Toran Stonebreaker.
If one had to describe him, the phrase maverick among Dwarves suited him perfectly.
He was the eldest son of the chieftain of the Black Rock Tribe, a man called the Blacksmith of the Century.
However, Toran had no interest in the work of a Blacksmith.
What he chose was not the hammer, but the pickaxe.
He staked his entire life not on crafting, but on mining.
He even.
‘N-No! Toran, restrain yourself! Not Lumina Heavenly Mountain! Anything but that!’
‘I can feel a great Orichalcum ore vein over there!’
‘Even so, no! If you touch the Heavenly Mountain…….’
‘Bwahahaha! Wait for me, Orichalcum! Toran is coming!’
Not only did he go after the Heavenly Mountain designated as a forbidden mountain.
He also rushed into ore veins swarming with monsters, smashed every monster apart with a single pickaxe, and then mined the minerals.
That was Toran.
“Bwahahahaha! Yes, this is an ore vein! This is it, this! Ore veins are packed everywhere!”
Right now, he was extremely satisfied.
The Blacksmith’s Mine.
It possessed greater potential than any Mine Toran had ever seen.
Honestly, at present, it was a shabby Mine that produced only Lowest-grade Iron Ore.
But he could see it.
Through his ‘Ore Vein Detection Lv 4,’ he could faintly feel it.
Deep within the Mine.
Far below.
He could feel minerals greater than the Orichalcum he had mined from the Heavenly Mountain.
Greater than the Mithril mined at the far end of the Lotos Mine Tunnel, known as the deepest tunnel.
Greater than the Adamantium mined underground in Deckron, a place so swarming with monsters that it had even been called the Demon Realm.
He wanted so desperately to dig up those minerals.
As he thought that and swung his pickaxe with excitement.
“Hmm, this is good.”
Toran.
He was sincerely impressed.
This pickaxe.
It was so excellent that he could hardly believe it had been made by a human.
It was a pity that it had been made for beginners, but at present, Toran’s strength was also being suppressed.
Rather, this suited his hand perfectly.
To catch up to a Dwarf’s skill with a human body.
It seemed he had not become the master of the ‘Forge of Time’ for nothing.
Because of that.
“Hey, kid! After swinging this a few times, I can tell this pickaxe is plenty useful. There is no need to go out of your way to make me a new…… Hm?”
Toran returned to his master.
To Jang Gang-cheol, who had been trying to make him a new pickaxe.
He had intended to say that this one would be enough for a while.
But there.
CLANG!
Toran saw it.
Not the flustered, clumsy-looking man he had first seen.
But Jang Gang-cheol, swinging a hammer like an artisan more skilled than anyone.
CLANG!
Just as Toran did when swinging his pickaxe.
Even as Jang Gang-cheol swung the heavy hammer again and again, the smile did not leave his lips.
CLANG!
Just as Toran did when mining minerals.
Even as Jang Gang-cheol swung that heavy hammer over and over, he struck the rising Points perfectly.
Though Toran had devoted his life not to crafting, but to mining.
Even so, he was a Dwarf.
A member of a race born to be artisans.
Moreover, even if Toran himself had not swung a hammer, he had always watched the Dwarves around him swing theirs.
That was why he could tell.
“Bwahahahaha! Impressive! This time, I really did meet a proper master!”
His master.
Jang Gang-cheol’s skill.
And Jang Gang-cheol’s sincerity.
In the end, Toran forgot all about going back to mine. Before he knew it, he was standing in the Forge, watching his master swing the hammer.
And for some reason.
As he watched Jang Gang-cheol, a familiar back came to mind.
There had been only one person who never scolded Toran, even when he had swung a pickaxe instead of succeeding him, and who had always encouraged Toran with a serious expression, telling him, ‘Keep going.’
The chieftain of the Black Rock Tribe.
His father’s back.
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!
How long had I been swinging the hammer like that?
Every Point that rose was unbelievably hard.
My muscles trembled, and I gritted my teeth against the feeling that my arms were about to fall off. With all my strength, I shattered the final Point.
SHATTER!
Along with the refreshing sound of the Point breaking apart.
[ Crafting is complete. ][ Crafting Evaluation: SS ][ You have obtained ‘Mountain-toppling Frenzied Tusk’. ]
The item was completed.
And the result was excellent.
“Double S-grade!”
I had not been able to make another SS-grade item since creating Serin’s bow.
But now I had succeeded in making an SS-grade item.
After that, a thought occurred to me.
Could it be that the crafting evaluation was not decided solely by my hammering skill?
It was not displayed by the system, but.
Perhaps I needed an ‘understanding’ of the item or the item’s user.
Maybe S-grade was the limit for an item whose grade could be raised through skill alone.
To go beyond that, perhaps I needed to understand why I was making the item, for whom I was making it, and how well I understood the target of that item.
That was what I thought.
In any case, since it had received an SS-grade evaluation.
[ A Masterwork (名作) has been born. ][ A Masterwork worthy of making your name known to the world has been completed. Through the inspiration gained from it, your stats increase. ][ Vitality increases by 3. ]
A system message announcing a Masterwork appeared.
In truth, it did not seem as though receiving SS-grade always caused a Masterwork message to appear.
Still, the fact that the system acknowledged my item as a Masterwork naturally made me feel good.
Then, with an excited heart, I checked the item information.
[ Mountain-toppling Frenzied Tusk ]Form: PickaxeGrade: SSRequirement: Level 8 or higherDescription: A pickaxe created by the Blacksmith Jang Gang-cheol for Toran Stonebreaker, the Destroyer of Lumina Heavenly Mountain.Attack Power: 80Abilities: Mining Lv 4, Penetration Lv 3, Onslaught Lv 3
“Ohh.”
As expected, it was SS-grade.
Its attack power was incredible.
To begin with, for a level 8 SS-grade weapon, even 71 attack power would have been very high, yet this was set higher than that.
It was probably thanks to using the boss-grade material, the ‘Frenzied Boar’s Tusk.’
And that was not all.
“This is my first level 4 ability.”
Among all the item abilities I had made until now, the highest had been level 3.
But this had a level 4 ability.
It had far fewer abilities than the bow I had made for Serin, ‘Ikaya, the Snowbound Tracker,’ but in exchange, each individual ability was higher in level.
The abilities attached to it, including Mining, were all things that helped with mining.
Since its appearance had also turned out well, I was satisfied and was about to return to the Mine to give Toran the pickaxe.
“Ohhhhh……!”
“Toran?”
I heard Toran’s voice.
When I turned my head, Toran, who had been standing near the entrance, was approaching with his mouth open.
I had been so focused on crafting the item that I had not even noticed Toran was there.
As Toran approached.
“Astonishing! To think you created a pickaxe of this caliber! Even the Blacksmiths of my tribe would have found it difficult to make a pickaxe like this!”
He began admiring the pickaxe I had just made.
“This heavy weight! This cool touch and savage-looking head!”
Since even the shaft of that pickaxe was made from iron, it was extremely heavy.
Heavy enough that even I thought it would be difficult to lift and swing.
And yet.
Toran was admiring it while holding that pickaxe lightly in one hand.
He had not asked for even the shaft to be made from iron for nothing.
‘This feels rewarding.’
This Special Crafting had felt especially difficult.
But seeing Toran’s reaction made all that fatigue melt away.
“Trying it once is better than staring at it for a hundred days! I will use it right now, so follow me!”
“Me too?”
“Do you not want to see the masterpiece you made in action?”
“I do!”
“Bwahahaha! That is how a Blacksmith should be! Let us go!”
I headed to the Mine with Toran.
It had not even been long since Toran began swinging his pickaxe, yet the Mine had been dug out quite a bit.
He had even made simple support beams near the entrance.
In such a short time, no less.
Toran entered the deepest area among them, examined the wall as though using ‘Ore Vein Detection Lv 4,’ and then.
“This is the place! Hup, cha!”
CRUNCH!
He swung the pickaxe without hesitation.
The pickaxe, swung with a tremendous tearing sound, embedded itself into the wall.
CRAAACK!
A crack far larger than the one I had first seen spread across the surface.
“Bwahahahaha! This is it! This heavy weight! This steadfast pickaxe head! I like it very much!”
As Toran said that and swung the pickaxe again.
RUMBLE—.
The wall collapsed heavily.
Even at a glance, its power was clearly different from when he had swung the ‘Standard Pickaxe.’
In the middle of that, he still seemed to be carefully controlling the size and thickness of the cracks so that the Mine would not collapse.
He truly looked worthy of being an S-grade Miner.
And Toran was not simply mining only where ore was present.
After all, there were times when he went to the trouble of breaking down a wall, yet no Iron Ore came out.
“Why did you break this place down?”
When I asked that.
“It is fine to dig only for ore, but this is not something we will do for only a day or two! We have to keep going downward, so we need to make a path, do we not?”
“Ah.”
“Support beams are not the only things that hold up a tunnel. The walls you leave behind can serve as supports too, and the ore vein itself can form a support structure.”
Honestly, a wise answer came from Toran, who had looked simple and reckless.
“The deeper we go, the harder it will be to travel back and forth, so we will have to lay rails and make carts. I am making the path with that in mind too.”
“I see.”
“Bwahahaha! Do not worry. Just watch! I will handle this side!”
Even without him saying that, he looked extremely reliable.
Just like with the hunting ground, I had a feeling I would rarely have to visit the Mine myself anymore.
“Bwahahaha! This is it, this! Every time I strike with the pickaxe, ore pours out! How refreshing!”
Since I was tired from Special Crafting.
I sat behind him and watched Toran work for a while.
There was such a thing as fire-gazing or water-gazing, so should I call this earth-gazing?
By the time the refreshing sound of pickaxing, and even Toran’s hearty laughter, began to feel familiar.
ROLL—.
One ore caught my eye.
Every time Toran swung his pickaxe, who knew how many pieces of Lowest-grade Iron Ore came rolling down?
And yet, the reason that particular ore caught my eye was.
“Huh? Toran, this…….”
“Ohh, one finally came out! Bwahahaha! Pick it up quickly! That one is different from the Lowest-grade Iron Ore you have seen until now!”
Because it was not Lowest-grade Iron Ore.
It was an item that looked closer to a gemstone than an ore.
When I picked up the item, which seemed to carry a faint red glow, and checked it.
[ Origin Stone of Strength ]Form: OreGrade: ADescription: An origin stone that inherited the power of the ore vein over a long period within a rich vein, causing it to possess the energy of strength.Ability: Strength Lv 1
“Origin Stone of Strength?”
Sure enough.
An item completely different from Iron Ore had appeared.
This was the first time something other than Lowest-grade Iron Ore had come out of the Mine.
And since I had never even imagined that something else could appear, I could not help being surprised.
“It is a precious origin stone, the kind that only appears once or twice even in an ore vein! If you use it in crafting, you should be able to make use of the energy it contains!”
Origin Stone of Strength.
The ability attached to the item was ‘Strength Lv 1.’
In that case, it meant an item made with this would have an ability related to strength attached to it.
The moment I heard that.
A brilliant idea flashed through my mind.
Lately, I had already been thinking again and again that my strength was lacking.
If I made a proper item with this.
Would I not be able to supplement my insufficient strength immediately, even without leveling up further?
The instant that thought occurred to me.
“Toran, thank you!”
“Bwahahaha! As expected of a Blacksmith! The way your eyes go wild when you see good ore is just like us Dwarves!”
Clutching the Origin Stone of Strength tightly.
I forgot even the fatigue from Special Crafting and ran toward the Forge.