Inside Hephaestus's private forge.
Thor picked up a smithing hammer and weighed it in his hand. As tools used by the God of the Forge, these hammers might not quite qualify as divine weapons, but they were still top of the line. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them the best in Orario.
At present, among all the gods in Orario, only Hestia and Syr were willing to help him.
Syr wanted to keep her identity hidden, so she couldn't easily show herself. After thinking it over, Hestia was the only one who could help him.
Thor would have to properly thank Hestia for helping him borrow such a hammer.
Looking at the iron ore before him, Thor began to work out the numbers.
I have 85 Stardust. For the price of 1 Stardust, I can obtain the energy of 100 Stardust for a very short time.
If I sacrifice all 85 Stardust, I can briefly reach the equivalent of having 8,500 Stardust.
That was still nowhere near enough to fully wield Ornn the God of the Forge's abilities. But he wasn't forging a true divine weapon. It was more than enough to make a weapon Bell could use.
Thor estimated that Bell would be able to use this weapon all the way to Lv. 8, or even higher.
But just as Thor was about to get started on the forging—
Hephaestus suddenly called out to him. "Please wait a moment."
Thor turned to look at Hephaestus, puzzled. "What is it?"
What is it?
Hephaestus stared at the ordinary iron ore beside the furnace in disbelief.
These raw materials could be picked up right near the entrance to the Dungeon. They were the cheapest kind of material, only good for making farm tools!
And yet he was planning to use them to forge a weapon for an adventurer?!
She asked in shock, "Are you really going to use this iron ore to forge a weapon?"
If all he wanted was to forge the most basic equipment from iron ore—
Then he didn't need to come here!
He could find any ordinary blacksmith's shop on the street and pay a few thousand Valis to use it for a day, or even longer.
He'd made such a big fuss about having Hestia lead him here that he'd even startled her, all for this?
While Hephaestus was stunned and bewildered, Thor calmly explained, "I don't have much choice. I don't have enough money to buy better materials right now. But this ordinary iron ore will be enough. It won't make much difference to me."
Hephaestus was taken aback again.
He didn't have money?
Hephaestus's gaze flickered.
She was curious about what kind of being this [Unknown] before her was.
She couldn't judge his abilities in other fields, but when it came to forging, she considered herself one of the best gods in the entire universe.
Perhaps she could see his true nature through his forging?
And as a goddess, she had a strong premonition...
If she let this chance pass, she would probably regret it terribly later.
She trusted a god's premonitions very much.
With that in mind, Hephaestus suddenly offered, "Perhaps... I could lend you some?"
Thor's movements came to an abrupt halt.
He glanced sideways and gave a quiet, "Oh."
A clear glimmer of interest passed through his calm eyes.
"You're willing to lend me money?"
Hephaestus met his gaze and nodded without hesitation.
"I can lend it to you. But we'll need to sign a contract."
"Of course."
Now came the crucial part.
How much money did he need to borrow?
"May I ask how much you need?" Hephaestus asked.
Thor didn't answer right away.
He lowered his eyes, seeming to look at the rough iron ore.
He'd originally planned to forge a weapon for Bell and leave it at that. But if Hephaestus was willing to lend him money—
Could he make himself a weapon he liked, too?
The answer was obvious.
"I'll borrow however much you can lend."
Hephaestus's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
However much she could lend?
Even as a goddess of forging who presided over one of the wealthiest Familias in Orario, she couldn't help but be taken aback.
There was no telling whether someone like Thor, an [Unknown], would be able to pay her back.
No, the real question was whether she should actually lend him that much money because of a baseless premonition.
Hephaestus glanced at her divine friend, Hestia, standing beside her.
She remembered how Hestia had vouched for Thor earlier.
Since Hestia had recommended him, she could afford to trust him a little.
With that in mind, Hephaestus assured him, "Understood."
It took only a moment for the forge to fill with supplies.
After finishing the inventory, Hephaestus spoke in a somewhat heavy tone.
"Magic Stones worth 300 million Valis, along with the high-grade materials needed to forge first-tier equipment. The total comes to 700 million Valis."
Her gaze swept across the mountain of supplies. They nearly filled the spacious forge, even spilling out as far as the entrance to her own office next door.
"That makes one billion Valis in total."
One billion!
Looking at the "mountain" woven from the gleam of Magic Stones and the luster of rare metals, Thor felt a flicker of surprise.
This one billion Valis wasn't tied up in fixed assets or Familia inventory that would be hard to turn into cash quickly. It was a vast fortune in resources and liquid funds, ready to be used at any time.
It was like how the world's richest person might have assets worth a trillion, but if you asked them to produce ten billion in cash immediately, they would still have to go to considerable trouble to gather it.
That alone showed the weight of this fortune.
Take Ais's "Sword of Despair," worth 99 million Valis, for example. Its core materials might have cost no more than ten million. The rest of its value came from the supreme forging craftsmanship invested in it, the time it took to make, and the brand premium of the Hephaestus Familia.
To gather such an enormous amount of liquid wealth all at once, there was probably no one else in all of Orario capable of doing it besides the Hephaestus Familia, with its control over the production and sales channels for top-tier equipment and its immense wealth.
Even a top-tier combat Familia like the Loki Familia would probably struggle to raise more than 100 million Valis in cash in a short time, even if they sold everything they owned.
The sheer gap in financial power was unmistakable.
"Whoa—!"
An incredulous gasp broke the silence.
Hestia's sky-blue eyes widened as though the words "one billion" had struck her squarely on the head. She stared at the mountain of supplies, which looked ready to burst the room, her voice pitching up.
" O-one billion?! Hephaestus! Is it really okay to lend out that much?!"
Hephaestus slowly turned to look at her bewildered friend.
Her single eye narrowed slightly, deep helplessness churning within it.
You're only asking now?!
Why didn't you ask before you brought him to my door?!
An indescribable mix of absurdity and resignation weighed heavily on the goddess of forging.
Still, Hestia wasn't the only reason. Hephaestus also wanted to see just how skilled this [Unknown] was at forging.
Hephaestus took a deep breath, turned to Thor, and asked, "Is this... enough?"
Thor's gaze swept across the glittering "mountain."
Three hundred million Valis' worth of Magic Stones was enough to refine 6,000 Stardust.
If he sacrificed all of it, he would briefly wield the power of 600,000 Stardust, enough to perform a time jump.
Of course, using Ornn's complete technique in that state—something that required less than 100,000 Stardust—would be child's play.
"Not quite enough, but it'll do."
He could sacrifice just 1,000 of the 6,000 Stardust he refined, keeping the remaining 5,000 for himself.
With those 5,000 Stardust, he could make it all the way to the Dungeon's eighteenth floor by himself.
But there wouldn't be much point in that.
He knew Hephaestus had agreed to lend him the money because she wanted to see forging skills far beyond what her own divinity could reach.
If he used skills on her level—for example, the techniques of Ornn, the demigod of Freljord—she would probably be disappointed that she'd lent him the money.
More importantly, he didn't want to do a shoddy job just to get it over with.
He had his own pride.
With all these supplies, he could make himself a decent weapon, too.
His gaze returned to the top-grade materials, shimmering with starlight and the cold gleam of metal.
It was time.
For himself—
And to answer this curiosity and investment—
It was time to forge a weapon worthy of the Lord of the Starry Heavens.
Thor said no more and turned to face the furnace, already heated and ready.
As he raised a hand, an invisible force field spread over the "mountain" worth one billion Valis.
The materials transformed into several dazzling streams of light, like stardust caught by a black hole. They swirled and roared as they plunged precisely into the heart of the furnace.
The furnace suddenly darkened, as though it had swallowed all light, then erupted in a searing white blaze that pierced the ceiling!
The entire forge hummed with a soundless tremor, and the air grew so hot it warped.
Hephaestus's single eye contracted sharply, and Hestia instinctively took half a step back.
Hephaestus saw it clearly.
Those priceless, top-grade materials.
Those metals and ores, imbued with different elemental laws and physical properties.
Under the invisible power flowing from Thor's fingertips, they were effortlessly broken down and fused together!
They weren't simply mixed and stacked. They were being brought into a deeper "unity" by a will that transcended the laws of the world, completely shattering the limits of her understanding.
Her forging knowledge, honed over countless divine years, was as fragile as paper before the scene unfolding before her.
Hummm!
Thor raised his palm, and the hill of Magic Stones soared into the air.
He curled his fingers slightly, and every Magic Stone shattered at once!
Then he exhaled.
Whoosh—
In an instant, the immense energy of Magic Stones worth 300 million Valis was refined and elevated by his breath, which held the essence of creation!
Six thousand dazzling Stardust appeared from nowhere, dotting the blazing forge and reflecting the space around them as a vast, deep starfield.
Each speck of Stardust was like a tiny universe embracing a newborn star.
Then Thor clenched his fist!
Boom—!
It was like the Big Bang at the birth of the universe, exploding on the level of the soul.
Six thousand Stardust, the core energy of six thousand micro-universes, ignited in an instant!
A torrent of power, like the first stirrings of the universe, abruptly awakened within Thor's body!
It felt like something that had lain dormant for far too long had suddenly recovered a lost limb.
The power was ancient and boundless, carrying the desolation of a cold starry cosmos and the searing heat of creation.
Though it was only a spark—almost an infinitesimal fraction of his vast power—it was enough to make the gods tremble.
Thor cupped his right hand.
Inside the furnace—
The mass of liquid divine material, already fused into a single whole and flowing with seven-colored starlight, suddenly came under terrifying pressure and heat comparable to the core of a star!
The boundaries between substances blurred completely, and the laws of the world twisted and smelted under the extreme pressure.
Time lost its measure. Space lost its meaning.
Perhaps a century passed, or perhaps it was only an instant.
When Thor reached out and took the [Celestial Body] from the furnace—
The last flicker of resistance in Hephaestus, as she tried to understand the scene before her through "forging techniques"... went out completely!
An absurd thought appeared in her mind.
That wasn't forging at all!
This was—
CREATION OF A STAR!
Before you continue