Chapter 59 . The Tower (1)
Yeon-woo went down the hill and began to walk .
The place where he was now was somewhere called the Outer District . The intermediate location connecting the tutorial and The Tower .
It was a huge city established by people who lived in the tower . Therefore, players who had just pa.s.sed the tutorial usually did not think of paying a visit to this place .
Their heads were full of thoughts of climbing up The Tower .
Even if they did visit, it was simply to supply themselves with items they needed in order to make their way up . They didn't consider staying for a long time .
But it was different for Yeon-woo . Unlike other players, he wasn't going to climb The Tower right away . Instead, he planned to stay at Outer District .
He had a lot of work to do there .
'It should be somewhere around here . '
Yeon-woo went to the market upon entering the city .
The market in this world was similar to the typical market commonly seen in his home world where street vendors display various items on their stalls .
The whole marketplace was filled with voices of people haggling for prices .
Yeon-woo was walking along the street with a photograph in his hand . It was the photograph that was found next to his brother's body, along with the pocket watch . The photo of his brother and his old teammates of Arthia .
Though the photo had faded a lot, he could still distinguish who these people were and where it was taken .
What Yeon-woo was currently looking for was one of the people inside the photo and the spot the picture was taken at .
'The place looks similar to the one in the photo . It must be around here . '
Yeon-woo walked down the market street as he constantly took glimpses at the photo .
But the problem was that several parts of the market captured in the photograph had changed a lot since the time it was taken . It was difficult to trace down the building with what little hints he had .
Thankfully, even though Yeon-woo was wearing a strange white mask, people didn't care much about his appearance . It was because the city was already full of people of different races in different clothes .
'Is this the place?'
After quite a few turns, Yeon-woo finally stopped in front of a blacksmith shop .
An old run-down building with a chipped painting depicting a hammer and an anvil next to its door . Judging by its appearance, the shop must have had no customer for a long time .
But the place looked the same as the background in the photograph .
He was certain .
It was here .
Yeon-woo gazed at the hammer and anvil symbol with a blank look for a while and soon opened the door as he put the picture inside his pocket .
“Excuse me . ”
*Creak*
The door opened with a strange noise as if it were going to fall at any moment .
The interior was as messy as the exterior . Dust bunnies were rolling around the floor, and there were stains everywhere on the wall .
However,
'The weapons are clean . '
Yeon-woo cast Draconic Eyes and examined the items displayed on the rack along the wall .
[Henova's Superior Iron Sword]
Cla.s.sification: Two-handed Weapon
Rating: C+
Description: An iron sword forged by Henova, a dwarven blacksmith . It boasts remarkable durability and a long lifespan .
[Henova's Greatbow]
Cla.s.sification: Two-handed Weapon
Rating: B-
Description: A greatbow crafted by Henova, a dwarven blacksmith . It was made with the horns and tendons of a Minotaur . The bowstring is so stiff that normal people won't be able to pull it .
[Henova's Pitch Black Helm]
Cla.s.sification: Headgear
Rating: B
Description: A helm forged by Henova, a dwarven blacksmith . It will cover up the wearer's presence if worn in the darkness .
'They're all items of high rating . '
Draconic Eyes can partially peek into an object or person's abilities . Which means, it is possible to read some of the latent powers and characteristics of an item if examined with the skill .
Thanks to this, Yeon-woo was able to see how good the items were despite their shabby look . It was an advantage granted to the users of Draconic Eyes .
And surprisingly, there was an item that was impossible to a.n.a.lyze even with his skill .
[Henova's ???]
Cla.s.sification: ???
Rating: ???
Description: ??? forged by Henova, a dwarven blacksmith . ????? .
Yeon-woo picked up an item that looked like a dagger . Unlike the other weapons and armors, this one was fully covered in rust . Its length was about 10 centimeters longer than the daggers he had brought from the outside world, and a little shorter than Cars.h.i.+na's Dagger .
As far as he knew, there were two cases of items that Draconic Eyes refused to a.n.a.lyze .
It was either too bad,
'Or it's too good to a.n.a.lyze with my current level of proficiency .
And things with this kind of bad appearance usually fell into the former category .
However, Yeon-woo had a strong hunch that this time it should be the latter .
The material, the solidity, not one bit was lacking . Even if it was hidden under the rust, you couldn't hide it to its core .
'This one's very tempting . '
Yeon-woo had already acquired a variety of great artifacts throughout the tutorial . Artifacts ranging from the ones he had been using, such as Black Bracelet, Cars.h.i.+na's Dagger, Goblin King's Eye, Monsters' Five Colored Jewel, Hargan's Crown, Vigrid, to the rewards which he hadn't had a chance to check, such as Beast Lord's Lion Mane Helm and Iblis' Embryo .
Every single one of them was a powerful artifact that could carry him through the lower half of The Tower .
Especially the Black Bracelet and Vigrid, if their seals were completely removed, they could even be used in some of the upper floors .
Because of all the great artifacts he had, Yeon-woo's standard had been raised to the point where artifacts without a proper option weren't enough to satisfy him .
Nevertheless, the dagger possessed such a mysterious power that was enough to immediately captivate Yeon-woo's heart .
'I needed a dagger just about this size . '
Yeon-woo had to use Vigrid in Section G because it was the best sword available to him at that moment . However, Yeon-woo's speciality was a fast and intricate style of swordsmans.h.i.+p utilizing two daggers, one in each hand .
Plus, the dagger looked like it would go well with Cars.h.i.+na's Dagger .
'I see why Jeong-woo preferred to come here for weapons . '
In spite of its current appearance, this shop used to be a workshop that provided artifacts exclusively to Arthia when they were the fifth-ranked clan .
Judging by his works, it seemed like the owner of the smithy was still living up to his name .
Yeon-woo turned towards another direction to check on the other weaponry .
At that moment,
“Who the h.e.l.l are you?”
Suddenly the back door sprang open, and a short, chunky dwarf came in with a big frown on his face .
His face was covered by bushy beard, long enough to almost drag it through the floor . The muscles revealed on his body and forearms looked as solid as those of an ox .
On those two arms, he was holding a stack of several swords blocking his front view .
Dwarf Henova . He was the owner of this shabby smithy .
Not only that,
'The dwarf in the photograph . He looks the same . '
He was the same dwarf who was smiling next to his brother in the faded photograph . The one who his brother mentioned several times in his diary .
If someone asked me to pick a person I relied on the most among Arthia, I might have to think it over a lot 'cause there are just too many .
However, if they asked the same question but among the whole Tower, I can answer without hesitation .
Henova .
He has been like a father to me .
His brother referred to Henova as 'father' .
'Father… . '
In fact, Yeon-woo and his brother didn't have many memories of their father .
They were told that his father had pa.s.sed away in an accident when they were very small .
When he thought about his father, he could only remember the vague feeling of warmth he felt when being hugged by him . That was the only memory both Yeon-woo and Jeong-woo had of him .
So if Jeong-woo had compared Henova to a father, there must have been something about him .
And that was why Yeon-woo decided to meet Henova as soon as he pa.s.sed the tutorial .
'He was also the one who didn't leave Jeong-woo's side until his last breath . '
However, Yeon-woo didn't take off his mask and introduced herself .
His innocent brother proudly introduced him as one of the few 'friends' he could trust and even went as far as to call him a 'father' . But Yeon-woo couldn't trust not just him but anyone that easily .
Until he himself felt certain, he had to doubt anyone and everyone .
“I'm here to buy a weapon . ”
“A weapon, you say?”
Yeon-woo nodded, but Henova answered with a sneer .
“Even after seeing that?”
Henova pointed at the half-destroyed part of his shop with his chin .
“What's wrong with that?”
“You've gotta be kidding me . Kid, I've got no time for your jokes, so get lost . ”
Henova tried to walk past Yeon-woo . But Yeon-woo used his long legs and block his front .
“I'm not joking . I am here to buy a weapon . ”
“Well, that's too bad, because I'm not selling any weapon . So get the f.u.c.k out of here . ”
Henova pushed Yeon-woo with his shoulder as if he didn't want to deal with him anymore .
His muscles were so hard it felt like he had rammed into a wall when he hit him .
For a moment, Yeon-woo stared at Henova heading back to his workshop, but soon threw a question at him .
“Is it because Arthia was disbanded?”
Henova flung his head back towards Yeon-woo .
On his distorted face, there was one strong emotion displayed through his eyes .
An intense resentment .
“Don't you dare speak a word about that, kid . ”
'That's a yes . '
Henova was originally a master blacksmith of Arthia .
Because he wasn't a player, he wasn't an official member of Arthia . But still, n.o.body could argue about him being part of Arthia .
And thanks to the outstanding weapons and armor he provided, Arthia was able to smoothly progress through The Tower .
But now, he was refusing to sell his weapons even when Arthia was gone .
Yeon-woo had could guess what was the reason, and he was very certain of it .
“Did the other clans threaten you? I bet they tried to force you to join their clans, right?”
“I warned you not to talk about that . ”
“But you must have ignored their threats . Seems like they started hurting the customers who bought items here, didn't they?”
And that's how people stopped coming to his shop . Even if he had customers coming to his shop, he had to kick them out so that they wouldn't be harmed .
It was easy to guess what could have happened to him .
“You…!”
Henova's face turned purple from anger .
“But you don't have to worry about that, at least for me . You just need to sell your items to me . ”
With Yeon-woo's next word, Henova grew silent .
Yeon-woo grinned inwardly .
He was told that Henova looked tough on the outside, but underneath he was very soft-hearted . It seems his brother was right on that point .
In the end, Henova gave up trying to kick Yeon-woo out of the shop .
Henova threw the swords he was holding on the ground and spoke with a frown on his face .
“All right, you win . If you want to buy my weapons that badly, then buy them . What do you want?”
“I want this . ”
Yeon-woo pointed out the rusty dagger he had picked up before .
Though it was just for a fleeting moment, various emotions swirled in Henova's eyes .
Then he quickly put on his usual frown and looked at Yeon-woo up and down .
“By the way, you got any money for that?”
Yeon-woo said with a smile .
“Can I buy it on credit?”
