"Thank you for opening the armory. It was a great help."
Jinhyeok came out of the armory and offered a polite bow to Yohan.
Yohan's face was dark as he looked at Jinhyeok.
Jinhyeok had only been in the armory for about ten minutes.
How unsatisfied with the weapons must he have been to come out so quickly?
Yohan let out a sigh.
"I failed to consider the Hero's standards and let my enthusiasm get ahead of me. I have no excuse."
"Huh? No, not at all! I liked everything!"
Jinhyeok flashed double thumbs-up, and Yohan gave a sad smile.
They hadn't known each other long, but he was truly a warm person.
*Now I understand, Father.*
The late king had once said that a true Hero wasn't completed by martial prowess alone.
An unshakable sense of justice and an upright character that embraces others.
Only when all of these were present did one earn the right to be called a Hero.
In Yohan's eyes, Jinhyeok before him was exactly that.
Only ten minutes.
A time that clearly couldn't have been of any help.
Yet Jinhyeok had answered that way out of consideration for Yohan.
"Well then, I'll go take a look around the castle's structure."
Jinhyeok bowed once more and exited the armory.
Yohan's gaze lingered on Jinhyeok's empty hands.
Regardless of his consideration, it was still painful.
"Haa. These are works from master craftsmen I was proud of."
"Do not be too disheartened, Your Majesty. He is a Dragon Slayer, after all. It's only natural for an ordinary person to be unable to fathom his standards. It's difficult to catch the eye of such a being."
"Your words are correct, Roberto. I simply let my desire to be of even the slightest help get the better of me."
Yohan walked back into the armory.
Next time, he hoped that at least one weapon would catch the Hero's eye... Huh?
A moment after stepping into the armory.
King Yohan rubbed his eyes.
Was it because he hadn't gotten enough sleep due to Mortarion's invasion?
He was starting to see things.
"Roberto."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Come here for a moment."
"Yes."
Roberto carefully approached.
There was no need to ask why.
Following Yohan's gaze, Roberto's mouth fell wide open as he too became a stone statue.
The armory was completely empty, except for arrows and javelins.
*-I liked everything!-*
Jinhyeok's words before leaving echoed in Yohan and Roberto's minds.
It hadn't been said out of consideration.
He had genuinely liked them.
Every single one, without exception!
"Haha..."
Yohan let out a laugh.
He never dreamed this day would come.
The day he would feel relieved looking at an empty armory.
"What a relief. What a relief."
While Yohan, the king of Saintra, rejoiced from the bottom of his heart, Jinhyeok stood atop the walls of the capital city, Solaum, with a bright smile.
Thanks to the benevolent King Yohan, his bag had become very heavy.
"The sky is so beautiful!"
He wasn't the only one happy about the massive haul.
The greedy collector, Mohwang, was also smiling brightly, resting his chubby face in both hands.
He was even calling the sky, blackened by Mortarion's influence, beautiful.
That's how good his mood was, right?
Jinhyeok lowered his gaze and stared at the crown of Mohwang's head.
*As expected, Mohwang is a god.*
The Tower of Despair, with its rule that items could only be obtained through monster drops.
And a collector who casually trampled all over that rule.
No matter how he thought about it, it was an absurdly overpowered ability.
"Let's go, Mohwang. We're heading to Konu!"
"What's with this 'Mohwang'?!"
Instead of answering, Jinhyeok tucked Momo and Kancho under each arm.
68 hours until reaching the legendary necromancer Mortarion.
It had been four hours well spent.
[You are exiting the Tower of Despair's unique floor, 'Saintra's Last Siege'!]
* * *
Ihwa's makeshift forge on the 1st floor of the Tower of Despair.
*This... doesn't make sense.*
Ihwa stopped hammering and wiped away the pouring sweat.
It had been over ten hours since he started working.
At this point, he would normally be exhausted and ready to collapse.
But right now, he was full of energy.
The flint from the Romanak that Jinhyeok had given him earlier—the flames it produced were simply absurd.
[This is a flint forged over a thousand years! Due to the flame's effect, the user's fatigue is greatly reduced!]
[The health and strength stats of production-class users increase!]
[The durability of the work item permanently increases!]
[The power of the flame imbues the item! You gain a permanent weight reduction effect!]
Message windows piled up without pause as he swung his hammer.
All Ihwa had done was hammer away like usual.
Yet he was receiving all these various effects.
*The level and skill proficiency growth rate is insane too.*
Even though the effects came from the flint, they were recognized as the blacksmith's own capability.
The benefits were so good it felt almost unfair.
Grrrgle.
He wanted to keep hammering all night.
But he was about to starve to death.
He'd eat first and come back.
[You are exiting the 1st floor of the Tower of Despair!]
It was already past midnight, edging into early morning.
He carefully opened the door so as not to wake anyone.
"Huuuuh!!!"
He clamped his hand over his mouth.
He had almost screamed loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood.
In the pitch-black darkness.
Something was sprawled out on the wooden platform in the yard.
He pulled a hammer from his inventory and approached.
"Haaaa!"
Ihwa let out a sigh of relief when he recognized the face.
That had almost scared him to death.
Wait, this guy had definitely gone to Seoul during the day, so why was he sleeping here...
"Ah, shit!"
Startled, Ihwa stepped back.
When had he woken up?
Jinhyeok's eyes were wide open and alert.
"Ihwa. Even so, dropping an F-bomb..."
"What are you talking about? I didn't add 'head' at the end."
Ihwa patted his chest and sat down on the platform.
"Were you waiting this whole time?"
"I just got here. When you didn't come out, I took a nap."
Jinhyeok sat up groggily and pressed down on his messy bedhead.
"Question."
"Suddenly?!"
"I was looking at the Tower site and saw there's something called enhancement for production skills. Is it raising the level by feeding it similar-grade items?"
"Yeah. But it's not as simple as in games. For blacksmiths, you need to break down or melt the items and fuse them into the target weapon."
Ihwa shrugged.
"It's a skill that's rarely used anyway. Weapons worth enhancing are usually expensive. Instead of buying similar equipment to enhance, it's more common to level up more or save up money to buy higher-grade gear."
"I see. But if you have a surplus of similar items, it'd be a good choice."
"Right. But that's not likely to happen, is it? We're in an era where equipment is ridiculously scarce compared to the overflowing money."
"Come this way for a sec."
Ihwa tilted his head as he followed.
It hadn't even been a day since the Yeonsanghoe truck had come by.
The storage room they were heading to should be completely empty, so why?
Creak... Thud.
The reason became clear immediately.
As the door opened, his jaw dropped.
Even Ihwa, who had strong nerves, couldn't help but rub his eyes.
The storage room wasn't empty.
It was full.
Filled to the brim with equipment that glowed with a faint golden light.
"W-wait a minute."
Ihwa walked over in a daze and examined the weapons.
Then he turned to Jinhyeok with an incredulous expression.
"These... are all holy-type weapons?"
Holy-type weapons weren't as rare as dark-type, but they were still precious.
With supply far short of demand, they were popular items that sold the moment they hit the auction house.
But what was this?
This absurd quantity?
He quickly closed his mouth.
He had almost drooled.
Working with elemental equipment gave incomparable bonus experience and skill proficiency compared to normal equipment.
And the ones before him had high item levels too.
How could any blacksmith not covet this?
Even a billionaire with money to burn couldn't have an environment like this.
Jinhyeok approached.
"I was hoping you could make some more weapons. And also enhance the gun I asked for earlier. What I need—"
Jinhyeok showed him several images.
Swords, guns, chains, knuckles—all weapons.
"Don't you need armor?"
"Nope. Go all-in on attack power enhancement."
Ihwa pointed at the storage room.
"Using everything here...?"
"Yeah. Use it all."
"I can use it all? Really?!"
"Of course. That's why I brought it. But sorry—I asked you during the day too, and it hasn't even been a day..."
Grab!
Ihwa seized Jinhyeok's hand, his eyes sparkling intensely.
"Hyung. I'll worship you as a god."
"Suddenly calling me a god?"
"Hyung, you're just a god yourself. Seriously, thank you."
Ihwa had a long career as a blacksmith despite his age.
But even he couldn't fully imagine how much he would achieve with this equipment.
"I'll go eat and come back! I need to get into the Tower quickly! I'll contact you as soon as it's done!"
Jinhyeok waved at Ihwa as he dashed off.
He seemed to be in a hurry.
Jinhyeok scratched his head and left the storage room.
He had wanted to give him some compensation, but there was no time.
He'd treat him to something delicious later.
"Is the gun finished, nyang?!"
"Not yet. But it will be soon."
"I hope it's done quickly, nyang!"
"Tell me about it."
Kancho's trait, Clay Rides the Wind, which he gained when he evolved to Epic.
Since the power increases in proportion to the speed at which the clay flies, the gas gun has its limits.
"You'll need a lot of bullets too, right?"
"Yes, nyang! I can't make bullets with clay, nyang! I have to use Clay Filling on existing bullets, nyang!"
"Okay. Bullets are easy to find. I'll bring a mountain of them."
"Thangks, nyang!"
Jinhyeok walked toward the Shin dang tree with an excited Kancho.
The teleportation frog created by the Star Alchemist, Elia.
Every time he used it, he realized what an incredible invention it was.
Thanks to Dracan's eyeball, all the limitations the original frog had were gone.
He could now teleport to any location at any desired time.
"Boss. It's Torong, sir."
"Where?"
Jinhyeok turned his head to where Kancho was pointing.
It seemed his level had gone up—he was swinging an even larger farming tool than before.
"Is he eating properly?"
"I left some tasty food for him, so you don't need to worry, nyang."
"Oh? You take good care of Torong."
"Yes, nyang. I put it where he dug up the sweet potatoes, so he should have found it by now, nyang."
Jinhyeok swallowed dryly.
It felt less like taking care of him and more like paying the sweet potato tax.
"Master."
Renza manifested and immediately handed over the Yodle Compass and Lanzets' arm.
Even though it was frozen, it still wasn't a pleasant sight.
"The number stopped."
"Oh?"
Jinhyeok took the arm and compass, forgetting how grotesque it was.
Lanzets, who had been thoroughly beaten at Namsan Tower and fled.
He had been moving nonstop every single day.
Seeing that he had completely stopped, it seemed his journey had finally ended.
Jinhyeok stretched and stepped into the frog's mouth.
His friends were already gathered in the room prepared for tower climbing.
"Should we get going? Looks like our horse Lanzets arrived safely."
It was time to end it.
The long-standing grudge of the goblin Renza.
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T/N:
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