Chapter 36
“Wow.”
I let out another exclamation of wonder, unsure how many times it had been already.
That’s how impressive this room was.
On one side, various experimental equipment and reagents were neatly arranged, while on the other side, forging tools including hammers and anvils were sprawled out.
The room’s identity was a massive workshop capable of alchemy and blacksmithing work.
“This is amazing. Truly.”
“I’m glad you like it. How about it? Since you’re here, would you like to try making something?”
“Hmm… Let’s make something.”
“If you’re the Lord of Madoc who embodies the will of the Madoc King, you surely have the talent for crafting.”
Carpe nodded.
As Tina said, the 8th-grade skill of Madoc Engineering also included a ‘crafting’ function.
“Alright. Let’s give it a try then.”
Carpe picked up a hammer.
“Indeed, were there production-related occupations in Lasae?”
-Yes, blacksmiths and alchemists are the most representative. There are many derivative occupations from there as well.
Unlike other MMORPGs that bundle such production-related occupations as ‘auxiliary occupations,’ in Lasae, they were treated as one profession like knights or wizards.
-In Lasae, except for production occupations, other occupations cannot produce items.
“Huh? Can’t you just buy production skill cards on the auction house and learn them?”
-Production skills don’t drop from regular skill packs. They only drop from production-specific skill packs.
Moreover, since they were all non-tradeable, there were practically no items available on the auction house.
“Then does that mean Lords of Madoc with Madoc Engineering skills are classified as production workers?”
-Yes, they are. They’re a crazy mix of a magician, a puppeteer, an alchemist, and a blacksmith… Isn’t it absurd?
“Heh. Myths should be that grand. Ahem.”
-Anyway, it’s a profession with its own merits. It’s not absolute, but if you become a bit famous, you’ll be headhunted by giant guilds because the items you make yourself are usually better than drop items from monsters of the same level.
At the level of the top ten guilds’ chief blacksmiths, the salary exceeds that of executives in major corporations.
“Oh. So it must be quite popular.”
-No, it’s not. It’s disgustingly unpopular. Only a tiny fraction of Lasae users have production jobs.
“Why? With such good treatment?”
-The reasons are complex, but… There are two main reasons. First, it’s weak.
In Lasae, one skill point is given for every level.
Except for variants like Carpe, there was no way to obtain points other than leveling up, so most users struggled with skill points.
-Even if you invest all your points in crafting skills, you won’t have enough left to cover combat skills. So naturally, production jobs are weak.
Of course, there are exceptions.
Like the ‘weed-cutting sunbeam sculptor.’
Or the ‘greedy blacksmith who can ignore the wear restrictions of all equipment.’
There are also all-round professions that excel in both combat and production, but… They’re rare hidden classes among exceptions.
-Most people would rather breathe fire and wield swords to hunt monsters than be stuck in a workshop banging on metal. If you could do both, sure, but if you had to choose one, it’s obviously hunting.
“Hmm. Makes sense. What about the second reason?”
-The difficulty of crafting itself is damn hard.
“Difficulty?”
Unexpectedly, Carpe’s eyes widened at the response.
“Difficulty? Isn’t it just preparing materials and pressing the crafting button to get the job done?”
At least that’s how it was when synthesizing acorns.
-Hmm. If Lasae were such a user-friendly game, the number of production job users would have increased tenfold. Unfortunately, ‘crafting’ requires direct manipulation by the user.
“Directly? Are you saying we have to smelt iron ore, filter impurities, cast molds, and forge after maintaining a high temperature following a full-metal tempering?”
Carpe’s eyes sparkled.
It felt like he had seen such a crafting method in a fantasy novel. It was really fun!
-…Pfft. Don’t exaggerate. What kind of game is that? It’s just labor!
“No, Lasae pursues realism…”
-You should pursue it in moderation. If you pursue it twice, all the users will quit, damn it!
Certainly, Last Savior is an unfriendly game.
There is no information on the official website, and users have to dive into the game themselves, bumping into it and realizing it bit by bit.
The catchphrase ‘Another World’ also contained that meaning.
However, once it was given the title ‘game,’ it couldn’t be entirely unfriendly.
-Pursuing realism doesn’t mean you have to faithfully reproduce the difficulties of reality. Because it’s a game.
If it takes dozens of hours to dissect a monster’s corpse with a dagger, extract blood, and butcher it to obtain its skin, who would play that game?
Of course, being too convenient also diminishes the fun, but at least in a game, there should be a minimum level of convenience.
And Lasae barely maintained that balance in that regard.
So, it was a way of saying that people weren’t saying, ‘Damn realism and bullshit, it’s too dirty to play!’
-Even those who have never shot an arrow in real life can become archers.
Archery is an act that requires very high proficiency, but in Lasae, even beginners roughly hit the mark if they aim and shoot towards their goal.
The system adjustments such as ‘manual dexterity’ stats or ‘skills’ made it possible.
-Crafting is the same. Smelting iron ore, removing impurities, those things aren’t necessary.
“Then why is it considered difficult?”
-Experience it for yourself. See the iron ingots next to you?
“This?”
As Carpe picked up one, an information window appeared before him.
Ding.
[Low-grade Iron Ingot]
[Given as a basic iron ingot reward for the opening of the facility ‘Workshop’ in the room. It is not suitable for crafting advanced equipment due to its low purity.]
[As the level of the workshop increases, higher-grade materials will be provided as rewards.]
“Oh? Opening reward?”
-Yeah. Rewards came when other facilities in the room, not just the workshop, were opened.
“My lord. By the way, the opening reward for the field and orchard was 100 acorns.”
“Kweh! Kweh!”
“Oh, right….”
Carpe scratched Mookhyang’s chin once and then raised the iron ingot onto the anvil.
[Skill ‘Madogonghak’ activated.]
[Entering ‘Crafting’ mode. Searching for items that can be crafted with ‘Low-grade Iron Ingot’ as material.]
[No designs currently registered. Only the most basic crafting items will be displayed.]
“Designs?”
-You can’t just make items out of thin air. Most crafting skills require obtaining designs and registering them in the skill to be able to craft items from the design.
“Ah, I see.”
For example, obtaining and registering the design for ‘Magic Weapon - Enigma’ means that you can finally craft Enigma.
“Where do you get designs?”
-You can buy them at the blacksmith. They can also drop from mobs or be obtained as quest rewards.
“Naturally, drops from mobs or quest rewards are better than buying them.”
-Exactly. Someone who knows their game stuff talks fast.
[Search complete. The following items are available for crafting:]
• Plate Helm
• Plate Breastplate
• Plate Gauntlets
• Plate Greaves
• Plate Sabatons
“Wow, literally basic.”
How RPG-esque can you get?
The RPG staple five body parts - head, torso, legs, arms, and feet - appeared.
There were many other places to equip items besides these five parts, but they didn’t appear in the crafting list probably because, as Cheonma said, there were no designs.
“What should I make?”
He decided to pass on the breastplate for now since he already had the ‘Agile Installation Armor’ equipped.
Pass on the gauntlets too.
After all, he was wearing legendary gloves.
“Hmm. It’s either the helm or the greaves….”
-Just pick one. If you’re really worried, just make them all. Why agonize over this? You have plenty of iron ingots.
“Ah, right. It’s supposed to be the first crafting. It’s supposed to be a momentous occasion! Why does humanity lack romance?”
-Romance my ass….
“Just a moment. Give me a minute.”
Carpe, who spent more than 10 minutes agonizing over choosing between black bean noodles and mixed noodles, was able to make a quick decision this time.
“I’ll go with the sabatons.”
He thought maybe he’d deal a bit more damage when kicking if he wore steel boots….
-You know they don’t, right? Barefoot or not, the damage is the same.
“….It’s for the feeling, at least.”
[You have selected Plate Sabatons.]
[Crafting will begin in 5 seconds. Get ready.]
[5…… 4…… 3……]
“Huh? Get ready? For what?”
Even as Carpe was flustered, time passed.
[2…… 1. Crafting started!]
The moment the countdown ended, a red dot appeared on top of the iron ingot. It was slightly larger than a 500 won coin in size.
“Am I supposed to hit here?”
Easy, isn’t it? Where’s the difficulty in this?
As Carpe harbored such thoughts and raised his hammer,
“Huh?”
A large ring centered around the red dot appeared, and it swiftly began shrinking, almost as if being sucked into the red dot.
“Uh, uh?”
A bewildered Carpe struck the red dot with his hammer.
Thud!
[Bad!]
With the word ‘Bad!’, the iron ingot shattered into pieces.
Carpe picked up the broken ingot with a dazed look.
[Broken Low-grade Iron Ingot]
[An iron ingot damaged by an amateur blacksmith’s attempt at crafting. It’s a waste of labor to melt it down. I wonder if a junk dealer would even take it…]
“No, this…”
-How was it? Now that you’ve tried it once, do you get it? Need more explanation?
“This is like a rhythm game.”
-You got it right away.
By aiming for the perfect timing when the shrinking ring and the red dot aligned perfectly, a hammer strike!
That’s right.
All of Lase’s renowned blacksmiths were experts at rhythm games.
“Huh.”
-Refreshing, isn’t it? I knocked my knees when I first saw this.
“Rather than refreshing, it’s absurd….”
Well, since Lase made it like this, it’s just a matter of getting used to it and accepting it.
Now that he understood the principle, he wouldn’t make such a futile mistake again.
-Can you play rhythm games well?
“I’m not sure. I’ve hardly played any.”
Although Carpe was someone who tried out most games, he avoided rhythm games specifically.
Since he preferred hitting and smashing things, the genre itself didn’t suit him.
-Well, you’ll probably be good at it, right? It’s all about reflexes, and yours are pretty good.
“Maybe?”
Yeah, that’s right.
What happened just now was just because he was too flustered. If he concentrates properly, success shouldn’t be difficult.
[A Low-grade Iron Ingot has been set.]
[Begin crafting Plate Sabatons.]
And as the countdown ended, the red dot appeared above the iron ingot once again.
Gulp.
Carpe eyed the shrinking red ring.
“Now!”
Thud!
[Excellent!]
“This is it!”
Thrilling satisfaction!
The sound of hitting iron couldn’t be more beautiful.
-Hey, focus!
“Oops.”
Surprised by the sudden appearance of the next dot, Carpe hastily struck it.
[Great!]
Fortunately, the timing wasn’t too off, and he succeeded again this time.
But on the third try, when he struck a dot slightly lighter in color than the previous one,
“Now!”
-Hey, wait….
Bang!
[Bad!]
Shattered.
Accumulating 2 stacks of broken iron ingots.
“Why?!”
-It was lighter in color. You should have hit it gently.
“Where was I supposed to know that?!”
-Blame it on Lase. Let’s calm down and try again.
“Phew.”
And so the 3rd attempt continued.
[Bad!]
“A spot? What’s that supposed to mean?”
-You’re supposed to tilt the hammer a bit to hit it…
.
.
.
17th attempt.
-This is quite unexpected.
Cheonma muttered from a distance away from Carpe.
He asked to be far away from Carpe because he couldn’t concentrate.
-That guy. Surprisingly bad at rhythm games. It’s showing unnecessary humanity in a place like this.
“Is that so? It seems normal to me. Isn’t being good at trying something for the first time more unusual?”
“Kweh! Kweh!”
“Right. Even so, my lord is amazing.”
Nevertheless, he gradually began to get the hang of it.
During the 13th attempt, he had just barely missed it at the end.
But soon…
Bang!
[Excellent!]
Ding.
[You have successfully crafted ‘Exceptional Plate Sabatons’.]
[You have crafted your first equipment item.]
[Acquired the title ‘Novice Blacksmith’.]
“Woohoo!!!”
Overwhelmed with emotion, Carpe howled like a transparent dragon in all directions.
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