The Price of Potential
I decided to focus on grinding my skill proficiency by continuously using steel for Magic Sword Crafting and Soul Sword Crafting.
Magic Sword Crafting (F): Allows the creation of a Magic Sword. Finished magic swords can exhibit special abilities based on the properties of the materials used. You can engrave magic into the sword. The engraved magic is maintained as long as the sword is not destroyed.
Hmm, "can engrave magic and use it." The Soul Sword had magic attached to its properties. While it consumes mana to use the magic granted as a trait, the Magic Sword seems to literally allow for the engraving of specific spells. Let me organize my knowledge. I can engrave magic I know, and it consumes no mana upon use. The efficiency of the magic varies depending on the materials. If the materials and the magic are well-synergized, the effect is amplified.
Well, I did learn some basic elemental magic when I was learning to engrave mana circuits, but those are very rudimentary spells. If I want to craft a proper Magic Sword, I should probably put off the actual engraving of spells until later, even if I can grant it special abilities now. It’s fascinating that I can craft it first and engrave it later.
"Now, for the remaining special materials..." I had bought some large rubies and sapphires for magic engraving. It would be a waste to use those now, so I’ll test with some smaller ones. Since the base mineral also needs to be special, I should take out the one I bought and stashed away previously.
◈ Details: A mineral that has been exposed to pure natural fire mana for a long period.
Since I’ve been buying up special minerals as soon as they appear, word must have gotten around to the climbers, and the number of people selling special minerals or materials has increased significantly. Since it’s not highly likely that a production-class user will get a good item even after buying expensive special minerals to craft, climbers in the middle floors and above often didn't sell them, but now they are posting such materials for sale more often.
As I put it into the furnace to start smelting, the Red Iron Ore absorbed the heat inside. I opened the valve next to it a bit more to increase the gas input and boost the firepower. I completed the smelting in twice the time it takes for regular iron ore!
◈ Details: Steel refined from Red Iron Ore that has been exposed to pure natural fire mana for a long period. You can feel the fire mana.
—Clang!
I immediately started hammering it into the shape of a sword. Even though it had absorbed plenty of heat from the furnace, it cooled down quickly once taken out, so I had to put it back in the furnace frequently. "You're a tricky one." When I engraved the mana circuit, I felt the fire mana racing through it. It felt like there was a living fire inside the sword. I roughly finished the shape of the sword, made a hole in the crossguard to set a gem, crafted the handle, and finished it with the hide of a monster with excellent heat and thermal insulation.
◈ Details: A ruby raw stone that glows with a brilliant red light. It is said that gems are sometimes found when mining in the middle floors or higher, and they are effective for making mage weapons or artifacts. It seems to be because of their high mana affinity.
I have to do this as Baroness Helen taught me. I took out a gem-cutting knife, infused it with mana, and carved the raw stone. The stone was being carved away very little by little. What was being carved off was barely visible unless I looked very closely. As the stone was cut, it emitted an even deeper brilliance. "It's pretty." I finished the craftsmanship by engraving a mana circuit for fire on the carved surface. A ruby that emits a brilliant red light, rounded and polished while preserving the shape of the raw stone.
◈ Details: A ruby crafted with the cabochon technique. Light is scattering along the carved surfaces. Contains fire mana.
When I inserted it into the gem socket I had made on the crossguard, it clicked and locked perfectly into place. "Magic Sword Crafting. I'll grant the magic later."
Skill proficiency has increased.
Magic has not been granted. It can be granted later.
The compatibility of the materials is good, increasing performance. The sword's attribute has changed. Attack power increased. Durability increased. A trait has been granted to the sword. Magical traits are enhanced according to the Magic Sword Crafting skill and understanding of magic.
The ruby embedded in the crossguard glowed brilliantly, and red mana flowed through the circuits. It was a sword that looked extraordinary. "Info."
Grade: Rare (Creator: All-Purpose Crafter)
Details: Iron containing fire mana and a gem have met and become one. The creator grasped the sword's characteristics and finished the handle with leather that has excellent heat and thermal insulation. You can know the true value of the sword by infusing it with mana. Requires fire resistance to use properly.
Durability: 122/122 | Attack Power: 98-131
Attribute: Fire | Mana: D
◈ Flame: Infuse mana to make flames of mana rise on the blade, increasing attack power by 25%.
◈ Incineration: On hit, attaches an inextinguishable fire to targets with less than 25% fire resistance. Even for enemies with 25% or more resistance, there is a certain chance to ignite, and it slowly weakens over time.
◈ Fierce Fire: When inextinguishable fire is attached, the opponent's fire resistance and defense slowly decrease by up to 80%.
◈ Delay: The inextinguishable fire strongly hinders the opponent's recovery.
◈ Absorption: Can absorb fire. Increases attack power and mana amount for a certain period.
◈ Melting: Penetrates 40% of the opponent's defense.
◈ Engraving: -
Restriction: Mana C, Fire Resistance 40% or higher.
"This is incredibly good?" Magic Sword Crafting is special because of the ability to engrave and use magic, but it also allows for special abilities to be unleashed based on the properties of the materials. Perhaps because all the materials were related to fire, the traits turned out extremely well. It was really great that I could use magic without consuming mana during battle because magic basically absorbs and stores mana from nature or the user, and attack power and durability also increase during crafting. Still, the highlight of a Magic Sword is the magic.
"I don't know what magic to grant!" I can't ask another mage to engrave magic for me. A magic sword without magic is like a steamed bun without red bean paste. "Does this mean I have to learn magic too?" My fate... it seems I can't just live by crafting alone. The two skills I obtained this time are like a chicken rib (useless but a waste to throw away).
The Soul Sword has the best potential, with currently poor performance but increasing attack power as you hunt, and even automatic combat if the ego awakens. The Magic Sword has decent performance, but it must be made with special materials and I have to learn magic properly to grant it. "These are skills for hardcore veterans." It seems it will be a long time before I can properly utilize both skills to make legendary-grade equipment. I tore at my hair. "I have no choice but to steadily increase my skill proficiency..."
Since special materials are limited, I'll have to grind my proficiency in Soul Sword Crafting. I took out a lot of steel. Iron ore is cheap anyway, so I'll make a lot and release them cheaply. Low-grade items sell well too. It's a profitable business even if I sell them cheap. In that case, I will arm all Korean climbers with Goblin Soul Swords.
Usually, climbers have a hard time buying items of Normal grade or higher unless they are on the middle floors or above. It's not easy to just buy a sword that costs 400 to 900 million won each. However, Korea has a very well-developed item crafting industry, so the lowest grade, Low-grade, was reasonably cheap and not hard to find. Since there is a lot of iron ore coming out of the Tower, if you make it into steel and mass-produce it, you can extract a certain amount of Low-grade items. Of course, you can't get anything higher than Normal grade with this method.
If you calculate the price based on points for durability and attack power, a durability of 25 and a maximum attack power of 28 would require a huge sum of 4,300 points. However, items with durability under 30 are classified as Low-grade consumables that become unusable after one or two repairs, making them very cheap at around 430 points, which is 1/10th the price of a Normal grade item. Since they don't break after just a few hits despite low durability, there's no need to look down on them just because they are Low-grade.
Even if items crafted by smelting minerals are Low-grade, the blacksmith doesn't lose money, and it's a very profitable business to begin with, so it doesn't feel bad, and even the low-floor and middle-floor climbers who buy them are satisfied with the grade. That's why low-floor climbers who want to buy Low-grade items with the highest possible durability and maximum attack power are always hanging around the sales posts.
Author: Anonymous
He says he failed while experimenting with new skills, so the durability and attack power dropped. The grade is Normal or High-grade, but the durability and attack power are Low-grade lololol. He's mass-distributing items with durability and max attack power just under 30 on the sales board right now lololol.
The Low-grade items that the All-Purpose Crafter was selling, which had been pouring out, were all sold out after some time as a mysterious big hand bought them in bulk.