The Birth of a Masterpiece

However, the Akisus Tribe warriors had no intention of letting Cain escape. They grabbed him firmly by both arms and shoulders, dragging him back inside!

Suddenly, a thought struck Cain, and he yelled, "Wait! That guy has an Archisus class too!"

He was desperately trying to drag Yu Ji-soo down with him, unwilling to suffer alone. But the tribal warriors barely reacted.

"How pitiful. He worships Archisus but isn't a slave."

"But what can we do? We are slaves, and he is not. So tragic."

"..."

"Fellow slave! You possess the true talent of a slave. If you fight and train with us, you will gain even greater power."

I really, really don't want to do this.

There was probably no class quest in the entire game as unappealing as this one! Cain let out a deep, heavy sigh and accepted his fate. Still, he had to get the skill, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't he?

"The adamantium has melted beautifully."

The preparations were complete. Tae-hyun prepared to begin the crafting process. The armor he was about to forge from this adamantium would be a masterpiece. No, it had to be a masterpiece.

Otherwise, all this suffering will be for nothing!

He had even abandoned his divine Authority quest to come here! Tae-hyun's eyes blazed with fiery passion. He was absolutely going to get his money's worth!

Ssssshh!

The molten adamantium began to take the shape of armor. Tae-hyun mobilized every single skill at his disposal, including his crafting buffs. He even used his active buffs and went so far as to utilize the golem's assistance to the absolute limit! He was truly pouring everything he had into this creation.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Crafting items with the blacksmithing skill took exponentially longer as the difficulty increased. And what Tae-hyun was forging right now was arguably the most difficult item a player could possibly craft.

Yet, Tae-hyun did not lose his focus for a single second. To get what he wanted, he possessed the sheer grit and concentration to repeat the exact same motion in the exact same posture for twenty-four hours straight! That was Tae-hyun's greatest strength.

How much time had passed? A series of system windows suddenly flared to life before Tae-hyun's eyes.

"...!"

Tae-hyun immediately opened his status window.

These were his raw stats, completely excluding any temporary buffs! Even when compared to top-tier rankers, his stats didn't just hold their own—they overwhelmingly dominated. Furthermore, his Reputation and Holy stats were even more absurd.

The days when he had worried about his Infamy overtaking his Reputation felt like a lifetime ago. Now, the gap was so massive that his Infamy couldn't even hope to catch ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up! It was almost as if the system was whispering to him, Go ahead, feel free to do as much evil as you want!

Just five more points in Holy, and I'll hit 20,000.

Once he reached 20,000, there was a very high probability that a powerful class-related skill would unlock. However, the system notifications weren't finished yet.

He had finally achieved the Master Blacksmithing Skill! Since he wasn't the first in the server to reach this rank, there were no additional rewards, but this was already more than enough. It made all the effort of abandoning his divine Authority quest and wandering this mine in search of adamantium completely worth it!

"?!"

Tae-hyun was stunned when he read the description. What? At first glance, it didn't seem like an incredibly powerful skill. It looked like the standard equipment buff skill that every run-of-the-mill blacksmith possessed! However, the sentence that followed was the real game-changer.

I can stack the skill?

This meant he could apply a buff, and then apply it again on top of the existing one! For the vast majority of skills in the game, this was absolutely impossible. The very few skills that allowed stacking always came with severe penalties. Yet, Overforge allowed stacking without any inherent penalty. It was truly a buff skill worthy of the Master Blacksmithing rank!

They say a high-ranking blacksmith can level up just by setting up a street stall inside a dungeon without ever joining a party...

Enhance was a skill used to permanently upgrade equipment using enhancement stones. He had used it constantly back in Pan-On 1, but in Pan-On 2, he had refrained from using it due to the terrifying penalty of items shattering upon failure. Tae-hyun had strictly kept his gear at the safe enhancement level of +4, refusing to gamble any further.

Although some time had passed and other blacksmiths had ground down their blood, tears, and gold to create highly enhanced items... highly enhanced rare equipment was still incredibly scarce. No one in their right mind would risk shattering a one-of-a-kind piece of gear on a gamble.

But now, he had Master Enhance. Tae-hyun's heart fluttered slightly as memories of Pan-On 1 rushed back. Could it be... does this prevent items from breaking?

"???"

Tae-hyun was utterly baffled. It didn't seem any different from standard enhancement. It just required way more materials... and the skill level was exactly the same... And the penalty is still there?

Sometimes, skill descriptions in Pan-On were so vague and unfriendly that you had to test them yourself to truly understand them. This was clearly one of those skills. The required materials are... holy crap, why are there so many? The number of enhancement stones required was dozens of times higher! And with the required amount doubling with each level...

There's no way they'd just increase the material cost while keeping the exact same penalty. What's the catch? Tae-hyun decided to brush it aside for now. He had plenty of other things to check first.

Tae-hyun stared at the armor's stats in sheer awe. He couldn't help it. There wasn't a single player in the entire game who wouldn't gasp at this. Both physical and magic defense were a whopping 500! Normally, if physical defense was high, magic defense had to be low, and vice versa...

This armor completely shattered the limits of all existing gear. The [Iron Wall] breastplate Tae-hyun currently wore was already an extremely rare piece of equipment that normal players could never dream of obtaining... but it was utterly outclassed by this new adamantium armor. If he blocked with this armor, he wouldn't even need to bother dodging!

Ah, right. Get a grip.

This was no time to stand around gaping. He needed to make the most of the remaining adamantium to craft more gear. First, I should make some armor for Cain. But the amount of adamantium left is... hmm, not enough.

Since Cain was a tank, his armor naturally required a massive amount of materials. Tae-hyun's mind raced. He was a veteran blacksmith in Pan-On. Only amateurs gave up on crafting just because they were short on materials. If you didn't have enough of one material, you just had to alloy it with something else!

This place wasn't just rich in adamantium; it was overflowing with other metals as well. They were overshadowed by the adamantium, but in the outside world, these other metals were incredibly rare and highly sought-after!

"Hey..." Tae-hyun began.

"Kuo?"

"Could you spare a bit more adamantium?"

"Kuo!"

Even without Carbanog translating, the meaning was crystal clear: No way!

Tae-hyun sighed, feigning disappointment. "Well, if you say so. What about the other metals?"

"Kuo..."

"You received help from Archisus himself. Surely you aren't going to be stingy with some common metals, right?"

"Kuooo..."

The golem nodded reluctantly, as if it had no choice.

Tae-hyun smiled warmly. "Thanks."

I'll alloy some Black Iron to make an adamantium plate armor for Cain, and mix in some True Silver to forge an adamantium chainmail for Yu Ji-soo... The blueprints and material calculations formed instantly in his mind!

"Kuo."

Meanwhile, the Adamantium Golem began gathering massive boulders and lining them up. It seemed intent on completely sealing off the entrance to the lava below once Tae-hyun left. No outsiders allowed!

"Fellow slave! There are many other tribes in this mine. We must beat them all down and spread the glorious name of Archisus!"

"Uh... they're just as strong as you guys. Isn't that a bit too much?"

If this were any other dungeon, Cain would have casually agreed, saying, Sure, why not? But this was no ordinary dungeon. It was several times larger than standard dungeons, and the levels of the tribes residing here were utterly mind-boggling. Clearing a dungeon like this was completely impossible for players at their current level!

But the Akisus Tribe warriors roared boisterously, "Lord Archisus is watching over us! It will be fine!"

"He's not watching. He's literally somewhere else right now."

"By the way, fellow slave. Your equipment looks far too heavy."

"...?" Cain was dumbfounded. He was a tank, and they were telling him his gear was too heavy? What kind of nonsense was this?

"Take off all your armor and wear something light, fellow slave."

"No... if I do that, my defense will plummet!"

"Just pray they miss."

"..."

Cain felt his sanity slowly slipping away. Was he really surrounded by sane individuals? "No way! If I rely on that, I'll get beaten to death!"

"Only by facing and overcoming such trials can you become a true slave."

"Indeed, indeed."

Meanwhile, the rest of the party was having a wonderful, peaceful time enjoying the Akisus Tribe's village.

"Why don't you try using this bow?"

"Oh! Can I really?"

"Of course. Anyone who believes in Lord Archisus is a friend of our tribe."

Yu Ji-soo was absolutely thrilled to receive a free bow. To think they would just hand over something like this!

"Esteemed Mage, please try on this necklace."

"Oh, you really ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't have to..."

Everyone was perfectly happy—except for Cain!

"I'm here! Where is Kim Tae-hyun?!"

"Uh... he disappeared."

"Where?!"

"Down there...?"

Kim Hyeon-ah pointed directly at the bubbling lava. Lee Se-yeon stared at her in utter disbelief. "What?"

"Well, you see..." Kim Hyeon-ah began to explain everything that had transpired.

"We were chasing the people who went inside when this massive Adamantium Golem suddenly jumped out. We all teamed up to fight it, but when the golem tried to escape into the lava, Kim Tae-hyun just dove right in after it!"

"..."

Lee Se-yeon was completely speechless. How on earth did this guy manage to never, ever complete a quest in a normal way?

"Oh, and when I saw Kim Tae-hyun, he was in his Lich form."

"Again? What kind of item did he use this time?"

Tae-hyun wasn't a mage. For him to transform into a Lich, he had to have used some incredibly bizarre, specialized item.

"By the way, Sis, Smith is running away over there..."

"Ah!"

Lee Se-yeon quickly whipped her head around. Sure enough, Smith was sprinting away in the distance.