BOOM!!
All of a sudden, the Iron Horse, released from its seal, raised its front hooves and stomped down with imnse force.
The impact was so powerful that the tremor that followed almost knocked Su-ho off his feet.
"Neighhiiiiiiiiiihhh!!"
Then it spread its wings and suddenly shot up into the sky.
All Su-ho could do was stare blankly at the creature as it soared away.
And then—
[ A quest has been generated. ]
[ The Liberated Iron Horse ]
Grade: S
The Iron Horse, sealed away for a long ti, has finally been set free.
The Iron Horse has, since ancient tis, served only a single master. Break the horn on its forehead to subjugate it.
If the Iron Horse dies, the quest will automatically fail.
Faced with the sudden quest notification, Su-ho couldn’t hide his disbelief.
'Subjugate the Iron Horse?'
Wait—did it even have a horn?
But the system claid it did—and that he had to break it.
'Unbelievable.'
It was ridiculous, but there were no other options.
Everything he’d done, running all over the northern rail stations, was for this mont.
'Looks like it's a type of Hidden quest, just as I thought... but man, this is troubleso.'
That was no exaggeration.
It was troubleso indeed.
Because the conditions were extrely restrictive.
'I an, breaking the horn is one thing—but the prerequisite is to capture it alive...'
If all he had to do was break the horn, he could just kill it and rip it off.
But if the Iron Horse died, the quest would end in failure.
And that was a serious problem.
If the Iron Horse died, all the effort he had put into traveling across North Korea would be wasted.
He couldn’t let that happen.
Su-ho looked up at the sky.
The Iron Horse was soaring freely like cattle released from a livestock farm.
Well, fair enough.
It had every right to go wild.
In the setting, it had been shackled and buried in this godforsaken place for who knows how long.
Still, while he could feel bad for it, watching it flit about like a runaway colt was only giving him a headache.
He had no idea how to capture the thing.
'Co to think of it, do I even have any binding or restraint skills?'
Probably not.
He opened his skill window and searched—but no luck.
Of course he didn’t.
Su-ho’s combat style was all about one-hit kills or eliminating threats before things escalated.
He was stuck.
But giving up wasn’t an option. He didn’t want to lose the Iron Horse, not after all this.
'I’ve got a feeling the reward for completing this quest is going to be massive.'
At that mont, so pieces of information surfaced in Su-ho’s mind.
“Oh right. I had those, didn’t I?”
Su-ho opened his inventory and dumped out the items he was thinking of.
He picked one up and checked its information.
[ Fragnt of the Chain Overseer's Chain ]
Grade: B
A piece of the chain once used by the Chain Overseer.
First was the Fragnt of the Chain Overseer’s Chain.
Su-ho smirked as he read the item description.
'Right. I had this.'
It was one of the rare drops from the Iron Horse Gates.
Its purpose was to serve as a material for chain-type equipnt.
He’d seen chain weapons before.
Back in his past life, he saw people crafting them from these fragnts.
But Su-ho had sothing even better than this.
The Fragnt of Obsession from the Chain Overseer.
He checked its information imdiately.
[ Fragnt of Obsession from the Chain Overseer ]
Grade: A
The crystallized obsession of the Chain Overseer.
The Overseer, bound by orders to restrain his target, carried out that mission for so long that it evolved beyond duty into a terrifying form of obsession.
When used, it inflicts a low chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.
He’d extracted it using the [Eye of the Blacksmith] and [Precision Collection] from the Chain Overseer.
But what really mattered was the last line of the item description:
When used, it inflicts a low chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.
A low chance to trigger a binding effect.
Yes.
He had this.
The only restraint effect in his entire arsenal.
His inventory contained a whole pile of both chain fragnts and obsession fragnts.
All thanks to his ticulous farming through countless Iron Horse Gates.
Su-ho dropped them all on the ground.
The Iron Horse was still flying in the sky.
But he didn’t even look at it.
There was no point—he couldn’t do anything to catch it right now.
He couldn’t kill it either, so what was he supposed to do?
Especially given its sheer size.
So for now, it was ti to focus on the chain fragnts and obsession fragnts.
After all, the system must have given him these materials for exactly this kind of situation.
Su-ho picked up another Fragnt of Obsession—other than the one he had just checked—and read its final line.
When used, it inflicts a very low chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.
Sa item.
But a different probability line.
Specifically, the chance was now “very low” instead of just “low.”
That made sense—it was a fusion product created by combining multiple standard fragnts via [Precision Fusion].
So naturally, the next stage would be “moderate.”
That’s why he’d spent so long hoarding obsession fragnts like a madman.
Su-ho grabbed the pile of fragnts and picked up the Liberated Blacksmith’s Hamr to begin crafting.
He had so chain fragnts too, but the obsession fragnts were the priority.
Only he could make and extract those.
With a clear objective in mind, Su-ho started hamring away.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!
[ Precision Fusion activated. ]
[ Material synthesis successful. ]
[ You have acquired: Fragnt of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (A) ]
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!
[ Precision Fusion activated. ]
[ Material synthesis successful. ]
[ You have acquired: Fragnt of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (A) ]
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!
[ Precision Fusion activated. ]
[ Material synthesis successful. ]
[ You have acquired: Fragnt of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (A) ]
...
He repeated the process over and over.
First, he fused all the base-level fragnts.
Then, once those were gone, he moved on to the “very low chance” fragnts.
Once those were used up too, he finally began working with the “low chance” ones.
After quite a while, he finally reached a probability descriptor of “moderate.”
'Finally, moderate.'
Next should be “high.”
Or maybe “slightly high.”
Su-ho looked at how many refined fragnts he had left.
With each fusion, the material cost doubled, so he didn’t have that many remaining.
Still, it was enough to push the modifier to “high.”
He resud hamring.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!
[ Precision Fusion activated. ]
[ Material synthesis successful. ]
[ You have acquired: Fragnt of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (A) ]
Success.
Su-ho imdiately checked the description.
And his eyes widened.
'As expected.'
The last line now read:
When used, it inflicts a slightly high chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.
Slightly high chance.
So even now, he couldn’t get “high” on the first try.
Fine.
At least he had finally exited the “moderate” tier.
Su-ho used up the rest of his fragnts, continuing the synthesis.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!
[ Precision Fusion activated. ]
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!
[ Precision Fusion activated. ]
...
Success and failure ca in waves.
But he didn’t lose everything.
Now down to single digits, Su-ho looked at his remaining fragnts.
'Gotta keep going.'
Two sockets.
No reason to hesitate.
He swallowed dryly and resud work.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!
[ Precision Fusion activated. ]
[ Material synthesis successful. ]
Success.
At that mont—
FWOOOSH!
A flash of light erupted with the success ssage.
The light faded, and then—
[ You have acquired: Fragnt of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (S) ]
[ Congratulations! You are the first to successfully craft an S-grade material. ]
[ You have accomplished a great feat! The system grants you 10 bonus stat points. ]
After the light dimd, the ssage appeared.
It was a notification that he had beco the first to craft an S-grade material.
Thanks to this achievent, Su-ho received 10 bonus stat points as a reward.
But that wasn’t the important part right now.
He imdiately checked the item info.
[ Fragnt of Obsession from the Chain Overseer ]
Grade: S
The crystallized obsession of the Chain Overseer.
The Overseer, bound by orders to restrain his target, carried out that mission for so long that it evolved beyond duty into a terrifying form of obsession.
When used, it inflicts a high chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.
"Finally!"
Su-ho ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) couldn’t help but shout aloud from joy.
It was done.
At last, he had obtained an Obsession Fragnt that triggered binding at a high rate.
He used up the rest of his fragnts as well.
And fortunately, he managed to craft one more with the high chance modifier.
"Yes, that’s what I’m talking about."
With a satisfied grin, Su-ho socketed the high-chance fragnts into Slot 1 and Slot 2.
"Alright. Now all that’s left is..."
Creating the chain he originally planned to make from the chain fragnts.
Not that he needed a recipe.
He could just use the Combine function.
But Su-ho had sothing better than a recipe.
He gathered the chain fragnts and used Interdiate Synthesis.
[ Interdiate Synthesis activated. ]
[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Fragnts. ]
FWOOOSH!
As the trait activated, a glow erged, and the item began transforming.
[ Synthesis successful. ]
[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (B) ]
He obtained the chain easily.
Su-ho imdiately checked the item description.
[ Chain Overseer’s Chain ]
Grade: B
A chain once wielded by the Chain Overseer.
Can be used as a whip, but when used to bind, it applies a low-tier binding effect.
'Low-tier, huh.'
Su-ho smirked.
He still had plenty of chain fragnts.
So he might as well upgrade this too.
He resud his work.
[ Interdiate Synthesis activated. ]
[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Fragnts. ]
[ Synthesis successful. ]
[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (B) ]
[ Interdiate Synthesis activated. ]
[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Fragnts. ]
[ Synthesis successful. ]
[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (B) ]
...
After going through a long process, all the chain fragnts were used up.
Su-ho began combining the B-grade chains next.
[ Interdiate Synthesis activated. ]
[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Chains. ]
[ Synthesis failed. ]
Of course, success didn’t co imdiately.
He calmly increased the batch size to discover the conditions for higher-tier synthesis.
It didn’t take long to figure out the pattern.
[ Interdiate Synthesis activated. ]
[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Chains. ]
[ Synthesis successful. ]
[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (A) ]
...
He successfully crafted an A-grade chain.
And he didn’t stop there.
Su-ho continued the process again.
[ Interdiate Synthesis activated. ]
[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Chains. ]
[ Synthesis successful. ]
[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (S) ]
At last, he obtained an S-grade chain.
'That was close.'
He had no chain fragnts left.
If he’d failed one or two more tis, he might never have crafted the S-grade chain.
Unfortunately, no bonus stat points this ti.
He wasn’t the first to create an S-grade item through synthesis.
Su-ho checked the item info right away.
[ Chain Overseer’s Chain ]
Grade: S
A chain once wielded by the Chain Overseer.
Can be used as a whip, but when used for binding, it applies a top-tier binding effect.
Top-tier binding effect.
That was more than enough.
With his preparations complete, Su-ho finally looked up at the sky.
The Iron Horse was still flying.
'Ti to begin.'
Now, it was ti to hunt the Iron Horse.
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