Another Jackpot (5)
A thrilling shiver ran through Yeong-sik's body.
In this world, the value of iron was never low. Wars with monsters descending from the north were raging fiercely, and there was a widespread belief that everyone needed at least one sword for self-defense. Mining equipment was so outdated compared to modern standards that supply couldn't keep up with demand. That was the biggest reason Yeong-sik, who could only use Extraction on minerals, hadn't been able to level up his Manufacture skill quickly until now.
This is a jackpot.
Yeong-sik's eyes sparkled as he looked down at the corpses of the iron golems. To him, these weren't just lumps of iron—they held value far beyond that.
"Ugh. There are so many iron golem corpses piled up here. We could sell them for some good money... but how the hell do we move them?"
Yuna, who had followed Yeong-sik inside, frowned at the golem corpses. Each iron golem corpse weighed nearly 5 tons—an insane mass that was hard even for her level 92 inventory to handle.
"I don't think we need to move them."
Yeong-sik grinned as he said it. He gave Yuna a brief explanation of his class.
"Oh... so you can extract materials from minerals?"
"Yes. Then I gather those materials to make machines."
"Machines like that mini fan from before?"
"Exactly."
Yeong-sik nodded in response. An awkward smile tugged at Yuna's lips.
"But that thing... wasn't it useless without a power outlet?"
Her words hit the nail on the head, and Yeong-sik clamped his mouth shut. From her perspective, unaware of the electrical outlet hole in his right arm, it was a perfectly reasonable reaction. He shrugged.
"Maybe I can make a battery or generator later. My Manufacture level isn't high yet, so this is a good chance to crank it up."
"Hmm. Well, it's your core class skill, so of course you can't just ditch it."
She'd pegged him as an agility-focused warrior from his combat showings so far, but he was a production class at heart. It made sense that production skills took priority over combat ones.
"Then we'll rest over there. Call if you need anything."
"Got it."
Yuna turned toward where Gil-su, A-ra, and Han-seong were waiting.
Yeong-sik turned back to the iron golem corpses with a grin.
"Alright, let's get started."
The moment Yuna snapped her fingers, he approached the nearest fallen iron golem.
"Extraction."
Extraction completed successfully.
Extraction skill has risen to level 2.
You can obtain more materials, and the chance of rare materials has increased.
Nice.
Yeong-sik grinned at the message window floating before him. Just extracting from one iron golem had yielded a massive haul of materials. Plus, the ones marked with a grade were rare materials. None of the manufacturable items required rares yet, but they'd definitely come in handy later.
His steps quickened with excitement as materials poured out like a flood. Each extraction from a single golem spat out dozens to hundreds of parts.
Extraction skill has risen to level 3.
You can obtain more materials, and the chance of rare materials has increased. Extraction is now possible on minerals containing C-rank or lower magical power.
That's more like it!
After extracting from all the dozens of iron golem corpses, his Extraction skill leveled up again. Gaining two levels in such a short time on a skill that was hard to raise even by one was huge. And the rewards didn't stop there.
Yeong-sik gazed at the enormous pile of metal parts stacked as high as he was in the middle of the abandoned mine. Among them were over ten rare metal cores.
"Time to make something."
His eyes sparkled at the mountain of metal parts. Heading back to the guild house with all this and manufacturing there was an option, but transporting a literal pile of metal wasn't easy.
I want to try making stuff right now anyway.
He opened the list for his now-level-2 Manufacture skill.
- Coffee Pot (Req: Metal Parts x15, Metal Screws x20, Metal Plate x1)
- Toaster (Req: Metal Parts x12, Metal Screws x21, Metal Plates x2)
- Massager (Req: Metal Parts x11, Metal Screws x18, Metal Plate x1)
What the hell? Why are these all useless household appliances?
Yeong-sik scowled at the parade of everyday items with zero combat potential. He mainly made machines to level Structure Analysis, but this level of pointlessness was infuriating.
He had no other choice right now. Even if no one wanted them, he had to make them to use Structure Analysis.
Repeating it on the same item gives diminishing returns on proficiency...
Yeong-sik sorted the materials from the golems and started crafting one of each item.
Coffee pot manufactured successfully.
Manufacture skill proficiency has increased.
With a clear chime, some of the piled metal materials turned into glowing blue barcodes and merged in midair, forming a coffee pot.
"Good."
Yeong-sik grinned at the remaining mountain of materials.
Chimes rang out repeatedly.
None of the items had build times or cooldowns yet, so he kept crafting as long as materials allowed.
"Oh... is that a massager?"
Yuna, watching with gleaming eyes, approached covetously when she spotted the massager among his creations. She picked one up and flipped the switch.
But the uncharged massager didn't budge.
Yuna stared at it with a disappointed look. Then, as if struck by an idea, she turned to Chae-rin.
"Chae-rin, you can use electric magic, right?"
"Yeah? Not super high-grade, but I can do Lightning."
Chae-rin nodded and came over. Yuna handed her the massager.
"Try zapping it with a tiny bit of current."
"Whoa! A massager!"
Chae-rin grabbed it, eyes wide with wonder at the unfamiliar object. She fed it a light current.
Boom!
Of course, directly shocking a machine didn't charge it. The massager spewed black smoke and shattered.
Yeong-sik snapped at her sharply.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Every machine was precious fodder for Structure Analysis proficiency. Yuna flinched and forced an awkward smile.
"S-sorry. I just thought maybe this way it'd work..."
She apologized, avoiding his gaze. Her eyes met Chae-rin's in the air.
"Oppa Yeong-sik's class is total garbage..."
Yuna clamped a hand over Chae-rin's mouth and dragged her to the corner. She secretly agreed it was scrap metal nobody could use, but she wasn't rude enough to say it to his face.
Yeong-sik ignored them and kept manufacturing.
Manufacture skill has risen to level 3.
New items are now manufacturable.
- Recorder (Req: Metal Parts x25, Metal Screws x37, Metal Plates x3)
- Microwave (Req: Metal Parts x27, Metal Screws x35, Metal Plates x4)
- Stun Gun (Req: Metal Parts x35, Metal Screws x25, Metal Plate x1, C-Grade Metal Core x1)
"Oh."
Yeong-sik's eyes lit up at the updated list. The stun gun looked usable in actual combat, even if the others were meh.
A bit iffy, but...
The thought of using a magic tool with electric magic crossed his mind, but it beat churning out more junk. Plus, with a rare C-grade metal core, it'd boost Structure Analysis proficiency nicely.
Recorder's decent too.
He glanced at the ample remaining materials and kept going nonstop. An hour later, the metal mountain was nearly gone.
He'd converted everything except ten deliberately saved metal cores into recorders and microwaves.
Manufacture skill has risen to level 4.
New items are now manufacturable.
- Taser (Req: Metal Parts x80, Metal Screws x95, C-Grade Metal Core x3)
- Weed Whacker (Req: Metal Parts x34, Metal Screws x44, Metal Blades x5)
- Drone (Req: Metal Parts x150, Metal Screws x250, Metal Plates x10, C-Grade Metal Core x10)
Yes!
Yeong-sik clenched his fist at the new list. Finally—finally—useful items were appearing.
The taser blew the stun gun out of the water, and the drone's aerial scouting potential was invaluable.
Problem is the materials...
He frowned at the absurd requirements, especially the drone's ridiculous haul. But still, usable items over junk? Progress!
Satisfied, he looked down at the heap of machines on the floor. Now, just hit them with Structure Analysis.
"Structure Analysis."
He touched each one systematically. But with so few varieties, repeats slowed proficiency gains.
Structure Analysis successful.
Penalty applied to proficiency since this item has already been analyzed.
Recommend using Structure Analysis on different items.
As if there are other machines in this world!
Yeong-sik scowled, thinking of a world devoid of tech. He sighed and kept at it.
But Structure Analysis didn't level until only one stun gun remained. He eyed it anxiously.
Please...
If it didn't level now, all this was for nothing.
Yeong-sik squeezed his eyes shut and used Structure Analysis on the last stun gun.