Furnace of Tianyuan

"Artos, you know what I want. Give me your best price for them." Aiolos said. His gaze is focused on the stack of sixteen chests of Tianyuan Ores. That's what Artos has in his store, which he used to rotate his stock as it was sold and refilled.

This Mineral God has a very unique grace, which is applied not to his crest holders, but the mineral ores. The ore in his hand will experience a qualitative improvement before they were sold. In exchange for the once a day improvement, the Heaven Crystals earned from the sale would have it's value tripled.

Of course, that's if he converted them into Cultivation Points.

Ores in his stash lasting for more than 100 days worth threefold when they're converted into Cultivation Points. Those that remained with him over 500 days, or half a year, worth sixfold. As for those that stay with him for an entire year, tenfold.

But his grace would only apply as long Artos conducts his business in honesty. This means ores that were purposely hidden from the sale to extend their value would yield nothing. That is also why Artos' grace is said to be "Unique."

And right now, Aiolos wished to purchase all of them.

[SO WHAT? YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL ME HERE, AIOLOS!]

Artos complained in his heart, but at the same time, he's crying because this business is one that he couldn't reject. That's because a call-to-arms would follow in the next few days. At that time, the Tianyuan Ores would have its demand increased.

Selling them by then means he could earn two times more than what he could right now. And if they were converted into Cultivation Points through his grace, the yield would surpass sixfold and twelvefold.

"Aiolos, I..." Artos tried to reason with Aiolos, hoping that he'll change his mind about clearing his shop. But before he finishes, Aiolos' intense gaze falls onto him.

"Artos. You won't regret this. Even if the Call-to-arms arrive, the person that's going to purchase most of them is going to be I, Aiolos." Aiolos grabbed Artos' shoulder as he speaks. On his other hand, a crystal pouch followed as it slowly raised to Artos' eye level.

"Kachink!" Artos weight the crystal pouch. That's the weight that belonged to eight Silver Crystals. With an offer of 50 Copper Crystals per chest, that's a rather generous price from Aiolos. Thinking about last time, each of his purchases is between 35 to 40 copper crystals.

"Aiolos, I can sell twelve chests for 50 Copper Crystals each, but the final four would have to be 2 silver crystals each." Artos put in more effort to increase the price for the final row of Tianyuan Ore's chest.

"Six. That's the highest I could give." Aiolos bargained with him. Eight extra Silver Crystals is like trying to cut his throat.

"Seven and a half. Nothing lower than that." Artos rejected. He proposed a different price, hoping Aiolos would accept.

"Six and a half." Aiolos stares at Artos.

[This damn profit seeker!]

Aiolos awaits Artos to continue.

"Seven. I won't go any lower than that. The four chests followed me slightly more than half a year, so I can guarantee their quality. Even if you're trying to smelt a Low-Heaven Iron, it's going to yield you more than the twelve boxes there." Artos made the sign of [7] using his fingers.

It was his last attempt to keep the price at a profitable side.

"Deal. Seven Silver Crystals it is." Aiolos drops seven whitish Heaven Crystals into the pouch. With a wave of his hand, Aiolos collected all sixteen chests of ores and ready to leave Artos' shop. The Mineral God sighed but didn't look too unhappy from what had just happened.

"Artos," Aiolos called him again before he steps outside of his sanctuary.

"Yes?" Artos turned around and looking at Aiolos.

"You should be happy because I am leaving you with what you have on the display there." Aiolos left without waiting for a reply from Artos.

"WHATTTT!!!"

--------------------

"Micos, this is what I have so far. I hope you won't mind me stop supplying for a while." Aiolos made a stop at the Trade God's store.

"Aiolos. Ge-Duk!" Micos called, but before Aiolos could answer him, his knuckle already landed on Aiolos' forehead.

"I've heard about what happened to Tetros' crest holders. Just made sure both of you know that I'm still around." Micos said. He hovered his hand before the gears Aiolos brought over, and they flew onto the shelf without any issue.

"Go. I'll be here waiting for both of you to come back." Micos gave Aiolos a big hug. He has no intention to keep Aiolos here talking to him and neglect what he's going to do. Furthermore, as a lower-tiered god that was born at the same time as Aiolos and Tetros, there no comforting word is needed between them.

Aiolos made his way to Tetros' Grocer, but it remained closed.

But because both of them had their own preparation to do, Aiolos left without disturbing him. While on the inside, Tetros was standing before an oven as tall as her. Baked within is trays of cakes, which resembles a ration for an exploration trip.

By her side is more trays of destroyed cakes, cookies, and bread. Although they're edible, Tetros considered them as a failure of a product, which couldn't provide more than 5% of improvement after eating.

After returning to his sanctuary, Aiolos greeted his crest holders and Rochelle before he closed his eyes for a short while. The changes in the mood made walking around stressful. There's a hint of negative feelings around them, creating more negativity as time passed.

Luckily, a Sanctuary is a realm of its own. Air, light, water, grasses, and life runs independently here.

They had a light dinner before everyone returned to their room. Aiolos made sure he warned them to not going outside unless it is for something important.

"Aiolos, bring us along." suddenly, Alrune said the word inside everyone's mind. Looking at how stressful is Aiolos, they know what kind of a decision he made. And since Tetros is going in, followed by her crest holder and Aiolos, then why can't they join as Aiolos' crest holders?

"It's dangerous. All of you shouldn't follow." Aiolos said.

"No! We'll follow and protect you," Alrune added. Everyone else stands, including Rochelle. Although it was just a short few days, she already accepted herself as one of Aiolos' family members.

"I've said, It's dangerous!" Aiolos slammed the table with both his hands, creating a thunderous cloud inside his sanctuary.

"So? We won against the Ore Devourer yesterday. We'll be able to fight against the orcs sooner or later. If you keep protecting us like this, we won't grow to the point we can act independently!" Alrune added. Pharcis and Yesha each chose a side of Aiolos' hand and held him with all their might.

Hansen climbs on Aiolos back, just like when he's with Aiolos from Day 1. Alrune stands before him as if she's waiting for Aiolos to do something.

Aiolos knelt on a knee. Like how he used to, from their first day. Because of his towering stature, Hansen climbs on his back, with Pharcis and Yesha one both sides of his arms. Alrune stands right in front of him, who will put her head on his shoulder.

"We'll follow you!" Alrune hugged his neck this time.

"Alright." Aiolos gathered them before him and gave them a hug. As for Rochelle, she made a few steps forward, gently touching Aiolos' wrist and the others. The gathering of everyone together created an image in Aiolos' mind.

And with them by his side, the weather inside the sanctuary was great once more. While they're busy with their own formation and planning, Aiolos returned to his workshop. A wave of his hand releases sixteen chests of ores gathered beside his furnace.

Aiolos placed a hint of his Godhood Power into the workshop, adjusting its size further. Right now, the distance between the table and the furnace is close to ten steps aways, eight steps farther than before.

The image of how the youths gathered by his reach provides him with a new smelting technique. Using himself as the furnace, the youngsters as ore, and Rochelle, as the final touch, Aiolos unconsciously created a smelting technique.

[Furnace of Tianyuan! Burn and stabilize the realm within you!]

The Godhood Power gathered in between of Aiolos' palm spins like a tornado, slowly ripping apart his flesh. Blood of the god starts to flow into the eye of the wind, creating the image within his mind.

His flesh became the frame, while his blood forms the body. The Godhood Power turned into a realm that could withstand any tests.

The golden forge looks similar to a chest, with an opening on the side. If was just like Tetros' oven, but humbler and deadlier. Decorated on the left is an emblem of an ingot clipper and on the right is a hammer. On the back is the word "Human" and on the cover, "God."

On top is a continent, hovering between clouds, and on the bottom is a mountain, sitting below the cloud. And the word "Tian-Yuan" is the flame formed by his Godhood Power.

"Ah..." Aiolos swallowed his saliva and tossed some Tianyuan Ores into the forge. He expects it to be magical, much notably if it could wound his two hands into this state while not being inside the Heavenly Dungeon.

The ore melted inside the furnace before two drops of Origin Essence splits between the word "Tian" and "Yuan." Once the smelting process is done, the forge spits out two pellets.

[Are you joking with me?]

Aiolos held a pellet on each hand. The one smelted by the "Tian" flames were the quality iron of Low-Heaven. While the one on the "Yuan" flames turned out to be higher quality Below-Heaven Iron.

[Doesn't this means I'll be able to start smelting Low-Heaven Iron out like how Tetros bakes her cakes?]