Chapter 105
[Title: Review (2)]
[Author: Magic Is Firepower]
[You all know I don't use that pansy-ass defensive magic.]
[Still, I did use this shield. Because our blue-chip newbie gave it to me.]
[This is just absurd.]
[I still can't believe this is a crafted item.]
[I'm uploading photos and a video, so take a look.]
[I guarantee it, the moment this goes public, hunters all over the world will flip out.]
[What am I supposed to do? Our newbie is seriously adorable.]
ㄴ Anon(555.555): Ugh, that's a little much.
ㄴ Pkkatju: (♿️♿️♿️ emote)
The post began with Magic Is Firepower's overexcited rant.
I let out a snort of laughter and scrolled down.
Below the body text were photos and a video that looked like they'd been taken firsthand.
The shield in the photo was drenched in monster blood, but it didn't have a single scratch on it.
I played the video next.
"Hm, so that's what the 40th-floor range looks like?"
The video showed Jeong Taeyeon climbing somewhere in the 40th-floor range.
The backdrop was a gigantic ship floating on the vast open sea.
There was nothing around them but an endless horizon.
Instead of a robe, Jeong Taeyeon was wearing a skin-tight tactical suit.
The tight suit made her chest stand out even more.
At a glance, it was an outfit that hardly looked like a mage's at all.
The two staffs in her hands were the only thing that still let her pass as a mage.
"So she really does fight holding two staffs..."
Maybe one day that would become the industry standard.
That future scared me a little.
[Stay sharp! They're coming!]
Inside the video, Jeong Taeyeon was fighting alongside her teammates.
The enemies were half-human, half-fish monsters.
Blub.
I could see the grotesque gills attached to their heads trembling.
[Damn fish bastards, they just won't die...!]
Jeong Taeyeon in the video spat out a curse and hurled a massive fireball into the air.
She was an A-rank fire mage.
A truly terrible matchup against water-attribute monsters.
Sure enough, the fireball didn't take the fish monsters down in one shot.
Once the flames cleared, the monsters charged in with spears.
At the same time, huge tentacles like octopus legs shot up around the ship.
The ship began lurching wildly as it was caught by the tentacles.
[Cut the tentacles first!]
At Jeong Taeyeon's command, the warriors rushed out and started swinging their swords.
The situation was hopeless, no matter who looked at it.
There wasn't much a fire-attribute mage could do against enemies like these.
[Guild Leader! This is too dangerous!]
One guild member yelled in panic.
Right then, Jeong Taeyeon shouted as if she'd made up her mind.
[Everyone, hold out a little longer!]
Jeong Taeyeon set down her staffs and pulled out the shield strapped to her back.
At the same time, she cast a spell.
Fierce flames began to wrap around her body.
[I'm going in!]
Jeong Taeyeon charged forward without hesitation.
I was speechless at the bizarre sight of a mage storming the front line.
[Kerrk!]
One half-human, half-fish monster thrust out a trident.
Clang!
The trident snapped with a metallic clang the moment it touched the shield.
[Die already!]
Jeong Taeyeon immediately smashed the merfolk's head with the edge of the shield.
Thwack!
The merfolk's head burst like a watermelon.
Jeong Taeyeon didn't stop there.
[Vice Guild Leader! Behind you!]
A shout came from one side.
A massive octopus tentacle rushed toward a burly-looking warrior.
The tentacle was bigger than a human body.
An attack that couldn't be dodged.
At that moment, Jeong Taeyeon slipped in between them like a flame.
Clang!
Jeong Taeyeon lifted her shield and blocked the tentacle.
Normally, that sight should have been impossible no matter how sturdy the shield was.
With that overwhelming mass and force, getting knocked far backward from the impact would have been the norm.
But the shield didn't budge, as if it were absorbing every bit of the impact.
Jeong Taeyeon wasn't pushed back even a single step.
[What are you doing! Cut the tentacles first, all of you!]
Instead, after rescuing the guild member, she swung the shield back and started cutting the tentacles apart.
Tentacle strands were sliced off by the shield's sharp edge.
The ship regained its freedom in no time.
"This... is a mage?"
There wasn't a mage-like trace anywhere in that sight.
It was like watching a berserker smash everything apart with nothing but a shield.
The video ended with her bringing the shield down on the last tentacle attacking the ship and chopping it off.
I stared blankly at the black screen for a moment.
"...It was kind of cool, though."
Suddenly, the thought I'd had back when I first trained Chohogi resurfaced.
Maybe I should learn a bit of close-quarters combat too.
The comment section had pretty much the same reaction.
ㄴDung Beetle: As expected, a sword suits you better than a staff.
ㄴPkkatju: (Not even human.)
ㄴRefrigerator: I still can't get used to it no matter how many times I watch her do that.
ㄴMagic Is Firepower: I keep saying it, but you guys should learn close combat too.
ㄴMagic Is Firepower: What are you supposed to do if an unexpected situation like this suddenly comes up and you can't use magic?
ㄴRefrigerator: Normally, people don't think, 'Magic isn't working? Then I guess I'll just beat it to death with my hands.'
ㄴAnon(222.222): Out of curiosity, how do you usually clear it? Do you always just charge in headfirst and beat it down like this?
ㄴMagic Is Firepower: It's just not efficient. It's not like I can't take them down with magic.
ㄴMagic Is Firepower: If I cast magic while fully buffed, I can still take them down, right? I've got teammates too.
ㄴMagic Is FirePower: Still, I did feel sorry toward our guild members lately. I felt like an incompetent team leader. I'm glad I finally have a way to contribute too.
"...Should I have made a sword instead of a shield?"
Her Strength stat was probably low too.
I was genuinely curious how she fought so well.
ㄴMagic Is Firepower: Anyway, you've seen how well it performs, right? It's good enough for a mage to beat monsters down with item power.
ㄴRefrigerator: No, I mean mages normally can't use it like that.
ㄴMagic Is Firepower: The durability is insane too. I fought like that and it didn't even get a scratch.
ㄴRefrigerator: Ugh, listen to what I'm saying.
Jeong Taeyeon couldn't hide her excitement as she replied directly to her own comment.
I smiled at the sight of that.
"Come on, though. Looks like the performance is good enough."
At that level, you could definitely say she was skilled in close combat.
Maybe she knew more about close combat than Uncle Jeong Manho did.
If someone like Jeong Taeyeon openly said she liked it that much, then I didn't need to worry about quality any further.
ㄴMagic Is Firepower: Hey, I want to buy one for every member of our guild. How many can you make? I'll pay whatever price you ask. I'm serious.
"Hm..."
I fell into thought after reading her last comment.
The Hwayeon Guild in Busan.
It was one of the biggest guilds in Korea.
Supplying shields to every guild member there?
As a businessman, there was no reason to turn down such a huge deal.
It was a total jackpot.
"But that's impossible...."
It was a grateful offer, but physically impossible.
At best, I could make three or four a day.
Crafting with the ring consumed a tremendous amount of my mana and stamina.
And the Bone Dragon's bones I used as material weren't infinite either.
"For one thing, I don't plan on mass-producing them."
My brand couldn't become some ordinary item anyone could own.
My goal was, above all else, to make the finest luxury item.
I was creating a symbol that would draw people's admiration.
It wasn't an item you could buy just because you had money.
A luxury brand that proved a person's status simply by owning it.
"I heard even a place called Rolls-Royce doesn't sell to just anyone."
Only those with the right qualifications could own my items.
Because it had to be an object of envy and admiration granted only to a carefully selected few.
The goal was to build a brand image that no one could replace.
The only exception to that rule would be people I knew.
In other words, the people from the mage gallery, my neighbor Jeong Manho, and finally the broker ajusshi.
However, the broker ajusshi flat-out refused, saying that even if he got something like this, he wouldn't know how to use it.
I'll make him something else later.
"I wonder if the showcase and launch preparations are going well?"
By now, the broker ajusshi was probably running around, fully understanding what I wanted.
I decided to trust the broker's ability and determination.
If I don't believe in him, as the boss, who would?
Meanwhile, after Jeong Taeyeon's post, other mages also started leaving their own opinions on the shield.
ㄴRefrigerator: I didn't go into the tower. Even if I did, I couldn't fight up close like that.
ㄴRefrigerator: Besides, I'm in America for a bit right now. I can't even enter the tower.
ㄴAnon(999.999): If you're in America, it must be warm right now since it's spring there. Because it's on the opposite side of the Earth.
ㄴRefrigerator: ?
ㄴDung Beetle: ?
ㄴMagic Is Firepower: ?
ㄴAnon(999.999): ?
ㄴRefrigerator: Anyway, you can't lend this shield to someone else, right?
ㄴRefrigerator: So I just analyzed the item a bit.
ㄴRefrigerator: The specs are obviously top-notch.
ㄴRefrigerator: The strange thing is that this shield has the exact same data waveform as a tower drop item.
ㄴRefrigerator: In other words, it's basically the same as being able to copy tower items exactly as they are.
ㄴRefrigerator: There'll probably be quite a few people who won't believe this is a crafted item? Can't be helped. It just means it's that amazing. Take it as a compliment.
"Come to think of it, Jang Incheol said the same thing too..."
A crafted item almost identical to a tower drop.
Maybe that would become the core concept of our brand.
I tucked that away in my head and kept reading the next comment.
ㄴDung Beetle: I wanted to take this and go clear a new floor right away too, but unfortunately I couldn't....
ㄴDung Beetle: As you know, if I try to go up to the next floor, I have to report it to the association and the government, get approval, and the whole process is way too complicated.
ㄴDung Beetle: So instead I went back to the 55th Floor, which I'd already cleared once. Figured I'd train a bit too.
ㄴDung Beetle: The performance was insane. I could just ignore a few boss patterns and charge straight in.
ㄴDung Beetle: Thanks to it, my teammates kept asking me where I got something like this, so I got an earful.
High praise from two A-rank hunters and the only S-rank mage.
I raised the corners of my mouth as I looked at the screen.
As I scrolled down, savoring each comment one by one,
I suddenly realized that one person had been quiet.
"Come to think of it, Pkkatju hasn't said anything?"
She definitely would have received a shield too, but there was no review at all.
Had she climbed the tower with her party too?
After thinking it over, I decided to ask her.