“Wait, There Aren’t Any Blacksmiths? Then Who’s Going to Make My Gear?” “I am.”

“You… can make it?”

“Why? Don’t like the idea? You little brat. Do you have any idea how many times those blacksmiths chased after me just to learn one of my skills?”

“……”

Cain’s face twisted like he’d just bitten into something disgusting.

Of course, he knew Tae-hyun was skilled. Still…

This bastard is way too suspicious when he makes stuff!

He had no idea how long Tae-hyun would keep him in debt over making one set of equipment. And that wasn’t even the only problem.

What if he does something weird to the gear?

It was a deep-rooted distrust of Tae-hyun.

Even if Tae-hyun claimed he’d make soybean paste out of beans, Cain would still doubt him. After everything he’d been through, he couldn’t take a single word at face value.

“You… you’re not going to, like, put a bomb inside my gear or something… right?”

Thanks to Tae-hyun, the Mechanical Engineering skill was becoming all the rage among players.

And with that trend came a ton of ridiculous rumors.

- I heard you can make pets with Mechanical Engineering.

- I heard you can reinforce traps with Mechanical Engineering.

Those were at least believable.

- If you max out Advanced Mechanical Engineering, you can make a Mechanical Engineering dragon.

- I heard you can even make people with Mechanical Engineering.

Kim Tae-hyun apparently makes underlings with it and commands them around.

And the dragon’s supposedly a pet tied to Mechanical Engineering too.

With real information so hard to come by, rumors spread in every direction imaginable.

Besides, players usually didn’t know much about skills from other classes. That was especially true if they belonged to a completely different field.

Cain had only ever played combat classes, so he had no idea what production classes were capable of.

He eyed Tae-hyun suspiciously.

If Tae-hyun made his gear and stuffed a bomb inside it or something…

But Tae-hyun, hearing Cain’s words, slapped his knee.

“No. Now that’s a pretty good idea!”

“……!”

“You bastard. You do come up with something useful once in a while, huh? Fine. I’ll do that.”

“H-Hold on. That’s not what I meant, you bastard!”

“No need to thank me. Don’t worry. You won’t even be able to see it.”

“How is that not something to worry about, you bastard!?”

Extra options on items could only be seen by those qualified to see them—like the maker, or someone with a high enough crafting skill.

Someone like Cain couldn’t see them if Tae-hyun put his mind to it.

While Cain hopped up and down in protest, Tae-hyun covered his ears and started making the gear.

He was aiming for one thing.

The most suspicious-looking set in the world!

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Still, I should probably save on bombs a little now.

Thinking that, Tae-hyun sorted through his items.

It was time to organize the loot from the Marquis Marden battle.

He’d used up almost all the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gunpowder and bomb materials he had on hand.

He’d even dragged over everything from Anong Castle and used that too…

It made it easy to take down a boss monster like that, sure, but his stock of bomb items had shrunk a lot.

The blacksmiths he’d been using as porters were gone too. In more ways than one, his hands were tied.

The heart of Mechanical Engineering was materials and time, after all.

Any more suckers like Count Anong or the McCraney Merchant Group around?

Strictly speaking, Tae-hyun still hadn’t truly suffered the hardships ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of a production class in Fantasy Online 2.

The biggest headache for production classes was, of course, materials.

You needed materials to make anything.

And to raise skill levels and craft higher-tier items, you needed even rarer materials in even greater amounts.

For a relatively weak production class, gathering those materials yourself was a brutal task.

It wasn’t for nothing that people joined big guilds.

Players who didn’t belong to big guilds usually made good items, sold them for gold, and then used that gold to buy materials again… but Tae-hyun didn’t do that.

If I don’t have it, I shake it out of someone who does.

The McCraney Merchant Group, the Atali Kingdom, Anong Castle… Tae-hyun had squeezed them dry through affinity, contribution points, and quests until they couldn’t be squeezed any further.

Luxuries other production classes couldn’t even imagine!

Now then, what did our dear count give me?

His heart fluttering like a child about to receive a present from Santa Claus, Tae-hyun began checking his items.

……!

Authority.

For Tae-hyun, who had already made a killing with Archisus’s Authorities, that was a word guaranteed to make his ears perk up.

Even if it wasn’t as good as Archisus’s, ancient vampire Authorities were probably pretty damn strong too.

What kind of Authorities do vampires have?

The first things that came to mind were bloodsucking, mist form, controlling animals…

Ah. Hold on.

Tae-hyun froze.

He’d just remembered Evangeline, who possessed the descendant class of an ancient vampire.

One of her Authorities was…

……Luck -999 was one of them, wasn’t it?

A chill ran down his back.

There’s no way something like that would come out, right?

Tae-hyun decided to check the other items first.

This bracelet had been used by Cain, the ancestor and leader of the ancient vampires.

He was a corrupted Cain, yes—but no one could deny that he had been a powerful archmage who created the secret arts vampires used.

That’s… incredible.

Tae-hyun swallowed before he knew it.

It had no physical defense stat, but the magic defense and holy defense were ridiculous.

- A true masterpiece doesn’t clutter itself with a hundred options. It speaks through raw stats!

The bracelet seemed to say exactly that.

It only had two skills, but they were obviously no ordinary skills.

Ancient Vampire Transformation and Cain’s Bloodsucking…

Cain’s Bloodsucking was a powerful bloodsucking skill. One of the reasons vampires had such stubborn vitality and strength came from their lineage skills.

Low-grade bloodsucking, intermediate bloodsucking, attribute bloodsucking… vampires had all kinds of bloodsucking skills.

And if a skill carried the name Cain, it had to be strong.

And the bracelet went one step further.

It let the user transform into an ancient vampire, not just use vampire skills.

So I can become an ancient vampire for a certain period of time…

Tae-hyun fell into thought.

What would the advantage be?

The Luck -999 part doesn’t really matter.

With his Luck already at 3500, minus 999 didn’t even tickle.

He couldn’t pull off any tricks with that.

Still, if it was an ancient vampire race, then it must have that signature tenacity and life force.

Tae-hyun had seen Evangeline fight himself.

Even as a ranker, her combat power had been impressive.

She must have received another bonus to compensate for the Luck -999 penalty.

I’m not sure when I’ll use it, but better to have it than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not.

Honestly, though, the magic defense and holy defense stats seemed more useful.

Those were the kind of things you could use just by equipping them.

What else is left?

This was the mask Marquis Marden had used to conceal his identity.

Even after becoming a vampire, he had still continued operating as a noble.

Without this mask, that would have been impossible.

“!!!!!”

Players who had no use for such an item would have looked at it and gone, “Eh? What’s this?” and been disappointed.

But Tae-hyun immediately recognized its true value.

No—he was exactly the kind of person who could use an item like this well.

This is a complete disguise item, isn’t it?!

The skin-like mask twitched as if it were alive.

Wearing it would hide his identity far more conveniently than a simple cloth mask or a clumsy disguise.

From the outside, it didn’t even look like he was wearing a mask, which doubled its effectiveness!

As for the penalty of increased infamy, he didn’t care in the slightest.

And the rest…

Aside from one piece of equipment and one mark, the remaining items were scrolls.

One-time magic items.

Summon Blood Bat Swarm Scroll: Releases a swarm of blood bats nearby. Lasts for six hours, and blood bats within a certain distance can be controlled.

Eye of the Vampire Scroll: Casts magic to locate hidden enemies.

Curse of the Flowing Blood Scroll: Casts a spell on an enemy.

Good scrolls.

Marquis Marden had been an excellent mage, and his items were all solid.

It was a quest that rewarded a skill.

Since it was tied to Marquis Marden, the praise for him was absurdly over the top.

More importantly…

Tae-hyun seriously considered destroying the item then and there.

He was still nowhere near advanced enough in magic skill.

And the reward, for him, was practically useless.

Wasn’t this basically a skill designed solely to screw him over?

Marquis Marden made a mistake and did something stupid… but there’s no guarantee other guys will do the same.

Tae-hyun masked his unease and stuffed the items into his bag.

Even though it was the most expensive bag he’d looted from the McCraney Merchant Group, it was already packed to the brim.

Wear what he should wear, store what he should store… and use what he should use.

Tae-hyun prepared to use the mark.

He was nervous about what might come up, but that didn’t mean he could avoid using it.

Gulp—

Use.

The hypnotic power of ancient vampires could dominate living creatures.

As the skill level rose, it became possible to control stronger monsters.

Current skill level: 1

Thank goodness.

Tae-hyun let out a relieved breath, having feared some Luck -999 nonsense would come out instead.

Monster Control.

It was a usable skill.

Of course, it wasn’t like he could summon and command huge beasts like a Sadiq priest.

At its current level, all it could do was control roaming monsters like rabbits, rats, and snakes.

Even if he leveled it up, it didn’t look like it would ever reach truly massive monsters.

Still, it depends on how you use it.

Not only the obviously good skills were useful.

Tae-hyun knew better than anyone that even skills that looked worthless at first glance could become incredibly useful if handled well.

The use of off-meta skills.

That was always a powerful advantage because it shattered the opponent’s expectations.

Good. I’ve checked all the items… now, let’s make something.

Tae-hyun prepared to craft gear with rare enthusiasm.

Intermediate Mechanical Engineering.

Intermediate Blacksmithing.

It was a stat spread that would basically slap most blacksmith players in the face.

Of course, gear still depended heavily on materials, but with Tae-hyun’s skill and luck, he could make something decent out of rusty iron.

Clang, clang, clang—

As Tae-hyun settled in and started hammering away, Cain watched from the side in utter unease.