by Park Saenal
“That’s right…”
“Yes. You should know that there are no eternal allies. But think about it. Will you live for eternity?”
“Well…”
What nonsense was this? The confused Pon then suddenly thought of something, and his eyes widened. Lauel placed his hand on his forehead and let out a sinister laugh. Pon gulped and asked carefully, “Do you intend to hold hands with the empire?”
“Is there a law saying I can’t?” Grid had already suggested the possibility. The Saharan Empire was different from the great demons. Unless they were absolutely evil, there were no unconditional enemies. So, their relationship could change at any time. “Wait and see. The empire won’t stay still, and the goals of both nations will become bigger and bigger. Don’t forget that we have a friendly relationship with both nations and thus have the advantage, so stay calm.”
“Yes.”
Pon was reminded of something—the Overgeared Kingdom wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Lauel. If Grid hadn’t grasped Lauel’s heart and Lauel had become hostile to them, what would’ve happened to the Overgeared Guild now? Pon was horrified just imagining it. Only Lauel’s dismal laughter was heard.
Knock knock.
Then someone knocked on the door of the office. Lauel confirmed the time and opened the door with a bright smile. The person who visited his office was none other than…
“Welcome, Eat Spicy Jokbal. Come in.”
“Excuse me.”
Dungeon Maker Eat Spicy Jokbal made dungeons to protect something, trap enemies, or make people grow. His personal strength was estimated to be sun-grade, so Lauel, Pon, and the Overgeared Guild welcomed such a great ally. Both Lauel and Pon welcomed him with a bright smile.
“…What do you want?” On the other hand, Eat Spicy Jokbal seemed unhappy with the welcome. He was staying in the Overgeared Kingdom because his niece Elizabeth had joined the Overgeared Guild, but he wasn’t eager to join it as well. It was still hard to forgive Grid for causing the collapse of Blood Carnival and taking away the insane dragon egg.
“If you want me to join the guild, stop here. I don’t intend to join the Overgeared Guild. If you want to ask me to make a dungeon, stop. Do you think I would do anything good for you? Bah.” Eat Spicy Jokbal scoffed and turned to leave.
“Have you acquired the cooking skill?” Lauel asked a completely random question.
“Huh?”
“What…”
Both Pon and Eat Spicy Jokbal were stunned. Lauel asked again, “Aren’t you a professional chef in reality? I think it is likely that you learned cooking in the game.”
“Well… That’s right. Don’t you know that there are many players with cooking skills?”
Cooking was a common skill which could be learned without being a chef. Of course, the skill couldn’t increase to a high level without being a chef. However, it was better for players to learn basic cooking for long adventures on the road. The same was true for Eat Spicy Jokbal. He was a true jokbal enthusiast who honed his cooking skill in order to be able to make jokbal on the road. For him, Lauel’s suggestion was unexpected. “There is a chef called Poison Master in the basement of this castle. Why don’t you learn cooking from him?”
“Poison what? What is this?”
Learn cooking from a chef? By the way, why was the name of the chef Poison Master? Eat Spicy Jokbal was speechless for many reasons before realizing something. “Are you trying to trick me into staying in this city for as long as possible?”
“Yes. That’s right. If you stay here, won’t you end up liking us? Then you might join the Overgeared Kingdom.”
“Nonsense! What benefits will I receive from learning to cook from the chef?”
“He is a chef from the East Continent. He can’t cook well, but his basic Cooking skill is very high. If you build up an affinity while cooking with him, your Cooking skill level is likely to increase.”
“Are you suggesting that I raise my Cooking skill level? Don’t you know who I am?”
“I am aware. You are Jang Doksoo, the current president of the Eat Spicy Jokbal Haenam Branch, who was once chairman of the Eat Spicy Jokbal Company’s main branch. Don’t you want to show off the taste of jokbal to the people of the world who are visiting the Overgeared Kingdom? Don’t you want to increase the number of Eat Spicy Jokbal chain stores around the world? Don’t you want to recover your position in the Eat Spicy Jokbal company?”
“…”
“How long do you intend to be relegated to Haenam? Recall why you were raising money with Blood Carnival. Do you intend to give in to the traitors?”
“…”
***
“You want to watch?” Elizabeth’s round eyes became slightly bigger. She was confused because there was no warning. Elizabeth had never met anyone who wanted to study her work. The delicate and static work was far from a spectacular sight. Other fields only took a few hours while she had to do tedious work for a few days. It was a far cry from the relatively colorful and brilliant blacksmith’s work.
Elizabeth was puzzled and sighed a bit. ‘This person is thinking too simply.’
Accessory makers with the rank of craftsman spent a few hours to many days producing one item. Among them, particularly delicate work would take at least four days. However, a legendary blacksmith was unlikely to know this fact. Why? He could easily make items due to the class compensation effect, and he couldn’t help seeing other people’s work as easy.
‘I’m aware that he demonstrated good skills in the National Competition.’
Yes, Elizabeth didn’t ‘ignore’ Grid. The level of concentration and efficiency that he demonstrated in the National Competition was worthy of praise. It was expected that he had put in a lot of effort to build his current skills. However, Elizabeth was forced to think that Grid put in relatively less effort than people like her who worked hard to build up her skills. It was a reasonable assumption based on the fact that Satisfy was a game.
In the game called Satisfy, the ability of the legendary class was overwhelming. Since Grid was a legendary blacksmith, she couldn’t help thinking that he learned blacksmithing techniques easily.
‘Well, it isn’t his fault.’ Elizabeth’s eyes filled with pity as she looked at Grid, who thought it would be a few hours of easy work. She didn’t hate Grid and realized that she should instead resent the S.A Group for making the blacksmithing job ‘easy’ for him.
“Okay. Feel free to visit although I don’t know how long you will stay.”
At the center of a high-end shopping district which housed a wide range of cosmetic and jewelry stores. There was a colorful and luxurious small store. The sign on the store said ‘Elizabeth’s Workshop’. It was a new workshop the Overgeared Kingdom hat up to welcome Elizabeth, a craftsman level accessories maker. Elizabeth’s eyes were excited as she entered with Grid and looked around. “Both the internal structure and the equipment are amazing… You have thoroughly listened to my requests and even thought about parts that I hadn’t thought of.”
Grid was a delicate man, unlike his outward appearance.
‘Yes, he is a man who cares about details. This is how he was able to get powerhouses to join the Overgeared Guild and how he was had been able to capture Yura’s heart.’
Elizabeth’s gaze toward Grid changed as she was forced to evaluate Grid much higher than before. However, she had to treat Grid the individual and Grid the legendary blacksmith separately.
“I’ll get started.”
“Yes.”
Elizabeth sat in front of a table and warned as she raised a magnifying glass, “I will warn you, this won’t be fun. You won’t understand by watching from the side. If you become bored, feel free to leave.”
“You are very kind.” Grid didn’t know what Elizabeth thought of him, so he just accepted her warning as goodwill stemming from kindness. Elizabeth was embarrassed by Grid’s bright smile. The Grid that she had seen in various media outlets was an arrogant person, but w
asn’t he actually pure enough to feel like an idiot?
The bright smile of an adult man gave off a strange charm, and Elizabeth suddenly became aware that she was in a small space with someone of the opposite sex. Her face turned red as she recalled the exhilarating feeling she’d felt when she shook his hand.
“What is it?”
“N-Nothing! It’s nothing!”
Elizabeth ignored the concerned Grid and pulled out the package of jewels. First, she took out 400 Belial C-grade jewels. They were C-grade, but they were much more beautiful and solid compared to the finest rubies and emeralds. The C-grade jewels boasted the splendor and hardness of diamond of the highest grade.
The amazing thing was that these jewels were still close to being jewels. It was difficult to predict how much more beautiful they would be after Elizabeth, a craftsman-level accessories maker, worked on them.
“Sigh.” Elizabeth took a deep breath and raised her concentration to the extreme. Then she slowly and carefully started working. Once the marking process was completed, she would cleave, cut, and shape the jewel. Her hands were careful, just like when she had been at the final gateway in the test to become a craftsman, and her concentration was maintained throughout the night.
The next morning…
“Beautiful…” Elizabeth finally had a gorgeously shining jewel in front of her. She gave a bright smile of satisfaction and finally remembered Grid, whom she had forgotten about.
‘I don’t even know when he left.’
She had forgotten that he had even been there in the first place. It was the aftermath of being too concentrated.
‘Grid must’ve gone back.’ While thinking this, Elizabeth stretched only to end up screaming, “Kuooooh… Kyaaack?!”
Grid was still watching her from the spot where he had been sitting yesterday.
“Y-You. What are you doing here?
Grid’s hands were itchy as he responded casually, “Didn’t I say it? I will watch.”
After watching Elizabeth work all night, he got a hint about something.
“The jewels… Depending on the hardness, can they be attached to actual equipment like swords or armor?”
Chapter 858
Chapter 858
“The jewels… Depending on the hardness, can they be attached to actual equipment like swords or armor?”
If so, Grid would be able to attach the stats and resistance from Belial’s jewels to his equipment. The combination of battle gear and jewels would lead to the further development of being overgeared. Elizabeth nodded at Grid who was filled with anticipation. “It isn’t a bad idea and is a rather ideal combination. A large number of accessory makers and blacksmiths have already tried it, but they failed.”
This was because there was a fundamental problem.
“The toughness (resistance to breaking) of the jewels isn’t proportional to hardness. Apart from some special jewels, most jewels are easy to break. Even the famous diamonds are vulnerable to shock impact. It is the same for Belial’s jewels. That’s why it is very rare to attach jewels to equipment that aren’t intended for ceremonial and decorative purposes. A solid jewel that continuously receives impact from weapons like a sword or a spear will soon be destroyed.”
“What are shock resistant special gems?”
“They are typically black diamonds. But they are special jewels that I can’t work on. Perhaps it is the realm of a legendary accessories maker…”
“Hrmm…” Disappointment filled Grid’s face. It was annoying to hear that the idea he thought of was useless. However, this only lasted for a moment.
‘Wait?’ Grid was suddenly reminded of a crown. Why had he postponed the production of a crown after becoming the First King? It was because he couldn’t put splendid jewels in the crown which was a symbol of power and honor, but it was also because he hadn’t been able to acquire a skilled accessories maker.
Thus, he had put off making the crown. If he remembered something that was buried in his memories…
‘I can wear a crown and a helmet at the same time while hiding the appearance of one.’
Grid now had a good accessories maker and large quantities of excellent jewels. He could make a crown with 10 jewels attached, similar to the emperor’s crown. That way, his stats would rise significantly. Ordinary people wouldn’t wear a crown in battle. The jewels would soon be destroyed, and there would be a large loss of assets. Then what about Grid?
‘I can put a helmet over the crown. The abilities of the crown would be applied in full, but there would be no need to worry about the jewels being destroyed.’
One of the greatest benefits of the First King title was the addition of an ‘equipment slot’ which no one else had. Other people had to choose one item for their head, such as a helmet, hat, crown, and so on, while Grid could wear one crown and one headpiece.
In fact, Grid had used the Holy Light Crown to experiment with adding a helmet over a crown or a crown over a helmet. In other words, by wearing a crown under the helmet, he would be able to apply the crown’s abilities while the durability of the crown would be protected by the helmet. He didn’t know how it would be for equipment items, but this meant he could attach the jewels to the crown and securely gain the ability to increase his stats with the jewels! Still, there was a problem.
‘The helmet must be big enough to wear over the crown.’
In the past three years, Grid had been wearing the Thick Helmet that he’d made along with Triple Layers. As its name suggested, the thick helmet boasted a high physical defense and a large size. It was possible to wear the helmet over the Holy Light Crown.
Then could it be used with a new crown? The answer was NO. Grid wanted to attach as many jewels as possible to the new crown, but he also had to pay attention to the design. The size of the new crown would naturally be larger than the Holy Light Crown, so the helmet that was worn over it naturally had to grow in size.
‘The helmet…’
Grid’s eyes narrowed. If he made a helmet large enough to wear over the crown, he feared that his eyesight would be disturbed and his movements slowed down.
‘Ah?’ Grid saw Elizabeth working on the next jewel and remembered something. It was something that Lim Cheolho had worn when he visited Grid’s house to celebrate his birthday.
‘A cone hat…!’
In standard language, it was a pointed hat—a three-dimensional triangular shaped hat.
‘If I raise the height of the helmet, I will have enough space to wear a crown and my field of view won’t be disturbed because the left and right dimensions are narrow.’
‘Wow, I really am a genius,’ Grid thought about himself admirably.
He only cared about the shape of the crown, which affected a king’s dignity, and didn’t pay attention to the shape of the helmet, but it wasn’t because he was acting stupid again. As a result of the First King title, Grid could choose the ‘exposed appearance’ to be either a helmet or a crown. Once the helmet was worn over the crown, he could choose the appearance of the crown and then get the ‘cool’ effect.
Grid was thinking along when he suddenly started to laugh, causing Elizabeth to look at him. “Did something good happen?”
Then Grid asked her, “Is there a limit on the number of jewels that can be attached to an item? For example, how many jewels can be attached to a ring?”
“I can attach dozens of small jewels. But then the ring won’t have a function.”
“Why?”
“The jewels need to be a certain size to show a good performance. The performance of the jewels will disappear if they are too small.”
“Ah… Then the rings that players wear only have one jewel?”
“That’s right.”
“How many jewels can be attached to a crown before the performance is lost?”
“10. Shouldn’t you know this since you have directly met the emperor? There are a total of 10 jewels embedded in the emperor’s crown.”
“Yes.”<
br />
“That is the best number. Compared to necklaces where three jewels can be attached, the crown is the best item to raise the power of the jewels to the limit. Of course, the only person who can fight with a jeweled crown is the emperor.”
‘No, there’s another person here.’ Grid smiled while suppressing the words in his throat.
Elizabeth asked, “I assume the jewels initially crafted will be used by the other Overgeared members and not by you?”
“Why?”
“This is the first time I have worked on Belial’s jewels. The quality of the jewels at the start will inevitably be low. The options of the jewels crafted later will be better. You should make accessories out of the later jewels.”
“No. I will make it with the initial jewels.”
“Didn’t you hear my explanation? The jewels worked on initially are relatively inferior. Look at this.” Elizabeth handed Grid the Belial’s Black Jewel that she had worked on all night.
Grid looked at the information of the jewel.
[Plainly Crafted Belial’s Black Jewel (C)]
[* Intelligence +6.
* Shadow Resistance +2%
A black jewel crafted by Elizabeth, a craftsman level accessory maker. It is not bad.]
“The next few jewels will be better as I become more proficient. At that time, ‘delicately crafted’ or ‘perfectly crafted’ jewels can be found. Then the additional stats will increase by at least 1–3.”
Grid wasn’t a kid, so did she have to explain such things? Elizabeth had met many clients and was well aware of human greed. In particular, the greed of the top rankers couldn’t be controlled, and they always wanted to get the best jewels. That’s right. Elizabeth thought that Grid wanted the best jewels to make the accessories out of, so the more inferior jewels would be left to Grid’s subordinates. However, an unexpected answer was received.
“Give the better jewels to my colleagues. I am strong enough without the jewels.”
“What?”
Grid’s ID had the meaning of greed. In fact, Grid came across as greedy through all media platforms. So, was he acting right now? No, he wasn’t. She couldn’t see any pretenses in Grid’s expression and attitude. Grid smiled warmly at the baffled Elizabeth.