Unrecognizable (1)
-Janus’s whisper: You’re going to mix the two? Grandpa is a fool.
-So noisy.
In the small workshop, where the only light was the flames burning inside the furnace, the blacksmith was once more working on his craft. However, he wasn’t making weapons. He was focused on mixing two metals together to form an alloy. They were metals he had purchased from the bulletin board with money he earned from selling his weapons.
-Janus’s whisper: I think it’s in vain, but it’s fun because it’s you.
-Didn’t I say it was noisy?
-Janus’s whisper: How are you doing?
The blacksmith went silent for a while in response to the question. But finally, he decided to respond honestly.
-I’m only making more garbage. The structure of these magical metals, once mixed, cannot be separated.
-Janus’s whisper: That’s why it’s in vain. The only case when something better comes out of mixing things is when they are incomplete. Right now, the dragon’s scales or the bones are complete materials by themselves; you can’t create something that goes beyond that.
-Leave it.
The blacksmith responded with annoyance at his friend’s whisper, who was teasing him out of concern. He knew well that the odds of success were slim to none, but it was his stubbornness, born from surviving alone in a world where nothing new was born anymore; the stubbornness of someone committed to creating something new. Therefore, the act itself had meaning. He would be very happy if the results followed, but he was just so happy to try it in the first place. Because his old body, whose will for life had weakened, was still alive.
-Janus’s whisper: Anyway, that’s the way you’re like, grandpa…
-Before I die, I will surely create something beyond the bones of a dragon, so stay tuned.
His failures continued, but the data piled up. The blacksmith analyzed the world’s countless metals with his spiritual power dancing in his hammer, engraving into his mind how they mixed with and changed other metals. With each new lump of failure, the alloy’s possibilities grew little by little, slowly but surely. In that narrow workshop, the old blacksmith began to understand the metal.
-Janus’s whisper: …I don’t want to see my grandpa right now.
-Don’t horse around and help me dispose of the trash.
-Janus’s whisper: Huh? Ah, yes. Can’t I throw it away? Okay, then let’s do this. To put it together and manage you, I…
***
Kang Shin-hyuk studied the blueprints of countless magic-driven bikes to design an interior that best suited the blue cow successfully. It was only seven hours after starting work.
[Huh, you also had such tricks.]
“Spiritual power is the power to see the essence. Anyone with some skill with their hands can combine them and move them around.”
[…]
Halo was silent. It was difficult enough to grasp the basic structure of something with spiritual power, much more so to combine it with other objects to create something new.
“Then let’s start.” Before starting his work properly, Kang Shin-hyuk analyzed the outer shell of the blue cow. He wanted to match the parts that would fit the interior as closely as possible to the artifact.
-Member, if so.
“Yeah, I’m trying to challenge the alloy.” It wasn’t an alloy like titanium or tungsten steel used on Earth, but one made with all kinds of magic metals and biometals obtained from monsters. It was one of the tasks that the Anvil of his previous life was most concerned with completing.
“It should be made out of a material that is as similar as possible.” In fact, there was a better way to make an alloy. The artifact had a special ability called Thunder God, which allowed it to absorb energy from the outside that it could use to repair itself. If parts of the cow were removed and then imbued with electricity to recover them, theoretically, he could mass-produce the metal. The issue was that it would place an immense burden on the artifact, which could be an issue, given that it had yet to fully recover. Even more than that, Kang Shin-hyuk didn’t want to.
“Okay, I have enough different types… then let’s start.” He took the furnace out of his inventory. It was a large portable furnace he had purchased for 15 million HP, using the HP he had acquired in fighting against the countercurrent. Naturally, as an artifact, it was a high-end furnace that could increase the probability of success in production, reduce worker fatigue, and even increase the quality of the finished product. No matter how skilled a craftsman Kang Shin-hyuk was, making such a furnace would be almost impossible. The Hero Universe couldn’t be underestimated.
[Hey, making an alloy on the spot… oops, you already started.]
Halo tried to stop him. But it was already too late. As Kang Shin-hyuk focused on taking out and smelting various metals, Halo waved his branches and sighed.
-Your concentration is good. That alone hasn’t changed until now.
[…Yes, but the other parts have turned out to be quite fun. If it was the Anvil from before, the conversation would be satisfying, but I wouldn’t have received this kind of pleasure.]
-I don’t know… maybe…
[Well?]
-No, Halo. Now watch.
Alloying the metals obtained from a monster’s body (which, for convenience, Kang Shin-hyuk decided to call biometal) and magic metal in appropriate ratios was a difficult task that even someone with an advanced degree of metallurgy wouldn’t dare tackle. However, Kang Shin-hyuk’s synchronization rate was now 32.5%. Even though he hadn’t reached his previous life, he had recovered most of the memories that centered around making alloys. That was invaluable knowledge that the craftsmen of the universe would give their lives to gain. It wasn’t only Anvil’s skill that was highly valued in the Hero Universe, but also his knowledge of all kinds of metals that had been posted on the trading board.
“…Um.” That knowledge made it possible for him to find out the potential of an alloy by analyzing the biometal of the monster. There were a lot of monsters, but many of the biometals had similar structures. It wasn’t perfect, so there wasn’t anything that could be done with the trash generated during the work. But Kang Shin-hyuk was slowly grasping it. If it were an alloy of simple magic metal, there was a possibility it would return to its original state after smelting, but it wouldn’t be easily separated the moment the biometal entered the equation. Once it was combined, there was no choice but to succeed or throw away the loser. This way, most of them were eliminated.
“Yes, in case of this, Janus… Janus, ahhh?!” It had been about two hours since he started working. During his work, Kang Shin-hyuk let out a scream of enlightenment as if he had been hit by lightning. The administrator seemed frightened as he responded.
-Why, why, member? No matter if your partner is Janus…!
[Really, administrator. There’s no way Janus would harm Anvil.]
“Okay, wait a second. Wait..” Kang Shin-hyuk stopped working and took a calming breath. Opening his inventory, he woke up the sleeping Onyx.
-Myu?
“Yes, no.” He instinctively blinked his eyes, and, without hesitation, Kang Shin-hyuk grabbed Onyx’s tail as he approached the blue cow.
“How about this instead?”
-Oh… ooh?
As Kang Shin-hyuk’s monster hunting had become more active these days, Onyx had tasted the biometals he gathered at least once in a while. He had just thought he was eating, but now that he had reached B-rank by repeatedly eating new metals and weapons, there was a chance to utilize his traits.
-Myuuuu!
“Yes, do you want to eat it?”
-My!
Onyx ran to the pile of metal as fast as he could. The alloys were garbage, no doubt, but they had enough spiritual power.
“…It’s an opportunity.”
-It has been a while since Onyx could be of full help, given your rapid growth.
“Even if I share in the effect of the status amplification potion, I’m still growing faster… well, I think he can still be of help.” For example, Onyx’s stealth skill that had reached B-rank. It was said that if you could increase it high enough, it would be possible to hide people nearby as well as yourself. That way, he could enjoy the benefits of stealth without needing to buy an imitation scroll on the trading board. Honestly, he had searched the trading board for it a few times himself, but the stealth skill stone had never been for sale.
“How do you like it?”
-Myuuuu!
Was he just hungry, or did he have no limits in the first place? Onyx was crying out pleasantly after cleaning up the pile of trash alloys.
“Where…”
[Onyx – B+ rank]
[Physical ability]
Force – C+
Agility – A-
Stamina – B
[Special ability]
Gold Magic – A-
[Skill]
Metal Predation (S+) – B
Implementation (SS) – B+
Defensive Position – A-
Stealth (A+) – B
[State]
Subordinate to Kang Shin-hyuk-Loyalty 81
Kang Shin-hyuk quickly checked his status. Gold magic had finally grown to A-rank, and the rarity of his stealth had increased a little bit too. He was already on the level of an active superhuman.
“Okay, it’s possible.”
-Myu?
Onyx let out a cute cry and hovered around his feet, realizing that whatever was happening wasn’t bad for him. Kang Shin-hyuk smiled down at him as he whispered to his friend.
-Janus.
-Janus’s whisper: Grandpa! Are you finally ready to make a new sword?
-Give me the keys.
-Janus’s whisper: Last time, you said you weren’t good enough. Are you going to challenge the alloy again?
-I’m going to combine them.
-Janus’s whisper: Well, just like the old Anvil.
Shortly after, a gift arrived from Janus. The price of a gift was quite high, but if it let him recover the items left behind, Kang Shin-hyuk could casually return it. It was a small key. In the memories left for Kang Shin-hyuk, Anvil managed the garbage created using this key made with Janus’s help.
Within the unique space opened by that key contained every alloy waste created by Anvil in his lifetime.