A Masterpiece of Instability

"...But why are you following me?" Tae-hyun sighed, turning around.

"I want to help you in any way I can!"

Gabriel, the mechanical engineering blacksmith, followed him with eyes sparkling with pure, unadulterated devotion. To be honest, even Tae-hyun found Gabriel a little terrifying. Even in Pandemonium Online 1, a lunatic of this caliber had been rare. He was a cheerfully insane bastard!

"No... just go over to the golems and hang out with your friends..."

"I absolutely! Must! Help you!"

"...Fine."

Tae-hyun smacked his lips. Gabriel was now a high-ranking blacksmith specialized in both the Blacksmithing Skill and Engineering. It was just that he usually ran around shouting, "Hehe, let's make bombs! Fire the bombs!"...

"Should I modify them?" Gabriel asked eagerly.

"No."

"Can I attach a bomb launcher to the side?"

"No."

"How about a self-destruct function?"

"...Should we... add that?"

Even Tae-hyun's heart wavered slightly at the suggestion! Gabriel grinned widely.

Ah, damn it. I shouldn't have said that...

"I'll install it right away!"

Gabriel scurried off like a flash.

"By the way, Lord Tae-hyun. You really are amazing. I was so moved watching your quest in Uruk!"

"Moved? Please... I didn't even manage to catch the Great Chieftain in the end."

"Still, it was incredible! Oh, that reminds me. I saw a notification in the church system that a goblin tribe has started worshipping Archisus."

"Yeah. I went there, cleared a quest, and persuaded them to believe."

Tae-hyun replied, completely failing to notice the strange, fanatic gleam in Gabriel's eyes.

"If we're talking about goblins, then it has to be... engineering, right?"

"D-Dwarfs are good at engineering too."

"Goblin engineering is far superior to Dwarven engineering!"

Unlike the stable, safe, and standard Dwarven engineering, Goblin engineering was full of bizarre quirks, high failure rates, and eccentric results! Gabriel believed that such uncertainty was the true essence of engineering. Of course, Tae-hyun disagreed.

Engineering is just engineering! What do you mean, 'the charm of uncertainty'?!

"I want to meet the goblins too!" Gabriel declared.

"N-No. Goblins are actually quite shy, so they might be hard to find."

"I have a title that goblins would love! It'll be fine!"

"..."

For some reason, Tae-hyun felt a sudden, ominous premonition that he must never let these two forces meet.

"Let's just finish the repairs first!" Tae-hyun hastily changed the subject.

"..."

The name had changed, and the appearance had altered drastically, but Tae-hyun chose to look away and ignore it.

"Alright. This should be enough!"

"Lord Tae-hyun! What are you doing next?"

"Don't you have your own work to do? Go do your job!"

"Helping you is my job!"

"...I was planning to craft some weapons and enhance them..."

"Oh, really?" Gabriel's face fell instantly.

"What's wrong with enhancement?"

"It doesn't explode."

"..."

"But if it's your work, I'll help! Oh, by the way, are we not enhancing bombs?"

"Why would I...? Decline."

Tae-hyun had reached a level where he could craft masterpieces even when putting in minimal effort. The combination of his various blacksmithing skills and his Archisus class skills created an astronomical synergy.

"Lord Tae-hyun, this looks unstable. Are you going to put a bomb inside?" Gabriel asked.

"No."

"Then... would you like to put a bomb inside?"

"I said no."

"Hmph..."

Ignoring Gabriel's pouting, Tae-hyun continued to craft Roughly Crafted Steel Swords.

"Let's just call it 'Rough Steel Sword' for short."

An unnecessarily strong-sounding name!

He planned to make at least a hundred ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of them. Since they had the 'Unstable' option and he intended to enhance them, even a hundred felt like it wouldn't be enough.

It was a loop of endless, repetitive labor.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Cain, who happened to be passing by, shook his head in disbelief at the sight of Tae-hyun.

Doesn't that guy ever get tired?

Tae-hyun looked so serene, as if he could sit there and swing his hammer all day without a single complaint.

"Lord Tae-hyun, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I brought the ore."

"Yeah, put it down in front of me."

"Lord Tae-hyun, should I turn up the heat of the forge?"

"Yeah."

Gabriel was indeed an excellent assistant—as long as he kept his mouth shut. In fact, he was almost overqualified. He never interrupted to disturb Tae-hyun, yet he perfectly anticipated what materials were needed and laid them out next to him as he worked. This was only possible for a player with a deep understanding of blacksmithing.

"Alright. Let's start enhancing."

"I wish the enhancement effect was an explosion..."

Ignoring Gabriel, Tae-hyun began the enhancement process.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Rough Steel Sword looked like an ordinary longsword. The material was just high-quality steel, and nothing else had been added. It was designed from the start to be a consumable!

Because Tae-hyun's skills were so outstanding, a sharp aura flowed and flashed along the blade, but it wasn't to the point where other players would look at it and think, Whoa, is that a really good weapon? Instead, they would probably think, Why is a high-level player using a weapon that looks like it was bought from a basic shop?

However, as the enhancements succeeded one after another, it began to emit a soft glow. The light grew stronger with each enhancement level. Despite its ordinary appearance, it now possessed a flashing, brilliant aura.

"Is that some kind of class skill?"

Choi Sang-yun, who had wandered over to watch, muttered in disbelief as he stared at the sword. If other players saw this, they would easily mistake the glow for a class skill.

"...!"

Tae-hyun's eyes widened. A physical attack power of 375! Getting it to +9 had definitely been worth the effort. With this alone, its raw attack power surpassed Edaor's Greatsword. Of course, Edaor's Greatsword had various elemental stats and skills attached, making a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠direct comparison difficult, but achieving this result with nothing but steel and enhancement stones was an absolute jackpot.

Tae-hyun's plan to cycle through disposable weapons was finally taking shape.

It's a shame the skill is 'Blade Detonation', but there's nothing I can do about that...

Tae-hyun couldn't choose the skills that appeared on crafted items. It was a skill that completely shattered the sword upon a single use!

The durability is only 15. It's much lower than I expected... but I'll only pull them out when I need them.

Normally, he would use Edaor's Greatsword or Meteor, and then draw these swords whenever he needed a massive burst of damage. Tae-hyun let out a sigh of relief. This was a resounding success. Although the skill was a bit disappointing, the raw stats were incredible. On top of that, the attack speed increase and the chance to ignore defense were massive. Those two options were highly coveted even on the auction house! They weren't on the base item, but they had unlocked as bonus options once the enhancement reached +9.

Clack, clack, clack.

Tae-hyun neatly stacked the enhanced Rough Steel Swords into his inventory.

Now, next... Ah, I should make the armor I'm going to give to Lee Da-bi as a birthday present.

He didn't want to give just any ordinary armor to Lee Da-bi, who always worked so hard for him. He planned to use his class skill, Artifact Crafting, to make it.

What would be good for a merchant class? Evasion, defense, escape functions...? Ah, since I won't be able to move for a while after using Artifact Crafting, I should do the other things first.

He had the armor for Lee Da-bi and the item blueprints he received from the goblins, but... Tae-hyun planned to craft an additional mount first.

A motorcycle for Chairman Yoo!

He helped me out so much last time, so I should at least do this for him. It's a cheap way to pay him back.

Thinking of that, he suddenly grew curious. What was Chairman Yoo up to these days?

"Whew..."

Chairman Yoo closed his eyes and looked down at the vast ocean. Currently, he was aboard a massive galleon named the Golden Whale. Naturally, it was a ship he had acquired through the power of real-money transactions. It was one of the finest large vessels crafted by player carpenters, but even they couldn't withstand the onslaught of Chairman Yoo's wallet.

—This is a ship we built ourselves! We have no intention of selling it! It contains our friendship... Wait, you're offering how much? Seriously? We'll sell it!

It was simply too much money to refuse. Chairman Yoo was slowly sailing across the seas of Pan-On on that very ship. On board were mercenary NPCs hired with gold, his secretarial staff, and members of the Power Warrior Guild who had started tagging along with him.

"Wheeeew..."

Ah, how peaceful and quiet! Chairman Yoo felt his anger and hatred melting away.

Yes. I was foolishly dragged around by that punk Kim Tae-hyun...

Tae-hyun had delivered a spicy backstab to the chairman and went off to establish his own gaming team! Even though Chairman Yoo tried his best to avoid and forget him, Tae-hyun kept popping up in front of him whenever he was about to forget.

—Chairman, here is the photoshoot that player Kim Tae-hyun did with player Lee Se-yeon...

Crumple!

But those days of anger were over. He had successfully recruited Lee Se-yeon, and it was only a matter of time before she gave Tae-hyun's team a harsh taste of reality in the tournament. Thinking about that made his resentment fade a little.

Tug!

The fishing line cast into the sea began to shake violently, pulling taut.

"Oh!"

"Elder! You can do it!"

"We're ready and waiting!"

The Power Warrior Guild members, dressed in chef outfits, clapped and cheered for Chairman Yoo. The reason for their enthusiastic support was simple: Chairman Yoo paid incredibly well!

"Hmm?"

Chairman Yoo narrowed his eyes. Something that looked like a player was swimming out in the open sea.

"What is that?"

"Looks like a person. Maybe they lost their ship."

"Should we just ignore them and keep going? Life is harsh, after all."

The Power Warrior Guild members were ruthlessly pragmatic in these matters! However, Chairman Yoo shook his head. He had just managed to calm his anger and hatred; he wanted to do a good deed.

"Let's go rescue them."

"Yes, sir!"

Who would dare refuse his command? The crew quickly turned the ship around.

"Gasp, pant... Thank you!"

"We're saved!"

The players who climbed aboard gasped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for breath. They had thought they were going to run out of stamina and drown.

"Why were you swimming out here?" Chairman Yoo asked.

"Our ship was destroyed!"

"Destroyed? How on earth were you sailing?"

"We didn't hit a reef. We were attacked by pirates..."

"Pirates?"

"Yes!"

The fisherman players grumbled that it was an absolute disaster. They had been sailing around on a tiny fishing boat when a pirate ship suddenly rammed right through them.

"Are there pirates around here?"

"Huh? No, there shouldn't be. The Caterand Pirates were disbanded a long time ago."

"Didn't Kim Tae-hyun clear that quest...? Mmph!"

"Hey! Shut up, you idiot! You know the elder hates hearing that name!"

"Mmph, mmph!"

The Power Warrior Guild members had already realized that mentioning Tae-hyun's name was the fastest way to ruin Chairman Yoo's mood.