Chapter 92: Vulcanus Crafts a New Legacy

Fortunately, the controversy over my naturalization ended quickly.

– Naturalization? What are you talking about ㅋㅋㅋ

– The name Vulcanus was boldly ranked on Korea’s Blacksmith rankings, so naturalization was nonsense. ㅋㅋㅋ

– ㅋㅋㅋㅋ  

– The Vulcanus Guild is still operating fine, so why did the naturalization rumor even spread? ㅋㅋ

– But I did feel a bit nervous. ㅎㅎ

– Whew, that was a scare.  

– But I heard the recent government abuse scandal was actually true?  

I didn’t even need to hold a press conference.  

The Blacksmith rankings, based on Korea’s standards, still had Vulcanus’s forge listed there.  

Once it was known that I hadn’t naturalized, people could breathe easy and indulge in their patriotic pride to their heart’s content.  

– Wow, so this time the Japanese Gate Burning 

– Was it overcome thanks to us?  

– It was basically like we saved them.  

– Why “us”? ㅋㅋㅋ  

– Well, it was thanks to Korea. ㅋㅋ  

– Because Vulcanus helped.  

– Overkill ㅋㅋ what could one blacksmith do? The Japanese handled it all until Vulcanus just added a spoonful at the end.  

– Still don’t get the situation? ㅋㅋ Korea was panicking, saying they didn’t know what would’ve happened without Vulcanus.  

– What’s Japan doing?

– Not even bowing to us immediately. ㅋㅋ  

– They should bow to Vulcanus~.  

– But Japanese media isn’t even mentioning Korean support?  

–  That’s all being blocked by their government. ㅋㅋ  

– Yeah, actually, except for Japanese news, their online communities are already buzzing with talks about Vulcanus.  

– Well, their hunters wouldn’t be satisfied with Japanese-made equipment anymore after experiencing Vulcanus’s gear. ㅋㅋㅋ  

It was true.  

The Japanese government tried to hide the truth about the equipment as much as possible and promoted their hunters’ strength and efforts instead.  

But the Vulcanus markings on the equipment shown in videos had already spread all over Japan.  

What was worse, it wasn’t just the general public—it was hunters.  

Japanese hunters who used Vulcanus equipment began investigating the identity of this extraordinary gear.  

When the Japanese Hunter Association collected the equipment, they only stirred things up more and uncovered the source.  

Eventually, it was revealed that the gear was made by the Korean hunter Vulcanus.  

Now Vulcanus’s name was widely known throughout Japan.  

“Everyone’s so busy.”  

Amid all this, I was enjoying a day of rest.  

During the Gate Burning, and even now, I’d swung my hammer without a break.  

Thanks to the SS-grade bed’s performance, my stamina had recovered, but mentally, I wanted a bit more rest.  

Basic mass-produced gear was already being handled by the combined efforts of the Mining Team and Production Team.  

While lazily lounging around my room, resting I received a message: 

– “Vulcanus-nim.”  

“Yes?”  

–  “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs just sent additional rewards.” 

“Additional rewards?”  

–  “It’s the byproducts of the Japanese monsters listed on the last line of the contract. “

“Oh, right. That was in there.”  

Soon after, monster byproducts—items useful as crafting materials—started arriving before me.  

[Egg Ghost Shell]  

[Mountain Centipede Leg]  

[Land Shark Scale]  

“Kind of iffy.”  

They felt different from the materials you’d get from the mines, so they piqued my curiosity, but most were grade B or lower.  

A few were grade A materials, but they still felt unsatisfactory.  

I was starting to wish the contract had included a clause about the grade of byproducts when the last two materials caught my attention.  

“Hmm?”  

One was a black horn.  

Not like an ordinary beast’s horn, but a jet-black horn reminiscent of a demon’s horn.  

A black haze shimmered around it, making it clear at a glance that it was no ordinary item.  

[Kuro-Oni’s Horn]  

“Kurooni… isn’t that the boss monster that appeared during the Mount Fuji incident?”  

I knew about it from the news.  

The Gate Break of Mount Fuji.  

Among the strongest three boss monsters: Yamata no Orochi, Yuki-onna, and Kuro-Oni.  

Thinking about it, this horn looked just like the one shown on the news.  

Checking the item info:  

[Kuro-Oni’s Horn]  

Type: Material  

Grade: S  

Description: A horn grown by condensing the power of Kuro-Oni, the black demon lord whose body is steeped in darkness.  

“S-rank?”  

As expected.  

The material before me was indeed the Kuro-Oni horn from Mount Fuji.  

And it was an S-rank material to boot.  

Japan surely wouldn’t hand this over easily.  

Even if Japan did give it up, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs receiving it wouldn’t have easily passed it on to me.  

Moreover, there was another such material.  

Next to the Kuro-Oni horn was a hexagonal ice crystal scattering a chilling cold aura.  

Its identity was none other than  

[Yuki-onna’s Ice Crystal]  

Type: Material  

Grade: S  

Description: An ice crystal imbued with the death and resentment born from a winter cold wave, containing the Enmity of the Yuki Onna, unable to leave the mortal realm.  

“Oh!”  

Yuki-onna’s Ice Crystal.  

Also an S-rank material.  

S-rank materials were valuable enough to be directly managed by the Hunter Association.  

I hadn’t expected to receive two S-rank materials from a foreign country, either.  

The contract didn’t specify that far.  

Feeling puzzled about this unexpected turn of events, Nam Bora’s voice followed.  

– “Along with the materials, we received additional contact from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

“From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?”  

–  “At that time, everything was so urgent and chaotic due to the Gate Burning incident that they apologize for neglecting Vulcanus-nim.”  

“Oh, really?”  

So that means they weren’t trying to disrespect me, just that they were too busy and made mistakes?  

But that doesn’t explain why they deliberately leaked my information to Japan.  

As I was still wondering, Nam Bora added further explanation.  

–  “Of course, that’s nonsense.” 

– “This time, Vulcanus-nim’s naturalization rumor caused a brief uproar, right?”  

–  “I think they realized public opinion was getting serious up top. I heard the Chairman even caused a fuss in front of the President.”  

– “So maybe these materials were sent as an apology and a request for good relations.”  

“I get the gist of it.”  

The Hunter Association’s Chairman was more supportive of me than I’d expected.  

I already thought they’d done plenty for me, but now they went this far.  

Well, I could only be grateful.  

There were plenty of mediocre Grade B or lower materials, but rare materials like these were hard even for me to get.  

Especially high-grade monster materials—those were the hardest to acquire.  

“Maybe I’ll make something for the first time in a while.”  

I had rested enough.  

In fact, I’d rested so much that my hands were already itching.  

Like how a gamer from my room days felt uneasy when the computer was off.  

Now as a blacksmith stuck in my room, I felt uneasy when I wasn’t holding a hammer.  

After some thought about what to make, a message showed up:

[Level Up]  

“Oh, I’ve passed level 95, haven’t I?”  

Along with the level-up message, the Soul of the Blacksmith skill came to mind.  

In the past few days, with the Second Gate Burning incident and the chaos in Japan, I’d been too busy to notice how much time had passed.  

Meanwhile, the Mining Team kept hunting golems and monsters, and my level steadily increased.  

My new level was 98.  

With just a little more, I could hit level 100.  

“Then I’ll make one more and go check on the Mining Team for the first time in a while.”  

As soon as I made the plan, I summoned my hammer.    

[Using Crafting Skill.]  

I activated the Crafting Skill.  

[Please select the form of the item to craft.]  

What I wanted to make now was a new combat unit.  

In other words, Combat 4.  

Materials and crafting were balanced and well-managed, and the only thing I lacked was the experience and item materials necessary for leveling up.  

Still, I hesitated a bit before making Combat 4.  

“What form should it take this time?”  

Most of the other assistants followed the form of Unit 1 exactly.  

Even among the Production Team’s assistants, aside from the engraved numbers to differentiate them, there were almost no differences.  

What about the Combat Team?  

“Unintentionally, they all have unique traits.”  

Combat 1 was a swordsman.  

Combat 2 was an archer.  

Combat 3 was a spearman.  

All unintentional, but each had different weapons, armor, and materials.  

So it was hard to unify the form now.  

Since it was like that anyway, I thought I might as well make Combat 4 with a new characteristic.  

As I pondered while looking over the newly arrived S-rank materials,  I decided on the form for Combat 4.

“Staff.”  

A staff.  

In other words, I decided to challenge a mage type.  

This was a big challenge for me.  

Until now, the assistants I’d created with Soul of the Blacksmith simply wielded the equipment I made for them.  

But recently, I noticed something different.  

Combat 1 had once used ‘Attack Aura’ while training with the Statue of the Swordsmith.  

Then, if I based Combat 4 on a staff, could it also use magic?  

With that thought, I raised my hammer.  

[Please set the detailed form of the staff.]  

I took a suitably stylish staff design from the game.  

[Please select the material of the staff.]  

For materials, I used Kuro-Oni’s Horn and Yuki-onna’s Ice Crystal as the main components, adding plenty of magic stones and other supplementary materials.  

[Beginning crafting.]  

“Bang!”  

The crafting of the staff began.  

First, I shaped the body of the staff from Kuro-Oni’s Horn.  

Normally, refining horn instead of ore would be impossible, but the Blacksmith skill transcended such common sense.  

The more I hammered, the longer and smoother the Kuro-Oni horn stretched.  

As the horn lengthened and took the shape of a rod, I embedded Yuki-onna’s Ice Crystal on top.

“Bang!”   

This ice crystal would serve as the orb, the core of the staff.  

The magic generated by the ice crystal would resonate with the caster’s mana through the staff made of Kuro-Oni’s Horn, allowing magic to be cast.  

Once the staff’s shape was roughly complete, I began engraving Rune Scripts. 

“Flint, keep it simple and just put ‘Magic’ in there.”  

“Got it!”  

“Sizzle!”  

Since the ice crystal was the base, I could have inscribed cold-related Rune Scripts, but with the Soul of the Blacksmith, who knew how the power would manifest?  

Maybe it could use power other than ice, so rather than focusing on ice, I concentrated on magic itself and engraved magic Rune Scripts.  

“Bang!”  

[Progress: 75%……]  

Kuro-Oni’s Horn and Yuki-onna’s Ice Crystal, plus additional high-grade materials with excellent magic conductivity from the mines, and Rune Scripts too.  

That made it much more difficult, but it wasn’t hard. 

“This is doable.”   

Maybe because I’d been hammering so much lately, the long hammering felt very familiar.  

After a while- 

[Crafting complete.]  

[Acquired ‘Enmity of the Yuki-onna.’]  

I finished the staff.  

True to its origin from Kuro-Oni’s Horn, the staff was jet black.  

Even the embedded Yuki-onna’s Ice Crystal was tinged with a black hue.  

Thanks to the high-grade materials I’d used, despite the black color, it had a very elegant feel.  

Nodding in satisfaction at the staff’s appearance, I immediately checked the item information.  

[Enmity of the Yuki-onna]