Journey to Planar World

"What's happening? Why are you all stopping work?!"

The sudden silence in the workshop sparked the anger of an old man descending the stairs from the second floor.

"Hey, Goibniu, long time no see. You're still as grumpy as ever~"

"I see. It seems this is your doing, Aphrodite."

At that moment, the old man understood the reason behind the strange behavior of the children in his Familia.

"How much longer are you all going to be dazed like fools!" His voice boomed, waking the blacksmiths from their reverie.

"When you pick up a hammer, when the fire is lit in front of you, everything else must be forgotten. The only thing that should be on your mind is the metal on the anvil and how you will transform it into something you can be proud of!"

After Goibniu scolded them, the blacksmiths dared not look at Aphrodite and had to start their work from scratch.

"So, what are you doing here? You didn't come just to mess up my kids' work, did you?"

"There's no way I would do something like that. I'm not that free."

Ignoring Goibniu's sharp gaze, Aphrodite pointed to Charlie beside her and explained.

"He's the one with business here; I'm just guiding and accompanying him."

"Who are you? I've never seen your face before."

"Sorry for the late introduction, God Goibniu. My name is Charlie Avalon, a member of the Hera Familia."

In front of the gods, Charlie was respectful.

"So you're the one everyone has been talking about lately."

The old man was none other than Goibniu. He had long, straight white hair and a silver beard. He was quite short but had a strong and healthy build.

"Seeing you close to Aphrodite without being affected by her charm, the rumors aren't exaggerating as much as I thought." Goibniu said while stroking his beard.

He was skeptical that any mortal could interact with Aphrodite normally. After seeing it with his own eyes, he could only accept this shocking fact."

"Charlie is different from other mortals; he's special." Aphrodite puffed out her chest and said proudly.

"This isn't the right place to talk. Let's talk upstairs. Follow me."

Not giving the other party a chance to respond, Goibniu was already climbing the stairs.

"It's true; it's very hot here. You seem fine, Charlie."

Waving her hand in front of her face, Aphrodite only now realized that Charlie wasn't sweating a single drop!

"That's normal. After all, I'm Level 2." Charlie said casually.

"You're lying."

"Oops..."

Forgetting the fact that mortals cannot lie in front of gods, Charlie knew he had accidentally let something slip.

"Aphrodite, we'll talk about this later."

"Agreed. This time I won't let you off easily."

"..."

The two followed Goibniu into a very simple room.

Charlie and Aphrodite sat side by side across from Goibniu.

"Let's get straight to the point. Do you want to forge armor or maintenance?"

Goibniu was quick and direct. He didn't like beating around the bush.

"Both. I want to use the services of the Goibniu Familia."

"You're Level 2, right? Well, since Aphrodite brought you, I'll assign someone to handle your request."

Charlie didn't argue when Goibniu referred to him as Level 2. The conversation with Aphrodite was still fresh in his memory.

"Hey, Goibniu, can you give Charlie a discount? Give me face~"

"Hmph, there's no use flirting in front of me, Aphrodite."

In Goibniu's mind, Level 2 adventurers only used Tier 3 weapons, which weren't worth his attention.

"Charlie, take out your weapon! I want to slap this old man's condescending face." Aphrodite gritted her teeth.

"..."

Not understanding why the other party was angry for him, Charlie complied and took out the Damocles Sword stored in his Space-Time Cache.

"This... Is there a pocket dimension in that bag?!"

Goibniu's eyes widened as he watched Charlie pull out the sword from such a small bag.

For a God of Smithing like him, creating a Spatial Storage Tool wasn't difficult. However, he had to be in a condition to use Arcanum.

"Not just that, try looking at that sword more closely." Aphrodite said with a smile.

"This is a Tier 1 Weapon crafted by Hephaestus Familia... No, this sword was personally forged by Hephaestus!"

Goibniu's surprise grew even more when he found the Hephaestus Familia brand logo on the hilt of the sword.

The Hephaestus brand logo was only permitted on items certified by Hephaestus and his executives and made by blacksmiths of Level 2 or higher with Blacksmith Development Ability.

"Hera really likes you. She's invested a lot in you."

After a moment, Goibniu placed the Damocles Sword on the table. Of course, he recognized the name and history of the sword.

"It's not strange for Hera to give Charlie the best resources she has right now. In fact, if Charlie were a member of my Familia, I would do the same even if it meant selling most of my treasures and personal assets. What a pity, Hera is very lucky." Aphrodite expressed her deep regret.

"Oh..."

Although Goibniu said nothing, Charlie suspected that the other party had speculated through Aphrodite's words.

"Actually... Bla... Bla... Bla..."

Not wanting the conversation to drag on, Charlie conveyed his purpose.

After about ten minutes of talking, the discussion ended satisfactorily for both parties.

First: the maintenance of the Damocles Sword was set at a cost of 45 million valis. That price might sound expensive, but it was actually very cheap. Normally, the maintenance cost for a Tier 1 Weapon ranges from 60-80 million valis, depending on the condition of the weapon itself.

Second, Goibniu didn't hand over the maintenance task of the Damocles Sword to someone else; he did it himself. The reason was that he wanted to bring this up as sarcasm when meeting Hephaestus at the God's Banquet two days later. After all, the Damocles Sword was forged by Hephaestus. Instead of going to Hephaestus Familia, the sword's user came to Goibniu Familia. In other words, Goibniu wanted to embarrass Hephaestus.

Third: Goibniu agreed to accept Charlie's order to create an item that would be used as the base material for using Spatial Storage Tools. Not only that, Goibniu himself ordered one Space-Time Cache, which would be used to study its mechanism. In return, Charlie wouldn't have to pay for the maintenance of his weapon three times.

Leaving the Eclipse Aegis Cloak and Damocles Sword at Goibniu Familia for maintenance.

Initially, Charlie wanted to go straight home. However, Aphrodite wouldn't let him leave so easily.

Under the pretext of buying formal clothes to attend the God's Banquet, Charlie reluctantly agreed to accompany Aphrodite to a high-end clothing store.

He tried on dozens of outfits to Aphrodite's taste.

"Shopping with a woman is so exhausting..."

In the fitting room, Charlie stared at himself in the mirror in formal wear, he sighed tiredly.

"Charlie, are you not done yet?"

Aphrodite's cheerful voice sounded from outside the fitting room.

"Sigh..."

Letting out a long sigh, Charlie pulled back the curtain.