UR Grade

An intense force poured from the finished armor before Jinwoo.

Shaaak—!

"Huh."

Hairun let out a short, disbelieving laugh.

"Have you reached a new realm already?"

It was the first time Jinwoo had truly used Deep Smithing properly. On top of that, he still wasn't fully used to this level of heat.

"Yes. I got lucky."

Even so, he had arrived. At a new grade.

Leaving Hairun's astonishment behind him, Jinwoo looked over the armor he had made.

"Hmm."

As Hairun said, these were two powers he was using for the first time.

They helped my smithing a lot.

They synched extremely well with the forging arts he already possessed.

Defense. The armor was Extreme Defense through and through.

UR, huh.

The grade beyond SSR+ was UR.

The ranking system is completely different from Eternal Sunshine. That's kind of fun.

Jinwoo studied the Sky Stone Basago Armor more carefully. Because its base was Sky Stone, it was quite light, but Basago's bones sat heavy within it exactly as he had intended. He had preserved the bone shapes as they were, so the result was a skeleton suit of armor in every sense of the word.

"This essence I set into the center. It's quite something."

The last piece of defensive gear Jinwoo had made was the SR+-grade Sun Shadow Robe.

The Sun Shadow Robe's defense was 2,000.

By simple comparison, this was a full six times higher.

I really managed to drive Hepales Smithing's Extreme Defense into it properly.

As a result, it had leaped from SS-grade all the way to SR-grade.

Worth two full ranks.

The Sky Stone Basago Armor was good enough to raise Hepales Smithing by two ranks. Every technique Jinwoo had learned had gone into it, Deep Smithing included.

The moment he reached UR grade, the Hall of Fame crowned him first again.

Pretty big gap.

That was only natural. Jinwoo had climbed in a straight line without stopping. Of course, from his own perspective it hadn't been all that fast. He felt he had lingered quite a while at SSR+ and at the grades below it.

I never even got to work SSR+ materials properly.

So the gap had been long.

But.

There was no need to feel pressured. Then was then, and now was now.

I'm having more fun now.

The process of learning so many different things had been thoroughly enjoyable on its own.

And the achievements didn't stop there.

"I couldn't properly handle orichalcum and Sky Stone before."

This time he had mastered them completely. As a result, he unlocked the [Revenge] achievement as well.

A simple achievement effect, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but Jinwoo liked it a great deal.

"Proper revenge, completed."

It felt like a certification mark that he had finally handled what he once could not, and that left him in a very good mood.

"First."

Jinwoo immediately summoned his servant, First.

What First was wearing now was SS-grade armor.

Armor made from Elven Luna Stone.

That Elven Luna Stone armor had been the best Jinwoo could craft at the time. Defense: 1,050.

Compared to the Elven Luna Stone armor, this is more than a twelvefold jump.

Just as it had been for Mortus before, First was going to feel the difference hard.

Shaaaaak—.

Summoned, First scattered darkness around him.

"You. called. for. me. Master."

"This is a new set of armor. For you."

"A. new. set. of. ar.mor!"

New weapons had been coming in steadily, but armor had been a long ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time coming. Jinwoo promptly recovered the Elven Luna Stone Sapphire Armor.

The moment First took the armor, the Sky Stone Basago Armor stirred.

Shaaaaaaaaak—!

Then it resonated with the dark energy First carried.

"Oh."

Fine equipment chose its master on its own.

These aren't pieces with a true ego.

Even so, UR-grade gear was clearly different.

First slowly put the armor on.

Srrrk—.

At once, an aura more intense than anything Jinwoo had seen from him before burst free. The aura of a Dark Knight King. One worthy of that class.

"Not bad."

Where his other servants praised Jinwoo's gear with words, First showed it through action. He took up his orichalcum light-blade and settled into a stance.

"Khhh."

Then shifted into another.

"Combat. is. required."

First said.

"I. could. take. hits. all. day."

"Right? Put that on and you could sit there getting pounded for three days and nights and still be fine."

Jinwoo grinned.

"Hang on. We're going to go test it."

The crafting wasn't finished yet.

"And my heat's been reinforced, too."

Jinwoo drew out a material he had been saving.

"Shall we try the Ten-Thousand-Year Steel."

Ten-Thousand-Year Steel was an SR+-grade material.

"First, though."

There was something he wanted to check above all else.

"The materials that showed up as question marks."

Now that he had reached UR grade, there was a good chance they would finally reveal themselves.

"Just as I thought."

Shaaak—.

Sparks flared in the grade fields that had held question marks, and then the UR marks took shape.

"Materials of a pretty high grade, then."

Both of the question-mark materials—the Crystal of Malice and the Flame Spirit Stone—were UR-grade.

"I can finally work them."

He had just taken SSR+ materials and forged them into UR grade. So what about UR materials themselves? How far could he go with UR-grade materials?

He might have been expected to be exhausted, but instead Jinwoo felt his strength surge. Hammering and hammering again, testing exactly how far his limits stretched—that was the field he loved most of all.

Fwoooosh—.

"I should make a ring."

The Crystal of Malice and the Flame Spirit Stone could be turned into any number of gear types, but to Jinwoo's eye, rings suited these two materials best.

I need gear for myself now, too.

From here on he would be hunting dragons. They would be powerful beyond any comparison with the monsters he had faced so far.

There might be situations I can't dodge.

"This one I'll wear myself."

It was, in effect, dedicated anti-dragon equipment.

"If I make armor for no good reason…"

He might end up taking hits just to check the armor.

"That's not my job."

He had given the UR-grade armor to First. That role was First's.

Jinwoo set his polishing-stone engraving knife against the Crystal of Malice.

"!"

Shaaak—.

Scritch—. Scritch—.

"Oh."

Lightning ran through Jinwoo's entire body.

Insane.

That distinctive sensation. A thrill every bit as strong as when he had first forged UR grade.

"This is why I can't stop looking for it."

Jinwoo kept moving the engraving knife.

Scritch—. Scritch—.

Shuuuuk—.

The Crystal of Malice's soul was drawn out—and that soul was pitch-black.

"Not every soul is pure white."

Its original color had been black to begin with, but separate from that, this Crystal of Malice was contaminated. Jinwoo purified the rising soul as it was.

"Purify."

The Crystal of Malice's color deepened further.

"Dust. Coco."

Jinwoo summoned Dust and Coco. After he had reached UR grade, his level had risen considerably, and with it Dust's and Coco's power had grown much stronger.

"You've gotten bigger, huh?"

Dust had increased in size, and Coco even more so than before.

"And cuter."

Coco's face had rounded out even more.

"Kyeng—!"

As if to advertise that it could now unleash even greater heat, Coco sprayed dark flame.

"So it's not just that you got cuter?"

"Kyeng!"

Jinwoo gestured to Coco, and Coco belched out a burst of fire.

Oh-ho.

"This is going to work really well with Fire Build, Coco."

Following Jinwoo's gestures, Coco poured dark flame. Jinwoo wrapped dark flame around his hands and then layered Fire Build over it.

Shaaaaak—!

He let those two flames sink straight into his hammer. Their powers found balance and settled along the hammer's face.

"This is good."

Jinwoo immediately set to forging the Ten-Thousand-Year Steel.

Clang—! Clang—!

The Ten-Thousand-Year Steel bent in an instant.

"I didn't even put it in the forge."

This time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he did set the Ten-Thousand-Year Steel into the forge. After soaking it in the forge's fierce heat, he hammered it again.

Clang—!

"Great synergy."

"Kyeng—!"

"Yeah. You were a huge help, Coco."

Jinwoo stroked Coco's head.

"I think I can use this on other gear too."

He took out a woodworking chisel, a hammer, and his polishing-stone engraving knife.

Fwoosh—!

And went straight to work. The Crystal of Malice was carved even cleaner than before. At the same ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time, intense flame power began to flow into the crystal, imbuing it with attribute.

"Good."

Using Ten-Thousand-Year Steel as the base, he began engraving the Crystal of Malice and the Flame Spirit Stone.

Scritch—.

He boldly stacked the synergy of dark flame and Fire Build.

Scritch—.

Carve the Crystal of Malice. Affix it to the Ten-Thousand-Year Steel. Next was the Flame Spirit Stone.

"I'm curious about this one, too."

Jinwoo had obtained the Flame Spirit Stone on the first floor of the Maze Mist Tower.

"If they hand out UR-grade materials…"

That meant the spirit folk were operating at a very high level.

Something to look forward to.

It felt like he needed to pull forward the day he went to aid the spirit folk.

Scritch—.

Jinwoo set the engraving knife against the Flame Spirit Stone.

Fwoooooosh—!

Pak—!

"Oh-ho."

When he had set the knife to the Crystal of Malice, the hand-feel of that sharp pak had been excellent. The Flame Spirit Stone was even more so.

"It bounces."

The rebound he felt. And the searing heat.

"It's pushing back against the dark flame and Fire Build?"

The Flame Spirit Stone stood its ground without flinching, as if declaring that it, too, was a UR-grade material.

"Even better."

Jinwoo loved a challenge like this more than anything.

Scritch—.

Scritch—. Scritch—.

Ding—.

UR grade, reached once already. He had arrived at that grade a second time.

Jinwoo looked at the ring he had made.

"These options…"