The Blacksmith Screamed with an Explosion
The blacksmith screamed as the blast went off.
A bomb had exploded while he was making it.
Mechanical engineering had suddenly become trendy because of Kim Tae-hyun, but that didn’t mean its biggest flaw had disappeared.
Instability!
Compared to blacksmithing, the Mechanical Engineering skill was far too unstable. Even if you were just making a single bomb, bad luck could make it explode in your face. Anyone who kept crafting these things was practically risking their life.
If you kept raising your skill level, it supposedly got a little better—but getting to that point was no easy feat either.
Not everyone could be like Tae-hyun, after all—shrugging off explosions through sheer luck, churning out top-performance items, and shooting their skill level upward.
“Aaaagh! It exploded!”
“Move! Mine’ll go off too!”
As soon as one blacksmith screamed, the others hastily snatched up their wares and jumped aside.
They were just as afraid of explosions as anyone else.
The other players who had come to buy bombs recoiled in horror at the sight.
“H-how are we supposed to use them if they just blow up like that?!”
“No, no! They don’t usually explode that much! It’s only about forty percent of the time!”
Of course, that wasn’t nearly enough to calm the terrified players.
“That’s your idea of ‘not that much,’ you bastard?!”
“Forget it! I’m not buying!”
The players who had perked up at the mention of the bombs Tae-hyun used all turned and fled in a wave.
The blacksmiths left behind drooped their shoulders.
“Ah, seriously... How does Kim Tae-hyun keep his from exploding?”
“He’s definitely got some separate skill for it. It has to be a class-related skill.”
“It might not be class-related. Could be a blacksmithing skill.”
“What if he just got lucky and they didn’t explode?”
“Say something that makes sense! Does that sound even remotely plausible?”
“S-sorry...”
“...”
Tae-hyun walked through the blacksmiths with an odd sense of guilt.
It wasn’t as if he’d personally told them to take up mechanical engineering, but they had all gotten into it because of him all the same.
Still, they really are working hard.
Even with explosions going off during production, the players hadn’t given up on mechanical engineering.
And bombs weren’t the only things it made, either.
Bombs were the flower of mechanical engineering, sure, but the field was broader than that.
There were items like mine, too.
Looks like they somehow got hold of the recipe.
Of course, nobody’s going to use it.
Unlike blacksmithing, anything made with low-level mechanical engineering was dangerously risky to use.
Naturally, nobody wanted to touch it.
“Would you like to buy this bomb, by any chance?”
“Ah. No. No thanks.”
When one blacksmith grabbed Cain and tried to sell to him, Cain recoiled in disgust.
For him, who had suffered under Tae-hyun, bombs were trauma made physical.
“Fifty silver! I’ll sell it for just fifty silver!”
“I said I’m not buying it!”
“Forty silver! Seriously, that’s cost!”
“I don’t care if it’s forty silver or forty copper, I’m not buying it!”
“I’ll take it.”
“?!”
Cain stared at Tae-hyun.
He was buying that junk?
“Hey. Why the hell are you buying this?”
“I’ve got a use for it.”
Tae-hyun had a skill.
Even if an item had been crudely made, as long as it was a mechanical engineering item, he could still break it down and make use of it.
“M-me too!”
“Please buy mine too!”
The moment one sucker was caught, the surrounding blacksmiths all sprang up and started trying to sell their items.
Wearing a mask and disguised with a kindly face, Tae-hyun chuckled benevolently.
“Haha. There’s no need to rush. I’ll buy all of them.”
“...!”
“Mine! Mine first!”
A rush broke out immediately.
The blacksmiths gathered around Abalab City’s gate swarmed forward, terrified of missing their chance.
They shoved, elbowed, and cut in line so frantically it was total chaos.
“There’s really no need to rush...”
“Mine! I’m first!”
“Move! If I can’t sell this, I’m going hungry today!”
“You move, asshole!”
“...Do you want to die, or do you want to line up?”
“!??!”
“Pardon?”
For a moment, a sinister voice slipped out of Tae-hyun.
The blacksmiths froze in confusion.
Had they heard that wrong just now?
But Tae-hyun only wore the same warm, friendly smile.
“Haha. Please line up. We need to move quickly.”
“Ah. Y-yes...”
“This is how you do business.”
Looking satisfied, Tae-hyun passed through the city gates and entered Abalab City.
The blacksmiths who had only just started learning mechanical engineering had all dumped their items at cost, desperate to recover even the price of the materials.
Your Mechanical Engineering skill is at Intermediate. You understand the recipe for [item recipe].
Your Mechanical Engineering skill is at Intermediate. You understand the recipe for [item recipe].
The items those blacksmiths had made almost never escaped Tae-hyun’s eye.
If an item was below his skill level, simply looking at it was enough for him to acquire the recipe.
“Those are defective pieces that blow up.”
“They don’t explode when I handle them.”
“Hmph. Carrying things like that around is idiotic. If it were me, I’d never do something so stupid.”
Cain grumbled as he walked ahead.
Tae-hyun looked at Cain’s back with a strange expression.
“...”
Cain, completely unaware there were bombs tucked inside his own armor.
Better he doesn’t know!
Tae-hyun honestly thought himself very considerate.
Clang!Clang-clang!
“...?”
The sound of weapons colliding rang out from the roadside.
Tae-hyun stuck his head out to see what was going on.
“You dirty bastards...!”
“Then you should’ve joined a guild too! Who told you not to listen to us?”
It was a model gang beating.
They had driven one person into an alley, blocked off his escape, and were now pounding on him three against one.
All players.
PK inside a city—a rare sight.
What’s this about?
Tae-hyun tilted his head.
Normally, player fights inside cities were uncommon.
You could fight there, sure, but the moment you did, the city guards came running, and then came all kinds of penalties on top of that.
Unless someone was exceptionally stupid or absolutely furious, nobody tried to PK inside a city.
But from the looks of it, those guild members were attacking a lone player.
They don’t look collectively insane... so there must be another reason.
Tae-hyun glanced around, then stopped a random player passing by and asked in the most innocent voice imaginable,
“Excuse me, why aren’t the guards coming?”
Not far away, Cain whipped his head around.
What horrifying thing did I just hear?
The player Tae-hyun had stopped gave a short snort of amusement.
“You must be new here. In Abalab City, nobody stops PK inside the city.”
“What?! A place that great actually exists?”
“Huh?”
“Haha. It’s nothing. But why don’t they stop it?”
“No idea. The Governor who owns the city gave the order, and since he’s an NPC... well, it’s not like you get to see nobles often.”
From what he heard, Abalab City simply didn’t care if adventurers PKed one another.
If you touched merchants or other city NPCs, it reacted just as harshly as any other city—but if adventurers killed each other, the city just stood by and watched.
Tae-hyun thought, What kind of wonderful city is this?
“Then what are those people doing?”
“Probably fighting over the arena.”
“...?”
“You really don’t know anything, do you? Why’d you come to Abalab City if you don’t know that?”
“I just enjoy sightseeing.”
When Tae-hyun said it in that pure, harmless tone, the player nodded.
There were plenty of people like Tae-hyun who enjoyed Fantasy Online 2 just for the pleasure of wandering around and taking things in.
“Then you came to the right place. The arena opens soon, so you can watch that too.”
The player glanced toward the alley, then lowered his voice.
“The rewards for the arena here were already pretty nice, but this time the Governor added extra rewards for the winner.”
“Items?”
“Items too, but apparently he’s also giving out some kind of position in the city... and a bunch of other stuff. That’s why the guilds have gone nuts. If they can find competitors likely to enter and beat them down beforehand, it makes things easier...”
“The rewards are that good?”
“I’m not entering that arena quest myself, so I don’t know the exact rewards. They haven’t even been fully revealed. But if they’re giving out a position in the city, that alone’s a huge reward, right? No wonder those guilds are losing their minds over it. Kim Tae-hyun really ruined a lot of people. Greed alone won’t get you there.”
Tae-hyun flinched.
A lot of people had in fact become obsessed after seeing Tae-hyun receive a noble title and a territory.
He hid his guilty conscience and kept his expression smooth.
“Surely you know who Kim Tae-hyun is? If you play Fantasy Online 2, you should watch some broadcasts too. It’s fine to just enjoy yourself, but knowing information and not knowing it makes a huge difference. Look at me. I’m level 62.”
“Ah, right...”
“You’re lower level than me, aren’t you?”
“...”
A fact so undeniable Tae-hyun couldn’t argue with it.
He nodded.
The other player responded as if he had expected nothing less.
“That’s what I thought. Sure, enjoying yourself is good, but if you level up a little, you get to enjoy a lot more. Like me.”
“Ah, yes... I understand...”
It felt awkward, but Tae-hyun didn’t say anything.
The guy had given him information. He could tolerate a little bragging in return.
Only after the player had left did Cain walk up and ask,
“What the hell was that horrifying voice earlier?”
“If you want to live long, you’ve got to know how to act. More importantly, things are getting pretty interesting around here.”
“...?”
Tae-hyun told Cain what he’d learned.
“You can PK inside the city?”
“Yeah. Sounds like if some guild spots someone they think looks manageable and might be entering the arena, they jump them and cripple them like that.”
While they spoke, the fight ended.
In the end, the surrounded player turned gray and was forcibly logged out, while the three players walked back out of the alley grumbling.
Glance.
They weren’t looking at Tae-hyun—they were looking at Cain.
He still wasn’t wearing the set item Tae-hyun had given him, but even so, Cain stood out plenty.
A huge frame, even with a cloak thrown over it, made bulkier by the heavy armor underneath.
The guild members slowed, then one of them called out to Cain.
“Hey. What level are you?”
The provocation was aimed at Cain, but Tae-hyun smiled.
Smiling, he started to reach for his sword.
Being able to PK inside the city was just too wonderful.
But they weren’t fated to die just yet.
“Forget it. Let’s just go.”
“...?”
“Look at that.”
What the guild member pointed at was Yong-yong.
Disguised to look like some steel mutt and standing on the ground, Yong-yong earned a dismissive shake of the guild member’s head.
“High-level players don’t drag around a crappy pet like that.”
“Yeah. True enough.”
—......
Yong-yong’s silence radiated pure fury.
The guild members, oblivious, simply walked off.
“Damn it, tanks are huge whether they’re low-level or high-level. Makes it hard to tell. Even low-level gear’s bulky as hell.”
“What a pain in the ass, all because of this arena.”
Once they were gone, Cain smacked his lips regretfully.
“That was a good opportunity too...”
“Eh, it’s fine. Another chance will come.”
—It is absolutely not fine!
Growling low, Yong-yong scraped the ground with one forepaw.
“Where should we go? Want to head to the arena first and take a look around?”
“No, there’s no need for that.”
Tae-hyun dusted himself off and started walking forward.
Cain tilted his head, wondering where Tae-hyun thought he was going.
“Where are we going? You’ve got somewhere in mind?”
“Who am I?”
At Tae-hyun’s question, Cain hesitated for a second.
The fact that that son of a bitch hadn’t immediately popped into his head meant Cain had grown as a person.
What he had learned under Tae-hyun was endless patience—and the calm not to blurt out the first thing that came to mind.
“...K-Kim Tae-hyun.”
“Hmm... Cain. Sometimes I get the feeling...”
“...?”
“...you only use your head as a stand for your helmet.”
“...”