Chapter 46 – Floor 7. Items Can Be Duplicated!

I had already made a plan to catch the Thief Goblin in one go.

All I needed now was to pinpoint his location, and as long as the Orc Search Party wasn’t stupidly staring blankly as they did yesterday, there shouldn’t be much difficulty.

However, the thick-headedness of this Orc Search Party made me worry about whether they could properly fulfill even that simple request.

“I caught a spider last night, where is it? I’m sure I put it right here.”

“Isn’t that the thing stuck to your back?”

“Ah! Here it was! My breakfast!”

Listening to them carrying on like this since morning was giving me a headache.

For someone with a brilliant mind and an IQ of 530,000 like me, the Search Party’s conversation, which seemed to lower my IQ by the second, was extremely intellectually destructive.

“Are there any more rats from yesterday? When I’m hungry, I lack strength. I only brought enough food for one day, so I’m hungry.”

“No, you fool! Go hungry!”

After kicking the shin of an orc who was watching another orc roasting a flattened press-spider on its broad back to a nice golden brown and smacking his lips without shame, asking for food because he was hungry, I started searching Floor 7.

Before meeting the Search Party, I had already explored Floor 7 for about three hours, so about 10% of the map was revealed.

That means it would take roughly 30 hours to completely traverse Floor 7.

If I explore for about 10-12 hours a day, it would take 3 days to completely conquer Floor 7.

A size of a completely different dimension compared to the floors I’ve passed through so far.

Unfortunately, the map generation result for Floor 7, which I had hoped would be the smallest, seemed to be enormously large.

“Don’t you guys have any way to find that goblin?”

That was a question I blurted out of a sense of crisis, as exploration that could have been quick thanks to the map when I was alone had significantly slowed down due to these guys cautiously advancing on all sides.

“Goblin? Ah, you mean that disgrace to our tribe who could never become a warrior even in death.”

No matter how I think about it, orcs and goblins can’t possibly be the same tribe, but I decided not to point it out.

Maybe a dog could give birth to a litter with a cat mixed in.

A perfect man like me, who looks like he was painted in a picture, doesn’t view the world with such narrow thinking. Of course, I will contact the biology and genetics societies. And I’ll probably receive a Nobel Prize.

Truly, this cannot be anything but a perfect plan.

“A way to find him… there isn’t one. That shameful guy always appears first, steals things, and runs away in an instant. But since he mostly resides in this upper layer, won’t he find us if we walk around, human?”

“Good grief, there’s no answer here.”

At those words, I couldn’t help but hold my forehead.

In the end, it was no different from a murder warning, saying he would attack when he had strengthened his forces and could surely catch me.

If he were an assassin who could kill three people with a single pencil, I’d kneel and call him big brother, but unfortunately, he’s an ugly goblin, so I don’t want to kneel.

If it were the former, I’d be confident in grooming his dog, sending it to doggy daycare, giving it belly massages, and even feeding it expensive dog food before sending it back. It’s truly a pity.

Having received the most unhelpful confirmation from the natives that I would have to search haphazardly, I, like a human living in the very scientific and cutting-edge digital age of the 21st century, set out on foot to find the Thief Goblin myself.

One hour, two hours, three more hours. Half a day passed, and despite gradually revealing more of the map, the goblin I was looking for didn’t appear.

At best, all I found were a few unknown herb roots on the ground, some potions, and a few pieces of equipment that were awkward to exchange for what I was currently using.

Oh, at least the Moon Sanctuary appeared, and I upgraded my Ring of Strength to +2.

And not far from there, there was an old furnace that looked like it hadn’t been used for a long time, with a few bricks missing and some cracks.

“Wow~ An old furnace~”

It was an object used to melt two heavy pieces of equipment to create higher-tier equipment or to insert specific materials to create artifacts.

Of course, I wouldn’t have the materials to create artifacts.

Wondering how NPCs thought about such objects, I looked at the Search Party, but they didn’t show much reaction, as if they thought it was something that should naturally be there.

Or maybe they had seen many while passing by.

“Hmm.”

“Heavy” is a tag attached to items made of metal in general. I alternately looked at the spear and black axe I had picked up along the way.

I had been using these weapons for so long that I couldn’t even remember if I got them on Floor 2 or 3, so it was about time to replace them.

If you put a weapon and a weapon into the old furnace, you get a weapon; if you put armor and armor, you get armor; and if you mix them, there’s a 50-50 chance.

I approached the furnace, which was so dusty that I doubted it would work, and put the spear and black axe inside.

“What are you doing, human?”

“Making a new weapon to use.”

The furnace, which had swallowed the weapons, began to vibrate with a rumble and shook off the dust accumulated on its body. The gray dust settling on the white grass growing around it looked like it would cause serious lung problems if I were close, so I moved far away.

Flare—!

The furnace, with fire rising without fuel, spewed hot flames and melted the weapons inside like candy in a mouth.

How is such a thing possible?

It’s probably just magic again. This is a magic-oriented fantasy world after all.

If this technology were brought to reality, the steel industry would face a new phase.

What? No fuel needed to run a furnace? This is a hit. A hit!

It didn’t take long for the two weapons, which began to mix like thick porridge, to become one and take on a new shape.

And that shape was…

『Beast’s Claw』

【A crude dagger modeled after the claw of a predator that lived in the past. With its unusual blade shape, it seems like it would cause bleeding when pulled out.】

“What the fuck! What kind of idiot makes a dagger out of a spear and an axe?!”

The furnace stole my iron.

The weapon that the furnace spit out, telling me to take it or leave it, was none other than a dagger.

Where on earth did the law of conservation of mass go? Less than half of the iron that would have been used for the long sword and the heavy axe remained.

‘It is a Tier 3 item, though…’

Despite daggers inherently having severely low base damage, it’s comparable to the Tier 2 black axe, so it is indeed a higher level weapon.

Considering the increased dodge rate and bleeding probability, it’s definitely better.

But somehow, I can’t shake the feeling of being shortchanged. If it had at least been a Tier 3 spear, it might not be great for piercing plants, but it would be good against the creatures we’ll face from now on.

A dagger with an extremely short range inevitably requires hand-to-hand combat, even if you can ambush and stab once.

And my fighting skills end at the level of a one-week course from Albert.

‘I think I could beat people who look like their legs would break if I delivered a low kick.’

But just looking at these orcs, even if I precisely planted a high kick on their chins, they have the kind of physique that would scratch their chins rather than pass out, and then split my head in half.

It’s certainly a hugely disadvantageous act to actively insist on using hand-to-hand combat, a technique designed for humans, against these human-phobic races.

“…”

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. The weapons in the orcs’ hands. Don’t they look quite shiny and good?

“Why, why are you looking at us like that, human? Your eyes look like they’re rolling…”

The Orc Search Party backed away at my gaze. Did I do something?

I just want to receive a little voluntary investment capital for my gacha pulls.

“Weapons. Hand over your weapons!”

“AAAARGH! The crazy human is stealing my virginity!”

“Don’t struggle! It’ll only take a moment!”

After tripping an orc, who was hugging his axe made of roughly melted and joined iron as if it were precious, by hooking his calf with my leg and subduing him by pressing on his joints, I couldn’t hide my tears at the kindness of the orc who was trying to offer his weapon as a donation to me.

“You guys… were really good fellows, weren’t you? To transfer your weapons to me! I’ll definitely pull a good weapon!”

“He’s a crazy human!”

I subdued the struggling orc with the Wanderer and poured the weapons into the furnace all at once.

“Hahaha! Melt! And create! A fucking awesome weapon that will split Floor 7 in half!”

Flare—!

The furnace began to burn intensely again as the weapons entered.

“Nooooooooo!!!”

These emotionally rich orcs, thinking I would soon have a good weapon, chorused blessings with tears streaming down their faces.

Spit–

『Beast’s Claw』

【A crude dagger modeled after the claw of a predator that lived in the past. With its unusual blade shape, it seems like it would cause bleeding when pulled out.】

“Huh?”

I thought, holding one Beast’s Claw in each hand, which had multiplied due to a duplication bug.

So why are there two of these? Did I place the wrong order?

“Humaaaaaan!”

Ignoring the search party’s cries as they sprayed tears and snot, I put the Beast’s Claws back into the furnace to remedy the result of the duplication bug.

“Hmm… it’s going to work out well.”

I gave them a thumbs up.

Come on, guys, let’s live with positive thinking! Good vibes!