Survival in the game world begins with Biochemical 2

Chapter 878 Mountain of Forges
"Before we reach our destination, I have a few things to remind you of."

On a branch in the crack of the World Tree, Brock, who was carrying a large bag on his back, turned around and looked at Li You, and said this.

"You know Nidwell is now under Odin's control, right? Those spineless idiots, because they were afraid of Odin, Thor, and those Aesir scum, have led all the remaining dwarves to Asgard and become Odin's lackeys. Tch! How disgusting!"

Runda mercilessly exposed his weakness: "You're right, but don't forget, the original weapon that made that bastard Thor famous throughout the Nine Realms, Mjolnir, was forged by you two brothers."

Brock paused immediately: "This... it's a mistake I made when I was young, why do you keep bringing it up!"

As he spoke, he turned to Sindri: "And it wasn't me who initially agreed, it was Sin... um? Sindri? What are you doing, you skinny monkey?"

Sindri stood at the back of the group, seemingly lost in thought. He hadn't even participated in the conversation earlier. Only now did he snap out of it and say, "Oh... me? You mean Mjolnir, right? I did negotiate that down, yes."

Brock looked at him with a puzzled expression: "What's wrong with you? You're acting like you've lost your soul, haha!"

Sindri was startled.

Brock glanced at his brother again, then shook his head. "Forget it, I can't be bothered with you! Where was I? Oh right, Nidwell is Odin's territory now!"

He instructed Li You, "That Odin guy is having those dwarves in Nidwell make some kind of war weapon for them! They're doing it all very mysteriously, and there are people watching them all the time. Even we don't know what they're making!"

"In short, I'm just reminding you that you're too conspicuous an outsider in Nidavel. You'll be discovered soon, and that old bastard Odin might even come running over! You'd better try to hide yourself!"

Li You nodded, naturally having no objections.

Although Kratos and Brock openly walked up Forge Mountain to forge weapons in the game, Brock first threw Kratos into the underground tunnels of the dwarven town, letting him pass through the tunnels to the central part of Forge Mountain, an area with fewer dwarves, before continuing upwards with him.

In the game's timeline, Atreus was "visiting" Asgard, and Odin and Kratos hadn't truly fallen out, so they ultimately remained at peace.

But if Odin were to discover that Li You had appeared in the land of the dwarves, he would probably be alarmed.

Therefore, Brock's reminder was indeed worth taking seriously. Li You immediately took out the Supreme Distant Staff and released the magic of becoming invisible, completely concealing his figure.

Brock and Lunda looked again and again, knowing that Li You was still in the same place, but they couldn't find a trace of him. Surprised, they were also very satisfied: "Good! Let's go, we've arrived in Nidwell."

He and Lunda then stepped through the mysterious door first.

After that, although Sindri still had some worries in his eyes, he also planned to go in.

But then, Li You's voice rang in his ears: "I know you care about your family, but there are some things that you shouldn't keep from him forever."

Sindri was startled and turned to look, only to see a human-shaped ripple left by someone passing through the mysterious door.

However, it was clear that only Li You had spoken to him earlier. Sindri thought silently for a moment before shaking his head helplessly and entering the room.

At this point, Li You had caught up with Brock and Lunda, and passed through the rift space to arrive at Svartalfheim, which is the Nidwell that Brock mentioned.

This time, instead of appearing in the underground tunnels of the dwarven town as in the game, they went directly to the middle of Broken Furnace Mountain, the place where Kratos and Brock met and went upwards in the story.

"Let's go! It's just ahead. Oh, and forget about those cowardly camp dwarves, they can't see you anyway!"

Brock walked at the front with a carefree attitude. He and Runda opened the mechanism door leading to the dwarven camp in the middle of Forge Mountain, allowing Li You and Sindri, who had just caught up, to enter, even though none of the people present actually needed to go through the door.

The group of four—ostensibly three—moved through the camp. Li You keenly noticed that their appearance attracted the attention of the dwarves in the camp.

Moreover, among the three, Brock attracted the vast majority of attention.

The carefree dwarf himself didn't seem to care, but Sindri worriedly stood between Brock and the other dwarves, trying to prevent Brock from having any contact with his fellow dwarves.

Occasionally, a dwarf who could be considered a friend of the two would try to strike up a conversation, but Sindri would chase him away with a fierce expression.

All of this was noticed by Lunda, who was standing nearby. The dwarf woman, who knew the two brothers very well, had already guessed what was going on, but she simply shook her head and said nothing more.

Li You, who had concealed his presence, looked at Sindri. He was also very upset about driving away his old friend. He had only walked such a short distance and hadn't exerted any effort at all, but he felt exhausted.

Li You's eyes flickered slightly, wanting to persuade him again, but Sindri had already looked around and said softly, "...I know, no need to say more. I won't hide it anymore, but I won't let anyone tell Brock for me."

Seeing that he had said that, Li You naturally wouldn't cause any more trouble and quietly walked past him.

For the dwarves of Svartalfheim, this Forge Mountain is considered a semi-sacred site. The dwarves of the central camp have lived here for a long time, partly for protection and pilgrimage.

However, this kingdom is now under Odin's control, and Odin has not been very interested in the Lady of the Forge. Instead, he has transferred most of the dwarven craftsmen to her to forge weapons of war for him.

That's why the campsite seemed rather deserted, and even the cable car used to go up the mountain was occupied by monsters.

For ordinary dwarves, the only way to get up the mountain is by taking the only cable car.

Although the three of them possessed unique spatial teleportation magic, firstly, they all held the Lady of the Forge in the highest esteem, and secondly, the Lady was the most magical being in this realm, and this mountain was her forge.

Therefore, it is risky to rashly use magic near the mountain peak where she lives.

So in the end, the group dutifully cleared out the Nightmare Demon's lair that was entrenched on the cable car before taking the vehicle to the mountaintop.

Contrary to what most people might imagine when they hear "Forge Mountain," this mountain is not an active volcano, and its summit is not covered in lava like Muspelheim.

On the contrary, the mountain's appearance continues the typical features of Svartalfheim. While not exactly picturesque, it is covered with many different shades of green, and the vegetation becomes more lush the closer you get to the summit.

When the group passed through the cave on the mountaintop and entered the actual forge, the scene before them suddenly opened up.

This most legendary "forge" in the dwarf kingdom is actually a turquoise lake in the crater of a volcano, surrounded by greenery and various kinds of exposed minerals.

In the center of the lake, several iron chains extending from both sides suspend a strange man-made object resembling a large bell in mid-air, with a circular platform below the bell that is just a size larger than the bell's mouth.

However, strictly speaking, this is still not a "forge," but merely a tool leading to a forge.

"This is it, ha!" Brock exclaimed excitedly. "Sindri, you always said I was ill-mannered and wouldn't let me see Lady Forge, but this time you can't stop me!"

As he spoke, he took the lead and ran ahead.

Lunda and Li You both glanced at Sindri, who was lagging behind. The dwarf's expression was constantly changing. He leaned against a rock to support himself, forgetting even his past obsession with cleanliness.

Li You thought for a moment but didn't say anything. Luenda caught up with Brock in two steps and threw her magic pouch to him: "Take this! You two go see the lady. I've been here several times, so I won't go."

“However, the previous material just needs a little final processing, and I can finish it now.” As she spoke, she looked at Li You, who had already revealed himself. Luenda then said, “Could you please go and bring back some of those ore pieces around here, the biggest ones over there?”

Li You nodded and left, while Brock, oblivious, continued shouting, "You woman, are you deliberately showing off to me? If someone hadn't stopped me, I would have met that lady long ago!"

Behind him, Sindri listened to his words, took a deep breath, and was about to step forward to say something to Brock, but Brock waved his hand at this moment: "Perfect! You're dealing with the guards, so I'll come and organize the materials I've already processed! Make sure no one forgets anything again!"

As he spoke, he emptied both magic pouches, leaving a pile of unique materials, each shimmering with light, in front of him.

Sindri's initial resolve was shattered, and he suddenly hesitated to step forward. He could only sigh and empty his pockets.

At this moment, what's piled up and floating here, besides the materials of various sizes that have undergone preliminary processing, is the most attractive thing: the armor parts that Brock and his team have already created in a rough shape.

Although the final design still needs to be handed over to Lady Forge, the three of them, including Brock, have already completed the overall design concept and framework.

To meet the Forge Lady, simply presenting a pile of raw materials is not enough. At the very least, the blacksmith who goes there must demonstrate sufficient skill to convince the Forge Lady to take on the subsequent work.

Brock in the game also brought the Ring of Dropnir, along with a fully crafted spearhead.

Even Li You, after retrieving the ore requested by Luenda, couldn't help but glance at the pile of raw materials.

In terms of the rarity of the materials used, once this armor is completed, it will probably be unprecedented and unparalleled in the Nine Realms.

First, there are the three legendary materials for crafting the Dwarven Legendary Armor: Dragon's Fury, The Innocent's Lament, and Ultimate Sacrifice.

Secondly, there was the mysterious, cold mineral that Li You retrieved from Helheim, enough to be used to build a prison to imprison the moon.

Next, there are material crystals taken from the tail spikes and claws of the poisonous dragon Nidhogg.

Finally, there was the crystal he had recently obtained from Surtur and Simara, which had shed its essence from the core of their bodies.

Each of these materials, taken individually, could be used to forge an artifact worthy of a god, yet they are now being used on a single suit of armor.

Moreover, the magical patterns on the prepared armor pieces largely follow the design blueprints of the two armors Kratos provided, namely the armor of Zeus and the armor of Ares.

These two suits of armor were not actually designed by the two Greek gods. According to Kratos, they were designed to commemorate the two gods, but they were also exquisite in themselves.

In the game, these two sets of armor are reward items after completing multiple playthroughs and are also high-difficulty collectibles, containing considerable power.

As for the most basic elements, the large number of rare materials used in the forging process, such as perfect Asgardian steel ingots, as well as the forging stones, wedge stones, and Origin Glass that Li You took out, these don't even need to be specifically mentioned.

That is why, once this armor was completed, it truly deserved to be called unprecedented and unparalleled.

Of course, if one were to continue searching, it is not impossible to find even more extremely rare materials within the Nine Realms.

However, not only are materials of that caliber extremely difficult to find, but processing them and integrating them into an existing framework is another problem.

Most importantly, crafting armor isn't about piling up as many high-rarity materials as possible; what you already have is more than enough.

That's why Brock and his team made the decision to come to the forge.

By this time, Runda had finished processing the core crystal and handed it to Sindri. As Sindri received the crystal, Runda gave him a look but said nothing more.

Sindri took a deep breath and walked toward Brock with the crystal in his hand.

Brock was already rubbing his hands together excitedly: "Hehe, I'm finally going to see Lady Forge!"

Then he saw Sindri standing in front of him with the materials.

"……What are you doing?"

Brock glanced at Sindri, somewhat bewildered. "You think you can take it from me? Get out of my way!"

Sindri took a deep breath and said, "I won't fight you for it, I'll go with you."

Brock raised an eyebrow: "Are you crazy? There are rules for seeing the Lady of the Forge: only one blacksmith can go at a time!"

Sindri insisted, "I want to go with you! Don't worry, we won't break the rules!"

Brock looked at him. Over the years, he had come to know his younger brother's stubbornness very well, and he saw something in Sindri's eyes.

"...Fine, come on over if you want." Brock then stopped insisting and mumbled, "If you break the Forge Lady's rules and don't receive her blessing, Li You, you can go and settle the score with this guy!"

Li You glanced at Sindri, but without asking any questions or waiting for his response, he simply nodded.

"Alright! Let's stop dawdling and get on board!"

Brock then waved his hand, putting all the materials in front of him back into his magic pocket, and then walked first to the circular platform, with Li You and Sindri following closely behind.

Then, Li You turned the crank on the platform, and the "big bell" above the three of them immediately fell down, covering the circular platform. Then, the entire bell sank into the lake!

……

Meanwhile, at the mountain camp.

The dwarves coming and going in the camp whispered among themselves for a while because of Brock's sudden appearance.

However, even this group of dwarves had tasks entrusted to them by Odin, so no one dared to slack off. After a brief exchange, they went back to their own busy work.

But at this moment.

Suddenly, a flock of crows swept through the center of the camp, and Odin, leaning on his staff, appeared there in a flash.

The dwarves who noticed this were all startled. They immediately abandoned their work and gathered around to pay their respects to the father of the gods.

Odin ignored their actions, only glancing at the path leading up the mountain, a sinister glint flashing in his single eye.

He then turned to the dwarf who was leading the group: "Gather everyone together, now!"

(End of this chapter)