I opened my eyes and everything had returned to normal.
The God of Mechanical Devices’ hand was still reflecting in its original position, while the corpse of the Lord of the Clock Fortress was impaled on a greatsword.
Lydia stood flustered, glancing around as if to protect me, while Benny had somehow created a bone-cage-like barrier to shield me.
It wasn’t that the two were slow to react. After all, it wouldn’t make sense for a high-ranking adventurer actively fighting on the front lines to be weak.
It was just that the God of Mechanical Devices was much faster.
That guy had left some kind of message for me, but aside from that, it didn’t seem like anything particularly harmful, so I opened my mouth with a dazed voice.
“Uh… I think it’s okay for everyone to lower their guard. I don’t feel any pain or anything weird.”
Lydia, glancing this way, squinted her eyes and shouted.
“But Jonah! Your hand…!”
“Huh? What about my hand?”
I turned my head down slightly to look at my hand. My right hand was a bit swollen from swinging a weapon a few times, but aside from that, it seemed normal.
This should heal quickly due to the moist skin power’s side effect, so it’s no big deal…
“Huh?”
I felt something off when I turned my gaze to my left hand.
“My hand…?”
Unlike my unblemished right hand, my left hand was completely stained silver.
What is this? Please give me back my hand.
“Whaaa!!”
In shock, I shook my left hand. Obviously, it wasn’t like I had spilled a drink, so no matter how much I shook my hand, it wouldn’t revert to its original state.
“Do you really have to shake your hand like that?!”
Benny, watching from behind, shouted in embarrassment, but I just let it go in one ear and out the other like usual.
Honestly, I only shook it as if holding something in my hand. Why the exaggerated reaction?
Shaking my head, I looked down at my left hand again. More closely.
First, the sense in my hand felt just like usual. There was no hindrance to movement, no pain or tickling.
It was just a feeling that the color had changed. But this wasn’t just a change in skin color.
It looked as if something smooth, not skin, like mercury had been poured over it, coating my hand in a thin layer.
The area wasn’t that large either. From the tips of my nails to my wrist.
And it wasn’t just simple silver; how should I put it? It felt like it was sucking in someone’s mind.
While it shone silver, the light hitting my hand was refracting in vivid colors, showing it was no ordinary material.
Even real silver wouldn’t be this lustrous if melted or mixed with mercury.
…But now that I look at it, it’s kind of cool.
However, it surely wouldn’t just be shining silver.
This was because a familiar yet unfamiliar aura… some kind of divine power was emanating from my silver-stained hand.
The unfamiliarity was probably because it was the first time I was experiencing the power of the God of Mechanical Devices.
It felt like a distinctive divine power, exuding an atmosphere that seemed like it didn’t belong to this world? I knew all too well what that characteristic was.
“Divine power?”
It definitely felt like the characteristics of divine power. But I hadn’t felt any pain during the process of obtaining it…
“Oh, I see.”
As the God of Mechanical Devices pointed at me, and their index finger pierced my brow, my mind briefly shifted elsewhere. If the divine power was engraved during that time, it made sense that I wouldn’t feel pain.
The pain that comes with engravings is usually short and intense.
In fact, the way to resolve all these questions was simple. If this truly was divine power, then the usage methods would have been engraved in my mind too.
“Let’s see…”
I briefly closed my eyes and focused my mind. Visualizing was akin to flipping through the pages of a neatly organized (chaotically mixed) memory book, searching for a newly inserted volume.
From some point on, whenever I needed to uncover externally injected knowledge about skills and divine powers, I had to go through this process.
No matter how much it had been engraved, it seemed I had accumulated too much that wasn’t originally mine, which might be the reason for this.
It was a little uncomfortable, but it didn’t confuse my memories or make me feel muddled when recalling something.
It was more like a rite of passage necessary for the initial recall.
Anyway, as I rummaged through, I quickly found the information about the divine power, as I expected.
“Argetlam?”
It was a divine power with an unknown name. Originally, the divine power I had set as a reward for the Third Floor was Deus Machina.
Named after the universally known term Deus Ex Machina, implying the god’s machine, it was a divine power I intended to use in a way that harnessed divine power, mana, aura, or any other resource that provided strength.
It had an effect of summoning gear familiars with capabilities equivalent to the resources consumed.
Originally, it was designed to summon gear soldiers in mass against the onslaught of undead in the Fourth Floor, demonstrating a war-like scenario.
But the effect of the Argetlam I obtained was completely different.
“Enhancement of tools?”
The usage method was simple. Activate the divine power and touch the object you want to enhance while expressing your intent.
However, one peculiar point was that the more complex the structure of the object being enhanced, the more the enhancement effect was maximized.
“Hmmm… Is this how it works?”
I gently placed my silver-glowing left hand on the Minotaur Greatsword.
Wooom—
With a small resonating sound, the silver from my left hand transferred to the greatsword.
The silver divine power slithered as if it were alive, enveloping the greatsword.
Once it covered the entire greatsword, its shape drastically changed.
The rough design that looked chiseled from rock transformed into a design that seemed forged from steel.
Since I was holding it, I could roughly gauge how much performance had improved.
Increased durability, increased sharpness, enhanced aura conductivity, improved mana resistance… and the ability to adjust weight was removed.
Thud!
“Gyaah!”
As the greatsword suddenly became heavy, I let it drop, and it thudded loudly against the ground.
So this is what it feels like.
While the artificial functionality as a tool saw an overall enhancement, the power that the material itself wielded, or any other divine powers it contained, seemed weakened.
As I touched the silver blade, it returned to my left hand as if nothing had happened, the silver liquid moving fluidly.
I thought I’d try it on the Unicorn Dagger, but the result was the same.
The performance as a dagger greatly improved, but the power held within the Unicorn Horn almost vanished.
“It’s a bit ambiguous.”
The deeper we go into the labyrinth, the more dependent we become on special material equipment.
It’s natural since defeating monsters results in better materials, and of course, it should be utilized, leading to the advancement of Pangrave technology, with all strategies built around this premise.
For example, to defeat Monster A, using poison refined from Monster B’s venom works effectively.
However, ignoring this and arbitrarily insisting on using some overly complicated weapon crafted by human hands, even if the power of the divine was great, it would be inefficient. But…
“If it’s not my main weapon but a secondary one, the story changes.”
Grinning, I looked at the small crossbow attached to my left wrist.
What initially was just a small, ordinary crossbow in size and power was now different.
After multiple breakthroughs through gacha, its original appearance had long been lost.
Its power was similar to or slightly exceeded that of a full-sized crossbow, capable of firing three shots in a row, and the loading speed had drastically increased.
I can confidently say that to find a better secondary weapon, one would have to look for top-tier goods used by high-ranking adventurers.
…Although it didn’t perform well in this layer, just like the Unicorn Dagger, the conditions seemed perfect for receiving Argetlam’s effects directly.
Since it didn’t possess a mystery within its material nor divine powers contained within, its structure was not overly complicated.
With a slightly racing heart, I raised my silver-stained hand.
As I did so, I felt the sensation of the crossbow at my fingertips. Simultaneously, the silver liquid that was sucked into the crossbow shone brightly, changing its form to an almost blinding brilliance.
The body elongated, reaching up to my shoulder, while the crossbow’s arms lengthened accordingly, connecting the extremes of my vision. The loaded arrow swelled to match the crossbow, glinting in a brighter silver.
Lastly, numerous unknown devices adorning the upper part of the crossbow connected to a single lens at the very end, revealing its intended use.
“So it’s a sniper…?”
With my heart pounding, I aimed the enhanced crossbow at a distant wall.
I extended my shoulder straight and assumed a posture to control the recoil.
As if I were becoming the launchpad for this crossbow, I chuckled, but then Lydia and Benny cautioned me.
“Jonah. Can you handle it?”
“Right now, I’m barely standing against the recoil; maybe it’s better to shoot later?”
“Hah! You don’t get it! There are times a man must just shoot and see!”
A massive gun is the fantasy of men, proven by Doomguy.
“Let’s go!!”
Full of excitement, I pulled the trigger. And then.
Boom!
A sound like thunder rang out, a silver flash shot forth, and a sizable hole was blasted in the wall I aimed at.
…However, I failed to control the recoil properly and bumped my head against the elevated crossbow.
Thud!
“Ugh.”
In the hazy vision, I barely managed to give a thumbs up.
Anyway, it was a satisfactory result.
