Lord of Prayer

「Ten minutes later.」

The Forging Melting Furnace stopped its roaring.

Colin claimed the artifact. The next second, a great heavy sword with magnificent patterns appeared in his hand. It was a type of giant sword called the “Groot Pier Sword.”

His Extraordinary Ability was similar to that of a Stand Messenger, allowing him to summon a Silver Knight to aid him in battle. It was best suited for powerful, heavy weapons, such as giant swords, greatmaces, and heavy halberds…

Colin gripped the giant sword and swung it around the room, the blade cutting through the air with a heavy WHOOSH. His expression flickered with emotion.

As an Ascender of noble birth, his combat techniques had been personally taught by masters. Every stance was tailor-made for his physique, refined thousands of times over countless days and nights until it became muscle memory etched into his very soul.

Because of this, the weapons he and his Silver Knight used had to meet strict requirements. The length and weight had to be precise to two decimal places, and he had his own unique standards for details like weight distribution, hilt thickness, and grip texture.

He had decided to give it a try, setting his required weapon specifications in the custom forging options. The result was beyond his expectations—the giant sword perfectly met all of his requirements, without the slightest flaw.

“Such exquisite craftsmanship, and the quality is superb.” Number One examined the giant sword, clucking his tongue in amazement. “Does it have any special abilities?”

“I set the weapon’s attribute to ’Ice’ in the custom options, so I got an area-of-effect damage Skill called ’Cold Burst,’” Colin replied.

It had been a casual experiment, so the materials he’d used were quite ordinary. He never imagined it would be enough to forge a weapon with an Extraordinary Skill. After all, if the same materials were given to an Alchemist or a Blacksmith, the resulting artifact would never reach this level of quality.

For that reason alone, the Forging Melting Furnace was worthy of being called a Divine Artifact, to say nothing of its other powerful functions.

Like Weapon Enhancement, Artifact Disassembly, Furnace Upgrading…

’The Forging Melting Furnace is only Level 1 right now. If I can raise its level in the future, how terrifying will the weapons it forges become?’

Colin suppressed his excitement. For him, this change to the Round Table Hall was a welcome surprise. He saw a future with far greater potential, a place where he could gain much more.

—It was like choosing a company to work for. A company with bright prospects, a great future, and huge room for growth would always be the most sought-after. Better benefits make employees genuinely love their company and enjoy coming to work.

Colin and Soron had both fought their way up from nothing, so it didn’t take them long to grasp the situation. They knew the Lamp God needed Wish Value, and they knew they were essentially just employees. But there was nothing to be done about it; the Forging Melting Furnace was just too tempting, and the future of the Round Table Hall was simply too promising…

Lin Ya understood the reasoning as well, but to her, all of that was secondary. Even without these benefits, she would have devoutly worshiped Mr. Lamp God for her entire life.

“Have you all finished experimenting?”

The Lamp God’s gentle voice sounded, and everyone scrambled back to their seats, sitting up straight and proper.

“Mr. Lamp God, this furnace… this furnace… it’s a miracle!” Number One stammered, his voice thick with the shock and excitement of a Blacksmith.

“It is merely a trifle.”

The Lamp God smiled, maintaining his enigmatic image. “You may converse freely. You have fifteen minutes.”

“Number One, Number Two, do you have any spare artifacts?” Colin was the first to ask, his voice low.

Now that they all had the Wish Value system, Colin wanted to try earning some. Mr. Lamp God had said that fulfilling the wishes of others, large or small, would earn Wish Value, and the amount was directly proportional to the strength of the wish.

Number One and Number Two would surely want someone to buy the artifacts and weapons they created, and Colin’s greatest advantage was that he was not short on money.

“I have a freshly made Alchemy Tool right here,” said Soron.

“I don’t have anything,” Number One said, shaking his head.

“Number Two, I’ll buy your artifact. Let’s make the trade now,” Colin said bluntly.

Soron glanced at Mr. Lamp God. After getting his approval, Soron’s figure vanished from the Round Table Hall. He reappeared a moment later with a metallic horn in his hand. “I call it the ’Barbarian Bull Horn.’ When blown, the user becomes fearless and receives a ten percent boost to all Attributes for three minutes. However, their rationality will decrease slightly. Its estimated market value is around one million.”

Colin took the metal horn, turning it over to inspect it, then nodded. “Give me your account details. I’ll wire the money within ten minutes of this gathering ending.”

“No problem.” Soron quickly jotted down his account details.

While Soron was writing, Colin checked his System Panel. His account only showed an increase of 1 Wish Value.

’Only 1 Wish Value? It seems Wish Value is hard to collect. Hmm… it could also be that Number Two’s wish wasn’t very strong. After the meeting, I’ll have to find other ways to gather Wish Value and enhance my weapon as soon as possible…’ Colin mused as he took the small slip of paper and memorized the account details.

After they finished their transaction, Lin Ya spoke up timidly. “I want to thank everyone for your guidance before. I’ve successfully completed a few missions and earned a good amount of merits since then. But I haven’t been out recently, as I’ve been catching up on my studies, so I have no intelligence to share. I apologize.”

“I, on the other hand, have some intelligence to share.”