"There have been no humans who have successfully completed this, but I have a feeling you just might succeed. Please guide him to the charcoal burner pit."
I followed the priest to the pit with the charcoal burner.
It made me think about the past. It was about the time I became a blacksmith in the Royal Roader game. I automatically started to swear.
"Son of a b.i.t.c.h!"
I did not choose to become a blacksmith on my own accord. It was because of Hw.a.n.g Joon Yul"s order.
[They said it is easy for miners to become blacksmiths. Become a blacksmith and fix my weapon.]
I could not say no. If I did, my school life would have been difficult.
I headed to the Volca.n.u.s Temple to receive the quest.
My infamy was just as high that time. It was right after I made the unique monster of the Northern Mines into my slave.
The priest gave me the real blacksmith quest and not the anvil worker quest.
I wanted it too, since they said the only way to get rid of such high infamy at once was that way.
But I soon found out that the blacksmith quest was impossible for humans.
It was because of the extreme heat.
I had to make charcoal out of a fir tree, but I couldn"t even handle the residual heat of a kiln that wasn"t on.
No matter how much I thought about it and tried, it was an impossible quest.
So I went and told Hw.a.n.g Joon Yul the truth.
"Even if I die, I can"t do this. It is an impossible quest."
This is what Hw.a.n.g Joon Yul told me back then.
"Then die, moron!"
I was almost beaten to death that day.
"I will give you one week. If you cannot become a blacksmith by then, you"ll be beat up again."
I thought I was going to go crazy. In fact, I even had the preposterous idea about killing Hw.a.n.g Joon Yul and then killing myself.
I really did put a utility knife in my backpack and looked for an opportunity.
But I couldn"t lead myself to do it.
With no other option, I challenged the quest again. I didn"t care whether my character died or not. If I died, I ran back and put the tree back in, if I died again, I ran back.
After doing that for a while, I realized that my character could suddenly withstand the heat. In the end, I successfully completed the blacksmith quest.
Thanks to that, I learned the secret of the blacksmith quest.
At the core of it was your affinity to fire.
Whether I was withstanding the heat of the fir tree or burning to death from the heat, my affinity to fire had slowly started to go up.
But there was no reason to die like I did in the game. Nor could I afford to do so.
Why do you think I worked my a.s.s off in the mines to make the endurance stat.
"It is here."
Fir tree charcoal burner pit.
I can already feel the blistering heat.
I could see two dwarves not too far away.
Dwarves and humans had a lot of disagreements that they do not mingle with each other.
But Volca.n.u.s Temple was the exception. No matter what city you went to, there were dwarfs in the Volca.n.u.s Temple.
That is where the tools that humans use are made.
Of course that did not mean that their dislike for humans disappear as well.
As soon as I appeared at the charcoal burner pit, the dwarves showed strong hostility.
"What the h.e.l.l is a human doing here?"
"Leave before you burn to death by the flames of the fir tree."
I did not respond back.
No matter how nice I was, I won"t be able to buy the dwarves" friendship, nor could I get in their faces to fight then when I needed to learn how to make charcoal from them.
In times like this, it"s best to just think "a dog is barking!" and ignore them. Then the priest will take care of the situation for me.
"He is someone who has received the blacksmith quest. Please teach this sir the charcoal recipe."
"What? A human has received a blacksmith quest?"
"Ay. It must be an anvil worker quest. How can a human handle the heat of the fir tree charcoal?"
"I am certain it is the blacksmith quest. It is a special request of the bishop, so I kindly ask for your a.s.sistance."
The priest soothed the dwarves with kind words.
No matter how much the dwarves hated the humans, they could not show that dislike to a priest of the Volca.n.u.s Temple.
In the end, they nodded their heads.
"Since it is the request of the bishop, I guess we can help him."
"But it is not our fault even if he ends up burning to death."
"Then I leave him in your hands."
The priest said that as he turned around and left.
I was left alone in the charcoal burner pit.
The two dwarves looked me up and down. They had disgruntled expressions on their faces. Almost like they were saying "where the h.e.l.l did this s.h.i.t come from?"
After that, this is the first thing they said.
"Must be a crazy fool!"
"He must definitely be crazy. A human thinks he can become a blacksmith."
"He"s just itching to die."
What goes around comes around.
Even if they are a race that has many issues with humans, their first words towards someone who came to do a temple quest is quite rude.
It made me want to make them angry.
"Is it that hard to become a blacksmith?"
"Difficult. Very difficult."
"It is impossible for a human like you."
I pretended like I knew nothing and tilted my head as I innocently started to speak.
"That"s really weird. How hard could it be? You just need to make some charcoals, start a fire, and just casually hammer away."
The more I said, the more the dwarves started to frown.
"What? Just make charcoal? Casually hammer? You don"t know jack s.h.i.t! All you know how to do is talk!"
"Shall I teach you how hard it is for weak humans like you to become a blacksmith? In order to become a blacksmith, you must first be able to handle the heat of the fir charcoal. But you humans can"t even last 1 minute. The moment you are exposed to the heat, your flesh starts to burn, until you die. Do you know how painful it is to burn to death……"
Does the dwarf race usually talk this much?
They also speak really fast. I understand they are trying to scare me, but they were talking extremely quickly like a rapper on Show Me the Money. [1]
In the end, the dwarves agreed with each other on one thing.
The chances of my completing the blacksmith quest was 0%. I will just end up in pain before dying a dog"s death.
After hearing that, I was slightly amused.
All dwarf blacksmiths have a lot of money. It is because talented blacksmiths can make high quality weapons and tools.
If I play my cards right, I should be able to get a lot out of them.
"Why are you bluffing so much. If I put my mind to it, I can become a blacksmith within 1 year."
"This punk really knows nothing!"
"Even if it wasn"t 1 year but 100 years, you still will not be able to succeed. If you manage to succeed, I will burn my own hands."
"Really? Then shall we make a bet? If I manage to successfully complete the blacksmith quest within a year, take care of one of my wish."
"Fine! What can"t I promise since it is impossible anyways. However, what will you do if you fail or give up? There needs to be a gain for both sides in a bet."
"I will give you this."
I took off Bogochan"s Necklace from my neck and showed it to them.
It was natural for the dwarves" jaws to drop.
"Wow! It increases fire affinity by 10%."
"Earth affinity by 20% as well. And sensitivity by 20 points!"
"Where did you get this? Won"t you sell it to me? I will give you 1,000,000,000 won."
"No, sell it to me. I will give you 1,500,000,000 won!"
I knew the dwarves would know the value of this necklace. Their first named price was 1 billion won.
Of course I had no intentions of selling it. This item is extremely important to me.
"I don"t need money. Let"s make a bet."
"Fine! Let"s do it! What is it that you want?"
This was perfect since I needed high quality pickaxes for the miners to use.
It will be quite extravagant of a request, but seeing their reaction to the necklace, anything seemed possible.
"It"s simple! I need you to make me 200 pickaxes."
The dwarves started to smile. For dwarves who are blacksmiths by trade, it would be easy to make 200 pickaxes.
But their expressions started to change as I continued to talk.
"However, the attack strength needs to be over 10, and attack speed needs to be at least 8. There needs to be no level restrictions, and the strength requirement cannot be over 50."
"C, crazy! How can you make a pickaxe like that?"
It is not impossible. If you use a lot of expensive minerals, any veteran blacksmith should be able to make it.
"If you use a t.i.tanium and mithril mixed alloy from the head to the shaft, it should be doable."
"Wh, what? Make a pickaxe out of t.i.tanium and mithril mixed alloy? And the entire thing at that?"
"You want 200 of those? You stupid idiot! You don"t know the limits of stupidity!"
I know I was pushing it. t.i.tanium is a luxury mineral used to make high quality weapons.
But to ask them to mix mithril as well to make pickaxes. It"s not surprising that they are shocked. Especially since I was asking them to make the entire thing out of it!
If you make a pickaxe like that, the ingredients alone will cost at least 2,000,000 won. If you tack on the expensive fee of having a dwarf make it, it should easily cost over 10,000,000 won.
But the quality will be worth the cost. It will be light but have a high attack strength, making it at least three to four times more efficient than the average pickaxe.
"Why? Are you scared? I thought it was impossible for humans to become blacksmiths."
"Of course. It is completely impossible."
"Then why are you hesitating?"
The dwarves will have no choice but to accept the bet. The contents were extremely favorable for them. Plus, I was dangling an extremely valuable item in front of their eyes.
I showed them Bogochan"s Necklace one more time.
"You don"t want this?"
The dwarves eyes were full of greed. In the end, they nodded their heads.
"Fine! Let"s do it! Let"s make a bet!"
As I reached out my hand, one of the dwarves grabbed my hand to initiate the bet.
"Let"s hurry up and start. I"m sure you will give up before the day is up."
"A day? He won"t even last 10 minutes! Haha!"
The dwarves were extremely excited. They probably were thinking that Bogochan"s Necklace was as good as theirs.
Of course I was satisfied as well.
The pickaxes will help increase the gain from the Northern Mines. Then the Northern Mines will be worth much more.
What I was aiming for was what comes after that.
"Once that happens, I should be able to sell the Northern Mines at three or four times the cost. Hoho!"
I started to learn how to make charcoal from the dwarves.
"First change your clothes. Those clothes will catch fire easily."
I put on the leather outfit they handed me.
"Then let"s start. Pile up the fir tree like this ……"
The dwarves were extremely nice. Since they were confident that I will give up in a short amount of time, they were trying to proceed quickly.
Thanks to that, I managed to learn the basics really fast.
"Try it on your own now. If you have something you don"t know, ask us as they come up."
"You can use that charcoal burner over there. Go ahead. Quickly."
The dwarf even pushed my back. It was them telling me to hurry up and try so that I can quickly give up and hand over Bogochan"s Necklace.
I didn"t want to prolong it either. I immediately headed to the burner.
"Keke. How many seconds will he be able to last?"
"What do you mean "seconds"? As soon as he enters into the burner, he"ll turn around and run."
"That makes sense! Once that punk gives up, Bogochan"s Necklace is mine."
"My a.s.s! I agreed to the bet first so it is mine."
"What the h.e.l.l are you saying?"
Stupid idiots.
But it is normal for them to have that much confidence. A normal human wouldn"t be able to even handle the residual heat of a charcoal burner that was turned off. They would die within 5 seconds.
If they want to live, they must quickly run back out.
Of course I wasn"t an exception. It was just that I could last longer thanks to my endurance and toughness stats, and fire affinity.
But if I use the effects of those properly, I should be able to last quite a while.
"Wow! I can already feel the heat!"
I was only close to the entrance of the burner when it felt like I was surrounded by fire from head to toe. How much hotter must it be inside that black pillar?
I took a deep breath! It was a breath to push away my fears.
I first opened my stat window. I then clicked my HP and enlarged it. Once I did that, the other stats disappeared and only the HP stat remained as a bar to show me the status.
I put a weak HP potion and mana potion in my mouth. Since they were the XL ones, I had to take many gulps.
The XL potions restore close to 50,000 HP and mana each.
Since they were the weak potions, it will take 30 minutes, meaning 28 HP/mana recovered per second. Of course it might vary a bit throughout the time.
"I should be able to persist with this much."
I bravely entered the charcoal burner pit.
"Ooo!"
The fierce heat!
There were no flames. It was only the residual heat that remained.
But it was still so hot that I instantly got burns throughout my body. The pain was intense.
That was the difference from the game. In the game, I didn"t know about the pain, but here, I had to feel the pain with my own body.
A danger signal immediately rang in my head.
But the danger wasn"t the only message. Some positive messages rang through at the same time.
The endurance stat is increasing your HP recovery speed by 32%.
The endurance stat is reducing the pain by 32%.>
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[1] South Korean TV show.
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Translator : Miraclerifle
Proofreader : Miraclerifle