Chapter 77: GM’s Meister (2)

The Lord GM took a young dwarf named Ollun as his artisan. 

Through the Lord’s mercy, she was healed, and Ollun began crafting the Lord’s items, spreading them throughout the land. 

Soon, hunger disappeared. 

This was the Lord’s third miracle.

Dwarven Meister Ollun.

A genius girl, born as the eldest daughter of the most powerful artisan family among the three noble Dwarven families.

At the age of one, she perfectly understood all the theoretical knowledge passed down through her family’s traditions. 

At three, she identified flaws in a masterpiece created by her father, the head of the family, and suggested a solution. 

By five, she completed a work that left all existing Meisters in awe.

A genius who might appear only once in a thousand years, an avatar of Pythe, the god of the furnace—these were the kinds of titles used to describe her from a young age.

She was a small, young girl, but even the Meisters of the great furnace, with hundreds of years of experience, couldn’t easily dismiss her. 

As she grew older, her talent didn’t fade; it only blossomed further.

She analyzed ancient documents about long-lost weapons and succeeded in restoring them. 

She built the Dwarven super-high-temperature furnace, which had only been a legend. 

This invention matched the power of the best existing furnace in the “Central High-Temperature Underground City,” but required far less manpower to operate.

Several years later, after completing her coming-of-age ceremony, she was recognized as a full-fledged dwarf. 

She was immediately awarded the title of “Meister,” the highest title granted only to the best artisans, by the Elder Council.

Normally, one would have to spend centuries as an apprentice to build up the necessary experience to be considered for such a title. 

Yet, there wasn’t a single dwarf who objected to her becoming the youngest Meister at barely 100 years old.

Each of Ollun’s creations surpassed the current Dwarven techniques by far. 

Dwarves from across the continent flocked to learn from her. 

She was an outstanding developer, artisan, and teacher. 

All those who received direct instruction from her experienced a rise in their own craftsmanship.

Although she was considered young at barely a hundred years old, just having completed her coming-of-age ceremony, all the dwarves revered and followed her like a senior Meister. 

Some Meisters were jealous of her, but in the face of her overwhelming talent, such trivial emotions crumbled away.

The dwarves believed without a doubt that they would soon witness the birth of a “Dwarven Queen,” a master artisan only known in legends.

However, ten years ago, when Ollun was around 110 years old, an incident occurred while she was developing a new project using a super-high-temperature furnace fueled by magma.

“Whoa!”

“The magma is out of control!”

“You must evacuate, Chief Meister!”

The magma supplying heat to the furnace began to behave erratically, unlike ever before, running wild.

“No! I’m fine! The furnace is under my control! Evacuate everyone while I hold it back!”

“But if you stay, Chief Meister—!”

“Enough! Get out, now!”

The furnace had completely escaped her control. 

Though there were numerous safety mechanisms in place for such situations, the magma’s rampage was too swift and violent.

If she had simply fled, she could have escaped unharmed. 

However, the other dwarves working in the furnace with her could be exposed to the magma’s danger.

“…This is my furnace. I designed it, and I built it. I must take responsibility.”

She held her hands inside the furnace’s control device, maintaining her magic to suppress the eruption until all the dwarves in the development room evacuated.

“Is everyone out?”

After confirming that all the dwarves inside the furnace had safely escaped, Ollun finally left the furnace control room.

“It’s a blessing from Pythe!”

“No one died!”

“Thank you, Chief Meister! We could evacuate safely thanks to you!”

“Glory to Pythe! Glory to Ollun!”

Given that dwarves typically set up furnaces and workshops deep underground to utilize geothermal energy, it was not uncommon for incidents involving magma to result in casualties. 

Yet, despite a major volcanic activity, not a single dwarf, except for Ollun, was injured or killed.

“Wait, everyone! Look at the Chief Meister’s hands!”

But her hands, unlike the others, were completely blackened and burnt.

She had kept her hands inside the control device until all the dwarves had evacuated, to stop the magma from flooding the entire furnace facility. 

As a result, her hands were burned by the extreme heat.

Not just the outer skin, but even the internal magic circuits were damaged. 

With the magic circuits burnt out, no amount of healing magic could restore her hands to their former state.

Despite many recovery spells and potions being used, her hands remained unusable, even though their external appearance was restored to how they were before the accident.

She had saved the dwarves from the natural disaster of the furnace’s runaway at the cost of her own hands. 

Even without her hands, she could continue developing. 

She could keep researching the theoretical aspects or continue lecturing to nurture future generations. 

But she, who had lost the pride of her hands as a Dwarven Meister, lost all her passion and shut herself in her room.

Many dwarves, unwilling to lose the greatest talent in Dwarven history, came to encourage her, but Ollun refused to meet anyone.

Her parents, both dwarves, initially tried to persuade her, but they couldn’t continue, knowing how significant her hands were to a Meister. 

Ollun spent her days alone in her room, aimlessly passing the time.

That is, until she encountered ‘Rudera.’

Many dwarves sent her gifts to try and restore the listless Ollun. Most of these gifts ended up discarded in the corner of her room, lifeless under her vacant gaze. But one gift was different.

“A…connection device?”

It was a divine object that allowed one to transport to another world and live there while using it.

The moment she encountered the device, she was fascinated. 

Despite knowing and understanding all dwarven technology, she couldn’t comprehend even a fragment of this device’s principles.

How does it work?

What is the principle of traveling to another dimension?

The only thing she could find was a trace of illusion magic, at most. 

She couldn’t figure out the method to connect to the world ruled by the GM.

Determined to uncover its secrets, Ollun became a player and entered Rudera.

Though injuries sustained inside Rudera could be easily healed, disabilities or aftereffects outside remained unchanged. 

Even in this completely different world, her hands were still crippled.

But she didn’t despair.

The sheer wonder of the many foreign artifacts in Rudera was too overwhelming for her.

Robots, which operated without any magical core like golems, and countless devices whose principles were hard to understand without any magical mechanism.

The objects brought from another world by the GM were so attractive that they seemed to far surpass even Pythe, the god of the furnace.

How can these things exist?

The GM is no ordinary god.

Perhaps an exceptional engineer… maybe the greatest artisan, even surpassing Pythe.

Their existence, their very conception, was full of things that defied imagination.

Albus had only created elements he’d seen in numerous science fiction works from his previous life and inserted them into the game using his administrator privileges, but still—

I want to create.

I want to craft something as magnificent as the GM’s creations.

She lamented.

“If only my hands were still intact… If only they hadn’t ended up like this, I could have made it!”

As she lamented, the GM’s light descended upon her.

“…Huh?”

When the healing light warmly enveloped her, all her magic circuits were fully restored.

The hands that she thought would never heal returned to how they had been before the accident.

“My hands… they’re healed!”

“Dwarves, you say?”

After putting Dua to bed, Albus stepped out of the dormitory and contacted the ancient dragon, Carthesia.

While discussing the events that had transpired, the story of the [Second Miracle] came up, and she mentioned a dwarf.

A dwarf who had lost her hands due to a magma incident caused by her mistake during the creation of Rudera.