Chương 24: Chapter 22 – Soul Forge Expansion.

'Choose what path? It looks different than last time…' Rusty was confused while staring at his evolution options. Previously after clicking forward, he was greeted by a singular evolutionary path. This path presented him with his current body, but this time around there was none. Instead of a better-looking armored form, there was only a phantom of a door.

'I don't want to turn into a door. How would a door even hold a sword or fight monsters?' However, the more he looked at this door the more it reminded him of something. It looked exactly the same as the large castle gate doors he encountered the first time he went through his evolution. They were just much smaller on the system screen which confused him.

'Hm… does this just mean that I will arrive inside that large hall instead?' It made more sense that he would be brought before the soul forge instead of turning into a castle door so he just carried on like the last time. He pressed the 'Select' button that was waiting for him and waited. Just like before it took some time but eventually the surroundings started to shift.

The glowing crystals that were everywhere vanished and were replaced by the same grand hall adorned with intricate designs as the last time he was here.

"I'm here." He had made it inside of the floating castle while skipping the trip through the long bridge. Once inside he actually possessed a voice that could echo through the empty halls. This was his second time here so he knew where the soul forge was but before going there, he decided to explore this vast place once more.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" After watching adventurers communicating with each other, he kind of knew how to do it himself. Previously he encountered two glowing orbs here, one dark and the other similar to the crystals from his cave. He wondered around wondering if they were here once more but it didn't seem so.

"Could they be inside the soul forge, like last time?" There weren't many changes to this place and even after picking up some silver plates, he was not able to absorb the metals inside. This place might have worked under different rules than the real world he came from but perhaps with time, this would change. With nothing else to do, he decided to walk up the stairs and into the soul forge that had his new body.

"It's there!" He shouted in joy as he saw his new form standing tall. It resembled his current body but was devoid of any rust over parts, it was a fully functioning bronze armor. While it didn't really change in form it felt more powerful and radiated some strange power. However, before he could charge in and take up his new and improved form, his old friends finally decided to show themselves.

"The prodigal son has returned!" First, the dark sphere of light made itself known and it was quickly followed by the white one.

"Son? Don't give him strange ideas, we aren't related."

"Aren't we, Hero? It… I mean, Rusty has both our memories and seems to have inherited some of my cunning!"

"You call using poison and cowardly tactics for killing, cunning?"

"Why yes? What else would it be? It does not matter how you are victorious just that you are the one left standing!"

"Only a demon would think like that?"

"Your friends seemed to think the same, they lived and you died~""Shut up!" The dark sphere that represented the defeated Demon King started chuckling after making the Hero mad. The two seemed to be at each other's throats and Rusty somewhat knew the reason for it. Their emotions were mixed up with him and he seemed to have actually inherited some of their traits.

"Well… he also has inherited some of your… foolish traits and gets absorbed in combat too easily…"

"Hah, finding joy in a fair exchange isn't foolish. What is life with no honor and compassion? I was not the only one betrayed if you treated your subjects with some empathy…"

"This again? Compassion only brings weakness, you need a calculated mind." It was clear that the two orbs could not find a middle ground which for some reason brought Rusty some amusement. Despite their constant arguing, he couldn't help but feel a sense of gratitude towards them. After all, it was thanks to them that he was able to unlock the Twilight form of his body which later on allowed him to survive and get stronger.

If it was the previous him, then he would have probably already approached his new form and started fusing with it. However, now he was different, his short life had taught him that it was best to analyze the situation around him. There were a few things that had changed in this place, with multiple new passages appearing from within this forging chamber. When turning to the right he could see a door with writing over it.

It led to something called The Armory and had a symbol that looked like a sword and a shield over it. Previously there was nothing there but now the door was wide open. Then to the left, there was another one, with a symbol of a book that led to something called a library. To top it all off there was also a third path, leading to something called the training area.

While he wasn't sure how this came to be, he realized that each of these paths could offer him valuable resources and knowledge to aid him on his future journey of strength. The Armory could provide him with new weapons, perhaps eliminating the limiting longsword that was his only weapon. The Library might contain ancient texts and scrolls that could teach him new skills or perhaps give him new ideas for better strategies. Then the Training facility could allow him to hone his skills to a greater extent.

"Hey Rusty, are you listening?" The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Huh?"

"Oh, you were?"

"Of course!"

"Hah, look at him lie instantly~ Reminds me of me when I was little! He will make a great demon lord in the future!"

"Why would he ever become a demon lord you bastard?"

"He is a monster, do you think your kind will accept him? They'll attack him the moment he enters one of your cities. Becoming a demon lord and dominating the world is the obvious path for him! And with this soul forge around, this might be a possibility…" The orb of darkness seemed to dim while talking about Rusty's future. The one representing the hero instantly started going brighter and tried to rebuke him.

"You must be mad if you think that I would allow something like that to happen!"

"As if you will be able to do anything in your current form, hero. He is a monster, eventually, he will give in to his desires of domination and deceit!"

"No never!"

"He had no remorse when handling those adventurers with poison, what do you think he will do once… Huh, where did he go?" As the demon king and hero were in a heated debate, the target of their discussion vanished from their sight. Both quickly looked at the bronze suit of armor which represented the next evolution for their armored friend. It was luckily still standing there and had not been touched, however, some sound was coming from one of the side chambers.

"Maybe try not to make these boring speeches anymore, demon king…" The white light orb cackled and soon zoomed towards the path leading to the armory chamber. This was something that had recently become available and he knew that it was part of his old blessing. While the layout was different as it took the form of the old demon lord's castle, the functions were similar. Once he arrived there he could see a confused bronze armor looking at empty weapon racks.

"Why is there nothing here…"

"Because you have to make them yourself."

"Make them myself?" Rusty asked while the hero orb replied. There was a reason why this place was called a forge.

"Indeed, Rusty. This might be called an armory but it's more of a storage space. Once you have created a weapon at the forge, it will become available here." The hero orb memories were fragmented but he was able to recall some facts that concerned his old blessing. He had some memories of forging a few pieces of weaponry and knew that they were also connected to the training area along with the library as well.

"Create them myself? But I don't have any experience in making things… Do I just use my inventory?"

"Not quite, you'll have to craft them with your own hands, all the tools will be provided by this space here."

"But if I can't use the inventory… how would I make anything?" Rusty was quite confused, he had always just used the stash tab and his special points to repair his armor. He was unable to create anything by himself, even when he wanted a bow and arrows, it was impossible. However, if it was something like a skill that could be learned, then it was something that he wanted. The white orb seemed to know a lot about this place, so he had reasons to believe that it could help him.

"I don't think I can teach you directly but… we should be able to find the basic forging and crafting methods inside of the library."

"The Library, can I learn new skills there?"

"Well… something like that, they aren't as effortless but they should contain texts and scrolls that detail various crafting techniques. You should be able to learn how to forge the basic weapons and even parts of your armor. Although, I'm not sure how that would work with your body…" The glowing orb paused while looking over Rusty's body which was nothing more than a corroded suit of armor. In the past, the hero used this place to gain his strength fast but he was a human.

He did not forge parts that could become his body but considering that Rusty was a monster, then perhaps something like that could be possible.

"Library… got it!" As Rusty waltzed out of the armory chamber the black orb of light floated inside to look around.

"Our child is quite obedient, at least when you mention something that could benefit him."

"Stop talking to me…"

"Oh cheer up hero, we might be stuck like this forever or we might disappear the next time this place changes."

"Hmph…" The two didn't seem to like each other and it was painfully obvious. However, their situation was something they did not understand nor did they truly know what they had become. Their forms could not even move freely through this soul forge and once Rusty left, they would be in a semi-dormant state. During it, they could perceive what he was doing outside this dimension but were unable to act in any shape or form.

"You and I aren't so different."

"I'm not anything like you!"

"Are you not? I bet the only reason you are helping our dear Rusty is for your selfish reasons. Perhaps you wish to use him for your revenge? Are the ones that put us in this state still alive? I can't believe that I'm saying this but… how about a truce?"

"A truce? What are you scheming?"

"Scheming? Your words cut deep, hero."

"Knock it off, you expect me to trust the king of all demons, who slaughtered millions?"

"We live in troubled times, I never intended for all those atrocities to happen. Do you think that your side is without any fault? Do you even know why all of this started?"

"What are you implying…"

"Nothing~ The past doesn't matter. However, presently we need to work together. What if there is a way to regain our previous forms? I'm sure you have some unfinished business with those friends of yours… and aren't there some people that remained faithful until the end?" The demon lord's words started to make some sense but the hero remained silent. He knew that he couldn't trust this being in the slightest.

This didn't change the fact that he also wanted his revenge and perhaps the living armor could facilitate it. While nothing was indicating that they could get out of this pocket dimension, perhaps in the future that would be a possibility. His old blessing was made by the gods so it didn't follow the same rules that the system imposed.

"I'll take your silence as a yes then."

"..." While the two orbs chatted with each other Rusty made his way back into the main soul forge chamber and then headed over to the library. His mind was filled with anticipation of learning new skills to create weapons. He already knew that the sword he wielded as his sole weapon was very limiting. There were also many skills that he couldn't use just by holding a sword, like the ones related to shields and bows.

Once he arrived at the library, Rusty was met with towering bookshelves with ancient tomes and scrolls. The air was thick with the scent of parchment and dust, giving the chamber an atmosphere of knowledge. In the middle was a lone table with just one chair and some candles. However, while there were many bookshelves everywhere, there was no rhyme or reason for their placement.

"Where should I start?" Rusty had never really used any books of scrolls before, he had only some fragmented memories of the hero and demon king which allowed him to read. From a nearby bookshelf, he pulled out one of the larger tomes that had some strange magical characters on it. Once the book was opened he was greeted with more strange diagrams that he didn't understand at all. If Rusty had brows to furrow they would be furrowed now.

Trying to decipher these cryptic symbols was giving his metallic head a migraine. The diagrams seemed to depict various forging techniques and processes, but without any prior knowledge or guidance, they might as well have been written in an entirely different language. Then there was also the inclusion of magic, something called enchanting.

"That one might be a bit too difficult for you to understand, how about you try one of these first, Rusty?" The two orbs of light arrived as he was flipping the book around and trying to look at the schematics from different angles. The white one seemed to know its way around this place so Rusty decided to place the book he had away and followed after it.

"Yeah, this one will be a good start."

"This is…" Before him was a brown booklet with some crude drawings of tools on it. It was titled 'Blacksmithing for Dummies' and for some reason, he felt offended. However, he did not know blacksmithing or forging, thus he decided to give it a try. After placing the book on the main table he began to read through these basic instructions. To his surprise, it was a lot easier to understand. The diagrams were simple, showing the steps of heating metal, shaping it with a hammer, and cooling it down to harden.

With this as a reference, it might have actually been possible to create something…