The Craftsman Doesn't Choose His Tools (3)
I'd stirred up chaos across the entire world beyond the Gallery, but I had no real intention of handing it over. Just the fact that its existence was known had caused an uproar; if I actually gave it away, true pandemonium would erupt. I hadn't forgotten the dwarf's warning. This was little more than putting out an immediate fire.
'Unless it's a real nuke, preventing war isn't that hard.' History proved it. The prime examples were dynamite and the Gatling gun. People think, With weapons or resources like this, no one would dare start a war, right? It was pure bliss until nukes came along—and even then, they still went at it. Two world wars broke out in the meantime.
My Mithoricon could follow a similar path. So the best choice was not to give it away. If they really wanted it, the king of that country could beg on his knees. First, they'd have to buy a fixed nick. Then provide proof of identity as the leader—artifacts, witnesses, whatever. If they laid bare their entire 'private life,' I'd consider giving them one piece of Mithoricon. If they couldn't even do that, they weren't fit to lead. What was a little pride worth?
'It's everywhere here, but out there it's causing a frenzy.' I examined the Mithoricon ingot from every angle. It looked like a dull gray lump on the surface. Hard to believe that even one on the market would spark a war. If the dwarf hadn't warned me beforehand, I'd have released it without a second thought.
'That would've turned me into a real clusterf***.'
What if I'd unleashed this on the world? Not even giving it to an acquaintance, but auctioning it off. Good thing someone recognized its value; otherwise, I might've shattered the world.
'Guess I'll have to keep a close eye on the Gallery for a while.' My biggest worry was public opinion. The Gallery's nature made sentiment fickle and hard to gauge objectively. Asking other fixed nicks might help, but...
'Tricky. Real tricky.'
I closed the Gallery. It had quieted down compared to before. Was it just hype dying out, or the calm before the storm? No one knew. All I could do was prepare for the worst—making spare Mithoricon ingots.
Clang!Clank!Clank!
To do that, I needed more mithril. Oriharukon was plentiful just picking up scraps from the cave floor. The issue was the naturally growing mithril in the back. Mining it took ages, then mixing it with Oriharukon...
'Really need another worker.'
With only Kkobong able to help—workers with hands—it was tough. Someone might ask why not use Ludwig. I tried at first. He had no feet, but his hands worked fine. I ignored the trash-tier glare he gave me.
Chop!
The problem was Ludwig's mithril prosthetic ankle. The closer we got to the natural mithril, the more it stuck like a magnet. It never fused, thankfully, but prying it off was a nightmare.
"Pull!!!"
"Uoooooh!!!"
Even with Kkobong and me pulling together, it barely came loose. So Ludwig was out. But mining wasn't the only issue—knock-on problems kept popping up.
'Ugh. Gotta remake the tools myself.'
Everything except tongs had to be handmade. Otherwise, they wore out or broke against Mithoricon's hardness. Especially for the holes to fit handles—essential.
"Kkobong. I'm heading to the cave. Keep mining."
"Got it."
I restocked Oriharukon from the cave, then forged new tools. The forge's heat plus summer had sweat pouring like rain. Ended up wrapping a towel like a headband. Exhausting.
'What kinda grind is this?'
Games often have that trope: all your hard-earned materials become useless for the next stage. Not exactly the same, but the manual labor grind was real. Worse, those materials might only pay off way in the future—or be useful from start to finish.
"No way. Charcoal's already gone?"
For me, 'charcoal' fit perfectly. Diving into metallurgy spiked consumption. The forest used plenty even without the forge. Couldn't half-ass it—had to build a dedicated kiln. Made from bricks, naturally. Good for charcoal and melting metals. No more makeshift furnace unless new ores turned up.
[YasaengGrill: Charcoal kiln blueprint?]
[PassingDwarf: Yep, got it.]
[YasaengGrill: Need anything?]
[PassingDwarf: That hammer from last time squares us. Send the blueprint.]
Got the charcoal kiln blueprint from the dwarf. Not hard to build. Just fire-related, so sweat galore. Forge, kiln, etc.—piling up. Had to tear down and rebuild the brick barricade.
'At least the other beasts aren't attacking much...'
If everything collapsed, I'd cry. Finished the kiln and asked Ludwig for help.
"Sir, handle the logging. Kkobong's mining."
"Understood."
[He's bossing us around good.]
I grinned at Cain's remark. "Wanna watch wood turn to charcoal in the kiln?"
[Aris, save me from this slothful hell.]
Slothful hell? Slack off and you only hurt yourself. Anyway, with clear roles, we made progress. Didn't skip training amid forge work. Three days of repetitive labor. Felt like all-day forging.
'Stretching this out like taffy is rough.'
Made a pickaxe mid-way. Trickier than a hammer—big ingot, huge hole in the middle. Finally handed it to Kkobong.
Kaang!Kang!
"How's it?"
"Much better."
Mithoricon pickaxe made mithril mining smoother. Discovered the vein was massive—mithril everywhere, no end in sight.
"Sir. How's the axe?"
"Excellent."
Made an axe too. Wood isn't that hard, but Ludwig can't use mana. Mithoricon axe for convenience.
'Tools are mostly done now.'
Three days of hammering left my ears ringing. Otherwise fine—stamina recovered quick.
Vmmm!
In downtime, practiced aura control with the Mithoricon sword—not Cheonma's. Stared silently at the blade with its green galactic aura.
Aura blade coated it. Cheonma's was long; this was way longer. As the Gallery said, mithril was pure 'gear power.' Add Oriharukon, performance explodes. Surprisingly suited me now.
'Controls nicely?'
Aura too big? Shrinking it was easy. Cheonma's sprayed like a fountain on contraction; this didn't.
'Practice with this for a bit.'
*****
Ludwig, the excellent worker—no, assistant—at Grill's shelter. He watched Grill practice aura control with the Mithoricon sword. That green galaxy was mesmerizing just to look at. Maybe because the user was Grill, but it seemed even brighter.
'Always amazing.'
Not just the sword— all tools were Mithoricon. Work sped up, training time increased. Fun discovery: Grill's aura control. Barely noticeable with Cheonma's sword, but this one? Leaps better.
Expected control issues from amplification. Wrong. For practice, Mithoricon was superior.
'Even practice sword is top-shelf.'
Ludwig wondered how Grill would've fared training outside. Brutal. Worse than a dullard. Dullards lack talent; Grill's was "quit-worthy."
Whum!Whum!Whum!
As Ludwig observed quietly, odd noise from Grill's sword during practice. Aura had shrunk from sky-piercing height. Bad sign.
Ludwig evacuated silently.
Pewng!!!
The Mithoricon sword flew from Grill's hand skyward. Eyes followed. It became a star, vanishing high up.
Ridiculous enough. But then...
Kwaaang!!!
A massive explosion with blinding flash blanketed the sky. Wave reached the shelter from the heavens.
'...Magic?'
Not even magic did that. Ludwig eyed Grill with mixed expression. Grill looked equally baffled.
Ludwig muttered inwardly: 'A craftsman doesn't choose his tools.'
But this guy should. To others, Mithoricon sword was legendary. To Grill? High-end wheelchair—or crutch.
"Like a real missile."
Grill, oblivious, just thought, Whoa, Mithoricon's dangerous!
*****
Meanwhile, the Mithoricon sword Grill accidentally launched sky-high. He had to write it off. Star in the sky plus explosion? No way intact.
Whiiiing—
It was. No breaks, no cracks. Residual aura even jetted out midway, like a rocket staging—flying farther.
Not Cain-level atmosphere-breaking. Metal would've burned up. It maintained clever altitude, jetting aura.
Eventually, aura depleted, it began falling.
Whiiiing—
Accelerating, crossing spaces to a distant land. Grill didn't care—make another. Problem: where it landed.
El Dorado criminal? No clue where he was. Even if alive, not long.
Remote wasteland? No.
Pop!
It vanished from sight suddenly. Then...
Thuk!
Lodged somewhere 'outside' the Four Seasons Forest. Exact spot unknown.
"Kruk?"
"Krruk?"
Obvious it'd bring massive change to the world.