Ted, gears are never cast, usually they are machined from forgings or cold rolled stock and then tooth shape is broached before surface hardening .
you can of course continue using it in this condition "a long time", but that pitting will be a constant source for fine steel dust in the oil. run it like that and eventually it will damage metal on metal sliding areas like the oil pump and cam journal.
360€ for gears is going to look cheap compared to a oil pump, head, cam and what else when the shit hits the fan. Agree it's hard to say if it'll happen in 2K or 20K km.
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