You Gave That Weapon to a Newbie?

After Cerial's honeyed, razor-edged warning had run its course, we started hunting together in the Magic Mine.

"Fire Strike!"

Flame roared along the blade as it carved through the air, and the Magic Stone Scorpion it struck went down in a single blow. The sword had found the magic stone nestled between tail and body — the scorpion's weak point — in one clean, perfect hit.

"Whoa… that's impressive."

"This much is easy. After all, someone taught me."

Why did so much weight land on that 'someone'?

I had a fairly good idea why, but I didn't particularly want to know. So this was what they meant when they said knowledge could be a frightening thing.

"By the way, Taeyang."

Cerial called to me while flicking the blade clean with a few casual snaps of the wrist.

"Y-yes."

I answered with every ounce of military tension my body could muster, and Cerial tipped their head slightly, making a little gesture that said, What's with him?

"Doesn't the Magic Mine have a hidden dungeon?"

"A hidden dungeon?"

"Yes. Until now, we've always hunted inside hidden dungeons wherever we went."

Come to think of it, Cerial had been hunting in hidden dungeons this whole time. It wasn't anything particularly difficult to explain, so I laid it out.

"The Magic Stone Mine's hidden dungeon is more focused on item farming than experience."

"Item farming?"

"Right."

Not every hidden dungeon was useful for experience or combat. The effects shifted to match a dungeon's concept, and the Magic Stone Mine's hidden dungeon — the Abandoned Magic Mine — boosted item drop rates.

However…

"The item drop rate and ore yield do go up, but it's not a great place to hunt."

"Why not?"

"The monster spawn rate isn't great, and the terrain is… well."

I almost said it's a dump, but I couldn't use language like that around our innocent newbie, so I steered around it.

"There are broken railings here and there, and some spots that drop all the way down to the deep floors, so hunting there is genuinely miserable."

"Ah, I see…"

"So unless you're a miner class, or you really need a lot of magic ore, people don't usually bother with the abandoned mine."

"Then hunting here is much better."

"That's the idea."

Cerial nodded, then spotted a Magic Stone Scorpion scuttling along up ahead and started toward it.

"Where do you think you're going!"

A thunderous crack split the air. Another perfect weak-point hit. What a ridiculously talented newbie.

Granted, Magic Stone Scorpions were relatively easy for sword-class jobs to deal with, but even accounting for that, this was excellent.

…But why is Cerial fighting this well? The movement is way better than usual.

The gap between good-condition days and bad-condition days seemed pretty severe.

Anyway. In that case…

"Today I'm going to grind levels hard."

Let's play a little longer today. What's one less hour of sleep if it means raising our newbie more?

And so we hunted an hour past schedule that day, and Cerial successfully hit level 45.

At the same time…

"Cerial, how many magic stones have you collected?"

"One moment — um… 120 low-grade magic stones, 29 mid-grade?"

"That's plenty. Could you spare about thirty more minutes today?"

"Hmm… thirty minutes should be fine."

"Then use a return scroll and follow me, would you?"

"Huh?"

"Let's go make some new gear."

We were going to get Cerial fitted with new equipment.

After returning to Asine from Lacedaemonia through a teleport portal, Cerial and I walked together toward the marketplace. We pushed through the noise of countless players until we arrived somewhere the ringing of hammered steel drowned out every conversation around it.

The inner market — the place players looking for gear visited most. The blacksmith district.

"Cerial, there are four ways to obtain equipment. I explained this last time — do you remember?"

"Yes! You get it from monsters through hunting or boss raids, you buy it, you receive it as a quest reward, or you craft it yourself!"

"You remembered that well~"

I clapped like a teacher praising a young student, and Cerial broke into a goofy little smile. That smile lifted my mood right along with it, and I kicked my energy up a notch as I went on.

"Then among ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those, what's the way to get high-grade equipment?"

"Hmm… crafting it yourself?"

"Bzzzt~ Wrong answer."

"Huh? It's not?"

"The correct answers are 'obtaining it from monsters' and 'quest rewards'~"

Monsters would, on rare occasions, drop equipment — and those pieces were usually high-grade items loaded with all kinds of options. As for quest rewards, a raid boss's final quests would, once per character, let you obtain the highest grade of equipment there was: Mystic.

"Crafting it yourself only goes up to Unique grade. If you want anything above that — Legendary and Mystic — you have to be a blacksmith. And most blacksmiths are already contracted to specific guilds, so commissioning them is veeery difficult."

Exceptions always existed, of course. Some blacksmiths skipped guild contracts entirely and sold items to regular players on their own. But most belonged to guilds, selling only to their own members, or listing pieces on the auction house when they wanted serious money.

"Regular item purchases max out at Rare grade, and what we craft ourselves maxes out at Unique. And even that probability is extremely low. So…"

"So…?"

"We're going to barge in on this server's best blacksmith."

"…Excuse me?"

I led the bewildered Cerial into a shabby-looking building. An empty tavern, nothing in it — but I knew this building's secret.

"Let's see~ Today's Monday, so~"

I spun the table marked with a moon emblem three times. With a heavy thunk, a section of floor in the corner swung wide open.

"Uh… Taeyang…?"

"If you're nervous, you can wait here."

"That's not it… it's just… a little startling…"

Well, looking at it, it did rather resemble a criminal organization's hideout. But this was the forge owner's and our vice-guildmaster's shared terrible taste, so there was nothing to be done about it.

"If you're really scared, you can hold onto my sleeve."

"O-okay…"

Cerial scurried around behind me and grabbed my clothes. The sight of a slightly cute, frightened little animal made a smile tug at my mouth.

"Alright. Going down."

I started descending underground with Cerial in tow, for all the world like I was walking a pet. After about a minute a wooden door appeared, and behind it the ringing of hammered steel began. I shouted loud enough to stop it.

"Hey, Yushin!!! I'm here!!!"

A man kicked the door open from the other side.

"What!? Who the hell are you!?"

"You don't know me!? ……Ah. Right. This is my alt."

"Who do you think you are, walking into our guild's forge…… Taeyang-hyung?"

"Yep, it's me. How'd you recognize me?"

"The only weirdos who'd walk around with 'Sun' in their nick are you and those Helios guys, and the only one of them who'd actually be here is you, sir. Anyway…"

Yushin held out his hand, and I met it with a high-five. A sharp smack echoed off the stone.

"Welcome, sir! Do drop by more often."

"Be honest. You've just been focused on crafting that gear with the Typhon materials we brought you."

"That's part of it, but everyone else comes by to keep me company now and then. You're the only one who hasn't shown up, sir."

"That's fair."

The exchange was funny enough that we both burst out laughing at the same time, and after a moment Yushin asked me a question.

"But hyung, why haven't you been coming around lately?"

"I've been playing with a newbie. This person right here."

"Ah… hello. I'm Cerial…."

"Good to meet you. Yushin, blacksmith of the guild Dawn."

The moment the greetings were over, our sharp-eyed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blacksmith had the situation figured out.

"Hmm~ So you're asking me to make gear for this newbie, sir?"

"That's right. I'll pay you — Cerial's an outsider, after all."

"Understood, sir. You've got the materials?"

"We do. Cerial, take out all the magic stones."

Cerial pulled every magic stone from the inventory, and I did the same.

"This should be enough for a full set minus the weapon, right?"

"Minus the weapon, it should be doable, sir. But why skip the weapon…"

At that moment, Yushin's eyes found Kedalion's One-Handed Sword at Cerial's waist, and I grabbed his shoulder and dragged him off to the side.

"Cerial, wait just a moment~"

I left those words behind as I went.

"Hyung, that's Kedalion's One-Handed Sword you used to brag about, right? The one you got as a reward from Kedalion's hidden quest."

"That's the one."

"And you gave that to a newbie, sir? A newbie!? I mean, sure, it's training gear, but…!"

"Stuff happened."

"Did they become your girlfriend or something, sir!?"

"Girlfriend my ass. He's a guy."

"Then why would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you give that away!? That's a name-your-price item!"

I'd made up my mind after hearing Cerial's story, but I couldn't share something that personal, so I glossed over it.

"…You should try Newdlebak sometime. You'll want to give them everything."

"Haa… so then, why did you drag me over here, sir?"

"Cerial thinks that item is 'kind of rare but not insanely expensive.'"

"So in other words, keep my mouth shut, sir?"

"That's it."

"Haaaaah… later on, change the weapon's appearance with Apate's Veil, sir."

"I was going to anyway. That appearance almost caused a problem today."

Anyway, once the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠conversation was over, Yushin and I went back to Cerial together.

"…Yes. I'll have every piece of gear for each slot, excluding the weapon, ready by tomorrow, sir. Accessories aren't my specialty, so either ask someone else or visit a forge that specializes in them."

"We're not at the level to worry about accessories yet. So Cerial, if you come here with me tomorrow, your new gear will be waiting. Let's come together. You wouldn't be able to get in without me anyway."

"Yes, understood…!"

And with that, we successfully wrapped up that day's session by commissioning the new gear.