Soul Forging
Beginning with the dragon leather, Jinwoo moved on to the rest of the dragon’s byproducts.
“Next, the claws.”
Those claws were wickedly sharp.
“One wrong move and they’ll cut me, too.”
Whoosh—
Jinwoo first thrust the claws into the forge.
“They’re every bit as tough as most ores.”
He pulled them out the instant the dragon’s flame had sunk deep into the material, and brought the hammer down at once.
Clang—!
“Figures.”
Far harder than they looked.
Dragon byproducts, every last one of them. They all hit with that kind of impact.
Clang—! Clang—!
“Fire Build.”
But he was no longer being overpowered by his materials.
“Now that the missing firepower’s been filled in—”
He could handle just about anything.
Jinwoo began shaping the dragon claws into a claw tail scythe for Bon.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
Long.
And pointed.
Built so it could either pierce in a single thrust or sweep through a wide arc.
The feel of cutting everything down in one stroke.
Clang—!
Whoooosh—!
Jinwoo worked the heat with absolute freedom. Fire Build fueled by dragonflame had fused completely with the technique he already possessed.
Deep Smithing proficiency has increased!
Dexterity has increased!
Focus has increased!
When his fire had been lacking, he had covered the gap with pure hand skill and experience. Now that the flame ran full and free—
Clang—!
—those two elements were producing a mad synergy. The dragon claw responded like Droizen steel, reshaping itself with easy, exact precision.
“Kyeng.”
“Pyorong—”
Dust, now an intermediate spirit, and Coco, who had grown at a breakneck pace as a Legendary spirit, poured everything they had into drawing out and reinforcing the material’s latent potential. Coco in particular answered to the dragon’s fire.
The power of Dark Flame settles into the material!
Jinwoo’s skill was climbing so geometrically fast that any real rivalry with the spirits was already impossible.
“Kyeng.”
“Pyorororong.”
They had to cooperate now—to support Jinwoo perfectly. Of course it was only a temporary truce. Neither of them had any intention of stopping until they became the finest spirit at his side.
“Push the edge even sharper.”
Obsidian. Blaze Worm chitin. Every scrap of material he still had went into the work.
A new piece of gear was born in Jinwoo’s hands—equipment of a kind he had never made before.
“I shaped it as a scythe to mount on a tail. Honestly… this looks more useful than I expected.”
Jinwoo activated the Rune of Earth and lifted the scythe. Shing—. That distinctive cold edge sang through the air. He swung it once.
Whsssh—.
A crescent afterimage lingered in the air. Fixed properly to Bon’s tail, the instantaneous destructive power would be considerable.
“I could even use it like an area attack.”
The natural keenness of a dragon’s claw, layered with the bite of obsidian, made the raw attack power exceptional.
“Which means durability should normally take a hit.”
Obsidian’s classic weakness. Durability had every reason to suffer.
“But this… the durability’s high?”
Jinwoo checked the special option carefully.
“There it is. Dark Flame Cloud.”
The power of Dark Flame elevates durability! Durability is increased!
The special option Coco had bestowed—Dark Flame Cloud—was a durability boost.
“Coco!”
Jinwoo ruffled the spirit’s head.
“Kyeng.”
Coco chirped with obvious pride, then pointed a tiny forepaw at Dust.
“You’re saying Dust drew out the potential, and that’s what made it possible?”
“Kyeng!”
“Pyorong—”
The two spirits locked eyes.
“Good.”
Jinwoo called to Bon, who was still soaring overhead.
“I’ve got one more for you, Bon.”
Bon, already clad in the Dragon Leather Scale Armor, dove straight down and landed before him.
BOOM—!
He’s getting more comfortable in that body.
The armor’s outrageous specs were clearly helping as well.
“A weapon for your tail.”
Jinwoo fixed the scythe to Bon’s tail.
You have given the Dragon Obsidian Claw Scythe to your thrall, Bon.
Shaaak—.
The moment the weapon locked into place, Bon rocketed upward and lashed his tail.
WHSSSH—!
A crushing shockwave and a tearing sonic boom split the air.
“Ohh.”
“I am invincible now…! Well—slightly invincible…!”
Jinwoo had corrected the ego, but a dragon was still a dragon. Some things did not change easily.
That level’s fine by me.
All that overflowing confidence had put real life into the motion.
“No need to tweak it further.”
Bon was already using the claw scythe beautifully.
“Keep practicing with it.”
Jinwoo waved the rest of his thralls closer as well.
“We’ll be fighting together soon enough.”
With the claw scythe finished, he closed his hand around a dragon tooth.
“Wonder what kind of feel you’ll give me.”
Scrape—.
Jinwoo began carving the dragon tooth. Whoosh—. He wrapped dragonflame around his jeweler’s knife and let the flow of the heat guide every cut.
Softer than the claws, oddly enough.
The wording was strange, but in pure hardness it was easier to work than the claws. The trade-off was that the slightest misjudgment of pressure risked shattering it.
Thunk—.
Jinwoo put real force into the knife. Hesitate out of fear of breaking the material, and you would never draw out a dragon tooth’s true potential. It was true of every material. Fear of spoiling the stock kept you from ever making something real.
Be careful—but never hesitate.
Thunk—! Scrape-scrape—.
He carved the tooth with deliberate care. The reshaped form gradually revealed itself: an ornamental piece. A necklace, the dragon tooth ground into the shape of a thick ring.
Scrape—. Scrape—.
Jinwoo pushed Rodin’s gemcraft to its absolute limit, then drew out a rare jewel he had set aside for this—an Elven Pearl.
“Flame-work the Elven Pearl.”
He melted the pearl with flame craft and set it into the tooth.
“Spell Imbuement.”
He layered the imbuement three times over the top.
Shaaaaak—!
A UR-grade accessory took shape in his hands.
“Hmm.”
He had polished the tooth until it shone like a gem, preserving the dragon’s unique power intact. Jinwoo clasped the Dragon Tooth Necklace around his neck at once.
“Together with the ring, this should give my defenses a solid secondary boost.”
It would synergize well with the Crystal Spirit-Stone Steel Ring he had made earlier.
“Dragon byproducts are a joy to work, and the finished pieces never disappoint.”
Bone and hide first, then claws and teeth.
“So how good is this going to feel?”
Jinwoo grinned. Two materials remained.
Shaaaak—.
Dragon Starstone and Dragon Jade. The true main materials among all the dragon byproducts he had claimed. Looking at the two luminous pieces on his workbench, he found himself smiling without meaning to.
“Are you all right, Master?”
Mortus, who had been training nearby, asked with concern. Ever since finishing the skeleton frames, Jinwoo had been pulling out extraordinary gear without pause. Physically and mentally, exhaustion should have been setting in.
“I haven’t even properly started yet.”
Mortus nodded at once.
“I fretted for nothing!”
Even while churning out UR-grade pieces one after another, Jinwoo was not tired. He still had stamina to spare. It was a matter of mindset. He did not think of UR as his ceiling, so reaching it again and again never felt like overreach. Hitting a grade once was hard enough; hitting it again was usually harder still. For Jinwoo, it was pure pleasure.
He studied the Dragon Starstone and Dragon Jade.
“I can use the Starstone and the Jade together.”
He drew a long breath. He already knew what he wanted to make.
Sometimes the material itself suggests the form. Sometimes the idea arrives while I’m building something new.
The battle with the dragon had taught him something definitive.
When I face something as overwhelming as Shadow Wing, there will be times I have to join the fight myself.
Jinwoo was not a combat class. Leaving battle to his thralls was almost always the more efficient choice.
But there are moments when fighting with my own hands is better.
An understanding of the gear. An eye that could pierce an enemy’s weakness.
And there’s something I’ve been wanting to try.
Originally he had planned to forge armor for Pur with the Starstone and Jade.
I thought about making armor for Pur now that he’s a Hero-rank undead… but that can wait.I’m making a piece for myself.
Whoooosh—.
He set the Dragon Starstone into the flames, then began to carve the Dragon Jade with slow, careful strokes.
Scrape—.
Scrape—. Scrape—.
The Jade was unlike any jewel he had ever handled.
It’s vibrating.
The moment the jeweler’s knife touched it, the stone shuddered in resistance. It carried its own independent flow of mana.
A crystallized mass of power. Of course it’s this strong.
But Jinwoo had already worked through a full suite of dragon byproducts.
“My hands are completely loose right now.”
Resistance of this level?
Thunk—!
“I’ll take all of it.”
He shaped the Jade with swift, precise cuts, then drew the glowing Starstone from the fire.
“Same goes for you.”
The heated Starstone glowed a fierce red, yet it was steadily enduring the dragon’s flame.
Clang—! Clang—!
Jinwoo went straight into the hammer work.
“……”
He clicked his tongue.
The hammer.
Until now, no material had ever outmatched the hammer. Part of that was Jinwoo’s skill—but the hammer itself had always been something rare and precious.
It even held up against orichalcum.
It had finally met its limit.
Master Hedorotos’s Dark Crafting Hammer.
“I’d like to meet him someday, if I get the chance.”
Even if he was dead, that was fine. Jinwoo could always bring him back for the conversation.
“If it only reaches its limit at Dragon Starstone, though, it got us a long way.”
He looked down at the hammer.
“Thank you for everything so far.”
It would carry him through this project at least.
Thank you for staying with me all the way to UR.
Clang—! Clang—!
There was nothing left to hesitate over. If UR was going to be this crafting hammer’s final performance, then that finale deserved a show worthy of it.
“Burn out in style.”
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
Jinwoo hammered with everything he had. The Starstone fought back hard. For an instant a surge of dragon power erupted and tried to shove him away—but he did not yield.
“I already felt this when I worked the bones.”
He pressed harder.
Clang—!
He was not driven back—but neither would the Starstone allow itself to be reshaped.
Different from the bones, then.
Jinwoo drew a slow breath.
Ordinary hammering isn’t enough.
He had to resonate with the power unique to the material.
Hard to put into words, but—
In short, every material had a nature that had to be tamed.
Clang. Clang—.
He kept a perfectly even rhythm while pouring flame into the work.
“Fire Build.”
The soul purified through Deep Smithing—
Stir it once more with Soul Sight.
Until now, Jinwoo had only been using half of what Necromayster truly offered. Deep Smithing had opened his eyes.
Necromayster.
Not just the Meister side. The necro side could serve the forge as well. Change the angle of view, and the applications were endless.
There was never any reason to keep them separate.
Clang—!
In that moment, Jinwoo hammered for the first time as a true Necromayster. He moved the material’s soul and drove the power of flame into it from within—and the Dragon Starstone began to refine exactly as he willed.
Dexterity has increased!
Focus has increased!
Soul Sight proficiency has increased!
Into a realm even Hepales had never reached—
Soul Forging
Merged with Hepales Smithing!
Jinwoo had arrived.
And in the same breath, a new piece of equipment was born at his fingertips.
“UR+.”
A UR+ grade piece of equipment.