Rune Business (1)
Yoobaek City, training grounds.
Clang, clang!
The metallic sound of hammer and anvil colliding rang out in every direction.
"Is it going well?"
When Baek Jinwoo asked, Rund laughed heartily.
—Hahaha, you're here! Hmm, rather than it going well... I'm a little short on materials. Still, I'm satisfied just being able to swing a hammer like this! Heh heh heh!
Around him lay broken runes and materials scattered everywhere.
What about proficiency?
Crafting (LV. 1): Through various materials, crafts the desired rune with a certain probability.
It was still LV.1.
Hmm.
It was different from what he had expected.
Even so, more than a week had passed since they signed agreements with the large guilds, yet it still had not reached LV.2.
'I guess they still don't know.'
It was understandable that players did not find it appealing.
The fact that Rund's crafting success rate was 0.1% also played a part.
More precisely, they probably had no sense of how they were supposed to make use of it.
"For now, I'll give you materials. Take these first."
Thudududuk!
Baek Jinwoo opened his inventory and dumped out the monster drop materials he had gathered so far from Saturday Dungeon.
They were things he had piled up without selling since the days he had been grinding the very lowest-grade loops.
—Huuuh? W-what is all this?!
Rund let out a delighted scream.
"With these, try making some Top-grade Strength Runes. Put strength, agility, critical hit rate, and bonus critical damage as the stats."
Strength Rune.
A rune that maximizes strength, which governs a summon's damage output, and currently the most standard form among the endgame runes his summons could use.
However, Strength Runes had one drawback.
Strength Runes that came out of the Day-of-the-Week Dungeon never had the critical damage stat attached.
'But our Rund can attach that.'
And not just to Strength Runes.
Rund could insert any desired option into any rune without restriction.
—Ooh, with this many materials, I think I can make about ten at least? My proficiency will go up a lot too!
"Yeah, I'll keep bringing you materials."
Now he had to prioritize taking care of Rund above all else.
If Baek Jinwoo's summons gathered together to form a car, then this Rund was practically the engine.
The higher Rund's crafting level rose, the faster they would grow stronger, and that speed would increase exponentially.
After exchanging a few more words with Rund, Baek Jinwoo went straight to find Yoo Jia.
He wanted to ask whether the large guilds were really entrusting things to Rund properly.
Yoo Jia shook her head.
"It's sluggish. The executives are the main ones entrusting things to him, but it's more like they're only trying it because it's you, Mr. Jinwoo."
"Hmm, that won't do."
In the end, Baek Jinwoo made a decision.
If the rankers did not know Rund's power?
Then he would promote it himself.
"Tell them that any player who entrusts a rune will get direct consulting from me."
"Gasp, really? You must be busy. Are you sure that'll be okay?"
"It can't be helped. They probably just don't know which runes their summons should wear for the best efficiency. Tell them I'll do consulting for only about a week."
"Understood! I'll contact the executives directly!"
"Oh, and also."
"Yes."
"What Ajin is selling right now. I'm thinking of starting a new business."
"What kind of business?"
"We're going to sell luxury runes. Not the kind people just call luxury these days, but runes that can truly be called luxury."
Baek Jinwoo briefly explained the business he had in mind.
The very first product they would sell would be Strength Runes with the bonus critical damage option, called crit damage, attached to them!
He was planning to sell runes that could only be bought through 「Yoobaek」 at a high price.
"Can something like that really be done?"
"Yes, which is why Rund is broken as hel—"
Honestly, he was surprised.
'If I were one of the Big 3, I would've gone insane gathering materials and handing them over...'
That only meant South Korea had not yet reached that level.
Well, that was fine.
If they did not know, he could just teach them.
"For now, prepare it together with Ajin. It'll definitely be a huge hit. Honestly, I think it'll cause an even bigger stir overseas than domestically."
"Ah, understood."
The moment 「Yoobaek」 gained one more route to make money!
Yoo Jia's eyes lit up, and she quickly sprang into action.
* * *
Kim Cheolsu was a rookie player belonging to Arirang.
Recently, he had received a private message in the guild community.
'If you use the dwarf? Baek Jinwoo will personally consult you? And only for one week?'
He knew of the Rune Dwarf's existence.
The guild had promoted it once internally.
It was information that absolutely could not be leaked outside, to the point that they had even made contracts over it.
'If you bring materials, they'll make the rune you want.'
At first, he had been tempted, but the more closely he read, the less appealing it seemed.
'The success rate is 0.1%? And if it succeeds, I have to hand over an Advanced Summoning Scroll?'
Wasn't that basically telling him to bring over the materials he had worked so hard to get from Saturday Dungeon and throw them away?!
And from what he had heard from his seniors, it was not as though it took only a few materials.
It was an enormous amount.
At this rate, it would almost be better to just get a decent rune sold on the market.
But.
'Baek Jinwoo consulting is a different story.'
By now, he was already famous among players.
The national representative rankers this time had all supposedly said the same thing in unison.
-Baek Jinwoo is simply a god. Words can't describe him.
-It feels like your entire perspective changes. To be honest, before that, I wasn't even really a player.
-If he recommends a rune? Just switch to it! The difference is immediately noticeable!
-His fundamentals are on a different level. Even using the same summon, his actual play is completely different.
'Just how amazing is he?'
Those materials?
Might as well invest a little and hear the consulting!
With that in mind, he entered Yoobaek City.
Buzz, buzz.
'Huh?'
The line was fairly long.
Clang, clang!
In a corner of the park by the main gate, there was a dwarf swinging a hammer, and next to him was a long table where Baek Jinwoo and Baek Ajin were seated.
'Ooh, it's Baek Jinwoo.'
Kim Cheolsu's eyes sparkled.
To think that the hero of the modern age, whom he had always deeply admired, was sitting right there in front of him!
And in front of him, quite a number of senior rankers were waiting for consulting.
Had about thirty minutes passed?
It became Kim Cheolsu's turn.
"Hello."
"Ah, h-hello, sir!"
Kim Cheolsu greeted him politely.
"Which summon would you like consulting for?"
"My summon?"
"Didn't you come to get runes fitted?"
"That's right!"
Kim Cheolsu, who had blanked out for a moment from nervousness, brought out one of his main summons.
A B-grade Crimson Bear!
It was not a common summon, and because it looked similar to the C-grade Dark Red Fire Bear, many people confused the two.
But—
"Crimson Bear, right?"
He identified it in one go just from its appearance.
And not only that—
"Judging by the three scars drawn on its body, it's still level 30. You haven't had it for very long, have you?"
"Gasp, that's right. How did you know?"
He even knew detailed settings like that.
'Even our guild master didn't know that.'
Was this what it meant to be the captain of the national team?
Seeing such an unmistakable difference, Kim Cheolsu's trust in him rose even higher.
"Of course I know. Would I be doing consulting without knowing the summons?"
"As expected, you are truly amazing."
"For now, could you give me your summon's information?"
"Yes, sir!"
Kim Cheolsu shared his summon's status window.
From what skills it had learned to what runes it was wearing, Baek Jinwoo could now examine everything.
"Hmm, a Berserker Rune on a Crimson Bear... Since it has decent base tanking, I guess you were thinking of lowering its defense a bit and pulling up its damage instead?"
"That's right! I heard that was the best fit."
"It's not great. Didn't you think the damage was high, but its mobility and attack speed were way too slow?"
"...Honestly, I did. That's why I was thinking of adding a supporter..."
"No, rather than using a supporter just for one Crimson Bear, just change the rune."
"To what rune...?"
"A Double Attack Rune."
"...Double Attack?"
It was a rune that gave a certain probability of attacking one extra time.
That setup would definitely increase its damage and also make up somewhat for its lacking attack speed.
However—
"That rune doesn't come with critical hit rate, so the rune setup difficulty is..."
"No."
Baek Jinwoo grinned.
"Our Rund doesn't have that problem. He can put critical hit rate on Double Attack too."
"...Really?"
"I told you. Any rune can be fitted with whatever options you want."
"Ah, understood! I'll definitely try it!"
Whose words did he think he was hearing to let them go in one ear and out the other?
He'd scrape together every bit of money he had and go all in!
"You can ask about the materials over there."
Beside him, Baek Ajin was seated, busily flipping through documents.
It was a reference sheet listing the runes and the required materials.
When Kim Cheolsu went and asked—
"Double Attack Rune? Just a moment."
Flip!
She searched through the documents and found the materials.
"You'll need 1,000 Green Deer Fairy Wings, 1,000 Dice of Fate, 2,000 Firefly Stones, and 1,000 Golden Dragonfly Wings. Ah, and as a fee, an Advanced Summoning—"
"..."
It was truly an enormous amount.
When he asked why they were charging so much, she said the policy had changed.
Since the success rate was 0.1%, they would charge according to expected value, and they would guarantee one rune no matter what.
All of those materials were things that dropped at low rates in Saturday Dungeon.
"I-I'll gather as much as I can."
Bow.
Kim Cheolsu lowered his head and left.
Now he had a goal.
To gather those materials and equip six Double Attack Runes!
Then enhance them properly and complete his endgame specs!
He did not know whether the enhancement would go well, but to make that happen, he would have to farm materials like crazy from now on.
And every last one of those materials would, in turn, be converted into the precious proficiency of the Rune Dwarf.
* * *
That night, after the consulting ended—
"Wow..."
Baek Ajin was genuinely impressed.
"Look at all these materials piled up."
Clang, clang!
Rund was still hammering away without rest.
And the look on his face made it seem like he was so happy he could lose his mind.
—Kuhahahahat! This is wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! To think there'd be enough materials piled up here that I couldn't use them all even if I hammered away all night! I really met the right person in you! Thank you. I truly mean that!
"Oppa."
"Yeah."
"Did you really expect this many people to come?"
"Of course."
Baek Jinwoo grinned.
Whose consulting did she think this was?
He had expected this many materials to pile up too.
Because—
Crafting (LV.2): Through various materials, crafts the desired rune with a certain probability.
In just a single day, the crafting level had risen to 2.
Now the success rate was 0.5%.
If before it had taken 1,000 attempts to complete one, now it would take only 200 attempts to complete one.
And yet Baek Jinwoo did not announce that the success rate had gone up.
He kept collecting 1,000 each time without fail.
'First, I should take materials according to expected value, then use the leftovers to keep crafting.'
It was harsh to say toward the players, but that was the cost of the consulting.
For now, building proficiency and raising the crafting level to the max, level 10, was the top priority.
And the runes that got crafted?
With the label of luxury runes attached to them, they would be sold off here and there.
They would become one of 「Yoobaek」's main sources of income.
'If they don't like it, they don't have to commission crafting.'
In the end, all trade flowed according to the logic of supply and demand.
In this world, the only person who could make those runes was Baek Jinwoo, and to get them, people had to pay a sufficient price.
This was not exploitation, but a Win-Win for both sides!
Clang, clang!
And so Rund's full-scale proficiency grind began.
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