Genius Blacksmith's Game

Story Team Lead Lee Hwi took pride in himself.

Growth-type Territory Atlas—he knew it better than anyone.

Because Team Lead Lee Hwi had planned growth-type Territory Atlas, and he was the core figure who built its framework.

And then the alert came.

[The Saint awakens.]

It didn’t stop there.

[Commander Bon awakens after receiving the inspector position.]

[Atlas’s elite forces awaken.]

Team Lead Lee Hwi jolted.

“Commander Bon and the elite forces awakened...?”

Team Lead Wang and Branch Head Tao looked at Lee Hwi.

“Commander Bon was the greatest commander of the era, and his army was made up of the best of the best.”

Atlas wasn’t a great territory because only the Saint was exceptional.

“Especially Commander Bon—he was close to a legend of his time.”

“What do you think the inspector position is?”

“Seeds have been accumulated at an abnormal speed. Contrary to our predictions, much more of Atlas is going to awaken. At the start, we predicted only 7% of Atlas would awaken. But now, in just a few days, it looks like 20% will awaken.”

Atlas held a larger population than an average great territory.

A territory where roughly 70,000 total territory residents and over 7,000 forces had once been stationed.

Even if only 20% awakened, well over 10,000 territory residents would awaken, and they could gain over 1,000 forces.

“This was our prediction—but it was also the Saint’s prediction. But since User Hyunsoo broke that frame, it’s trying to confirm what this irrational accumulation method is, and whether Lord Hyunsoo is qualified to obtain it.”

“Trying to confirm....”

Team Lead Lee Hwi added,

“Commander Bon has a bastard of a personality.”

Everyone there understood what that meant.

Inspector.

“So he’s going to inspect Hyun’s Forge with force.”

In an instant, Branch Head Tao and Team Lead Wang’s faces twitched.

Tao looked at Hyunsoo moving urgently on the monitor.

“Hyun’s Forge is in trouble.”

Bella and the knights had been pulling all-nighters for days, suppressing Sector D.

Hyun’s Forge’s guild members were the same.

They were exhausted.

And as mentioned, they were only a handful.

“I hope Inspector Bon inspects them thoroughly.”

Then a new alert appeared before their eyes.

“So he finally opened it—the stat the Saint held.”

But Tao and Team Lead Wang wore expressions like they could accept this much.

And that was because if the inspection failed, Hyunsoo might have to start collecting seeds from scratch.

In the worst case, the method of awakening through Seeds of Life could disappear.

But Lee Hwi, as the Story Team Lead, was looking at something else.

“...This is bad.”

Team Lead Wang and Tao tilted their heads.

Was Team Lead Lee a fan of User Hyunsoo?

But what he said next wasn’t that.

“Stats are something you’re supposed to receive after meeting a set threshold within the allotted period. But User Hyunsoo received it midway.”

Why was that bad?

To Tao and Team Lead Wang, it felt deserved.

Lee Hwi nailed the core.

“Right now, it isn’t just Territory Atlas where a new story has begun. The power the Saint had—getting that power midway means that if he clears the inspection safely, then the next power opens.”

The next power?

The three of them flashed on the powers the Saint had held.

There were so many.

And when humans think of something, they start with the biggest.

Branch Head Tao let out a hollow laugh. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Ares 2 was about to open, and people would chase new content and greater power.

To match that, Pureum Co., Ltd. had prepared content more outstanding than before—rewards greater and more incredible than ever.

Among those, there was a special passive the Saint had possessed.

A Transcendent-grade passive skill—one of only five that would be released even in Ares 2.

In practice, it was the Saint’s greatest offensive skill.

Tao shook his head.

“Doesn’t that have a level restriction?”

“It does.”

And Ares 2 hadn’t been running for long yet.

Right... it has a level restriction.

But Team Lead Lee understood the natural order of Ares.

Couldn’t they lower it a bit and hand it out anyway?

Soon, Lee Hwi let out a dry laugh.

He decided he was worrying over nothing.

*****

Hyunsoo panicked at the notifications he heard.

The Saint, a commander, and an army are awakening?

It was an alert that came while he was in the middle of collecting Seeds of Life.

Then an even more shocking alert followed.

[You gathered 1,310 Seeds of Life in a short period of time.]

At 12 o’clock, he’d already received the notification that they’d obtained a huge number of seeds.

After that, only two or three hours had passed.

And in that time, they’d gathered 1,310 seeds?

Hyunsoo couldn’t understand it.

And he couldn’t help doubting whether that many seeds could even be gathered in two or three hours.

Naturally, he didn’t know.

That this was what was happening because of the housewarming.

Then another notification came.

[You obtain the Legendary stat, Overwhelm.]

Hyunsoo felt his startled heart pound again at the alert that the Saint had awakened.

I was right.

He’d thought one of the Saint’s powers would be a stat.

And what had been hinted at two or three hours ago was now becoming real.

Now he could confirm exactly what this “Overwhelm” was.

[The stat, Charisma, is deleted.]

“What...?”

Hyunsoo’s face twisted.

Opening a new stat meant you’d gained an additional slot.

But “Charisma is deleted” made Hyunsoo feel absurd.

Then the notification that followed made him admire it instead.

[Your 531 Charisma stats are converted into the Legendary stat, Overwhelm.]

[You possess 531 Overwhelm.]

Hyunsoo’s face—twisted only a moment ago—smoothed out.

That’s insane...

In an instant, it turned into pure joy.

Sure, it was a shame he hadn’t gained an additional slot.

But Charisma was a stat any of Ares’s 2.5 billion users could obtain.

Overwhelm isn’t.

Overwhelm looked like a top-tier, superior version of the Charisma stat.

And starting with 500+ immediately, without building it from zero—

That’s a ridiculous gain.

Hyunsoo also found the reason for the deletion in the detailed description.

[As Overwhelm rises, you will radiate infinite respect and charisma to allies, and you will possess absolute power when issuing commands. Conversely, you can subjugate enemies with Overwhelm’s aura alone, or lower morale, and it exerts more than 2x the power of ordinary Charisma.]

[Depending on the situation, you may Overwhelm enemies even more dramatically, and the acquisition method is identical to when you obtained Charisma, and the difficulty is the same.]

A top-tier superior version of Charisma.

And the part about “more dramatically overwhelming enemies depending on the situation” stood out.

So if I show the kind of presence that can overwhelm enemies, it creates synergy?

What he liked most was that the acquisition method was identical to Charisma.

In other words—

Willpower is harder to get than you’d think. But Overwhelm is the same difficulty as Charisma, so I can stack it high.

He shoved the thought aside.

[Commander Bon and their army’s inspection begins.]

[Territory residents will not be attacked.]

[NPCs will not meet death, and will awaken after fainting.]

[Seeds are accumulated depending on the inspection evaluation.]

[Seeds are deleted depending on the inspection evaluation.]

[Seeds accumulated through the inspection and prior seeds are aggregated, and sleepers awaken.]

[If the inspection evaluation is high, something special may occur.]

Hyunsoo could tell this was a double-edged sword.

Depending on the inspection, I might get an absurd amount of seeds and awaken far more people than expected.

Or if I fail to satisfy the inspection, what I have could be deleted, and only a small number will awaken.

Because of that, everyone from Hyun’s Forge who had been scattered around gathered in one place.

Their forces—barely even exceeded about 200.

Hyunsoo asked Kern, who’d rushed over in a hurry,

“...Are the commander and the army strong?”

“They were the strongest who stood at the vanguard. One tier above the continent’s elites of today.”

“Then what about the Saint?”

“The Saint is strong as well, of course. I simply do not know the Saint’s intent in awakening.”

Hearing that, Hyunsoo and the people of Hyun’s Forge tensed.

Bella was the same—and Hyunsoo handed her a sword.

It was the buff-type Twin Dragon Sword.

“Bella. Cut down anything that comes.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Bella’s chest pounded.

A battle against the strongest of the past.

But for some reason, Bella wasn’t afraid.

Was it because of the buff-type Twin Dragon Sword?

No—Bella turned her head.

Hyunsoo, holding the offensive Twin Dragon Sword, and the people of Hyun’s Forge were burning hot with competitive spirit.

Bella had forgotten.

Even if there were only about 200 of them, they were still an elite few.

Hyunsoo’s newly gained stat, Overwhelm, exerted its power.

“Let’s show every enemy the power of Atlas’s new master!”

[Allies’ morale rises greatly.]

[Obedient allies will face them without fear.]

Overwhelm’s power appeared immediately. That single line pulled morale upward and drew out the buff effect of bravery.

But then...

“...?”

Time passed, and they still didn’t come.

Then a small rustle sounded.

Everyone, nerves sharpened to the extreme, focused.

“WOOF?”

“KyooKyoo.”

Lucky Lump, carrying KyooKyoo, floated past them with a bouncy, delighted gait.

The tension snapped loose.

Hyunsoo made a puzzled face.

“Why aren’t they coming...?”

He was deeply flustered.

*****

Commander Bon, awakened after ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) 800 years, led 1,000 elite troops and headed for Atlas.

Bon knew why they had awakened.

The Virtuous King did not have a good relationship with the Tyrant.

The Tyrant had always eyed Atlas, and the Virtuous King had known that might continue into later ages.

His job was to confirm whether those who had seized Atlas were lackeys of the Tyrant.

And the second—

“It’s been a while since I’ve fought.”

It was to wake after 800 years and throw himself into a battle that made his blood boil.

[Commander Bon Lv.475]

Your Majesty, I’m sorry, but why should I care?

Bon had always been like this—strong power, hard to control.

The only one who could control him was the Virtuous King.

And he hated serving someone new.

“Inspection, my ass. I’m going to turn it into mush.”

One master was enough for him.

In the first place, Bon had planned to beat up Atlas’s new lord and drive him out—because he had a bastard of a personality.

He moved out with the elite forces.

Then he ran into a group blocking the road.

“Housewarming?”

“Empty-handed?”

Unknown people blocked the path.

Their clothes were shabby, caked with dirt.

The mix was strange too.

A man with a huge, iron-like frame—like a mercenary.

A withered old man.

And a woman so beautiful you could call her a peerless beauty.

And two pitiful kids(?) who nodded at the speed of light the moment they heard “housewarming?” “empty-handed?”

Bon understood the situation.

“Take me to where the lord is.”

The iron-framed man said,

“So you’re not a housewarming guest.”

“I’m the one who will inspect whether Atlas’s lord is suitably qualified.”

The old man asked,

“How do you inspect?”

“I start by meeting your lord and breaking one of his legs.”

The old man made an interested expression—then stopped walking.

And Bon panicked.

“...?”

What is this?

He couldn’t understand what was happening.

A full elite legion of 1,000 collapsed from the killing intent the three of them released.

*****

At that same time.

The Saint, awakened near Atlas, panicked.

Because a massive being was blocking the path.

“WOOF-WOOF!”

“KyooKyoo.”

And the Saint felt something he couldn’t name.

What is this?

His hand was reaching toward Lucky Lump’s belly.