Genius Blacksmith's Game

As mentioned, every alert has a reason.

Descendant-class of the blacksmith god.

Hyunsoo—who possessed that class—was the only one who sensed divine ore.

And he appraised Babylon easily, too.

[Divine ore is detected.]

The reasons behind the first alert began revealing themselves one by one, like he was solving a workbook.

And Hyunsoo’s prediction was correct.

The moment he finished appraising Babylon, a quest alert popped up.

[Job Quest: The Sword God, and the Blacksmith God]

Grade: ???

Restriction: Descendant-class of the blacksmith god

Reward: ???

Penalty on failure: none.

Description: You have been commissioned to restore the sword called Babylon, which has an extremely small amount of divine ore mixed into it, from one who walks the Sword God’s Path.

Also, the kind of sword the one who walks the Sword God’s Path desires is never easy to craft.

However, as a descendant of the blacksmith god, you will be using divine ore for the first time.

You will restore Babylon excellently, and depending on how much better it becomes than before, you will receive rewards.

In addition, the one who walks the Sword God’s Path will be able to walk the path they desire more firmly.

This quest is extremely unusual.

First.

It was triggered through correlation with another user.

Second.

There is no penalty on failure at all.

Third.

Depending on what you accomplish, the reward itself changes.

The power carried by those ??? listed under rewards.

And the additional reward Hyunsoo could gain here—

a bond with the Sword God.

Hyunsoo almost fainted.

A user who walked the Sword God’s Path.

And the quest name itself was The Sword God, and the Blacksmith God.

Meaning the quest—and the situation—were both saying the same thing.

If this succeeded, Hyunsoo would become someone who had bestowed a favor on the Sword God.

But after checking Babylon’s current condition, Hyunsoo concluded—

It was impossible.

Just as he had already explained to Bahala.

And like the absence of a penalty on failure implied—

This isn’t a quest that exists because you’re meant to clear it.

Hyunsoo still accepted the commission, after explaining everything to Bahala point by point.

Even after realizing Bahala was the one who walked the Sword God’s Path, Hyunsoo didn’t show it.

He only watched Bahala’s shoulders sag as he trudged away and logged out.

Hyunsoo gave a bitter smile.

The emptiness you feel when you realize what you obtained doesn’t live up to your expectations... is beyond words.

And the quest alert said Babylon would help Bahala walk the Sword God’s Path more firmly.

But Hyunsoo shouldn’t give pointless hope.

Still—

I’ll do my best.

Of course, the reason he accepted the commission had many threads tangled together.

The commission fee Bahala would pay, and maybe even a bond with the Sword God.

And most importantly: it would be study for Hyunsoo—and another foundation for growth.

Then he whispered with Nell.

[KkakkaoTalk chat room]

[Nell: Someone who walks the Sword God’s Path? Is that real?]

[Hyunsoo: Yeah. That means they’re a truly unbelievable person, right?]

Hyunsoo wondered if Nell might know.

[Nell: There’s only one user who can walk the Sword God’s Path. And they hide their information so thoroughly that not many people even know.]

Right. Hyunsoo hadn’t even known there might be another god-class.

[Nell: It’s Bahala. World rank #1.]

“...!?”

Hyunsoo froze.

He knew it would be a big name beyond his imagination.

The servers had merged, and he’d be meeting many new people hiding in the shadows.

But this wasn’t merely “big name” territory.

Each country had its pinnacle user.

Right now, for Korea, that could be called Hyunsoo.

But someone even higher than those pinnacle users—

that was Bahala.

The moment Hyunsoo learned that, he threw a question at Kabel.

Why did you send Bahala to me?

He understood the intent quickly.

Kabel wanted to protect Lucky Lump.

And to do that, Atlas itself had to be protected.

Hyunsoo stared out past the forge.

He could almost see the afterimage of Kabel walking Lucky Lump.

That afterimage seemed to be looking at him.

“...” 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Hyunsoo realized he was one of the people Kabel intended to protect, too.

In the endless maze.

And it was proven again in Atlas right now.

But Hyunsoo knew this.

“Everything is in my hands.”

Even if he couldn’t do it—he would do his best.

THUNK—

Babylon was placed on the anvil.

At best, all he could do right now was turn this consumable into a better consumable.

Extinguish Evil currently deletes down to 40%. I have to drag it up to 70%, and raise durability too.

Durability: 50.

If Extinguish Evil hit 70%, Bahala would accomplish what he wanted.

The problem was Babylon’s 50 durability.

As mentioned, Hyunsoo estimated it wouldn’t endure skill activation.

The moment power settles into it, Babylon breaks.

So Extinguish Evil wouldn’t even reach the demon—it would crumble first.

Yes. Babylon, as it was.

Hyunsoo defined it like this.

A pretty piece of trash.

Shiny on the outside, but unable to even use Extinguish Evil.

And the only reason it could be shiny at all was the 100g of divine ore mixed in.

If the one who made this were truly incredible, they would’ve compensated for durability 50.

Hyunsoo thought.

Is there really no way to realize the permanence Bahala wants?

He’d already sworn there wasn’t, and told Bahala so.

Of course.

He couldn’t torture someone with hope over something close to impossible.

And yet, he searched for a method anyway.

If I had just 100g more, it’s solved.

The problem was: he couldn’t obtain 100g.

And even if it existed and he got it, what if it was a different type of divine ore?

The compatibility could be wrong, and I wouldn’t get the effect I want.

Impossible. He sank into the swamp of what even a blacksmith couldn’t do.

Eyes closed, thinking, Hyunsoo shook his head.

Then, as he opened his eyes, his gaze caught on the hammer he’d been using.

“Huh?”

That hammer was the one he’d obtained from the blacksmith inspector Books.

And another hammer he owned flashed through his mind.

Wait...?

He opened that hammer’s information.

(Dang’s Hammer of Replication)

Grade: Epic

Durability: 3,000/3,000

Attack Power: 109

Restriction: Level 25–70

Special Abilities:

·Chance to obtain a higher-grade artifact +15%.

·Dexterity +5%.

·Passive Skill Replicating Consumables.

·Active Skill Crafting Shortening.

Description: A hammer used long ago by Dang, the tower lord of the sword blacksmith tower.

What mattered was Replicating Consumables.

It could replicate what you were making with a 20% probability.

If it’s this... it might work...?

Hyunsoo didn’t use Dang’s Hammer of Replication.

Because it was another “shiny but useless” item.

It replicated a consumable you were crafting at 20%.

In Ares, consumables a blacksmith could craft were extremely rare.

If anything, it was basically arrows.

Why use this when there were plenty of far better hammers to replicate arrows?

There was no reason.

But if this hammer met Babylon, it would create a massive synergy.

Babylon is one of the few consumable artifacts.

In Ares, consumable items were everywhere—but consumable artifacts almost didn’t exist.

Because blacksmiths didn’t spend expensive ore to make consumables in the first place.

Hyunsoo’s mind turned.

A 20% probability.

Low.

And this hammer was overall worse than the one inspector Books had owned.

But if the 20% hits?

Hyunsoo could get one more Babylon.

If he melted that Babylon, he would obtain 100g of divine ore.

And then he could convert a consumable into a permanent artifact.

But—

Betting on 20% is too /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ risky.

So he chose another way.

RUMMMBLE—

Hyunsoo lit the furnace.

FWOOM—

And threw something into it.

The Hammer of Replication.

The pros and cons of consumables: the effect is great, but you can’t use it many times.

The pros and cons of permanent artifacts: the effect is ordinary, but you can use it forever.

What Hyunsoo needed was the pros of consumables.

I’ll convert the Hammer of Replication into a consumable.

Then the probability would rise.

And he would funnel every special ability the hammer had into replication.

Other blacksmiths couldn’t—but Hyunsoo could.

[Divine Custom Repair begins.]

Because of the custom repair effect only he possessed.

And Hyunsoo knew.

If I replicate anything, the one that yields the greatest power is Babylon.

Yes. This method could be used only once.

So he would create the best possible consumable hammer—one that produced the best possible synergy.

CLANG!

CLANG!

And soon, it was complete.

[While recreating this hammer, you immersed yourself more than anyone.]

[It is due to your obsession, passion, and greed to turn the impossible into something possible.]

[The blacksmith’s soul activates.]

[It upgrades to Unique grade.]

A god helped Hyunsoo.

Hyunsoo’s obsession to turn the impossible into possible.

Now the Hammer of Replication, converted into a consumable, contained an effect two tiers stronger.

(Dang’s Hammer of Replication)

Grade: Unique

Durability: 1,000/1,000

Attack Power: 43

Restriction: Level 25–100

Special Abilities:

·Passive Skill Replicating Consumables.

·Replicating Consumables remaining uses: 1/1

·When Replicating Consumables is used, it disappears.

Description: The hammer used long ago by Dang, the tower lord of the sword blacksmith tower, has been recreated in your own way and turned into a consumable.

But it didn’t end there.

Hyunsoo checked the power of Replicating Consumables.

Now it could replicate at a 60% probability.

Of course, once used once, it would disappear.

I need a higher probability.

Up to now, Hyunsoo had obtained something by hunting many named monsters.

Enhancement stones.

With enhancement stones, the success rate changed depending on the artifact’s grade.

And when the target was a consumable, the probability rose like madness.

But nobody applied “blessed enhancement stones” to consumables.

Blessed enhancement stones were extremely expensive, and you couldn’t waste them on a mere consumable.

However, Babylon was different.

If I can copy 100g of divine ore, I can use a hundred of them.

CLANG—!

[The Hammer of Replication shines.]

Enhancement +1.

CLANG!

[The Hammer of Replication shines.]

Enhancement +2.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—CLANG—

After smearing on insanely expensive enhancement stones until it was obscene, he finished it.

[Hammer of Replication +8.]

A reinforcement value only possible because it was a consumable.

Hyunsoo checked the upgraded Replicating Consumables.

(Replicating Consumables)

Passive Skill

Level: none

Effect:

·Replicates one consumable with a 70% probability.

·Replicates two consumables with a 10% probability.

·Replicates three consumables with a 3% probability.

This is the best I can do.

A 70% chance to replicate one.

That he’d pushed it this far—

And enhancement didn’t only raise the exact effect he wanted.

So it seemed 70% was the limit for the “one copy” line, and instead it had added additional effects.

But he still didn’t relax.

If I’m unlucky, replication fails under the 30%, and this hammer disappears.

A single chance.

Hyunsoo put Babylon into the furnace.

RUMMMBLE—

Using the hammer, he poured everything into restoration.

When the promised time arrived—

he reached the final stage.

Along with the alert that it was complete—

Please, please, please, please...

He prayed the 30% bad luck wouldn’t trigger.

[Crafted using the Hammer of Replication.]

[The Hammer of Replication disappears.]

At the alerts, Hyunsoo whooped.

Replication had succeeded.

And then—

“Huh?”

*****

“Get the 4 billion ready.”

Hyunsoo’s confident expression.

Bahala couldn’t believe it as he stared at Hyunsoo holding two Babylons.

Hyunsoo explained what happened.

“Replicating an artifact? That’s possible?”

“Normally, it’s impossible. And I refused to spare any means to break what ‘normally’ means.”

Bahala accepted it.

This was a case where “normally” didn’t apply.

Hyunsoo truly must have done everything.

If an alert had sounded, it would’ve said this:

[Affinity with Bahala increases.]

And Bahala still had something to do here.

“My introduction is late. My name is Bahala.”

A person who never told anyone his name.

Even that alone said it all—Bahala was showing courtesy to Master Blacksmith Hyun.

“Please. Give me a complete Babylon.”

Bahala felt boundless trust.

Because someone who had taken the base 100g and created another 100g in his own way—

was someone he could trust.

And Hyunsoo, who already knew who Bahala was, accepted it calmly.

“I’ll do my best again.”

Hyunsoo turned away.

Not long after, Bahala disappeared.

After Bahala was gone—

RUMMMBLE—

Hyunsoo threw the two Babylons into the furnace.

So this is how it ends up.

Hyunsoo steadied his trembling heart and opened his inventory.

He had just thrown two Babylons into the furnace, but two more Babylons sat in his inventory.

He recalled the alert.

[Replicates three consumables with a 3% probability.]

That was right.

Hyunsoo said it replicated—he never said how many.

Now these belong to me.

Hyunsoo’s face softened with satisfaction. Then he broke into a grin.

KKEHEHEHEHE—!

Materials—

their power changed depending on who obtained them.

This was the moment a Master Blacksmith obtained the ultimate materials.