian, let’s go! And it was nice seeing you, Doc.”

“It’s nice seeing you too, MEGAN.” Sanchez waved her hand as she watched the tiny flame floating next to Julian fade away. She then let out a long and very deep sigh and placed her hands on her lap, “Well, I won’t keep you any longer.”

“Thank you, Dr. Sanchez.” Julian hummed as he sat back on the bed, “I’ll talk to you at our next session?”

“Hmm.” Dr. Sanchez placed a finger on her chin and tilted her head as she hummed. But after a few seconds, she shook her head and said,

“It was nice talking to you again, but I think this will be our last meeting. I don’t think I’m what you need anymore.”

“But—

“Congratulations, Julian.” Dr. Sanchez stood up, letting out a heavy breath as she turned around, “You’ve finally found your place in the world.”

“...Have I?”

Dr. Sanchez chuckled as she walked away, “No. No, you didn’t. Because you didn’t find it, Julian…you made the world fit you instead. And if I’m right, you will continue to reshape it. Goodbye, it’s been a pleasure watching you grow.”

And with those words, Dr. Sanchez and her oversized chair disappeared, replaced by a flickering holographic light that also soon faded away.

[Thank you for using our service. Would you like to leave a tip for your doctor?]

“Hmm.” Julian grabbed his LinkGear that was resting next to his pillow before saying, “Give her a million credits.”

[Processing…]

Julian did not even wait for the transaction to finish before putting his LinkGear on and transferring his consciousness to Artemia. The wait in the Between became boring without MEGAN there, but Julian did not mind at all and started treating the time as his only real source of sleep.

“Boss, you awake?”

Not even a single finger of his twitched, and yet Juliet already knew that his consciousness had fully transferred to his clone. He opened his eyes, only to feel Juliet’s soft bosom on his back as she held him tight so he wouldn’t fall off from the seikrobos.

“I am. Silvie told me that we’re here?” Julian gently got off the seikrobos and quickly looked around. He was also careful to use the name MEGAN chose for herself, not only because of her request but because he was streaming live right now. He had to disable the chat interface in his eyes, however, as he had a million people chatting at the same time.

And with nothing to impede his vision as he looked to the path leading to Piathus, he paused. His breath slowed as his head tilted slightly upward.

It was… massive.

The wall stretched impossibly high, dwarfing every other structure he had seen in Artemia. Even the Tower of Mana paled in comparison. And the gates—if they could even be called that—were just as breathtaking. A dozen meters thick at least, each towering slab of reinforced metal was wide enough to let three carriages pass through side by side.

Juliet had told him many stories about Piathus. But seeing it now? The sheer size of everything made it clear to him—Piathus was one of the fortresses that kept hyum civilization thriving.

And the people.

They were everywhere. Some arrived in grand, heavily ornamented carriages pulled by beasts Julian had never encountered before, their wheels rolling smoothly over the smooth cobblestone roads. Others, much like him and Juliet, walked with nothing but bags slung over their shoulders. The crowd was a mix of travelers, adventurers, merchants, and nobles—all heading toward the same destination—and no one cared. The nobles seemed a little apprehensive, but they only rolled their eyes before moving along.

Julian and Juliet fell in line, seamlessly blending in with the stream of people entering the city. As they moved forward, Julian noticed Juliet leading the seikrobos by its reins.

“You’re not putting it in a stable?” he asked.

“No need.” Juliet shrugged, a smile quite cheeky slowly crawling on her face as she said, “You’ll see.”

The two continued to walk around, and they did not even have to stop once as the flow of the people entering and exiting the city was extremely stable. The soldiers stationed at the gates were not even checking the people for their identities.

“No one dares to create trouble in Piathus.” Juliet followed up as she saw Julian looking at the guards, “If you do… you get banned. Forever.”

Julian hummed at that, observing how the soldiers stationed at the gates barely gave anyone a second glance. They weren’t even inspecting carriages at all.

It was… oddly efficient and scary.

As they neared the entrance, Julian took in the sheer scale of the gate up close. The craftsmanship was on a different level—ornate engravings lined the reinforced metal, depicting various weapons and smithing tools. Of course, not at the same level as Erin’s engraving—but still, impressive.

“How many times have you been here?” he asked.

Juliet seemed to hesitate, but after a few sighs, she answered. “I’ve avoided it as much as I could. I… have family here. And besides… I was never good enough to set up shop here.”

Julian placed a hand on her shoulder. “That’s not true. You’ve improved a lot.”

Juliet turned to him, eyes softening. “Because of you.”

Before Julian could say anything more, their conversation came to a halt as they finally passed through the thick gate. And the moment he stepped into Piathus…

His breath completely stopped.

His pores opened up as his abnormally heightened senses flooded with everything all at once.

The heat of the forges. The rhythmic clang of metal meeting metal. The scent of burning coal, molten iron, and polished steel filled the air.

The city was alive, breathing fire.

And now, Julian understood why Juliet didn’t bother with a stable—because the streets were vast. The roads were unlike anything he had seen before on Artemia, stretching wide enough to accommodate even a large ship. But what truly fascinated him was the structure of the city itself.

It was circular.

His senses stretched as far as they could reach, piecing together the layout. The roads curved inward, smaller and smaller, all leading toward the center—toward something massive.

A grin slowly crept onto his face as they walked.

He could feel it. The energy. The passion. The sheer dedication that had shaped this city into what it was.

The fire. The metal. The hammering.

He had been so preoccupied with everything else—his battles, his rising fame, the chaos of both worlds—that he had forgotten this sensation.

And while Julian relished the feeling, Juliet was smiling too. But her gaze wasn’t on the city at all—it was on him.

“It’s… wonderful, isn’t it?” she said softly.

Julian exhaled. “Yes.”

His feet instinctively moved toward a nearby shop, but before he could step forward, Juliet sighed and grabbed his wrist.

“We can explore the city later, Boss,” she said. “You need to register at the guild first since it might take a while before they process the exam.”

Julian tilted his head. “And where’s the guild?”

Juliet pointed toward the heart of the city. “That.”

And there it was—the Tower of Forge.

Unlike the rest of Piathus, which gleamed with modern craftsmanship, the tower looked old. Ancient, even. But even with its cracking walls, it stood taller than anything else in the city, looming over everything with an air of authority.

It had seen countless generations. It had witnessed history.

And it reminded him of something he had seen before—Erin. Was she, one way or another, involved in the creation of the Blacksmith Guild?

Juliet parked the seikrobos next to the tower before leading Julian inside. The moment they stepped through the entrance, a wave of suffocating heat greeted them.

But Julian didn’t mind.

Because to him… it felt like home.

The inside of the tower mimicked the city—circular halls stretching in perfect symmetry. At the very center, however, was a receptionist’s desk. It felt completely out of place with how old the inside of the tower looked.

“Let’s go, Boss.” Juliet gestured to Julian to follow him to the desk. There were a lot of people there, and most were looking at them with peculiar eyes.

“We’re here to register him,” Juliet said, lightly placing a letter on the desk. “I brought a recommendation.”

The receptionist barely looked at them—until she glanced at the wax seal adorning the letter.

Her eyes widened.

Immediately, she straightened, clutching the letter tightly before nodding at them. “Please wait here.”

And then, without another word, she turned and ran. Juliet wanted to ask why she left, but she was too late as the receptionist was already gone.

“Well, there she goes,” she sighed. “I guess we’re just going to wait here?”

Before Juliet could fully turn around to see where they could sit, a voice called from behind them.

“Juliet?”

Juliet’s entire posture stiffened as she recognized the voice. Her eyebrows furrowed as she instinctively stepped in front of Julian, her body slightly tense as if ready to shield him.

And from the tone of her voice, Juliet was not happy at all to see the woman in front of her.

“What do you want, Keena?” She said, a snarl almost escaping her lips. The woman, Keena, did not miss how aggressive Juliet’s tone was. But instead of turning around or being worried, a smile crawled on her face instead.

“Nothing. I just saw you and wanted to greet you,” Keena slightly gasped while shaking her head. She then leaned to the side to get a better look at Julian, and another gasp escaped her when she saw what he looked like, “We haven’t seen each other in a long time, but… I see you’ve brought another man with you. Typical.”

“No one’s asking for your opinion,” Juliet rolled her hand into a fist, “Scram if you know what’s good for you.”

“Why did you even come back here?” Keena ignored her words and just smiled, “Don’t tell me you’re planning to take the exam to be a grandmaster? Now, how would you even do that…

…when you only received your license because you were fucking the previous inspector?”

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AUTHOR NOTES

Chapter a lot longer than usual. But wow... 100 chapters. I think this is a milestone, I think. Although half of you are already gone, thank you for supporting the book! Yay!