Dragonstone Chain Scythe

Jinwoo looked down at his own hands.

"It's different, all right."

Reaching UR+ grade was on another level entirely. Until now he had climbed without resistance, but the moment of completion had finally demanded something of him.

"Given how far it sits above my current specs, I guess that's only natural."

The difficulty sat well with him.

"Back in Eternal Sunshine, every single step was an ordeal."

Those hardships had been so much fun that they had only pulled him deeper into the game.

"Soul Forging."

Jinwoo checked the newly acquired skill.

A remarkably simple skill.

"Wait a second. This feels like Deep Smithing and Soul Sight got fused together."

It wasn't just a feeling.

"They really did merge."

Deep Smithing and Soul Sight. Those two skills had combined into Soul Forging.

"They always felt like they shared the same grain, so merging them into one is way better. And the skill grade is seriously high."

Using both through Soul Forging still let him access their original base functions, which made the whole package excellent.

Shaaaak—.

Jinwoo slowly lifted the Dragonstone Chain Scythe, which was pouring out a formidable aura.

"First time I've ever made something of this grade."

UR+.

He gripped the scythe with no small amount of anticipation.

Shaaaaaaaak—.

The moment he raised it, that distinctive chill ran up through his hand. On top of that, the power inherent to Dragonstone flooded his entire body until he almost felt as if he himself had become a dragon.

"Oh."

Dragon's power. And layered over it, the unmistakable presence of a weapon made for a necromancer—exactly as he had intended.

"Yeah. This is a necromancer's weapon."

A necromancer was a kind of reaper: a spirit master who led the dead. And the weapon a reaper carried was, of course, a scythe.

But Jinwoo hadn't made an ordinary scythe.

"A plain scythe would be pointless."

His combat repertoire was already extremely broad. So he had forged a weapon that could match every style of fighting he used.

"Melee and ranged both covered."

Charrrrk—.

"A chain scythe."

The chain scythe he had crafted was a hybrid weapon—capable of close-quarters combat and, when thrown, of striking from a distance as well.

An attack power of a full 14,500—leaping clean over the Orihalcon Lightblade.

Dragonstone. The effects on this thing are insane.

Especially the Dragon Jade set into the heart of the scythe. That stone was clearly shaping the weapon's options in a major way.

"Dragon Swarm feels like a fear aura."

The Soul Forging option was also very much to his liking.

"Shadow Slash?"

And there was a brand-new special option.

"Must be a special option generated by the Necromayster class effect."

Jinwoo grinned.

Learning Soul Forging seemed to have raised his Necromayster level as well.

"Obsidian may be sharp,"

but it still couldn't compare to drawing out the full potential of Dragonstone.

"This is UR+, after all."

Jinwoo took the chain scythe and gave it a light swing right where he stood.

Shwoong—!

"Khh."

A shockwave burst outward. This time he grabbed the chain and spun it.

Whoom-whoom-whoom—!

With a crisp rush of wind, Jinwoo flung the scythe with perfect accuracy.

KWA-AAAAAANG—!

"That's no joke."

The power far outstripped what he had gotten from the Obsidian arrowheads.

"And those were single-use."

This looked like it hit harder than even those disposable tips, which had been built for one overwhelming burst of damage.

"Different, all right. Dragon byproducts really are something else. Worth the pain of taking it down."

Jinwoo studied the Dragonstone Chain Scythe.

Shaaaaak—.

The dragon's aura and dark energy flowing from it blended into something genuinely striking.

"Just holding it feels good."

Whether he stood still with it or spun it around, it felt excellent.

"I'll need to use it more to be sure, but—"

From that brief test, Jinwoo could sum the Dragonstone Chain Scythe up simply.

Light, and strong.

"A weapon that suits me perfectly."

He stowed the chain scythe.

"I'll put it to real use at the tower."

To reclaim the temple the tower had swallowed, he would have to conquer that tower first.

"Hmm."

Jinwoo looked at the hammer—cracked now, unusable.

"A shame, but..."

He carefully set the broken hammer in a quiet corner of the lair.

"This is where I keep the precious things. You came to me as something rare. Rest for a while."

With this one hammer he had climbed all the way to UR+.

"Thank you."

"Bone."

Jinwoo mounted Bone and headed from the Wasteland toward Iron Helm.

First priority is to get back and report.

He also needed a new hammer.

I should ask Hairun if he has another one.

If not, he was prepared to take a spare at the very least.

Wheeeeeeeeee—!

Bone showed off as if proud of himself—his dragon-scale armor and the scythe mounted on his tail. The tail scythe in particular made a fierce sound in flight, almost like a fighter jet.

Fighter jet. Yeah, that fits.

From Bone's back, Jinwoo sorted his Obsidian Nets.

He currently had three of them.

"I can put one up for sale."

Keeping two of the three still felt right—they had turned out better than expected.

"They worked well enough to land on Shadow Wing, after all."

Jinwoo registered an Obsidian Net on the auction house.

"Standard auction."

Starting price: one gold.

Strictly speaking, the Obsidian Net was hunting gear.

"It should appeal hard to users with the Hunter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠class."

Just as with the pickaxes he had sold before, he could build a strong relationship with a specific professional community.

"Same as with Artem and Yur."

Jinwoo knew the Hunter class quite well.

Back in Eternal Sunshine he had contracted with quite a few hunters on exclusive terms, receiving materials from them in return.

Hunters specialized in taking down named monsters.

"Their goal is killing the monster—not collecting materials. Materials just get converted into gold so they can go after something even stronger."

He had a feeling he could build a win-win relationship with hunters like that.

I take their materials, and instead of gold I supply them with gear this good.

That would give him an easy pipeline for rare materials he would otherwise struggle to obtain.

Let's start that connection with the Obsidian Net.

His real aim was a steady supply of precious materials from named monsters.

One more solid materials pipeline and I won't have to worry about resources again.

Minerals from Yur and Artem—and now monster byproducts from hunters.

Just thinking about it is fun.

Working with materials he had never handled before was always a joy.

Jinwoo collected the proceeds from previous equipment sales—payment for the SR-grade Orcish Axe, plus the payouts from listing a full hundred and fifteen pieces of gear.

"Over a hundred and fifty million gold."

An enormous sum had piled up.

"At this rate..."

One reason Jinwoo had wanted a Summon Workshop was the freedom to craft anywhere—but the other was that permanent workshops in the cities were simply too expensive.

"I could buy a workshop in a major city with this."

Establishing a base of operations mattered.

"The scale of what you can craft changes completely."

He had already learned that lesson in Eternal Sunshine.

The size of the workshop limited the size of the equipment you could produce.

"I can make almost everything in the Summon Workshop, but—"

there were still things that could only be crafted in a city workshop.

"Good."

If he was going to a major city, he intended to plant himself right in the thickest competition.

"Let's enjoy this to the fullest."

Tehunt the Hunter.

Among players of the Hunter class, he stood as the overwhelming number-one ranker.

His epithet: the Legend Hunter.

A born hunter who had taken down countless legendary-class named monsters.

He preferred to solo thoroughly. He belonged to a guild on paper, but in practice he always played alone.

Shak—.

Shak—.

Alone, he was sharpening his hunting daggers and throwing knives on a whetstone when a new alert appeared.

"Which one is it?"

Tehunt himself held ranking spots across a great many Hall of Fame boards.

"Oh-ho."

Great, Great Hunter.

Dragon Slayer.

Both were highly symbolic achievements.

"A new hunter has been born."

New users pouring into this side of the game was a good thing.

"More new blood means a bigger market in the end."

Tehunt opened the Hall of Fame achievement rankings to note the user's name.

"Hm?"

An interesting name sat there.

— 4. Jinwoo

"Jinwoo?"

A very familiar name. Even Tehunt, who quietly devoted himself only to hunting, knew it.

"That's the loudest name in the game right now."

Why was a famous blacksmith sitting on a Hall of Fame ranking for achievements hunters earned?

"Never mind that for a second."

He had been hoping, in his own way.

"They say he makes incredible gear."

Next he checked the Dragon Slayer achievement.

"What? This one's Jinwoo too?"

Both achievements were Jinwoo's.

"So he picked up both by hunting a dragon?"

Earning Great, Great Hunter through a dragon kill was a first. When Tehunt himself had earned that achievement, he had only just broken into the ranked hunter circle.

"Huh."

Surprise after surprise.

"Has he gotten a taste for hunting?"

As if entranced, Tehunt opened the auction house. If the man had developed a taste for hunting, there was a chance he had listed new gear.

"!"

And there it was.

"A net."

Not a fishing net.

A hunting net—designed to restrict a quarry's movement and bring a flying target down out of the sky.

Gulp—.

He checked the detailed specs.

"Obsidian... chitin... woven together..."

Tehunt was impressed.

Rare materials blended with real skill, and the grade was a full SSR+.

"These special options. This is insane."

And this time, something else was different.

"Huh?"

Until now Jinwoo had never left comments on his auction listings.

This time, there was one.

"An Obsidian Net used personally during the Shadow Wing hunt...?"

Ding—! Ding—! Ding—!

On the strength of that single line, bids poured in from all sides.

"This is insane. How many people are bidding right now?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Then Tehunt saw it.

"Shazam...!"

His rival.

The hunter nipping at his heels, closing the gap right up to his throat!

That man was right now slamming higher and higher bids on Jinwoo's Obsidian Net like a man possessed.

Every bid jumped by ten to fifteen million gold.

"This fast?"

Jinwoo's newly launched MeTube channel—and the JBS broadcast—had shown everyone exactly how skilled he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was. A new piece of gear dropping in that climate was bound to send expectations through the roof.

And those expectations were pumping the price like mad.

Tehunt's face tightened.

"Hunters, see—we're a wealthy class."

Miners made good money too, but the real money was with hunters.

The byproducts from named monsters, sold through guild contracts or trading companies, pulled in staggering amounts of gold.

"This one's mine."

Tehunt jumped into the bidding himself.

The moment his bid landed, a new one overtook it.

"Fine. Let's do this, Shazam."

This was a clash of pride.

Tehunt and Shazam—two hunters chasing the absolute top of their field—were going head to head.

And in this extreme contest of pride, the real winner was not the one who walked away with the item.

It was the man who had set the entire board in motion.

Jinwoo.