Genius Blacksmith's Game

[Sudden Quest: Win Against the Existence of Fear completed]

[All rewards 3x is applied.]

[You obtain 20,000,031 experience.]

[You leveled up.]

[You leveled up.]

[Level up......]

[You obtain 1,531,689 gold.]

[Grout’s claw......]

[You obtain the title Overcoming Fear.]

DING!

(Overcoming Fear)

Unique Title

Grade: S

Special Abilities:

·All stats +2%

·Charisma stat +25%

·When you encounter another object of fear, you will no longer be afraid.

·When you encounter another object of fear, all stats temporarily increase by 15%, and all attack power and all defense power increase by 10%.

·When you believe for yourself that you are no longer afraid of it, something special might happen, if only for a moment.

By leveling up eight times at once, he became level 438.

And 1.5 million gold—if converted to cash—came out to roughly 1.5 billion won.

Of course, it was 1.5 billion because 3x had been applied. Otherwise it would be 500 million.

You had to factor in that Grout was far stronger than legends.

When you factored that in, 500 million was......

That’s basically nothing......?

It was a deflating amount.

Because Hyunsoo had thought it would cough up at least around 2 to 3 million gold.

This is still great.

On top of that, the tower had given him those astonishing “Raise Anything” Points on Floor 1—and those couldn’t raise anything related to damage.

This time, Hyunsoo was certain he would be able to raise damage.

DING!

[The reward changes completely.]

[You obtain All Stats 20.]

[Physical attack power and magic attack power increase by 5%.]

[Physical defense power and magic defense power increase by 5%.]

[legendary skill. Sword King Swordsmanship increases by 2 levels.]

“......Huh!?”

It was a surge of strength on par with the first time he forged a Transcendence-grade artifact.

At this level, you could say Hyunsoo had become more than 10% stronger than before.

High rankers were the kind of beings who would do anything just to get 1% stronger.

Because that 1% decided winners and losers among high rankers.

And the notifications seemed to think it still wasn’t enough.

[Transcendence grade. Ultimate Technique levels up.]

“......!”

Hyunsoo’s instant-kill move!

Ultimate Technique had always been a skill that could grow.

But true to a Transcendence-grade skill, its proficiency rose at a truly insane pace.

It had already been well over three months since he got it—so how much proficiency had it gained?

Proficiency 1.1%.

A tear-inducing, brutal proficiency rate.

He checked the changed Ultimate Technique.

(Ultimate Technique)

Grade: Transcendence

Level: 2

Proficiency: 0%

Required mana: None

Effect:

·It activates with a 0.2% chance.

·On activation, the strongest power you have unleashed manifests as 200% damage while skipping all processes.

·Proficiency increases when the level increases, or when Ultimate Technique activates.

·On activation, it drives 100% of the strongest power you have unleashed as splash damage into all enemies within a 10m radius.

·Once every 3 months, it newly updates the strongest power...... omitted

Originally, Ultimate Technique was a skill split into two versions.

One version activated at 0.4% and dealt 100% of your strongest power.

The other activated at 0.1% and dealt 200% damage.

But now it had been integrated into a single version.

Even so, the activation rate is still brutal.......

At 0.2%, it was still a skill that was extremely hard to trigger.

Would it pop once for every roughly 500 attacks?

No...... it honestly feels even rarer than that.

But when it triggered even once, it would now always drive in 200% of his strongest damage.

And even more shocking—now it came with splash damage.

Hyunsoo imagined it.

The worst boss monster.

And around it, a massive number of near–sub-boss level enemies swarming everywhere.

If it popped right in the middle of them—what kind of result would that create?

Khh, that’s electric. Always new!

It would produce a ridiculous effect.

And the even crazier part was that the rewards still weren’t over.

[Honor Points are accumulated.]

Honor Points.

Points you could use to buy things in the Honor Shop.

This, too, showed something special.

[3x is applied.]

[All past World Messages are aggregated and converted.]

“......?”

The number of World Messages was converted into points when you cleared Floor 2!

Wait. Then this......

In the end, this tower favored the person who entered later.

You got a huge lump of points all at once, and those points would be useful while climbing the tower!

[You have many first World Messages.]

And Hyunsoo was the first to break the wooden puppet.

A legend above legends, a creator.

The one who forged Transcendence.

A demon hunter.

Whatever it was, “first” always gave the most valuable reward.

[Floor 1 new record points are settled.]

[Floor 2 new record points are settled.]

[Total is settled.]

[You obtain 785,013 Honor Points.]

That’s a lot, right?

He didn’t know what the Honor Shop sold yet, so that was all he could think.

All he could do was guess based on the amount Kali had bragged about.

[You can use the Honor Shop.]

After checking it, Hyunsoo closed the Honor Shop window quickly.

What he saw there was truly insane—but he had no intention of buying anything right now.

Right now, it was time to focus on something more important.

Hyunsoo immediately walked toward Floor 3.

I already know Floor 3 too.

He knew exactly what he had to do here.

[The trial of Floor 3 begins.]

When Hyunsoo arrived on Floor 3, something incredibly familiar came into view.

And, kindly, sounds came right away—oxygen igniting, flames roaring—like it was telling him he could begin immediately.

HISSSSS—!

What was in front of Hyunsoo—

Was a forge.

*****

The Floor 3 new record-holder was Vietnam’s Mioda.

The Divine Archer Mio was called Vietnam’s hero.

Because she had been Vietnam’s Olympic silver medalist in archery.

In a country that struggled to secure medals, she was more than enough to become a hero.

And as a new record-holder worthy of Floor 3, she had agreed to an interview.

“Floor 3. What’s there?”

Floor 1 was breaking through strong mobs.

Floor 2 was the thing you feared most.

Because the Tower of Honor trials were genuinely interesting, reporters were curious.

“It’s what I’m best at.”

What I’m best at.

The reporters were surprised, and at the same time, curious what she had done in there.

“Did you shoot a bow at targets... like you did at the Olympics?”

Mio drew a fresh smile.

“That’s right, just like the Olympics. That day, I admired Ares. I realized it was true—Ares really does gather user information and even reads thoughts and dreams.”

She looked across the reporters.

“What I had to do in the Floor 3 trial was do what I’m best at—brilliantly.”

“What do you mean by ‘brilliantly’?”

“At the Olympics, I lost to Korea’s representative by one point, right? It really did leave trauma. And what I couldn’t do that day—I did there.”

“Then you surpassed the score of Korea’s gold medalist, Hyeji?”

“No, it was a tie. But for me, it still means it was a truly brilliant result.”

“Then Floor 3 must be extremely hard to clear?”

“I don’t think clearing will be hard. As you know, I was the new record-holder, so it demanded an ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) incredible result from me. If you do what you’re good at and it’s not bad, I think you can clear.”

“Then how good do you think you were, as the one who set the new record?”

“I think it was the absolute best.”

“.......”

“.......”

The reporters watched her go tee-hee with an enchanting expression, and felt like it was obnoxious.

But like she said, it really was the best.

Surpassing your own limits was a cool thing, after all.

Ugh, that expression......?

That smug face.......

It was just that her face got on their nerves!

Especially in Vietnam, people started coping hard—she lost at the Olympics but got a tie in the game—and Mio stayed silent at the center of it.

She was enjoying it, in her own way.

But even she had no choice but to lose in a fight against someone she met in a community.

—Scared? Scaaared~? PWAHAHAHAHA!

—HEY! You bastard! Where do you live!? How old are you!? I’ll make a pledge too—if you pull that off, I’ll be that person’s granddaughter!

—......Why aren’t you talking? I asked how old you are!

—......I’m 12. Mom says I have to go to Kumon. Later.

—.......

That day, Mio’s cringeworthy photo went worldwide.

The title was: “Vietnam’s hero fighting a 12-year-old.”

Of course, the opponent wasn’t really twelve.

“I might be someone’s older brother, or someone’s boyfriend, or someone’s dad someday...... sheesh.”

Keyboard Fighter.

The existence that claimed to be twelve and said they were going to Kumon.

“Man, what a tangled family tree~ Heh-heh-heh!”

But there was a reason he’d done that kind of work.

If I’m going to do it, I might as well suck it dry, right?

Hyunsoo was the kind of guy who’d chew one piece of gum for about a year.

Anyway, Hyunsoo focused on the notifications he was hearing.

[Floor 3 is what I am best at.]

[Please clear Floor 3 by crafting an excellent artifact.]

This Floor 3 didn’t require some outrageous achievement no matter what.

What each person is good at. And even within that, the standard changes.

Say someone’s maximum crafted artifact so far was Rare.

If that person crafted Rare in here, would that be a failure?

No. Even if they don’t set a new record, there’s a high chance it’ll be judged as a pretty excellent clear.

But if it turned out like Mio, that was different.

Mio broke through her publicly known record—even if only briefly, inside the game.

It really was something she had every right to brag about in that interview, and act arrogant over.

Standing at one side of the forge, Hyunsoo asked himself a question.

To be honest, this trial was hard for Hyunsoo too—just like it had been for Mio.

This is the hardest floor so far.

If a maximum-Rare crafter makes Rare, it’s “excellent.”

The problem was that Hyunsoo’s maximum grade was Transcendence-beyond-Transcendence.

Do I have to forge that level to set a new record?

Probably not.

At minimum, even Transcendence should be enough to be acknowledged, and it might even be recognized as a new record.

Of course, that was only “might.”

It was difficult—and yet also easy.

If I give up greed, it’s easy.

By Hyunsoo’s estimate, Unique would probably clear Floor 3.

If I don’t give up greed, it’s hard.

The moment you aim for the new record, you start wondering if you can even do it.

Still, there was one thing he wanted to try.

Not a fake. I’ll do what I think is real.

Hyunsoo pulled out a single artifact material sealed in a glass bottle from inside his clothes.

[Transcendence grade. regenerative blood.]

That was right.

This time, what he was going to make wouldn’t imitate anything.

He would make the “real” demonic sword as he understood it.

At that time—

Takashi visited Hyuntae’s hospital room.

Looking at him lying there, Takashi smiled.

“I scolded Hyunsoo. I told him he couldn’t make a good sword if all he did was make fakes. Of course—this teaching must have come from you.”

The beginning of learning came from “imitation.”

Because they had learned that way too.

“It’s not that Hyunsoo was lacking and clung to fakes.”

If it had been normal, there should have been a teacher named Hyuntae by his side.

“When he got on track, you would’ve said this.”

Their teachings would have been the same.

“Now try making something that’s truly yours. I only said ‘fake’ and told him that, that’s all. What? You think I put it too hard?”

Takashi, the old man who liked talking to himself, chuckled.

“How kind do you expect this cranky old bastard to be? And also......”

The laughter faded from Takashi’s eyes, and he stared into empty air like he was looking at something enormous.

“......Your son is already starting to realize it, little by little.”

All of a sudden, a chill ran over Takashi’s body.

“......Something we couldn’t do.”

It had been an era of peace.

But the world called Ares that he lived in wasn’t.

Just as there were creations that led an era—

“Hyunsoo will create something that will be recorded in the era.”