The System’s notifications were now coming in so rapidly, almost as if they wanted to grab his attention...

Though Lucian completely ignored the system messages and carelessly tossed the broken pieces of the anvil aside like scrap paper.

Just then, his gaze fell straight to that deep spot. Beneath the pile of the shattered anvil, a strange, long structure was visible. It looked like some sort of frame, and a very bright light was emitting from within it. Lucian leaned down a little to look closer.

Despite striking it with the hammer for so long, he had never even dreamed that something like this could be hidden beneath the anvil. Slowly, the shining light began to dim.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The System notifications kept ringing loudly, Except Lucian’s attention was entirely focused on the fading light. When the light completely faded away, a sword appeared in the middle of the frame — it was a glowing orange sword that shone exactly like molten lava. Looking closely, it seemed less like an ordinary weapon and more like a cheat code of the system itself.

Lucian was completely stunned and joyful, probably both. Though His joy didn’t stem from finding a sword; rather, it came from the fact that the very system that had always restricted him was now, for the first time, standing completely helpless before him.

Then, Lucian looked around that frame structure. Some dark green material had melted and hardened there, exactly like a melted candle that solidifies after cooling down.

He used his "Villain’s Gaze" skill on the hardened green material:

[Iron Emerald Stone]

[Rarity - S]

Seeing this, his eyes narrowed...

"Hold on..."

Then his gaze stopped on that sword.

[Red Iron Sword]

[Rarity - S+]

Now he understood why the system had been screaming in his ears for so long... and where this sword had come from.

That green stone was somehow stuck in the lower structure of the anvil, and over time, through Lucian’s 10,000 strikes, that stone melted, got trapped in the mold, and converted into the shape of a sword...

Though the sword still didn’t have a hilt...

And now after all that realization he couldn’t help but let out a sharp, hollow laugh that echoed off the damp cavern walls.

"So I get it now, you bastard system. You wanted to make a fool out of me and snatch this sword... so you could sell it back to me later for high FP... you piece of shit, you were going to sell my own hard work back to me?"

"Scumbag system, I won’t let you take advantage of me..."

He continuously kept cursing the system...

For quite a long time the system gave him no reply, and because of this, Lucian eventually quieted down on his own after a while.

And now, a strange gut feeling was bothering him. It felt as if the system was trying to hide something else besides this sword and the stone...

With a confused face, he carefully looked at the hardened green molten pile near the sword’s frame. After staring at it for a while, he felt something different.

"Wait, wait..."

Raising his head, he looked around, as if he was afraid that someone might be secretly watching him...

Ignoring the sword, he crouched down there and began to carefully inspect the cracks in the ground. With his calloused fingers, he grabbed the largest piece of the ground’s crack and pulled it up with a little of his might.

As soon as he ripped that large rock from the ground, the piece came free in his hand. He saw that beneath the stone, lava was dripping down—drip, drip—from a triangle-shaped space.

A few droplets of lava narrowly missed his feet as they splashed down, Lucian paid them no mind, his focus remaining entirely on that piece.

After the lava dripped for a while, the bottom layer of that triangle-shaped space became completely clearly visible to him, and Lucian was left completely stunned.

He gasped hard.

What he had thought, turned out to be true — it was indeed the Iron Emerald Stone.

He stood up and looked carefully at the entire lava chimney. Now he understood what was hidden beneath this cracked floor besides the lava...

"Man, this is an entire ocean of treasure!"

Looking at that sight, some highly vicious and devilish thoughts crossed his mind for a few moments...

There was a smile on his face that was slowly turning into a manic laugh.

"An ocean... no, this is a whole new universe," he whispered, a strange obsession in his voice.

The greed was clearly visible in his eyes, the kind that would make the glory of even the greatest emperor fade. He spread his hands in the air as if he were embracing all that heat and wealth at once.

"Come out now," he said, looking at the System screen with a sharp taunt.

"Why don’t you say ’Complete the training’ now? Why don’t you say ’You are weak’?"

And in the very next heartbeat, a surge of absolute certainty washed over him — he had truly struck gold today! An overwhelming, manic joy bubbled up within him, so intense that he actually collapsed onto the hard floor, rolling around in a fit of sheer, unbridled excitement.

Until this moment, the suffocating grip of poverty had chained him to his tormenting family... those same people who had discarded him into the academy like a piece of useless, talentless scrap.

But now, the tides were turning. Every single one of his miseries could be snuffed out forever. Even if the academy spat him out and slammed its doors, he could live a life of absolute luxury in this world.

However, all of this hung on one singular possibility: he had to find a way to bleed every last stone from the lava-cracked floor of this cavern...

...

"Hey System..." he cleared his throat. Then, putting a taunting expression on his face, he began his scheming...

"Nah, nah, I mean... Hey slave! Tell me... can I use my ’Gate skill’ to come back here whenever I want or not?"

There was complete silence for two seconds, and then the system replied in an unfamiliar tone...

[Yes, you can come...] 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Lucian gave a devilish smile and leaned in extremely close to the screen.

"So now tell me, slave, what would be the value of that sword in the outside world?"