Genius Blacksmith's Game

A lot of people around the world said this:

That it would be hard for Hyunsoo to produce another Transcendent-grade item like the Twin Dragon Sword.

There were several reasons.

First: timing—and jealousy.

Some of the people who had always been in the spotlight felt an inferiority complex when all eyes stayed on Hyunsoo for an entire year.

Second reason.

Because Hyun was too unmatched.

Countless rankers believed a new-grade artifact would only open after more than half a year had passed since Chapter 2 began.

But Hyun shattered that expectation and created the new grade—Transcendent—back in Chapter 1.

And he did it in front of over a billion viewers.

So they judged that Hyun ringing out another world message—surpassing that unbelievable achievement—would only be possible years from now, or maybe not possible at all.

But today, something happened that threw every forecast and conclusion off.

*****

Kali. World Official Rank #2, and USA Rank #1.

He was still trapped in the Korean server’s highest-difficulty dungeon—sent there by Kabel.

The first reason he wanted to meet Hyun after the Server Merge was because of the artifacts Hyun crafted.

As the master craftsman who forged Transcendence first, he’ll be able to craft many legends. And that will give me tremendous power.

Whether he made Hyun submit, or negotiated—he needed Hyun’s power.

Then, a shocking notification rang out.

[World Message rings out.]

[A master craftsman overcomes his limits and reaches a new realm.]

[He has crafted Transcendence above Transcendence.]

Kali was hit by a massive shock.

He, too, believed Hyun would only become the owner of a world message years from now.

In reality, world messages themselves are brutally difficult.

Even Kali had only managed to ring one out three times so far.

Transcendence above Transcendence...?

Kali’s chest surged.

He felt even more strongly that he had to meet Hyun.

Right now, Hyun was the person who had achieved the most valuable, most incredible realm in the world.

And countless other peak-tier figures from other servers who were also on the Korean server—

Vietnam’s Mio. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“...He already crossed realms? That only makes it even more necessary to meet Hyun and place a crafting commission. Move—now.”

Russia’s Kassandra.

“Insane. I will seize Hyun first and turn him into my personal blacksmith.”

And Japan’s Musashi.

[You have been forcibly logged out.]

Right now, he was being shocked twice.

First: the unknown man had forced him—and thirty elites—into logout.

Second: the message rung by Hyun, the one he was hunting for.

He’s incredible in every way...

After being logged out by the unknown man, Musashi intended to bring even more elites next time and fight him.

But his thoughts flipped.

Don’t forget the essence.

He needed to find Hyun first.

Anger at the unknown man. Humiliation.

Even those were pushed aside by the urgency to meet the unmatched Hyun.

SHIIING—!

Watching Musashi scatter away, Bahala—

Whose HP had dropped below 60%—was just as rattled.

[His name is Master Blacksmith Hyun.]

The force of that notification was beyond common sense.

It crushed every claim people worldwide had made.

And Bahala had no choice but to be the most shaken of all.

Babylon was Transcendent grade too...

Sure, Babylon had been a restoration job.

But the essence was the same.

Bahala felt cold sweat slide down their back.

They remembered how, not long ago, they had bluntly told Hyunsoo that he was weak.

And now, a reason was forming—one that demanded he stay weak.

If he’s this outstanding as a blacksmith, and he becomes strong too... isn’t that too much?

That was right.

Bahala didn’t want Hyunsoo to become strong.

Proof that they had begun to see Hyunsoo as a friendly rival.

*****

Unfortunately, Bahala’s wish couldn’t come true.

[It is Transcendence above Transcendence grade.]

[You acquire all stats 20.]

[You acquire Fame 1,000.]

[You acquire Overwhelm 200.]

Those were the notifications Hyunsoo heard after crafting a record-breaking masterpiece.

Just the gain of all stats 20 and Overwhelm 200 ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) alone made Hyunsoo more than 5% stronger than a moment ago.

And the reason Hyunsoo had crafted the Dagger of Desire—

It was to build the foundation to make Bahala see his back, and it also had to be special.

And that one special thing was filled by the perk reward.

[Artifact Skill Absorption is added.]

(Artifact Skill Absorption)

Active Skill

Level: None

Penalty: None

Mana Cost: 4,500

Effect:

·Succeeds with a 3% probability, absorbs one effect that exists on the target artifact, and stores it inside the Dagger of Desire.

·However, this succeeds at 100% absorption only once.

·You can store a total of 3 absorbed skills inside the Dagger of Desire.

·Storable Count 3/3

The success probability is only 3%, but if I store three in total, it’s like putting four skills into a single accessory artifact.

Normally, even having two skills embedded in an accessory artifact was considered incredible.

But the Dagger of Desire could hold far more than that.

Immediately, he absorbed absolute domination.

[Artifact Skill Absorption activates.]

[The dagger reveals endless desire.]

[It absorbs the Calamity Necklace’s absolute domination.]

[For this one time, you succeeded at 100% absorption.]

Now, through the Dagger of Desire, Hyunsoo could activate absolute domination as well.

Hyunsoo looked at the Dagger of Desire.

The Dagger of Desire didn’t only have the function of saving traits.

The countless passive skills Hyunsoo owned—

Raising the activation probabilities of those by % would make him absurdly stronger.

Even if every probability only rose by 20%, it would be huge.

The Lord’s Grace.

Ultimate Art.

Nine slashes.

And countless other things—all of them would see probability increases.

Hyunsoo checked the Dagger of Desire.

(Dagger of Desire)

Grade: Transcendence above Transcendence

Durability: 8,000/8,000

Attack Power: 132

Restriction: Level 350–500 users

Special Abilities:

·All stats increase by 1.1%.

·Activation probability of everything related to percentages increases by 45%.

·Active Skill Trait Saving.

·Active Skill Artifact Skill Absorption.

·Active Skill Absolute Domination.

·Passive Skill Emergency Saving.

Description: A record-breaking Transcendence crafted by Master Blacksmith Hyun(現) to compensate for his shortcomings; all percentage-related things increase by 45%.

Because of that, the probability of Trait Saving—arguably the core of the Dagger of Desire—also increases massively.

(Trait Saving)

Active Skill

Mana Cost: 3,000

Cooldown: 48 hours

Effect:

·You can store someone’s trait inside the Dagger of Desire and use it.

·When someone dies, the probability of succeeding at saving is 10%, and if they are 100 levels or more above you, it rises to 20%.

·If you stab a living target once, the probability of succeeding at saving is 5%, and if they are 100 levels or more above you, it rises to 10%.

·Saved traits manifest up to 60% of the original power.

·Storable Count is 4, and you can delete them.

·Saved traits can be used only 3 times total.

(Emergency Saving)

Passive Skill

Mana Cost: None

Cooldown: None

Effect:

·With a 3% probability, you store the trait the enemy used and return it.

·It exerts 70% of the effect of the trait the enemy used.

Forty-five percent.

Hyunsoo marveled.

He’d thought that even a 20% rise to all probabilities would be huge.

But now, every probability tied to every passive skill Hyunsoo owned had risen by 45%.

So the 10% success probability for Trait Saving on a dead target rose to 16%.

By crafting the Dagger of Desire, I’ve become more than 10% stronger.

Passive skills carried weight comparable to active skills.

And if I store valuable traits on top of that, I could become more than 30% stronger than I am now.

The important thing was this:

Whose traits do I save?

Depending on whose traits he saved, it wouldn’t be 30%—he could become several times stronger than he was now.

That was the power of the Dagger of Desire.

And what made Hyunsoo even happier was the power called Emergency Saving.

I put in the concept. But I didn’t expect it.

Trait Saving and a 45% probability boost were embedded.

And if you looked closely, even though it was an accessory, it had Attack Power 132 attached.

When Hyunsoo equipped the necklace, he heard:

[132 attack power is added to your equipped weapon-type item.]

[You surpass 1,000 attack power.]

Like that, the Dagger of Desire’s attack power applied to all weapon types.

With all these insane functions, Emergency Saving was something he gained on top.

I’m going to face named-grade monster NPCs and go through a lot of crises.

But he believed that Emergency Saving—3%, or rather about 4.5% after the dagger’s probability increase—would save him again and again.

And Hyunsoo could feel it.

Maybe I’ve made it so even more people will try to reach me.

His value had risen astronomically.

By crafting Transcendence above Transcendence, he’d proven it wasn’t luck or some fluke.

Which meant Atlas had become even harder to protect.

“I don’t regret it.”

Are you going to stop making soy sauce because you’re scared of maggots?

It’s foolish to avoid doing things just because they might provoke fear.

And Hyunsoo had one hope.

A notification tied to that hope had rung out while he was crafting the Dagger of Desire.

[You can complete the Hidden Quest: Give me your blessing.]

The Give me your blessing quest had already hit 100% blessing rate long ago, when Hyunsoo shook hands with Bahala.

But for some reason, it still hadn’t completed.

And the reward for 100% blessing rate in this quest was the power called One Who Bears Stories.

So Hyunsoo had waited.

And while crafting, he’d heard this:

[You are progressing the quest left behind by Saint Harun as an astonishing achievement.]

[You acquire an additional 50,000 territory contribution.]

[By filling a total of 150,000 contribution, you succeed in opening the Royal Territory Shop.]

[Atlas’s Royal Shop is more special.]

[The reward for Hidden Quest: ‘Give me your blessing’ can be obtained through the Royal Shop.]

Hyunsoo had planned to visit the Royal Shop anyway.

Because he thought there might be a way to protect precarious Atlas in the Royal Shop.

And there was something he couldn’t understand.

Why did the completion notification appear only after so much time?

Still, there was one fortunate thing.

Even though he’d already filled 100% blessing rate or more, he still had one remaining chance to receive a blessing from someone.

Setting the question aside, Hyunsoo headed for the Royal Shop.

*****

After Second Ares opens, a territory shop exists in every territory.

You can use it through a place in the territory’s central plaza labeled “Territory Shop.”

Standing before the Royal Territory Shop, Hyunsoo was sure of one thing.

Maybe something better than One Who Bears Stories will come out.

With that expectation, the moment Hyunsoo clicked the Royal Shop—

[Hidden Quest: Give me your blessing completed.]

[You realize the true meaning of ‘Give me your blessing’.]

[This is closely connected to the future of the Virtuous King.]

[The Virtuous King is the only one who was the greatest and embraced the most people.]

[The number of strong people who followed him was too many to count, and every single one of them was exceptional.]

In other words, Give me your blessing was a lesser version—made as a test.

Does that mean I might learn about the true Give me your blessing? No—does it mean I might obtain the real one?

Soon, the true Give me your blessing revealed itself, and just by looking at what was written, Hyunsoo sensed what kind of power it held.

[You acquire the title ‘Give me, your loyalty’.]

Endless tremors ran through him.