Crafting Battle (2)
Crafting Battle (2)
I turned off my cell phone screen and let out a short sigh.
Hong Chae-yeon, who had been standing beside me, cautiously gauged my mood and spoke.
"Si-woo... I don't think you should go through with that duel."
Her voice was thick with worry.
She didn't forget to add, in case she might wound my pride.
"Ah... this isn't me saying I think you'll lose, absolutely not. It's just... in a situation where winning barely breaks even, I'm wondering if you really need to step up yourself..."
Hong Chae-yeon's words were perfectly reasonable, every single one.
When someone with nothing to lose picks a mud fight, the best move is to avoid it.
But I wasn't the type to sit still and watch someone mock my equipment and slander me as a fake.
That was when I was weighing the situation in my head.
My cell phone rang from my pocket.
An unknown number was on the screen.
Wondering who it was, I answered, and a familiar middle-aged man's voice came through the receiver.
"It's the Association President. I saw the video. I'm sure you've seen it too."
It was the president of the Korea Hunter Association, whom I had met before.
I answered calmly.
"Yes."
"Will you accept the duel? Personally, I think refusing is the better move."
The Association President shared the same opinion as Hong Chae-yeon.
From the Association's standpoint, they wouldn't want me, who had just surfaced into the public eye, to get tangled in unnecessary gossip.
I fell silent for a moment.
I met eyes with Hong Chae-yeon, who was looking at me with an anxious face.
Her eyes held a silent plea telling me not to go.
But I followed my heart and made my decision.
"I'll... do the duel."
At my firm answer, a brief stillness flowed from the receiver.
After a moment, the Association President spoke in a low voice.
"...I see. I will respect your decision."
Instead of stopping me, he offered a helping hand in a different way.
"Then I'll have the Association mediate this matter. That would be more comfortable for you, wouldn't it?"
It certainly would.
Having the credible Association set the stage was far cleaner and more certain than me personally bickering with that bastard.
"Yes. Thank you."
"Do you need anything by chance? I've heard that a crafting environment is very important for production-type classes."
An environment, huh...
I thought for a moment and then said.
"A normal smithy will be enough."
At my nonchalant answer, the Association President replied heartily.
"Understood. I'll have it prepared properly."
The call ended, and as soon as I put my phone down, two pairs of sharp eyes fixed on my face.
Hong Chae-yeon and Hong Su-yeon.
The looks on their faces were incredibly complex and subtle—as if they were both angry and had mountains of worry piled on them.
How should I handle this heavy atmosphere?
I scratched the back of my head and forced the corners of my mouth up into a smile.
"I guess I'll have to treat you all to a meal some other time?"
At my joke-laced chatter, Hong Chae-yeon finally let out a deep sigh, as if dumbfounded.
"Haa... your stubbornness really is something to behold. Since you've decided to do it, you'd better win no matter what. If you lose, you're on your own."
She made a threatening remark, but within it was a deep-rooted cheer for me.
We put our regrets behind us and rose from our seats.
The plan to celebrate my move had to be postponed because of an uninvited guest's provocation.
I saw the two off to the front door.
"Oppa, win and crush his nose flat for sure!"
Hong Su-yeon waved a clenched fist to give me strength.
I nodded lightly.
Thus, Hong Chae-yeon and Hong Su-yeon returned home, and I was left alone in the empty living room.
Now it was time to truly start preparing for the fight.
That Kim Ddal-kkak? What was his name?
I had to clearly show that blacksmith bastard the gap that a true craftsman has.
What should I make for the duel?
I needed something that would completely trample the nose of that arrogant punk calling me a fake.
I ran through countless blueprints and materials in my head and quietly used a skill toward the empty air.
With a familiar vibration, the air shimmered, and a door opened to the place where I felt most at ease.
Without hesitation, I stepped into the Primeval Workshop, filled with heat and the scent of iron.
Once inside the workshop, I crossed my arms and fell into thought for a moment.
I had no intention of charging into the duel recklessly.
I planned to utilize my abilities to the fullest extent.
That's why, even though I wouldn't be building it here, I intended to at least see a guideline of how it's made before the duel.
So here's the question.
What in the world could I make that would perfectly crush that bastard's arrogance?
Should I go with the sword I've made the most of so far?
But I soon shook my head.
There was one thing I had realized while swinging my hammer countless times.
To create high-grade equipment, crafting skill was of course important, but what truly determined the result was the material.
No matter how much my skill had improved, I wouldn't be able to make a legendary item from mass-produced industrial-grade iron lumps you find lying around even if I died and came back to life.
If I wanted an overwhelming result, I needed materials befitting it.
I slowly started checking my Inventory.
Amidst countless miscellaneous items and ores, two items particularly giving off a shimmering aura and capturing my gaze caught my eye.
「Griffin's Blue Feather」
Grade: Unique
「This is the very first and longest feather among the wing feathers of an ancient griffin, called the king of the skies. It is heavily imbued with the energy of the wind, so a subtle air current always swirls around it. It is so light that its weight is barely noticeable, yet it is tougher than steel.」
This was something I had taken when I swept through the imperial secret vault.
Then my gaze turned to another material right beside it.
「Cloud Stone」
Grade: Unique
「This stone naturally forms over many years on mountain peaks that are constantly in contact with clouds. Over hundreds of years, the energy of clouds has seeped deeply inside the stone, allowing it to fully embody the properties of clouds themselves.」
This was the stone I received as a reward from the System after clearing the 22nd floor.
A feather that rules the wind, and a stone imbued with the very properties of clouds.
As I stared at the two materials, a flash of inspiration shot through my head.
As a craftsman, I had an intense intuition that if I could weave these two together into one, a truly incredible item would be born.
Without delay, I checked with the System to see if these two materials could be combined to make something.
「Searching for a recipe that matches the conditions...」
-Ding!
「Recipe: Boots of the Free Sky」
「Materials」
「Griffin's Blue Feather」
「Cloud Stone」
「Blade Hawk's Talon」
The moment I saw the recipe name that appeared in the System window, a smile spread across my lips.
Boots of the Free Sky—just hearing the name made me feel like the damn-near-cheating level of mobility I'd imagined while reading the feather's description earlier would be realized exactly as I thought.
Furthermore, the final auxiliary material required, the Blade Hawk's Talon, wasn't something I needed to hunt around the Tower for.
When I opened the exchange search bar, Blade Hawk's Talons were a dime a dozen.
Without a second thought, I paid a premium and immediately purchased the highest quality talon.
Now, all the preparations were complete.
I took the Blade Hawk's Talon I had just bought from the exchange and the Griffin's Blue Feather from my Inventory and carefully placed them on the workbench.
Now it was time to take out the core material, the Cloud Stone, from the Inventory.
"Alright, let's see what we've got."
That was the moment I was about to take the Cloud Stone out of my Inventory with a light heart and place it on my palm.
"Huh?"
The white stone that appeared on my palm passed right through my hand like a ghost without even the sensation of touching skin, and dropped to the floor with a thud.
With a dumbfounded expression, I looked back and forth between my empty palm and the Cloud Stone that had fallen on the floor.
Visually, it was unquestionably the shape of a round, smooth white stone.
I bent down again and tried to pick up the stone from the floor.
But my fingers just futilely swiped through the air, as if stirring actual clouds floating in the sky, unable to grasp the Cloud Stone.
"Why is this happening...?"
That was when I was repeatedly grasping at nothing, unable to hide my bewilderment.
The welcome voice of Guide-nim echoed through the empty workshop air.
「I will now begin the crafting guide for the 'Boots of the Free Sky.'」
「As the Cloud Stone possesses the properties of clouds, it is difficult to even hold it using normal methods.」
「It is recommended that you attempt to grasp it with Aura wrapped around your hand.」
Hearing Guide-nim's words, I stood there and slowly closed my eyes.
I focused on the warm cluster curled up in my lower abdomen, near my dantian.
Retracing the sensation I had barely awakened while getting pummeled by Romanike, I lifted the Aura from my dantian and pushed it toward my right hand.
However, because my control over handling Aura was still woefully lacking, the golden energy wrapping my hand repeatedly grew so faint it seemed about to extinguish, then blazed brilliantly again.
It was unstable, like a faulty fluorescent light.
Drenched in cold sweat, I carefully stretched out my energy-clad right hand and grasped the Cloud Stone on the floor.
"Oh..."
It was different from before.
The heavy, solid texture of the stone clung snugly to each of my knuckles that had previously swiped through empty air.
Sharply alert, I put strength into keeping the Aura from scattering and lifted the Cloud Stone from the floor.
I had just picked up one little stone, but I was already out of breath and beads of sweat were forming on my forehead.
If my concentration slipped even slightly, this Cloud Stone would slip out into the empty air again, and in the worst-case scenario, the material could be damaged.
I looked down at the Cloud Stone that I was barely holding onto with the precariously flickering golden Aura, and seriously reflected on my life.
"Should I just make a sword...?"