Genius Blacksmith's Game

In Ares, there are a variety of stats, starting with the five basic stats.

The total number of these stats exceeds twenty.

And in most cases, gaining stats differs depending on one’s class line.

There also exist stats that sit as a far higher-tier counterpart than those twenty-plus stats.

These stats are called Legend Stats.

Legend Stats.

They are the stats that produce the greatest effects among all stats that exist.

The methods of obtaining them were truly diverse.

And naturally, not just anyone can obtain these Legend Stats, either.

Only those who meet certain qualifications obtain them.

Lee Sejin, who had been visiting the Special User Management Team, had been impressed as he watched Hyunsoo advance while reciting Even if it breaks.

“What do you think the odds are that User Hyunsoo will unlock the Legend Stat Will today?”

At Sejin’s question, Taeseok thought for a moment, then said,

“It seems pretty difficult. As you know, the Will stat literally requires you to push your mental strength to the extreme.”

Lee Sejin agreed.

User Hyunsoo would obtain the Will stat no matter what.

The title Even if it breaks itself would bestow that stat upon Hyunsoo someday.

All the things Hyunsoo had shown so far—things connected to “will”—would pile up and pile up, then sprout into a single stat.

Lee Sejin estimated that would be about three months from now.

And like Kim Taeseok said, the second method was Hyunsoo pushing forward and obtaining it through mental strength raised to the limit.

But that was not an easy thing.

The Will stat was designed for someone with that kind of mental strength in the first place.

Still, Lee Sejin was certain that User Hyunsoo had more than enough qualification to possess it.

Why else would the title Even if it breaks have settled on him?

What was regrettable was this.

If he faints there, Ben’s quest will fail.

But just as it seemed Hyunsoo would close his eyes, Hyunsoo lifted his body.

[Without backing down.]

After murmuring that, he gripped the wooden sword again.

At that moment—

[User Hyunsoo meets the conditions to unlock the Will stat.]

Lee Sejin shuddered at the notification that reached him.

The Will stat—just like I thought, it was a stat far too fitting for User Hyunsoo...!

And a Legend Stat was also, in itself, the stat most suited to that user.

That’s why it’ll create the biggest synergy for User Hyunsoo.

Taeseok spoke again with a shocked expression.

“Sir—could it be that User Hyunsoo has taken a step closer to a sentence-type title?”

“That’s right.”

Lee Sejin also had another expectation he’d placed on User Hyunsoo.

Hyunsoo didn’t know it, but the special title he possessed, called “My Own Title,” could also transform into a single sentence.

And when multiple words gather and finally become one sentence, only then does My Own Title display an even greater power.

What kind of greater power it would display—even Lee Sejin didn’t know.

Because the one who had granted My Own Title was Ares in the first place.

A moment ago, User Hyunsoo had said beyond the monitor,

Without backing down.

And because of that, a small sentence was completed.

Even if it breaks, without backing down.

A sentence that expressed unwavering resolve.

If this is completed, what kind of power will it display?

And with what would the not-yet-completed sentence be filled later?

Lee Sejin watched Hyunsoo beyond the monitor with eyes full of anticipation.

*****

Hyunsoo’s blurred vision cleared.

His muscles, which had been repeating relaxation and contraction with a burning sensation, loosened.

Like the refreshing clarity after waking from sleep, Hyunsoo’s entire body loosened.

The status effects that had dominated his mind and body.

They vanished without a trace.

[You obtain the Legend Stat: Will.]

The reason Hyunsoo’s entire body could be healed cleanly—

was thanks to the initial unlock privilege.

And it wasn’t merely that his body condition returned to the start.

He became 20% less tired than usual, and vitality surged forth.

Will...

Hyunsoo savored the pleasant name.

He had never heard of anyone worldwide who possessed such a stat.

It’s a stat made only for me.

Through the detailed description function, Hyunsoo checked what “Will” was.

[You can obtain it by performing or repeating actions associated with will. Additionally, as the Will stat increases, you become slightly less tired and vitality settles into your body.]

“Wow...”

Hyunsoo marveled.

The reason this Will stat was judged to be excellent, first of all, was that it could be accumulated through repeated actions.

Repeated actions could be something like dexterity.

The Dexterity stat can be obtained whenever you consistently make something.

In the same way, Will could also be consistently obtained.

And according to what was written, you become very slightly less tired, and vitality settles into your body.

For example, if your physical vitality were 100%.

If you obtained one Will, maybe it would rise by 0.1%.

But if ten Will stats piled up?

You gain 1% of a body and vitality that grows less tired.

If that were 100, it would become 10%—and if it became 1,000?

That means I’ll become far less tired than I am now.

Of course, it was a shame that it could only be raised through repeated actions.

But stats, in the end, pile up a lot as time passes.

It’s the stat I need most.

The reason Hyunsoo thought this Will stat fit him perfectly lay in the way he normally worked.

Even if he was crafting a single thing, he would pull consecutive all-nighters.

And in the process of staying up through the night, Hyunsoo would naturally grow tired.

When someone grows tired, their concentration drops sharply.

But if he were less tired, maybe he could produce even better work.

After marveling, Hyunsoo returned to Ghost Steps training.

One reason Hyunsoo couldn’t stop practicing Ghost Steps was that he was starting to get a feel for it.

How he had to construct routes, and how he had to move.

But just as his physical and mental limits had been holding him back and leaving him frustrated—

Hyunsoo, now less tired, kept locking in routes.

And when four hours had passed—

[You obtain Will 1.]

“...Khh!”

Hyunsoo marveled.

That it applied through repetition like this.

Even when I do blacksmith work, Will will go up.

Of course, the Will 1 that had risen just now was barely noticeable.

But grains of dust gather to form a mountain.

Thanks to the once-restored condition, Hyunsoo could grow much more accustomed to Ghost Steps.

And he activated it one last time.

Hyunsoo’s body moved smoothly, unlike when he first started three days ago.

Once, twice, four times, five times, six times... and then.

Crash—

His route tangled and he fell.

Even as he fell, Hyunsoo smiled slightly.

Guaranteed count: six.

Ten times out of ten, he succeeded at six.

And from seven onward, it felt like a cursed section to Hyunsoo.

He must have repeated the transition from six to seven a hundred times, but it wouldn’t work.

Still, it was satisfying.

Sky King Ben suggested four. But I’ll be doing two more than that.

[Ghost Steps learning has ended.]

The training ended.

I want to show Sky King Ben quickly.

Hyunsoo stepped out of the training hall.

Outside, two soldiers were guarding the exterior.

“Where is he?”

“He is preparing for the banquet.”

Hyunsoo realized belatedly.

He felt like he’d heard it in passing from Ben.

Ben, who had spoken with Hyunsoo at length after the Small World Tree came back to life.

Maybe there had been a change of heart in Ben, an old man with a nasty temperament—he said he would hold a banquet.

He said the banquet would gather many nobles’ families, too.

Hyunsoo recalled Pan and Frak’s faces lighting up at the fact that families would come.

Maybe I’ll go to the banquet, too.

Hyunsoo headed toward the banquet hall.

*****

The Red Dragon Brigade was an assassin group raised by the Prahum Kingdom, but Ben was not the one who raised them.

The Red Dragon Brigade was raised by a noble with quite a famous name.

Their main duty was assassination.

And while some wanted peace between the Kingdom of Goyard and the Prahum Kingdom, there were many who did not.

The Red Dragon Brigade was a representative example.

A group made for war.

Peace might mean their disposal.

Kuhn, the leader of the Red Dragon Brigade.

He received a report.

“I’m hearing that they’ll soon return more people to the Kingdom of Goyard than the promised prisoners.”

Returning prisoners.

This was the biggest step toward peace.

Kuhn no longer felt any need for them to go on living here.

And beyond that, even if not the Prahum Kingdom, there were many places that wanted the Red Dragon Brigade.

The number of Red Dragon Brigade members gathered in the darkness totaled around seventy.

All of them would give their lives at Kuhn’s command.

Because Kuhn had brainwashed them that way for a long time.

“To the king who wants to throw us away, we’ll give a gift. Rek—lead seven assassins and head to the banquet hall immediately. The rest will move to the borderlands with me.”

Kuhn knew it, too.

Neither he nor his members could dare lay even a speck of a hand on Ben.

But—

“Take the king’s precious ones away.”

Who were those precious ones?

Pan, the kingdom’s second-in-command.

And the nobles—and the nobles’ families, as well.

“I receive the order.”

With Kuhn’s command, the assassins disappeared.

And Rek remained there.

He was the deputy leader who replaced Frak, who had lost an arm.

He ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) led seven assassins and headed for the banquet hall. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

*****

As Hyunsoo walked toward the banquet hall, he saw Pan at the end of the corridor with his family.

Oh. He has a lot of kids?

Pan, the kingdom’s second-in-command.

He was with multiple children, and his wife, too.

This is also my first time seeing him like that.

He was someone who always wore a blank face, fitting for his job as a strategist.

For someone like him to smile like that—Hyunsoo had never seen it before.

“The banquet will begin soon!”

At those words, those in the corridor surged inward.

Hyunsoo followed behind them into the crowded banquet hall.

The banquet hall was already packed with people.

And at the far end of the hall—

about 120 meters from Hyunsoo.

Ben sat there with a cheerful smile unlike his usual one.

And Heir of the Sky King Frak was beside him, exchanging greetings.

Then Hyunsoo’s brow furrowed.

Because a knight passing by him had his hand inside his clothes.

Hyunsoo felt something was off.

The knight at the very front.

Because he was exchanging eye signals with other knights positioned around the hall.

Hyunsoo realized.

That something was about to happen.

Before it happened, he warned the man within five steps.

“If you draw it, you die.”

Soon the man turned his head, and their eyes met. A deep smile sat on his lips.

That gaze was the face of someone who had already resolved himself to death and was convinced he would complete the mission.

Ding!

[Sudden Quest: Red Dragon Brigade Rebellion]

Grade: S

Restriction: Those who witnessed the rebellion

Reward: Negotiation Progress

Penalty on failure: Decrease in intimacy with Ben.

Description: The Red Dragon Brigade members in the banquet hall are aiming to assassinate Pan, his family, and the nobles. Stop them.

Quests sometimes reveal truths the user does not know.

But the problem was learning that truth too late.

“There is no peace!”

The assassin at the front shouted.

Everyone in the banquet hall whipped their heads around.

As if that were the signal, the assassins disguised as ordinary knights moved all at once.

In that moment, Hyunsoo felt like everything slowed down.

His eyes met Ben, seated far away.

Ben’s expression was twisted in misery.

Ben had realized it too.

No matter who he was, at this distance, he could not personally stop the assassins’ swift attacks.

They had constructed every route and planned everything from the start.

Hyunsoo saw the assassins moving in different ways from eight different points.

Instinctively, he activated Lord’s Command.

They stopped in different poses.

But then they neutralized him and moved again toward their targets.

In that moment, Ghost Steps came to Hyunsoo.

There are eight of them.

Only Ghost Steps—activated for one second—could stop them.

The problem was that there were eight of them.

No matter how many times he tried, even in a hundred attempts, Hyunsoo had not been able to break past the wall of six actions.

“Kyahhh....”

A scream reached him slowly.

Flustered eyes looked like slow motion.

Ben’s expression grew more distorted by the second.

This happiness is good. It’s all because of you.

Ben’s faint smile—spoken as they chatted—flashed through him.

Shing—

There is nothing you can’t do. You have to do it.

He gripped his sword and gathered his breath.

As if he were doing what he had practiced hundreds of times.

Hundreds of people reflected in his vision. Among them, he captured only eight in his sight.

And in the fleeting instant, the route was completed.

Flap—

“Ghost Steps.”

A single ghost walks through the banquet hall.