06. Midterm exam (5)

Since not everyone can use Auras, all Hunters are treated special just because they can use Auras.

Because the cutting and destructive power of the attack is greatly increased, it can be used as a trump card, and an attack with an aura can only be countered with an aura, so it has an absolute advantage over lower hunters.

This is the biggest advantage of Aura. Absolute power that can overturn any unfavorable situation.

However, if this is the only advantage of Aura, it is not necessarily so.

Compared to the advantages above, there are things that are not highlighted, but are possible by using Aura.

Aura is the crystallization of pure magical power. Since it is the same as attacking with magical power, its pure power is effective against irregular monsters such as undead, and even monsters that do not have a physical body, such as ghosts, can be hit with an aura. If you learn the attributes of the aura, you can inflict various attribute hits.

For low-ranking hunters, even without the destructive power enhancement of their auras, the mere fact that elemental attacks are possible is enough power that their hands come out of their throats.

There are a lot of monsters that you can’t catch even if you have skills and equipment that match your level because you can’t attack with their attributes, and there are too many towers that are close to each other and you can’t climb even if you’re qualified.

You must always have at least one mage in your team in case you step on a trap the wrong way, or accidentally take the wrong path and encounter a monster that you can’t deal with as a warrior. This is the reason why they hit the ceiling without knowing that the already expensive magic hunter ransom is sky-high.

However, what if there is equipment that allows lower level hunters to use elemental attacks?

Of course, such equipment already exists. It is an expensive high-level equipment that can only be obtained at the top. Even a hunter who cannot use an aura can show off his skills as much as a hunter who uses an aura if he spends money and is armed with onboard equipment that can use all kinds of magic and skills.

It is absolutely impossible for an ordinary hunter. Equipment that drops from the tower is not something you can get if you want it.

However, what if factory-created factory equipment can attack with elements instead of expensive built-in equipment?

If such a weapon really appeared, it would be a revolution in the hunter society. There is no choice for the lower hunter. It will be a piece of equipment that you should buy at least one unconditionally just in case. It can be sold at a tremendous price to the lower hunters who make up the majority in the hunter society.

Of course, this is what the existing Klaproth group is already doing. Supplying equipment to the majority of lower rank hunters. However, if the equipment Yuna and I developed overtakes the other Claprot equipment and takes an overwhelming share, Yuna’s reputation within the group will surely change.

With this alone, the primary goal is to be achieved. If equipment capable of elemental attacks appears, lower level hunters will unconditionally cheer.

Then the second problem remains.

Then, how can you appeal to a top A-rank hunter, or an S-class top hunter who is at the top of the hunter society? Is there a way to appeal to a hunter who is already full of money and armed with onboard equipment?

There is only one way. For Hunter, who is overflowing with rotten money, cost-effectiveness is not a consideration. Only performance. High-performance equipment that will save her life in an emergency in front of the monsters in the tower, where her life comes and goes in an instant.

You shouldn’t be satisfied with just being able to attack with elements. We need to make a weapon with far superior performance than the onboard equipment.

That was what I had to do as a blacksmith.

Flame! The flames from the blast furnace warmed the air in the workshop. It is so hot that it is difficult to even breathe properly, even though the ventilation and air conditioning are turned to their maximum. If it hadn’t been for heat resistance, my respiratory system would have already been burned.

“Suck! This is too… Isn’t it hot? Are you really okay!?”

Yuna, sweating from her brow, spoke in a voice exhausted from the heat, standing as far away from the furnace as possible in the corner of the studio. But I didn’t have time to answer. It was because he was concentrating as much as he could on the furnace flame.

Hot, hotter. Still not enough Check the temperature of the furnace with the heat that touches your fingertips and skin. The mechanical thermometer installed in the furnace was displaying the temperature of the furnace in real time, but I didn’t even look at it.

The temperature of the blast furnace has already exceeded 1,500 degrees Celsius. From now on, even machines cannot display in real time, and time lag occurs to some extent, and there is a margin of error. It may be only a few degrees or tens of degrees, but I cannot tolerate even that much of an error. It was because temperature and timing are vital in sword making.

The reason I raised the heat of the furnace to the limit was, of course, to melt the minerals needed to make the sword. Of course, it is a bit special mineral.

A gunblade must inevitably have the strength of the sword itself to withstand magical shock. Otherwise, the sword would break due to internal shock every time the trigger was pulled.

To maximize the power of the gunblade, you must use a metal that is strong against impact and has excellent magical conductivity. Except for rare metals that are rarely found in towers, it is said that among the materials that can be used for mass production, the material has excellent tensile strength. If.

Titanium Magic Alloy, a new material independently developed by Claprot Steel.

Titanium itself is a metal that has existed for a long time, so it is a bit vague to call it a new material… It was Klaproth Steel’s achievement to create a new metal with high mana content while maintaining the properties of titanium, so it can be considered a new material in a narrow way.

Anyway, since titanium has a tensile strength of 63,000 psi, it is difficult for most metals to withstand impact. It’s not an easy material to handle because metal melts from 1668 °C or higher… You have to do this to be able to call yourself a true craftsman.

The flame became the color I wanted. When he judges that the timing is ripe, he puts the titanium, which he holds tightly with tongs, into the furnace.

Flame! The flames soar and the metal gradually burns red. It’s hot and suffocating and your skin is going to cook, but you never take your eyes off it. Artisans do not avoid fire. I was rather familiar and happy with this heat.

The red-hot titanium alloy steel is taken out of the furnace. As I just said, titanium is extremely strong in tensile strength, so it never deforms with moderate impact. Even now, when the metal is softened by the heat, it cannot be transformed by human power.

Usually thin plywood is stamped in a press or grinded in a grinder to shape it, never thinking about forging it with a hammer.

If I wasn’t an Awakener, but an ordinary human male, that would be the case.

[Can I help you?]

‘No. I do not need.’

Certatus’ assistance was certainly amazing. I had no idea that the body could move like that, or how to squeeze the muscles to produce that kind of power. Kertatus seemed to have a clear understanding of how to move the muscles to produce the strongest force.

But only in this field.

Thousands and tens of thousands of swings of this hammer.

I had no intention of getting help from anyone.

I hit the hammer with all my might. Boom! The heated titanium metal collided with my hammer, and a huge thunder-like sound rang through the room. Boom! Boom! The titanium, held firmly with tongs, is placed on top of the anvil and hammered down over and over again.

“With my bare hands… ? Crazy… It’s barbaric, really….”

A voice that reminded me of somewhere was heard from afar, but I couldn’t hear it properly because it was buried in the sound of hammering.

About an hour had passed. I hit and beat with all my might hundreds of times, but strangely, I haven’t gotten tired yet.

[Did your regenerative power increase? No, is it a temporary phenomenon? Hmm… He’s a strange guy.]

But it’s hot. Whether it was the heat of the furnace or the overheated muscles, his chest felt stuffy. In the suffocating heat, I took off my coat and unbuttoned my shirt up to my chest.

“Ugh….”

The sound of swallowing saliva. I felt the fervent gaze of someone who had forgotten to even breathe.

However, since I had to continue my work, I didn’t care too much, and I quickly forgot that there was someone next to me.

Roll up your sleeves up to your forearm and continue hammering. When the titanium cools in the air, it is put back into the furnace and heated, and the hot metal is beaten again. When it cools down, heat it up again and beat it again. After hitting it dozens of times with a hammer, it became a satisfactory blade shape.

I noticed that I was drenched in sweat before I knew it. His thin autumn shirt was drenched in sweat, exposing his skin. There was no difference between being naked and naked.

“Whoa….”

First of all, I had to wipe the sweat with a towel. In my studio, I always put a towel to wipe the sweat, but since this is someone else’s studio, I couldn’t find the towel no matter how much I searched for it.

“Yuna. Excuse me, a towel… Well?”

Only then did I notice that Yuna was there and I tried to ask her to bring her a towel, but for some reason, Yuna’s appearance was strange. The quivering eyes and the breathing that quivered even more finely than that. The cheeks and nape of the neck blushed, perhaps because of the heat of the workshop.

“Ha ha ha… This… It’s too stimulating….”

“… ?”

It’s never going to be cold, but for some reason I got goosebumps on my forearms.

I couldn’t understand why she was looking at me like that.