By mid-afternoon, word had spread. In the chaotic "General Chat" of the Windswept Outpost, a rumor was flying about a "back-alley forge" that was selling common-tier gear that outperformed the corporate blue-tier items.
A line began to form outside the Hearth of the Hidden Flame.
Si-woo stayed in the shadows of the rear forge. He wasn't interested in the fame or the gold; he was watching the way his friends were working. Hana wasn't looking at her progress bar anymore; she was watching the sparks. Mina was mixing her washes by the scent of the herbs, not the timer on her UI. They were learning that the "truth" of the world wasn't a secret—it was just a higher standard of quality.
"Next!" Jin-Ho shouted, acting as the front-of-house manager.
A group of three players in matching Azure Heaven liveries stepped up to the counter. They looked embarrassed. One of them was a scout Si-woo recognized—not Kael, but one of the others from the earlier confrontation.
"We need fifty sets of the Mist-Water Coating," the lead scout said, refusing to make eye contact with Hana. "And twenty-four of those reinforced arrowheads. We'll pay double the market rate."
Hana folded her arms. "I thought Azure Heaven had its own master smiths. Why come to a 'glitch' in a basement?"
The scout sighed. "The master smiths are back in the capital. Our local supply got hit by a corruption-rot we weren't prepared for. Half our arrows are snapping mid-air. We need gear that holds up, and the word is... well, the word is you guys know what you're doing."
Si-woo walked forward, wiping his hands on a rag. The scouts tensed up, remembering the "Level 5" who had talked down to their Elder.
"We'll sell to you," Si-woo said, his voice casual and modern. "Standard price. We don't price-gouge during a world event. But I want one thing in exchange."
"What?" the scout asked defensively.
"Information," Si-woo said. "I want to know what your vanguard is seeing at the base of the Forbidden Peaks. What color is the ground? And is the 'rot' moving in a pattern, or is it just spreading?"
The scouts looked at each other. It was a strange request, but a cheap one. "The ground is turning a dark violet. And it's not spreading—it's pulsing. Like a heart. Every time the light in the sky flashes, the corruption grows by another ten meters."
Si-woo nodded. "Take your gear. And tell your team to watch their breathing when they hit the ten-meter mark. The air there isn't just thin; it's heavy."