TRGBM 62

Episode 62

062. Are You Out of Your Mind?

‘He’ll probably accept. An opportunity like this doesn’t come often, even for someone with the Midas Touch.’

Cha Yoo-kyung thought Geumson would accept without a second thought. It was an offer with no reason to refuse.

But golden hand’s answer completely defied her expectations.

“Please tell them I decline.”

A momentary silence flowed through the air.

Flustered, Cha Yoo-kyung finally snapped back to her senses and asked again.

— ……What? Decline? Mr. golden hand’s, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! The rewards Panteria can offer will be beyond your imagination!

Her voice rose urgently.

But golden hand’s remained unperturbed.

“I’ve already used up all the material.”

— Material? What kind of… Ah!

Cha Yoo-kyung was momentarily at a loss for words. One particular mineral came to her mind—the one whose appearance had been announced to the whole world through a World Message, the natural enemy of all magic.

‘Ancient Void Iron Ore…! He already used it all? Where on earth did he use it?’

It was absurd. Any ordinary player would have treasured it, too precious to even touch. Yet he claimed to have already used it all. While she was reeling from this ridiculous statement, golden hand’s answered without a hint of hesitation.

“I used all of it to enhance my personal equipment. So it’s physically impossible. Pity.”

— You used it… to enhance your personal equipment? Are… are you out of your mind?

A brief silence followed Cha Yoo-kyung’s slip of the tongue. Even the ever-composed Cha Yoo-kyung seemed too stunned to speak coherently.

— Tha—… Mr. Kim Min-joon! Rewrite that report! Ugh, the audio must be scrambled. S-sorry.

Cha Yoo-kyung tried desperately to smooth things over. golden hand’s only chuckled softly. Yet, she still seemed unable to believe it and asked once more.

— You really… used it on your personal equipment? What was your level again, Mr. Geumson?

“Around 30, I think?”

— On level 30 equipment… All of the Void Iron Ore?
“Yes, all of it.”

She seemed to let out a deep sigh. But that was just Cha Yoo-kyung’s reaction, unaware of the truth. golden hand’s felt not a single shred of regret.

Cha Yoo-kyung also quickly composed herself, her voice returning to its usual cool and logical tone.

— Understood. I’ll respect your decision and convey it as such. It’s a shame, but another opportunity will come.
“Alright. Well then, I’ll be going.”

Geumson ended the communication as if his business was finished. He wore a bitter smile as he looked out once more over the scenery of the Forgotten Giants’ City.

‘Well, it is a bit of a pity.’

It wasn’t the money or rewards Panteria could offer that he regretted. If he had even a sliver of Ancient Void Iron Ore left, he might have accepted Panteria’s offer, pouring oil onto the flames of competition with Kang Moo-jin of Yeokcheon.

Cain and Kang Moo-jin. A picture of two rivals, pushing each other to insane heights of growth. Just thinking about it warmed his heart.

But the Void Iron Ore had already become part of the ‘Hammer of Forgotten Void.’

‘Can’t be helped. But….’

golden hand’s recalled the Lich King’s Absolute Magic Barrier. Items made from Ancient Void Iron Ore were indeed the perfect counter to the Lich King—a material that was the natural enemy of such a foe. But now, he had none. So he had to find another way.

‘In my past life, Panteria did manage to take down the Lich King. But the cost was far too great.’

Panteria’s strategy was brutally simplistic. They mobilized hundreds of guild members, dying and resurrecting repeatedly to exhaust the Lich King’s magic—the so-called ‘zombie attack.’

The destroyed equipment and lost experience points of the guild members during that process nearly crippled the entire guild. They never even figured out how to break the Lich King’s ‘Absolute Magic Barrier’; they simply pushed forward on the vague assumption that it would vanish once his magic was depleted.

‘It took Panteria quite a long time to recover their strength after that Lich King subjugation, didn’t it?’

The Lich King was defeated. But Panteria’s overall strength declined. For a guild as massive as Panteria to stagger meant the wounds inflicted by the Lich King were that severe.

‘That won’t do this time.’

He had no intention of letting that happen again. It seemed he needed to create an item capable of subjugating the Lich King before Panteria crippled themselves.

‘The Lich King… If only I had a Resonance Stone to disrupt magical effects, that would be perfect.’

An item came to Geumson’s mind: the ‘Horn of Dissonance.’ Crafting it required a ‘Resonance Stone.’

Hoping against hope, Geumson quickly opened the ‘Master’s Workshop’ system. He scanned the Fame Store listings.

[‘Ancient Void Iron Ore’ was not found in the search.]

He tried searching for ‘Ancient Void Iron Ore’ just in case, but it wasn’t there. So he searched for his next target, ‘Resonance Stone.’

[Fame Store]
[Material Items]

[Legendary] Resonance Stone: 6,000P
[Legendary] Phoenix Feather: 8,000P
[Legendary] Deep Sea Kraken’s Ink Sac: 8,500P
[Ancient] Frost Queen’s Tear Crystal: 9,000P
[Ancient] Abyssal Lord’s Scale: 11,000P
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‘6,000 points? That’s disgustingly expensive!’

golden hand clicked his tongue. He only had about 1,000 Fame Points. It was hopelessly insufficient.

‘Guess I have no choice but to earn points through quests.’

Pushing his disappointment aside, he opened the [Fame Quests] tab. Dozens of quest listings unfolded before his eyes.

[Crafting] Craft the ‘Music Box of Memories’ for the last princess of a fallen kingdom. (Reward: 3,000P)
[Exploration] Collect the ancient maps engraved on the shells of the ‘Flying Turtles.’ (Reward: 3,500P, Turtle Shell Shield Crafting Recipe)
[Subjugation] Destroy the ‘Shadow Lord’s Abyssal Armor.’ (Reward: 5,000P, Cloak of Shadows)
[Crafting] Restore the telescope lens for the Sky Tower Watcher. (Reward: 3,800P, Access Permission to parts of the Sky Tower)
[Urgent] Collect Flame Essence from the heart of the Soul-Extinguishing Volcano. (Reward: 9,000P)
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golden hand’s sighs only grew deeper. Each quest required far too much time and effort to solve immediately.

“Do I need to find another way?”

His thoughts were getting needlessly tangled over the Lich King. But then he shook his head. The Lich King was important, but for now, conquering the Forgotten Giants’ City took priority.

Geumson’s shook off his complicated thoughts and reactivated the streaming system. It was time to focus on the immediate goal. However, he couldn’t help but be stunned by the subscriber count he saw before going live.

‘1.21 million? Not 121,000, but 1.21 million?’

The subscriber count for his personal channel had surpassed 1 million. After just a single stream, he had already broken the million mark.

‘In my past life, breaking 200,000 was hard enough… This time, I’ve hit a million right away.’

A golden hand bitter smile touched his lips. But actually, it was fortunate. This stream was a ‘strategy guide’ stream—the more viewers, the better.

‘The title….’

After a moment’s thought, golden hand quickly typed it out.

[Stream Title: I Came Here Alone to Hog All the Sweet Loot. (Feat. EXP Event?)]

As soon as he pressed the ‘Start Stream’ button with this suitably attention-grabbing title, his personal channel instantly descended into chaos.

[‘Golden Hand Baragi’ has entered the stream.]*
[‘Ttukbaegi Collector’ has entered the stream.]*
[‘HammerWarriorRising’ has entered the stream.]*
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[Current Viewers: 54,812]

“What the…?”

Geumson couldn’t believe his eyes. Less than a minute after going live, viewer count had surpassed 50,000. The chat was already scrolling too fast to read.

└ He’s on! Finally on!
└ Bro! Where are you! Where the hell is that place!
└ Wow, the background is insane. Was there an area like that? Or… is it a dungeon?
└ Holy, aren’t those Stone Golems? But why are there so many?
└ But, isn’t Golden Hands in his 30s? How did he take down Stone Golems?
└ Why would you reveal a solo sweet spot? Tell us quickly! I’m getting dizzy!
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Messages flooded in like crazy. After watching them briefly, Geumson had to give up on reading. He simply did what he needed to do.

“Ahem, welcome. This is the blacksmith, Golden Hands. Today, I’ll be exploring a newly discovered dungeon, the ‘Forgotten Giants’ City,’ and recording the strategy information.”

His calm voice only made the chat boil over even more fiercely.

└ Squawk! A new dungeon? You discovered a dungeon? Where is it!
└ Insane… A live stream of a first-discovery dungeon… This is gonna be legendary!
└ A strategy guide stream? Bro, you’re the light, the light!
└ But, are those monster levels for real? Over 70? What’s your level, bro?

[‘KangMoojinFanclubPresident’ donated 1,000,000 won]: Bro! Our Mujin says he wants to go there too! Coordinates, please!
└ LOLOLOL The President has appeared!
└ But how are you soloing that place? It doesn’t make sense!

Geumson was overwhelmed by the barrage of donations and questions. Forcing himself to stay calm, he resumed combat.

“Alright, let’s begin the guide. The monsters here are largely of two types. Stone Golems, specialized in physical attacks, and Giants’ Specters, which use psychic attacks.”

Geumson calmly explained the information he had gathered to the viewers as he continued fighting. While the Iron Walker blocked the golems’ attacks, he exploited the specters’ weaknesses, taking them down one by one.

Crunch!

Whoosh—!