Chapter 91 : Special
"Sal, tell . What's the reason most crafters take months to make a single piece of gear?"
Upgrade asked, sitting on the desk and looking down at Sal's blueprint.
Sal looked at her for a mont, mulled over the question, and shrugged.
"Is it because they craft each part ticulously?"
Upgrade frowned slightly and shook her head.
"No, that's not it. Most crafters don't have crafting-related abilities. They're learning through practice and experience. And while that takes a long ti, it's a perfectly aningful thod. If I told you right now to stitch two pieces of leather together or slt tal, you wouldn't even know where to start, right? That's not to criticize you or your ability, but just a fact you should know too."
Upgrade was choosing each word carefully, but she seed quite sincere about this topic.
Sal wondered if this was sothing she had wanted to talk about for a long ti.
"My skill was hated enormously by my peers while I attended here. The ability called Upgrade makes sothing others created with blood and sweat even better with just one essence. But in that process, the artisan's touch, the precision of handcrafting, all that disappears. I don't want you to do this work while disregarding that."
Upgrade pointed at Sal's chest with her finger and smiled.
"You have an ability that mixes Appraisal, Restoration, and Upgrade. Perfectly understanding everything you see is an ability originally gained only after studying for decades. And Restoration is the ability to use essence to return an object to its most complete state. Furthermore, Upgrade is the ability to insert essence to elevate an existing object to a better direction. But you know, all these things were professions that existed before essence skills even appeared.
What we teach at the academy are the basics of those professions, the fundantals of true crafting. That's why it takes a long ti to make a single piece of gear."
Sal looked at her, unsure of how to answer.
Was she perhaps hoping he would apologize for having an ability that skipped the process so easily?
As if reading his inner thoughts, Upgrade shook her head.
"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I just want you to properly understand what kind of gift you possess. True crafting technology ans using essence to make machines work, combining different materials into one, removing impurities, and improving performance. Just with that, you are an entity with trendous value in society. But right now, you have the potential to make even Mythos rank items, right? That is a completely different dinsion of territory that we will explore over months, no, years from now on."
Upgrade pointed at the tracker and sighed.
"And looking at it now, you can replicate essence and lt it into crafting? This is truly an absurd ability. We've been designing blueprints within the limits of materials all this ti. But you can surpass that with essence. I sincerely congratulate you, and I look forward to seeing how far you will go. But you must never look down on friends walking a slower path than you."
"Is that what you're worried about?"
Sal asked with a puzzled look.
"That I'll get too far ahead here and start ignoring others?"
Sal shook his head from side to side and laughed.
"I'm not that kind of person, Professor. Rather than making things that stand out more than others, I want to make gear that can solve their problems. Making the sniper rifle was really fun, but honestly, it was impossible with just my ability alone. Without the help of the skilled crafters in the Workshop, I absolutely couldn't have made it. Even this tracker blueprint right now, I'm trying to put my ability aside for a mont and do it the old-fashioned way. The way you taught . Because I ca here to learn. Don't worry."
Upgrade suddenly becoming serious felt unfamiliar to Sal.
He decided to voice the doubt remaining in a corner of his heart.
"Did I perhaps... say sothing to upset you? I didn't intend to."
Contrary to his worry, Upgrade's familiar characteristic laugh returned.
She waved her hand dismissively.
"No, just... I rely repeated the words I heard when I first ca here. I had a much hotter temper than you and wanted to leave my na behind no matter what. But I only realized the true aning after sitting in this professor's seat."
Sal put down the engraving tool, looked at Upgrade, and waited quietly.
"You'll be assigned to the advanced crafting course. That ans you'll be taking classes with second and third years. Those kids have different ways of thinking and different stats from you. Looking at the actual situation, you'll want to smash the system. But that system might be all they have."
Upgrade laughed and hopped off the desk.
"Sorry, did it sound like unnecessarily heavy talk? Upper-year crafters rarely take risks. They try to do only safe projects. They're reluctant to try new things, so if you try to do sothing contrary to the existing thods, you might get checked. Reality and procedure take precedence over creativity or imagination. And starting tomorrow, the atmosphere of this Workshop will completely change too. The serious talk I gave earlier was like a trailer to prepare for that. So please don't ignore them as boring and conservative crafters. Because they're doing their best in their own way. Got it?"
Sal nodded and picked up the engraving tool again.
"I understand. But I think you're worrying a bit excessively, Professor Upgrade. I'm not really the type to make others feel bad... and even if other students return to the Workshop, I don't think there will be any major problems."
Upgrade gathered her things and laughed.
"We'll see!"
After saying that, she quietly left the room.
Sal wanted to imrse himself in the design sketch again, but the words Upgrade just said kept lingering in his head.
'Are the other students really that serious? Will I end up disliking them too?'
Shaking his head once, Sal cleared his mind.
If such a situation actually arose, he could think about it then.
There was no need to disturb his concentration with needless worries.
Activating his ability again, he looked at the Quest Tracker and began to finish drawing the blueprint.
Although few materials were used, the tracker had a quite complex structure.
Intricate runes were engraved on the silver surface, and details on the black smoke-colored visor couldn't be discerned with normal vision.
However, using the Mythos Crafter ability, he could see each rune pulsating efficiently with threads of essence.
Sal stood in place for nearly an hour, ticulously recording all the information provided by the blueprint in his head.
Only after checking every detail once more did he catch his breath and take a step back.
Now he began to think about what abilities to put into his own tracker.
'The Analysis ability is a must... but is there a need to put in the Appraisal ability?'
The System skill seed useful, but he also wondered if accessing the academy's information network might violate regulations.
Connecting Divinity's ability was certainly an attractive option, but constantly seeing the future would inevitably be confusing.
Living while constantly doubting every situation was not the life he wanted.
Sal began to jot down a few notes next to the blueprint.
He recalled one by one which ability combination would be most efficient and who among the people he knew so far had skills suitable for the tracker.
"Ah, geez..."
After continuing to ponder for a few minutes, he shook his head and chuckled.
Without realizing it, he was getting greedy with the design, sothing Upgrade had always warned him to be wary of.
In fact, the tracker only needed the Analysis function to work properly.
There was no need to stack abilities layer upon layer.
If he concentrated on a single ability and poured all remaining resources into upgrading the rank, he might co up with a level close to Quest's tracker currently sitting on the desk.
Thinking that, Sal imdiately got to work and reactivated the Mythos Crafter ability.
He almost breathed a sigh of relief.
As the suppressed Upgrade ability was unleashed, the pressure felt in his head vanished in an instant.
It felt like he could finally breathe.
To make the work easier, Sal moved the actual tracker to the other side of the desk.
It was to prevent it from interfering when his eyes operated.
He looked down at the blueprint, letting his ability flow freely to identify structural flaws.
Soon, he picked up the engraving tool and recorded corrections one by one.
He removed unnecessary elents and reinforced the core structure capable of containing the Analysis ability.
The Mythos Crafter ability pinpointed conflict points between attributes.
Sal only had to allocate space to the most dominant attribute among them.
It was slow but interesting work.
Materials he had never heard of were recomnded one after another; these were stored in his brain through past appraisal experiences in different ways.
Every ti a new material was substituted into the blueprint, the resulting combinations branched out in multiple directions.
Although it didn't reflect crafting quality or human error, objective results regarding what was possible piled up one by one.
Sal recalled how his skill had guided him that the Evolution attribute could be granted when making the Legend rank sniper rifle.
Even then, the prediction had truly co true, and since then, he had never doubted the Mythos Crafter ability.
It was the sa now.
He wrote down the optimal combinations suggested by the Mythos Crafter ability in his notebook one by one.
"Hellfire Titanium and Lord Crystal... Would they even sell those on the Credit Floor?"
Sal muttered and shook his head.
He tried applying the Analysis Essence to the design.
Surprisingly, the essence had ridiculously good compatibility with the Lord Crystal.
Predictions followed that Essence Control would increase significantly, and ntal Type abilities like Analysis would also be slightly enhanced.
Hellfire Titanium was simpler; its existence alone raised the rank of the result by several levels.
With that level of performance, it had to be considered a premium material.
Sal thought it wouldn't be bad to check if the materials were actually available on the Credit Floor at this point.
Without taking his eyes off the blueprint, he took out his tablet and searched for Vanessa's na.
He intended to send a ssage, but seeing the ringing screen, it seed he had accidentally made a call.
"Oh my, you're actually calling for once. What's the matter?"
Vanessa's voice ca through clearly.
Sal was relieved that she got straight to the point.
He checked the notes he had written down again and opened his mouth.
"Hello, Vanessa. I'm designing a personal project right now. I need Hellfire Titanium and Lord Crystal. Are those materials stocked on the Credit Floor by any chance?"
"I can give you an answer regarding the Lord Crystal right away. No. It often appears in appraisal results, but its value as a component is too great, so it's rarely traded as raw material. You'd be better off aiming for an item containing it as a component at an auction. But even for you, Sal, the price would be quite high. Still, I'll check if there are any good lists. Oh, and ask the other team captains from the tournant. There was a crown containing a Lord Crystal. Or... contact Professor Jez. He's skilled in backroom deals, so he might be able to get it for you."
Sal frowned and erased the na from the list.
"Then what about Hellfire Titanium?"
Sal thought Obsidian Glass, like the one in the tracker he was currently using, would be easy to obtain.
While Obsidian Glass wasn't a portal material, Hellfire Titanium was a material that ca from portals.
Sal didn't intend to get his hopes up, but he waited, literally holding his breath.
"We have a few ingots of that in stock right now. However, the price isn't cheap. It'll be around 250 Q-Credits per ingot. But if you're purchasing it for Mythos... I could try passing it over to the Reavers Guild side. I cut contact with them recently and made them sweat a bit. They're making a fuss about finalizing the partnership. Thanks to your win in the tournant, Sal, they value you highly over there too. Tell when you want to decide. Let's proceed together."
Sal smiled slyly.
He was worried he might have to haggle with Vanessa over the price per ingot, but she had already organized everything.
"Would there happen to be a Lord Crystal that could be passed over to the Reavers Guild side too?"
It was a question Sal had nothing to lose by asking, and Vanessa seed to think the sa.
"I'll check. I should tell them, 'The partnership is almost complete, but Mythos is currently imrsed in a project and is blocked because of two materials.' After checking their reaction, we can finalize the main contract. Just one warning... I've talked to Vila a few tis over the past few weeks, and he's almost on the verge of exploding. So you'll have to give a definite answer right after this is over. Otherwise, I might really get stabbed while sleeping. We have to prevent that, right?"
Sal laughed and placed his finger over the end call button on the tablet screen.
"That's right, Vanessa. We really must prevent that. Thank you for your help. I'll contact you again later."
When the call ended and Vanessa's voice disappeared, Sal put the tablet in his pocket.
The downside of this strategy was that he had to put the design on hold until news about the materials ca.
Sal looked down at the blueprint again and smiled.
He was filled with anticipation, genuinely wanting to start this project.
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