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SERIES: Regression of the Cursed Blacksmith
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Chapter 22 - Progressing Further
[ Hammer of Materials ]
- Type: Trait Skill
# A class-exclusive skill derived from the Blacksmith class's Material trait.
# Consumes mana to summon a hammer of the desired shape.
# The mana consumed varies depending on the summoned hammer's shape, and it can be regenerated with mana if damaged.
# When used with other Material trait skills, it reduces the mana consumption of both skills, increases work speed, and raises the probability of success.
[ Basic Gathering ]
- Type: Trait Skill
# A class-exclusive skill derived from the Blacksmith class's Material trait.
# Consumes mana to gather materials from a target.
# The mana consumed varies depending on the target's condition, and gathering may fail under certain circumstances.
[ Basic Processing ]
- Type: Trait Skill
# A class-exclusive skill derived from the Blacksmith class's Material trait.
# Consumes mana to process materials.
# The mana consumed varies depending on the material's condition, and processing may fail under certain circumstances.
Following the Hammer of Repair, he now had the Hammer of Materials trait too.
It was, of course, a hammer skill compatible with his material-related skills. In truth, though it was called a hammer, it was a versatile tool whose shape could be changed as needed.
For that reason, the other material skills were more important than the hammer skill itself.
“I need the Material trait to get the next repair skill.”
The purpose of disassembly repair is to increase an item's completeness by removing its impurities.
Doing so may improve the item's performance, but it has the drawback of reducing its size by the amount of material removed.
This might not seem like a big deal, but it was a significant problem.
Because if a weapon or piece of armor shrinks and no longer fits its user, it becomes meaningless.
“But with the Material trait, I can insert materials gathered from elsewhere into the spots from where I removed the impurities.”
And the stage where that kind of repair became possible was the very next level: the 6-star repair skill.
Choi Hyun checked his status window.
[ Choi Hyun ]
- Lv: 10
- Class: Blacksmith
- Traits: <Demon's Eye><Repair><Curse of Memory><Nameless Artificer><Cheonmu Body><Material>
- Strength: 15
- Stamina: 15
- Mana: 15
- Sense: 15
- Dexterity: 40
- Unallocated Stat Points: 0
A stat distribution that didn't look to be possessed by someone at level 10 at all.
But Choi Hyun still felt it wasn't enough.
“To get the next repair skill, my Dexterity stat needs to be at least 50.”
He could reach the 5-star repair skill through sheer grinding, but from the 6-star level onward, there was an invisible restriction.
A stat requirement.
Not a level requirement, but a stat requirement.
That's what made it tricky.
And that was why he had stopped grinding proficiency.
But it was fine.
At his current pace, he would probably be able to obtain the 6-star repair skill in the Tower of Growth without any issues.
Having finished his assessment, Choi Hyun immediately stepped into the portal leading to the next floor.
[ Moving to the 14th floor. ]
[ You have entered the 14th floor. ]
[ The challenge of the 14th floor will now begin. ]
Fwoosh!
As soon as the challenge began, Choi Hyun once again charged forward and swung his sword.
* * *
[ You have cleared the 36th floor. ]
[ You have leveled up. ]
[ You have acquired 1 bonus stat point. ]
[ Heavenly Martial Body has been activated. ]
[ Strength, Stamina, Mana, and Sense stats have each increased by 1. ]
[ The gate to the 37th floor has opened. ]
He had cleared the 36th floor.
At the same time, he leveled up, and Choi Hyun immediately opened his status window.
[ Choi Hyun ]
- Lv: 20
- Class: Blacksmith
- Traits: <Demon's Eye><Repair><Curse of Memory><Nameless Artificer><Cheonmu Body><Material>
- Strength: 25
- Stamina: 25
- Mana: 25
- Sense: 25
- Dexterity: 49
- Unallocated Stat Points: 1
He had finally reached level 20.
Choi Hyun immediately invested the bonus stat point into Dexterity, bringing it to 50.
Just because his Dexterity stat reached 50 didn't mean a change would happen right away.
“But I can make that change happen.”
Choi Hyun immediately took out a Tutorial Sword.
It wasn't the one he had already finished disassembly repair on, but another one that he had brought along.
Then, he took out the Hammer of Repair and began to strike the sword.
[ Enhanced Repair has been activated. ]
[ Deft Hands has been activated. ]
[ Super Focus has been activated. ]
He kept on striking the sword.
The faint, murky light he had seen before began to appear. As he focused his strikes on those spots, the contour-like lines started to change into a grid pattern, and the next skill activated.
[ disassembly repair has been activated. ]
Once disassembly repair activated, the lengthy hammering process from before was skipped, and the dense grid pattern that had previously required many strikes to appear, got displayed immediately.
Choi Hyun immediately changed the hammer's shape and began removing the impurities by striking the murky blocks.
The removal process itself wasn't very difficult.
He had already done it to the point of achieving mastery, and the target, the Tutorial Sword, was an easy item to handle.
Soon, the impurity removal was complete, and Choi Hyun took another sword out of his inventory.
It was an identical Tutorial Sword.
Choi Hyun struck that one as well.
It went through Enhanced Repair, then disassembly repair activated, and the grid like pattern appeared.
[ Hammer of Materials has been activated. ]
When the grid pattern appeared, Choi Hyun changed his hammer.
He changed the Hammer of Materials into a claw hammer shape and struck the blocks as if prying out impurities.
However, this time he wasn't striking the murky blocks, but the white ones.
At the same time, a skill activation notification appeared.
[ Basic Gathering has been activated. ]
The skill that got activated was Basic Gathering.
Because he wasn't removing impurities from the sword but extracting perfectly good materials, so the gathering skill had activated.
Just like the impurities, the white blocks began to fall away with each strike.
Choi Hyun gathered as many white blocks as the number of impurity blocks he had removed from the sword he was repairing.
There was no need to gather more.
Because there would be no failures in this process.
After he finished gathering the materials, Choi Hyun checked the information of what he had collected.
[ Gathered Material from the Tutorial Sword. ]
- Type: Item
# A part of the sword gathered from the Tutorial Sword.
Previously, the impurities he had removed were named “Fallen-off Piece” with the description “A part that fell off the Tutorial Sword during the disassembly repair process.”
But this time, the name had changed to “Gathered Material.”
This was because, through the skill, it was recognized not as an impurity but as a proper material.
“This is why the material gathering skills are so necessary.”
The difference between an impurity and a material. It was like the difference between heaven and earth.
Afterward, he placed the gathered material blocks into the empty slots of the sword he was repairing and hammered them.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Removing the impurities and filling the space with pure materials.
Soon, all the empty slots were filled.
The sword, its gaps now filled, shone with a soft, white light, without a single trace of murkiness.
It meant that the composition was perfect.
Having reconstructed the sword with the desired materials, Choi Hyun immediately struck the solid lines of the grid pattern.
The grid pattern vanished, and the entire weapon began to glow pure white.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
He hammered until his forearms felt like they would burst.
The more he hammered, the more intense the light became, until it reached a crescendo, flashed brightly once, and then completely subsided.
[ Repair complete. ]
[ New Discovery. ]
[ Your repair skill has now reached a state where it goes beyond removing unnecessary parts and can now fill in necessary ones. ]
[ Conditions have been met. ]
[ You have acquired the skill, “Combination Repair.” ]
[ Your trait has grown one level higher. ]
[ The skill, “Hammer of Repair”, has grown, and its information has been partially updated. ]
[ You have acquired 6 Dexterity stat points. ]
[ New Record Achieved! ]
[ You are the fastest player in history to reach the sixth trait level. ]
[ For this great achievement, the system gifts you 2 bonus stat points. ]
There was a flood of system notifications.
He had finally obtained it.
Combination Repair, the sixth-grade repair skill.
Choi Hyun checked the information of the sword he had fixed with Combination Repair.
[ Perfect Tutorial Sword ]
- Type: Item
- Requirements: None
- Durability: 260/260 (200+60)
- Attack Power: 26 (20+6)
- Options: None
# A sword supplied in the Tutorial Tower.
# An outstanding blacksmith has removed its unnecessary parts and filled it with necessary ones, crafting it according to its original, most ideal design.
# The enhanced performance will disappear if its durability drops below the original maximum.
Choi Hyun smiled after reading the information.
Right.
This is the true Tutorial Sword.
Thanks to the Material trait and Combination Repair, the flawed, mass-produced Tutorial Sword had successfully regained the original form it was ideally designed to have.
“It’s so shiny.”
Was it because he had removed the impurities?
The sword shone far more sharply and clearly than before.
And that wasn't all.
Because he had filled in as much material as he had removed, its size remained the same as the original, yet it was much lighter.
“Next is grade 7.”
To get the level 7 repair skill, his Dexterity stat needed to be at least 100.
He wasn't worried about when he would reach it.
He had already reached 50 Dexterity at level 20; how long could it possibly take to get to 100?
“Alright, now that I’ve gotten the repair skill I needed, it’s time to…”
Focus on getting other things.
Choi Hyun decided to shorten the name of the Perfect Tutorial Sword and call it the “Perfect Sword.”
After all, there was a superstition that if you gave a weapon a nickname and treated it like a lover, it would last longer.
“Let's go, Perfect Sword.”
Choi Hyun invested all his bonus stats into Dexterity, then headed into the portal to the next floor with his Perfect Sword.
[ Moving to the 37th floor. ]
[ You have entered the 37th floor. ]
[ The challenge of the 37th floor will now begin. ]
Entry to the 37th floor.
And as soon as the challenge began, Choi Hyun, without fail, charged forward and swung his sword, cutting down the enemy.
[ You have defeated the Orc Warrior. ]
One-hit kills.
The distinctly different feel of the strike brought a satisfied smile to Choi Hyun's lips.
“I'm already looking forward to meeting that guy.”
That guy.
The one on the 40th floor was none other than the so-called mid-boss.
“See you soon.”
Choi Hyun's sword swung without mercy.
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