Hephaestus stared at me for a few seconds before she started speaking. "The situation isn't critical, but the number of ores is decreasing rapidly. The ore supply has been severely affected."

  "What happened?"

  "I haven't received much information. What I do know is that the amount of ore has dropped drastically, causing a major crisis. It all happened so suddenly that it caused a huge commotion. Since our Familia specializes in bcksmithing, we were the most affected."

  "I had no idea this was happening. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

  "I didn't want to bother you. If I had told you, I'm sure you would have been worried. And if you were worried, it could have deyed your training."

  "You should have told me from the beginning. So, how are the other members of the Familia dealing with this?"

  "I've already talked to most of them, and they are aware. The Familia's work has been put on hold for now."

  "So that's why you've been spending so much time away?" I stepped closer and gently caressed her face.

  "It's not just because of that. This problem only came to light in the st three days, after all."

  "And since you remembered that I can collect ores inside the dungeon, you decided to ask for my help. But you do realize that supplying enough ores for the entire Familia is a bit difficult, right?"

  "Yes, it's practically impossible."

  "But I don't mind helping you. I'll be going into the dungeon frequently anyway."

  "And what about your training in bcksmithing? Will you stop?"

  "There's no need to push myself so hard. Right now, I think it's better to explore the dungeon and get stronger."

  "I see… But I still feel bad for asking this of you."

  "Don't feel bad. You're my wife, of course I'd help you. And I'm part of this Familia too. I don't know how long I'll be able to help, but I'll do my best."

  "Thank you." Hephaestus kissed me and then turned to leave. "Are you just going to stand there? Let's go out to eat something. It's been a while since we've done that. Wait, have we ever done that before?"

  "Hahaha, I don't know. But sure, let's go."

  I was about to forge another sword, but I gave up on the idea and followed Hephaestus outside so we could go to a restaurant. I was all sweaty and dirty, but I didn't care. And Hephaestus didn't mind either.

  Outside, Hephaestus treated me more like a friend.

  Even though many people knew about my retionship with the Goddess, most still had no idea that we were actually together.

  Because of that, we acted like close friends.

  As I sat down and started eating with Hephaestus, we continued talking about the ore shortage. I wanted to understand what the hell was going on. Had this happened in the original story?

  I had no idea, but I doubted it.

  The Hephaestus Familia is a bcksmithing Familia—if the world runs out of ore, the Familia will colpse! I don't think the author would be crazy enough to create something so dramatic.

  But from what Hephaestus said, there's no expnation for what's happening.

  Apparently, the ores started disappearing... The amount of ore gradually decreased until it reached a critical point in just three days. The ore supply took a major hit.

  I have something to do with it. Not directly, but indirectly. From how Hephaestus looks at me, she probably suspects the same, but she didn't say anything.

  If I had to guess what happened in the past few days, I'd say that the ores were simply transferred into the dungeon, where only I can collect them...

  'This is a huge problem… Even if there are infinite ores inside the dungeon, I won't be able to maintain the ore supply for the entire Familia. That's impossible.'

  ####

  A few days passed.

  I established a daily routine. When I wake up, I have breakfast and then train with Tsubaki. After that, I spend three to four hours inside the dungeon, killing monsters and collecting ores.

  During that time, I managed to farm a good amount of ores and points.

  I handed 90% of the ores I collected to Hephaestus. Since I was gathering a rge amount, it was enough to sustain the Familia. Hephaestus was very satisfied.

  After leaving the dungeon, I always ate something before heading to the training room to forge.

  It was a routine focused entirely on training.

  'I haven't even had time to enjoy myself with Hephaestus these past few days. We need to go out and have some fun together. How about today?'

  I had already trained in the morning, gone to the dungeon, and now I was finishing forging a sword in the training room. The night was approaching.

  "The st few swords I forged were all Refined rank. The odds aren't in my favor…"

  Even though I had a 10% chance of forging Rare-ranked items, I hadn't managed to forge a single one!

  "Maybe today I'll finally forge a Rare-ranked sword."

  I was almost done.

  I made the sword's scabbard out of wood, finished assembling the sword, and then sharpened the bde as best as I could using whetstones. When I finished sharpening it, a system message popped up!

  [ You have forged a Level 1 Rare-ranked sword ]

  [ The skill 'Jump LV2' has been added to the sword ]

  [ The skill 'Lightning LV2' has been added to the sword ]

  When I saw the skills, I immediately thought of the sword I had been using before, which also had the skill 'Lightning LV2.' Suddenly, an idea came to mind. "Wait, isn't this how you level up a sword?"

  I went to the training room's inventory and searched for the sword. After a while, I found it—a Level 1 Rare-ranked sword with two skills: Magic Boost LV2 and Lightning LV2.

  It was the sword I had been using before forging the Legendary-ranked sword.

  I picked it up and walked over to the anvil.

  "How does this work? Do I just do this?"

  I pced the new sword on the anvil and then pced the old sword on top of it. A system message appeared.

  [ Do you want to fuse the two swords? ]

  [ Rare Rank Level 1 > Rare Rank Level 2 ]

  [ Lightning LV2 > Lightning LV4 ]

  [ Magic Boost LV2 > Magic Boost LV2 ]

  [ Jump LV2 > Jump LV2 ]

  "Ohhhh!!!! This is amazing. The sword's level increased, and the 'Lightning' skill leveled up! Plus, the new sword keeps the skills from both swords!"

  I can use other Rare-ranked swords to keep leveling up this sword and create an extremely powerful weapon!

  "I can do the same thing with the Refined-ranked swords I have!"

  [ Do you want to proceed? ]

  [Y/N]

  "Yes!"

  ParodyGirl