Starting from Ainz Ooal Gown, simultaneously traveling through time

A few days later, inside a remote and highly secluded cave.

Lei Lin was completely absorbed in forging.

The roaring fire illuminated his focused face.

Holding long tongs, he took an iron ingot from the red-hot furnace and placed it on a heavy anvil.

Then, he picked up a seemingly ordinary iron hammer and began to forge rhythmically, hammer blow after hammer blow.

His movements were steady and precise, each strike containing a unique power and rhythm.

Under repeated forging, the iron ingot gradually stretched and deformed, slowly revealing the prototype of a sword.

Next came clay tempering, quenching, grinding, and installing the handguard and handle... a series of processes were completed in his hands as smoothly as flowing water.

"It's done."

Leylin stopped what he was doing and raised the new weapon in his hand—a katana with sleek lines and a restrained, cold gleam.

On the surface, the entire forging process appears almost too ordinary.

There was no use of dragon flames to burn it, no blood sacrifice to imbue it with spirituality, no intricate alchemical arrays to be engraved, and no elven runes to be added.

It's just the most basic forging, heat treatment, and finishing.

However, it is precisely this seemingly ordinary forging process that endows this knife with an extraordinary essence.

The blade hummed slightly, emanating a clear and vibrant spirituality, and even a "living spirit" had been nurtured within it, giving the weapon a sense of self.

"[Item Appraisal]!"

A magical light swept across the blade.

The feedback confirmed to Leylin that, according to the equipment tiers in the YGGDRASIL game, this sword had firmly entered the threshold of the [Relic] tier.

"Let's call you 'Muramasa'," Lei Lin said, naming him.

He had previously forged a sword of the same name, so this is considered a new generation of his work.

In the original setting of Dragon Raja, the Murasame was a weapon that could be mass-produced, and Chu Zihang had many spares, so having one more wouldn't make a difference.

He sheathed the knife in its specially made scabbard and casually placed it on the worktable beside him.

The forging did not stop; he threw in the iron ingot again and repeated the hammering process.

A day later, two more brand-new katana were forged under his hammer.

"This one will be named 'Spider Cutter,' and the other one will be called 'Child Cutter.'"

Lei Lin examined the artwork closely.

He had not seen the original in Genji's hands, but through the memory sharing of the dragon clan's Leylin, he had seen detailed pictures and information, so it was not difficult to replicate its appearance.

Of course, the performance will inevitably be different, but he is confident that the actual performance of his two replicas may be slightly better than the genuine ones.

"It's also [Relic-level], but it seems that this is the peak that I can reliably reach with my current skills."

Leylin placed the two new knives aside, his brow furrowing slightly.

In the past few days, he has been studying how to forge the famous sword set from the Dragon Clan world, which was created specifically for slaying dragons—the Seven Deadly Sins.

He crafted these famous swords as practice tools to test and hone his skills.

It now appears that there are indeed still bottlenecks in the skill level.

"Currently, [Relic-level] seems to be my limit. To forge higher-level [Legendary-level] or even [Artifact-level] weapons, I am still far from being able to do so with my current methods and understanding of the Dragon King's authority."

Lei Lin felt a sense of helplessness.

The Seven Deadly Sins is one of the key weapons he envisions for fighting powerful dragons in the future, and he is determined to obtain it.

Even if some design concepts are obtained through memory sharing, without the unparalleled forging skills of Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire, replication is just empty talk.

"Not only the Seven Deadly Sins, but also true divine artifacts like the Ame no Habakiri, Futsu no Mitama, and even Gungnir, have never been seen in person, let alone forged."

Leylin knew that these higher-level weapon secrets could perhaps only be discovered by "himself" in the Dragon Clan world in the future.

"Alright, let's stop forging here for now."

Realizing that a technological breakthrough was unlikely in the near future, Leylin turned his attention to other matters.

"Number 1," he said, speaking to a corner of the seemingly empty cave.

As soon as the words were spoken, the air there distorted slightly, and a tall figure gradually appeared.

He was over two meters tall, his entire body shrouded in a large gray cloak, his face covered by a pure white mask without any features, the only thing visible being a pair of eyes that shone with a dark golden light.

He stood silently, like a statue.

"Have you made any progress in tracking down the [Abyssal Body]?" Leylin asked.

The tall figure known as Number 1 slowly shook his head, his movements slightly stiff.

"It seems this organization is more deeply hidden than we thought." Leylin wasn't surprised. "I'll have Numbers 2 through 5 join later to help you expand the scope of your investigation."

Number 1 remained still, showing no reaction.

"What are you still standing there for? Continue the mission," Leylin ordered.

Upon hearing the clear instruction, Number 1's figure slowly faded again, eventually blending completely into the surrounding environment and disappearing from sight.

Looking at the spot where Number 1 disappeared, Leylin couldn't help but facepalm and complain, "This action logic is sluggish, the interaction is stiff, it's like a low-level artificial intelligence. It seems that the core intelligence still needs optimization."

Temporarily setting aside his thoughts on forging and artifact management, Leylin turned and walked towards the workbench on the other side of the cave, preparing to begin the next phase of his research.

..............................

Meanwhile, on the northern border of the Kingdom of Inberia, outside the Lapis Lazuli Fortress.

A group of about ten people were making their way towards the fortress gate, looking travel-worn.

Each of them looked weary, their armor covered in dust, clearly having endured a long journey and in dire need of a safe place to rest and replenish their supplies.

"Friends, Lapis Lazuli Fortress is just ahead! Once we pass through here, we'll officially enter the Kingdom of Inberia!"

At the front of the column, a human-looking captain with a short, pointed horn on his head was boosting morale.

The group arrived at the fortress gate and were stopped by the soldiers on duty for a routine check.

"Halt! Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing in the city?" The gatekeeper asked according to procedure, his sharp eyes sweeping over the small, mixed-race group.

The horned captain stepped forward and politely replied, "We are adventurers from a neighboring country, passing through this area. We wish to enter your fortress for a temporary rest and resupply, and plan to explore within the territory of Inberia. These are our identification documents and travel documents."

He handed over some documents.

In this era, the "adventurer" community does indeed exist.

Some of them were travelers who purely sought the unknown and adventure, while others were mercenaries who accepted commissions and did things for money.

The two have different motivations, but they share the common feature of being highly mobile and frequently crossing national borders.

The gatekeeper took the document and examined it, while carefully observing the squad:

The group included people with heterochromatic irises, people with horns on their heads, people with arms that reached past their knees, people with abundant body hair, and even an elf and a dwarf...

The racial composition is incredibly diverse, which is uncommon in adventurer parties, but not unusual either.

However, the soldiers' eyes eventually settled on an unusually tall figure at the very back of the column.

The man was completely wrapped in a large black cloak, his head bowed, silent, and his physique was noticeably more imposing than the strongest hairy man in the group.

"The last one, the one in the cloak." The soldier became more alert, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Please remove your cloak; we need to verify your identity."

Upon hearing this, the tall figure trembled almost imperceptibly, and his gaze beneath the cloak quickly turned to the horned captain at the front of the group, as if seeking instructions.

The captain of the Sharp-Horned Man felt a sense of foreboding, but he tried his best to maintain a calm expression.

He sighed and nodded to the tall figure: "Since you require an inspection, then cooperate."

With the captain's permission, the tall figure seemed somewhat reluctant to raise his hand, slowly lift the hood, and remove the cloak that was covering him.

The moment their true forms were revealed, the pupils of all the gatekeepers constricted, and they erupted in gasps and shouts of fury:

"A hairy man? No! Those fangs... it's an orc!"

"Orcs! Orcs have infiltrated!"

"All personnel on alert! Surround them!"

"Speak! Who exactly are you people? What are you plotting by bringing orcs close to the fortress?!"

"Take down this orc immediately!"

In the blink of an eye, more soldiers poured out of the city gate, swords drawn and bows nocked, surrounding the small group of adventurers, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

The horned captain's forehead was beaded with sweat, his heart filled with doubt and anxiety: "Strange, while we've checked checkpoints before, the scrutiny of non-human races has never been this severe, especially not with direct armed conflict like this. What's going on today? Has the situation at the border changed?"

Looking at the undisguised hostility and murderous intent in the eyes of the soldiers around him, he knew that this matter was unlikely to end well.