The Capricorn temple had the star master craftsmen, the peers of the Goat Saint Sebastian. One made weapons, one made defensive gears, and the other made buff-type holy items. They were all famous around the world in their fields.
Of course, other temples had their famous master craftsmen. However, the master craftsmen of the Genius Workshop dominated the scene.
[Oliver, the Ten Star of the Leo temple, made several attempts and failed. The Leo temple failed to place a manufacturing order with the Genius Workshop.]
[His waiting order is 12,000.]
[The Archer Saint Hugo Otis was also denied when he put in an order for a repair.]
[The Sagittarius temple probably can’t handle the repair fee.]
The master craftsmen, who had pissed off even Hugo, stood in front of Lee Gun with supreme confidence. Of course, they had a reason for being confident. First, they had heard that Lee Gun had taken around four weeks to create an offensive-type weapon.
‘Even the low-rank master craftsmen can do that in three weeks.’
As for them, they could do it in a week.
The second reason was that Lee Gun had yet to realize what was wrong with the ingredients they had given him.
‘He said the ingredients were good? He said he could make an S-rank weapon with those ingredients?’
‘Hmmph! One of the basic requirements for being a manufacturer is having a good eye.’
Despite their derision of Lee Gun, it wasn’t as if they hated him. Lee Gun was famous, and the whole world paid attention to him. What if they defeated a famous person like him?
‘Our reputation and the temple’s reputation will rise.’
While EXP grew the size of a temple, the reputation grew the quality of the temple.
Basically, it would allow them to evolve various parts of their temple, including skills. That was why the disciples were trying their hardest to attain achievements. Lee Gun was the ideal prey to accomplish that.
This was what they had assumed. However…
“What the hell is that?”
People screamed when they saw Lee Gun.
“Kyaaa! That’s crazy!”
“I… Is that supposed to be possible?”
The master craftsmen were surprised by the screaming.
People were staring at the kiln. Yes, in front of Lee Gun was a fire kiln that looked like a hybrid of a stove and a chimney. The kiln was burning fiercely. Normally, it was supposed to burn like a wood fire, but it was on a different level right now.
“Ahhhk! The kiln is melting!”
An incredible flame emanated from the kiln. The flame was so fierce that the nearby people ran away. It seemed as if the heat had changed the workshop into a volcanic region.
This shocked the master craftsmen.
‘That kiln is for training purposes…!’
That kiln was incapable of producing such heat.
‘So how…!’
However, something even more shocking was going on.
“Lee Gun-nim!! Your hand is melting!”
“He is doing it barehanded! Will he be ok?”
Yes, Lee Gun had placed his arm in the kiln.
Guisoon, who was next to Lee Gun, also reacted in fright. “Hey! God-nim! Have you lost your mind? Hurry up and take it out! What the hell are you doing? It hasn’t been that long since your arm was regenerated!!”
Was it because his arm had been severed by Abyss? The monarch’s magical energy was insidious. His right arm had barely returned with Super Regeneration, and it had taken several days. Another probable reason for this was that the level of Life was still low.
Anyway, him having Super Regeneration didn’t mean that he was unable to feel pain!
Guisoon clung to Lee Gun’s arm as Lee Gun casually put his hand into the fire.
“God-nim! All the flames used within the kilns of the Capricorn temple are Constructs! It won’t end with a burn wound!”
The low-rank Capricorn master craftsmen ran toward Lee Gun in fright.
“You will die at this rate! The fire is too strong!”
Lee Gun smirked as he kept his hand in the fire. “This is strong? This isn’t enough. Not by a long shot.”
“What?!”
Lee Gun immediately put strength into his arm. Then, a scream came from the kiln!
[Goo-ehhhhhhhhk!]
Guisoon and the master craftsmen were surprised by the scream.
Lee Gun didn’t care as his eyes flashed. “What are you doing, idiot? Do you want to die? Hurry up and raise the temperature.”
At those words, a familiar face appeared within the flame. It was the fire spirit that resembled a lizard.
‘Salamander!’
Since the Capricorn was the Zodiac of the blacksmiths, all kinds of gods related to fire had been made into Constructs.
Sometimes when the Zodiac was making an item, the fire Construct Agni would go into the kiln.
Anyway, Lee Gun was choking the neck of a Construct. The Construct was able to use firepower differently because of this threat.
The salamander shouted when it felt like it was being choked to death.
[Let me go! You snake bastar— Kuh-huhk! Poo-uhk!]
“Tsk! That bastard Torch listens to my instructions very well in my house. You guys look the same, so why are you like this?”
The words left Guisoon dumbfounded.
Lee Gun was referring to Torch, the fire monster that Lee Gun had stuffed into the kiln. He was talking about the calamity that had attacked Cheongwadae and razed the north of Seoul into the ground.
Lee Gun had already trained(?) it, so he just had to step on its tail to get it to crazily spit out high heat. It was unclear as to whether he knew this or not.
“You’re a god, yet your flame is weaker than a monster. I can make neither a weapon nor candy with this, bitch!”
The Construct was dumbfounded.
[Hey, you idiot! If I raise it further, you’ll get hurt— Kuh-huhk!!!]
“Do you really think I’ll get hurt by fire that can merely heat the floor?”
When Lee Gun choked its neck once again, the Construct furiously spat out a flame. The flame was so hot that it could almost melt the kiln!
Lee Gun was satisfied only when a flame looked like the sun itself was summoned. “Good! It is still a bit lukewarm, but this should do.”
The low-rank master craftsmen retreated from beside him. They didn’t want to be burned to death.
“He’s showing off because he has high resistance to fire!”
“Our master craftsmen have as much resistance to fire!”
“We are blacksmiths who know how to control fire! Don’t look down on us!”
Despite the words they shouted, the star master craftsmen on the next workbench were sweating. In truth, they were afraid of putting their hands into a flame of that magnitude, and this made them grind their teeth.
“We told that crazy bastard to make a weapon, yet it seems he’s trying to melt the kiln.”
“Does an S-rank item come out by doing that?”
The master craftsmen looked surprised.
On the other hand, Lee Gun picked up his hammer as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“It’s a worthless performance. He has nothing else to show except for that.”
“That’s right. In the first place, rank five ingredients will melt away in that heat…”
At that moment…
“Wow! That’s crazy! What is that?”
“Look at his speed!”
A commotion happened amongst the crowd as the sound of hammering reverberated in the air. It was the sound of Lee Gun using his hammer.
This shocked the star master craftsmen.
When making a holy item, the first step was to put all the ingredients into the fire of a furnace or a kiln. The ores handed down by the gods had to be mixed with the other acquired ingredients. Then the metal had to be formed into an ingot. That ingot was used to create the shape of an item.
They hadn’t seen him put the ingredients into the fire, yet he had started pounding on the steel.
‘He still hasn’t mixed in the ingredients.’
However, Lee Gun really was pounding his hammer atop his workbench.
Ggahng ggahng!
His left hand held a hammer, and his right hand a long piece of metal. The metal piece in his right hand reminded one of a skewered burning marshmallow.
Ggahng ggahng!
Lee Gun pounded the red-hot lumpy piece of metal. Clearly, the ingredients they had provided him with had been melted and mixed into the metal.
This took them aback.
‘How?’
They soon found out how he did it.
“Ah. This won’t be enough.” Lee Gun picked up the ores and ingredients that had been provided to him. Then, he grabbed the salamander in the kiln by the neck as he dragged it out!
“Here. This is your food. Quickly put it in your stomach and mix it.”
“!?!”
Lee Gun stuffed the ingredients into the salamander’s mouth.
The Construct looked like it wanted to die.
[K-Kuh-huhk! You bastar— I can no longer fit more— Oohk oohk!]
“Stop being a crybaby!” Lee Gun kept the salamander’s mouth shut and shook the Construct as if he were making a protein shake.
Everything was occurring within the flame, and several seconds passed.
[Ggoo-ehhhhk!]
Lee Gun opened the Salamander’s mouth again and shook it. Surprisingly, the mixed ingredients came out.
The master craftsmen from the other temples, who had been in the audience seats, yelled out as if they had an understanding.
“I see. He increased the temperature of the fire to shorten the process!”
“…!”
“Also, the inside of that Construct’s body is the best blast furnace. The mixing process won’t take long.”
“That man is going to kill that Construct! It is a god!”
“Still, he found a way to shorten the process, right? If it is possible, I want to try it out too.”
“Really! How can you say something so profane regarding a god? You should only think about raising the temperature!”
The star master craftsmen were stunned. Of course, doing this was easy in theory. However, how could a person be unharmed in front of that fire? But that was an entirely different problem.
‘A flame that hot would burn away all the data within the rank five ingredients. They’ll just combust.’
Why is it fine then? The question was soon answered.
“Damn it, lizard! Turn down the heat. The data is being destroyed”
[Kuhk— You told me to raise it— Kuhk!]
The master craftsmen did a double take when they heard those words.
‘Is he perhaps managing the heat to the ideal temperature for the ingredients?’
‘That’s crazy! He is doing this without a thermometer?’
‘In the first place, he can’t use a thermometer. It’ll melt!’
‘Is he doing it through touch…!’
That was right. Lee Gun’s skin felt the heat, so he knew when the ingredients would get damaged. It allowed him to modulate the temperature to the exact degree.
Because of this, the workshop descended into pandemonium. However, the star master craftsmen just shook their heads.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about his method.”
“That’s right. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the ingredients. He can make only trash with trash.”
There was no way an S-rank item would come out.
But that wasn’t all.
‘The speed at which he can work by himself….’
At that moment, they almost fainted from shock.
Ggahng ggahng ggahng ggahng ggahng!
The sound of the hammer rang out as if he was putting on an inspired performance!
Lee Gun was like a madman as he pounded the metal and folded it. He repeatedly hit it and folded it. It looked as if he was pounding mochi in a mortar. Lee Gun kept pounding the ingredients as if it was dough.
[The impurities are disappearing.]
[The impurities are disappearing.]
[Its tensile strength is rising.]
The low-rank Capricorn master craftsmen wondered what was going on.
Kevin, who had been a spectator until now, laughed as he spoke up. “He’s raising the rank of the ingredients.”
Hearing those words, one of the Capricorn master craftsmen quickly put on a glass. It was a holy item that allowed him to see the rank of an ingredient. And when he looked at Lee Gun, the scene left him shocked.
‘The ingredients are really rising in rank!’
It was like watching a scene with an infrared camera.
The minerals Lee Gun was pounding at were rank five, symbolized by their muddy brown color.
When Lee Gun pounded them with his power, the muddy brown color cleared as he kneaded and folded them. One could see the materials change color from red, orange, yellow, and green.
Then, the color finally reached that
‘Blue!’
The master craftsman, who had been viewing this through the glasses, fell to the ground.
“That’s nuts. How can it become rank 1— oohp!”
The master craftsman quickly shut his mouth, but the star master craftsmen heard it clearly. They trembled.
‘The rank of the ingredients rose?’
Of course, it wasn’t as if Lee Gun had used the wrong method. A paper’s tensile strength would rise the more one folded it.
Lee Gun was pounding and folding the ingredients. He was increasing its tensile strength by compressing it. It was a method that could be used if the quality of the ingredient was terrible. But one needed power to pull this off.
However, it was too early to be surprised.
Ggahng!
The master craftsmen flinched and shook when they heard the sound of metal hitting metal. An incredible power was being used on the metal. It seemed the preparation for the ingredients had ended.
Lee Gun kept turning the metal with his tongs as he pounded it with his hammer. In a flash, a blade started taking shape.
Ggahng gahng!
This scene surprised everyone.
“What the hell? It is already taking shape?”
It wasn’t as if Lee Gun had pounded the item dozens of times. He just had to hit each region once: the shape of the sword, the connecting pieces, and even the through-holes.
Ggahng!
People reared back in shock as they listened to the sound of metal being worked on.
“He already made a sword!”
“It didn’t even take five minutes.”
When the master craftsmen froze in place, the people in the audience seat started jeering at them.
“Capricorn temple! What are you doing? Lee Gun already made a sword!”
“Did you guys play around while you worked?”
The star master craftsmen shook at their protestation.
“T…that isn’t it—”
“Hurry up and make it!”
The star master craftsmen quickly put the ingredients into the fire. However, the mixing procedure took too long.
They had no choice. They took out an ingot that they had prepared beforehand. One person grabbed the metal, and two people were about to hit it with their hammers when…
“Wow! That’s crazy! He already made three!”
“??!!”
The star master craftsmen froze. They didn’t get to swing their hammers even once!
Lee Gun didn’t care as he finished the outer appearance of the swords. Then, he dusted his hands off. “Ha. It’s too bad. If I had good ingredients, I could have just made a mold. I would have been able to make it quicker.”
Everyone reared back in shock. He was plenty fast right now.
“Well, it’s fine. Pounding it myself is fun.”
Lee Gun was like a madman as he repeated the previous procedure. He raised the rank of the crappy ingredients, then moved his hands several times to create the shape.
Ggahng ggahng ggahng ggahng!
In a flash, he created eight blades for a short sword, which took him around thirty minutes.
“This isn’t too bad.”
Everyone was astonished.
“It isn’t as if he’s making muffins.”
“He is like a machine…!”
The eight blades looked the same. It looked like he didn’t put much effort into making them, but the blades looked sturdy and beautiful. There wasn’t even a millimeter of a discrepancy between them.
However, something was even more shocking.
While Lee Gun made eight blades, the star master craftsmen…
“N-No way. They couldn’t even make one?”
The master craftsmen froze.
