I postponed all other tasks and first selected a site for the cat village.
After considering the best location, I ultimately decided on a spot next to the rabbit hill.
The simple reason was that the rabbits there could provide food right next door.
The ores were to be transported by the gnolls.
It wasn’t a great distance, so it wasn’t a major issue, but the goblins and cats started constructing a railway.
Clang, clang.
A strange sight where the railway was built before the village itself.
And before anything else, a blacksmith workshop was the first structure to be erected on the village site.
“Nyang, this is great.”
Bell looked at the land where the blacksmith workshop would stand with satisfaction.
Later, I heard that they had carefully calculated and concluded that this was the best location for the blacksmith shop.
It wasn’t just chosen because it was next to the rabbit hill.
The scale of the blacksmith shop was enormous.
Designed on a grand scale, the blacksmith shop included five large forges and twenty small forges, an overwhelming size.
In addition, smaller blacksmith shops were planned to be built throughout the village.
It felt like we were building blacksmith shops instead of houses.
“Miyang.”
“Myaong!”
Seeing the satisfied cats, we couldn’t help but feel happy as well.
Until now, they had been working in a cramped blacksmith shop.
Now, not only would they have a massive blacksmith shop, but each would also get their own private workshop.
It was impossible not to be pleased.
Three days had passed since discovering the cat village site.
The first large forge was completed.
“Ooooh!”
This large forge was built with the help of the Iron-Blood Guild.
Just in case, I contacted President Baek, and he quickly connected me with a steel-related company, allowing us to get assistance.
With the combined skills of Bell and the cats and the technology from Earth’s companies, an enormous forge was completed—a blacksmith’s dream.
‘Bell and the cats’ blacksmith design skills were truly outstanding.’
But why had they been working in such a small blacksmith shop all this time?
“Because it was too much trouble, nyang.”
Bell answered smugly.
Yet when designing and building this blacksmith shop, he had been more enthusiastic and passionate than anyone else.
Anyway, with the completion of the first large forge, the railway was also finished.
The ores dug up by the gnolls began to be transported via carts along the newly built tracks.
Even this was made into an automatic system using magic stones, thanks to the goblins and cats working together.
Clatter, clatter.
“This is fun!”
“Dad! Look at this! It’s moving! Wooaaah!”
Ara and Cheong shouted excitedly while riding a cart loaded with ore.
Seeing the self-operating carts made me feel that life was going to become much more convenient thanks to the cats.
“We should extend the railway to our village as well, Great Lord!”
“Oh? That sounds good. But why?”
“The Catsmiths handle the first-stage processing. After they create the items, we take care of the engraving and finishing! What do you think of my idea?”
“Oooooh! That’s great!”
A fully specialized division of labor.
The gnolls mine the ores, and the cats create the items.
Then the goblins engrave or decorate the finished products.
The rabbits provide food for everyone, and the slimes cultivate and harvest ingredients.
It was like a smoothly running factory—no, a paradise for monsters.
‘Excellent, truly excellent.’
I hadn’t planned it this way, but everything was falling into place.
However, running the blacksmith operations like this raised a new issue—what to do with the products.
Should I sell them to the guilds?
Considering that the items were made by cats, everyone would probably want to buy them…
‘Hmm.’
It might be too much.
We were already receiving love calls from everywhere for our crops.
Now we were producing equipment and items as well?
It was hard not to be concerned.
‘I need to think about this carefully.’
For now, I decided to leave things as they were and gradually work out a solution.
As I was organizing my thoughts, Ara, who had been playing in the cart, suddenly tilted her head.
“kyu-seong kyu-seong.”
“Hmm?”
“When are we building our house?”
“Uh…?”
That was a problem.
Right now, all the manpower capable of building houses was occupied with constructing this factory—no, this monster paradise.
So far, we had only completed the railway leading to the mines and the cat village and the first giant forge.
There was still a mountain of things left to be built.
“We can take our time.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
It was a bit disappointing, but our house would have to wait.
It wasn’t an urgent matter, and for now, the cat village was the priority.
Oh, right.
I had forgotten something.
The reward for the Special Hidden Quest.
With Bell joining us, I had now gathered five out of the seven Deadly Sins.
At first, it happened unintentionally, but now, I was actively seeking them out.
[!!Special Hidden Quest!!: Seven Deadly Sins]
Gluttony has begun its conquest!
Conquer the remaining Seven Deadly Sins!
Pride: X
Greed: 0
Envy: X
Wrath: 0
Lust: 0
Sloth: 0
“Whoa.”
All the Sins except for Pride and Envy were now with me.
And not through coercion, but in mutually beneficial relationships.
With Sloth added, I received a new reward—two additional portal installations.
But the real game-changer wasn’t just the ability to place portals.
‘A portal that connects to the outside world!’
That’s right.
Not just a portal limited to movement within the dungeon!
A semi-permanent portal that could link the dungeon to the outside world!!
“Hehehe.”
“Ooooh. kyu-seong kyu-seong is making an evil grin again.”
I could use up to four portals.
However, only two of them could be placed outside.
The two that connected the sea and the floating island would remain as they were.
I planned to use the newly acquired portals to establish a link to the outside world.
However, now that I had this incredible opportunity, I had to think carefully about where to place them.
‘One is definitely going to China…’
More specifically, to the Skyscraper Guild.
Since Seon-ah was there, she could visit the children every day if I set it up at the Skyscraper Guild.
Besides, I could always remove and relocate the portal if needed, so there was no major risk.
Of course, if I took it away after installing it, the Skyscraper Guild might be quite upset.
So that was one portal decided.
But the other one was the problem.
“Hmm, should I place one in the Middle East?”
I needed to help Hassan when he planted the World Tree, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Maintaining and growing the World Tree required Mark2’s assistance.
Since Mark2 was always essential in our dungeon, sending him on a long-term assignment was a bit inconvenient.
But with a portal…
At least until the World Tree grew to a stable state, I could place a portal in Hassan’s location.
I had been meaning to contact him soon, so this worked out well.
Thinking of this, I stepped outside.
Then, I used the encrypted app that connected me directly to Hassan.
‘Having something like this is kind of scary when you think about it.’
An encrypted app.
I had only learned of its existence thanks to Hassan.
Later, I found out that all of Isthart’s guild members communicated through this app.
It felt like a contact system that was completely untraceable and ensured anonymity.
“Have you been well?”
“Hello. I just wanted to check in and see how the construction was progressing.”
“It’s going well. It would be great if you could visit soon.”
“I’ll try to schedule a visit this week.”
“Oh, that sounds good. Let me know once you set a date. I’ll arrange everything from flights to transportation.”
After the brief conversation with Hassan, I checked my schedule.
Hmm, I could go today if I wanted to.
Just to be safe, I decided to go tomorrow and sent Hassan a message.
“Ara, let’s go visit Grandpa Hassan tomorrow.”
“That sounds great!”
I should bring Mark2 as well.
Since construction was underway, I was curious to see how much progress had been made.
After checking on things in the cat village, I went to sleep, and soon, the next day arrived.
We boarded the private jet Hassan had sent and headed to his city.
“Huh?”
As we were about to arrive, I noticed a different landscape from before.
When I asked the flight attendant, they told me that a new airport had been built.
“What?”
It had only been a few days since we last met, and there was already an airport?
And why an airport all of a sudden?
…Could it be because of me?
Feeling a bit overwhelmed, I watched as the plane landed.
Since it was a brand-new airport, there was nothing but a runway.
“Haha, it’s been a while.”
“Hello, Grandpa Hassan!”
“Hello, Elder.”
Hassan greeted us warmly.
Then, he gestured around and asked,
“What do you think?”
“Excuse me?”
“I built this airport for you. Since you’ll be visiting often, I thought it would be necessary.”
“Ah…”
Now this was a problem.
It seemed unnecessary at this point.
Scratching my head, I gave him a vague response and got into the vehicle.
As we drove down the road, I noticed that the number of buildings had significantly decreased.
It looked like the city center had been completely cleared, as if it had been bombed.
‘Wow.’
I couldn’t help but admire it inwardly.
When we finally arrived at the construction site, I saw the neatly leveled land and blurted out,
“Wow… You really did all this in such a short time?”
“There’s almost nothing money can’t accomplish. Haha.”
Terrifying.
At this point, I was truly experiencing the fearsome power of money.
Squirm.
At that moment, Mark2, who had been in Ara’s arms, jumped down and started scurrying around.
It seemed like he had sensed that this was the place where the World Tree would be planted.
Gulp.
I swallowed dryly without realizing it.
What would Mark2 decide?
Squirm, squirm.
He continued to wander around.
It would take a while for him to inspect the entire area.
‘Hmm, isn’t this good enough to plant it?’
The construction had progressed faster than expected.
Although work was still ongoing in the outer areas, the central area where the World Tree would be planted was already well-prepared.
I wasn’t sure how fast the World Tree would grow, but with this much space, it seemed fine to plant the seed first and continue construction afterward.
“Mm! Mm! Mm!”
Even Ara was enthusiastically following Mark2 around, curiously observing everything.
Since she was a slime, she might be able to sense something.
After about two hours, my patience was wearing thin, while everyone else remained intensely focused.
Finally, Mark2 stopped moving.
Squish!!
“Oh! Are we done? How is it?”
Now, what was Mark2’s verdict?
Squish, squish!
“It’s not bad! In fact, the mana here is abundant, making it the perfect place to grow the World Tree!”
“Ooooh!”
Mark2 had given his approval!
Not stopping there, I decided to ask him another question that had been on my mind.
“Mark2, the outer areas are still under construction, but can we go ahead and plant the seed in the cleared center?”
Squirm.
He hesitated for a moment.
Seeing him deep in thought was kind of cute.
Ara, standing beside him, was pretending to be deep in thought as well, which was amusing.
I decided to just watch.
Squish!
“Decision made!”
“Oh! So what’s the result?”
Mark2 looked up at me and nodded.
Seeing his straw hat bob up and down, I realized that meant we could plant the seed.
“Then shall we plant it right away? Do we need to prepare anything?”
Squish.
Mark2 nodded again.
Well, it’s the World Tree.
It wouldn’t be right to just plant it without proper preparation.
“What do we need?”
Squish, squish.
“Elixir!”
Elixir?
Oh, was he talking about that legendary potion we used to awaken Frey?
Since the World Tree was related to Alfheim, that made sense.
There had to be some connection.
“Then we’ll need the World Tree’s dew. The other ingredients should be available from the Alfheim people.”
I could handle the mixing with my liquid synthesis ability.
But there was a problem.
‘We need an unfinished elixir.’
Without an unfinished elixir, this was meaningless.
That was a problem.
“Sigh… An elixir…”
Even Hassan, who had been listening, looked troubled.
“Elixirs are priceless items that even money can’t buy. Well, considering it’s the World Tree, it makes sense that we’d need something that valuable. It would have felt strange if we didn’t.”
“We don’t have any way to get an elixir right now.”
Maybe Hassan had one?
I subtly glanced at him, but he shook his head with a bitter smile.
“Even I don’t have an elixir.”
“Ah… That’s unfortunate.”
“It really is. All I have is an unfinished elixir…”
“What?”
An unfinished elixir? He had one?
“Sir, you have an unfinished elixir?”
“Yes. But an unfinished elixir is useless.”
“Oh, don’t worry. If you give me the unfinished elixir, I can complete it.”
“You can complete an elixir?”
Hassan tilted his head in confusion.
Then, as if realizing something, his eyes widened.
“Wait, do you have crops that can be used to make an elixir?!”
“No, not exactly…”
Frey’s awakening potion was an elixir.
Most of the ingredients could be found in the dungeon, and by using my liquid synthesis ability along with Soo’s Five Elemental Circulation, I could easily create one.
Since Frey’s awakening, I hadn’t thought about making another elixir, but I should check if we still had the necessary materials.
Honestly, as long as we had the unfinished elixir, I could make it for sure.
‘I’ll install the portal and go check right away.’
But first, I needed Hassan’s permission.
“Elder.”
“You can actually get an elixir…?”
He still seemed shocked by the idea.
“Would it be alright if I set up a portal here?”
“Huh? A portal?”
“Yes, a portal that connects directly to my dungeon.”
“That’s possible?”
“I completed a quest that made it possible.”
That was true.
It just so happened that the quest was about conquering the Seven Deadly Sins, which made it sound a lot more ominous.
“Ooooh! Give it a try! Is it two-way?”
“Yes. It’s a semi-permanent portal, and I plan to use it to travel back and forth until the World Tree grows. That’s actually one of the reasons I came here in a hurry.”
“Hahaha! That’s wonderful! Now I’ll be able to visit your dungeon often as well!”
Cliche Novel 