Chapter 5
1.
I immediately got up and headed for my room.
Let's think about this simply.
The equipment compatibility visible only to me, and my ability to arbitrarily replace someone's equipment and check it.
Then, based on this, I could craft equipment suited to Doloris….
“No.”
I didn't think I could just whip up equipment suited to her in an instant.
What the hell did I know about equipment? This was the first time I'd ever done anything like this.
If there was one thing I'd learned in grad school, it was that you couldn't be good at anything right off the bat.
But it didn't have to be perfect, right?
If I could make equipment that was at least better than what she had now.
Doloris's glove compatibility was currently 1.1. Wouldn't it be strange if I couldn't raise it above that?
“Doloris will notice, right?”
If it was equipment that was even slightly better.
Wouldn't she know the moment she put it on?
I brought up the status window again.
For a while now, the wording beneath her gloves had been bothering me.
─────────────────
[Gorgone's White Glove][★★★★★]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility: 1.1 / 100 / Extremely Poisonous]
[The cooling effect is suppressing the progression of Nine-Yin Blocked Meridians.]
[However, the wearer's yin energy and the equipment's yin energy interlock and amplify each other, causing the permanent closure of seven of the nine channels in Nine-Yin Blocked Meridians to progress.]
─────────────────
『The best treatment is to freeze the injured area.』
- Great Sage Gorgone -
─────────────────
‘The best treatment is to freeze the injured area….’
So I guessed these gloves were basically keeping her in cryogenic stasis, preventing her condition from getting worse.
It could also be a way of buying time until a treatment was found.
The problem was that although it appeared to be stopping the freezing from progressing….
It meant her yin energy was accumulating inside, bringing about permanent closure.
She just didn't know because all her sensations were frozen.
“Good.”
I slowly nodded.
Equipment that thawed the freezing, or that was compatible with her.
That alone would let Doloris feel something for the first time.
That could serve as evidence.
Then it was time to change classes to blacksmith.
I'd made up my mind and settled on a direction.
So what should I do next?
“Yuna? How to become a blacksmith even a beginner can. Quickly.”
Read a reference book right away.
Because I had an excellent professor.
What she'd shown me earlier had just been bait.
[I'll show you four recommended resources~]
Then several instructional materials Yuna presented appeared before my eyes.
[🔒] [An Introductory Guide to Equipment Crafting by the Fairy Race]
[🔒] [Frostfang Tribe's Cold-Attribute Equipment Crafting (Private Oral Tradition Commentary Edition)]
[🔒] [The Sun Dwarves' Blacksmithing Manual Containing Their Racial Secret Art]
[🔒] [■Λb■y■■s5■]
There was one difference from the posts I'd seen so far. Every one of them had a lock emoji at the very beginning.
“What's with the lock?”
[These are traditional materials posted on the community by the Inner Tower residents who have lived in the Tower from the beginning.]
[They can't be viewed by anyone except those with racial verification or authorized people.]
“Then I can't see them, can I?”
I was Korean.
Well, if I wanted to get technical, I was descended from Hwanung, so I was somewhat removed from dwarves anyway.
Wait a minute.
But it didn't seem like she'd put something I couldn't view on the recommended list for no reason.
“Hey, you wouldn't happen to…?”
[😏]
Oh, there it was.
That infuriating face.
[Hehe, that's me.]
[🔑] Fairy Race's Introductory Guide to Equipment Crafting
[🔑] Frostfang Tribe's Cold-Attribute Equipment Crafting (Private Oral Tradition Commentary Edition)
[🔑] Sun Dwarves' Blacksmithing Manual Containing Their Racial Secret Art
[🔑] ■Λb■y■■s5■
All the lock emojis had changed into key emojis.
So that meant they'd been unlocked, right?
“It works….”
I suddenly realized why I'd lost my job.
Yuna was incredibly capable.
It was just surprising that it worked even in another world.
Anyway, now I had to choose.
First, the fairy race.
Second, the Frostfang Tribe.
Third, the Sun Dwarves.
Fourth, what the hell is that?
I opened the fourth document first, but the document was plastered with a black screen.
It felt really ominous. The whole screen was black, so it was probably an error.
[Λbys5]
There was one strange word in the middle, though.
For now, skip this one.
“The second one, then….”
It seemed like it would be a rejection.
Since my current problem seemed to be caused by yin energy in the first place.
It wasn't that I was trying to slander the Frostfang Tribe, whom I didn't even know, but it seemed rather far from the direction I wanted.
In that sense…?
“Do you know anything about the Sun Dwarves?”
The name alone sounded warm. I liked the feel of it.
[I'll crawl for the keyword "Sun Dwarf."]
A little later, what caught my eye was a title that looked rather desperate.
[Title: Fuck, Is This Dwarf Enchanting Rigged or What?]
[Author: ㅇㅇ]
Why me? Why me? Why me?
Everyone else gets to 19 stars with a few clicks, so why do I keep blowing up in a row?
Why am I the only one getting destroyed? I spent four times the expected value.
I did the quests too, I killed the goblins too, I did everything.
I lived a good life.
ㅇㅇ: I got there on my first try
ㄴ ㅇㅇ 1: You fucking asshole
ㄴ ㅇㅇ: Not everyone can be lucky. You are the guardian of balance.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ 1: (An emoji going “Huh…”)
The reactions were anything but normal.
Skimming through several posts, I found one common thread.
'Enchanters are dopamine; equipment is boring.'
Dwarves have two branches.
One is enchanting, which enhances equipment, and the other is blacksmithing, which creates it.
Enchanting seemed to be the more popular of the two. In the past, dwarven equipment had been regarded as something you could use with confidence.
Apparently, that wasn't the case anymore.
They called themselves blacksmiths, but supposedly used mass-produced machines, so perhaps that was why the quality had dropped so much.
Not bad, but more like decently usable?
ㅇㅇ3: Look at the odds
ㄴ ㅇㅇ 1: Is there seriously no way to get an actual piece of equipment? Not mass-produced crap, fuck
ㄴ ㅇㅇ3: There are no dwarves who make them. Yep.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ 1: (An emoji going “Huh…”)
Apparently, there really were blacksmiths who very occasionally hammered out equipment themselves.
To obtain equipment from one of them, apparently you'd have to save their life or something.
Most dwarves seemed absorbed in enchanting. It felt as if only mass-produced equipment made it onto the market.
In the end, dwarves were….
“They must be pretty valuable.”
In other words, they seemed to be a race that was both popular and highly prestigious.
The problem was that there were hardly any blacksmiths left.
“I guess I'll go with this, for now.”
The name suited my purpose, and their skill seemed certain too.
I wasn't sure whether I could get away with peeking at a manual containing the secrets of their race.
Still.
If I could listen in and chose not to, that would be rude too.
- Click.
“Let's go.”
I opened the post whose lock had been removed.
2.
The Inner Tower, Floor 89.
A land where lava flowed.
Ricardo, Great Chief of the Sun Dwarves.
He sat alone upon the throne.
Since the Outer Tower had opened, his race had been enjoying its greatest golden age. Demand was overflowing, and their fame had risen.
But there was one problem.
“Why in the world do they refuse to walk the path of the descendants of fire…?”
Dwarves had two paths.
Blacksmiths, and enchanters.
Those who made equipment, and those who enhanced it.
Among them, those who passed the trials handed down by their ancestors were called elite blacksmiths, the descendants of fire.
The difficulty of becoming a descendant of fire was overwhelmingly high.
However, ever since the Outer Tower opened, climbers' demand had tilted toward enchanters.
Demand for blacksmiths had also increased. But not a single person who passed the trials and called themselves a descendant of fire had appeared.
From the perspective of young dwarves, there was absolutely no reason to hammer iron in front of a blazing furnace and pass trials,
when they could choose enchanters, who enjoyed wealth with nothing but click-click-clicks, or ordinary blacksmiths, who could make a living by merely running a decent equipment-making machine.
Even ordinary-grade Sun Dwarf technology was well-regarded enough in the Outer Tower.
[🔑] The Sun Dwarves' Basic Blacksmithing Manual Containing Their Racial Secret Art
To open this manual handed down from their ancestors, one had to complete the 100 ordeals imposed by those ancestors.
Anyone could become an enchanter simply by being a dwarf, without undergoing any ordeals.
Even an ordinary blacksmith could make plenty of money.
Who would deliberately ram their head into the path of the descendants of fire?
In the end, not a single young dwarf had opened this manual in recent years.
Dwarves who had abandoned the path of elite blacksmithing.
They were all that remained—the so-called elite-path dropouts.
Ricardo closed his eyes.
“Back in my day….”
While entertaining that old-fashioned thought.
If there was one consolation, it was perhaps that the situation of the fairy race and the Frostfang Tribe wasn't much different.
This was when he was mulling over how the descendants of fire, once envied by everyone, had fallen so far.
- Rumble….
The Sun Dwarves' furnace began to boil.
Ricardo's eyes slowly opened.
“What…?”
This reaction occurred in only one case.
When the manual was opened for the first time by someone who had newly entered the path of the descendants of fire.
In other words.
Someone had opened the manual just now. A new descendant of fire had appeared.
Ricardo rose from the throne.
“Find them.”
The low voice he muttered soon became a thunderous roar.
“Hurry, right now! Bring me this promising young person!!”
Ricardo shouted loudly.
The lava was probably seething too.
3.
I studied the blacksmithing manual for several days.
Several days out of a week was a considerable number, admittedly.
Because I thought I needed to devote that much effort to this.
However.
My foolish mistake was….
That I had thought the blacksmithing manual of this world—in other words,
making equipment—would be far too easy.
No, I'll be honest.
I never thought it would be easy. I went in prepared, in my own way.
“……I think I'm going to die.”
I simply hadn't been prepared enough.
It's too hard.
Where are the machines? I want to make mass-produced equipment too.
For starters, the introduction itself made no sense.
[A 100-KILOGRAM HAMMER IS ESSENTIAL. Having completed the ordeals, you should have no trouble with it.]
Fuck this.
The problem was that the “you” in “having completed the ordeals” wasn't me.
What I learned while studying was that this manual wasn't for ordinary blacksmiths.
It was for elite blacksmiths who had passed the worst trials among blacksmiths.
Descendants of fire.
It was a manual for them.
In other words, it was for blacksmiths who personally hammered away at the scarce hammers that existed in the first place.
And even among them, it seemed to be an advanced profession rarer and treated almost like a legend.
“Descendants of fire….”
The name alone was grandiose. No wonder the difficulty had seemed bizarre.
Fortunately, the hammer was recommended, not mandatory.
If it hadn't been merely recommended, I would have opened the fairy document immediately.
The first page of the manual was spectacular.
Greatswords, plate armor, enchanted shields….
I skipped every single one.
[Metallurgy]
Because these were all sections on metallurgy—working iron by melting it at high temperatures—
and I was in a position where I had to sneak around to pick up even rocks, let alone iron.
So.
What I eventually settled on was.
[Leatherworking]
The section's.
“Insulated gloves.”
This.
In other words, somewhat warm gloves made of leather.
With these, the materials were simple and the process was uncomplicated.
Above all.
Doloris's constitution was aligned with cold.
So conversely, if it were equipment that held warmth, wouldn't its compatibility rise even a little?
The list of materials was simple too.
Leather was even easy to obtain.
“Wild animal hide?”
This was a livestock shed.
When I approached the instructor and said, “I need hide for magical materials,” he readily gave me permission.
Doloris's convenience extended even to things like this.
Thanks to that, I obtained a workspace in one corner of the livestock shed.
Though calling it a workspace was generous: it consisted of one bucket, one scraper, and a single plank.
So, once again.
The reason I had thought I was going to die earlier.
What I was doing now was….
“Huff… huff….”
Washing rawhide, that was.
In other words, tanning.
Scraping fat and flesh from livestock hide, soaking it in water, then scraping it again.
The manual said, “Rub it with all your devotion,” but.
If devotion could solve everything, there'd be nothing in the world you couldn't do.
“I think I'm going to die….”
This wasn't a joke; my forearms were trembling.
The fact that this body was a little kid's to begin with was already a problem.
On top of that, the size of the spotted cow was ridiculous.
Naturally, a larger animal meant larger hide.
It was large enough to cover the entire workshop floor.
At this point, with no detailed information on tanning….
Was it really right to be doing this without any technique?
I'm absolutely not trying to take a shortcut just because I don't want to do all of this.
- Clap clap.
I wiped away the sweat pouring off me and clapped twice.
“Yuna?”
Tell me a pro tip for tanning.
This must be why humanity lost its jobs.
If I live like this a little longer, I think I'll become a finger princess.
[…….]
For a moment, Yuna seemed to look at me with pity.
See? This is an AI? I can't believe it.
[Hmm… but I didn't give you just one book….]
[How about taking a look at the fairy race's leather-softening method?]
The unlocked fairy document appeared before me.
I had only chosen the Sun Dwarf manual earlier; I had never said I wouldn't read the others.
“Oh, open it.”
I'd unlocked them all anyway.
Nothing bad would happen.
[Apparently, because of their small statures, they developed softening methods using natural materials?]
What?
No, then that's exactly me.
Weak and small.
I immediately read the document… and, as I summarized it, it went like this.
One, pound oak leaves and extract the juice.
Two, dilute the juice in water and soak the hide overnight.
Three. When you take it out the next day, the grease has separated.
“…That's it?”
[The tannins in the leaves relax the leather fibers.]
[It can replace the dwarven tanning process. To some extent.]
In other words, all I had to do was leave it soaking overnight, and it would be clean by morning.
The dwarven equipment-crafting and equipment-description sections were extremely detailed,
but the tanning section had been rather unhelpfully vague… so what if I replaced just that part with the fairy method?
This was way too good.
‘That's how academic papers are written too.’
I remembered something a graduate-school senior had once said.
He said the key was to appropriately cite other people's research and reinterpret it in your own way.
At the time, I had been quite arrogant and hated hearing that, but now I understood it to some extent.
We'll go with a mixed soup.
“Oak… oak….”
Honestly, I knew nothing about plants,
so I trusted Yuna's knowledge and headed toward the mountain behind the orphanage.
“This one?”
[That's a pine tree.]
“This one?”
[You idiot, big brother, that's a paulownia.]
Sorry, but how exactly was I supposed to know that?
Ha, damn it, it looks like it should be around here somewhere.
Then.
“Hey, this is it. Definitely this one.”
I approached it, comparing it with the picture Yuna had put on the screen.
No matter how I looked at it, it was an oak tree.
[Oh?]
[Correct hehe]
I immediately picked a handful of leaves.
According to the manual, I needed twenty leaves per hide.
I had no intention of doing this halfway.
Whatever I did, I made it perfect. That was my principle.
There was no need to compare myself with others; if I got 100 points, I was in first place.
Of course, that conviction had been shattered by those bastards who weren't human enough to score 110 or 200 points.
They say you never know where life will take you.
I just never thought it would take me this far.
I returned to the workspace in the livestock shed.
I filled the bucket with water and crushed the leaves with a rock to extract their juice. According to the manual, I was supposed to dilute this juice in water and soak the hide overnight.
- Splash.
The hide sank into the mossy water.
“…Is that it?”
I could check the result tomorrow morning.
I slumped down beside the bucket.
I'd done everything I needed to. That was enough for today.
When I leaned my back against the wall, my whole body finally began to ache.
It felt like the rebound from shoveling leather instead of dirt was finally catching up with me.
“…Let's sleep for now.”
My eyes closed.
In my experience, following a book's instructions usually got most things done.
…If it didn't.
I'd think about it then.
I believed in the power of books.
I had almost spent the entire day rubbing leather….
All I could do was offer my thanks to the fairies who had written a book like this.
4.
Meanwhile.
Floor 19, the great jungle.
The very heart of the Fairy Silver Forest.
Great Chief Erien sat atop the roots of an ancient tree.
For the record, she was also picking at her nails.
A scout kneeling before her lowered his head.
“…The investigation, what were the results? Where is the promising successor who opened the ancestors' record?”
His voice was trembling.
It was understandable.
The fairy race's circumstances were no different from the dwarves'.
If anything, they were worse.
If dwarves were famous for equipment, fairies were famous for accessories and gemcrafting.
But being famous and being in good shape were two different matters.
Once every few decades, the fairy race had to perform a ritual for the World Tree of the great jungle.
In order to receive the World Tree's blessings of prosperity and abundance.
The ritual absolutely required a jewel that only an elite artisan could produce.
A person who opened the ancestors' record and passed the trials.
Jewels made by elite artisans called the Children of the Forest.
The problem was that there were currently only three Children of the Forest.
Their long lifespans had been their downfall: they had let their guard down.
Since they lived so long, they believed someone would always be there to hold the position.
By the time they realized that complacency had been a mistake, it was already too late.
Before they knew it, the number of fairies who crafted accessories had dwindled considerably.
All three were old masters with backs bent as far as they could bend. They had no disciples, and the upcoming ritual was fast approaching.
They were a far cry from Children of the Forest. Forest elders, more like.
In the end, they needed jewels for the ritual, but they couldn't get in touch with anyone.
They had no way of knowing whether they were dead or alive. Bluntly put, they weren't exactly in any shape to come running just because there was a ritual.
People acted when they felt like it.
She had been fretting helplessly when… good news arrived.
The moment Erien received the report that someone had opened the ancestors' record, she rose from her throne.
Some young fairy had opened it.
How could she not go find them? She was so proud she could burst.
They had to raise them.
To survive, they had no other choice.
“We’ve pinpointed the reader's location.”
Erien leaned forward.
“Where is it?”
“…The Outer Tower.”
“The Outer Tower…?”
Erien's lips trembled faintly.
If it was the Outer Tower, they couldn't abduct—no, retrieve them.
Was this person even a fairy? Was it really one of the fairy race…?
…….
Erien fainted.