Nameless King

Initially, Wain wanted to kill the monsters in the village, but when he saw the dagger and the furnace, he had a crazy idea. This was also greatly influenced by the monster's behavior.

At first, Wain could not believe that the monster offered him the dagger as a price for his life. Moreover, these monsters understood what Wain was talking about.

"Do you know what blacksmithing is?" Wain asked.

They understood him, but that did not mean they knew all the words people used in their speech.

To Wain's surprise, the monsters nodded affirmatively. Moreover, it was obvious that they were glad when Wain asked them about it.

Wain nodded and decided to take another look at the dagger. He opened the description of the weapon.

[Simple Dagger (Primary Chronicle, Common Rating)

This dagger was forged by the fire goblins that live deep underground in the lava lands. These creatures are rather weak in combat, having difficulty learning the martial arts, but they are excellent craftsmen.

Most fire goblins prefer to engage in blacksmithing, and they are often very successful at it. But, they are limited by their habitat, where they could rarely find anything useful]

"So you are called Fire Goblins?" Wain asked, puzzled.

The goblins nodded in response. They were already slowly ceasing to be afraid of Wain, as he no longer emitted a creepy aura and did not behave aggressively towards them.

"I see... so you're all blacksmiths, right?" Wain clarified.

The fire goblins nodded again.

For most people, this situation would be insane. Many people despised monsters and wanted to destroy them. It made sense considering what happened to humanity after the apocalypse began. However, Wain had no such prejudices.

He didn't care if it was a monster or a human. As long as the creature was useful to him and had no hostile intentions, Wain was willing to communicate and consider a possible alliance.

Right now, the biggest problem for Wain was not that he was communicating with monsters but that the goblins couldn't give him a meaningful response. All they were capable of was nods and incomprehensible shouts.

"Is there any way you can communicate with me besides nodding your head? Can you write?"

The goblins nodded again. The goblin who fought Wain took a stick in his hand and wrote a few words on the ground. However...

Wain frowned and sighed regretfully. He couldn't read what the goblin had written, for he didn't understand the language and what the symbols meant.

'Maybe I should learn the goblin's language of communication.' Wain pondered.

'Okay, cancellation. How I should communicate with you will be figured out later. Follow me." Said Wain and headed for the ovens.

Next to the furnaces were also the anvils and the necessary tools. It looked like a real forge.

"I have a proposition for you. I want you to dig something out in front of me right now. If I am satisfied with the result, you will come upstairs with me. There you'll find tools far better than here, as well as countless materials and ores waiting for you." Said Wain.

From the description of the dagger, Wain realized that the fire goblins liked to do blacksmithing, and moreover, there were usually few materials in their habitat.

He also realized this from looking at the dirty lumps of ore next to the furnaces and the awkward, impractical tools at the anvils. So Wain decided to offer them such a bargain.

'For any blacksmith, a large variety of ores and materials is a most cherished desire.' Wain thought, and he was absolutely right.

When Wain offered the fire goblins this deal, they immediately got to work. Of course, not all thirty goblins acted at once. They chose a few of them who had the most outstanding skills in blacksmithing.

'Damn, life really is unpredictable. I would never have thought that my descent into the crevasse would end with me befriending goblins. By the way, why do they live here? Does it have something to do with Imps?

Did the goblins cooperate with them or work for them? Unfortunately, I'm not likely to get the answers to those questions...' Wain thought as he watched the goblins work.

Not only were they excellent blacksmiths, but they also worked skillfully as a team. One prepared the tools. A second was working on the hilt for future weapons.

A third monitored the temperature of the furnace. The fourth threw the ore into the vat and, with the fifth, stuck it into the furnace.

They acted as one well-coordinated mechanism. After a while, when the ore had melted, the goblins poured the liquid metal into a specially prepared mold.

When the moment was right, the mold was lowered into the water. Then came the most important moment when the blacksmith gave the red-hot piece of metal the desired shape.

The water did not wholly cool the liquid metal, only to the extent that it was given some form for further work.

After a while, the contented fire goblins presented Wain with the weapon they had made. It was a medium length blade with a rectangular blade sharpened on one side.

'Such a weapon is indeed much more difficult to create than some kind of sword or axe. What's more, they made it all from poor quality ore and not in the best conditions for it. Their skills are impressive. What's more, they're monsters, and that's a huge plus.' Thought Wain examining the blade.

Monsters, like humans, had abilities, and monsters could also evolve and become stronger. However, unlike humans, monsters didn't necessarily need to kill other creatures to become stronger.

Monsters could absorb Soul Essence from their environment, and they did it instinctively and reflexively. It was as natural for them as it is for humans to breathe or walk on two legs.

'Even now, each of the fire goblins is comparable in skill to a human who has awakened a blacksmith's Common Rating Soul, maybe even higher. Moreover, this is only the beginning. These monsters will evolve and become much more useful in the future.' Thought Wain and handed the blade back to the goblins.

He didn't need this weapon. He wanted to test their abilities and see how they worked and their methods.

'Good, I am pleased with your work. You honestly exceeded all my expectations. This meeting is destined to happen, I guess..." Proclaimed Wain and turned around.

He looked at the monster behind him, but as he stared intently at the monster, Wain realized that it was not a living creature.

'So it's some kind of mechanism?' Wain thought to himself.

"Hey, can you make sure that no more fire comes out of this machine? Otherwise, the place where the various ores are might burn up." Said Wain.

The fire goblins nodded and headed towards this strange mechanism. They quickly turned off the mechanism. At that moment, the fire stopped coming out of the pipes, and Wain's mission to save the bridge was accomplished.

'But, why were they turning that mechanism on?' Wain wondered, and he saw behind the mechanism a small tank of lava at that moment.

Into this tank led a pipe emanating from the mechanism, and the lava gradually became more and more. But, Wain found this situation strange. Because the lava was yellow, like honey, not orange-red, and the tank was not metal but wooden.

Wain didn't understand how wood could withstand the temperatures of the lava, so he went there to check it out.