The Craftsman's First Step

"Aw, that stings."

"Hmph! That's what you get for not watching your mouth!"

"I told you that's not what I meant. Urgh."

"Smack smack! Yeah, yeah, gulp! Whatever you say."

He had earned a major reward called the God's Blessing from the Kabura Temple, but that wasn't all Vulcan had gained. On top of a massive haul of temple contribution points, he'd also snagged a ton more from the lord's representative.

'At this rate, I'll be shopping at the contribution store in no time.'

If the owner of the Shunel region had been a noble with just a single territory, they might have come in person to offer thanks and rewards. But since it belonged to Viscount Palken, who controlled two territories, the representative had conveyed the gratitude instead. They'd even mentioned that if he preferred, he could swap the contribution points for other gifts.

However, waiting around for Viscount Palken's gift to arrive would have tied him down here, so Vulcan had opted for the points.

'What should I pick? At this pace, I could exchange for Rare items soon—no, even Unique grade. What was the most expensive one again?'

"Tch, I was wondering why you weren't obsessing over money. Follow my lead properly, and you'll have so much cash you'll be sitting on piles of it in no time."

"Pfft, why sit on it? That's a waste. Gotta sell it when the market's hot. Heh heh heh!"

Of course, contribution points were a special currency you couldn't just buy with gold, so stocking up early made sense. With small amounts, your options were limited, but with a big pile like this, he could snag Rare, Unique, or even Epic items.

And those were all high-performance goodies that weren't soulbound either, so auctioning them off would fetch a fortune. Not that many folks actually auctioned items they'd busted their asses for in the first place.

"But why Kuzar of all places? If it's for Smell, there are other routes, right?"

Vulcan, still grinning over the consumables and materials he'd vacuumed up with his max-rep store discounts before leaving, casually asked Tud while riding the carriage toward their next stop, Kuzar.

Kuzar was a mining city built around Kuzar Mountain, which had formed when the peak of Hirros Volcano exploded and collapsed.

"Not totally clueless, huh? Yeah, we're heading to Smell. But I've got business in Kuzar first."

"Another workshop or something?"

"In your dreams. We got plenty for free already. What more do you want?"

"Well, da-da-ik-seon and all that. More Item Power, the better, right? Heh heh heh."

Given that Vulcan's class was in the artisan line, it wasn't a bad pick. He had materials from Tud's workshop, and he could always buy more if needed—but as a hunting spot, it was a total bust. The monsters around here were the polar opposite of those near Shunel Village.

Unlike the attribute-attack-heavy mobs near Shunel, Kuzar's were all about raw physical damage. That's why folks who'd shelled out for pricey attribute resistance gear to farm Shunel had zero reason to come here.

That led to the route via Kuzar and the next city onward to the fifth-tier artisan hub known as Smell. But Tud insisted on handling something here first.

"You trying to make me grind crafting here...?"

Vulcan suddenly felt a chill. Was Tud thinking he'd neglected crafting and needed to hole ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up for some forced grind? It was a shame—holding legendary crafting skills yet having their ranks in the gutter. But he'd been too hooked on swinging Item Power around to care, and he smacked his lips regretfully.

"Half right. The ores mined here are decent for training artisans. But there's even more fun stuff."

What was Kuzar famous for? Surely not some rumor about chocolate menu items... Vulcan had his suspicions but kept his mouth shut. No need to risk another smack to the head.

Soon after, the carriage rolled into the mining city of Kuzar.

"Ugh! Sweat stench."

What greeted Vulcan as he stepped out wasn't anything else—it was the miners' rank body odor. Kuzar was big for a mining town, but with so many miners, even far from the pits, the whole place reeked.

"...Should I lower my smell sensitivity?"

Even Vulcan, who'd been to plenty of mines, felt dizzy. No wonder folks skipped Kuzar as a third-tier stop.

"What now?"

Hoping his nose would go numb soon amid the nose-stinging sweat and the deafening clamor of voices, Vulcan asked Tud about their purpose here.

"You said it yourself. Why ask again?"

"Huh? What do you—"

"Raise every crafting skill rank by one step. Don't even think about anything else until then."

"Whoa..."

His fears were confirmed. Tud had straight-up ordered a crafting grind, triggering the job quest normally picked up at level 100 from the class guild. He'd figured being buddy-buddy with Tud might let him weasel out, but no dice.

Now he was stuck crafting only—no leveling up. The note about batched XP meant zero levels until completion.

"Ahem, don't get too down. Just rank up quick and—"

"This is pure honey!"

"...What?"

Tud, who'd thought Vulcan would gripe given the sheer number and power of the skills (easy for a dragon, hell for a human), paused at the weird response. Instead of complaining, Vulcan seemed thrilled.

"Heh heh heh! Skill Enhancement Ticket as a reward? How could I not be pumped?"

"...So it is all about freebies with you."

The reason was simple: the completion reward was a Skill Enhancement Ticket. This ultra-rare item instantly boosted any D-rank or lower skill by one rank.

Meaning, if he got everything to D-rank, boom—C-rank across the board. What would legendary item crafting at C-rank produce? He could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠already hear the gold rolling in.

Vulcan's eyes sparkled brighter than ever.

'Or maybe Item Master first?'

Boosting Item Master was another play. It let him use one option now, but at +2 ranks, maybe three lines? Rares rarely had three options, so he'd milk most items dry. His combat power would double, leveling would speed up, and with crafting's level-ignoring trait (up to +100 levels), it'd be a money printer.

"Hmm, where to start..."

But that was for later. With a mountain of tasks, Vulcan first sorted his crafting skills, checking what counted.

"Blacksmithing: crafting, repair, Item Master..."

Legendary Item Crafting: same, crafting and repair. Item Master wasn't strictly crafting but was included anyway. Reinforcement and Creation weren't—reinforcement needed 200-level stones with user restrictions, probably for the 200 quest. Creation required novel recipes with 'value' approval—not beginner stuff.

"Architecture: building and processing. Alchemy and Enchantment have no sub-skills? Easy peasy."

Processing overlapped between blacksmithing and architecture, but since blacksmith processing fell under crafting, experience would transfer. He figured architecture processing would rank up fast.

"Eh, we'll see."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The categories weren't too numerous, so it seemed doable. He brushed off Tud's ominous tone as posturing and took a breather.

"Item Crafting, Repair, and Item Master are already E-rank, so just the rest... Wait, what?"

"Told you. Raise all skill ranks by one. Those three included."

"...Damn. No wonder it felt too easy."

It was a brief illusion. He'd assumed E-rank legends were done, but the quest demanded all skills up one—including pushing those to D.

"Urgh. No choice but to grind."

F-to-E was easier than E-to-D, especially on Legendary skills—not your average job. But orders were orders.

"Might as well hibernate, huh? Hide out, rest up. Heh heh! Oh, you stocked up on chocolate, right? Heard they got this concentrated stuff here... Ahem!"

"Concentrated chocolate? Where'd you hear that? Anyway, no plans to lounge forever."

"Dunno. Won't take long. I was called a human macro back in the day."

He was grind-hardened, and like a true Korean gamer, he'd already mapped the optimal route. Low ranks or not, Tud's reaction meant it'd eat time normally. So Vulcan made a bold call: slash grind time to the bone.