Overgeared

by Park Saenal

  The men disregarded Khan’s question and talked among themselves. Then they asked Khan again.

  “Is the Mero Company the only organization involved in the item production game? Is there any chance of other organizations being involved?”

  “Cough!”

  Displeasure appeared on Khan’s face. He had been friendly because they were young boys of a similar age to his son, but they ignored his questions and only cared about themselves. The men didn’t care at all about Khan. Rather, they began to talk over Khan.

  “Why aren’t you answering? If you know anything, shouldn’t you tell me? It is better if you don’t waste our time.”

  It was like a threat.

  How funny.

  This was Khan’s smithy. These people were guests. They weren’t in the position to question Khan. Then what was with their attitude?

  They were talking down to Khan, who was similar to their grandfathers. They were ignoring Khan because he was an NPC. In fact, this wasn’t unusual among users. Certainly, NPCs weren’t human. They were just part of the system program, artificial intelligences.

  But I knew. Despite being artificially made, Khan had his own memories and feelings. He could feel anger and hopelessness. He could cry when sad and laugh when happy. He was someone I could count on. And sometimes he missed his dead son.

  So I was angry at those who treated Khan casually. “Hey, you over there, what is with your attitude? What right do you have to threaten Khan? Eh?”

  They looked me up and down and laughed as they saw my dirty clothes and old blacksmith hammer.

  “Who is this? When did he get here?”

  What? Why were they speaking impolitely when I wasn’t an NPC?

  “When did I get here? I am obviously an employee here. Why are you so arrogant when entering someone else’s business? Huh? Is this your business?”

  “Arrogant? Don’t make me laugh. We just want cooperation.”

  “Is that the attitude of someone seeking cooperation?”

  “Hah… should we have visited with orange juice?”

  I really hated people like this. Looking at their equipment, they seemed to be rankers close to level 200. However, I couldn’t help being honest when seeing their expressions.

  His companion started mediation. “You shouldn’t get so heated up against a beginner.”

  “Sigh, okay. I have to calm down. Damn, my nerves are irritated after Faker was attacked. Hey, beginner blacksmith, we are looking for the woman. We are in a hurry to find her so we were inadvertently rude to the NPC. It was a mistake. I’m sorry. Is it okay now? So please move out of the way.”

  “You should apologize to Khan, not me.”

  “……”

  They started ignoring me. They asked Khan once again.

  “Khan, answer me. Do you know if Erina is associated with any organizations besides the Mero Company?”

  Was he worried that I would get hurt? Khan hid me behind his back and replied.

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 56

  “I don’t know. I only met her when we competed in the game, so how could I know so much about her?”

  “Didn’t you team up with your successor and participated in the fight? He also didn’t notice anything about Erina?”

  “Yes.”

  These guys couldn’t even guess that I was Khan’s successor. Maybe it was because I looked like a beginner, as no one would think that the successor of the prestigious blacksmith Khan would be a beginner.

  “…Sheesh.” Whether it was because they were irritated at not gaining anything, or because he was an NPC, the men left without saying goodbye to Khan.

  I pulled out salt from my inventory and sprinkled it in front of the smithy.

  “Phew, unlucky bastards. Don’t come back again.”

  Khan scratched his head as he looked at me. “Shouldn’t you be sprinkling coarse salt?”

  “…Ah, is that so? Hum hum, let’s go back to work.”

  As I turned back to the furnace, Khan opened his mouth and asked, “Are you going to work today without resting?”

  “Of course.”

  “The more I look, the more I feel admiration. You already have excellent skills, but you aren’t satisfied and you keep working hard…”

  Excellent skills… If my skills were really excellent, I would’ve created a unique and legendary rated item among the 73 items that I made. But not only did a unique rating not emerge, I only made three epic rated items.

  I was still lacking. I needed to raise my skill level further. I would make a lot of money and show my parents.

  ‘I need to be quickly recognized by my parents…’

  The fact that I had less time to play the game was a big problem.

  Ttang! Ttang!

  As I concentrated on making the items, Khan sat at the counter and sold the items I made to the customers. It was a very desirable system; other users would go green in envy if they saw this.

  Why? There were three ways that ordinary users could sell items to other users:

  Firstly – they could open up a street stall and sell them to users directly.

  Secondly – they could sell items at the auction site.

  Thirdly, they could post the items to be sold on a cash transaction site.

  In the first case, a lot of time could be wasted waiting for customers to come. In addition, bargaining with the customers was frequent and could be stressful. The second and third options saved time but there were high fees involved.

  In other words, it meant that a normal user had to take time and money to sell the items. But I was different. Khan sold the items on my behalf, saving me time. He also didn’t charge me a sales commission.

  I just needed to make the items, while Khan sold them and gave the proceeds back to me. If I steadily made money by producing more than two items a day, I would surely become rich someday…

  “…I’m still waiting! This is rotten. No, shit. Does this make sense? I am a legendary class so why can’t I make a legendary item?”

  On that day, the S.A. Group Headquater’s operations team received an email.

  Title: Look and you will see.

  Contents: If you look at my information, you can see that I’m a legendary blacksmith. So why can’t I make any legendary items? If I am a legendary blacksmith, isn’t it normal for me to be able to make a legendary item? No, I didn’t do anything else for a month and made 73 items, but there were no legendary items at all. Yes? I didn’t create a single unique item and only made three epic items, so isn’t this manipulation? Yes? You are probably manipulating this right? Huh? Right? Ah, look. This is really X. Do you want me to snap? Should I go there? Eh? The materials and production method are good, so isn’t this manipulation, you #~!$@.

  The employee who checked the email thought it was absurd.

  “What manipulation… First he should raise the level…”

  Level 10 users and level 100 users. Assuming that both of them had the same dexterity stat and skill level, a level 100 user was more likely to produce a higher rated item than the level 10 user.

  In other words, the higher the level of the maker, the better the item. This was common sense among users with production classes. However, this wasn’t known by the user who obtained a legendary class.

  The employees sighed as a group.

  “It is painful to see that great class…”

  Then someone said. “If the contents of the email aren’t false, he really is an unlucky person. With the Legendary Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship Skill, he only made 3 epic items out of 73? Unique and legendary items are unlikely because their probabilities are low, but there is a fixed probability of creating an epic item. Looking at this, doesn’t he really seem cursed?”

  All the employees were sympathetic.

  “He really is a person with bad luck…”

  “No wonder why he feels doubts about manipulation…”

  “If it is really possible to intervene, I woul
d like to increase his chances of making higher rated items.”

  From that day onwards, Grid became famous for his bad luck among the game operators.

  ***

  The 73 items I made were weapons and armor with a level 60 limit. The total sales amount was 1,590 gold, with a net profit of 1,079 gold. This was equivalent to exactly 1,294,800 won when converted to cash.

  The game, which I played for 5~6 hours a day, earned me around 1.3 million won a month. If I quit going to the labor office, I would be able to make three times as much money. In addition, if I was fortunate enough to make a unique or legendary item, I could earn tens of millions of won.

  However, my parents didn’t agree, as they knew that the number of people who made money from the game was very low. Furthermore, I had been playing for over a year, and yet I still couldn’t escape my debt.

  That’s right. In society and in my home, I was treated as someone with bad credit. My parents overlapped with the first and second financial institutions that rejected me.

  ‘Should I sell the Ideal Dagger? No, no. It isn’t time yet.’

  I could sell the Ideal Dagger as a means of proving to my parents that I could make money through Satisfy. But I couldn’t sell the Ideal Dagger. The reason for this was the terms of use for the Ideal Dagger.

  In order to meet the Ideal Dagger’s usage conditions, the passive skill called Advanced Dagger Mastery was needed. But at the moment, the top rankers of each class only had intermediate level skills.

  If I put up the Ideal Dagger on the trading site in this situation, only the merchants thinking of future profits would flock to it. Therefore, the merchants were likely to bid at the cheapest price possible and it was likely that the dagger would be sold at an unsatisfactory price. I had to hold onto the Ideal Dagger for the moment.

  It was four in the morning. I reached the end of my limit at the thought of going to the labor office.

  “Do I have to live like this forever…”

  Four in the morning was when most people would still be dreaming. But I had to work until 6 p.m. just for 90,000 won per day, while my body suffered. I could endure it if it was my only way of making money like before, but now it was different!

  I was able to make more money from playing the game than doing labor work, so going to the labor office was just a waste of time!

  “Shit…I want a unique or legendary item. Or if I make a lot of epic items, it will help persuade my parents that I am making a profit… Urgh, dammit. I feel angry as soon as I open my eyes. It can’t be helped. I should get some cold air. Huh? This…”

  As I was exiting my front door to go on a walk around the neighborhood, I saw a flyer sticking out from the newspaper.

  [September 10th! The long-awaited opening!

  The best capsule room is open!

  There are 150 top of the line capsules!

  It is fully equipped with cafe facilities.

  Delicious food cooked by a 5 star hotel chef.

  A feast of beauties and handsome workers!

  * Please don’t ask for the employee’ telephone numbers.

  On September 10th, for just one day! Any customers who sign up will receive a 30% discount on the capsule room fee for a lifetime!]

  Heok… a lifetime discount on a capsule room? The capsule room was 6,000 won per hour. If it was a 30% discount…

  “This is it!” I got a good idea.

  “Okay!”

  I headed back to my room. I changed into my work clothes and opened the door.

  “Huh? Your work clothes? Are you going to work already? Isn’t it only 4.10 a.m?” My puzzled mother asked and I vigorously nodded.

  “That’s right! I am going work! Hahahahaha!”

  “… Why are you so full of energy in the morning?”

  “Puhahaha! Of course! I am young and overflowing with energy. Then Mother, Father! I will go to work early this time! Puhahahahat!”

  “Youngwoo, are you sick or something…?”

  “Yes… I am worried…”

  I left the house while my parents felt worried. Today was September 10th! I looked for the newly opened capsule room. The colorful banners hung outside a building to announce the opening of the capsule room.

  “This will be my job starting from today. Puhahahahat!”

  Yes, I was going to quit the labor jobs today. Now I would play Satisfy from the moment I got up to when I fell asleep. I would spend the morning and afternoon in the capsule room. Then I would play at home at night.

  “Now I can work harder to make items. Puhahahat!”

  ***

  Recently, Khan’s smithy was a great source of interest for users.

  Among the items sold at Khan’s smithy, there were level 60 equipment made by a craftsman with great talent and potential, but lacking in experience and reputation. His equipment had an almost 20% better performance than normal items. Even the normal rated items were comparable to rare rated equipment at the same level.

  The users called this the ‘Unknown Craftsman Series’ and it was very popular. The performance was good but the price was rather expensive. However, money wasn’t a problem. They couldn’t live without this equipment.

  The users entered Khan’s smithy on a daily basis.

  “Did the unknown craftsman make any more items?”

  “I will buy any items he made! I will pay however much you want, so please sell it to me!”

  “Give me his name. I personally want to ask him to make me an item. Yes? Where can I meet him?”

  The users wanted to have items made by the unknown craftsman, or they were curious about his identity.

  But Khan never replied.

  Grid always made a limited number of items due to time restrictions, and he didn’t want others to know his identity.

  Ttang! Ttang!

  The crowd at the counter never imagined that the beginner user hammering at the furnace behind Khan would be the one they were looking for.

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 57

  During the time I worked at the labor office, I played Satisfy for an average of five to six hours a day. But that changed after I changed to the capsule room. My play time increased by around 10 hours, and now I was connected to Satisfy more than 15 hours a day on average.

  Thanks to that, I could produce double the number of items a day.

  [The Legendary Blacksmith’s Breath has increased the effectiveness of your production items.]

  [Legendary Blacksmith’s Breath]

  Lv. 2

  When you are concentrating on making an item, the will of Pagma’s Descendant will fill the production item.

  All stats of a production item will increase by 7%.

  There is a rare chance of giving special features to your production items.

  “Please give me legendary this time…”

  Currently, I was producing a plate armor with a level limit of 120, based on a newly acquired production method. The value of the materials used was a huge 483 gold! This was one fifth of all my assets. It was the most expensive item I’d made so far.

  I invested a lot of money, but was worried it would turn out to be a normal item, so I spent 20 hours making it.

  “…Yes, I’m honestly not hoping for a legendary rated item. But at least give me unique. Please…”

  I was a legendary blacksmith, so I needed some hope! I fervently joined together the last sheet of iron. Then the armor was completed.

  [Very Delicate Plate Armor]

  Rating: Epic

  Durability: 272/272 Defense: 303 Movement Speed: -6%

  * There is a small chance of completely defending against stab attacks.

  An armour made by a craftsman with great skills and potential, but lacks experience and reputation.

  By applying thinly refined steel plates in two layers, defense and movement has increased.

  User Restriction: Level 120 or higher. More than 380 strength.

  More than 400 stamina. Intermediate Heavy A
rmor Mastery.

  [An epic rated item was produced, so all stats have permanently risen by +4 and reputation throughout the continent has risen by +80.]

  “Dammit!”

  It was an epic item. I was glad that it wasn’t a normal or rare item, but it wasn’t satisfying, considering the amount of time and effort I invested. With thinking about the raw materials value and the capsule fee, there wasn’t much profit.

  Khan didn’t know my thoughts and praised me.

  “Did you really make this armor using the method I gave you? Why did it turn out so differently despite using the same method? You’re truly amazing!”

  “Phew… how much can I get for this?”

  I asked without expecting much. Then Khan said something incredible. “Hrmm… honestly, it is hard to measure the exact price. But one thing is clear. You can get a higher price auctioning this to the knights rather than selling it at the smithy.”

  “Eh?”

  Auction it off to the knights? The fact that NPC knights were buying items at an auction was amazing. But I was surprised at the idea of selling level 120 armor to at least level 180 knights.

  Khan explained.

  “A month ago, I witnessed and admired the knights’ armor at the procession for the newly appointed lady. I could see that there is a great blacksmith at Frontier. But now that I’ve seen your work, it is much better than the work from Frontier’s blacksmith. Haha, it’s only natural, since you’re Pagma’s Descendant.”

  Oh…my armor’s performance was good enough to appeal to level 180+ knights? Indeed, I had the Legendary Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship Skill and the Legendary Blacksmith’s Breath. They raised the item stats by 12% and 7% respectively. It might be an epic rating, but the performance of this Very Delicate Plate Armor was equivalent to a level 180 normal or rare armor.

  ‘There is an added option thanks to the breath skill.’

  I asked about the most important part. “If my item is bought at the auction, what’s the fee I’ll have to pay?”

  “The proceeds for the knights’ auction is from the castle. It is organized in the name of the lady. Nobles have high pride, so they aren’t aiming for personal gain. There is no fee at all.”