I arrived at Workshop No. 4 after following Bong Jae-seok.
It was a place I had visited quite a few times while making my Root weapon, but now it was completely empty.
I looked around the interior and then asked casually,
“That senior isn’t here today.”
“He moved to Workshop No. 3.”
It seemed that all the effort he had been putting in over in the corner had finally paid off.
Bong Jae-seok looked between me and Park Na-ri before getting straight to the point.
“As you might have guessed, the reason I called you both here is because of the Cube of Life.”
The Cube of Life.
It was an item crafted according to a 10x10x10 cube blueprint.
The current owner was Park Na-ri, the homeowner was Bum, and even the Mother Nature Club held a certain share of it.
Meanwhile, I had given Bong Jae-seok a blueprint that meticulously recorded each of the thousand cubes one by one.
His goal was probably to use that as a foundation to create a complete blueprint and eventually perfect the Cube of Life, but—
“Seems like you’re stuck on something.”
“Yes.”
The Cube of Life was a solid S-rank item.
Drawing the blueprint was only the first part of a long-chain quest.
Bong Jae-seok nodded his head.
He was already stuck at the very start.
Because he hadn’t drawn the blueprint himself, his understanding of it was significantly lacking.
And it seemed that the reason why he had called the two of us was to find a breakthrough.
First, Bong Jae-seok spoke to Park Na-ri.
Drawing the blueprint was only the beginning of a long chain quest.
Yet he was already stuck at that very first stage.
“Would it be alright if I took a look at the cube?”
“Ah, yes. It’s fine….”
Park Na-ri rummaged through her inventory and pulled out the Cube of Life.
She then removed the various life-type items stored inside and placed them back into her inventory.
Despite it being one of her most valuable assets, she didn’t seem at all hesitant to reveal it. It was likely because she had already discussed it with the Mother Nature Club.
They must be interested in it as well.
The Cube of Life that Park Na-ri currently owned was essentially a prototype.
Since it was made with a rough blueprint, its quality inevitably fell short.
Even so, it was ranked B and had such incredible performance that it played a major role in helping Park Na-ri lead the promising students race.
Then what would an S-rank cube with full capabilities be like?
Or even if they succeeded in mass-producing the B-rank cube and distributed it to their members—
The skill level of not only the Mother Nature Club but also the entire Mother Nature Guild would rise significantly.
It made sense that the Mother Nature Club wouldn’t hold back on cooperation or investment.
However, just as Park Na-ri was about to hand over the Cube of Life—
“Meow.”
The mini tiger Bum suddenly squeezed in between them and slipped right into the cube.
Then, with a quick tap of his front paw, he shut the lid.
Park Na-ri grew flustered and tried to open the cube again.
“Bum, hey, just come out for a moment. I need to show this to the senior.”
“Meoww!”
Bum only stuck his paw out and swatted away Park Na-ri’s hand.
After all, you need the homeowner’s permission for a house tour, and right now, the current homeowner seemed very displeased.
“J-Just a moment, please.”
While Park Na-ri anxiously tried to coax Bum out, Bong Jae-seok appeared to decide it was best to finish our conversation for the time being.
He pulled out a stack of documents from his coat and handed it to me.
“Take a look at this. I’ve listed the tricky parts.”
I slowly flipped through the pages and read each one carefully.
From Bong Jae-seok’s perspective, they might indeed be difficult, but from my perspective as a stagnant water, the solutions were obvious to me at a glance.
However, giving him an answer too quickly would only lower my value.
So I deliberately put on a serious expression, pretended to think deeply, and then responded.
“I believe I can help you with this.”
“Great. Of course, I’m not asking for free help. Let me know what you need.”
Bong Jae-seok immediately started talking about compensation.
And since he didn’t like playing mind games, he would most likely agree to my request.
Just like before, his straightforward personality showed.
I immediately said what I wanted.
“I’m looking for ingots.”
One of the pressing issues I needed to resolve was the short length of [Deep Root].
During the fight with the Kim Gap-doo Fish, I had to bend my knees every time I used a skill, but that was only possible because the fish was easy to deal with.
For now, I had connected an F-rank iron bar to extend the length, but I wanted to get rid of this makeshift solution as soon as possible.
My plan was to quickly craft the next part and attach it.
Bong Jae-seok asked again.
“What rank?”
“At least C+ rank, but preferably B rank.”
“……!”
The vice president who had been listening to our conversation frowned for a moment.
A B-rank ingot wasn’t something you could just dig out of the ground, and here I was asking for it as compensation for solving a few issues.
But before she could say anything, Bong Jae-seok raised his hand to stop her.
“Alright, I can give you that much. But I trust you’ll help me out sincerely in return.”
“Thank you. I’ll do my best.”
“Go ahead and pick one.”
Bong Jae-seok brought up a large screen in front of me.
It was a list of ingots and ingot boxes stored in the club’s warehouse.
[Refined Iron Ingot (C+)]
[Giant’s Ingot Box (C+)]
[Deldrimore Ingot (B)]
[Eastern Swamp Ingot Box (B)]
…
Even after narrowing it down to just B and C+ rank, the list seemed endless.
This showcased the strength of a mid-level production club.
They probably have higher-rank ingots too.
But even the club president couldn’t hand those out recklessly.
For now, just asking for a B-rank was enough to have the vice president looking at me like I was a thief.
If I demanded anything higher, they wouldn’t refuse, but it would mean getting more deeply involved in this job.
So, compromising with a decent B-rank option was the best choice.
As I continued scrolling through the list, something caught my eye.
They have this?
[Ghost Captain’s Ingot Box (B)]
An ingot box that drops as a reward from a B-rank dungeon.
However, the main rule of that dungeon was “underwater battle”, which made it far more difficult to clear than the Black Death dungeon.
It seemed that they either got it as a drop or traded it with another club and stored it in their warehouse.
Hard to obtain, but definitely worth using.
The detailed drop rates weren’t disclosed, but higher-rank items tended to appear more often compared to other random boxes of the same rank.
Even with bad luck, you’d get at least C+, and with good luck, up to A rank.
Also, regardless of rank, the types of ingots that appeared were particularly mage-friendly.
It meant there was no need to mix in Black Mithril like I did with the Millennium Iron.
There was no need to look any further.
“I’ll go with this one.”
“Ghost Captain? Sure, why not.”
Bong Jae-seok readily agreed and signaled to the vice president.
The vice president still looked dissatisfied, but at this point, there was no room to argue.
So she did as she was told, left for Workshop No. 4, and returned shortly after with a pitch-black box.
“……?”
Seo Ye-in had been browsing through random items in a corner, but when she saw me receive the ingot box, she approached.
I casually asked her a question.
“Lucky Charm-nim, will I hit the jackpot if I open this?”
“……..”
Seo Ye-in stared quietly at the box.
She tilted her head slightly to the left, then to the right.
And her response was:
“…Later?”
“If I open it later, it will be a jackpot?”
“…….?”
Seo Ye-in tilted her head again in response.
It seemed even she wasn’t sure.
In any case, there was no need to rush opening it, so I stored the ingot box in my inventory for now.
“Meow.”
Meanwhile, Park Na-ri’s hands and arms had accumulated several bite and scratch marks.
Still, it looked like she had almost succeeded in convincing Bum.
“Se-Senior said he’d remodel it for you. A remodel.”
“…..?”
Since Bong Jae-seok would be working on restoring the Cube of Life, “remodel” wasn’t exactly wrong.
Then, when Park Na-ri played her trump card,
“Let’s have a snack, Bum. A snack, okay?”
“Meow.”
Bum—no, Bum-nim—finally vacated his spot in his villa.
It was clear, regardless of the industry, being a caretaker was an extreme job.
Bong Jae-seok seemed to share the same thought as he cast a sympathetic look at Park Na-ri before shifting to the task at hand. He brushed off the cat hair and scratches, then began flipping through the prepared documents one by one while asking questions.
“Let’s get started. Why doesn’t this part fit?”
“Yes, senior-nim. First, this section—”
I compared the documents with the cube and answered each question carefully.
***
After exchanging questions and answers for quite some time, Bong Jae-seok was able to resolve most of his questions.
He spoke to the vice president with a satisfied expression.
“See? I knew it was a good idea to call them. They earned their keep, right?”
“…Yeah, I suppose.”
The vice president who had been frowning the whole time now looked noticeably more relaxed.
Bong Jae-seok was eager to apply what he had learned and he quickly stood up.
“Thanks for today. If I have more questions, can I call you again?”
“Anytime.”
“Great! I’ll head out first, then!”
With that, Bong Jae-seok bolted out of Workshop No. 4 like the wind.
The vice president gave him a light nod as she followed after.
Not bad at all.
I had answered a few questions and received a B-rank ingot box in return.
And just as Bong Jae-seok had confirmed at the end, more obstacles would likely arise in the future.
Each time, we would be able to make mutually beneficial exchanges.
When we left the magic engineering workshop, Seo Ye-in asked me,
“Where to now?”
“Let’s go see the senior tailor again.”
The scholarship senior who had told us to come tomorrow contacted us sooner than expected.
It seemed he had set everything aside to take care of the upgrade first.
The power of authority is truly frightening.
Just a single question, “Are you busy?” had this much of an impact.
With that thought in mind, I headed toward the tailor club.
Soon, the scholarship senior came into view. He was waiting in front of the club room.
He greeted us with the same incredibly kind smile he had when he saw us off last time.
“Hey, you’re here? It finished sooner than I thought, so I called you. I’m not busy at all.”
Emphasizing how “not busy” he was, he handed over two pairs of sneakers and a set of armor.
The sneakers were mostly white, but the accent colors shifted occasionally to pale red, blue, and yellow in certain areas.
[Cloudstepper (B+)]
▷ Bonus to movement skills.
▷ Inertia Ignoring (C) applied.
▷Automatic durability recovery
▷Multicolor Defense (C)
▷Upgradeable
With the multicolored scale upgrade, a “+” was added to its original rank, and a C-rank multicolor defense trait was included.
It seemed that even though he rushed, he hadn’t done the job carelessly.
I bowed my head slightly.
“I didn’t expect you to finish this so quickly. Thank you.”
“Oh, no, no. It wasn’t anything difficult. I should’ve finished it quickly.”
“I’ll make sure to let the team leader know.”
“Haha, you don’t have to go that far. Thank you.”
The atmosphere between the scholarship senior and me was rather warm and friendly.
However, from time to time, he carefully glanced at Seo Ye-in as if to gauge her reaction.
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