The All-Purpose Crafter's Dual Life

The world is approaching its doom. Countless nations have already fallen for various reasons, transforming into nothing more than dens for monsters. Most climbers are stuck in the Easy difficulty, the lowest tier. The majority of these climbers are paralyzed by the mental pressure of the fear of death, the physical loss of limbs from combat, and the blind, overwhelming hostility of monsters that a weak modern human simply cannot endure. Because of these reasons, most climbers just hunker down in the lower floors, barely managing to scrape together a few points and materials. The fact that more than half the population are "Climb-Quitters"—people who have given up on even repeating the lower floors to live as ordinary citizens—is proof of the frailty of modern humanity.

Nevertheless, because anyone can earn points in the Tower, it is incredibly difficult for a nation to actually collapse. It is even harder because they can always source points from other countries. For a nation to truly fall, problems must pile up until they become unsolvable, and the country eventually suffocates under that weight. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Conflicts caused by government incompetence, agitation from foreign intelligence operations, public opinion that treats climbers with contempt, the resulting exodus of climbers to other countries, and climbers who chase money and personal glory over points—these issues overlap ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠until a nation meets its end.

If you were to say, "Well, since half of South Korea's population are climbers, if each person just earns 3 points, that's way more than a month's worth of income!" you would be correct. The problem is the Gate. These damn Gates often create environments that are beyond human capacity to handle, so most have been eliminated through "Point Burning," a method where the state consumes massive amounts of points to seal them. Some nations test the waters, hoping to clear a Gate if it seems possible, but the majority of points are spent on sealing them. It is a monthly subscription fee paid with the lives of the citizens. Furthermore, resources that are hard to find because other nations have collapsed must be purchased with points. Since the consumption of points continues to rise, most surviving nations today are seeing their point reserves dwindle. Except for one country. South Korea.

Lately, South Korea has been overflowing with emotion thanks to a Hell difficulty climber. Usually, difficulty is assigned based on talent. But until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now, there hasn't even been a rumor of someone being assigned to Hell difficulty, let alone clearing it. A legendary, top-tier talent has appeared! On top of that, looking at the posts they wrote on the Gallery, they appear to be in a production-class job. It worries me that they aren't in a combat class while climbing Hell difficulty, but they have cleared up to the 3rd floor in a short period, proving that talent does not fall to the limitations of a production job. And even though it hasn't been long since they became a climber, the Normal grade items they produce have performance that rivals most High grade items. They are truly an All-Master.

The stats ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠are good, and the traits were rolled so well—usually, one good trait is worth 5,000 points, so even for a High grade, it's easily over 25,000 points. Thank you so much, All-Purpose Crafter hyung-nim, for selling it to South Korea for 20,000 as a direct purchase. My climbing was stagnant due to lack of damage, but I'm finally moving up. Wow-kya-pya-heok!

Since clearing the 2nd floor of Hell difficulty, the Gallery has been in an uproar, and South Korean climbers have shown no signs of calming down. Climbers who were serious about their ascent have already purchased High-grade steel swords and armor to begin their climb. As hundreds of good Normal-grade items were released in bulk, climbers who were hesitant due to poor equipment started climbing again. Even those who haven't been able to purchase the All-Purpose Crafter's gear yet have started diligently saving points, believing that given the speed at which items are being released, they will be able to buy them soon.

There were many foreigners dissatisfied with the fact that good gear was only sold to Koreans, but it wasn't time yet. "Wait. Once I can mass-produce them, I'll sell them to everyone." It's not that Koreans lack purchasing power; most of the people who haven't bought my gear yet are still here. If I start mass production, I could satisfy the demand quickly, but looking for a way to do that required automated machines or golems engraved with mana circuits. However, since my artifact crafting is still at a basic level, that's a distant story.

By the way, I discovered something interesting while browsing the special shop earlier. "Purchase." I haven't revealed my Gallery nickname to hide that I'm the All-Purpose Crafter, so Manager Lee Seung-jun has been going through the trouble of delivering items personally. I bought this to create a new account and open an account for a "Perfect Repair" business. I plan to receive and send items through the Gallery, get a national certification mark, and showcase my Perfect Repair service. Even if it's not as much as the All-Purpose Crafter, I think the reaction to this will be quite intense.

Dual account setup complete. When I told Manager Lee Seung-jun my nickname and that I planned to accept "Perfect Repair" requests, he said it didn't matter as long as the national requests didn't fall behind. Well, since I contracted to do repairs instead of paying points, it doesn't matter if I earn points or money from this. When I asked him to leave a comment on my first sales post, he readily agreed to comment using the official national account, the Director's ID. Hmm, besides that, since people won't believe in "Perfect Repair," I should capture my A-grade repair skill from the Gallery and post it in the first thread. He said it was okay to post the before-and-after durability parts of the items I had captured while doing perfect repairs previously. Great, time to post.