Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: For Boneflesh, No—For Myself [★BEST★]
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[ID: White Pig]
[Recommendations: 2,750,000]
[Title: Organizing Production Job Skill Tiers for You!]
- Hey? Nice to meet you.
- I'm a hunter who commands countless production job hunters like blacksmiths, jewelers, tailors, and so on.
- Listen up, production job folks.
- I've seen you all on the boards arguing over whose skill is Tier 1 or Tier 2.
- I'll sort it all out for you, so quit the bickering.
- First off, there are endlessly many production skills.
- Blacksmithing, jewelry crafting, tailoring, item creation, mining, metallurgy, cooking, smelting, woodworking, potion brewing, tanning, leatherworking, spinning, enchanting, mechanical engineering, herb gathering, blueprint design, alchemy, and more.
- Ha, too many to even list.
- Figure out what each one means on your own.
- The key point here is that every single skill has its purpose.
- The goal of production jobs is to craft things, right?
- And when you're crafting, you want to make the absolute best items, don't you?
- To do that, you eventually need all those skills up there.
- Nothing's unimportant.
- The better the item performance, the more diverse and rare materials it requires.
- In other words, all those skills are at least Tier 2 baseline.
- They're all Tier 2, so no need to fight over it.
- It's like asking whether UDT or 707 is the stronger unit.
- Different purposes, but equally essential.
- That said, there are actually a couple of Tier 1 skills among them.
- Exactly two.
- Why? Because one skill encompasses two or more others.
- The Tier 1 ones I'm talking about are 'Item Creation' and 'Alchemy'.
- 'Item Creation' is a condensed skill that integrates 'Blacksmithing', 'Jewelry Crafting', 'Tailoring', 'Potion Brewing', and so on.
- 'Alchemy' isn't actually about making gold—it's a technique for mixing leftover materials to extract other materials.
- So, with just 'Alchemy', acquiring high-value metals, ores, blueprints, gems, herbs, and such becomes much easier.
- Therefore, if any of you just-turned-20 adults have one of these skills, feel free to strip down and scream.
- In summary.
- 'Item Creation' and 'Alchemy' are Tier 1.
- Everything else is Tier 2.
- Disagree? Sure, you're right.
- Still pissed? Come find me with a fortune.
- That's all, folks.
* * *
"Hmm."
In the rented room, I summoned Boneflesh.
Creak?
The pint-sized skeleton tilted its head, clutching a dainty bone hammer.
I sent it over to the makeshift magic 'furnace'.
Fwoosh!
The fuel boiled over, burning bright red—it was fascinating.
[Skill: Intermediate Smelting]
[Level: 1]
[Description: Extracts metal from ore.]
[Effect 1: Can smelt iron ore.]
[Effect 2: Can smelt copper ore.]
[Effect 3: Can smelt silver ore.]
"Hm."
For starters, I'd bought a few piles of iron ore nearby.
"Alright, give it a try."
Obviously, I had no clue about smelting.
But this guy was a blacksmith, so it should know, right?
Just like how Boneflesh swung a sword as if it were natural.
Creak!
Nodding, it scooped up a chunk of the iron ore pile and slowly poured it into the furnace.
[Using skill 'Intermediate Smelting'.]
[Producing 'Iron Ingot'.]
[Producing 'Iron Ingot'.]
[Producing 'Waste Pile'.]
[Proficiency increases by 1.]
[Tip / Proficiency will level up once it reaches a certain threshold.]
"Oho."
As time passed, iron ingots began piling up at the base of the furnace.
Basic materials for item crafting.
[Skill: Intermediate Weaving]
[Level: 1]
[Description: Spins thread and weaves cloth.]
[Effect 1: Produces 'Intermediate Thread'.]
[Effect 2: Produces 'Intermediate Cloth'.]
The weaving skill was the same.
Buy materials like spider silk, silkworm cocoons, sheep wool, goat hair, flax, and run them through the loom.
[Using skill 'Intermediate Weaving'.]
[Producing 'Intermediate Thread'.]
[Producing 'Intermediate Thread'.]
[Producing 'Waste Pile'.]
[Proficiency increases by 1.]
Threads of every color bloomed brilliantly.
"Ooooh."
I was impressed.
In short, smelting and weaving were skills for extracting materials.
And in a game-like, straightforward way.
No need to overthink it.
Just toss them in, and boom—done.
"Boneflesh."
Creak?
It glanced at me after setting the loom in motion.
"How about we try alchemy next?"
I decided.
Today.
I'd have it use every skill it had.
The 'transmutation table' wasn't in the rented room.
There was just one communal one in the room at the far corner of the shop.
'Alchemy's a rare skill, after all.'
Even the shopkeeper hadn't bothered stocking many.
Step, step.
Moving rooms with Boneflesh, I spotted a hooded man.
Puffing away on a cigarette, totally focused on something.
He seemed like another customer using the shop.
'Boneflesh is here, but whatever.'
I decided not to care.
Sure, I was a rare 'Necromancer'.
But that guy was probably a rare 'Alchemist' too.
I stood there blankly, watching what he was doing.
About 30 seconds passed.
He reacted.
"Newbie, by any chance?"
"Yes?"
"Oh, the transmutation table's for sharing, but you were just standing there all spaced out."
"Ah, got it."
I nodded.
A sign of agreement.
"If you're new, I'll show you. Come here."
The man was friendly.
Like he was reminiscing about his own newbie days, meddling out of nostalgia.
'Sweet, thanks.'
My eyes lit up as I thanked him.
"Thank you."
"...Hm, being at the transmutation table means you have the 'Alchemy' skill... What's with the skeleton? Necromancer?"
"Well, actually, I don't have alchemy—Boneflesh here does."
"...Huh? For real?"
The alchemist licked his lips.
"Never thought I'd live to see something this wild. A skeleton using alchemy."
"Honestly, I'm amazed too."
"...Anyway, got any junk items on you?"
"Junk items?"
I checked my inventory bag.
I'd picked up a few while running recent C-rank dungeons.
Clatter...
Dumping the bag, about 20 junk items spilled out.
Poison glands, tail fur, bone fragments—materials that had 'itemized'.
"Oho?"
The alchemist's eyes widened as he watched.
"All C-rank or higher, decent stuff. Must've been tough to get."
"Luck was on my side."
"I see."
The alchemist glanced down at his waist.
Checking the white nameplate dangling there.
Sizing up my rank, probably.
White meant E-rank.
He'd peg me as some rich hunter.
"...Anyway, alchemy's simple. Just toss failed 'waste piles' from material production or junk material items into the transmutation table and activate the skill."
"Really straightforward."
I followed his instructions.
Had Boneflesh dump all the junk items in.
And waited.
Then.
[Using skill 'Intermediate Alchemy'.]
[Thump! Thump! Thump!]
[What item will be created?]
Effects and messages popped up.
Whoa, this feels like scratching a lottery ticket.
How much time passed?
Messages flooded in.
[Ding!]
[Acquired 'Mandrake'.]
[Acquired 'Sturdy Steel Sword' blueprint.]
[Acquired 'Silver Ingot'.]
[Acquired 'Intermediate Cloth'.]
[Acquired 'Intermediate Thread'.]
[Acquired 'Low-grade Sapphire'.]
[Proficiency increases by 2.]
Clatter!
Items poured out from under the transmutation table.
'This...'
Felt familiar.
Why?
Like those coin-op capsule machines from childhood.
'Fun skill.'
Not as flashy as swinging a sword or slaying monsters for combat jobs.
But production jobs had their own charm.
I'd just mentally praised Boneflesh and was about to collect the items.
"Huh?"
The watching alchemist's eyes bulged.
"What? You ran alchemy and got a blueprint, herbs... even a gem?"
"...Why?"
I tilted my head.
Wasn't that what alchemy did?
[Skill: Intermediate Alchemy]
[Level: 1]
[Description: Synthesizes materials to randomly produce new ones.]
[Effect 1: Acquires basic materials.]
[Effect 2: Acquires intermediate materials.]
It even said so in the skill description.
"No way. Mandrakes and sapphires are intermediate or higher—they shouldn't drop like that."
"That's what's surprising?"
"Huh?"
The alchemist jumped, face full of disbelief.
No, why?
What was the big deal?
"You! Intermediate alchemist? How's an E-rank got that? Trick? You a magician?"
"Not a magician. Hm, are intermediate alchemists that rare?"
"...Ha, insane. I'm out of cigs. You sound like a total newbie."
The alchemist sighed, puffing out smoke.
Then continued.
"Whew, of course. Do you know how hard it is to raise basic alchemy proficiency? Even dumping thousands, millions on materials, intermediate alchemy's a pipe dream."
"Huh."
I stuck out my tongue.
What? Boneflesh was born with intermediate alchemy.
"Can't level it solo worth a damn—needs guild backing just to maybe reach it. That's alchemists for you."
"..."
"Insane... How's a newbie got intermediate alchemy? There're barely five intermediate alchemists even in that famous 'Fortune' guild... This is impossible."
"What about advanced alchemists?"
"None in the world yet. Been over ten years."
"..."
Now I got it.
Why production jobs got no respect despite the fun.
Why they couldn't get famous like combat jobs.
'Can't level it alone, huh?'
Insane difficulty.
'Thousands, millions?'
My bank balance didn't even crack ten million.
'Hmm.'
But.
Weird feeling.
Normally, hearing this would crush me.
'Why do I wanna raise it more?'
Felt good, instead.
Rarer than what anyone else could raise? Perfect.
'Just put in the work.'
'Effort' was my biggest weapon.
And I wasn't doing it myself.
Just summon Boneflesh.
Hunt dungeons hard, bring back materials.
No need to stand by the hot furnace myself.
'Alright.'
Motivation surged.
Sure, it'd burn cash.
Didn't matter.
This guy's future was infinite gains—gotta invest.
"Thanks for the advice. Take this."
As thanks, I offered the 'Mandrake' I'd gotten.
"Huh? No, what—! That's a pricey intermediate herb."
"It's fine. We'll see each other often—hit me with advice now and then."
I grinned.
Then looked at my adorable Boneflesh.
Boneflesh.
I'll hustle to gather materials for you.
Gotta grow big and tall?
Grow and duplicate good items for me?
'Heh heh.'
I chuckled slyly inside.