“Don’t ever set foot in this shop again, outsider!”

Jayce hastily walked out through the shop’s front door, but his face held no trace of apology or regret. The only emotions in his head were confusion and slight annoyance.

“My son is the only one who will inherit my skills. How dare you waltz in and ask for what you don’t deserve!”

“It was just a simple question,” Jayce grumbled as the door to the shop slammed shut.

Sighing, Jayce mentally checked the map that had been imprinted in his head before he set out again. The blue-furred man who had just shouted was named Egan and he was widely recognized as the best artifact refiner in the village. Because Falia had told him about apprenticeships, Jayce had decided to visit Egan after the village’s afternoon training ended.

It hadn’t gone well.

Jayce wanted to find an artifact refiner to teach him about the craft. With just his Soul-Guided Forging ability, he would need ten times the number of materials he currently had to start refining artifacts on his own—and that was just the starting point. Jayce strongly suspected that the hands-on experience from Soul-Guided Forging would be much more useful if he had a teacher to fill in the gaps and give him basic knowledge, but he couldn’t be sure until he found one.

If Jayce ended up with no other choice, then he’d beg Marin to teach him. The problem was that Marin specialized in engraving runes while his Soul Forger class seemed more focused on preparing vessels. Rather than trying to be good at everything, Jayce would rather play to his strengths for now. That was why he wanted a teacher whose specialty was more in line with his own.

After some walking, Jayce arrived in front of another shop. It was a two-story building that, like Marin’s place, was probably both a store and a home. The building itself was very typical, but there were dozens of white silk tassels hanging from the edges of the roof and windows that made it feel out of place and foreign. Though, it still followed Snowdrift’s signature style of having very obnoxious signboards. This one depicted a sun-like flame surrounded by many materials with a pair of three-fingered hands looming over them.

From the map’s description, this shop was owned by the only other artifact refiner in Snowdrift who made weapons and defensive gear. The owner’s name was listed as old Verne, and Jayce felt that this name was somewhat familiar. Unfortunately, he had forgotten where he’d heard it from after his harrowing adventure in the Frozen Expanse.

The first floor was a store, so Jayce walked right in. He didn’t even make it a full step before his body froze up at the sight before him. There were several shelves and display boxes scattered around with some open space that led up to a simple front counter. Jayce didn’t bother looking at the items on display because his attention was immediately grabbed by a figure lying on the ground at the center of the room. This person looked almost exactly like Vilar, but Jayce saw that his body was slightly larger, and his carapace was a darker shade of green. More importantly, this person wasn’t moving at all.

“Are you ok!?” Jayce shouted as he ran up to the insectoid’s side.

The giant bug twitched slightly, and it used one heavy sickle arm to lift its upper body. Shaking, it turned to Jayce and groaned weakly. “Who…? Oh, the black-haired outsider. I remember my son mentioning you.”

“Who can I call to help you?”

“There’s no need. I…I don’t think I can make it.” The insectoid shuddered and a light green fluid dripped from its mandibles. “But it’s good that someone found me at my final moment. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about you. Why did you come here? Is there something you want?”

“What? This isn’t the time for…”

“Just answer me, please,” the insectoid spoke surprisingly forcefully for a dying person.

“I came here to learn about artifact refining.”

The insectoid paused and gave Jayce an unreadable stare before breaking into another brief fit of shivering.

“I’ve kept this a secret in Snowdrift, but in my home country, I was a renowned artifact refiner. I was known as one of the five divine hands of the east. All of my research and notes on refining are stored away in a hidden location. There are also many precious materials that I’ve collected over the years. I’ll tell you where it is if you promise to inherit my legacy.”

Jayce’s mouth hung open. He didn’t know what to make of this development. On instinct, he felt that he should doubt this person. However, whether it was sentient beings or monsters, Jayce had seen a fair amount of death in the Upper Bound. From his experience, he could feel that this insectoid, Verne, was genuinely close to passing on. Arguing might only waste time and cause the old man to die with regrets. Jayce would also regret throwing away such an incredible opportunity by being too skeptical.

“I-I swear. I’ll inherit your legacy.”

“That’s…very good,” Verne exhaled. His body slowly slumped to the ground and his voice became even weaker. “But I still have one more regret. If you’re going to inherit my legacy, I must ask you to ensure that your teacher passes on peacefully.”

“I’ll…listen,” Jayce hedged, feeling a little strange.

“I have a wonderful daughter, but I’ve failed to marry her off for many years now. If you become her husband, I can give you my legacy and pass on.”

Suddenly, Jayce remembered where he’d heard about old Verne. On the village’s online request board, there was an old post from someone trying to marry off his daughter. Marin had mentioned that the poster was named old Verne and that his daughter’s race ‘didn’t match up’ with Jayce’s.

In other words, she was also a big bug.

‘I absolutely won’t marry her. Do I tell him?’

Even if she wasn’t an insect, marriage was out of the question right now. Jayce wanted to live freely, so tying himself to someone that he didn’t love was unacceptable.

Jayce pressed a hand against his temples while he felt Verne’s expectant stare boring into him. Several conflicting thoughts swirled together in his head. Because this choice had come up out of nowhere, he was having trouble thinking objectively.

“I…I…I refuse.”

Jayce was honest in the end, but an intense pang of anxiety assaulted him after he spoke. If Verne really was a famous artifact refiner, then that knowledge would hold incalculable value. It could easily mean the difference between life or death for Jayce, or even decide whether or not he became a god. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Jayce’s expression hardened and his lips cracked open once more, but he was cut off before he could say anything.

“Ah, oh well,” Verne grumbled, pulling himself off the ground.

Jayce watched, stunned, as Verne popped a pill into his mouth and crushed it between his mandibles.

“…What is that pill?” Jayce asked hoarsely.

“An antidote for the poison I took.”

“The poison?”

“Weavers are born with an intimate mental connection to other members of their community. Because we can’t lie to each other, we’re generally bad at acting and need to rely on props. Honestly, I’m just glad that someone showed up today. It was a slow day yesterday, so I was suffering needlessly for hours.”

“Then that was all a hoax?” Raising his voice, Jayce pushed some of the anger he felt towards himself at Verne. “Why the hell would you do that!?”

“In this culture, part of a parent’s duty is to raise their children. Part of raising a daughter is helping her find a husband. As a member of Snowdrift’s community, this is one of my duties.”

Jayce was about to speak when Verne cut him off again.

“—Also, what I said about being a renowned refiner…That was a lie. Anyone can tell you I’m only second-rate. Or, specifically, I’m only a grade 2 refiner.”

When he heard that, Jayce sighed and managed to calm down a little. His head was clearer now that he knew that this ‘legacy’ didn’t exist.

“You didn’t set this up for an outsider like me, right? Isn’t lying a betrayal of the community?”

“Humanoid races sometimes lie to achieve their goals,” Verne countered in a self-assured tone. “This is also a part of the community’s culture.”

‘Even though they’re related, this guy is really different from Vilar,’ Jayce thought, wondering if it was a generational thing. “Whatever. Anyways, I would still like to learn about artifact refining. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re only second-rate.”

“I refuse,” Verne mercilessly shut him down.

“Could you think about it some more? Or at least give me a reason.”

Verne looked at Jayce while his antennae twitched. It was impossible for Jayce to guess what this old bug was thinking.

“First of all, why do you want to learn artifact refining?”

Jayce blinked, hesitating for a moment. He wasn’t lacking an answer, but Verne’s tone threw him off. The old weaver spoke dismissively, as if artifact refiners weren’t something to be aspired to.

“My life order is very low. I don’t have the strength or the natural abilities to compete with other races. Because of that, I want to use artifacts to help close the gap.”

This was something Jayce had experienced ever since his first day in the Fragmented Ruins. Even a level 1 flesh blob could kill him without much trouble. The only reason he could fight was because of his artifacts. It was the same on Earth as well. Humans had other advantages besides tool use, but tools were what ultimately elevated them far beyond other animals.

Jayce was well aware that his C-Rank life order might be a handicap that was impossible to overcome. The difference between himself and black salamanders were as enormous as they were obvious. Still, Jayce had seen a ray of hope after he faced off against Froker. Seeker’s bullet had managed to knock the jotun off his feet while the Bands of Freedom allowed him to escape pursuit. If an artifact was powerful enough or if it was useful in a specific situation, it could allow Jayce to perform above his level. For now, Jayce could only keep trying to pile advantages on top of each other until they somehow outweighed his innate weakness.

“You can always buy artifacts from other people, can’t you?” Verne was unmoved. “Also, other sentient races can use artifacts. What will you do when your opponent has a higher life order and good equipment?”

“I’ll be relying on artifacts more than other people. If it was a single weapon, I could understand, but I can’t leave my lifeline in someone else’s hands. As for other artifact owners, their gear likely won’t be custom made. Even if it is, I’ll have the edge in understanding my tools.”

'Plus, I need to make my own gear if I ever want my Soul Forger class to catch up in levels,’ Jayce added to himself.

Verne hulking figure leaned forward a bit and his beady eyes stared deeply at Jayce. The sentiment Jayce proposed wasn’t new. Many people involved in creating artifacts took on the Tool Specialist class to leverage their deep understanding of artifacts in combat. However, this wasn’t seen as a way to become strong. Refiners usually became Tool Specialists because they were too busy refining to learn combat skills. Their connection to their artifacts was a crutch that barely allowed them to compete with other fighters.

“If you want to become a warrior, just learn to fight. There’s no need to be so roundabout.”

“I won’t be strong enough like that.”

This time it was Verne who paused. Jayce’s steady eyes and confident tone made it hard to refute him. This pause lasted for over a minute, and Jayce was about to say something when Verne suddenly spoke.

“Seeking to be a strong warrior despite being a refiner…Fine, I’ll teach you my lackluster skills. In return, you’ll have to answer a question for me.”

Jayce’s shoulders grew tense before they quickly loosened again, along with his suspicions. He rationalized that it didn’t really matter if Verne jerked him around for a second or third time as long as he was able to learn the basics of artifact creation. “What question?”

“Not now. You’ll answer it much later.”

Verne turned around and walked through a wide entrance blocked by a curtain made of white silk tassels. Jayce was stunned for a moment before he hastily followed the weaver. Becoming an apprentice had been easier than he thought. Jayce had expected to pay a large fee or at least take some kind of test, but Verne had made his decision instantly. When Jayce thought about Verne’s weird stunt earlier, he decided to not think too deeply about his new teacher’s motives. This insectoid’s way of thinking was too difficult for him to grasp.

The room Verne led him to was spacious, bright, and uncomfortably hot. Jayce immediately noticed that the walls and floor of this room weren’t made from that ubiquitous silver sand. Instead, the floor was made from cut stone while the walls were constructed from dark brown bricks. There were several racks and metal bins spread throughout the room. Some held various ores and metals while others displayed artifacts. There were weapons like swords and spears, as well as ringed bands and even metal armor. Jayce also saw plenty of artifacts whose use was completely beyond his knowledge.

At the room’s center, Jayce saw a fat cylindrical object about 1 meter tall and 3 meters wide. Ring-shaped grooves were cut evenly across the top of the cylinder as though it were the trunk of some bizarre vermillion tree. Bright light flowed from a depression in the center where a golden flame was burning in a subdued manner. Above the cylinder was a large ventilation shaft and surrounding it were two tables with plenty of metalworking tools.

To Jayce, this room had the same strange mix of familiar and alien that he’d grown accustomed to in Snowdrift.

“By the way,” Verne asked, “how much do you know about artifact refining? If you’re even a decent grade 1 refiner, I won’t have much to teach you.”

“You can assume I’m completely new to refining.”

Verne’s body made an odd clicking sound as he turned back to stare at Jayce. His rigid eyes and face made it difficult to guess what he was thinking, but Jayce assumed it was something like, ‘How are you so confident when you don’t know anything?’

“Hmm, then the most basic of basics. Do you know why we call it artifact refining rather than forging or smithing?”

Jayce scratched his head awkwardly. “I thought those were interchangeable.”

“What are the general steps of refining an artifact? If you can answer that, you’ll understand.”

This was something Jayce knew, at least in a broad sense. The first step was to shape the material. During his three uses of Soul-Guided Forging, Jayce had heated the materials with his soulfire and molded them with his hands and mana. Then, there was a step involving the material’s aspects that Jayce couldn’t articulate. This step required Jayce’s mental energy and the ethereal qualities of his soulfire. Finally, runes were drawn onto the surface of the vessel. This required mana and an understanding of the runes being used.

After hearing his answer, Verne nodded. “Artifacts have three components: the body, the soul and the flow. You could say that refining combines three disciplines, one of which is smithing. Ultimately, what you’re doing is taking the disordered aspects in materials and refining them into a purer, more coherent form—hence the term refiner.”

Verne glanced at the fire at the center of the room and continued, “You’ll understand all of these steps in full before you get anywhere near the forge. I have a data package with some beginner’s knowledge that I can lend you before you leave today. I want you to be here after the village’s morning training and you’ll leave before afternoon training. I will spare some time to teach you, but you’ll also be helping me with various things. I won’t make you pay to learn my skills, nor will I pay you for your time. I also won’t accommodate you if you find the work to be too difficult.”

Jayce nodded. “Thank you, teacher.”

“Eh, just call me old Verne. Teacher is a sacred word around here.”

“But you called yourself teacher back when you were ‘dying’.”

“…” Verne’s body twitched a little. Jayce didn’t notice, but the flame in the forge mirrored this jerking motion. “If I was giving you something valuable enough to change your life, then of course you’d have to call me teacher.”

Jayce felt an inexplicable urge to laugh when he saw Verne’s shifty posture. He held back, but a smile still appeared on his face. “Then, as long as I make good use of what you give me, calling you teacher should be fine.”