Chapter 2: Blacksmith’s Creative Economy

The next day.

…or not.

That evening.

I woke up as soon as the sun went down and couldn’t help but be surprised by the message that popped up in front of me.

“Huh?”

Am I still not fully awake?

I pinched my cheek and felt a vivid pain.

So this is reality.

[The ‘Kitchen Knife’ you listed on the auction house has been sold.]

[Sales amount: 100,000 won]

“It actually sold?”

The kitchen knife sold.

For 100,000 won, no less.

I had listed the kitchen knife, which had higher attack power and grade than the Goblin Dagger that went for 50,000 won, for a slightly higher price.

Even then, I was thinking of lowering the price immediately if it didn’t sell.

But it actually sold.

I sold a kitchen knife I bought from Daiso for a whopping 100,000 won.

A creative economy, indeed!

“Is this for real?”

I felt a rush of money as soon as I woke up, and my eyes widened.

So, as soon as I came to my senses, I ran to the kitchen.

Well, I say “ran,” but how many steps could I have taken in this studio apartment?

When I arrived in the kitchen, I saw two paring knives.

One was so dull that I had left it abandoned, and the other was still in decent condition, but I couldn’t even remember the last time I used it; it was covered in dust.

But what did it matter?

I took out the paring knives and immediately summoned the hammer on the sink.

“Repair!”

Since I didn’t know how to use the skill yet, I had no choice but to shout the skill name.

As soon as I shouted the skill name, a point appeared above the paring knife.

Clang!

I brought the hammer down on it.

It was only my second time, but it felt more familiar than the first time, probably because I had done it once before.

Perhaps because I had tasted money, I swung the hammer even more cheerfully.

Before long, the repair of the paring knife was complete.

[The repair of the ‘Paring Knife’ is complete.]

[The attack power of the paring knife has been increased due to a successful repair.]

[The grade of the paring knife has been increased due to a successful repair.]

Then, with a pounding heart, I checked the item information.

[Paring Knife]

Type: Sword

Grade: E

Restriction: Level 1 or higher

Description: A cheap paring knife purchased from the market. It has been well-repaired and is now very sharp.

Attack Power: 11

Ability: 1. Cooking – Cutting power increases when attacking ingredients or enemies that are considered ingredients.

“That’s it!”

It was indeed an E-grade item.

Its attack power was lower than the kitchen knife, but that was to be expected since the size of the knife was different.

After repairing the remaining paring knife, I immediately listed both items on the auction house.

I was going to list them for 100,000 won like the kitchen knife, but considering their lower attack power, I listed them for 80,000 won each.

Even so, they had higher attack power than the Goblin Dagger.

Now that I had listed them on the auction house, I was wondering if I should play a game while waiting for the paring knives to sell. [The ‘Paring Knife’ you listed on the auction house has been sold.]

[Sales amount: 80,000 won]

[The ‘Paring Knife’ you listed on the auction house has been sold.]

[Sales amount: 80,000 won]

“Whoa!”

The two items I listed on the auction house sold in the blink of an eye.

***

F-grade Gate.

This is where novices who have just awakened gather, as it is where the weakest monsters appear among all the gates.

Novices from large guilds go to level up with good equipment under the guidance of strong awakeners, but ordinary awakeners are not so lucky.

They work together without proper equipment and gradually grow in the F-grade Gate.

That was the hard life of ordinary awakeners.

“Ready?”

“Of course.”

These two were no different.

The two best friends were lucky enough to awaken at the same time and were able to form a team.

It would be nice to have a few more people, but since they were both novices, they were planning to challenge the entrance of the gate with the goal of growth rather than a perfect clear.

Standing in front of the gate, the two took a deep breath and grabbed their weapons.

Then.

The man frowned when he saw his companion’s weapon.

“Hey, you said you were ready!”

“I am ready!”

“Ready, my foot! How can you bring a knife you bought from Daiso! This is a gate! You can’t even cut a slime with a non-itemized weapon!”

It was understandable.

The knife his companion was holding was a cheap kitchen knife that could be easily found in the market.

Even he, who didn’t know much about awakeners’ weapons, could tell at a glance.

He had explained everything in advance, but he brought such a weapon.

You can’t defeat a single monster with that kind of weapon.

In a gate, an unhelpful ally is just someone you have to protect.

But his companion was confident.

“It’s itemized!”

“That? It looks like a Daiso kitchen knife to anyone!”

“No, I’m telling you! Look!”

His companion confidently displayed the information of the kitchen knife.

The man couldn’t help but be taken aback.

Item information was displayed on the kitchen knife.

Moreover.

“E-grade?”

Not even F-grade, but E-grade.

The attack power wasn’t bad either.

“Not bad, right? I bought it as soon as it appeared on the auction house. I don’t know why a kitchen knife has a grade, but who cares? As long as the performance is good.”

“It’s actually pretty good…?”

“I bought two more throwing daggers, so trust me. I’ll carry this gate.”

“Ahem. Okay, let’s go in.”

The man, who was still bothered by the fact that it was a cheap kitchen knife despite being graded, couldn’t hide his uneasy expression as he led the way into the gate.

Inside the gate was a meadow.

As soon as they went a little further, the first monster appeared.

“Horned Boar!”

It was a boar with a single horn like a rhinoceros.

Although it was a single horn, the boar’s tusks protruded so long that it looked like it had three horns.

The horned boar rushed in as soon as it encountered the enemy.

The man panicked and shot an arrow.

Clang-.

“Ah, damn it!”

The poorly aimed arrow failed to penetrate the boar’s hide.

A horned boar.

It wasn’t his first time challenging an F-grade Gate, but even among F-grade monsters, the horned boar was on the higher end.

He couldn’t help but panic when faced with such an enemy.

“Hey, get out of the way!”

“Okay!”

Then.

His companion ran towards the horned boar with nimble steps.

His companion’s ability was called ‘Tailwind,’ so he was specialized in movement and evasion.

Slice.

His companion, who had skillfully avoided the horned boar’s charge, swung down the kitchen knife.

However, the man didn’t think his companion’s attack would work.

His companion was specialized in movement and evasion, but he didn’t have a single proper attack skill.

But then.

“Screeeeeech!”

A long line of blood appeared on the boar’s side.

The skin split open, and bleeding occurred.

It was a critical hit.

Even the companion who had attacked was greatly surprised by the sight.

“Screeeeeech!”

“Hey, snap out of it!”

Then, the horned boar charged again.

It was greatly enraged by the injury.

Towards the boar, his companion took out a throwing dagger from his waist.

“Paring knife?!”

The man couldn’t help but be horrified.

A paring knife with a yellow handle and a blue handle.

It was obviously the cheapest paring knife.

To think he brought something like that as a ‘throwing dagger.’

The moment he imagined the paring knife bouncing off the boar’s horn and his companion being attacked instead, he gritted his teeth and pulled back the bowstring.

Thwack!

“Ugh.”

The paring knife was deeply embedded in the boar’s body.

The horned boar lost consciousness and collapsed due to successive critical hits.

His companion, who had reflexively thrown the paring knife, but never expected it to be so powerful, blinked his eyes and wore a bewildered expression.

“This… Daiso paring knife?”

As soon as they left the gate, the two went around all the Daiso stores in the area, but they couldn’t find any itemized kitchen knives or paring knives.

***

“260,000 won!”

That’s how much money I made today.

No, I can’t really say it was a whole day.

I used the skill three times and did some hammering, and I instantly earned 260,000 won.

Is that even possible?

Even if I played games all day to farm money and convert it, I wouldn’t earn even half of that.

“Are there any more kitchen knives?”

Just in case, I looked around, but of course, there were no more kitchen knives.

How many knives would a single person living alone have?

In fact, having one kitchen knife and two paring knives was already a lot.

Still, thinking that you never know, I looked around, and my eyes fell on some unused cooking utensils.

A frying pan with the coating completely peeled off, but I was too lazy to throw it away.

A spatula that was so old it was rusted.

A ramen-only pot, and so on.

“In games, they use frying pans and pot lids as shields.”

In shooting games, they defend their butts with frying pans, and in RPG games, they carry pot lids as shields.

So, wouldn’t it be possible to repair and sell these things?

“…… But is that really a good idea?”

I grabbed the pot lid and struck a pose like a shield, but I couldn’t help but sigh.

I could somehow hold and swing the frying pan, but using the pot lid as a shield was realistically impossible.

So, what should I do?

As I pondered, I remembered another skill I had.

“It was called Disassemble, right?”

Blacksmith’s skill.

Craft, Repair, Disassemble.

I remembered one of them and raised the hammer.

“Disassemble!”

Just like when using Repair, a point appeared above the frying pan with the peeled coating.

Clang, clang, clang!

The hammer swung.

Every time the hammer hit the point, cracks appeared on the frying pan.

I swung it about ten times this time, too?

Cracks spread like a spider web all over the frying pan, and light particles created as the point broke seeped in.

[The ‘Frying Pan’ has been disassembled.]

[You have obtained Aluminum Shards.]

The frying pan disappeared, and in its place appeared a silvery-white metal shard.

“Oh!”

I got hooked and started disassembling all the cooking utensils I didn’t use.

A pot with a burnt bottom.

A cutting board I didn’t use because it had too many knife marks.

A bent silicone spatula, and so on.

I disassembled everything except for the essential spoons and chopsticks.

Since I disassembled various types, the items that came out were also diverse.

Aluminum shards, iron shards, wood shards, and so on.

After swinging the hammer dozens of times, the hammer, which had felt light, felt infinitely heavy.

My biceps were burning, and I was out of breath, but it was so much fun.

After a round of disassembly work, various materials were piled up in front of me.

With the materials piled up like this, I finally looked a bit like a blacksmith. “Okay, so what should I make now?”

I had used Repair and Disassemble, so there was only one skill left.

Only ‘Craft’ was left.