NPC's Armor 3
Kang Jeonghun felt the sword molding perfectly to his hand, as if it had been with him since the moment he awakened as a hunter. Even though he'd just received it, the sensation was uncanny.
"A sword from the Guild Master?"
"Yeah."
Kang Tae-hoon, quick to notice the change in Jeonghun's blade, asked with a grin, and Jeonghun replied with a smile beaming across his face. That prompted a sincere remark from Kang Tae-hoon.
"I'm jealous."
Kang Tae-hoon wasn't the only one envious of Jeonghun. The healers from the raid party, who had joined to support his dungeon run, stared at him with eyes full of longing too.
Bathed in waves of envy, Jeonghun finally began facing the S-rank monster solo.
The first beast he targeted was a Cyclops—one he'd battled dozens of times alongside Bang Taegeuk and Yeji. It was a giant with a single massive eye dominating its face, named for its vague resemblance to the mythical creature. But familiarity didn't mean complacency. Without Bang Taegeuk to draw its gaze or Yeji to strike alongside him, Jeonghun had to rely solely on his own strength.
Recalling Kang Tae-hoon's teachings, Jeonghun charged at the Cyclops.
"When fighting a Cyclops, your first priority is sealing its movement. That weapon hand is its main arm and leg—slice the Achilles tendon in that ankle first. Like this."
The Cyclops distinctly favored either its right or left side like a human, and attacks from its dominant limbs were far stronger and faster. That's why Kang Tae-hoon had drilled him: always target the dominant side first.
Jeonghun kept those lessons in mind as he rushed forward.
Spotting him, the Cyclops swung its massive club with its right hand. Jeonghun didn't slow or veer as the club whistled toward him at blinding speed. Instead, he poured more power into his legs, kicked off the ground hard, and activated his leap skill.
Boom.
The moment the club smashed into where he'd been, Jeonghun was already behind the Cyclops's right ankle.
"Frenzied Slash."
As Jeonghun channeled mana into his greatsword and triggered the skill, he nearly dropped it in shock.
"Wh-what the hell?"
Mana amplified through the blade surged out, severing the Cyclops's ankle in one clean stroke. Jeonghun wasn't the only one stunned—the healers who'd run dungeons with him before gaped, mouths agape, at the gulf between his old form and this devastating result.
Then Kang Tae-hoon's bellow cut through.
"Snap out of it! What the hell are you doing? Trying to die?!"
Shaken back to reality by the shout, Jeonghun dodged as the one-legged Cyclops toppled and swiftly retreated.
Get it together, Kang Jeonghun! What the fuck are you doing?
Shoving aside his surprise, Jeonghun refocused and resumed the fight. Methodically following Kang Tae-hoon's guidance, he felled the Cyclops in under five minutes. It was one of the easier S-rank monsters in this dungeon, and he'd fought it plenty before, but dispatching it this fast was thanks to the new sword.
Incredible... What the hell did Suho hyung make?
He'd anticipated the sword's dense mana, but this exceeded every expectation. His old weapon felt like trash by comparison.
Staring blankly at the blade after the kill, Jeonghun was approached by Kang Tae-hoon.
"That's not the skill level I remember from you. Gotta be that sword."
"Yeah, spot on."
Jeonghun's face lit up with pride at the question. But as Kang Tae-hoon eyed the sword intently, Jeonghun's expression hardened, and he hid it behind his back before bolting toward the next monster.
"Gasp! Y-Yeji-ssi. Wh-what is this?!"
Park Cheolhyeong stared at the scene before him, face drained of color, voice trembling in disbelief as he turned to Yeji. It wasn't a question expecting an answer. Even if Yeji could speak now, she was in no state to respond.
Her entire body went limp, and she collapsed on the spot. She couldn't even hold her bow anymore—it clattered beside her.
One might expect panic in such a sudden turn, but Yeji barely registered her own condition. Her eyes were glued to the massive spider, over half its body obliterated in death.
Did... did I do that?
Before the real hunt began, Yeji had tested the bow and arrows Kim Suho gave her. The mana surging through the bow was immense, but firing a mana arrow? The impact was indescribable—over twice as powerful as her old S-rank bow.
Since it had been ages since she last handled arrows, she kept it light: just twenty shots to get a feel, as they had to enter the dungeon soon.
These weren't ordinary arrows—they were huge, almost like bolts. The grip felt different right away. Still, she'd once lived bow in hand 24/7, even sleeping with it to stay sharp. Rust from time away or larger arrows wouldn't erase that skill entirely.
The first five shots missed wildly, but by the twentieth, she nailed the target dead center. Even a practice dummy was tougher than most monsters to hit precisely, but Yeji demanded more: pinpoint accuracy on wounded spots created by allies' attacks.
That's why she hadn't planned to use arrows this dungeon.
But the mood swept her up. Needing to get used to carrying them, she'd slung a quiver with ten on her back into the dungeon. Her party mates had eyed the "spear" quizzically until she wrote that they were arrows.
As the hunt progressed amid awe at her upgraded bow's power, Park Cheolhyeong asked if she'd use the arrows. She messaged back that her accuracy wasn't there yet, but he pressed.
"With your skill, Yeji-ssi, you could do it now. We'll set it up for you—just shoot freely."
Worn down by his persistence—and her own curiosity about the mana in the bow and arrows—Yeji relented. When Park Cheolhyeong baited the spider perfectly, she loosed an arrow.
That's when the trouble started.
Mana from her left hand flowed into the bow, amplifying once. Mana from her right infused the arrow, amplifying again. She could handle that much, focusing to load it.
Then the real issue hit: the two amplified streams merged in the arrow, amplifying yet again.
To control the skyrocketing mana, Yeji poured in everything she had—but it began absorbing her mana, growing stronger.
Wh-what is this mana? N-no...
Her hands trembled violently on the bow and string. She couldn't let go, as if glued. Worse, her mana was draining relentlessly through her grip.
C-can't... I have to shoot.
Control was impossible; she had to release somehow. But letting go risked an explosion, so she aimed at the monster and strained to loose.
Then—the mana influx halted, as if sated on hers. Her right hand slipped free.
And—
Kaboom.
The arrow rocketed toward the giant spider with ferocious momentum. Aimed for the head but veering from the shake, it struck a leg—yet exploded with such force that half the creature vaporized, dying instantly. Yeji, mana exhausted, slumped.
The party stood frozen for a long while after that single arrow.
"Hoo."
A deep sigh escaped as he turned from the result. What to call this? A hunk of scrap metal with five holes? Fit only for the junkyard—nothing more, nothing less.
And Kim Seok-jung let out a matching sigh at his creation.
"Hoo. This won't do."
Kim Seok-jung shook his head. A full week without a break forging armor, yet it hadn't even escaped junk status, let alone proper form.
With no progress in sight, he took drastic measures.
"You need more practice. Start with the traditional method to get comfortable, then move to one-piece armor."
"Got it."
The response came weary. Frustration drew another sigh.
The difficulty far exceeded expectations. Watching Kim Seok-jung, it had seemed doable. But hands-on? He truly grasped the man's mastery as a blacksmith.
One casual hammer strike revealed depths of skill.
"Rest today. We start fresh tomorrow."
"No need. I can jump right back in."
A month of the two promised to Jeonghun had slipped away pointlessly. Only seven weeks left—no time to waste.
Learning basics, practicing, then tackling one-piece? Too tight. But Kim Seok-jung was firm.
"No. Your hammer's shaking. Continuing like this is pointless—just more failure. I can't believe you worked nonstop a week. More shocking—you say you can keep going. But that's just your body. Mentally, you're fried. Rest now."
He turned and left the forge.
In the empty smithy, a heavy sigh mixed with a curse.
"Hoo... Damn it."
He stared blankly at his scrap heap. Side by side with Kim Seok-jung's flawless armor, it looked pathetic.
Arrogance?
Metallurgy had never felt hard. Swords improved rapidly—no repeat mistakes. Skill soared, making it seem trivial.
Kim Seok-jung's armor forging awed him, but he figured he could match it. A bit of trial at first, then catch up. That's why he'd promised two months.
By now, the torso should be done. But almost no change from day one.
Reflecting, it was hubris. Dismissing his weapons and Kim Seok-jung's strikes as "no big deal" was wrong—leading straight to this scrap.
His Dexterity, under 300 at metallurgy's start, now topped 500. Growth was explosive, yet hammer work felt worse than sword-making.
He should've built step-by-step toward Kim Seok-jung's strikes. Instead, arrogance led to mimicking perfectly from the jump—endless errors.
NPC perks made everything too easy lately, breeding this mindset unconsciously. Same with metallurgy.
At least that's a silver lining?
Without Kim Seok-jung's intervention, a month more would've yielded the same junk. His brake let him stop the wrong path.
"Hoo. Back to basics."
He'd planned to rest as advised, but understanding the issue erased the need. Discarding delusions of instant perfection—like his first sword—he hammered anew, targeting one section at a time.
In the empty forge, only his hammer rang out.
To be continued in the next chapter...