The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 85
Episode 85.
-Stone Mammoth Bone [SR]
SR Grade Stone Mammoth Bone.
It was a bone of pristine white.
Various bones were listed at the Auction House, but there wasn’t a single SR Grade material among them.
One might have expected to find at least one, but bone materials were fundamentally not the sort preferred by most crafters.
“There’s so much you can do with bone.”
But that versatility existed because Jin-woo possessed diverse applications—it wasn’t something easy for other Crafter Users.
“It’s not just mammoth bone either.”
-Stone Mammoth Ivory [SR]
“Mammoth ivory too?”
The ivory was in remarkably good condition. Jin-woo found himself actually coveting this piece quite badly.
“Let’s get both.”
Jin-woo purchased without hesitation.
-You have purchased Stone Mammoth Bone!
-You have purchased Stone Mammoth Ivory!
“One million Gold for SR Grade materials? That’s a steal. I don’t understand why it’s so cheap.”
Materials weren’t items where everything was determined by grade alone.
Say you had an SR Grade material.
Did using that material guarantee equipment of the same grade? Of course not. If the material was difficult to work with, or if you mishandled it, the resulting equipment could be far lower in grade.
Because of this, material prices maintained balance across the market. High grade didn’t automatically mean high price.
Of course, materials that made crafters drool could fetch tens of millions of Gold. Those were exceptions, but this market rate was standard.
“Hmm. There’s got to be a reason for the discount. I’m curious.”
Jin-woo first checked why these materials were selling so cheaply.
Shark Net was remarkably convenient for this sort of thing.
-Why are Stone Mammoth materials so cheap?
-Stone Mammoth materials listed for 1 million. Is that okay?
-No, 1 million Gold is expensive. Making equipment from it is incredibly difficult. It’s hard to craft equipment in the first place, but what you can make from it is limited. Refining is hard too.
-Especially Stone Mammoth ivory is really hard.
-I’ve bought it for 1 million Gold and made garbage equipment, losing 500,000 Gold.
-Sometimes you just lose the material entirely.
-You need to be careful when buying.
“So it has quite the reputation, huh?”
Stone Mammoth bone and ivory were difficult materials to work with. On top of that, even when you refined them into equipment, they were materials notoriously hard to craft into high-grade pieces.
As more and more users suffered losses from purchasing them at low prices, plenty of reviews about these notorious materials accumulated on the forums.
“There’s actually a whole list of materials like Stone Mammoth bone?”
Seeing that list, Jin-woo grew even more interested.
“I’m curious how difficult it really is.”
He opened the Summon Workshop and pulled out the purchased Stone Mammoth bone and ivory, laying them on the work table.
“Hmm.”
Handling them, he felt the material’s distinctive texture.
“I can definitely feel what people mean. But the advantages are undeniable, aren’t they?”
It was exceptionally hard.
And the color was excellent as well.
Truly pristine. Remarkably so.
“The versatility is quite considerable in multiple ways.”
Jin-woo didn’t hesitate.
“Difficult materials have their own appeal.”
Whoosh—.
“This Summon Servant’s concept is already decided.”
Jin-woo saw potential in creating an attendant.
“Attendant Number Two.”
He was thinking of crafting an even more nimble and versatile Summon Servant to accompany him.
Rumble—!
Jin-woo drew out the Whetstone Carving Knife.
Screech-crash-crash-crash—!
But the Stone Mammoth bone pushed back the Whetstone Carving Knife.
“Oh.”
The Stone Mammoth bone greeted Jin-woo grandly, as if asserting it was completely different from any bone he’d worked with before.
“That’s right, that’s how it should be.”
Jin-woo laughed.
“That’s what makes it fun.”
* * *
GM Kim Na-yoon was checking notification messages.
The other users he managed had been rather quiet lately.
At some point, their actions began consistently staying within predictable ranges. These urgent alert messages came fundamentally from Logical, the superhuman artificial intelligence.
When a user was designated as special, Logical’s analysis deepened further.
-Synchronization Rate is rising steadily.
“Wasn’t he starting at eighty percent?”
Eighty percent.
It was an overwhelmingly high figure among New Gene users to date.
“And it’s still going up? Continuously?”
This was unprecedented.
“There have been cases where it rose shortly after beginning,”
-It could rise through Synchronization Rate adjustment. However, user Jin-woo is the first case of continuous rise.
Logical was already aware of this. But Jin-woo was an entirely different case from other users.
For this reason, it appeared to have developed considerable interest in Jin-woo.
“If he keeps exceeding expectations, Logical would find this entertaining, wouldn’t it?”
Of course, whether it was actually entertaining was unclear.
“I find it entertaining.”
Ding! Ding!
Another alert sounded just then.
“Huh?”
This notification wasn’t from Logical.
“The Vice Director?”
It was a call from the Vice Director. Stepping directly into his office, Kim Na-yoon found him beaming widely.
“A broadcast company got in touch, GM Na-yoon. JBS called—what level is user Jin-woo at right now? Has he broken past 100?”
“Yes. He’s surpassed 100.”
“He reached SR Grade, broke 100, and he’s independently running the Main Scenario right now, isn’t he? JBS is preparing to launch a program timed with this Main Scenario, and they want to recruit user Jin-woo as the face of that launch program.”
The Vice Director explained.
With the Main Scenario just beginning, broadcast companies were bustling with activity.
KBC, OBC, MBS, and even JBS.
New Gene was a top-tier game enjoyed by users worldwide, and its user base ranged from young to old.
Consequently, the broadcast companies had created multiple programs centered on New Gene, achieving quite respectable viewership ratings.
Airing on television simultaneously with uploads to the Mytube channel, the view counts had been quite decent.
Now that the Main Scenario had started.
The broadcast companies reacted sensitively to this situation.
They said that with a properly produced program, they could drive up viewership and buzz—everything.
“KBC and OBC have both apparently already finished recruiting Rankers. They don’t need to go through us for that.”
Naturally, Suomi Company also owned a Mytube channel, but as of yet had no program launch scheduled.
They were understaffed compared to existing broadcast companies, and Rankers also preferred working with the established networks.
“But you know, JBS seems to have made a real commitment this time.”
JBS was a latecomer.
Much smaller than the three existing broadcast companies, and fewer programs that became trending topics.
“Even when recruiting existing Rankers, they can’t beat the other companies. So I think that’s why they want to recruit user Jin-woo.”
“It would certainly become a hot topic, but—”
They didn’t lack funding.
So up until now, they’d brought in Rankers and produced programs, but viewership was abysmal and nothing caught on.
They spent the money but got no results.
JBS had been in a bind.
And they found a way to solve that problem.
Recruit someone everyone would be curious about.
They chose to recruit a user without precedent and turn them into a program.
“Other Rankers have channels to communicate through, but user Jin-woo doesn’t have any. That’s why they contacted us. So I decided to move forward with it,”
The Vice Director held a meeting right away.
And it had just concluded. A very positive meeting it was.
“Vice Director, but why are you telling me all this?”
GM Kim Na-yoon asked, bewildered.
In truth, these weren’t things that needed to be said to an individual staffer like Kim Na-yoon.
“I think you’re the one most capable of handling this. You’ve been managing user Jin-woo all this time, haven’t you? The program will need narration and commentary on the footage. I could ask Logical for analysis, but your hands-on analysis as the one directly overseeing him would resonate so much better.”
The Vice Director judged that Kim Na-yoon’s commentary would be perfect. With that in mind, he intended to put this project under his lead.
“But user Jin-woo has to agree for any of this to happen, right?”
“True. We’ll negotiate well with JBS and work out a deal.”
The Vice Director spoke.
“I’ve already reached out. You and I will go to the meeting.”
Gulp.
Kim Na-yoon suddenly felt nervous.
“Why are you so tense? We’re not going to meet him right away.”
“As I mentioned, I’ve been an ardent fan since the Eternal Sunshine days.”
Meeting that person in person?
“I think I might faint.”
“……I really don’t get it. Am I the weird one? Am I really the weird one?”
GM Kim Na-yoon didn’t answer, merely staring at the Vice Director.
“Your eyes are doing the talking? Goodness.”
He truly couldn’t understand.
* * *
“It’s essentially a ratings war.”
OBC.
A broadcast executive was in a meeting with a top Ranker from New Gene.
“I’ll do it. Just as I do in the game, I want to show that I can win easily outside of it too.”
The broadcast companies were recruiting Rankers in preparation for the Main Scenario.
OBC had recruited High-Tech, a famous Ranker. He was a renowned tank user and held the vanguard position in the Jiryong Guild, one of the top-ten guilds.
“Thank you for this.”
“No, thank you. I look forward to working together.”
Recruitment successful.
After High-Tech left.
“Phew. Done.”
The OBC executive wiped the sweat from his brow.
“With this, the prime-time slot lineup is set.”
“It’s a shame we couldn’t bring in Rankers like Starlight or Inclassic, but High-Tech is no small matter. High-Tech alone secures decent viewership.”
“Plenty of viewers love tank users like High-Tech. Plus, he’s handsome on top of it all.”
Currently, New Gene’s Rankers occupied a quasi-celebrity status. Of course, among them were users who bizarrely lacked popularity, but fundamentally they received the spotlight, and those with exceptional charm or appeal were treated as genuine celebrities.
“KBC went with Slayer, didn’t they?”
Top Ranker Slayer. KBC had recruited Slayer for a hefty sum.
“Yes. KBC will likely dominate the same time slot. Instead, we can focus our efforts on Mytube.”
OBC saw legitimate potential for itself in this inter-broadcast war.
“As long as we watch KBC, we should be fine. The other broadcasters aren’t a threat right now?”
“No. Word is JBS has completely given up.”
“Who are they? Didn’t they strike out once with a Ranker recruitment?”
“A user named Jin-woo.”
JBS had recruited a famous Ranker for expensive money but recorded dismal view counts. So there was curiosity about who they’d bring this time.
But Jin-woo?
“They’re even focusing on Mytube, apparently.”
JBS was planning to push Mytube as their main platform rather than television broadcasting.
“They’ve completely surrendered then.”
Choosing Jin-woo was the worst possible choice.
“Maybe they picked this Jin-woo thinking he might be Jin. But even if he were Jin, what good would it do? He’s a newly started user, and impressive or not, he’s still a Crafter. His limitations are clear and obvious.”
The OBC executive thought JBS had made far too experimental a choice.
“You can’t give up like that. Well, we just need to work hard on our end.”
The OBC executive had completely written off JBS. They weren’t even competition.
“Get in touch with Crafting Hanwoomul. Combining Crafting Hanwoomul with other Ranker users should create decent synergy.”
To recruit a Crafter, you have to mix them with other Rankers like this.
“We need to show them how it’s done.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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