Genius Blacksmith's Game

Before the continental war began, Nell came to see Hyunsoo as he attempted to craft an offensive Twin Dragon Sword.

“Poison King Liu is someone who can summon Hydra. It’s a Legendary monster—a named monster with overwhelming power.”

At the time, even if Hyun’s Forge participated in the continental war, the kind of abnormal outcome it could produce didn’t seem like it would be decisive.

So Nell, the brain of Hyun’s Forge, identified every distinctive pattern the Chinese users tended to show.

“Whether Liu will summon Hydra is unknown.”

It was the continental war, but it was still Poison King Liu’s hidden trump card. If he judged he could win without it, it made sense not to use it.

The continental war was broadcast worldwide, and top-rankers tended to keep their real power hidden.

Back then, Hyunsoo’s expression hardened.

“If Hydra breathes poison toward the Korean users...”

The fallout was unimaginable. But Nell gave a bitter smile.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s any proper countermeasure against Hydra.”

At that moment, a single special power—one he had never once activated—flashed through Hyunsoo’s mind.

The power dwelling within the Calamity Necklace: Absolute Domination.

(Absolute Domination)

Grade: Legend

Level: 1

Penalty: None

Required Mana: 2,500

Effect:

·Can instantly brainwash monsters and force submission.

·Submitted monsters have their minds dominated and will act as you desire.

·Allows for a few seconds of mental domination even against targets 200 levels above the user.

·Against weaker monsters: approximately 3 minutes. Against similar power: 1 minute.

·An activation chant exists.

·Something special might happen.

Absolute Domination was a skill Hyunsoo had never used—not even once.

And the Calamity Necklace belonged to a field of craftsmanship completely unrelated to blacksmithing, so he couldn’t modify it either.

‘There’s a clear drawback.’

The domination window was too short, and the required mana was 2,500.

A cost of 2,500 mana was absurd.

Control a single monster around his level, and the loss would outweigh the gain.

“What if we use this power?”

Nell, after receiving the shared skill info, let out a quiet sound of admiration.

“In one way it’s excellent, and in another it feels lacking for something called legend. But it could definitely become a variable. Still... I’ve never seen you use it?”

Hyunsoo gave a bitter smile.

Reason one: he’d never felt the need.

Reason two was this.

“The activation chant is just... too cringey.”

Sometimes, skills required a spoken chant to activate.

“What is it?”

Nell heard it—and gave a bitter smile of her own.

“It’s embarrassing, sure. A little cheesy, too. But if you use it at the right moment, it could be insanely cool. And the Hyunsoo I know is the kind of user who’s actually great at pulling that off.”

Use the chant to fit the moment, and it becomes cool—Hyunsoo had agreed with that, even then.

*****

On the screen watched by viewers around the world, the Legendary monster Hydra filled the frame.

The audience doubted their eyes.

That a lone player had summoned Hydra, a Legendary monster—the child of the divine beast Hydra—was shocking in itself.

And even in video, it was rare to see a high-level monster like Hydra.

KHEEEEEE-!

KHEEIIIIIIIK-!

KYAHAAAAAAACK-!

Seven meters tall, nine serpentine heads—the sheer presence of Hydra held the audience spellbound.

Some viewers already sensed it. This scene would absolutely make the continental war highlights.

And plenty of them weren’t even watching to cheer for either side. They were watching for one thing: entertainment.

They expected Hyunsoo to be torn apart by the status effect that came with Hydra’s appearance.

[Hydra’s Fury]

[Before a Legendary monster, the enemy loses momentum and stops.]

[They fall into Stun for 2 seconds, and poison fills their whole body so blood flows from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.]

There was a truth they didn’t know.

The broadcast caught Hyunsoo’s face—first wide-eyed at Hydra’s appearance, then a faint, crooked smirk.

Even in front of that crushing pressure, he didn’t shrink back at all.

Hyunsoo, forced to look up at the towering monster, made a broad, decisive gesture with his arm.

[The title First Legend shines.]

[A legend cannot suppress another legend.]

The audience froze—because the thing that made this fun was always the reversal.

Hydra’s nine mouths churned, and a massive poisonous breath surged forward.

Right as it was about to fire, Hyunsoo shot upward.

Viewers around the world were hooked.

Part of it was simple: Master Craftsman Hyun looked exactly like someone worthy of the name First Legend.

A tall 184 cm frame. A brown coat drenched in blood.

A single Twin Dragon Sword hanging from his right hand. Calamity artifacts—black armor and boots.

A sharp nose bridge, a soft jawline, and striking features sharpened by a focused gaze.

In other words, the kind of presence people can’t help but stare at—now pulling the whole world in.

The Hydras tried to spit the breath in their mouths at him.

Then—

KUUUUUUNG-

An overwhelming pressure crashed down, and Hydra’s massive body locked up.

In full view of the world, Hyunsoo gripped the Calamity Necklace in his left hand, stared straight at the nine heads, and spoke.

“Kneel before me.”

Yeah. It was a cringey line.

But words change depending on the moment they’re spoken.

Hydra’s heads trembled under the pressure bearing down on them.

Their yellow, narrow pupils turned black.

Then—like they were bowing—Hydra whipped around and unleashed its breath at the Chinese users instead.

PWHAAAAAAACK-!

Poison blasted out from all nine heads at once, smoke rising as if acid had been sprayed.

And Hyunsoo gave his final command.

Hydra snapped its heads back toward him—

and as if begging forgiveness, slammed them into the ground.

KWAAAAAANG!

KWAANG, KWAANG, KWAAAAANG-!!

A Legendary monster Hydra, skulls buried in the earth, twitching in spasms.

Hyunsoo’s mind flicked back to what Nell had said before.

A line used at the right moment hits harder.

Absolute Domination clearly carried legend-grade power... yet it could command Hydra for only five seconds.

Maybe it was the worst power imaginable.

A skill called “legend,” and you only get five seconds?

But at the moment of activation, Hyunsoo twisted it—wrung it out—used it at peak efficiency.

So he said,

“An artifact isn’t just a tool to be used. It’s a variable to be exploited.”

Because it came from a Master Craftsman, it landed even harder with the audience.

A large number of viewers—fully captured—became fans of the one called Hyun.

And there was another ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) force drawing them in.

-What kind of person is Hyun, anyway!

-This is insane. Using the enemy’s power to catch the enemy!

-The fact we have to remember is that right now Hyun alone is protecting Korea.

-He clears crisis after crisis and keeps moving forward in his own way.

-Even now—multiple close-combat, assassins, and then the Legendary monster Hydra—he keeps finding answers his way and cutting their numbers down.

-Control? He’s a blacksmith, so of course his sword skill falls behind the rankers. But if you strip control out of it, his ability to read the situation and respond is top-tier rankers—no, beyond that!

Like this, he kept crossing crises and turning them into new chances.

Watching it, one viewer said,

-In the first place, Korea was defense and China was attack. But if Hyun actually wins here... what happens......?

Other viewers fired back.

-Are you asking because you don’t know?

Just like that response implied, everyone already knew how the world would react.

“U- UAAAAAAH!”

“KHRUUUUUK!”

“Why—why is Hydra suddenly hitting us!”

The close-combat users who’d been pressuring Hyun moments ago—

[You have been hit by Hydra’s Breath.]

[You take 23,312 damage per second.]

[You have been afflicted with Hydra’s Deadly Poison.]

[Attack speed and movement speed decrease by 30%.]

[Blood flows backward.]

They couldn’t help but panic at the sudden reversal.

From the rear, Liu shouted, voice sharp with urgency.

“Get out of there!!!! Now!!!!”

“......Pardon?”

“......?”

About twenty-eight close-combat users, poisoned and disoriented, had forgotten one thing.

The variable called Hyun.

Their HP had already been hammered below 30% by Hydra’s poison.

Yet fifteen seconds ago, they’d been perfectly overwhelming him with numbers.

One of the users who’d spoken felt it clearly.

They couldn’t move.

A crushing pressure swept in.

KUHOOOOOOOO-!

It came from the only Transcendence artifact that existed in this world—combined with what Sword King had passed down.

A moment ago, when Hyunsoo’s HP was above 50%, their high HP and defense might’ve kept them from dying instantly.

Now it was different.

Hyun lowered the Twin Dragon Sword held in both hands and fixed the twenty-eight Chinese users in a predatory stare.

“N-no way.”

“This makes no sense!”

Their eyes were full of fear.

Like they’d thought they were kings in a cave—only to meet the real tiger.

Then Hyun drove the Twin Dragon Sword forward with both hands.

[Sword’s Cry]

Stronger than any Sword’s Cry he’d shown so far.

No—Barad didn’t have the Twin Dragon Sword. Taking that into account, for a brief instant it still felt comparable to the force Hyun was unleashing.

“You think you can kill us all in one hit, AAAAAGH!?”

Behind a user’s scream, dozens of Twin Dragon Sword blades tore through the space.

[You have dealt 133,037 damage.]

[You have dealt 137,199 damage.]

Top-tier close-combat users often carried powers that spiked defense in an instant.

Some, 60%. Some, 100%. A tanker, up to 300%.

But against an absurd damage output, all twenty-eight Chinese users scattered into ash.

“.......”

“.......”

The broadcast perspective shifted—wide shots, then tight angles, then individual views.

The view on-screen now was Pond’s.

In Pond’s view, twenty-eight users disintegrated into ash.

And through that ash, Hyunsoo in a brown coat walked forward.

Hyunsoo stepped through the settling dust and finally faced China’s strongest: Sword Emperor Pond and Poison King Liu.

Tak, tak—

With an indifferent expression, he brushed the ash from his shoulder twice.

Both of them understood why.

It was a calculated, almost dismissive gesture—meant to crack their certainty, plant fear, and blur their judgment.

Hyun leveled the Twin Dragon Sword.

“Now,” he said calmly, “only you two are left.”

He got exactly what he wanted from that moment.

World rank #4 Pond. World rank #19 Liu.

And both of them were afraid of a user outside the world top million.

*****

At that time.

Hanna, the deputy director of World Ares, was staring at Ares’s 100 votes.

It was pyramid-shaped. As she looked at it, her voice shook.

“This was just approved.”

The person on the call was CEO Lee Sejin.

His voice held a hint of surprise—but he accepted it.

-That’s more than enough reason.

“Yes.”

Hanna peeled off the magnet bearing the name Crazy Rookie from the very bottom of the pyramid.

She took a step back, looked over the hundred most influential users, and then saw Bahala’s name at the very top.

“If user Hyunsoo defeats Liu and Pond and leads Korea to victory...”

She turned around. She was in a meeting room.

World Ares executives were seated there. This was what they—and she—had approved.

“Master Craftsman Hyun will become the top user of the year.”

A position that hadn’t changed in three years was starting to shake.