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SERIES: Regression of the Cursed Blacksmith
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Chapter 19 - Mission Accomplished
In just one day, he had reached the 4-star realm.
He wasn't tired.
Rather than being tired, seeing the growth notifications seemed to wash away all his accumulated exhaustion.
“With the Heavenly Martial Body, high base stats, and the recovery from my heart technique, how could I possibly be tired?”
Food?
Of course, he was fine.
Choi Hyun's stat levels were already beyond that of an ordinary person.
Besides that, starving for a day or two at most wouldn't be a major hardship.
And with the bonus stats he received on top of that, was there even any room for fatigue?
Having acquired Enhanced Repair, Choi Hyun invested his bonus stats into Dexterity and immediately began testing its performance.
The target was, of course, the Tutorial Sword, which was classified as a junk item.
Choi Hyun's hammer swung toward the sword.
[ Enhanced Repair has been activated. ]
[ Deft Hands has been activated. ]
[ Super Focus has been activated. ]
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
As he entered the Enhanced Repair stage, a faint blue light began to swirl around the weapon he was striking.
Choi Hyun hammered the sword diligently and was able to finish the repair quickly.
[ Repair complete. ]
[ Due to the effect of Enhanced Repair, the target has been fully repaired, and some of its options have been improved. ]
The repair was finished.
And the notification which he had seen before had changed once again.
Choi Hyun grinned and checked the Tutorial Sword's information.
[ Tutorial Sword ]
- Type : Item
- Requirements : None
- Durability : 110/110(100+10)
- Attack Power : 11(10+1)
- Options : None
# A sword supplied in the Tutorial Tower.
# Its performance had degraded from being used to its limit, but it has been perfectly repaired by a skilled blacksmith, and some of its performance has even been improved.
# The improved performance will disappear if its durability falls below the original maximum.
Seeing the information, Choi Hyun’s face tightened with excitement.
It was just a repair, yet its durability and attack power had improved by a total 10%.
Of course, the improved options weren't permanent.
It was just a type of buff.
The kind of buff that temporarily enhances a weapon's performance after being repaired by a blacksmith with a 4-star Repair trait.
“The performance will drop as I use the weapon, but it’s still counted as a bonus, right?”
Choi Hyun recalled the past.
Those were the days when any item he repaired would have all its basic options increase by several times at a minimum.
Of course, the rate of performance increase varied by item, but the simpler the item's structure, the greater the increase.
“Alright, I've finally reached 4-star.”
Only one more step remained.
Choi Hyun's goal was to reach 5-star.
Because after 5-star, this kind of ordinary proficiency grinding method would no longer increase the trait's experience.
But conversely, it meant this method worked up to 5-star, which was why he had set up this environment.
Choi Hyun took a deep breath and raised the Hammer of Repair again.
“Let's begin.”
This would probably be the longest grind he had ever done.
But it was fine.
No matter how long it took, compared to his past life, the difference was like switching from running on two legs to riding an airplane.
[ Enhanced Repair has been activated. ]
[ Deft Hands has been activated. ]
[ Super Focus has been activated. ]
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The clear sound of metal striking metal echoed throughout the warehouse.
How much more time passed like that?
There were no more junk items left in the warehouse.
Even the items he had crudely repaired before were almost all re-repaired into their enhanced versions.
And so, the sun set, and night fell once again.
[ Enhanced Repair has been activated. ]
[ Deft Hands has been activated. ]
[ Super Focus has been activated. ]
Choi Hyun once again struck the weapon mechanically.
At that moment.
Hwaaaa-
Suddenly, a faint, murky light, unlike anything he had seen before, began to appear on the weapon.
Seeing it, a strange light glinted in Choi Hyun's eyes.
“It's starting.”
The sign of growth for the next stage.
It looked like the mold was just beginning to grow on spoiled food.
Choi Hyun knew what this was.
Choi Hyun called them impurities.
“A masterpiece made with a perfect design, perfect materials, and a perfect process doesn't have any unnecessary parts.”
But how could every product in the world possibly be made with all three of these elements in perfect harmony?
The design might be flawed due to insufficient knowledge, different materials might have been used to cut costs due to a tight budget, or the process itself could be lacking due to insufficient proficiency.
And after reaching a certain point, a skilled blacksmith begins to see such things.
In other words, their blacksmith's eye opens.
It was something Choi Hyun had also experienced in the past.
But now that everything had returned to square one, Choi Hyun had to refill that sense into a body that was no different from a blank slate. The system, having judged that he had accumulated enough proficiency and experience, finally granted him the opening of the eye that could see these things.
“To be precise, the eye that was originally open had been forcibly covered by the system.”
But now, having met the qualifications, it was beginning to open up again.
Choi Hyun gently tapped the spots that looked like mold with his hammer.
As he did, lines began to form on the weapon, and a grid like pattern started to be etched all over it.
The grid pattern spread like ink, soon covering the entire sword and engraving itself on every part.
Along with it, the appearance of the impurities, which had been glowing murkily like mold, also changed.
What were spread out like contour lines were no longer shaped that way; it changed to match the grid pattern, becoming pixelated and reminiscent of the square blocks from the once-popular game, Minecraft.
Choi Hyun infused mana into the Hammer of Repair, changing its size to that of a claw hammer.
“This is where it really begins.”
The eye was fully open.
So, this was the real start.
Choi Hyun's hammering began again.
His hammering became much more delicate compared to his previous work.
He slowly tapped the impurity blocks, as if chipping away the unnecessary parts from a dalgona candy.
With that, a few of the impurity blocks successfully broke off.
But this was disassembly, not repair.
“To call this a repair, I have to complete the product.”
They were called impurities, but they were also part of the important materials that made up the weapon's overall integrity.
Therefore, the next step was crucial to turn the now-incomplete weapon, with its impurities removed, back into a finished product.
Choi Hyun changed the Hammer of Repair back to a flat shape.
Then, instead of hitting the blocks of the weapon where only white blocks remained, he struck the grid lines themselves.
It was a signal that the impurity removal process was complete.
The grid pattern vanished, and the entire weapon began to glow with a pure white light.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
He hammered it fiercely.
Delicacy was no longer needed.
He hammered the sword as if his forearms would burst, and the more he struck it, the more intense the light became.
Choi Hyun felt a sense of ecstasy in this process.
An ecstasy he hadn't felt in a very long time.
It was a skill he had already acquired once, but the thought of being reunited with it like this made his heart pound more.
It felt like meeting an old hometown friend again after several decades.
Finally, as the light reached its peak, the Tutorial Sword shone with its own luminescence. The power slowly subsided and then vanished completely.
[ Repair complete. ]
[ New Discovery. ]
[ Your repair skill has now reached a level where it not only enhances a target's performance but also removes its unnecessary parts. ]
[ Conditions met. ]
[ Skill, “Disassembly Repair,” has been acquired. ]
[ Trait has grown further. ]
[ Skill, “Hammer of Repair,” has grown, and its information has been partially updated. ]
[ You have acquired 5 Dexterity stats. ]
[ New Record Achieved! ]
[ You are the fastest player in history to reach the fifth trait level. ]
[ For achieving a great accomplishment, the system gifts you 2 bonus stats. ]
A flood of system notifications.
Choi Hyun had finally reached the realm of the fifth repair skill, Disassembly Repair.
Choi Hyun found himself smiling in satisfaction.
“They certainly treat you well starting from 5-star.”
The achievement for the new record had changed from “outstanding” to “great,” giving him two bonus stats.
Choi Hyun invested the two acquired bonus stats into Dexterity and then refreshed his status window.
[ Choi Hyun ]
- Lv : 1
- Class : Blacksmith
- Traits : ＜Demon's Eye＞＜Repair＞＜Curse of Memory＞＜Nameless Art＞＜Cheonmu Body＞
- Strength : 6
- Stamina : 6
- Mana : 6
- Sense : 6
- Dexterity : 31
- Unallocated Stat Points : 0
31 points in Dexterity.
It was thrilling.
To put it bluntly, you'd have to gain 30 levels to get 30 points in Dexterity through normal means.
“Are these specs even possible for a Level 1?”
An achievement that an ordinary player could never accomplish.
But as a Regressor, he had made the impossible possible.
“Of course, it's not something I can be entirely happy about.”
This was a result born from everyone's sacrifice.
So, instead of celebrating his achievements, he had to repay their sacrifices even a day sooner.
Choi Hyun then checked the information of the weapon that had brought him to the 5-star level.
[ Tutorial Sword ]
- Type : Item
- Requirements : None
- Durability : 180/180(150+30)
- Attack Power : 18(15+3)
- Options : None
# A sword supplied in the Tutorial Tower.
# Its unnecessary parts have been removed by a skilled blacksmith. Its size has been reduced, but its performance has improved.
# The improved performance will disappear if its durability falls below the original maximum.
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