Genius Blacksmith's Game

[Job Quest: Temple Construction]

Grade: ???

Restriction: Descendant of the God of Blacksmiths

Reward: God’s Emergency Crafting replacement skill

Penalty on failure: Temple Construction permanently unavailable

Description: As a descendant of the God of Blacksmiths, you must reveal and demonstrate that greatness to the world.

If you construct a temple, things that wish to be displayed will be hung as “for display,” and if the temple’s completion rate exceeds 70%, a buff effect may be applied to visitors.

It was a quest that had unlocked after Hyunsoo deleted God’s Emergency Crafting.

The reward is a replacement skill for God’s Emergency Crafting....

Hyunsoo shared it with Nell.

“If it gets hung ‘for display,’ I think it means things you’ve crafted before will be displayed with the same outward appearance. And if the completion rate is over 70%, it says it might even apply a buff effect....”

But to both Hyunsoo and Nell, constructing this temple carried risk.

“If you build a temple, it might reveal that you’re a descendant of a god.”

Hyunsoo agreed.

But there was a clear way around it.

“...What if it takes the form of a ‘museum’ instead of the shape of a temple?”

“Oho. If it feels like that, it probably won’t be obvious. But...”

Nell was worried.

“Do we really need to build it right now?”

The Temple Construction quest had no time limit.

“Honestly, we don’t even have the funds to build a temple right now.”

With the blacksmiths who had immigrated recently, their finances were stretched thinner than ever.

Hyunsoo nodded with a satisfied smile.

“That’s exactly why we have to build it, Nell.”

“Huh?”

Nell made a puzzled face.

“Once the built temple passes 70% completion, visitors get a buff effect, right? And the people coming to this museum will visit Territory Atlas, and they’ll eat, sleep, and use the facilities.”

Now Atlas wasn’t structured in a way where it could stay hidden and operated like before.

Opening up, bringing in tourists, and making them spend more money was better.

“We sell tickets to the people entering the museum.”

He thought of modern art exhibits.

People buy expensive tickets just to see sculptures and artworks by famous masters, don’t they!?

“They’ll ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) flock in to take vanity shots, proof shots, shots where they pretend they’re modern people who love art. And then...”

Hyunsoo smiled meaningfully.

“Around that, we open a souvenir shop and sell merchandise made by our blacksmiths!”

Nell pictured it.

Souvenir shops that always exist at tourist sites and theme parks!

A single T-shirt costs tens of thousands of won, and you think, Who buys this?—but countless people still buy them.

A chance to strip-mine people’s small, precious money!

“And if a family visits, 10% off tickets!”

“Gasp...!”

Nell was impressed.

Families visiting from all over the world would end up hearing their kids’ hellish words!

Mom, buy me that!

With that one line, it would sell like wildfire.

And the taxes that would fill from it!

“We can build the temple on the wasteland that was created after we cleared monsters a while back, and at first we’ll display small things.”

“Why?”

“So when the next exhibit comes, people will come again! Every quarter, we open Hyun’s Spring Museum, ‘Hyun, the Man of Autumn’ Special Exhibition, and sell tickets at double the price. And once in a while we hang a main piece like the Dragon Light Sword or Jumong’s Horn Bow, and sell bundles with it!”

Nell’s expression turned intrigued.

“Dragon Light Sword-shaped bread! Dragon Light Sword-shaped toys, T-shirts with the Dragon Light Sword printed on them! Even Dragon Light Sword magnets!”

A plan to suck taxes down to the bone.

But Nell raised another concern.

“Like you said, the museum has to be high-quality enough that people actually want to come. The problem is our guild members are extremely busy, and if we use the newly immigrated blacksmiths for construction, we’ll get a lot of criticism. Material costs aren’t the issue—labor costs are.”

The newly immigrated blacksmiths hadn’t gained much through Atlas yet.

In that situation, there was no way they’d listen to Hyunsoo.

“There’s a way, so don’t worry.”

So began the overture of what could only be called the Hyunsoo theme park.

After logging out, Hyunsoo spread out stacks of drawing paper.

What matters right now is how complete the museum is.

An exterior has the power to draw people in all by itself.

And just yesterday, through the Crafting Method, it had been proven that passing through it allowed more meticulous completion.

That said, he couldn’t use God’s Crafting Method recklessly.

Artifacts made through God’s Crafting Method can have effects up to 50% stronger. Because of that advantage, the number of uses is limited.

Only three uses remained.

Only after time passed would one use be generated again.

He had to conserve God’s Crafting Method.

Sure, it might sound ridiculous for a blacksmith to be unrolling museum construction blueprints.

But I do know how to build something like this.

It required enough time, enough effort, and enough people.

And if there was a solid reason for them to truly give it their all, he could build a far better temple.

And he erased and redrew it hundreds of times.

He dug up dozens upon dozens of old books.

Saving even sleep, Hyunsoo completed it.

That thing drawn densely across dozens of pages.

Hyunsoo was certain he would secure the “labor” with this.

This time, it won’t be fake. It’ll be real.

He logged into Ares.

*****

Atlas was no longer a hidden territory.

You could say people’s movement through it had become fairly free.

And for the newly immigrated blacksmiths, one thought filled their minds.

I want to get something out of Hyun!

Why they’d come to this nothing-special Atlas.

To learn something from Hyun, or at least get some scraps.

But instead, up to now, they’d gotten nothing.

And then, starting not long ago—

What in the world is he doing?

A stretch of land that had been like a wasteland, cleared by Hyun’s Forge.

Hyunsoo began moving massive construction materials there.

Most of it was timber—trees cut from the nearby mountains.

CLANG—! CLANG—! CLANG—!

He started hammering hard, and the process continued day and night.

Blacksmiths who couldn’t hold back their curiosity asked.

“What are you making?”

“Just looking at it, it seems like you’re trying to make something huge.”

Hyunsoo answered with an embarrassed expression.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Someone else asked.

“Want help?”

Maybe some scraps would fall out of it.

But Hyunsoo shook his head.

“It’s fine. You look like a new blacksmith, and I haven’t done anything for you, so it doesn’t feel right to take your help. I’ll do it alone.”

Hyunsoo spoke firmly and kept working alone on the mysterious project.

People watched him—alone—trying to build some enormous something.

Somebody saw how he never tired, how intensely he stayed focused, and thought:

“What kind of incredible thing is he making, to work that hard?”

It became such a topic that it even spread through the Ares community.

-What is he making?

-That height looks like it’s at least over 4 meters....

-Feels like he’s making something huge. I’m dying of curiosity!

-I want to join too.

-I already tried. He flat-out said no.

He didn’t even say what it was—just silently did his absolute best—so people were dying to know.

And the ones watching made a decision.

-If we all go in a big group and ask, won’t he tell us?

-Oh, that’s a good idea.

They didn’t have a special reason.

They were just too curious what Hyunsoo was building.

And Master Blacksmith Hyunsoo had been the hottest user lately.

So the easiest group to approach—blacksmiths—went to Hyunsoo in the largest numbers.

Hyunsoo saw more than 300 people gathered.

“Hyunsoo, we’re curious—could you at least tell us what you’re making!?”

“We want to help too!”

Among them, shockingly, was Master Lee Hwan of the Hwarang guild.

Without Hyunsoo knowing, Lee Hwan had become a fervent believer in the Church of Hyunsoo.

He was desperate to know what Hyunsoo was doing.

Only then did Hyunsoo make an awkward face and unfold a thick bundle of blueprint papers.

The blueprint looked ragged, like it had been written, erased, and rewritten countless times.

What is the identity of a blueprint he drew this obsessively...!?

FLIP—! FLIP—! FLIP-FLIP-FLIP—!

As people rapidly turned the pages, they realized what Hyunsoo was trying to build.

“No way...!”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Everyone looked stunned.

What Hyunsoo wanted to make.

“I want to build a Turtle Ship that’s four times bigger than the Turtle Ship you know.”

“...!”

“...!”

There was no one who didn’t know Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s Turtle Ship.

“Is there anyone willing to help? It’ll be something you can take pride in.”

But no one stepped forward right away.

It doesn’t look like a quest is forming....

What do I even get for helping?

Hyunsoo said:

“Of those who help, I’ll accept the crafting request of the person who builds the highest contribution.”

Someone reacted strongly.

It was Lee Hwan.

And like him, a few others’ eyes lit up.

Hyun’s accepted crafting requests were something you couldn’t get even if you threw money at it!

Even so, more people still didn’t react.

It’s only one person anyway.

Is there a reason I have to do this?

They still couldn’t bring themselves to participate seriously.

One of them asked:

“A Turtle Ship... so that’s what you’ve been working so hard on?”

A Turtle Ship.

To them, it was basically just something you could commonly see at a tourist site.

Sure, they knew how great Admiral Yi Sun-sin was, but they couldn’t find a reason to work that hard.

Then Hyunsoo started saying something out of left field.

“Joseon was an unfortunate nation that was frequently invaded for five hundred years.”

Suddenly?

“But for five hundred years, Joseon never once invaded another nation first.”

“...?”

People listened.

A truly pitiful country.

A small, powerless country that never attacked first, yet was only attacked!

“But for five hundred years, we protected it from them.”

Those who had been dismissive about building a Turtle Ship started listening closely.

At the time, Ming’s population was several times Joseon’s, and Japan had been far stronger too.

“It was because there were blacksmiths.”

“...?”

Many of those here were blacksmiths.

The job they chose.

People who had chosen blacksmith simply because they liked production work stared in surprise.

Before they realized it, they were being pulled into the story.

Hyunsoo spoke about the hidden story behind the Turtle Ship’s birth.

The story everyone knew.

The heroes who boarded ships and defeated the enemy.

And the true story hidden behind that.

“Blacksmiths who couldn’t even eat thin rice porridge lit the fire in the forge.”

To build the Turtle Ship—to make swords and bows and arrows.

Hyunsoo’s words played inside their heads.

That day, the blacksmiths had to forge armaments.

When there weren’t enough hammers, if a gaunt blacksmith collapsed from exhaustion, the blacksmith behind him grabbed the hammer the fallen one had been swinging and kept striking.

Skinny children hauled water and splashed it on the collapsed blacksmiths.

Women sending their husbands to the battlefield climbed snow-covered mountains to bring back timber for the Turtle Ship.

CLANG—!

CLANG—!

CLANG—!

Following Hyunsoo’s words, the sounds of that day carried through.

We have to do it!

Don’t retreat!

We have to finish it by dawn!

Grab the fallen man’s hammer and complete the craft!

If this sword can’t break, our comrades live!

We need this weapon...!

We need this bow...!

We need this ship...!

We need this land...!

For our descendants, we must not retreat!

They came to know Joseon’s history more deeply.

That day, it wasn’t only the ones who boarded the ships who fought.

All of Joseon stayed awake day and night and protected it.

And now, after hundreds of years.

“Help me—so I can recreate them from that day.”

“WAAAAAH!”

“I—I can’t believe something like that truth was hidden!”

“I’ll do it! Yes, I’ll participate!”

“It’s an honor to be able to take part in something this meaningful!”

The descendants they had protected were recreating their history.

Meanwhile—

[321 people participate in Museum Construction.]

[Their vitality increases by 10%, and they do not tire easily.]

[They will pour their whole strength into constructing the museum!]

“...?”

Nell, watching him, was stunned.

At first, seeing everyone’s sullen expressions, she thought it was over.

But to flip it like this?

Nell had a habit of saving people in her phone contacts with nicknames.

Today, Nell saved Hyunsoo as:

“Legendary Mouth.”