Genius Blacksmith's Game

Pureum Co., Ltd.

The company that created the miracle of the virtual reality game Ares.

Regarding the God of Blacksmiths of the god-class, Lee Sejin convened a meeting to brief the executives.

The directors threw in their votes to patch it. In a firm voice, Lee Sejin said:

“I refuse.”

“CEO, this won’t do. An artifact produced by God’s Custom Crafting just sold at auction for fifty million won. Made by a Level-13. We have to patch it.”

But Lee Sejin was adamant.

“When I first made this game, I promised not to meddle with what the users accomplished.”

The directors looked flabbergasted. Yes—CEO Lee Sejin had promised the public:

He would not ruin what they built with some patch.

Story Team Manager Lee Hae-seok, who had been listening, spoke up.

“......How is getting an absurdly broken skill something a user ‘accomplished’? Isn’t this ultimately just the power of a god-tier skill?”

The executives wore expressions that said they agreed.

Right—skill-carried.

Not what Lee Sejin was saying. If it’s all because of skill power, it’s not the user’s achievement, is it?

Then Lee Sejin, wearing a curt look, turned to Kim Taeseok, Team Leader of the Special User Management Team.

“Do you think so too?”

“No.”

Kim Taeseok sighed inwardly.

That merciless CEO clearly wanted him to explain on his behalf.

Every executive looked to Kim Taeseok.

“Why do you disagree?”

“......Because the skill itself isn’t broken in the first place.”

Kim Taeseok stood.

Story Team Manager Lee Hae-seok, behind horn-rimmed glasses, looked dumbstruck.

“How can you say that skill isn’t broken? What are you talking about?”

Kim Taeseok pressed the remote.

The God’s Custom Crafting skill opened on the screen.

“Recently, CEO Lee Sejin sent me a set of materials.”

It was a privilege afforded to the staffer who first witnessed the birth of a god-class.

“It was data from an experiment. The experiment began with people ignorant of blacksmithing. What happens if a research team that knows nothing about blacksmithing obtains God’s Custom Crafting?”

He clicked the remote again.

The screen changed.

“......Amazingly, when people ignorant of blacksmithing used God’s Custom Crafting to produce artifacts, the application rate for desired effects recorded ten to fifteen percent. Even after hundreds of trials.”

The directors furrowed their brows.

“Didn’t user Hyunsoo exceed sixty percent on desired-effect application?”

“He exceeded sixty percent when applying the Sword-That-Cuts-Swords. And the notification told him: Try crafting a sword in a way that would, by your own standards, be capable of cutting swords.”

The murmuring grew louder.

“That’s right. God’s Custom Crafting is, shockingly, a skill based on skill. User Hyunsoo’s outrageous blacksmithing prowess—experience, understanding, knowledge. Various factors enabled him to create a skill that could actually cut swords. And one more thing......”

Kim Taeseok gave a wry smile.

He knew what kind of ripple this one line would cause.

“User Hyunsoo has never once used Auto-Crafting, nor has he learned the Auto-Crafting skill.”

The directors began to buzz.

“This can’t be...... In the 21st century, is that possible? Are you saying user Hyunsoo has never produced using system assistance?”

“He’s gotten better artifacts via post-creation correction, but he has never received system assistance in the making process.”

When all eyes turned back to him, CEO Lee Sejin nodded.

“I hoped that if someone obtained the first god class, he wouldn’t be someone merely favored by fortune or lucky encounters.”

He pressed the remote.

On screen, user Hyunsoo swallowed dryly as a Giant Ghoul charged him.

This feed was live.

“I suspected he might push through to a Giant Ghoul in the Cassel territorial war—and he did. However, user Hyunsoo will find it hard to hunt the Giant Ghoul. As of now, that is. But surprisingly, a new skill will soon be unlocked.”

“......A new skill?” 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“Yes. You know this, don’t you?”

Called a genius but also an eccentric, on Ares’s opening day Lee Sejin had announced:

Ares will not shower you with many skills upon class-change. We will unlock them very gradually, one by one.

Yes—literally one by one.

Even if there were three skills one ought to learn originally, they would not be granted at once; they would be given step by step.

The directors had protested.

Why take such an unreasonable approach!

But shockingly, it drew an enormous response.

Users grew curious: which skill would be unlocked, and which skills they were originally supposed to have.

That was why they couldn’t put Ares down.

The God of Blacksmiths was no different.

Pathetically, upon class advancement he had gained only one skill.

“What skill is it?”

At Lee Hae-seok’s question, Sejin gave a small smile.

“At his current level, it will be the only blacksmith attack skill user Hyunsoo can obtain. And......”

Lee Sejin wore an eccentric grin.

“Watching many geniuses of the world—archery prodigies, kendo prodigies, judo prodigies, math prodigies—I thought: they all show something special in Ares by dint of their own skill. So I wanted the blacksmith to be the same, and this skill follows suit.”

He looked at Hyunsoo on the screen.

At some point, the Giant Ghoul had reached right up to Hyunsoo.

“Now then, what happens by the skill about to be unlocked—that will be entirely due to that user’s own skill. No matter what gets crafted.”

—KWA-AAAAANG!

On screen, the Giant Ghoul’s fist smashed into Hyunsoo.

****

A Giant Ghoul.

Grotesque, reminiscent of a blood-hued golem—the Giant Ghoul was just that.

Hyunsoo, who had been about to flee, steeled his mind again, gripped Radiance tight, and turned his body.

Why Hyunsoo turned on his heel—

Yes, greed. If he killed that ghoul now, not only would he get 1,000 Gold—he’d likely get a pretty good drop off it.

Forced logout?

Worth risking once.

And not only that. He was simply burning up.

Hyunsoo’s current level: 29. The monster’s: 79. He wanted to vault a fifty-level gap, just this once.

Screeee—

He took one step, then two.

Click—

He loaded a Short Arrow into the guide-tube.

[Bulls-eye]

SWEEEeeeek—!

One of its shoulders flew off.

Once more.

Click—

PaaAAAAANG—!

KWAJiiiiik—!

Click—

KWAJiiiiiik—!

“Khheeeeeeeeh!”

Three shots total.

That was how many Short Arrows Hyunsoo landed before it closed in.

Then the monster’s frenzied fist smashed into Hyunsoo.

KWAJAAAAAK—!

[HP has fallen below 75%.]

Damage that defied reason.

“Khul-k!”

Coughing blood, Hyunsoo scrambled to his feet. He dodged another sweeping giant fist.

KWAAAAANG—!

“Kheeeeh!”

In the next beat, a follow-up kick caught Hyunsoo.

Pwoooft—!

[HP has fallen below 53%.]

To make matters worse, the Giant Ghoul, looming overhead, let out a bellow.

“Kuuheeeeekh!”

[Ghoul’s Rage]

[Ghoul’s Rage decreases your Agility by 10%, Attack Speed by 10%, and Movement Speed by 10%.]

Even with his speed drastically lowered, Hyunsoo quickly swapped to the Bow of Water Buffalo Horn.

Click—

PWhaaak—

Click—

PWhaaaak—!

He forced the thing to stagger back.

[The Giant Ghoul’s HP has fallen below 80%.]

But even after five landed Short Arrows, seeing the ghoul’s HP—so far beyond common sense—Hyunsoo’s face went pale.

KWAAAAANG—!

It began battering Hyunsoo wildly with its arms. Of course, he wasn’t just taking it.

He hounded the Giant Ghoul doggedly.

Even so, its HP still sat at 50%.

“Hahh... hahh.”

Hyunsoo realized he’d hit his limit.

[HP has fallen below 33%.]

[Your vision ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) blurs.]

Blood flowed without end. Perhaps from taking too much damage, his vision spun.

“I’ll fetch the commander. Hold on just a bit longer!”

As expected, that Render fellow wasn’t much help. In that instant, another kick from the ghoul punted Hyunsoo.

Kphh—!

[HP has fallen below 10%.]

[You may be forcibly logged out.]

There was no path to victory in sight. No matter how good the artifacts, Hyunsoo realized that bridging a level gap this large was exceedingly difficult.

A hollow laugh drew itself on his lips.

If I can’t kill it, I can’t even check the Bell of Lamas? And in the end I get no reward at all?

He let out a sigh.

Then—

Dding!

[You are in a moment of crisis.]

[The title God of Blacksmiths shines.]

God of Blacksmiths?

Hyunsoo wore a puzzled look. Among the God of Blacksmiths title details he knew, was there any line about powering up in a crisis?

There wasn’t.

If anything qualified, it was this:

When doing anything related to blacksmithing, an additional skill may be unlocked.

Hyunsoo recalled when he had become the Successor of the God of Blacksmiths.

All I got was the single skill, God’s Custom Crafting.

Unlike other games where most things awaken upon class-change, this was different.

And now, in this moment, a new power awakened.

Dding!

[You acquire God’s Emergency Crafting.]

Ta-at—

At that notification, Hyunsoo bolted with everything he had in the opposite direction from the Giant Ghoul.

As he ran, he checked it—and his eyes went wide.

This is......!

Seeing that skill, hope lit Hyunsoo’s face.

I might be able to win......!

He did not hesitate.

[Begin God’s Emergency Crafting.]

****

“What......?”

At the report, Carl’s face went rigid.

What did I just hear?

Render had said as much.

The outsider who had asked earlier to see the Bell of Lamas—

The outsider to whom Carl had given an impossible trial, just to make him go away, had hunted over thirty ghouls.

But what was even more shocking:

A Giant Ghoul had appeared?

Centurion Render spoke in a panicked voice.

“At this rate, he’ll die!”

Carl hurried his stride. At the least, the man had done what Carl had asked.

In that case, as a knight, he owed him a look at the Bell of Lamas.

Even as he rushed, he felt a jolt of amazement.

A blacksmith, he said?

How could he do such a thing?

And when the level question had been posed to Carl, he had answered Level 13.

His head was a mess. But one thing was certain.

He can’t kill it......

Fine, let’s say he can kill ghouls.

But Knight Carl knew the disparity between the Giant Ghoul and the outsider.

Heaven and earth.

He had to hurry.

At this rate, the man who might repair the Bell of Lamas could die.

Walking fast, he broke into a run.

Running, Carl soon saw a man, blood-soaked, fleeing far across the field.

The Giant Ghoul was closing the distance.

30 m, 27 m, 23 m......

The Giant Ghoul, as if shot in the leg with an arrow, waddled and was fairly slow.

“Why isn’t he just running away......!”

Then a bizarre phenomenon occurred. Suddenly, a translucent ore floated above the outsider’s head.

What is that?

His hands moved quickly in midair as if inputting something.

The translucent ore melted in the span of a mere one second.

Smelting.

What had melted then solidified in another one second.

Refining.

And again, in a brief instant, impurities were cleansed; it became a blood-red blade and was, in a flash, forged right there in the air.

Tadadadang—!

The jaunty clatter happened so fast it beggared belief.

The red blade turned a snow-white sacred blade and joined with a hilt.

Chk—

All of it took barely ten seconds.

The outsider gripped it in both hands and raised it perpendicular. Then he charged straight at the Giant Ghoul now nearly at his nose.

Paaaaat—!

From his sword, an unimaginable white light raged. The outsider cut the Giant Ghoul as he passed.

Fwoooosh—!

The hewn Giant Ghoul’s whole body burned away in the white light.

“Gwooooaaaa!”

As its body burned, the Giant Ghoul thudded to its knees, then crumbled into ash and scattered.

“......!”

Carl realized it at once. That light he had just seen—

That was surely the power of holy light.

What in the world is that sword......!

Carl read the characters inscribed on the blade.

“Four Tigers Sword......?”

Four Tigers Sword?

It was a sword he had never seen before.