Since he had plenty of time while they were crossing the stages, he decided to test some skills that he obtained lately. The main one that he wanted to level up was the Instantaneous Forge, one of the skills he obtained after defeating Hephaestus. Weirdly enough, he just thought of creating a regular sword, and then when the skill was activated, he obtained it.

Short Sword

​​

Strength + 10, Speed + 10

Durability: 10/10

Although the speed of creation was insane, the mana consumed was much larger than expected… Ryan assumed that it was due to the parts of the sword that were made of some sort of material that Ryan couldn't create with his other skills. After that, Ryan tried to use Seal on the monsters, but the skill didn't work… since it was a world created by an illusion, or at least it looked like one. The monsters didn't have souls.

"You should focus on doing something more than just playing with your new skills," Alissa said.

"Playing with my new skills…" Ryan frowned. "You talk like I have a reputation for doing that."

Since Ryan had to keep himself focused all the time during the third illusion, he decided to relax a little bit. Ryan could create metal, so he decided to forge a machine gun. While he didn't have all the knowledge regarding that kind of weapon, he still managed to create one that could fire bullets made of mana. It was excellent that he didn't have to recharge it.

Magic Machine Gun

Effect: It grants you the power to fire magical bullets that will cause ten points of damage. Each Bullet will cost two points of mana.

Dexterity + 10, Intelligence + 10

Durability: 15/15

"I guess this skill has its own limitations. If that weren't the case, I wouldn't have survived the last barrage of Hephaestus' attacks," Ryan said.

"I guess you are the real deal," Femradiel said. "Only the real Ryan would be stupid enough to waste this golden opportunity."

"Relax, we have a long way ahead of us," Ryan said. "This kind of skill might help us in the next battle, even more than those points created by Hypnos."

"How so?" Femradiel asked.

"For example, once the skill reaches a certain level, I will be able to create an armor for my draconic form," Ryan replied. "Once the skill reaches a certain level, an armor made of mithril will be much more powerful than anything we have seen so far."

"I also want an armor made of mithril," Femradiel said. "You can't get those by killing imaginary monsters… Anyway, I don't know if I will have enough time to make one that big, but with some luck, perhaps we can get yours."

"All right then," Femradiel said. "Let's optimize this work. I will take care of our mobility; Ryan will play with his skills, and Alissa will kill the monsters."

"Sounds good to me," Alissa said.

Ryan sighed… it seemed that his actions still weren't being taken seriously as they should. Regardless, that idea was good enough since the game created by Hypnos recognized them as a team, and as long as one of them kills enough monsters, they can move to the next stage.

While Ryan leveling up Instantaneous Force, he tried to think of what kind of powers aside from illusory and sleep-related skills he could use. While he had come up with a plan on the third illusion, it wasn't enough now that he knew that Hypnos could create a system similar to the mana system.

For a moment, Ryan considered asking Thanatos, but that would be too low, even from Ryan's perspective. Asking him how he should defeat Hypnos? That was probably the nastiest thing he had ever thought…

Ryan didn't know if he would have time to create a weapon made of mithril after making his armor, so he decided to level up the skill using that massive steel sword. Using a material that already existed was possible, and that would let Ryan save some mana as well.

The weapon was too big, even for his draconic form. So, Ryan decided to make smaller versions in which he could use. It wasn't much his style, but Ryan first created a double steel club. It was a weapon that could cause the same damage, even if Ryan uses the head or the butt. The weapon was a big as his and quite difficult to handle, but lately, Ryan felt that he would need more ways to cause blunt damage, aside from using his fists.

Double Steel Club

Strength + 500, Endurance + 250

Durability: 800/800

"No effect, huh… I should have known…" Ryan said.

The weapon wasn't that powerful despite the size. The only good thing about the weapon was its durability. In any case, Ryan was planning to use it anyway. After that, Ryan made another sword, and a double-edged ax, and then a spear.

Congratulations! The skill Instantaneous Forge has leveled up.

Congratulations! The skill Instantaneous Forge has leveled up.

Congratulations! The skill Instantaneous Forge has leveled up.

…

Double-Edged Steel Axe

Strength + 580, Speed + 280

Durability: 850/850

Ryan confirmed that the power of the weapons was increasing pretty fast. That was another effect of the skill. It could make the weapons stronger with each level up.

In any case, while Ryan was leveling up that skill, he noticed that things were getting weird with the monsters. While they were always stronger compared to the previous species, there were too many variations of them. Species like goblins could become shamans, champions, or archers. Still, some other species were defined by their elemental attributes, like Fire Eagle or Thunder Eagle. Based on Ryan's calculations, they spent more or less three hundred hours killing fifteen hundred species of monsters. Still, all of them were basically copies of variations of the monsters they found on Earth. Regardless, after all that time, they could see a castle in the distance. That was probably where the last boss of the game could be found. However, first, they had to defeat ten thousand dragons.