I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

Soon, the small boat reached the shore.

The two returned to the starting village, number 101.

The atmosphere in the village was noticeably more lively than when they left.

Everywhere you can hear players discussing the first kill of the dungeon that just happened, which caused a sensation across the entire server.

"Have you heard? The first kill on Shadow Lake Island was taken by 'Seeing Through the Mist' and 'Searching for Mist Among Flowers'!"

"It's them again! Just who are these two? They're incredibly powerful!"

"Two people clearing a level 10 dungeon? You believe it? I certainly don't. They must have used some kind of bug!"

"Who cares if it's a bug or not, at least they're on TV again! I'm so jealous!"

Li Wu and Hua Zitong walked along the road, listening to the discussions of the players around them, feeling somewhat strange.

They are the mysterious and powerful "gods" that others talk about.

But the people around them had no idea that the person in question had just walked past them.

"How does it feel to be famous?" Hua Zitong suddenly asked with a smile.

"I don't feel anything," Li Wu replied honestly. "It's not like I can exchange it for money to treat my mother's illness."

Hua Zitong's smile froze slightly.

She almost forgot that the man's initial motivation for working so hard was simply for his mother lying in the hospital bed.

Looking at Li Wu's aloof, even somewhat cold, profile, she suddenly felt a pang of tenderness.

"Yes, it will," she said softly. "It will happen in the future."

The two did not linger on the road, but went straight through the bustling streets and arrived at the dimly lit "Black Iron Dwarf Blacksmith Shop" again.

Before even entering, one could hear the clanging and banging of blacksmiths coming from inside.

The dwarf blacksmith named Barton resumed his previous frantic work ethic, as if the man who had been weeping and recounting his past was merely a figment of their imagination.

The two entered the shop.

Patton ignored them, frantically swinging his hammer and venting all his emotions on the red-hot iron blank.

Li Wu didn't disturb him. She simply took out the [Pure Heart] that emitted a pure white light from her backpack and gently placed it on the table next to her.

Ding-dong—!

The sound of the hammer hitting the ground rang out again.

Patton stopped moving.

He slowly turned around, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the pure heart on the table, his body trembling violently with excitement.

Barton's gaze, like iron filings drawn to a magnet, was firmly locked onto that [Pure Heart].

His large hands, calloused and scalded from excessive training, trembled as he slowly reached out towards the heart that emitted a soft white light.

His movements were slow and gentle, as if he were touching a priceless treasure, or as if he were afraid of disturbing a fragile dream.

The moment his fingertips finally touched that heart, a pure and gentle energy flowed from his fingertips throughout his entire body.

"Lina..."

A soft, dreamlike whisper escaped Patton's throat.

He could sense an aura from this heart that was remarkably similar to Lina's.

Pure, kind, and full of vitality.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Li Wu and Hua Zitong, his red eyes filled with gratitude and hope.

"Thank you... brave adventurers... thank you!"

He was no longer the cold, aloof, and eccentric blacksmith he once was, but a pitiful man who had grasped at the last straw.

"What...what should I do?" he asked, somewhat incoherently.

Li Wu shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either.

Their job was simply to bring the items back; how Patton used them was his own business.

Barton took a deep breath, seemingly realizing his lapse in composure.

He carefully picked up the "Pure Heart" and turned to walk to the corner of the blacksmith's shop.

There, there was an old-fashioned wooden box.

Patton opened the wooden box, inside which lay a wisp of pale purple, smoke-like fragrance.

That aura was slowly drifting inside the wooden box, emanating a faint yet resentful and unwilling fluctuation.

"This is... the last trace of Lina's breath."

Barton's voice was filled with sorrow.

"After she disappeared, I risked my life to snatch back what was hers from that cave."

"I have kept it sealed in this 'soul-soothing wooden box' all this time, hoping that one day I can find a way to purify it."

"Now... hope is at hand."

As he spoke, a light rekindled in his eyes.

He held the "Pure Heart" and slowly brought it close to the wooden box.

As the Pure Heart drew closer, the purple aura within the wooden box seemed to be stimulated and began to surge violently.

A wisp of black resentment was extracted from the aura, emitting a silent shriek, but it quickly dissipated into nothingness under the white light of the Pure Heart.

"It works! It really works!"

Patton was so excited that he trembled all over, and tears welled up in his eyes once again.

He saw that the purple aura was slowly fading in color under the purification of the white light, and the violence and resentment within it were being dispelled little by little.

Li Wu and Hua Zitong watched this scene with tension.

If successful, this could be a perfect ending.

However, just as that wisp of purple aura was about to be completely purified and transformed into pure soul energy, a sudden change occurred!

The light on the surface of that [Pure Heart] suddenly began to flicker intensely.

click-

A crisp cracking sound rang out in the quiet blacksmith shop, sounding particularly jarring.

A tiny crack appeared on the surface of the Pure Heart.

"No...no!"

Patton's face turned deathly pale instantly.

He wanted to do something, but he was powerless to do so.

Click!Click!

The cracks multiplied and became increasingly dense, spreading rapidly throughout the entire heart like a spider web.

The light of the pure heart dimmed rapidly, visible to the naked eye.

The wisp of energy within the wooden box, which had been nearly purified, became violent again once the suppression of the white light was gone.

As if unwilling to simply vanish, it suddenly burst out of the wooden box, transforming in mid-air into a distorted, pained female face, and let out a silent roar at Barton.

That face belonged to Lina.

But her face was no longer sunny and bright; only endless pain and resentment remained.

"Lina!"

Patton screamed in anguish and reached out to grab the face.

But his hand passed directly through that illusory face.

That face, after its roar, seemed to have exhausted its energy.

It gave Patton one last reluctant look, its eyes filled with complex emotions: resentment, reluctance, but mostly a sense of relief.

Finally, it turned into specks of purple light and completely dissipated into the air.

at the same time.

boom!

A muffled thud.

The cracked Pure Heart had completely lost its light, shattering into a pile of useless powder that slipped from Barton's hand.

The entire blacksmith shop fell into a deathly silence.

Failed.

The last hope was also extinguished.

Barton stood there blankly, staring at his empty hands, then at the spot where Lina's life force had dissipated. He looked as if all his energy had been drained away.

His tall body swayed suddenly, and then he knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"ah--!!!"

A roar, suppressed to the extreme and filled with endless pain and despair, burst forth from the depths of his throat.

Like a wounded beast, he pounded his fists hard on the ground, making muffled "thump thump" sounds.

He didn't cry, but his appearance was more heartbreaking than if he had wailed loudly.

Li Wu and Hua Zitong looked at him in silence.

They didn't know how to comfort them.

Any language seems so pale and powerless in the face of such sorrow.

I don't know how much time has passed.

Patton's roar gradually subsided.

He lay motionless on the ground, like a stone sculpture that had lost its soul.

The atmosphere inside the shop was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

Just when Li Wu thought that the mission might have failed.

Patton slowly got up from the ground.

He didn't look at the powder on the ground again, nor did he look at the empty wooden box.

He simply turned around, silently walked to the corner of the wall, took down the small suit of armor he had meticulously crafted for Lina but could never give away, and hugged it tightly to his chest.

Then, he walked to his workbench, rummaged through a pile of odds and ends and pulled out a small cloth bag, and began to quietly pack his things.

Hammer, pliers, various molds...

He carefully placed the tools that had been with him for half his life into his cloth bag, one by one.

His movements were slow, but very determined.

"It failed..."

He suddenly spoke, his voice terribly hoarse, yet surprisingly calm.

"Well, at least she's free now."

"I was too persistent. I just couldn't let go of her, and I couldn't let go of myself either."

He raised his head and looked at Li Wu and Hua Zitong. His originally cloudy eyes had become somewhat clear, but that clarity carried a kind of deathly stillness that came from seeing through life and death.

"I'm sorry, adventurer, I couldn't keep my promise."

"I... am no longer able to forge equipment for you."

"I can't stay in this place anymore."

As he spoke, he took out a ring from his pocket and handed it to Li Wu.

It was an ordinary iron ring, without any luster or properties, looking like a worthless piece of scrap iron.

"This is... the first thing I made for Lina, and the only souvenir I have that still has some value."

"Please accept this as a small token of my compensation to you."