A Dangerous Addition

Gabriel and his mechanical engineering blacksmiths stood with their arms crossed. All around them lay a graveyard of broken engineering projects. Having immersed themselves in both Mechanical Engineering and Blacksmithing alongside the demon blacksmith Saruon, Gabriel’s crew possessed terrifying skills. They were a force that ordinary blacksmith guilds could barely hope to rival! To make matters worse, they didn't just craft standard items; they specialized in engineering—specifically, bombs. This made them infinitely more lethal. Even the players wandering through the territory gave their workshop a wide berth.

These were the blacksmiths everyone avoided—including Tae-hyun! Yet, they readily agreed to the request.

"If it's a favor for him, of course we'll do it."

"Should we bring all the materials we can use for the statue?"

"Great idea. Let's melt down all these broken items and take them with us."

With their materials in tow, the mechanical engineering blacksmiths marched toward the Valley. The players already gathered there watched the approaching horde with deeply uneasy expressions.

Gabriel's crew was notorious for being fearless, unhinged lunatics. Once, outside Tae-hyun's territory, a conflict had broken out between a group of players and one of Gabriel's blacksmiths.

"Hey, we're hunting here. Scram. You're in the way."

To combat-class players, production-class players were easy targets. Assuming the blacksmith didn't belong to any major guild, the combat players tried to kick him out.

"But I got here first," the blacksmith had replied.

"Ah, who cares? Just scram."

"I'm not even in your way. I'm just mining ore here..."

"Look, just seeing you is annoying. Get lost."

"If I give you this, will you let me stay?"

"Oh? What are you giving us?"

"A bomb."

"?"

He had detonated every single bomb in his inventory right then and there, taking them all down with him in a glorious suicide bombing! The blacksmiths who had terrorized the entire Central Continent alongside Gabriel knew no fear. To them, opponents of this caliber were practically insignificant! And that was only the beginning.

"Ugh, what a bunch of absolute psychos... It's true what they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠say, anyone who does mechanical engineering is a complete nutcase. Why choose engineering when there are so many normal skills?"

"Kim Tae-hyun really ruined these kids. Ugh, so annoying."

The players who had been forced to log out by the self-destruction gnashed their teeth as they reconnected. Getting forced offline by someone they hadn't even considered a threat was the ultimate humiliation.

Just thinking about it makes my blood boil!

As they were heading out of the territory, another player had approached them and handed them something.

"Excuse me. Please take this."

It was common for production classes around the territory to hand out free items like this. Even if the items weren't worth selling, having others use them would grant the crafters skill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠proficiency or experience rewards. And nobody hated free stuff.

"Oh? What is it?"

"A bomb."

"..."

From then on, Gabriel's crew relentlessly stalked those specific players, attempting suicide bombings at every turn. After a month of this relentless torment, the victim finally fell to his knees and begged for mercy.

"I was wrong! I'll never... I'll never do it again!"

With a history like that, it was only natural for people to avoid them. However, Gabriel and his friends were surprisingly normal and friendly when they weren't blowing things up.

"We've filtered and sorted the scrap metal here. You can take this and apply it."

"Your shovel looks a bit worn out. Let me repair it for you. A repair fee? Haha, don't be ridiculous, why would I charge for something like this? I could even modify it slightly for you... Ah, no modifications? Alright, got it."

Without a single complaint, the blacksmiths tackled the grueling labor head-on! They might be obsessed with mechanical engineering, but their Blacksmithing Skill was exceptionally high. There was no way they would fail at such trivial tasks. Besides, they weren't crafting bombs right now; they were just performing simple material processing!

Slowly, the players' perceptions began to shift.

"What... they're actually way nicer than I thought?"

"I thought they'd throw a bomb at me the moment I spoke to them."

"They repaired my gear too."

"They offered to modify my stuff, maybe I should've let them?"

"I've been actively avoiding them, but maybe I should start visiting their forge from now on..."

Avoiding the massive forge in the territory was ultimately a loss for the players anyway. It was only their notorious reputation that had kept people away! Through the shared quest of building the statue, the players in the territory began to unite.

While the players showered the blacksmiths with praise, Gabriel stared up at the newly erected skeletal frame of the statue and muttered, "Something is missing..."

"Huh...?"

"The architects, sculptors, and even the painters are stepping up to show off their specialties, but it feels like we're barely contributing."

"Then what do you plan to do?"

"What is our specialty?"

"Mechanical engineering?"

"Let's apply our Engineering skills to that statue!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"That's...! An absolutely brilliant idea! As expected of Master Gabriel!"

"Gabriel! Gabriel!"

If Tae-hyun had been standing there, he would have smacked them on the back of their heads while screaming, Stop it, you absolute lunatics!

Unfortunately, Tae-hyun was nowhere to be found. He had already resolved to completely ignore the statue.

"Sigh..."

Even though he had resolved to ignore it, a heavy sigh escaped his lips. He had hoped to return and see the arena completed, but instead, the players who were supposed to be working on it had been dragged away to build the statue. Now that they were working so passionately, telling them, Hey! Stop building the statue! would never work. It would only backfire. At least the other players were sourcing most of the materials themselves...

As for the other buildings... I'm building them as fast as I can, but there are limits.

Even though he was prioritizing Archisus buildings over other essential structures, the construction speed was still frustratingly slow. He needed to upgrade the Arkisus Holy Knight Training Ground to Advanced to train decent Advanced Holy Knights, but both the gold cost and the construction ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time were staggering.

Other religious factions get to start with these things!

Thinking about it made him feel incredibly cheated. Lacking a massive guild of his own, Tae-hyun had to secure as much military power as possible to prepare for the future. When a hundred players had cornered him earlier, even his spine had gone cold. Although his other marks—no, friends—had arrived at the perfect moment to help, and he had luckily escaped by sacrificing some of his accumulated Reputation stat, there was no guarantee he would be so lucky next time.

Let's forget about the statue and the arena for now... The arena isn't a particularly useful building anyway...

Tae-hyun decided to inspect his items. First, the loot he had plundered through PK! Since these were items taken from high-ranking players, his expectations were naturally sky-high.

This is always the best part.

The glorious moment of checking the spoils of war!

"..."

Tae-hyun's face froze.

N-no way. There's no way they're all like this. It's probably just this one item.

Despite his desperate thoughts, his hands were already trembling!

"Sadiq, you absolute bastard!" Tae-hyun roared in fury.

Of course, Tae-hyun was the one who had ordered the dragon to fire its breath, but that minor detail didn't matter right now.

"Tsk... I guess I'll have to deconstruct them and salvage the raw materials..."

The equipment of the players who hadn't been hit by the breath was perfectly intact, but the gear of the players who had charged in first as arrow fodder was mediocre at best. Tae-hyun didn't hesitate to dump all of those intact, low-tier items onto the auction house in bulk.

That left only the ruined high-tier equipment. Thanks to Tae-hyun's absurd Luck stat, the rankers had dropped only their absolute best gear. Grumbling about his misfortune despite his incredible haul, Tae-hyun began to deconstruct the ruined equipment.

It's a shame, but there's nothing I can do about it.

If even the Advanced Blacksmithing Skill incurred a penalty, he just had to accept it. Tae-hyun began extracting the Adamantium using the furnace in the Demon's Forge.

Saruon, the demon blacksmith, watched him work and tilted his head in confusion. "What kind of lunatic would ruin such a masterpiece?"

"...Sadiq did it!"

"Hmph. Sadiq... Truly a wicked god. To destroy such fine craftsmanship, it breaks my heart."

Skills rising in the most unexpected places. Tae-hyun maintained a straight face as he carefully dismantled the equipment piece by piece.

"By the way, where did all the other blacksmiths go? Did they go somewhere else?" Saruon asked.

"I heard they went to help build the statue."

"...Them?"

A pack of bomb-obsessed terrorists volunteering to build a statue. A sense of impending doom began to creep over Tae-hyun.

Saruon, however, seemed to have a different perspective. "They are excellent blacksmiths. I'm sure they will build a magnificent statue."

"Being acknowledged by a demon is a bit..."

Being praised by a demon blacksmith usually meant there was something seriously wrong with you!

"Ah, whatever. I decided to ignore the statue anyway."

Tae-hyun turned his attention back to the furnace. Saruon had tossed something into it, causing the flames to roar with intense heat. Although Gabriel's crew usually monopolized it, a forge of this caliber was an incredibly high-end facility that was hard to find anywhere else.

A bit of Adamantium, a bit of Orichalcum, some Black Iron, some Red Iron, some Blue Silver... and a few cracked magic stones. Well, this is actually a pretty solid haul...

In truth, for something he had essentially obtained for free, the profit was astronomical. Because the rankers' equipment had been of such high quality, even the ruined pieces yielded an impressive amount of rare materials!

Should I try crafting another artifact with these? The cooldown should be ending soon anyway...

While Tae-hyun was pondering what to do with his plundered gear, a completely different situation was unfolding far away.

"We must truly unite this time! It is because we only pretend to cooperate that we keep getting humiliated like this. Look at us! We haven't even conquered the Auston Kingdom yet! Remember Pan-On 1? We took over entire kingdoms in the blink of an eye!"

"He's right. We must join hands! Look at that bastard Kim Tae-hyun! Imagine how much he must be laughing at us! We just stood by and watched while he ran wild. He predicted we would react exactly like this! Raise your hand if you were victimized by Kim Tae-hyun back in Pan-On 1!"

Hands shot up all across the room.

Inside the meeting hall of the Guild Alliance, the atmosphere was burning hot with fury.

Watching this scene, Su Ning smiled inwardly.

Kim Tae-hyun, thank you! Thank you so much! I will be sure to repay this debt very soon!

The Guild Alliance was a collection of selfish, mutually distrustful large guilds. Though they called themselves an alliance, they had never once demonstrated the true power of unity; it was a coalition in name only. But today, that very alliance was finally preparing to combine their forces in earnest.

There were many reasons for this shift, but the catalyst for the entire movement was none other than Tae-hyun.

Tae-hyun, who had dropped a bombshell at the press conference.

Tae-hyun, who had slipped through a hundred-man ambush as if playing a game, only to turn around and wipe out the remaining rankers.

Tae-hyun had successfully set fire to their collective fear.