Black Iron and True Silver

The two of them gave a violent start and jumped back. Tae-hyun stared at them like they were ridiculous.

They lowered their heads in embarrassment. It was simply in their nature to lose themselves whenever they saw fine weapons, armor, ore, or rare materials.

Still, to behave like this in front of a guest of the merchant company.

They had no face.

"S-sorry."

"What were you saying?"

Tae-hyun walked up to the two Dwarves and showed them the broken axe fragments and shattered armor pieces.

They were items he had obtained ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠after defeating Kazak.

Of course, they had been smashed so thoroughly that they could no longer be equipped.

But the moment the two Dwarves saw the axe and armor fragments, they practically leaped into the air.

"Th-this is Bloodstone!"

"Th-this is Black Iron!"

"...Do you two really have to sync up like that?"

The two Dwarves moved as if they had rehearsed it.

"Wh-where did you—"

"—get these?"

"I got them after killing some Orcs."

At Tae-hyun's answer, Dwarf Woo nodded over and over.

"I see. An axe made with Bloodstone. It definitely looks like an Orc item."

"But something of this grade... Those savage Orc bastards may be barbarians, but not just anyone could have owned gear like this."

The Dwarves began whispering among themselves.

"Won't the Orcs come looking for these weapons?"

"So what? Woo. As long as we don't get caught."

"Right? We can just melt them down and change them."

Listening to them, Tae-hyun quickly cut in.

"I like that attitude—as long as we don't get caught. So what you're saying is these weapons and armor are worth using?"

"Of course."

"They're smashed, but the materials are unbelievably good."

Woo and Ju spoke in unison again.

"Bloodstone is an extremely rare ore. It's also one the Orcs consider sacred."

Bloodstone.

It was an ore that boosted attack power in exchange for draining HP. Even aside from that special effect, it was such a high-performance material that it was one of the ores many blacksmiths desperately wanted.

And naturally, that meant it was hard to obtain.

You could only occasionally find it deep within the Orc homeland.

"But even rarer than Bloodstone is this Black Iron. Bloodstone at least comes from Orc mines. Black Iron doesn't even have known mines."

Black Iron.

The Dwarves practically sprayed spit as they raved about how precious it was.

It was the ore of ores, a priceless material that absorbed nearly any attack and protected its wearer's body.

"So how do you get it?"

"Who knows?"

Dwarf Ju shrugged at Tae-hyun's question.

"Even we don't know where Black Iron comes from. We only see traces of it occasionally, mixed into truly precious items. But for something to be made from solid Black Iron like this... it's incredible."

Dwarf Woo picked up where he left off.

"Exactly. Even the Orcs couldn't have made a treasure like this easily. They'll definitely come looking for it."

Tae-hyun flinched.

As if killing Kazak hadn't already been enough to trigger a continent-wide quest.

Sure, he had dumped the responsibility on the Red Zone Guild Master, but that situation could change at any moment.

I need to change these fast.

As long as you didn't get caught—that was the noble mindset of a proper criminal.

"So I want to rework these into weapons. Can you do it?"

"Hmm..."

"Hmmm..."

The two Dwarves fell into thought, as synchronized as ever.

The ores and materials were excellent, no question.

But there was one problem.

They were completely smashed flat and caved in.

"First we'd have to flatten them..."

"Then melt them down... extract the raw materials..."

"If we do it right..."

"...it might work?"

Tae-hyun let out a deep sigh.

"Please. Let one person talk."

"It's a habit... We can extract the ore, Tae-hyun-nim. But there's one problem."

"What problem?"

"The quantity will shrink. Ores like Bloodstone and Black Iron lose volume when you process ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them once and then process them again. You'll have to mix in something else."

"Well, that can't be helped."

Tae-hyun nodded readily.

He was trying to recycle broken items. He couldn't expect too much.

"What kind of ore should we mix in?"

"Expensive stuff."

"...Pardon?"

"Only expensive stuff. The most expensive ore in the merchant company's warehouse."

"..."

The two Dwarves stared at Tae-hyun in confusion.

"Um... is that really allowed?"

Tae-hyun answered firmly.

A resolute answer, not wavering by even a millimeter.

"It is!"

"...!"

He had absolutely no hesitation about using materials that weren't his.

Of course, the two Dwarves didn't notice Tae-hyun's true intentions in the slightest. They could only admire him.

"In that case..."

"We'll do our absolute best!"

The items Tae-hyun pulled out weren't just the ones he had gotten from Kazak.

He also took out the items he had fought for on Katerand Island.

They were broken too, but they were still parts of the Pirate King's set. Melted down or dismantled, they had to be useful for something.

Tae-hyun showed the shattered Pirate King's set pieces to the Dwarves.

"Can you use these too?"

"They're badly wrecked, but..."

"I think we can still use them. Nice."

The Dwarves nodded repeatedly, then tilted their heads.

"But what hit them to make them like this? It's not easy to burn equipment this badly."

"What, did they get hit by dragon breath or something?"

The two Dwarves meant it as a joke, never imagining they had casually spoken the truth.

Dwarf Woo carefully spread the broken Pirate King's set across the table.

Burned, melted, shattered—he needed to pick out the parts that were still salvageable.

Tap. Tap.

He lifted part of the armor, dusted off the ash, struck it with a hammer to judge the sound, then examined the surface again through a magnifying lens.

It was a slow, tedious process.

"I'll help."

"Pardon? That's all right. This probably isn't the kind of thing you'd want to do."

There was a reason Dwarf Woo said that.

This recycling process was far more boring and time-consuming than it looked.

So much so that even among Dwarves, very few had bothered learning the skill.

"It's work I asked for. I shouldn't sit out while you do it. I'll help."

Tae-hyun's real motive was simple.

This is the perfect chance to level my Blacksmithing skill.

From the way Dwarf Woo was working, Tae-hyun could tell it was a skill.

And Tae-hyun, who needed every last bit of progress in Blacksmithing he could get, had no intention of missing an opportunity like this.

A true master could take even a broken item and make it useful again.

"Teach me the skill, and I'll do my best."

"Tae-hyun-nim...!"

Not knowing Tae-hyun's true intent, Dwarf Woo looked deeply moved.

To think someone could be this passionate.

A guest of the merchant company had no reason to get personally involved in work like this. He could simply sit back and order people around.

But instead, he was stepping forward to do it himself.

Huh?

Tae-hyun tilted his head, unable to understand the sudden message window.

Being highly regarded was nice and all, but why all of a sudden?

"I'll teach you!"

Tae-hyun learned the skill quickly.

Equipment Recycling was one of the most time-consuming skills among blacksmithing techniques.

It was the repeated grind of tedious, simple labor—like sewing the eyes onto a teddy bear one stitch at a time.

But Tae-hyun didn't waver in the slightest.

Dwarf Ju, watching from the side, was openly impressed.

"You're a born blacksmith!"

Whether anyone beside him chattered or not, Tae-hyun kept stripping material from the armor and weapons, one painstaking step at a time.

Each successful extraction raised both his Blacksmithing skill and his Equipment Recycling skill.

His concentration deepened until he was nearly in a trance.

Once Tae-hyun got into something, his terrifying focus was one of his greatest weapons.

"Tae-hyun-nim. We've finished dismantling this item for now."

"Good. Let's take a short break and do the next one."

Tae-hyun stood up from his seat and checked his skills.

How high is my Blacksmithing now?

Still Intermediate.

Once his Blacksmithing skill had reached Intermediate, its growth had slowed dramatically.

Which made sense. The difficulty of raising Beginner Blacksmithing and Intermediate Blacksmithing wasn't even close.

There were quite a few players who had Beginner Blacksmithing even without being blacksmith-class players.

But among players who had raised Blacksmithing to Intermediate, it was rare to find someone who wasn't actually a blacksmith by class.

Tae-hyun was an unusual case—someone who had pushed it to Intermediate without even having a blacksmith class.

Getting it to Advanced is going to take forever...

It wasn't as if Tae-hyun was leveling his Blacksmithing slowly.

In fact, even among blacksmith players, there weren't many who had raised the skill as far as he had.

That was the result of constantly repairing and buffing high-level gear whenever he got the chance.

But even so, Blacksmithing was no joke.

Nothing for it. I'll just have to keep leveling it slowly.

Tae-hyun didn't grow impatient.

He knew perfectly well ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that rushing something like this wouldn't magically change anything.

Infinite persistence.

Infinite patience.

Sometimes the answer seemed nowhere in sight, and even when something looked impossible, the only way forward was to keep at it until a path opened.

Clang, clang, clang—

"But can we really use the ore from the merchant company's warehouse however we want?"

"Of course."

Tae-hyun answered without so much as blinking.

Dwarf Ju tilted his head and picked up a lump of ore.

Right now, they were in a corner of the merchant company's warehouse.

Hadn't he said these ores were all precious, so we weren't supposed to use them?

Just because the McCraney Merchant Group was one of the kingdom's most successful companies didn't mean it had every item in the world stocked away.

They didn't even have any Black Iron on hand.

And naturally not—this was the kind of ore whose price was whatever the seller demanded.

So it was no surprise the Dwarf was shocked when Tae-hyun started pulling out the small cache of rare ores from the warehouse without hesitation.

"Is this True Silver?"

True Silver.

It was an extremely rare metal, called the silver above all silvers.

Tae-hyun held the small silver lump in his hand, its body giving off a glow of its own, and looked at it with interest.

True Silver.

He hadn't seen an item like this in a long time.

I nearly killed myself trying to get this back in Fantasy Online 1...

As befitted something so valuable, True Silver mines had been monopolized by the major guilds.

Those guilds either kept it all for themselves or sold tiny amounts for absurd prices.

Of course, Tae-hyun had disliked both options.

So instead, he ambushed the guild members transporting it out.

-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM!

-It's an ambush! Ambush! Some lunatic blew up the mine entrance!

-Hahaha! Die! Hahaha!

Good times.

Thinking that, Tae-hyun picked up the True Silver and headed outside.

Watching him, Dwarf Ju kept cocking his head.

"Are you sure it's really okay to take that?"