My combat style is simple.
Rustle.
I charge in recklessly. Shielding only critical spots like my face, unprotected by armor, I let my gear absorb the thread golem’s attacks. My armor easily withstands the thread-based assault. Reaching the golem, I—
Slice!
Grip the scissors’ handles with both hands and apply force. That’s it. The thread golem splits in half, collapsing and dropping various thread bundles.
The armor dents slightly with each fight, but that’s nothing my repair skill can’t fix.
Hunting golems like this in a frenzy—
[Mine’s time limit has expired.]
Four hours passed in a flash. Back in my room, I couldn’t help but smile at the pile of materials before me.
“Heh, how many are there?”
A massive haul of thread bundles. Subtracting the time spent crafting scissors in Zone 2, I’d focused entirely on harvesting—or rather, spinning—threads.
The result was only natural. With this, I could move beyond clunky iron gear and craft diverse equipment using fibers.
“First, let’s make my own gear.”
Items for the auction house were important, but my personal equipment came first. Today, I’d entered the mine in a sort of plate armor—ore flattened thin for lightness, designed to minimize movement restriction.
But plate armor is still plate armor. It clanked with every move and hindered my scissor work. For a smoother mining experience, crafting new gear was priority number one.
[Crafting skill activated.]
[Please select the item form.]
“Pants!”
[Please specify the detailed form of the pants.]
I’d already planned the vibe for my gear.
“For mining workwear, it’s gotta be jeans.”
Jeans—originally made from thick denim for tent fabric, sold as durable work pants for miners. Perfect for workwear.
[Please select the material for the pants.]
I used a mix of materials, focusing on ‘Tough Fiber’ and ‘Thick Fiber’ to maximize defense despite being cloth. To capture the jeans aesthetic, I added the rare thread bundle I’d gathered today.
[Crafting initiated.]
I swung the hammer.
Clang!
I’d wondered if fibers required a needle, but as expected, none was needed. As a blacksmith, all I needed was my hammer. Striking key points, the fibers shifted and took shape.
[Progress: 47%…]
Since it was my workwear, I tailored the pants to my exact measurements—waist, leg width, length. Truly custom gear, designed for comfort no matter how I moved, unlike anything sold in stores.
Thanks to the blue fibers, the pants took on a genuine denim hue.
[Crafting complete.]
[Obtained ‘Vulcanus’s Workwear Pants.’]
My first piece of workwear was done.
Vulcanus’s Workwear Pants
Form: Pants
Grade: SS
Restriction: Level 10 or higher, Hephaestus’s Descendant
Description: Workwear crafted exclusively for the Descendant of Hephaestus.
Defense: 90
Abilities:
Work – Increases efficiency of all production skills.
Safety – Greatly boosts defense when using production skills or performing related actions.
Labor – Reduces stamina consumption and increases stamina recovery speed when using production skills or performing related actions.
Set – Grants additional abilities when worn as a set.
Production skills—like mining, crafting, and the new Spinning skill for gathering threads—would be more efficient with Work.
Fighting thread golems counted as a production activity, so Safety boosted defense against them. Labor supported my stamina for longer work sessions.
As custom gear, it was perfectly suited to me. Smiling at the SS-grade defense and abilities, I read the fourth ability and immediately prepared the next craft.
“I was planning to make a set anyway!”
[Crafting skill activated.]
[Please select the item form.]
“Top!”
The hammering continued. Thankfully, I’d gathered enough thread bundles to avoid running out of materials.
[Crafting complete.]
[Obtained ‘Vulcanus’s Workwear Top.’]
First came the top, matching the pants’ denim-like color and texture—a quintessential workwear piece. To make it truly mine, I engraved Vulcanus’s seal on the left chest.
[Crafting complete.]
[Obtained ‘Vulcanus’s Work Cap.’]
Next, a yellow work cap to protect my head from golem attacks, using luminescent ore from Zone 1 to glow in the dark.
[Crafting complete.]
[Obtained ‘Vulcanus’s Work Gloves.’]
[Crafting complete.]
[Obtained ‘Vulcanus’s Work Boots.’]
Then, white work gloves, made like ranch gloves since I ran out of blue fiber, and safety boots to protect my feet. I completed five items in total.
“Hahaha!”
My first workwear set—utterly satisfying. Three were SS-grade, the other two S-grade. For gear I’d use myself, this was the standard.
Trying them on—
“Perfect fit.”
As expected, the workwear fit like a second skin. Pants, top, cap, gloves, boots—whether stretching my legs, swinging my arms, mimicking pickaxe swings, or scissor cuts, everything felt seamless. Then, equipping all five—
[You have equipped the full ‘Vulcanus’s Workwear’ set (5/5).]
[‘Vulcanus’s Workwear’ set effect activated.]
[Set Effect: Work Hours]
Increases the quality and quantity of items gathered when using production skills and enhances the abilities of crafted items.
The set effect boosted the yield of ores and fibers from the mine and improved crafted item abilities. Perhaps—
“Triple S?”
I might aim for SSS-grade items, beyond SS-grade. How thrilling! With the workwear equipped, I was tempted to craft something immediately, but—
“Let’s check this first.”
There was something more urgent: the auction house. The 24-hour listing for Ring of Crimson Blood had ended, and a notification confirmed it had sold.
[Ring of Crimson Blood has been sold at auction.]
Not just that—the Ring of Red Blood, made with Crimson Stone but without boss monster materials, had sold too.
“Let’s check the Red Blood Ring first.”
The rings ranged from A to S-grade, not as powerful as the Ring of Crimson Blood but still quite useful. The Thunder Fang I’d listed had fetched a high price, and spare A-to-S-grade weapons sold for nearly 100 million won. I expected the ring to exceed that.
“Huh…?”
The winning bid shocked me.
“200 million?”
Not the SS-grade Ring of Crimson Blood or even an S-grade ring. An A-grade ring—what I’d call a “failure” by my standards—sold for 200 million, despite being level 10.
What about the S-grade ring? I hurriedly checked.
[587,500,000 won]
“Uh…?”
Had I misread? No, I read it right. I’d handled billion-won transactions recently, so I understood the currency instantly.
587.5 million won—nearly 600 million—for an S-grade ring. Even my SS-grade weapon, Flickering Flame, sold for 300 million with its lore value boosting the price. Yet an S-grade ring, a lower grade, sold for almost double.
“This makes no sense.”
I couldn’t believe or comprehend it. How could a lower-grade ring fetch such a price? Puzzled, I checked Vulcanus’s page and the community, quickly finding the reason.
[Vulcanus’s Forge S-Grade Ring. LOL]
Level 10 or not, the options are insane.
Vampirism, stat buffs, and an auto-triggered ‘Blood Shield’ for emergencies.
This is a cheat accessory for low-to-mid levels.
-Sure, but it’s just a level 10 ring. Won’t you replace it soon? LOL
-That comment screams ignorance. Accessories don’t get worse with low-level restrictions; higher levels just add better options.
-So, wearable from low levels with great options? That’s why it’s pricier. LOL
-Wow! LOL
-Even for high levels, the vampirism rate might be lower, but it’s still a beast for early-to-mid game.
-High levels can’t ignore it either. If the options fit perfectly, it’s tempting.
I hadn’t been in the hunter world long and didn’t realize my ring had superior options compared to others. But that wasn’t all—it was just the start.
The community and my page were flooded with posts about my rings.
[What is Vulcanus?]
SS-grade Flickering Ember, SS-grade Thunder Fang, and now an SS-grade ring?
Is this for real?
Even Hodeok Kang can’t churn out SS-grades like this.
-LOL
-Hodeok Kang barely manages one or two SS-grades a year.
-And he displays them proudly.
-Meanwhile, Vulcanus is mass-producing SS-grades like a factory. LOL
-Seriously, is the blacksmith ranking about to change?
-Seems likely; though his level seems low, so it’s iffy.
-Level’s just a matter of grinding.
-Don’t you know how hard it is for blacksmiths to level up without guild support?
Not just my rings but my name—Vulcanus—was being praised everywhere. Then—
[What, a ring worth a whole apartment? LOL]
I want one too.
-It was just under 600 million—where’s an apartment that cheap these days? LOL
-That guy’s only looking at the S-grade ring. LOL
-Not just any apartment, a luxury one!
People were freaking out over the ring’s price. Curiosity overwhelming me, I couldn’t hold back and checked the price of Ring of Crimson Blood.
And then—
“Wha—?!”
I gasped, shocked by a sum I’d never seen before.
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