Chapter 104
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: The Blacksmith's Trial
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Ruben's training was completely different from the job change quest.
He showed it just once and demanded perfect replicationan excruciatingly difficult task.
"Begin!"
"Yes."
Clang! Claaang!
It was a nonstop barrage of quenching and hammering.
'It's been a while since I did this.'
It was absurd, but Jeong Hoon had done this kind of work before his regression.
Back then, he had materials for making a weapon, but the system wouldn't respond, forcing him to craft it manually.
And the one who had helped him with that weapon crafting was an NPC called 'Lv.??? God of Crafting Ark.'
Jeong Hoon had spent time at the forge, quenching and hammering under his instructions.
'Ah, sorry. Actually, that was a test of your patience.'
Then Ark casually used the crafting system to make the weapon.
The weapon's performance was so outstanding, and Ark threw in a few bonus items, which made it tolerable.
Otherwise, a punch would have flown.
'It's coming in handy now.'
Without that experience, achieving this level of proficiency after just one demonstration would have been impossible.
Ruben was continuously amazed by Jeong Hoon's skill.
'Unbelievable... How could someone with this talent walk the path of martial arts!'
In truth, Ruben had acknowledged this outsider long ago.
Demonstrating a perfect reinforcement skill.
That alone was enough.
But confirming just the skill and passing him would wound Ruben's pride.
That's why he prepared the quenching and hammering afterward.
Work that any blacksmith should naturally be able to do.
Clang!
But what was that flawless technique?
He had only shown it once, yet he reproduced it perfectly.
'A talent bestowed by the gods...'
What if he had walked the path of a reinforcement artisan instead of a martial artist?
Gulp...
It was an overwhelming talent that sparked greed for a moment.
'Damn... What a waste!'
Even with the reinforcement skill, it was impossible to possess the full power of a true reinforcement artisan.
While Jeong Hoon was hammering away, two outsiders visited this mansion.
Even at a glance, their skills were far superior to the outsider pounding iron in the smithy.
It was only naturalthey had walked different paths from the start.
However, when it came to reinforcement skills alone, no outsider could match this martial artist.
Not even himself, who had devoted his life to weapons.
'100...'
It was just normal and rare grade reinforcements, but a perfect 100 with zero failures.
Fine. At this point, it was okay to swallow his pride.
"Stop."
Ruben raised his hand to halt the work.
"Hm? We're not even halfway done yet."
"That's enough."
Ruben extended his hand toward the workpiece in that state.
Mana poured from his hand, making the quenching iron glow before transforming into a normal weapon.
"Instant completion?"
Jeong Hoon wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead.
It wasn't a lack of stamina, but hours of hammering in front of the forge had heated him up, leaving his body drenched in sweat.
"Yes. You reached 50 quenching, so instant completion."
"I see."
"...You pass. I acknowledge you."
As Ruben spoke, a rainbow-colored exclamation mark blinked above his head.
It meant the quest was complete.
'Great!'
Jeong Hoon immediately completed the quest.
You have completed the quest.
You have acquired the Reinforcement Exclusive Exchange operation rights.
You have learned the 'Repair (Normal)' skill!
Perfect.
He had obtained the Reinforcement Exchange operation rightsknown as the flower of reinforcement artisansand the Repair skill.
Repair's grade was Normal.
Repair
-Type: Active
-Level: 1
-Grade: Normal
-Consumes mana to restore 2 durability to equipment.
-Can only repair 'Normal' grade equipment.
It wasn't particularly useful right now, but raising its grade would surely make it a great asset.
'Iwase, sorry, but could you repair my sword?'
'Ah, of course. Hand it over.'
Even as the All Master, Jeong Hoon had always relied on his comrades.
This time, he couldn't, so he had to secure even the smallest things.
"Thank you."
"Sure. Leaving right away?"
"Yes."
"...Good luck. Come back anytime if something happens. I'll help."
"Thank you."
Jeong Hoon left the mansion and headed straight to the Reinforcement Exclusive Exchange.
Epic-grade reinforcement artisans at work!
We guarantee high success rates!
Affordable prices, outstanding results!
The main page of the Reinforcement Exclusive Exchange featured ads from a wide variety of reinforcement artisans.
Only reinforcement artisans were granted the privilege of setting up shop here.
As such, they had an unspoken agreement on pricing and exploited it.
'Plenty fail reinforcements on purpose to squeeze out more restoration fees.'
Given their privilege, reinforcement artisans tried every trick to extract maximum profit.
Why not just go to NPCs for reinforcements instead of reinforcement artisans?
-For real, I don't get why they made equipment reinforcement a job that lets those bastards fill their bellies.
-Yeah.
-This needs explaining.
-NPCs can do reinforcements too, right?
-The NPCs who do reinforcements are crazy. They treat us outsiders like dirt and refuse, telling us to go to other reinforcement artisans.
-No, never go to NPCs. Even if they luckily agree, if it fails, they won't restore the attempt count... It's a headache, so just go to artisans.
-Ugh, to me it looks like artisans deliberately break gear. Restoration costs 3x more than reinforcement...
-Reasonable suspicion lol. Should've become one myself to rake in the cash
The reason users sought out reinforcement artisans was simple.
They were the only path to fully reinforcing gear to max level.
All reinforcements had probabilities.
Fail to beat the odds, and you fail, losing one attempt.
One failure meant full reinforcement was impossible.
But reinforcement artisans could restore lost attempts and allow retries, so... users had no choice but to knock on their doors, even if it stung.
Reinforcement artisan bastards have it so good lololol
-Yeah lol Now with dual class, I can reinforce and restore too You guys aren't needed anymore lolol
-No more need for artisans, just get lost.
-Artisans made bank for sure lol Time for them to crash.
-They milked it too long.
When reinforcement artisans' stock plummeted, no one pitied themthey mocked and ridiculed.
Self-inflicted, everyone said.
They had indeed milked a lot.
'Some reinforcement artisans did lead the meta.'
Not all were dirty.
But this Reinforcement Exclusive Exchange was a den of the worst ones.
Jeong Hoon pressed the registration button.
A button that shouldn't exist normally, but completing this secret quest granted him the rights.
Please set your nickname.
First, he could set a nickname.
'JH'
Jeong Hoon used the initials of his name.
The exchange is being created.
A unique code has been issued.
With the code issued, Jeong Hoon's exchange was newly created.
Next was the introduction.
'Keep it simple.'
The best success rate equipment reinforcement exchange.
He announced opening service with 48 hours at 10 of current market rates, and set the commission fee.
Less than five minutes after registering, a request came in.
"What, so fast?"
Did requests usually come this quick?
Reinforcement artisans make a killing...
The request was to fully reinforce a sleek assassin's dagger.
Currently 6.
With 18 attempts left, it seemed like 6 successes and 6 failures.
'Must've run into a real scumbag.'
Fully reinforcing rare grade was no challenge for artisans.
The real challenge started at epic.
Turning a rare like this into a bloodbath was blatantly predatory.
'Can't do full max, but...'
Jeong Hoon claimed the 18 rare reinforcement stones that appeared beside him.
The stones bore the exchange's official seal.
With the seal, they could only be used for reinforcement hereusing elsewhere got you a year ban from New World immediately.
Attempting reinforcement.
Reinforcement successful.
Golden effects flashed 18 times in a row.
Jeong Hoon completed his first request successfully, placing the upgraded 24 dagger back for the client.
'The first button is always the most important.'
Not full max, but a satisfying result.
While Jeong Hoon was tinkering with his exchange.
"Ha, fuck. Unbelievable."
One user spat curses and slammed his weapon on the ground.
Sleek Assassin's Dagger (6)
-Type: Dagger
-Grade: Rare
-Attack Power: 117
-Critical Hit Rate: 1.6 2.1
-Remaining Durability: 100
-Special Ability (1): Dagger skills increase attack power by additional 6.2
-Special Ability (2): While holding dagger, Passive: Agility Boost activates automatically
-Remaining Reinforcement Attempts: 18
He'd entrusted it to an exchange for reinforcement, only to get back a half-upgraded, half-wasted piece of trash dagger.
"They said he was pretty skilled!"
How do you half-ass a rare reinforcementnot even 70and return it like this?
Sorry. If you need restoration, check the fee below and request again.
This bastard pouring oil on the fire?
Not content with trashing the weapon, now demanding more money?
"Ha, just switch to epic? ...No, that'd cost way too much."
He hesitated for a moment, but couldn't.
Using an epic weapon inevitably meant reinforcing it, and epic stones cost 10x rare ones.
Way too expensive.
To even compete, a rare needed at least 20, but only 18 attempts left.
Just 4 failures and all successes from here for 20.
"Looking at how they do it, probably won't even hit 15..."
Needed at least 20, but from the artisan's performance, without restoring attempts, 15 was a pipe dream, let alone 20.
FYI, if attempts drop below 10, restoration impossible.
-Keep this in mind I didn't know and pushed an artisan, still regretting it big time.
-Aren't artisans trash lol? Why not tell us restoration fails below 10?
-Fr real, it's weird.
-Artisans deliberately don't tell lololol
"Ha...."
In the end, the user decided to restore attempts.
He wanted another artisan, but only the one who reinforced could restore.
Considering my failures, I'll restore at half price......
At least half price restoration.
'Fine... better than nothing.'
The user hurried to request that artisan.
Then, a new exchange caught his eye.
The equipment reinforcement exchange boasting the highest success rates.
Highest success rates.
Drawn like a moth, the user entered.
Opening service!
For the next 48 hours, reinforcements at 10 of current market price!
My success rates are as follows!
-Normal: 100
-Rare: 100
-Epic: 80
-Unique: 60
New World official certification
"Insane..."
The probabilities were so crazy, curses slipped out automatically.
This was obvious fraud, right?
But it bore New World's official certification mark.
Zero chance this exchange was fake.
"...Nothing to lose, might as well try?"
It was trash anyway.
Restoration would cost a fortune, so why not try here? He bought all the rare stones and submitted the request.
Soon after, the result arrived.
Sleek Assassin's Dagger (24)
-Type: Dagger
-Grade: Rare
-Attack Power: 207
-Critical Hit Rate: 3.4 3.9
-Remaining Durability: 100
-Special Ability (1): Dagger skills increase attack power by additional 9.8
-Special Ability (2): While holding dagger, Passive: Agility Boost activates automatically
-Remaining Reinforcement Attempts: 0
At the rare dagger upgraded to 24, the user let out a scream.
"Wooooooow!"