The Blue Raptor Fight: Lessons Learned and Secrets Revealed
I felt a surge of realization after the battle against the blue raptor.
“Time to get stronger.”
Self-satisfaction welled up inside me.
It was a brutally honest assessment.
Two otherworldly spirits—the armored zombie warrior and the skeleton smith—possessed power that dwarfed even D-class summons.
With that level of strength, I had been certain I could clear a gate without a single scratch.
[My apologies, Master.]
[It is our fault for failing to protect our Lord.]
“I’m not here to talk about blame.”
The unpredictable variables that could arise in real combat.
I had felt it deep in my bones from five years of hunter life.
Feeling cocky just because my strength had grown.
It was time to return to basics.
[Basics?]
“As a Necrosmith, I’ll become even stronger.”
Bone smithing.
Corpse processing.
Two abilities honed to reinforce the undead.
I had spent five years solely refining corpses.
The Spirit Eye?
When had such a convenient skill ever existed?
By mixing corpse byproducts in every conceivable way and cross-referencing completed specters’ specs, I had accumulated endless data.
“I’ve grown lazy.”
Yeah.
Lately, I’d been living too comfortably.
With two spirit attributes, even thumb-sucking could clear an SSS-grade gate.
The spirit attributes’ power was simply too overwhelming, so maybe I had forgotten the core.
Today was also the day I was heading to the blacksmith shop anyway.
“Just to try asking for one advanced technique.”
[Advanced techniques are the symbol of a master.]
[It’s true that artisans hold affection for you, but will you receive every secret from them?]
“Well, I’ll ask once and drop it if it doesn’t work.”
I wasn’t expecting much.
Exactly as the two spirits had predicted.
A master’s secrets weren’t given to just anyone.
“I’m not expecting anything that grand.”
Maybe I could learn one application technique.
If they said no, fine.
“Park Hunter! Please learn my secret technique, Spiral Mana Folding Refining!”
“Aigoo. That old geezer’s a has-been. How about Layered Refining?”
“Don’t say that. I’ve prepared an amazing drink. Let’s have a drink while…”
Whoa.
Damn it.
What the hell is this?
* * *
Clang! Clang!
When I showed up at the blacksmith workshop, the three masters had cleared their schedules and arrived at Hanil Blacksmith as if they had made an appointment.
“Huuuuum.”
“Huh?”
“Impressive.”
Their innate talent and sense were already outstanding, but they also possessed the tenacity to stick with it.
Watching Nam Jinwoo absorb his master’s instructions like a sponge, the three masters’ hearts burned with excitement.
“As Master Han said.”
“That kid is starting to enjoy the hammer swing.”
“Anytime now, the basics will be completely mastered.”
A talent that surpassed even the chief apprentice Nam Jinwoo at Hanil Blacksmith!
The three masters shared the same thought.
‘We want to pass on our secrets to Park Minho!’
A sapling that will grow tall is known from its first sprout.
With Minho’s talent and passion added to his handwork correction, his skill had skyrocketed rapidly.
Within days, they realized.
This guy can’t be monopolized by anyone.
In that case.
Wouldn’t it be better to teach our secrets?
Once he fully absorbed the three masters’ secrets.
Even becoming the best blacksmith in the world beyond Korea was not impossible.
Of course.
They weren’t acting out of pure goodwill.
‘No one’s going to become my disciple!’
Not choosing myself was secondary.
If Minho chose another master, it would be too embarrassing to watch.
The thought that “no good deed goes unpunished” had led them to this weird conclusion.
They had reached consensus at the drinking party yesterday.
How could they ignore the request to teach more techniques?
“Everyone, please calm down.”
“Where are the young ones meddling?”
“If you young ones are trying to snatch a new disciple alone, that’s troublesome!”
“In my day, if you didn’t drink, your hammer swing lacked power!”
Nam Jinwoo was sweating profusely.
‘These guys seemed fine, but they’re doing this again.’
Yeah.
I’d better admit it.
Considering the three masters’ stubbornness, they had held back remarkably well.
It was even more surprising.
They were offering their secrets while talking about something as absurd as “joint disciple.”
‘He never told me that before.’
Nam Jinwoo, who had been called the rising star of Korea’s next top blacksmith, had never said anything like that to himself.
‘Well, I chose my master right away.’
But.
Even if I had adopted the same stance as Minho, I wasn’t sure the three masters would have begged so desperately.
In his eyes, Minho was already a superb blacksmith’s talent.
‘Those guys would do anything to borrow my master’s name.’
How could I calm the three masters?
Nam Jinwoo’s mind flashed with a good idea.
“Park Hunter, you look completely drained.”
“Huh?”
“What if the artisans start making trouble again? What then?”
Kill shot! Shifting responsibility!
“Park Hunter, you must have been shocked.”
“Ah, um. Yeah.”
“Look!”
At Nam Jinwoo’s shout, the three masters flinched.
The three masters’ fear point!
It was Minho.
The consistent attitude of “not putting his life into blacksmithing work.”
If they couldn’t teach him, it was their loss, not mine! That was the meta to calm the masters.
“And another thing. Park Hunter still can’t perform Mana Folding.”
“Ah. I see.”
“You can’t learn secrets until you know Mana Folding.”
“Cluck, cluck. If you wet your throat with one drink, you’ll learn Mana Folding in no time.”
The heat vanished from the three masters’ faces.
“Nam Jinwoo Apprentice. Teach Park Hunter well.”
“We’ll teach our secrets too, but you have to teach him quickly.”
“If it’s hard, drink makgeolli and try again.”
The masters turned with relieved expressions.
Nam Jinwoo wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
“Then shall we begin?”
* * *
I was stunned.
The heavy downpour that had just stopped, the moment to catch my breath.
“Are you all right?”
“Me? Ah, I’m fine.”
You didn’t seem all right.
The masters’ eyes were blazing.
[Hehe. Even the great masters are desperate not to teach secrets to our Lord!]
[Amazing. As expected of our young lady’s master!]
Ugh.
Why was the embarrassment all on me?
“I haven’t done anything, yet you’re giving me high praise.”
“You can tell just from how fast you learn.”
They weren’t letting me dodge.
Nam Jinwoo wiped the smile from his face and put on a serious expression.
“Anyway, were you planning to learn blacksmithing seriously?”
“I want to learn more.”
“Good. Then today, let’s learn Mana Folding.”
Mana Folding.
The technique one of the three masters had mentioned earlier.
“Have you heard of Mana Folding?”
“I’ve seen it on YouTube.”
Damascus steel.
Or the Japanese folding method for blacksmithing.
“Japanese swords are supposed to be super tough.”
“Quite exaggerated.”
“Huh?”
The purpose of folding is to remove impurities.
“That’s because Japanese iron has many impurities.”
Without folding, the blade would break too easily, so it was unavoidable.
Apparently, for simply making a blade, mechanical production had far superior durability.
“Ah.”
So folding wasn’t a technique at all?
In novels and comics, it was called the ultimate secret!
Give me back my romance!
“So is Mana Folding the same thing?”
“It’s a bit different.”
While folding the metal, you infuse mana.
You can embed special properties or raise durability itself.
“Once you master Mana Folding, you can make rare items even with ordinary materials.”
Main ability level 30 or higher.
The condition for rare items.
The level attached to items amplified effects every ten levels.
Lv 29 and Lv 31 differed by over 30%.
In my case, when smelted into metal, the magic output ranged from Lv 18 to 22.
With bones, I got Lv 22 to 28.
Mastering Mana Folding allowed me to exceed Lv 30 regardless of the material.
“Showing it once is faster than explaining a hundred times.”
Nam Jinwoo rolled up his sleeves.
He placed the metal ingot in the forge.
Once it was sufficiently heated, he pulled it out.
Clang! Clang!
Up to this point, the process was the same as before.
“Watch closely.”
He gripped the broad sheet metal with tongs, stacked it, and swung the hammer again.
Clang!
“Huh?”
It was different from ordinary forging.
The moment he folded and struck the metal, a blue flame erupted from the contact surface.
It was the flame created by Nam Jinwoo’s mana combustion.
“What do you feel?”
“Maybe I can tell once I watch more.”
“It’s not a one-shot job, so watch slowly.”
Clang!
Clang!
Each time the metal was folded, part of the mana combusted.
It was the source of the blue flames that appeared when the hammer struck.
As part of the mana combusted, the remaining power accumulated even more solidly.
Watching the process with what Nam Jinwoo had explained beforehand, the principle of Mana Folding gradually clicked into place.
[Even a girl has never seen a process of refining mana. It’s beautiful.]
[Our Lord seems to have caught the feeling already.]
Feeling?
I couldn’t tell.
Whether I would succeed in one go or fail spectacularly, I couldn’t guess.
But.
One thing was certain.
Clang!
Nam Jinwoo lowered the hammer briefly, then turned his gaze toward me.
“You want to try?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
He lightly stepped aside and waved for me to come over.
“You were working, weren’t you?”
“It’s not like I was making the result anyway. The metal can just be remelted.”
It felt a bit awkward to pick up the hammer where someone else was working.
But I didn’t refuse twice.
The itch to imitate the technique Nam Jinwoo had shown was driving me.
[Master. Pull yourself together.]
[The girl believes in your success without a doubt!]
Thanks to the two spirits’ encouragement, I stood before the metal that had been heated until it glowed.
I gripped the hammer.
Huuu.
I took a long breath and mentally rehearsed the scene Nam Jinwoo had shown.
[Bone Smithing]
The material I was handling wasn’t bone.
But to infuse mana during the refining process, the skill had to be activated.
Calmly.
Following the image engraved in my mind, I swung the hammer.
Clang!
“What the—?!”
From behind me, Nam Jinwoo’s voice rang out, filled with shock.