I Am The Anti-Mage

Chapter 67: Forging

It was a long day for Ji-woo. He took out a new outfit from the duffel bag to change his barely shaped one, though he didn’t know why there was a hoodie and pants in it. For shoes, he took them from a dead hunter. He only took those, not the artifact items or weapons they were wearing. The quality of the objects was not up to his standards. So, he just threw it aside. Only the Dungeon Owner’s fiery bow was able to pique his interest, and he decided to take it with him.

Ji-woo chose to exit the dungeon without using the Dungeon Bead. Since he was the one who killed the Dungeon Owner, he had the right about the exit. If he used that item instead, those corpses would definitely follow him out as well. As mister Lee said before, all those who came from outside the Portal Gate would be able to return with the Dungeon Bead. While without it, only living beings from outside could leave.

Ji-woo got 5 Obelisk Spheres, 1 Mana Core, 17 Magic Crystals, and 5 Magic Stones as the harvest of the dungeon. The net total was estimated to be around 95 million won. That was if he sold it at the lowest market price. He might earn more if he knew how to bargain or found the right place for it.

Ji-woo preferred to go back with the train this time rather than the bus. While waiting, he pondered about where to sell those items. He knew about Magic Crystals and Magic Stones prices. But not about the Mana Core. The internet had only a bit of information for it and only mentioned it was expensive.

Ji-woo went to Seoul first before coming back home to Mapo. The place he visited was the Hunters Association. There was an armory shop on the 13th floor.

“How may I help you, sir?”

The shop assistant bowed respectfully despite how ordinary Ji-woo looks. Every hunter who came to the shop would buy or sell magic-related items. So, it was their standard operating procedure to serve anyone who came without discriminating.

Ji-woo scanned the room. The place had a huge space. However, it does not match with the lack of items on display. There were only about a dozen artifacts, and some of them clearly got made by an amateur.

“Yes. Can you appraise this one?” Ji-woo took out the Mana Core from the duffel bag.

The shop assistant had the necessary knowledge to run the shop. So, she knew about the Mana Core. She smiled and answered Ji-woo’s request. “It’s just an ordinary Mana Core, sir. There’s nothing special about it. And if you plan to sell it to us, we can offer you 25 million won.”

Ji-woo narrowed his eyes and glared at the female assistant. Mana Core obviously had more Mana than Magic Stone. And information about the price of the Magic Stone was known to him, which was around 10 to 15 million won. The price should be at least double the maximum price of the Magic Stone.

The shop assistant continued to smile even though Ji-woo kept staring at her without saying anything. Before long, she began to sweat coldly on her temples. She wanted to express refusal to raise the price but canceled the idea after some thought.

‘Why does this man seem to be putting such unusual pressure on me? I feel like I’m standing in front of a giant.’

The female assistant then gulped and rearranged her words. “S-Sorry, sir. If you don’t like the price, how about 35 million won? We can’t go any lower than this. With a heavy heart, sorry if it offends you.”

“Deal.”

“Yes!!?”

The woman was astounded. She thought Ji-woo would demand more. Hunters who usually stop by the shop to sell a Mana Core frequently asked for around 40 million won. Since the highest price that item managed to hit was 50 million won while the lowest was 30 million won. So, the average price was what most of them always use. At that price, the shop could only make a small profit from it.

“And I also want to sell this one and this one too.” Ji-woo took 1 Magic Stone and 1 Magic Crystal, placing them on the table apart from the Mana Core. He didn’t want to sell the remaining items because he had a use for them.

However, the woman doesn’t respond, causing Ji-woo to knock on the table to wake her up.

“So, what is the total price of these three items?”

“Ah, yes. All of these three should be about 48.2 million won. Ugh. Ehm, how about that, sir?”

“Alright.”

The woman breathed a sigh of relief. “Sir, may I have your hunter ID card? I apologize for the inconvenience. However, it’s a requirement for every transaction made in the shop.”

Ji-woo just nodded and gave his hunter ID to the shop assistant. ‘Wow, I almost forgot I had another ID like this.’ The transaction got completed after a few minutes. And he received a notification about the money transfer too.

The woman’s first impression changed after the transaction was smoothly processed. She thought Ji-woo was kind, and she ventured to ask because of that.

“Sir, are you interested in selling that bow?” the woman asked, pointing at the fiery bow beside the duffel bag. From the moment Ji-woo entered the shop, the weapon had caught her eyes. It was able to make her ignored Ji-woo’s mysterious appearance with a hood that slightly covered his forehead.

“No. This bow is not for sale. Bye, see ya later!”

Ji-woo wasn’t surprised by the shop assistant’s attitude. It was normal not to act arrogantly and look down on customers if looked at the shop’s state. There was already a short supply to the hunters in need. Items and weapons of good quality and suitable for the user’s use were scarce. The desire to increase their strength with Magic Crystals and Magic Stones was also very high. So, it was proper to treat someone who came to sell good items with kindness and courtesy.

However, Ji-woo knew this type of business would thrive because the hunters had high demand but had low supply. His plan to raise massive sums of money could get accomplished through that. He also started thinking about leaving the Demigod guild at another time.

On the way back, Ji-woo bought another new shirt and threw away the one he used. His appearance in front of his mother was necessary to reassure her about his job as a hunter.

At home, Elijah greeted Ji-woo in the usual way. She was glad her son didn’t get hurt in the slightest. But, Ji-won acted opposite to her mother. She sulked and ignored her brother completely.

Ji-woo ignored his little sister’s tantrum for the moment and went to his own room. He currently had 6 Obelisk Orbs, 4 Magic Stones, and 16 Magic Crystals. And not to forget about the fire bow, which became his first collection.

He wanted to forge some items first with these limited resources. And for sure, he would use the 4 Obelisk Spheres to start his ancient training. He also transferred Dong-hyun’s money back and told him to meet the day after tomorrow. The money he had left was 25 million won. It was still little and far from enough for his plans to keep his family safe, even though that much money should be enough to pay off his family’s debt, maybe a quarter of it.

In the morning, Ji-woo, as usual, helped his mother carry the necessities to the food stall. After that, he went to found a factory to try forging the items he wanted.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t find any factories in South Korea similar to the ones blacksmiths used to forge things. He had no other choice but to do it the hard way. He visited a landfill site, a place where the fire usually burns.

Ji-woo talked to the person in charge. He asked for a small secluded place with fire equipment, separate from the one they used to incarnate the garbage heap. He got what he needed with an upfront payment of 2 million won for two days. It was because the equipment was not from an actual blacksmith’s tool. So, the time it took and the method were slightly different, especially with the heat that only reached a maximum of 1300 degrees Celsius.

Ji-woo began the forging, alone in a small basement. He took out 4 Obelisk Spheres; 4 ankle and wrist weights. He held one Obelisk Sphere and stared at it. His grasp gradually tightened as time passed.

Teng!

Szuup!

The Sphere shattered, and the silver-colored Rare Mana appeared and looked about to explode. But, it quickly got stopped by Ji-woo with both hands.

Ji-woo was able to touch that Mana because of his soul, the Nullifier. Unlike the ordinary Mana that instantly disappeared when there was physical contact with him.

He put the Silver Mana into a small incinerator. He then did the same to the remaining three Obelisk Spheres while watching the process inside the furnace.

Suddenly, there was a magical energy leak inside the incinerator. It caused the small basement to tremble. Ji-woo deftly blocked the leak of magical energy with his hands. After successfully controlling the situation, he then threw the ankle and wrist weights into it. The fire inside the equipment couldn’t melt those stuff because of the Rare Mana.

The fire in the incinerator would merge the Rare Mana with the ankle and wrist weights. It was the only method for the Obelisk Sphere. Clearly, other Spheres would require a different mechanism for it.

Ji-woo also had no choice but to stay behind to oversee the merging progress. If his not scrutinizing, the magical energy leaked out would cause a big explosion, especially with the four Spheres in the incinerator. The merger process should take about 31 hours with a hot temperature of only around 1100-1300 degrees Celsius.