Genius Blacksmith's Game

[Ruler is activated.]

[While Golemmy remains inside the mine, the total quantity of minerals of Unique grade or lower increases.]

“Kh!”

Hyunsoo, who had entered the Transformation Mine with ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Golemmy, could not hide his admiration.

And on the way here, he had decided there was nothing to gain from letting others recognize him, so he had entered wearing a traditional mask.

[Those who possess the trait Harvest are special.]

[You have entered a place filled with materials.]

[Hidden skills for obtaining materials become available.]

[Please confirm them directly through Golemmy.]

Oh?

There were plenty of cases where, even after gaining a power, it did not show everything right away.

The idea was that even after receiving a reward, the user should have the fun of uncovering it one piece at a time.

I definitely unlocked the trait Harvest, but all I’d seen were things like One Plus One and Ruler. I hadn’t seen the skills that would really help with harvesting itself.

That had been what Hyunsoo found strange.

They could’ve just told me up front.

And yet, even as he thought that, his heart was pounding, and he realized he was enjoying this too.

Hyunsoo recalled the average data on mines he had researched.

On average, a mine could accommodate around thirty miners.

Excluding special minerals, it took those miners about a week to extract everything inside.

Of course, that’s only an average. It varies depending on the difficulty.

And mining itself was an extremely high-difficulty task.

For the first time in a while, Hyunsoo pulled out his Seventh Custom-Made Sword.

(Hyun’s Seventh Custom-Made Sword)

Grade: Unique

Durability: 12,000/12,000

Attack Power: 332

Restriction: No restriction for the creator, Level 50–200

Special Abilities:

· Cutting power against stone increases by 170%

· Durability loss against stone decreases by 70%

· Active Skill Damascus Pickaxe

Description: Hyun’s seventh custom-made sword, created solely to cut stone, and at times capable of transforming into a pickaxe.

This was a sword that could transform into a Damascus Pickaxe.

The Damascus Pickaxe, said to be able to cut even stone, was an outstanding mining tool.

Back then, I got a lot of help from this thing.

In the mine where he had obtained Thousand-Year Cold Iron, Hyunsoo had shown remarkable performance with this pickaxe.

But that was the past.

Several years had passed, and most things in Ares had been raised to a far higher baseline. The difficulty had risen enormously.

“And this mine itself is the dream mine of miners.”

Everyone knew it contained a Transcendent-grade mineral, yet no one had ever managed to mine it out.

And even the Normal-grade minerals here were about fifty percent more expensive than those found elsewhere to begin with.

They say even ordinary minerals here are about twice as hard to mine as normal ones.

And that was only for Normal grade.

Hyunsoo transformed the Damascus Sword into a pickaxe.

How long will this take?

Mining even a single mineral was never easy.

For miners, extracting one mineral took about an hour on average.

According to the information he had gathered, this place took about an hour and a half to two hours.

Of course, the story differed for high-level miners, and Hyunsoo was a blacksmith.

But he possessed Dexterity so high that no other class could compare, and he had gear on top of that.

“Watch carefully, Golemmy. I’ll show you first.”

KRAK, KRAK-KRAK—!

Hyunsoo found himself impressed by his own performance.

Even though he had not mined in over a year, his increased Dexterity stat corrected for it.

And the Dexterity stat that had surpassed ten thousand made it known.

[The probability of obtaining a better mineral increases.]

[Your high Dexterity compensates for your lack of mining ability.]

[Mining levels up.]

His Beginner Level 3 Mining instantly rose to 4, and in just over twenty minutes, he succeeded in harvesting one.

[You have obtained Normal grade. Shining Iron Ore (1).]

“Kh!”

Hyunsoo was impressed that his skill had not rusted yet.

If it takes me about twenty minutes, Golemmy should be able to do it in three.

Soon, Golemmy was handed the pickaxe.

It was the first pickaxe Golemmy had ever held.

It especially looked unfamiliar with something as big as its own body.

“It’s okay. Try striking here once.”

Hyunsoo coaxed it gently.

Then Golemmy gathered its courage and struck the wall with all its strength.

KRAAANG—

At that moment—

Thud—

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

“...?”

“Golemmy?”

“????”

[You have obtained Normal grade. Shining Iron Ore (1).]

Seeing the mineral that had dropped at his feet, Hyunsoo blinked in confusion.

What was that?

Golemmy tilted its head at him, then moved to the side and lightly brought the pickaxe down again.

KRAANG—!

THUD—!

[You have obtained Normal grade. Shining Iron Ore (1).]

Is this bugged?

Hyunsoo could not hide his bewilderment, and then he realized.

If there were ten level-480 users, they were still inferior to a single level-480 Legend.

Because a Legend was special, superior, and stronger.

And Golemmy’s trait was Transcendent.

Within a place filled with materials, it was Gremory.

It was the ruler.

Now brimming with confidence, Golemmy began mining at high speed.

KRAK, KRAK-KRAK—!

THUD, THUD-THUD, PATTER-PATTER—!

Every time Golemmy struck the wall, minerals came pouring out.

And the instant Golemmy raised the pickaxe high into the air, something special happened.

[One hidden skill reveals itself.]

[Mass Mining]

Hyunsoo could not believe the sight unfolding before his eyes.

CRRK, CRRKKK, CRRKKKKKKK—!

Minerals pulled themselves out of the walls around Golemmy and spilled down in front of it.

PATTER-PATTER-PATTER—

[You have obtained Normal grade. Shining Iron Ore (575).]

[You have obtained Rare grade. Brilliant Iron Ore (1).]

Staring at the mound of minerals, Hyunsoo lost his voice.

Then the second skill revealed itself.

[Target Mining]

What is Target Mining?

Golemmy stood in front of a certain spot and struck only that place over and over with relentless focus.

One minute later...

[You have obtained Epic grade. Black Ore (1).]

Then it moved to another location, maintaining Target Mining as it quickly mined again.

[You have obtained Epic grade. Black Ore (1).]

[You have obtained Unique grade. White Ore (1).]

[You have obtained Unique grade. White Ore (1).]

Miners had no way of knowing what was inside a wall.

That was why, if they were lucky, they might mine up a Rare once every five months, and if heaven truly favored them, a Unique.

And if they mined a Legendary, their life would be turned upside down.

But this Target Mining—

It knows exactly where they are? This is a completely broken cheat...

And in the case of Unique-grade minerals, it often took over a month just to mine one out, yet Golemmy only needed a few minutes.

PATTER-PATTER-PATTER-PATTER—!

“Golemmmmmy!!!”

[Golemmy is delighted.]

It was even enjoying itself, as if mining were exactly the kind of work meant for it.

Hyunsoo could not believe what he was seeing.

Patter, patter-patter-patter—

The pile of minerals kept growing.

Before he knew it, Golemmy had begun mining in front of the Transformation Mineral, following the direction of Tracking.

And in barely two minutes—

[You have obtained Transcendent grade. Transformation Mineral.]

[Trait. One Plus One is activated.]

[You obtain an additional one.]

Golemmy came back carrying two enormous Transformation Minerals.

Hyunsoo watched as Golemmy approached him and carefully offered them over.

[Golemmy presents the Transformation Minerals to you.]

[Golemmy is happy that it was able to help.]

For no reason at all, Hyunsoo felt deeply grateful to it.

And more than that, he was relieved.

Golemmy found the work that suits it perfectly.

Just then, a notification rang out for Hyunsoo.

[You have mined all minerals in the mine.]

[Total time required: 2 hours and 13 minutes.]

Hyunsoo rapidly calculated the value of the minerals Golemmy had mined in his head, and soon his mouth fell open.

1.3 billion...?

The two Transformation Minerals were especially significant, but what shocked him even more was the time.

Something that would take thirty miners a full week... it did in just two hours?

Hyunsoo was full of admiration, but he did not forget why he had come here in the first place.

I need to make a tool for Golemmy.

Hyunsoo returned to Atlas.

[You use a Return Scroll.]

The moment he appeared in a flash of light, he entered the forge.

At times a pickaxe, at times a hoe, at times a sickle.

He began designing a tool that could help Golemmy with everything it harvested.

And Hyunsoo, by default, had a very high level of understanding when it came to farming tools.

In this era, weapons and swords did not sell well, but farming tools sold easily.

RRRRRRRUMBLE—

Hyunsoo placed the Transformation Mineral into the furnace and began crafting.

*****

[The Transformation Mine has been cleared.]

“...?”

Red, who had thought he had caught a sucker, went rigid with shock.

[The Mine Ruler is vicious.]

[Despite increasing mining difficulty by 50%, all minerals have been mined out.]

[You are penalized for secretly increasing the mining difficulty.]

[Your level decreases by 5.]

The problem was not the five lost levels.

The Transformation Mineral was Transcendent grade and worth 500 million.

To begin with, Red had bought the Transformation Mine with money he had swindled out of many others.

That was how he had purchased eight mines in total.

And the total purchase price for the Transformation Mine alone had been 550,000 gold.

That meant 5.5 billion won.

But now that mine had been cleared, and the most valuable Transformation Mineral inside it had been mined out.

As a result, the value of the mine had now plummeted.

No one would ever come to this mine again.

No...

Red had even taken on debt for this business, and he still had not recovered his principal. His face went pale.

And the man had bought tickets to all eight of his mines.

If he clears all of them...?

He might have to sell his Han River apartment and end up buried in debt.

Red had to stop the remaining mines from being cleared.

The worst penalty might trigger, but...

There was no helping it.

Now the only option was to make absolutely certain the other party could not mine them out.

And there was another reason it had to be that way.

Each ticket buyer only had one week of challenge time per mine, and all Red had to do was make sure they could not extract the most valuable mineral during that period.

He checked the footage of the Transformation Mine through the crystal orb.

What the hell... what is that mini golem!?

Red was a high-ranker himself.

In his head, he calculated whether, after pushing the difficulty to the worst possible level, it would still be possible to mine out a Transcendent mineral within a week.

Impossible. Even if it’s possible, maybe two mines at most.

He still had seven mines left.

He could protect the rest.

And the worst penalty only triggers if all the mines get cleared.

Having made up his mind, he applied the penalty.

[The Mine Ruler is covert.]

[The mine’s mining difficulty is raised to the maximum level.]

[The greatest penalty may occur.]

[The mining difficulty of the mine rises drastically.]

[The mining difficulty of Unique-grade minerals increases by 150%.]

[The mining difficulty of Legendary-grade minerals increases by 200%.]

[The mining difficulty of Transcendent-grade minerals increases by 500%.]

At this level, not even the god of miners could mine them out!

The short amount of time given would make it even harder.

Then—

while looking into the remaining mines through the crystal orb, Red frowned.

[A world message rings out.]

[He has become the first user to craft a Transcendent tool.]

It was the sort of message that could be heard several times a day.

He did not pay much attention to it.

It had nothing to do with him.

What mattered to him was making sure that bastard could not mine anything.

Then—

[The ticket holder enters Fairy’s Mine.]

The man in the traditional mask and the mini golem appeared again.

Watching the two of them, Red prepared in case it looked like they might clear it again.

[Red: You’ve got the guys on standby, right?]

[Fux: We handpicked the elite so they can move at any time. It’s enough force to take down most high-rankers.]

As long as he can’t clear it, that’s enough.

There was a reason it had to be that way.

Because if that opponent really did clear them all, the penalty that would trigger was this—

[The Mine Ruler receives a penalty equal to the extent to which it could control the mines arbitrarily.]

[Ownership of all mines changes to the one who cleared them.]

He would never allow that to happen.

Especially since he already had a force prepared that could kill even most high-rankers.

It was just as the man inside the crystal orb was about to begin mining again.

The moment Red saw the face underneath, his own face froze stiff.

Hyunsoo?

The most famous powerhouse in the world.

The only king.

At the appearance of someone he had never anticipated, Red’s eyes trembled violently.