Chapter 10: The Return of Broad Academy

At 5 AM, in Lee Hyunseung’s house:

Kaang!
Kaang!

Lee Hyunseung was continuously striking something with a hammer.

Kaang!
Kaang!

Soon, a message appeared.

[Would you like to craft a Fire Attribute Magazine? Estimated crafting time is 01:00:00.]

Hyunseung placed his hand over the message and pressed the “Yes” button.

• Crafting Fire Attribute Magazine. Estimated crafting time is 01:00:00.
• The effect of the [Legendary] Blacksmith Job Trait has been triggered!
• Crafting time is significantly reduced.
• Estimated crafting time is now 20 minutes.
• “Hoo…”

Hyunseung exhaled deeply, looking at the item being crafted.

‘As expected of a Legendary-grade skill, the crafting speed is ridiculously fast.’

In Brood Academy Online, the Blacksmith job had a unique crafting system.

Materials used to make items or weapons were thrown into the [Blacksmith’s Forge], a basic skill of the Blacksmith.

The melted materials would then turn into small solid masses called [Crafting Orbs].

Afterward, you would strike the orb on an anvil. Once broken, the crafting skill would automatically start crafting the weapon or item.

There were three main steps to the process:

1. Melt the materials in the Blacksmith’s Forge.
2. Retrieve the solidified Crafting Orb.
3. Break the orb on the anvil and activate the crafting skill.

This simplified process allowed even those without specialized knowledge to craft items easily.

Players didn’t need to follow the complex steps involved in crafting swords or assembling firearms.

All they needed to do was gather the necessary materials, melt them, break the Crafting Orb, and start the crafting skill.

‘The time reduction is enormous.’

Though the crafting method was simple, there was one issue—wait time.

No matter the item, after breaking the orb, there would always be a waiting period.

Sometimes it could last a few minutes, but other times it could stretch into days or even weeks.

This wait time shortened as the Blacksmith’s job rank or level increased.

‘The Fire Attribute Magazine I’m crafting was originally supposed to take an hour, but now it’s only 20 minutes.’

Thanks to the [Legendary] Blacksmith Trait, Hyunseung’s crafting time was reduced from one hour to 20 minutes.

He could now craft items three times faster than regular blacksmiths.

‘And I can craft two items simultaneously.’

The ability to craft multiple items at once was another benefit of being a Legendary Blacksmith.

Normally, after starting a crafting process, a blacksmith couldn’t work on any other items until the current one was completed.

This limitation applied to blacksmiths of up to Unique rank.

But as a Legendary Blacksmith, Hyunseung could craft two items at once.

This was a massive advantage.

For instance, if a regular blacksmith had to craft an item with a 20-day crafting time, they couldn’t work on anything else for the entire duration.

But Hyunseung could craft other items even while crafting something that took 20 days to complete.

‘It didn’t seem that crazy in the game, but now that it’s real-time, it feels like a cheat.’

The crafting time grew longer the higher the item’s performance or rarity.

This made blacksmiths hesitant to craft high-level items, as they would be stuck waiting.

However, with two crafting slots available, Hyunseung could craft freely without worrying about downtime.

The ability to craft multiple items simultaneously was something any blacksmith would envy, even to the point of giving up an arm for it.

‘I’d love to craft a high-level weapon right now, but I don’t have the materials.’

To craft more complex and higher-grade weapons, he needed rare materials, many of which couldn’t be bought from the market.

Hyunseung would have to venture into dungeons to gather these materials.

With his current funds, all he could afford were the materials for crafting magazines, not guns or high-tier items.

‘It’s probably about time.’

Thinking that 20 minutes had passed, Hyunseung looked at the Crafting Orb.

The orb began to glow brightly.

• You have crafted a [Rare] Fire Attribute Magazine.
• Your [Legendary] Blacksmith Job Proficiency has slightly increased.
• You have successfully crafted an item for the first time.
• Achievement [First Step as a Blacksmith] has been completed.
• You have gained 3 stat points from completing the achievement.

‘This is insane, stat points, and it’s a rare item on my first try?’

In this game, there are five ranks for both items and professions: common, rare, epic, unique, and legendary.

Common is the lowest, while legendary is the highest. There is also a mythic rank, but I’ve never seen it, so I’m excluding it for now.

Anyway, while “rare” might not seem like a high rank, what’s important is that this was my first crafting attempt.

Item crafting doesn’t always guarantee success. Sometimes, when you fail, the crafting orb might explode.

Even if you succeed, most of the time you end up with a common-grade item when your proficiency is low.

No matter how legendary my rank is, my blacksmith level is still at 1. Yet, I not only succeeded at an overwhelming speed, but I also created a rare item on my first try. That was astonishing.

‘If I raise my blacksmith level a bit more, I might be able to craft epic… maybe even unique items.’

This was a huge deal. Let’s say, for example, two swords made from the same materials exist.

A [common] grade sword and an [epic] grade sword may look identical, but there would be a significant difference in performance.

In other words, higher ranks mean better items. In a little while, I could potentially mass-produce epic-grade weapons two at a time.

If I could create epic or higher-grade firearms, I would be able to fully take advantage of my profession’s special effects as well.

Thinking that, I struck the crafting orb again.

• Clang!
• Clang!
• Clang!

[Crafting]

• The effects of the [Legendary] blacksmith profession’s traits have activated!
• Crafting time has been greatly reduced.
• Estimated crafting time: 20 minutes.

After that, I continued to toss materials into the blacksmith’s forge, retrieving crafting orbs, and repeated the item crafting process.

• [Rare] Water Attribute Magazine has been crafted.
• Blacksmith proficiency has slightly increased.
• Clang!
• The effects of the [Legendary] blacksmith profession’s traits have activated!
• Crafting time has been greatly reduced.
• Estimated crafting time: 20 minutes.
• [Rare] Light Attribute Magazine has been crafted.
• Blacksmith proficiency has slightly increased.

After crafting for quite a while, I looked over the finished items.

• Fire Attribute Magazine
• Light Attribute Magazine
• Water Attribute Magazine

And various other elemental magazines. I inspected one of them closely.

[Fire Attribute Magazine] ▶ When used, bullets gain the fire attribute. ▶ This magazine comes with a special effect. ▶ Special Effect [Transformation]: The magazine and bullets will adapt to match the firearm it’s used in.

The [Transformation] effect was one of the traits I had intentionally included during the crafting process. With this effect, the magazine and bullets automatically change their form to fit different firearms, such as handguns, rifles, and sniper rifles.

‘I’ve prepared enough magazines. It’s better to be over-prepared just in case something happens.’

• Swoosh.

I tucked the magazines inside my clothes and headed outside.

• Slam!

As I stepped out, I saw Jung Eunseo waiting for me.

I stared at Jung Eunseo in disbelief.

“How did you find my house and wait for me here?”

“That much is easy to figure out. Judging by your personality, you seem to like capable people. So, I need to prove my abilities one step at a time, don’t I?”

“…Weren’t we supposed to meet at Broad Academy? Did you really wait here just for that reason?”

She looked at me and responded.

“I was on my way anyway. Plus, I had something to brag about, so it was hard to just wait.”

She glanced at the car behind her and called out.

“Could you step out for a moment?”

Click!

“Did you call for me?”

A man in his 30s or 40s, dressed in a sharp suit, stepped out of a luxurious limousine. As soon as I saw his face, I recognized him.

‘Nam Jinseok…’

Seeing my surprised expression, Jung Eunseo looked at me incredulously.

“Judging by your reaction… don’t tell me you know who he is too? Well, that saves me the trouble of explaining.”

Nam Jinseok. If you were to list the top 10 mages in the field of emotional magic, he would always make the cut.

When someone holds an object, not only their fingerprints but also traces of their mana remain. We call these traces [Mana Residue].

For reference, even people without a magic stat, like regular civilians or those with special professions such as gunslingers, have minuscule amounts of mana.

Even newborns have it. This makes mana residue a critical factor in investigations. However, as time passes and the mana becomes weaker, it becomes harder to detect, and only a select few can analyze it accurately.

Nam Jinseok is one of the rare mages in Korea who can precisely analyze even faint [Mana Residue].

Since skilled mana residue analyzers are in high demand in fields such as criminal investigations, they command astronomical fees for their services.

The demand is overwhelming, but the supply is limited, making it a natural consequence.

But hiring Nam Jinseok for a private consultation, let alone having him accompany you like this, would require an absurd amount of money for just one day.

Jung Eunseo smiled confidently.

“Didn’t I say I would compensate you generously? There’s no downside to working with me. This is just a small part of it. If we manage to find my grandfather’s inheritance, I can offer you something even bigger, so I hope you’ll think positively about it.”

I looked at her and calmly responded.

“Impressive. Let’s get going, then.”

Swoosh

Thud

I got into the car naturally. Nam Jinseok took the front passenger seat, while Jung Eunseo sat beside me. She looked like she was about to say something, but after seeing the expression in my eyes, she remained silent.

Jung Eunseo thought to herself.

‘How wronged does he have to feel to be this way…’

Grit

Lee Hyunseung gritted his teeth, trying to contain his emotions.

‘Those damned bastards… just wait. Once I clear my name and the suspension is lifted, I’ll ruin your careers.
Whether it’s in practical exams, written tests, class extermination matches, or individual evaluations, you’ll taste despair each time. I’ll crush you over and over again.’

Before long, the limousine arrived at a building.

Screech!

The driver stopped the car and spoke.

“We’ve arrived. This is Broad Academy.”

Jung Eunseo turned to me and said.

“Shall we go?”

Click!

Without a word, I opened the door and walked confidently toward the entrance.