Mythic-Grade Blacksmith (2)
“It looks like you’ll die if you go in there.”
“Probably won’t die.”
“Probably?”
“Well… it might get hot and stuffy. Ah, no. You might actually die. If you slip and fall, that is.”
Yu Junhyeok added that he himself had gone in and out with an ordinary person’s body back in reality, so it should be fine, then spoke with a chuckle as if he’d thought of something amusing.
“Haetaesik. I should play a little prank on him.”
“Haetaesik?”
“The blacksmith inside. That’s the name I gave him. Haetaesik.”
“Why Haetaesik?”
“Hephaestus. Too long to say every time, so I shortened it. He seemed to like that I gave him a name. Anyway, that’s why it’s Haetaesik.”
“…?”
Choi Junseok had no idea what logic went into that naming, but he at least understood what kind of being it was.
A blacksmith skilled enough to have forged the holy sword Excalibur.
“Then I’ll trust you and go in.”
In games, portals like that were usually dangerous, weren’t they?
Choi Junseok fearlessly stuck his head in first.
The scenery changed in an instant.
“Whoa.”
It felt like he’d entered the crater of a volcano with magma boiling inside. Or perhaps hell.
From the massive furnace ahead, molten metal poured down like a waterfall, bright enough to hurt the eyes.
The molten metal flowed along grooves in the floor like a sewer, spreading in every direction.
Even so, he didn’t feel like he was about to burn to death.
Beneath that waterfall of molten metal, a muscular man of ordinary human size was unexpectedly pulling on an iron chain.
It was a massive chain connected to a bellows.
Clank-clank-clank! Clang! Whoosh!
Clank-clank-clank! Clang!
He kept pulling and releasing the giant chain, working the bellows on the furnace and kiln.
When he pulled the chain, enormous gears and cogs meshed and turned, sending great flames roaring up from the furnace and kiln.
It felt less like a blacksmith’s forge and more like being inside the maw of a colossal dragon.
Following the man’s breaths, lava and flames surged and subsided all around.
The muscular man turned to look back.
Black sclera with bright yellow irises.
The moment that serpentine gaze landed on Choi Junseok—
He snorted and looked away.
Then he grabbed the chain and pulled again.
Clank-clank-clank! Clang!
- That bastard just laughed at me, right?
- Obviously.
“Time to throw yourself into the furnace.”
It was muttered, but Choi Junseok heard it clearly.
“Excuse me?”
Clank-clank-clank! Clang!
The bellows work grew even fiercer, as if venting anger.
The angry muscles on his back stood out so sharply they looked like the face of someone scowling in rage.
“What did you come for?”
“I came to ask you to make an item.”
“I doubt I have any weapons or gear worth giving to the likes of you.”
He released the chain he’d been pulling and turned to face Choi Junseok.
Clang!
With a tremendous sound like something falling, angry flames surged up behind him like a wave.
“You’re not even carrying a weapon. Are you a mage?”
“No. I keep my weapons in a kind of pocket dimension inventory.”
“Hah! Look at you, having a dimensional inventory.”
He turned his back with a displeased expression and grabbed the chain again.
“Show me the best item you have. A player’s items are like their own quality. If it doesn’t meet my standards, I’ll kick you out right away—”
“Are you sure that’s okay?”
“What?”
“If I take out my item, this forge and the lava might go crazy. I’m asking if that’s still fine.”
“Hah! All talk. Fine! Let’s see it!”
F-rank, level 30.
High level for an F-rank, but from his perspective, it was negligible.
His previous client had been none other than the level 997 Sword God, Yu Junhyeok.
A level that made him snort in disdain.
Since the man wasn’t even looking at his face and had his back turned while still working the bellows—
Choi Junseok decided to just go for it and looked for a suitable spot to summon.
‘If I summon it and then return, it should unsummon automatically.’
Items bound through the system were naturally recalled during forced movement.
Soon he found a suitable place.
Above the sea of lava, there was a protruding rock formation wide enough to place a sword on.
It was also far enough from both Haetaesik and himself.
Choi Junseok focused on the sensation of gently placing the sword on the ground.
Just a few centimeters above the surface.
“Summon.”
The moment a single sword appeared in the air—
Haetaesik’s arm, which had been furiously working the bellows, stopped dead.
His head whipped around, eyes locking onto the holy sword.
“That’s…!”
The instant the sword was summoned, the ground he’d been about to place it on shattered and scattered in all directions.
The moment the sword, now without a place to rest, touched the surface of the lava—
BOOOOOOM!!
At the same time, lava erupted as if a massive bomb had gone off, shaking the ground.
He’d only placed the sword down, yet the lava rose in a wave the size of a house.
“What the hell!”
Haetaesik, startled, looked between Choi Junseok and the holy sword.
Choi Junseok’s choice was obvious.
“Return!”
Whoosh!
“Well then. Adios…”
“Hey! You crazy bas—”
Haetaesik’s shout never reached Choi Junseok’s ears.
The moment Choi Junseok’s body scattered into light—
A towering wave of lava crashed over Haetaesik and the massive furnace.
─┼
A moment later.
Back in reality, Choi Junseok sensed that the holy sword had been recalled into him.
If it hadn’t, Yu Junhyeok wouldn’t be laughing right now.
“Bwahaha! Did you see that guy’s face just now? Bwahaha! It was a masterpiece. Ah… what an expression I want to see again.”
It was the first time Yu Junhyeok had laughed like this.
Lee Nayeon and Song Hana looked at the returned Choi Junseok with curious eyes, watching Yu Junhyeok’s laughter.
It seemed like something good had happened.
“I went to get an item made.”
“Ooh! What kind of item did you make?!”
Song Hana asked curiously, but—
“Didn’t get to make one. I actually caused a huge mess and came back.”
Honestly, he was worried.
He wondered if he’d just tanked his reputation and trust completely.
“But what kind of materials do you use to make items?”
Items? Materials?
Come to think of it, he hadn’t thought about that at all.
Choi Junseok belatedly summoned the Recovery Fairy Dragon from his inventory.
A pitch-black baby dragon appeared before him.
Black body, large black eyes with yellow sclera instead of white.
It had the cute visual of a baby dragon from that American animated movie about training dragons.
“Kyarek?”
“Whoa! So cute! Junseok-nim! This little guy is way too adorable! Huff huff!”
Song Hana immediately rushed over, hugged the fairy dragon, and lifted it up.
It really was cute.
Even the way it stuck its tongue out halfway like an idiot and tilted its head.
Even Lee Nayeon, who didn’t seem particularly interested in cute things, approached with large strides and stroked the dragon’s head with a blank expression.
“It’s cute. Though it doesn’t look like it has much meat on it.”
“N… Nayeon-ssi! Meat?! You’re going to eat such a cute little thing?!”
“Don’t say weird things. Eat it? It’s a Legendary-grade item.”
If he just unbound it and put it up for auction, it would sell for hundreds of billions.
Even if hundreds of billions was a slight exaggeration, it would fetch at least a hundred billion.
Lee Nayeon kept stroking it, apparently enjoying the smooth texture of the dragon’s skin, and the dragon let out a pleased rumbling sound in response to her touch.
“I heard it’s a dragon that recovers items, but I’ve never seen it recover anything.”
Still, the status window had said the Recovery Fairy Dragon’s effect had activated.
Yu Junhyeok immediately explained how to use the fairy dragon.
“Try pulling its tail.”
“Sword God, you savage! That’s too much! Pulling a dragon’s tail! How could you say that!”
“Oh come on. This fairy dragon likes having its tail pulled second only to getting its butt smacked. Pull it with all your strength until you hear the cartilage crack. Then it’ll burp and spit out items.”
Lee Nayeon reached out without hesitation, asking “Is that so?” toward the dragon Song Hana was holding.
But Song Hana flinched in surprise and turned her back, still hugging it.
“No! Don’t bully our Kkamdori!”
Song Hana had already given it a name.
From Choi Junseok’s chest, Yu Junhyeok spoke.
“I used to call it Toothless.”
“…That’s literally the name from the animation, isn’t it?”
“Ahem. It’s just a coincidence.”
The name naturally became Kkamdori.
When Choi Junseok and Lee Nayeon surrounded Kkamdori from front and back—
“Hic… No! Kkamdori! Bite them!”
“Bite? I’m the owner.”
As expected.
Kkamdori immediately recognized its owner.
It chomped down on Choi Junseok’s approaching hand.
Chomp!
“Aaaagh!”
When he pulled his hand back in surprise, there were shallow tooth marks.
Coincidentally, they were blunt, not sharp.
“Aigoo, our Kkamdori, good job?!”
“Are you alright?”
Lee Nayeon calmly stroked Kkamdori as she asked, and Song Hana also stroked its tail, which was swaying proudly left and right as if praising it.
The dragon only let out a pleased rumbling sound, apparently enjoying their touch.
When the wronged Choi Junseok took another step closer—
“I’m the owner, why are you doing this…”
“Kyaooo!”
Kkamdori bared its square teeth and used Dragon Roar, but after Song Hana coaxed and soothed it, the fairy dragon finally climbed into Choi Junseok’s arms with a reluctant expression.
“Is it because it’s a fairy dragon…? It’s very different from the dragons I know.”
Choi Junseok carefully took Kkamdori and hugged it.
Its skin was smooth like a lizard’s, but strangely soft, squishy, and warm. It felt nice.
“Anyway, if I pull its tail… items automatically recovered from the 9th and 10th floors will come out, right?”
“Correct.”
The dragon didn’t look well right now, so he decided to do it next time.
When Choi Junseok tried to unsummon the dragon—
Song Hana and Lee Nayeon reacted as if he was really going to put the dragon away.
“Just leave it here.”
“Yeah! Booo! Give the dragon its freedom!”
‘You just want to pet it…’
The one who changed the subject was Yu Junhyeok, who usually just watched the situation in silence.
“Now then. It should have calmed down by now. Let’s go back in.”
Yu Junhyeok used the Hephaestus’s Blacksmith Entry Ticket without regard for Choi Junseok’s intentions.
Ziiing…
“What? You can use items without my will?”
“Seems so. Heh heh…”
The moment they carefully stepped through the portal—
They saw the muscular Haetaesik glaring at the portal.
Black sclera with bright yellow irises.
That serpentine gaze landed on Choi Junseok.
He didn’t look particularly angry.
“Hey! Haetaesik! I’m back!”
His eyes widened suddenly.
“…That voice… Yu Junhyeok?!”
“That’s right, it’s me! Yu Junhyeok!”
“Oh… my god. Did you reincarnate?”
“No. I never experienced death in the first place.”
“I guess my prank was a bit much? Bwahaha!”
Those sharp eyes turned toward Choi Junseok as if in disbelief.
“No! I became a sword!”
“What?!”
Haetaesik froze in place, then immediately rubbed his face with his palm.
As if he couldn’t believe it.
“Became a sword… damn… that’s so enviable it makes my anvil stand up straight.”
“Right? I knew you’d understand!”
Choi Junseok summoned the inventory bound to Yu Junhyeok’s soul.
A worn, shabby leather bag appeared with a thud.
The bag hummed as it continued speaking.
“It’s me! More precisely… I’m a sword that went inside this.”
“Even when leaving, you lived romantically until the very end.”
“Leaving? I’m alive with a complete body.”
Haetaesik, who had been laughing heartily, slowly shifted his gaze from Choi Junseok’s chest up to his eyes.
Then, as if using an emotion skill—
Shock appeared on Haetaesik’s face.
“Don’t tell me… right now, you’ve become one with the sword and are using a person as a sheath?”
Choi Junseok felt strangely wronged at being called a sheath, but couldn’t argue.
“Aah. Of course. Only his ability can use this sword. It’s a long story to explain everything.”
“Becoming one with the sword… and living with a person as a sheath…”
Haetaesik clapped his hands in genuine admiration.
“You cleared the 100th floor and succeeded, didn’t you?”
“Right? I knew you’d understand.”
Choi Junseok felt dizzy listening to the conversation between these madmen.
“So how did you end up inside a bag?”
“There’s a story. It’s long if I explain.”
“That’s fine. I’ve got plenty of time.”
Haetaesik openly sat down across from the bag and grinned.
He plopped down across from it and rested his chin on his hand.
As if to say, go ahead and tell me.
“Sheath. You sit too.”
“I’m not a sheath.”
“Hmm. Holy Sword Launcher?”
“…Please just call me Choi Junseok.”
He laughed cheerfully and extended his hand to Choi Junseok.
“Alright! Choi Junseok! Welcome!”