Thunder Crush

A crater yawned open where First had brought the hammer down, as though a meteor had punched a hole in the earth.

Even First seemed startled by the sheer force of it; he gave his shoulders a little shrug-shrug of amazement.

"And that's only UR+ grade."

Jinwoo drew the Dragonstone Chain Scythe.

"It's definitely different."

Same grade as the Dragonstone Chain Scythe—and yet you could not call them the same kind of weapon at all.

"There's been real growth."

The new hammer's effects were outstanding. Everything he had gained from this tower raid sat well with him.

"In that case."

Jinwoo's mouth curved into a grin. He still had plenty of materials left.

"Let's ride the momentum."

First, though, he pulled out Balam's soul.

A UR-grade soul—the highest-ranked soul Jinwoo had obtained so far.

New gear was not the end of it.

"First. This one's yours."

Jinwoo handed the soul to First. The powerful soul of Balam sank into First's body.

Shaaaaaaak—!

The moment Balam's soul was absorbed, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠violent power began to whip through First's frame.

Kugung—.

Hwarrrrrrrrrrrrrrk—!

Enormous blue flames coiled around First from head to toe.

Then the blue fire sank straight into him and vanished. What emerged from those flames was a Hero-grade undead: First.

Just as Pur had done, First too had taken the step into Hero-grade undead.

This was no simple level-up.

"Oh…"

The way Pur's form had transformed completely upon becoming a Hero-grade undead—First had achieved a perfect evolution of his own.

His appearance was unmistakably different from before. Once he had looked like a king among knights; now he was a sleek, top-tier undead.

"Servant check."

"Phantom Knight!"

New skills. A new class name. And most striking of all was First's form itself.

His face had become like shadow; blue fire flickered all over his body. Dark energy poured from every part of him. There was nothing left of the skeleton knight he had once been.

A true higher class.

Jinwoo found himself smiling without meaning to.

"Looks like he got bigger, too?"

Phantom Knight. Jinwoo rather liked that sleeker impression. It was not mere bulk—he had size and speed both now.

Definitely looks like a top-tier undead.

The change was not only outward.

"New skills learned, and the old ones upgraded."

The original Wave Emission had become Malice Wave Emission. On top of that, Yellow Springs Charge.

Looks like a rush skill. Perfect fit.

Jinwoo pictured Yellow Springs Charge combined with Thunder Crush.

"Anything short of a serious heavyweight is going to have a hard time stopping that advance."

He thumped First on the back.

"You look sharp, First."

The skeleton knight who had started at the very beginning had become a Hero-grade undead.

"Thank.you."

"Oh. You can talk a little more clearly now!"

Of course, the signature stuttered cadence was still there. A little smoother, but that familiar way of speaking remained—and that was comforting.

Even changed, First was still First.

"Please.look.forward.to.it."

"Yeah. I will."

With the upgraded First standing by, Jinwoo went straight back to crafting.

"Next."

He took out the Wrath Orichalcum. The mineral glowed a fierce pink, and it did not suffer being handled lightly by just anyone.

"No idea how touchy this one's going to be."

Any craftsman would have been scowling at a material like this. Jinwoo was grinning wide. He could not wait to see how hard it would fight back.

"We've used World Tree's Judgment for a long time, too."

In the fight against Balam, Pur had fought bravely even with a wooden weapon.

"Made me proud."

It was fortunate that the World Tree wood had held up to the flames to a degree; if it had been ordinary timber, it would have burned whether Jinwoo or anyone else had made it.

"World Tree's Judgment is a fine weapon, of course—"

But for Pur, now a Hero-grade undead, it was lacking in more ways than one.

"He's supposed to be my main damage dealer among the servants."

Same as First—he deserved gear at UR+ grade at the least, did he not?

Jinwoo ran his hands over the Wrath Orichalcum. Thunderstone, and now Wrath Orichalcum as well.

"Yur and Artem are turning out to be a huge help."

He was glad he had opened trade with famous miners.

"Wonder how 2-ho-gi is doing."

Mire's side would be far harder than mining work.

"Even if it takes time—if a proper fabric comes out of it, then…"

That would be more than excellent.

Jinwoo examined the Wrath Orichalcum carefully. He had worked ordinary orichalcum once before.

"Similar feel, but definitely different. The aura it gives off. The pushback you feel when you touch it."

Same name as orichalcum, and that was about it. You could treat this as an entirely different mineral.

He worked it with his hands for a while, then stopped.

"Hmmm!"

The flaws that orichalcum already had were worse in Wrath Orichalcum.

"The drawbacks are more severe."

On the other hand—

"The strengths got bigger, too."

It could absorb more mana, and when it did, it raised the user's stats by a wide margin. Of course, that only mattered if you actually managed to work the orichalcum into finished gear.

In short, it was the hopeful route. Most blacksmiths who tried it would meet the despair route instead.

"This would be perfect to put up on JinTube, wouldn't it?"

So it could become content.

Hwarrrrrrk—.

Jinwoo put the Wrath Orichalcum into the forge for only the briefest instant. A fraction early or late, and there would be no second chance.

This thing doesn't give you openings.

Hesitate and it was over.

The second he pulled it free, he started hammering.

Kaaang—!

"Right. Harder than regular orichalcum."

Kaaang—! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kaaang—!

A sensitive mineral needed delicate hammer-work.

"I'm not the same as I used to be, either."

This was not the Jinwoo who had first handled orichalcum.

"Soul Forging."

Armed with the power to grasp a material's true nature, even Wrath Orichalcum at its wildest still fell inside the range of his hammer.

Kaaang—! Kaaang—!

The hammer kept falling on the purified Wrath Orichalcum.

"Got it."

The threshold of force settled into his hands. In a blink, Jinwoo had refined the Wrath Orichalcum.

Hwaruk—.

Shaaaaaaak—.

Heat and cold settled into his hammer. Kaaang—! He struck again and again, controlling both.

"Oho."

Along the way he found one more strength the Wrath Orichalcum possessed.

"It's adapting?"

Still only a raw material—and already it was starting to adapt to his hammer-work. Resisting, then adapting, then trying to blunt the force of his blows.

"If it can do this much as a material…"

Jinwoo grinned.

"The finished piece is going to be even better."

He put it back into the forge once more.

Hwarrrrk—!

The moment fierce flame soaked in, he pulled it out and struck again. If it would adapt, then he would adapt right back.

Just hitting harder isn't the answer.

The essence of Harmonia Smithing was harmony.

Jinwoo saw it: the way holy power and dark force mixed. The way heat and cold mixed.

Let it flow.

That was it. Not forcing power into power—

Let it flow.

He forgot everything he had once thought was the correct answer. All the force and technique that even gods watching opposing powers blend had called near-divine craftsmanship—he set it aside for now.

And simply let it flow.

Kaaang—!

He was not layering other power over the Wrath Orichalcum's own. Jinwoo's hammer-work itself flowed.

Kaaang—! Kaaang—! Kaaang—!

"Finest.among.flesh.and.blood.humans."

First offered quiet applause—flame-applause, wreathed in Yellow Springs fire.

Kaaang—!

Gear worthy of a Banshee Lord had been born.

World Tree's Judgment, which he had made before, had kept the material's native power to honor the World Tree—so he had shaped it as a simple club. Wrath Orichalcum was different.

"Pack even fiercer force into a club…"

What Jinwoo had made was a massive war mace.

"A pink mace, almost red."

A color so intense it would stand out even from a distance.

"This works."

Jinwoo nodded.

"Even if it gets covered in blood, the color will hide most of it."

Dongwoo had been editing videos through the night.

Ding—!

A message arrived from his brother.

He was still editing the previous footage.

"Already?"

Jinwoo was sending new videos far faster than Dongwoo could finish making them.

"Can't let these pile up."

Dongwoo checked the video first.

— Wrath Orichalcum Crafting Log

"Wrath Orichalcum Crafting Log? Oh!"

At least this one was short.

"I can cut this down quick. And the material is excellent."

Last time, Jinwoo had put JinTube on the map with a video of working the notoriously difficult orichalcum. Handling something hard to handle always pulled views. And right now his brother was in a place where simply uploading a video made it explode.

"Looks like the same orichalcum family."

Dongwoo ran a search.

"Wrath Orichalcum…"

He typed Wrath Orichalcum into SharkNet and MiTube.

"Hmmm. So it's even more vicious than orichalcum?"

On MiTube, everyone introduced Wrath Orichalcum as an extreme material—or a notorious one.

SharkNet was the same. Especially there, complaint posts piled high.

"Even hyung must have had a rough time with this."

But if it was his brother, he would have succeeded.

"Let's see how he pulled it off. This is great for writing a scenario!"

It looked perfect for building a beginning, middle, and end for the video. Dongwoo hit play.

"Huh?"

Jinwoo was using a different hammer than before. The refining method was different, and so was the heat of the forge.

"In that short a time… he changed everything?"

It was different again from the Jinwoo who had been making gear from dragon by-products just prior.

"Looks like hyung fully specced up in between."

Halfway through the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠video—exactly halfway—Dongwoo was thoroughly thrown.

"Hyung…?"

For his brother, Wrath Orichalcum had been far too easy.

"Is this for real…?"