Genius Blacksmith's Game

Hyunsoo’s restoration of the Saint’s Sword started from one assumption: there had to be an operator-side mistake involved.

Once Hyunsoo was more than half certain that was true, he also expected that if the restoration succeeded too spectacularly, they would patch it.

But they couldn’t patch it unless they negotiated.

I’m the biggest issue-user right now.

Hyunsoo had, in fact, taken screenshots and saved everything.

If he logged back in and it had been patched however they wanted?

The whole world would learn, grow disappointed in the VR game Ares, and a lot of users would leave.

Who would play a game where the operators could patch and update whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted?

Anyway, he had built a plan in his head because of that.

And in the negotiation, that entire plan became reality.

First: Anium.

Hyunsoo hadn’t been using the mineral Anium up to now.

Why?

Because Anium was a ridiculous mineral that restored you if your ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) HP dropped below 10% just from holding it.

And Anium might not be obtainable ever again.

What kind of mineral is Anium?

To Hyunsoo, it was the best mineral in existence—one infused with the strongest holy power.

The amount he’d originally had was enough to make two artifacts.

Depending on how you looked at it, that was a lot—or not much.

But through this negotiation, he could now obtain double the amount of Anium used in the Saint’s Sword.

With that doubled amount, Hyunsoo could craft about two more artifacts.

Meaning—

If I mix it well with other minerals, I can craft around four artifacts.

Four carried weight.

Because if you crafted four artifacts using the same mineral, you could make a set artifact with the highest efficiency.

Just like calamity artifacts.

Thrilling. Always fresh!

Among rankers, plenty of people used different armor for general hunting and for hunting evil.

Artifacts infused with holy power protected you far better from evil.

I’ll use the Anium I just got to make the best defensive set for fighting evil!

There was another interesting fact too.

Hyunsoo was going to keep ownership of the Saint’s Sword.

And the material used in that Saint’s Sword was Anium.

Can I apply a set artifact of four pieces or more?

Half possible, half impossible.

You couldn’t apply a set artifact of more than four pieces to dropped artifacts.

But if Hyunsoo imbued the effect he wanted and simply attached “five-piece set artifact application possible,” that was that.

Because the VR game Ares acknowledges what a user accomplishes!

The higher the piece count, the stronger the set artifact effect.

Hyunsoo would be forming an absolute set artifact for fighting evil.

After returning from the negotiation, Hyunsoo smiled with satisfaction.

The Saint’s Sword is in my hands too.

Even excluding the absurd function of Saint’s Blessing, the Saint’s Sword he obtained through this negotiation was a crazy artifact.

Base sword attack power: 501!

And on top of that, it boosted physical and magic attack power against evil by 60%.

Meaning, my attack power against evil is 800. If a set artifact applies, it might even go past 800.

So when fighting evil, the Saint’s Sword itself would output higher attack power than even the Supreme Blade or the Twin Dragon Sword.

And Hyunsoo negotiated with Team Lead Wang so that Saint’s Blessing would be patched down and usable.

It hadn’t been applied yet, but the Saint’s Blessing they negotiated had this kind of power.

(Saint’s Blessing)

Active Skill

Mana Cost: None

Effect:

·Restores 25% HP and MP.

·Usable once every 30 minutes.

The only reason the original Saint’s Blessing was born as it was had been someone’s mistake—but even this version was still an outrageous skill.

This is the power that’s embedded in a single artifact.

It restored not only HP, but also MP by 25%.

And it cost no mana.

You couldn’t buy a skill like that even as a skill book.

If one existed, it would be priceless.

And while negotiating with Team Lead Wang, one thing had flashed through Hyunsoo’s mind.

It’s already nearing 11 p.m. I apologize for the inconvenience.

At the time, it had been around 10:30 p.m.

Team Lead Wang said the patch was scheduled for midnight.

It followed the typical patch time of most games.

And because Team Lead Wang was worried Hyunsoo might leave this place holding that sword, they said:

As one of the contract conditions, I must inform you that you cannot leave a 1-kilometer radius within Atlas while holding the Saint’s Sword until the patch.

At that, Hyunsoo cheered inwardly.

The thing that had flashed through his mind—

Dragon’s Grave.

And it was located within 700 meters of Atlas.

Hyunsoo knew it.

The reason they rushed to negotiate the Saint’s Sword.

They were afraid Hyunsoo would take the sword and leave Territory Atlas.

But since Hyunsoo was a person with a conscience(?), he didn’t go outside—he ran straight to Dragon’s Grave.

I was going to challenge bone dragon hunting after raising 100 levels.

According to what he’d been told, even a bone dragon weakened by close to 50% still possessed power that far surpassed the Top Ten Legends.

But with the Saint’s Sword, that became possible.

[You have entered Dragon’s Grave.]

[You are the first entrant.]

[If you hunt the bone dragon, experience and drop rate are doubled.]

[You obtain 100 Fame.]

“SKRAAAK!”

Also, there was 1 hour and 30 minutes left until the patch.

Could Hyunsoo use 450 regenerations within that remaining time?

Common sense said no.

He’d have to spam it nonstop—meaning it was practically infinite regeneration.

After entering Dragon’s Grave, Hyunsoo felt a small disappointment.

There are no mobs at all?

Only the bone dragon lived here.

Hyunsoo went deeper inside and couldn’t help but marvel.

[Legendary monster. The appearance of the bone dragon!]

Even on the Asgan Continent of the Korea server, Legendary monsters existed.

He knew their average level was in the 440–460 range.

The bone dragon must be a Legendary monster that would appear newly with the server merge.

[Bone Dragon Lv.501]

Its level was over 500.

[You are the first user to encounter a dragon.]

[The bone dragon belongs to the lowest species of dragons.]

Hyunsoo tilted his head. The notification was stating something he already knew.

Normally, when you had a first encounter with a huge named monster, you received some kind of reward.

And this is the reward...?

Then—

[A complete dragon is Transcendent grade.]

“...!?”

Hyunsoo was able to understand two things from what the notification was saying.

First:

Even if you kill this dragon, don’t get arrogant and think you hunted a real dragon.

A real dragon is an existence far stronger than you think—a transcendent species you can never dare to touch.

Second:

As the first person to meet the lowest species of dragon, you would be told the grade of a true dragon first.

That’s insane... which means someday, transcendent species—Transcendent-grade monsters—will be released too.

Knowing future content was more power than you’d expect.

But what moved Hyunsoo was something else.

Hyunsoo was definitely greedy for the rewards he’d get from hunting a bone dragon.

I’ll get insane experience and drops.

And secondarily, there was something else he was hoping for.

Skill Collection doesn’t apply to every monster.

There were monsters it applied to, and monsters it didn’t.

And for monsters that could be collected, a black light flowed out—visible only to Hyunsoo.

In other words, if black light flowed out, it was a target he could collect.

And Hyunsoo could see it now. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

PAAAAAASH—

An indescribably vast amount of black light was flowing out of the bone dragon.

And for a confirmed collection target, what materials you could obtain would display.

[Legendary grade. You can obtain decent dragon bones.]

[Legendary grade. You can obtain decent dragon wing bones.]

[Legendary grade. You can obtain decent dragon teeth.]

[Unique grade. You can obtain damaged dragon bones...]

[Unique grade. Damaged dragon wing bones...]

[Epic grade. Damaged, old dragon bones...]

This was the first activation of collection.

And there was one fact you didn’t need to be a genius to grasp.

Legendary grade will be the hardest to collect—and the amount will be the smallest.

Of course, Epic would yield far more than Legendary.

Unique too.

A thought suddenly came to him.

Epic is for soldier use.

Unique is for knight use.

Legendary is for me.

If he crafted with it, the bone dragon was a resource where nothing would go to waste.

—A petty creature has stepped on this land... die.

The bone dragon’s height was close to 40 feet.

And its savage glare made you shrink on instinct.

No—normally, I would’ve shrunk.

[Breath]

A tremendous force gathered in the bone dragon’s mouth.

That massive breath—one that could annihilate anything—was fired at Hyunsoo.

PWHAAACK!

And Hyunsoo admired it.

[HP drops below 13%.]

In one hit...?

Even degraded, a dragon was still a dragon.

If it were a Transcendent-grade dragon...

Even a decent legend would’ve been instantly killed by that breath.

But Hyunsoo smiled.

“Heal.”

[HP and MP are restored to 100%.]

—You have some pathetic tricks.

And a dragon was also the progenitor of magic.

An explosion beyond common sense erupted.

“Heal.”

[HP and MP are...]

The bone dragon whipped Hyunsoo with its tail.

“Heal.”

This time it bit Hyunsoo with its teeth.

“Heal.”

This time it crushed him with its massive forepaw.

“Heal.”

It attacked again, pushing its magic to the extreme.

“Heal.”

“Heal.”

“Heal.”

“Heal.”

Hyunsoo had something to test.

There were still 1 hour and 18 minutes left.

Could he hunt the bone dragon with basic attacks within that time?

The bone dragon was undead—so it was evil.

He struck it several times with the Saint’s Sword, which dealt an additional 60% damage to evil.

Of course, the bone dragon kept striking Hyunsoo the entire time too—but he healed it all.

And after testing a few hits, Hyunsoo put a hand to his chin.

“In about an hour, I can kill it with basic attacks.”

The undead weakness was that regeneration and recovery were impossible.

Hyunsoo tested with basic attacks for a reason: a frustrating aspect of collection.

Collection triggered at a 3% chance.

Meaning even if he hit it with skills, it was still 3%.

So the structure was simple: the more you hit, and the longer you hit, the more you got.

A sticker meme from KkakkaoTalk that had been popular twenty years ago popped into his mind.

It was a pink character named Rapi, smiling wickedly as it said, “Drool-worthy.”

Hyunsoo smiled exactly like that.

Drool-worthy.

—......?

Hyunsoo’s one-sided(?) collection began.

“Give me your bones!”

KRAAACK! KRAAACK! KRAAACK! KRAAACK! KRAAACK!

[Epic grade. You obtain damaged, old dragon bones.]

[Epic grade. You obtain damaged, old dragon teeth...]

—Kuhk... you bastard. Are you humiliating me?

“Give me your teeth!”

[Unique grade. You obtain damaged dragon teeth.]

—You... I won’t let you go. I will definitely—

[Legendary grade. You obtain decent dragon bones.]

“SKREEEEE!”

Hyunsoo didn’t care and kept swinging, and swinging, and swinging—basic attacks on the bone dragon.

That grand, great bone dragon had been reduced to a mere material dispenser.

And since Hyunsoo possessed the Legendary stat Willpower, he didn’t tire easily or slow down his swing speed.

KRAAACK! KRAAACK! KRAAACK! KRAAACK! KRAAACK!

About 1 hour and 5 minutes.

In that time, Hyunsoo had landed over five thousand hits, and as expected, the bone dragon’s HP had dropped below 8%.

“Ehehehehehe!”

And Hyunsoo was collecting every last bone the bone dragon had.

Then—

Huh...?

Hyunsoo panicked.

There was a title he’d obtained a long time ago.

That title was an extreme high-tier version of taming, allowing him to put someone nearby under his command.

And that title was shining right now.

[The Lord’s Grace is activated.]

The activation target was the bone dragon.