Obsidian Arrowheads
Ding-!
The bid has been updated.
Ding-!
The bid has been updated.
The auction house was a battlefield.
The auction for the Gargoyle Stone Mace was ferociously competitive.
"I've sold everything. I have nothing left."
The cleric Holly Molly had sold off all of his gear. Everything he had managed to acquire since choosing the Battle Priest class was gone.
The bid has been updated!
What he had scraped together by the skin of his teeth came to sixty million gold. On top of the thirty million he already had, he now had another thirty million as ammunition.
But the bid had already climbed to fifty-eight million.
"Please. Please. Just stop!"
Holly Molly had no money left. He had even sold every piece of equipment he owned. If he failed to buy this mace after all that, the tears would come pouring down—no, they already were.
The Orcish Axe was also up for auction alongside the Gargoyle Stone Mace, and that one was effectively finished.
The auction has ended!
Final bid: one hundred twenty million gold.
The Orcish Axe closed at a final bid of one hundred twenty million gold.
Realize was one of the top-tier guilds.
A war among the highest guilds. Naturally, that war was not limited to combat classes alone.
Rankings were a comprehensive evaluation. The single most important factor was level, and because Jinwoo was still low-level, he had yet to break into the rankings.
Everyone began to anticipate it.
Everyone began to look forward to the moment when the SSR+ gear they had seen on JinTube would finally hit the auction house.
Then another listing closed.
The auction for the Gargoyle Stone Mace has ended.
"Hic… sob…"
The one crying was Holly Molly. In his hand was the mace.
"I barely got it…!"
Holly Molly lifted the mace high overhead. Standing there completely stripped of gear, clutching nothing but the mace, he made quite the impression.
Having finished off every last Obsidian Golem, Jinwoo immediately began crafting equipment from the obsidian he had gathered.
"Summon."
He summoned his mobile workshop and shoved the obsidian straight into the forge.
After tasting a dragon's flame, this feels pretty underwhelming.
Even so, it was not a firepower he could not use.
There is a way to make up for it.
"If I use Fire Build with the Dark Flame, I can compensate for the heat."
Jinwoo received flame from Coco.
"Fire Build."
Whoosh—.
He pulled the thoroughly heated obsidian from the forge and immediately brought down his flame-wreathed hammer.
Clang—!
The moment the hammer struck the obsidian, that unique hand-feel bloomed through his grip.
"Mm!"
It was sharp. Viciously sharp.
A razor's-edge hand-feel.
Obsidian was extremely sensitive. More temperamental than any mineral he had worked so far—if his force control slipped even a fraction, it would shatter.
But.
Obsidian's greatest strength was that sharpness. Extreme sharpness. Sharp enough that a careless blow could slice the hammer itself apart.
One wrong move and the hammer breaks instead.
Handled correctly, however, obsidian could become an outstanding weapon.
Preserving the sharpness is what matters most.
Clang—! Clang—!
He could not afford to fear the hammer breaking.
Sharper.
Clang—!
◈ You have crafted an SSR+ grade item!
What he had made was an Obsidian Dagger. The blade edge was extraordinarily keen, and above all it was a weapon that suited dark energy perfectly.
"This is pretty good."
Jinwoo took the Obsidian Dagger and gave it a light swing.
Whish—.
"It leaves an obsidian afterimage."
A thoroughly stylish piece of gear.
"I could even use this myself if I had to."
Jinwoo stowed the finished Obsidian Dagger carefully.
"But I feel like there's a form that suits this better than a dagger."
He pulled out a fresh piece of obsidian and began hammering again.
Obsidian's strength was its sharpness; its weakness was durability. Because of that low durability, even a well-made piece of equipment would shatter before long.
That's a risk problem.
It was already difficult to work, and even after you successfully turned it into gear, you could barely use it.
So.
"I just need to make equipment that turns the low durability into an advantage."
Do that, and obsidian becomes a mineral with nothing but strengths.
Jinwoo returned the obsidian to the forge. Ideas flashed through his mind like sparks. One after another, he began putting those countless thoughts into action.
"First."
Clang—!
"A spear."
This time he made a spear—not an ordinary spear, but a throwing spear like the ones he had crafted before.
◈ You have crafted equipment!
Jinwoo gripped the finished throwing spear and hurled it.
Wheeeeeeeeee—!
KRAKOOM—!
The ground tore open with tremendous force.
"That's the one. But it's a little awkward."
The throwing spear's size was still a bit off.
Jinwoo folded his arms.
"As long as durability isn't a problem, I don't need to settle for an awkward size like a throwing spear."
Clang—!
He went back to work.
"Smaller."
More compact.
Jinwoo began carving the obsidian. He stopped hammering and switched to a polishing carving knife.
Shhk—.
Shhk—.
◈ A small triangular piece of gear
"An arrowhead."
Equipment that pushed obsidian's strengths to the absolute limit.
[Obsidian's Sharpness]
Attack power rises dramatically!
"If I want to keep the sharpness while turning low durability into a strength, arrows are the best choice, right?"
Arrows were disposable by design. There were cases where people recovered and reused them, but the vast majority of arrows were single-use.
Jinwoo picked up an arrowhead and hurled it with everything he had.
Wheeeeeeeeee—!
BOOM—!
It packed far more power than the Obsidian Throwing Spear.
"If it hits this hard just thrown by hand…"
That meant the power would multiply once it was properly fletched and loosed as an arrow.
"In the hands of a real archer, this would be vicious."
Jinwoo grinned. He had found his direction.
Next came optimization.
He carved the obsidian.
Shhk—. Shhk—.
An arrowhead with its sharpness multiplied to the extreme was complete.
"No. I can push it further."
Jinwoo kept carving the obsidian. Sharper still. In that process the carving knife's role became critical.
Ssshhk—.
Even while using the carving knife, he applied the principles of Flawless Tailoring.
The finish is what matters.
With the carving knife he pared the arrowhead even keener.
◈ You have crafted equipment!
Every last piece of obsidian in Jinwoo's hands was carved away. In the end, fifteen arrowheads were complete.
"Obsidian. This is fun."
Jinwoo cast a quick look around.
"Any more golems?"
He mounted up and set out once more.
"Well, if I run into any along the way, I'll take them."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than another monster appeared.
Rumble-rumble-rumble—!
The earth writhed madly, and a colossal worm burst upward. Its entire body was ablaze—a ferocious monster.
"Oh ho."
The giant worm's appearance might have been grotesque, but Jinwoo was staring at its massive torso.
"The whole body is on fire… yet the torso itself is intact?"
His eyes locked onto the chitinous shell covering it.
"That…"
He had a feeling he could make something excellent with it.
"I can't properly test these with arrowheads alone."
He needed a bow.
"And 2-ho-gi, the one who has a bow, is out on assignment."
Jinwoo gestured.
"Where is this?"
"Master. This is. Your domain."
"I will dispose of those who have entered your domain."
This time Pur moved first. It looked determined to pay back its complete uselessness during the Obsidian Golem hunt.
Thud—.
Pur slammed a foot into the ground and shot forward in a straight line. World Tree's Judgment rose high and smashed down onto the giant worm.
You have hunted a Blaze Worm!
Jinwoo obtained the Blaze Worm's chitin shell.
Without pause he began crafting a bow stave.
Shhk—.
Blaze Worm Chitin had a peculiar hand-feel.
It sinks in under the tool, yet the elasticity is better than expected.
Whoosh—.
On top of that, the chitin still carried the Blaze Worm's inherent properties intact. Jinwoo seized that flame with his bare hands and used it as he shaped the stave.
"Not just the stave."
Shhk—.
"Light and flexible. It can serve as the stave and as the string."
The chitin was a versatile material.
Jinwoo drew a deep breath. When working a new material, absolute concentration was required.
Immersion stat is rising!
Pouring himself into the work without limit, Jinwoo crafted the bow.
◈ You have crafted an SSR+ item!
In Jinwoo's hands rested a bow made from Blaze Worm Chitin.
Shaaaa—.
When he poured mana into it, an arrow formed. Jinwoo fitted an Obsidian Arrowhead to its tip.
Rumble-rumble-rumble—!
Blaze Worms did not act alone. The moment one fell, more than a dozen of them tore through the earth and charged.
"Hold."
Jinwoo pushed his thralls back. The Blaze Worms streaked toward him at high speed. Yet Jinwoo remained calm.
He steadied his breath. Aimed. Drew the bow.
Wheeeeeee—.
The arrow split the wind and slammed into the pack of Blaze Worms.
KRAAAAAAAAAASH—!
You have hunted a Blaze Worm.
You have hunted a Blaze Worm.
You have hunted a Blaze Worm.
A single shot.
Total annihilation of the Blaze Worms.