Genius Blacksmith's Game

Upon waking, Hyunsoo set out at once to check the Bell of Lamas.

“Excuse me!”

At the sudden sound of a woman’s voice, he turned his head with a puzzled look.

A user...?

The one who called him was a female user. At a glance, she was very beautiful.

She looked about 166 cm tall, with long hair and striking dark-brown eyes.

Her skin was porcelain-white, and she radiated a pure, clean aura.

What...?

Seeing the woman who had spoken to him staring blankly for a moment, Hyunsoo tilted his head.

Nell soon shook her head.

Get a grip. No matter how he looks, he’s a con artist.

Of course, making a snap judgment was dangerous.

But by Nell’s common sense, she had never heard of a Level 40 user repairing an artifact marked Unrepairable.

If something like that were possible in the first place...

There truly were many Unrepairable artifacts in Ares.

For example, the legendary archer Kaya’s bow discovered by a tomb raider was an Unrepairable artifact.

Many had tried to repair that bow.

But they failed.

Because the system doesn’t help you.

Just repairing that legendary artifact would make it astronomically valuable.

But the “Unrepairable” label was merely proof that such artifacts existed as they were.

If it were repairable, they’d bring in the whole lot and get them all fixed, wouldn’t they?

Nell folded her arms.

“If you’re thinking of profiting off a territory that’s going under, Cassel Territory, I suggest you stop. I won’t let that happen.”

“Hm?”

Hearing that, Hyunsoo cocked his head—then realized who she was.

“I heard from Carl. You’re from the Golden Shield guild.”

“Yes. You realize now? I’m a high-tier blacksmith. I know full well that the Bell of Lamas cannot be repaired.”

She stood with arms folded, one hip cocked.

With a wry smile, Hyunsoo checked the Bell of Lamas first.

(Bell of Lamas)

Grade: Epic

Durability: Unrepairable

Special Abilities:

· Weakens undead by 20% within a 5 km radius of the territory where the Bell of Lamas stands.

· Attack and Defense of those who attack undead +6%.

· Vitality of territory residents +5%.

· Chance of drought in the territory −10%.

· Chance of bountiful crops +20%.

Description: The Bell of Lamas that protects Cassel Territory. It is completely destroyed and cannot be repaired.

The Bell of Lamas had lost its form.

The white bell had shattered completely, its remnants piled into a heap.

He brushed it with his hand.

[The Bell of Lamas is an artifact that cannot be repaired.]

Hyunsoo examined the Bell of Lamas carefully—what materials it was composed of and by what method it had been made.

Honestly, I was hoping...

He had harbored the hope that he might repair it quite easily.

Just as he had acquired God’s Emergency Crafting, and as the God of Blacksmiths title said skills related to blacksmithing work could unlock when he did the work—

He’d wondered if touching it might unlock a divine skill.

Let’s drop the pointless thoughts.

Hyunsoo shook his head. System reliance was not good.

He lifted a broken fragment and examined it more closely.

The material was surprisingly ordinary.

But there was one difference.

So this is what it means for holy power to dwell in it?

Beyond the cold touch that iron should have, he sensed an unknown warmth.

Peering closer, a faint radiance pulsed out.

At that moment, Nell realized this man had no intention of heeding her warning.

“Look, I’d prefer you stop whatever you’re trying to do.”

Then—

Hyunsoo dropped the fragment he was holding onto the ground.

And then—

Kra-ji-iik—

He stomped it underfoot.

Nell was flustered.

Tilting his head, Hyunsoo drew a hammer from his chest. He brought it down hard on the fragment.

Clang—!

The fragment shattered into dozens of pieces. Nell could only stare, blinking at the absurd scene unfolding before her eyes.

“W-wait a second—stop.”

In the end, Nell grabbed his arm. Even if she was a blacksmith, she was a high level—Level 290.

Her Strength stat far outstripped his.

But soon Nell felt something strange.

What is this...? Why is a Level 40 this... strong...?

It felt like at least around 100.

Of course, even then, to Nell it wasn’t that much.

Even so, Hyunsoo kept smashing it to bits.

“Stop that. Even if it’s an Unrepairable artifact, how can you smash everything to pieces like that?”

She wasn’t the type for this, but she judged a physical intervention unavoidable.

Then—

“I think it can be repaired.”

“...What? What do you mean by that?”

With a wry smile, Hyunsoo looked at the ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) completely crumbled pieces.

Completely pulverized fragments.

He had indeed stomped and smashed them further. They had become like tiny shards of glass—but Hyunsoo was seeing it plainly.

No matter how much I break it and damage it, the holy power the material holds does not disappear.

The reason he had told Carl he couldn’t guarantee success was something he’d realized while making the Four Tigers Sword.

Even for Hyunsoo, there were things he could do and things he could not.

The reason he could imbue holy power into the Four Tigers Sword during Emergency Crafting was because the Four Tigers Sword was a sword of that very purpose in the first place.

Unless he was crafting such a thing, Hyunsoo could not breathe holy power into an artifact.

And Centurion Render had said this:

Artifacts imbued with holy power were possible only with church blacksmiths or church materials.

The reason only church materials worked was because those materials held holy power.

These shattered materials still hold holy power. No matter how much physical shock you apply, no matter how you alter them—

That holy power did not change.

“How exactly do you intend to repair this?”

Hyunsoo, however, understood her.

And he recognized that she was a good person.

She cares deeply for Cassel Territory...

Also, when Carl had spoken of her, he had looked terribly apologetic.

He was a knight commander, no less.

Why? Because she was doing her utmost. Besides, he couldn’t say “no” to something that might be possible.

“We repair it.”

“I’m asking—how do you repair something marked Unrepairable? It’s an Unrepairable artifact. The system won’t help you, and there’s no Auto-Repair button.”

“...You don’t necessarily need those things to repair it.”

“...What?”

Nell’s pupils quivered. The man’s expression before her was sincere.

What does that mean...? ‘You don’t necessarily need those things’...?

Then how was he going to repair it...?

Nell’s head spun.

Looking at the man’s face, he was sincere, and by her common sense, it was impossible.

Thoughts she couldn’t pin down kept colliding, and Nell fell silent, staring at him.

Doom, doom, doom—!

Her tangled thoughts snapped back at the thunder of drums.

“The undead are gathering!”

“They’re pushing in!”

And from atop the rampart, Commander Carl shouted,

“I declare a state of emergency in the territory. All residents except women, children, and the elderly—gather with anything that can be used as a weapon!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Those who cannot fight, begin evacuation preparations at once!”

Nell’s face hardened.

The conversation she’d just had with the man vanished in an instant.

She sprinted for the rampart.

And she saw them: an enormous host of undead forming up.

The nearby land of the undead—

They had finally decided to claim this place as their new home.

An alert immediately rang out.

[Cassel Territory Update will begin shortly.]

[The Cassel Territory Update is scheduled to run for 1 week.]

[After the Cassel Territory Update, a Land of the Undead will be established.]

Ares updates proceeded in many forms.

And most commonly, story-style updates ran often.

CEO Lee Sejin had also said this:

“An unwanted update? Even those—if users band together, they can change them. Ares pursues a high degree of freedom.”

Users rejoiced at that. An update was, as the name implied, Pureum Co., Ltd. presenting a new story.

In such updates, users could participate freely.

But Nell knew the reality.

Cases where an update is thwarted don’t even reach 10%...

She ran toward Knight Commander Carl.

“Commander...!”

“...You haven’t left yet? Get to safety.”

Commander Carl looked at Nell with a bitter expression.

“I’ll help.”

“Thank you. You’ll be properly rewarded for it.”

Carl’s eyes were sad.

His gaze seemed to say:

If we survive, that is.

****

Finished speaking with Nell, Commander Carl hurried into the lord’s castle.

Kneeling on one knee in haste to be received, he reported to Lord Kern.

“Battle will begin soon. You must flee. And there is still hope. A blacksmith named Hyunsoo...”

Regrettably, Lord Kern sat drinking on his chair.

Listening with a heavy expression, he shook his head.

“I will not flee.”

Lord Kern let out a mirthless laugh and took a drink.

“How can I abandon the soldiers and run from the territory I built!”

Carl wore a pained expression.

A good man. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

So he declared, yet he drank, swallowed by fear. He’d never touched alcohol before.

And Lord Kern, by the strength of the drink, would remain here.

Moreover, if the soldiers were annihilated, he would die with them. Under the sway of alcohol, he spoke more frankly.

“Commander Carl.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“...Cast off such vain hope. It’s impossible. The blacksmith Hyunsoo you reported—do you truly think that possible?”

Carl could not answer. In truth, he held a sliver of hope.

But Lord Kern’s words shook him.

“You must have seen it. The Bell of Lamas is not merely damaged or cracked. It is broken—shattered into dozens of pieces. Repair that? Even if it weren’t marked Unrepairable, it would be nigh impossible to repair.”

It was true.

That was not something that fit the concept of “repair.” Even as he said so, Lord Kern drank and laughed in grief.

“And yet if it can be done...”

He was human too, and he held a sliver of hope.

“What could I possibly begrudge him? He would be the one who saved my territory and my soldiers...!”

“...Yes.”

Commander Carl nodded.

Soon Kern gestured for him to go. Carl withdrew, and Kern shook his head again.

“Impossible... Impossible... That can never be repaired...”

With a grief-stricken face, he drank again.

****

It cannot be repaired.

Hyunsoo reached a conclusion as he entered the forge and swept the Bell of Lamas’s remnants across the floor.

But he had told Nell he could do it.

Doom—doom—doom—

Hearing the drums outside, Hyunsoo smiled faintly.

With a pencil, he quickly began sketching something on parchment.

There is no system help, but physical impact is applied.

When he stomped and struck with the hammer, the bell had indeed taken shock.

That it took shock meant the system’s restriction was that Auto-Repair was impossible—which implies manual work could be possible.

Moreover, no matter what shock he applied to those materials, they did not lose their holy power.

Before he knew it, Hyunsoo had sketched the bell’s blueprint and fixed it to a wall.

Yes, the Bell of Lamas cannot be repaired.

“In that case, melt those materials down and make it again.”

That was the conclusion Hyunsoo reached.