The Path of the All-Purpose Crafter
The Tower of the All-Purpose Crafter imposes trials based on various themes to maximize the individual abilities of each climber. In one-on-one combat, it forces you to end the opponent's life, stripping away the fragile mind and body of a modern human. It goes further by introducing one-versus-many scenarios to teach you how to endure irrational odds, how to hide from groups you cannot possibly fight, and how to navigate hostile environments without a map.
In the Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties, these scenarios are presented by rotating the types of monsters encountered, at least until you reach the 19th floor—the threshold before the mid-levels. You could call it a training facility for climbers. Well... in Hell difficulty, NPCs appear starting from the 3rd floor, and hundreds of goblins swarm you, so there’s no room for any such "training." It’s a relief that you can escape before entering a full-blown combat situation. That is why climbers place such high value on Agility stats and items related to movement speed. From the 5th floor onwards, the map size increases drastically, so if things go south, you can just run and escape.
"I still have a long way to go before I reach the mid-levels."
A Mid-Level Climber. This refers to any climber who has broken through the 20th floor, regardless of difficulty. They are the aristocrats among climbers. Out of South Korea's population of 53 million, there are just over 12,000 mid-level climbers—a little over 0.0002% of the population. This ratio is similar to that of the United States. Because of the danger posed by large monsters attacking from the sea and sky, intercontinental travel is difficult today unless you use ultra-high-speed aircraft. Since South Korea is relatively safe and offers many benefits, there are over 4,000 mid-level climbers who have moved from Southeast Asia and Japan to change their nationality.
Most of them are on the Easy difficulty. The average monthly point income is about 8,000 points. Since a mid-level climber's monthly point contribution exceeds 96 million points, they more than cover the points deleted from the economy by their own power. Considering that low-level climbers barely scrape by with less than 200 points a month, one mid-level climber does the work of dozens of low-level ones. Of course, they don't submit all their points to the state; they usually submit half and invest the other half in strengthening their own combat power.
Regardless, from the mid-level climber rank onwards, you receive various benefits. First, you are assigned a dedicated 1:1 government official to handle administrative conveniences. You also gain command over military forces for gate clearing and site control during gate overflows, and you are treated with the rank of Colonel (mandatory training is required). Furthermore, if you suffer an incurable physical disability, you are provided with a Full Recovery Potion from the insurance policy for mid-level climbers and above, which is automatically funded by a portion of the points the state takes from you. Alchemy cannot yet produce potions with such effects, and potions capable of restoring lost limbs are worth whatever price the seller demands on the market. However, because the insurance fund has accumulated so many points, I know they continuously purchase and stock potions obtained by mid-level climbers in the Tower.
If you die, you are buried in the National Cemetery. Since the process of heroizing climbers began over 40 years ago, the social prestige is immense. Most mid-level climbers are recognizable, and the treatment they receive from the country and citizens is excellent. They don't cause trouble, and if a Climber-Dropout—someone who picks fights on purpose to extort insurance money or settlement fees—gets hit by a mid-level climber, they are physically split in half and killed, and their personal information is leaked, effectively killing them socially as well.
And the most important benefit: 'Tax Exemption.' You don't pay a single cent of the 49% tax on loot sales that is levied on low-level climbers, and all other taxes are completely waived. Compared to the 30–49% tax on dropouts, this is a massive benefit. Then again, a mid-level climber pays over 2,000 points to the state per month, which is worth hundreds of millions of won in cash, so it’s only natural... Paying over 300 million won a month... *Sigh*.
Even if they aren't dropouts, low-level climbers face tax rates of 5% to 49%. This also fluctuates based on the points they pay to the state monthly. Since low-level climbers are a dime a dozen, and many are just 'miners' who repeat-clear floors after parking to farm materials and points, there are no major benefits for the 550,000 low-level climbers, who make up a little over 1% of the population. The average monthly point acquisition for a low-level climber is 200 points, so if you add them all up, the total points exceed those of the mid-level climbers. They earn a lot in absolute terms, but to receive the proper benefits the state provides to climbers, you have to pay 2,000 points, so low-level climbers have no choice but to pay taxes.
As you can see, the treatment of low-level and mid-level climbers is completely different.
"I'm in a production job, so it doesn't matter to me."
The loot I get from climbing the Tower is used for my crafting, and if I perform mandatory repairs using my skills, I don't have to pay any points. Besides, there's zero point incineration for Gallery trades, so this is the life.
As I pondered the taxes while hammering the heated Black Iron Stone, a thought suddenly struck me.
'It’s a bit boring.'
For the past few days, I had spent my time quite satisfactorily, melting and hammering minerals to my heart's content. I ate side dishes made from byproducts of sub-grade monsters my mother packed for me and herbs from the Tower, shopped for plenty of special and expensive materials on the Gallery, and spent my time working with those materials. It was a more satisfying daily life than when I used a 3-axis milling machine to cut iron in high school. If it were the old me, I would have thought this life—earning money and doing whatever I wanted—was satisfying enough.
But why is it? It felt a little lacking.
Maybe it's because I've hammered too much Black Iron Stone, but I’m already starting to feel bored with it. It’s a mineral that’s only slightly better than iron, after all. I want to handle very special materials until I’m sick of them. I want to make the best weapons and armor.
-Swish, swish-
I sharpened the finished sword on the large whetstone for heavy blades next to me. I polished it by gently pushing and pulling the blade at a constant angle.
You have sharpened the sword.
Attack power increases by 32% until the Edge fades.
It’s an effect I only learned about recently: if you sharpen a sword well, its attack power increases until the Edge fades. Of course, if you make the Edge too sharp, the durability drops quickly, so it’s important to sharpen it just right!
I turned the sword over and over, looking for scratches.
'Sharpened well.'
It was so smooth that my face was reflected in the dark blade. Even regular items are expensive, so the supply of items of High-Grade or higher is always insufficient. Climbers always have points saved up, so they tend to buy expensive items immediately if the options are good. I use the points earned that way to buy minerals and put them into making equipment. Since only the production class can handle special materials, I buy them at a high—but not quite extortionate—price compared to the price of the finished equipment, and use them to make weapons and armor again. The production class has a structure where points can be "copied," so if you repeat this process, you can use materials indefinitely.
"Of course, special materials aren't released in unlimited quantities..."
It’s natural that special materials don't appear in the low levels, and they are only mined in small quantities once you reach the mid-levels. It would be nice if there were Mithril mines, Orichalcum mines, or Tower Asbestos mines in reality, but that’s wishful thinking. People expected something to appear after reclaiming land that had been eroded by failed gate clears, but nothing special from the Tower emerged. Still, in some cases, land that had no resources was eroded and unexpectedly produced resources like copper, silver, gold, iron, or coal, turning a crisis into an opportunity, but that didn't apply to most cases.
Anyway, the Special Shop was updated yesterday, so I checked it. Usually, it sells materials, skills, or knowledge I might need, but I can exclude items I don't need or that are very low priority. Since the shop updates with new items based on what I excluded every day, clearing out the Special Shop is essential!
Just by looking at them, I could tell these were insane blacksmithing skills, so I’m making weapons and armor out of Black Iron Stone to save up the points to buy them.
"Once I use up all the Black Iron Stone, I have to go to the 4th floor and mine more..."
No, this time, once I re-enter the 4th floor and clear the floor mission, I’ll have to learn Artifact Crafting, which I’ve been putting off. If I learn how to craft artifacts, the chances of imbuing equipment with good and necessary options will be quite high.
"The path of the blacksmith truly has no end."
Soul Sword will likely require skills related to obtaining souls, and Magic Sword will likely require skills related to magic, but I’m curious, so I’ll just go for it. Alright, the goal is set. First, I need to purchase those two skills.
-Clang! Clang! Clang!-
I hammered the Black Iron Stone rhythmically.
"As an All-Purpose Crafter, I could get some points through something like funding to make it easier..."
But I don't know what they might demand in return, and looking at the bulletin boards lately, they’re overflowing with people looking for me; I refuse to reveal my identity. Even with Perfect Repair, I’m already drawing too much aggro; I can't handle any more than that.
"For now, I just need to earn points."
The loot I got from catching goblins was mostly low-grade, but a blacksmith can easily extract raw materials by putting weapons or armor into a furnace. I extracted steel from metal junk, poured it into armor molds to cast swords and armor, and hammered the Black Iron Stone to produce equipment. If my concentration drops due to long hours of crafting and I end up with low-grade items, it’s a waste of the precious Black Iron Stone, making all the hardship and effort go to waste. But if a piece of equipment with disappointing options comes out, I just melt it down and craft it again! In terms of the number of finished products, if I sell just the Normal Grade swords, I can buy one skill if I make 360 of them, and if I sell up to High Grade, it’ll be faster than I thought. Since I have over 3 tons of Black Iron Stone, even if some impurities fly off during smelting, I can easily make about 1,500 swords.
I’ve been living in the workshop on the floor below for a while now, but just in case they worry, I sent a text to my parents telling them I’d be focusing on work and not to worry if I didn't reach out, then I dove back into my blacksmithing.