Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Orichalcum Short Arrow (2)
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Hyun-soo entered the rented smithy and thought to himself.
‘I must achieve a 50% contribution.’
What did he need to do that? His own forging.
Hyun-soo’s forging. For him, a blacksmith, forging meant crafting artifacts for his own use.
After his conversation with the man named Bekal, where he'd found a way to meet Barad, Hyun-soo had decided what to create.
He took the orichalcum and a short arrow from his inventory.
Orichalcum.
It was so light it was hard to believe it was a mineral.
And the short arrow. The short arrow’s destructive power was superb.
But arrows were nothing more than consumable artifacts.
He intended to turn this mere consumable artifact into something permanent.
‘The advantage of the short arrow is that its short shaft produces great destructive power.’
However, orichalcum was estimated to be as light as wood once its impurities were removed.
He could tell just by looking at it before the impurities were gone.
An orichalcum arrow made from the world's strongest mineral.
‘I can't forget this either.’
It must not break, and it must not be taken by others.
An arrow is the easiest weapon for others to take. The moment it's loosed, it leaves your hand.
That was why Hyun-soo intended to create an unbreakable arrow that would return to its owner.
Logically, it was impossible. But for Hyun-soo, it was possible.
[Beginning God's Custom Production.]
“Create an arrow that doesn't break and returns to its owner.”
After defining his creation, Hyun-soo used his Mineral Crafter title to look into the essence of the orichalcum.
[Orichalcum]
[Composed of silver and black mithril, it has been buried in the earth for thousands of years, becoming lighter and stronger over time.]
‘Black mithril and silver...’
He was familiar with smelting silver, but not with the special mineral called black mithril.
However, he was somewhat familiar with mithril.
‘It's composed of iron, manganese, oxygen, phosphorus, silicon, and so on.’
If black mithril also followed these same principles, it wouldn't be difficult for Hyun-soo.
Hyun-soo raised the furnace's temperature to a certain point and then put the orichalcum inside.
He waited for a moment, thinking.
“Smelting special minerals in Ares is difficult and arduous. What does that mean?”
This was the second time Hyun-soo had used a special mineral from Ares.
The first was the mithril from the beginner zone.
The second was this very orichalcum.
Hyun-soo had heard that for high-grade minerals, the difficulty of smelting, refining, and other processes rose to a nonsensical level.
Just then.
[You have begun smelting orichalcum.]
[The effects of skills related to smelting are temporarily reduced by 50%.]
Hyun-soo blinked.
‘What...?’
Skill effect reduction.
[Guidance for auto-smelting is incomplete.]
Incomplete.
It helped you smelt to a certain extent, but it didn't tell you everything.
‘Interesting.’
Hyun-soo couldn't help but laugh.
The moment you start smelting orichalcum, a part of the system that users raved about just shuts off.
*Rumble-!*
[Warning.]
[Please set the temperature correctly.]
[The mineral orichalcum is not easily smelted.]
[Failure to set the appropriate temperature will cause the orichalcum to evaporate inside the furnace.]
“Wow...”
Hyun-soo let out a hollow laugh.
Evaporation meant the material was destroyed.
And an orichalcum-grade material at that?
Could there be any words more frightening to a blacksmith?
Even with this tiny amount of orichalcum, Hyun-soo could guarantee one thing.
‘It might be worth at least 10 million won.’
This tiny little piece of orichalcum.
And it could be destroyed?
Orichalcum was a tricky thing.
It was saying that even a high level was not enough; it would not yield without courage, determination, and a measure of knowledge.
Knowledge.
Level 350 blacksmiths went through many processes like smelting, refining, and forging via auto-crafting.
99% of those users would turn it on and do something else. Or just space out.
The other 1% wouldn't.
They would have repeated the process, striving to learn and understand it.
A person who has understanding through such effort.
Only those who could keep up even when part of the system was turned off could smelt orichalcum.
‘Of course, if my skill level were higher, I could probably ignore even that.’
But at the current level of blacksmiths, it was nigh impossible.
He raised the furnace's temperature.
It had to be raised appropriately.
[The furnace temperature is rising.]
[The furnace temperature has reached 1,850 degrees.]
Within his knowledge, Hyun-soo found the most efficient point to melt silver and mithril.
How did he know?
To begin with, the material called mithril had components similar to iron. And as for silver, it was a material Hyun-soo had smelted thousands of times.
*Screeeee-!*
An unfamiliar noise, one not typically heard from a furnace, echoed out.
Then.
[This is the optimal temperature for melting orichalcum.]
[It may perhaps exhibit a slightly better effect.]
*Shwaaaaaa-*
Hyun-soo felt a thrill watching the molten metal pour out.
The completely molten orichalcum soon hardened again.
From that mineral, which had hardened like a pile of rocks, the next step was the refining process.
The process of extracting the true orichalcum from the rough stone.
[If the orichalcum's damage exceeds 30%, the orichalcum will be destroyed.]
“...”
Hyun-soo gave a bitter smile. It was like the enhancement system in a game.
When enhancing an artifact, the initial probability is very high, but it gets much lower with each attempt, and the artifact is destroyed upon failure.
The difference was that this thing was threatening to be destroyed right off the bat, without even being enhanced.
But it was fine.
Hyun-soo's refining skills were superior to any other blacksmith's.
[Damage to the orichalcum is minimized.]
[It may perhaps exhibit a slightly better effect.]
And this audacious thing, as if praising him for meeting its standards, emitted a faint black light.
Soon, he moved on to the forging process.
*Taaaaang-!*
*Taaaaaaang-!*
After finishing the refining, the amount Hyun-soo obtained was truly small.
A normal arrowhead isn't even the size of a finger. He was making an artifact with this small amount of orichalcum.
Even Hyun-soo found it absurd.
He kept hammering.
*Taaaaang-*
*Shhhhhhhhh-*
[Orichalcum is not easily forged.]
[You must achieve a forging completion of 60% or more within 2 days.]
[Failure to do so will result in the destruction of the orichalcum.]
[Current forging completion: 1%.]
Hyun-soo hammered for about 20 minutes. Despite that, the forging completion was only 1%.
‘Time is tight.’
But he wasn't rushed.
The work of forging can be described as the process of placing a solid material on an anvil and shaping it by striking it with a hammer.
But Hyun-soo had been forging longer than anyone else.
He had even stayed up all night to meet deadlines when multiple custom orders came in.
‘It's almost like it's testing me.’
Hyun-soo knew better than anyone how to make a masterpiece sword. It was by investing enough time and effort into its creation.
*Taaaaaaang-!*
*Taaaaaaaaang-!*
Hyun-soo didn't stop hammering. The material was far more demanding and difficult than ordinary minerals.
No matter how much he hammered or tried to shape it, it wouldn't change easily.
But he didn't complain.
The orichalcum had waited for thousands of years, buried in the earth and covered in impurities, and he was creating a weapon from it in just a few days.
A day passed, and he stayed up through the second night.
[Current forging completion: 91%.]
Before he knew it, the orichalcum had taken the shape Hyun-soo desired.
Until now, the orichalcum had continuously spat out this notification.
[It may perhaps exhibit a slightly better effect.]
But the moment Hyun-soo finished the forging process, the notification changed.
[The orichalcum will exhibit its maximum effect!]
The arrowhead was already complete. Within Hyun-soo's knowledge lay the method for crafting an unbreakable arrow.
He carved a short shaft from high-quality wood.
The shaft was thinner and lighter than the ones he usually made. He coated it with the remaining molten orichalcum.
Hyun-soo repeated the process of cooling and coating.
Next, he engraved the Hanja character 'Hyeon (現)' on the arrowhead, then joined the shaft and arrowhead to finish it.
At that moment, a continuous stream of crafting notifications sounded.
Hearing the notifications, Hyun-soo couldn't hide his thrill.
He decided to test it immediately. To see what effects the newly crafted orichalcum short arrow had.
*Click-*
Hyun-soo placed the orichalcum short arrow in his quiver and stepped outside.
Outside, there was a target set up for users of the rented smithy to test the power of the bows and arrows they crafted.
As soon as Hyun-soo released the bowstring, something incredible happened.
***
The NPC Falcon ran the rented smithy.
He was once a quite successful blacksmith, but he retired after reaching the rank of Master Blacksmith and feeling he had hit his limit.
Early in the morning, he was heading towards his rented smithies.
The first thing he did when he got to the rented smithy was replace the target.
Because blacksmiths who had crafted bows or arrows overnight would test them on the target.
As he was walking, Falcon soon saw a blacksmith standing before the target, drawing a bowstring.
He remembered.
It was the young man who had paid for two days at the rented smithy the day before yesterday.
In fact, he had been puzzled that the man had only rented it for two days.
‘Can you even make anything proper in two days?’
And soon, Falcon tilted his head.
‘What is that?’
Falcon had never seen an arrow like that, fitted inside what looked like a bamboo tube.
And there was something even more unusual.
‘The arrow...?’
Could an arrow be that short? Moreover, what drew Falcon's attention even more was the appearance of the arrow itself.
The arrow, with its arrowhead and shaft both gleaming with a dark luster, looked almost ethereal.
‘Ah, to be young.’
Falcon, who had retired after feeling his limits, folded his arms and watched him.
‘Is he a beginner blacksmith? Or intermediate?’
The outsiders who used the rented smithy were mostly low-ranked blacksmiths.
Because high-level blacksmiths usually owned their own personal smithies.
‘More importantly, did he spend two whole days making an arrow? Tsk, what a waste.’
Because the value of an arrow is endlessly low.
Then, Falcon looked at the target.
It was hanging on a single tree.
It was called a target, but it was just a drawing on parchment hung on a tree.
And behind that tree stood a total of nine other trees in a row.
At that moment, the man released the bowstring.
*Shwaaaek-!*
“...!?”
Falcon, who had been standing with his arms folded, unconsciously unfolded them.
The moment the arrow, flying at a speed that was invisible to the eye, hit the target.
*Kwarurururuk-*
The tree was torn apart. And then it pierced through the trees behind it.
*Pseok, peok, peok, peok, peok-!*
The fiercely flying arrow stopped in the sixth tree.
‘What did I just see?’
Those trees were trollwood. The reason they were lined up was that arrows made by exceptional blacksmiths sometimes pierced through the tree.
Trollwood was unique in that it would regenerate and recover when damaged.
But...
*Kkiiiiiik-*
*Kuuuuung-*
The tree that had held the target fell over.
It couldn't withstand the shockwave. Moreover, it wasn't regenerating either.
‘A consumable arrow has this kind of power?’
Just then.
The arrow stuck in the sixth tree.
That arrow began to move on its own.
*Kurururu-*
The arrow pulled itself out of the tree, and when he raised his hand, it flew smoothly into his grasp with a *chak*.
Seeing the arrow in his hand, Falcon was even more astonished.
‘Unbelievable...!’
The arrowhead wasn't damaged in the slightest. Neither was the shaft.
And in that moment, Falcon's preconception was shattered.
The notion that arrows were consumable.
And something boiled within him.
The desire to challenge a higher stage, he who had felt his limit as a Master Blacksmith!
‘I'm so glad...!’
To feel this way again?
More than that, Falcon was urgent.
The blacksmith who had accomplished such an amazing feat.
Who was he?
He hurriedly approached him.
“Young man, you've made a truly incredible arrow. And thank you!”
“...?”
The man looked puzzled. Why thank him all of a sudden?
“Seeing your arrow has reignited my desire to pick up my hammer again. I'm curious... your name... no, may I have the honor of knowing your name, Master Blacksmith!?”
To that, the man, slinging the quiver over his back, replied with a small smile.
“I am the blacksmith Hyeon (現).”
The man bowed his head, then dissolved into light and scattered.
The outsider was returning to his own world. And as Hyun-soo logged out, a notification sounded.
[A certain blacksmith will long remember the events of this day.]
[You have gained 10 Fame.]