Genius Blacksmith's Game

Including the members of the “Archers’ Friendship Until We Drop Dead” group chat.

At the fact that a strange and astonishing bow was appearing on a broadcast, countless archers swarmed in.

The value of a good bow defied common sense.

Especially since among crafted weapons, swords took up about 40% of the total, spears about 15%.

Bows amounted to only around 10%.

In a situation like that, the value of a rare bow couldn’t even be priced.

A good bow you couldn’t get even if you had money.

In reality, among Korean users, not a single person owned a Legendary-grade bow yet.

No, there wasn’t even a single user holding the artifact closest to a Legend that Hyunsoo had just made.

The archers who had rushed in to look at the strange bow!

Staring at the bow’s live-transmitted power, they admired it, recoiled in shock, and felt greed rise.

They would empty their bank accounts to buy it.

Buying it now and reselling it later would still be a huge win.

No matter what, we’re buying that bow!

At the same time, each blacksmith guild was also sending urgent reports, trying to buy that incredible bow Hyun had crafted.

But then Crazy Rookie made a shocking statement.

“I’m not selling this bow.”

-I’m Ian, archer rank 1. What do you mean you’re suddenly not selling it? I’ll pay generously!

-I’m Rune, master of Golden Shield. We’ll prepare an amount you’ll be satisfied with as well, Blacksmith Hyun.

Viewers even revealed who they were, begging him to sell the bow.

Unlike those people who had too much to protect, the viewers were honest.

-This is torturing me...T_T

-Wow, the moment I heard “I’m not selling,” my heart dropped like I’d already decided to buy it... like someone put it in my hand and snatched it away...?

-The people typing in chat right now must be dying inside.

-Ah, please sell it!

-Blacksmith Hyun, I’ll be your fan. Please sell it. Blacksmith Hyun, I’ll be your fan. Please sell it. Blacksmith Hyun, I’ll be your fan. Please sell it

-SELL-SELL-SELL-SELL-SELL-SEEEELL!!!

But Hyunsoo was firm.

“I’m sorry, but he says he won’t sell it.”

It was then.

[Nell: Hyunsoo, are you sure you’ll be okay? The backlash might be bigger than you think. You said you’d do an auction and now you’re not, aren’t you? To everyone else, it looks like you said you’d sell it, but it was too good so you decided not to.]

Hyunsoo smiled faintly. Nell was right. He’d said he’d sell, but because it was good, he wasn’t selling.

Maybe this was deception.

But it also might not be.

‘From the start, I never planned to sell the third piece.’

Even if its grade had been lower than this.

Before the Thousand-Pound Bow, Hyunsoo had been using the Bow of Water Buffalo Horn he’d made in the Beginner Zone.

He needed a better bow. A bow that would rocket both Blacksmith Hyun and Crazy Rookie upward.

[Hyunsoo: I told them I’d do an auction. But I never said I’d sell every artifact through the auction.]

[Nell: That’s true, but...]

[Hyunsoo: And what I wanted wasn’t to sell this artifact and take the money.]

[Nell: ...Then don’t tell me?]

Hyunsoo smiled meaningfully. Before turning Hyun’s Forge into a guild, they felt they needed to make the name soar even higher.

And they also needed to raise Hyun’s Forge’s subscriber count and subscriber ranking.

[Hyunsoo: Right. Saying we’d hold an auction would have pulled in countless users.]

Yeah, the viewers who had started increasing explosively.

Had they really come just to satisfy curiosity by seeing the bow?

No. The story of this astonishing bow’s birth spread fast, and people poured in thinking they might win its auction.

At the same time, the astounding clear method they hadn’t seen before gave them both excitement and a clear sense of the bow’s value.

Yeah, the auction was a tool to pull in viewers.

[Nell: You’ve got something in mind. I’ll trust you.]

Hyunsoo glanced at the current viewer count.

[Current viewers: 149,411.]

A spark would catch in them soon. But they still couldn’t ignite wholeheartedly yet.

Why?

Because Hyunsoo was the one holding that bow.

If they irritated him, he could refuse to sell it at all.

For a moment, Hyunsoo savored the reward he had to take.

He skimmed through the notifications he’d set aside.

[You have hunted the Boss Monster Fenrir’s Fragment.]

[You gain 24,862 experience.]

[You gain 1,890 gold.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled u—]

Hyunsoo had already passed level 85 while hunting the Degenerated Trolls.

The level gap between Fenrir’s Fragment and Hyunsoo had been nearly double.

[Congratulations.]

[You have reached level 100.]

Hyunsoo trembled. In one breath, he jumped sixteen levels and became level 101.

Of course, level 101 only meant a user who’d been called a beginner was now called an intermediate.

Still, it was an incredibly valuable number.

[You can found a guild.]

[You can proceed with the Class Quest: The Sword Left by the God of Blacksmiths.]

Hyunsoo could now formally become a guild master.

And he could also carry out the Class Quest: The Sword Left by the God of Blacksmiths he’d heard about from Deng, the Tower Master of the Blacksmith Tower of Sword.

That wasn’t all.

‘His Majesty Barad told me to come find him when I reached level 100.’

There was a lot to do.

Level 100 felt like it was announcing a new beginning for Hyunsoo.

The notifications didn’t end there.

[You obtain Fenrir’s Torn Cloak.]

[You obtain Fenrir’s Damaged Helm.]

[You obtain Fenrir’s Rotten Fang.]

[You obtain Shining Fenrir Axe...]

[You obtain 12 Reinforcement Stones.]

He’d obtained a variety of items. Especially striking were Fenrir’s Torn Cloak and Fenrir’s Damaged Helm.

Amazingly, both were Epic-grade artifacts.

If you wore the two together, they formed a set artifact that increased all effects by 5%.

As he was checking that—

a massive tremor shook the Time-Attack Dungeon.

KURURURUR—

[Records are updated.]

[You achieve 1st place with a total clear time of 11 minutes 39 seconds.]

DING!

[Hidden Piece: The Dungeon’s True Strategy has been achieved.]

[The rankings change anew.]

[You alone followed the dungeon’s true strategy, hunting all werewolves and the final boss Fenrir’s Fragment.]

[You are the undisputed 1st place recognized by all.]

[Congratulations.]

[You achieve a new achievement.]

[You are recorded as 1st place in the Dungeon of Three Trials.]

[You may leave your name as Anonymous or as your character name.]

A Time-Attack Dungeon, by definition, ranked people by fastest clear time.

But this dungeon had a system where the one who hunted the true final boss could take first place.

Hyunsoo had unintentionally achieved the real number one.

‘What name should I leave?’

His main character name wasn’t right.

He’d need to leave names again in the future.

At least until his real identity was revealed, he had to be careful.

After a brief pause, Hyunsoo decided.

[The names of Crazy Rookie and Hyun are recorded.]

[You receive rewards for your achievement.]

[You gain All Stats +10.]

[Title: Hunter Who Defies Common Sense increases by one stage.]

(Hunter Who Defies Common Sense)

Multi-Title

Grade: A

Special Ability:

·When fighting an existence 50 levels higher than yourself, All Stats +3%.

A chain of rewards that was far too sweet. And the Title: Hunter Who Defies Common Sense had become even better.

‘Is it ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) because I killed something nearly ninety levels above me?’

But Hyunsoo didn’t forget.

The Title: Hunter Who Defies Common Sense still said “Multi-Title.”

Multi-Title meant other people already had this title.

In other words, there were people in the world who had hunted monsters with a ninety-level gap, just like Hyunsoo.

-I’m the Best has donated 5,000,000 won.

The promised donations began exploding.

-Kensun has donated 1,000,000 won.

-Kongabeom has donated 500,000 won.

And besides those—

-Ppingppangppong has donated 10,000 won.

-Crown has donated 30,000 won.

-Gazua has donated 100,000 won.

Producer Kim of AJ Internet Broadcasting Station had already said that all donations went to the guest.

[You are warped out of the Dungeon of Three Trials Time-Attack Dungeon.]

Hyunsoo was outside before he knew it, staring at the chat that was still pouring in even after the donations.

Why aren’t you selling it.

Sell it!

Are you talking out of both sides of your mouth.

The temperature of the chat was about to rise to a new level.

But Hyunsoo had one huge thing to calm it down.

“I’ll say it again. Blacksmith Hyun is firmly stating he will not sell this bow.”

Just as the heat was about to burst, Hyunsoo said,

“Instead, he says he’ll accept one crafting commission limited to archers.”

He needed to soothe them.

But Hyunsoo knew what reaction would come.

-If you craft a new bow and sell it, can you get something as high-grade as this?

-I’m Ian, archer rank 1. Even if it isn’t a Legend, at minimum Unique. In my personal view, isn’t this the artifact closest to a Legend?

The heat didn’t die down. This was also something Hyunsoo had expected.

-Among the three called Masters, rank 1 has made four, rank 2 has made two, and rank 3 has made one. You’re saying you’ll craft something that comes once in a lifetime through a commission? That just sounds like wordplay.

But Hyunsoo was confident.

And he’d expected those words to come out.

Sure, blacksmith rank 2 had only made two in three years. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Hyunsoo carried out the last step of his plan.

“Then I’ll open the information for this arrow.”

****

Bill received a call from Taehyun, the guild master of Black Anvil Forge.

‘Wait, thirty billion won?’

Taehyun, who’d said twenty billion at the start of the Time-Attack Dungeon, had watched everything and now wanted to revise the contract to thirty billion.

Thirty billion.

The highest amount in the industry. And that thirty billion was only the one-year signing bonus.

Bill, who entered the meeting room to get the final signature, saw Kim Taehyun sitting there with a blank, stunned expression.

“...He was at least blacksmith rank 2 level?”

Kim Taehyun was checking an artifact’s information on his computer. Bill peeked over—and couldn’t suppress his shock.

‘An arrow closest to a Legend...?’

It was unbelievable.

But the name “Hyun” written in the description proved it.

No one had dreamed that the mysterious Short Arrow was closest to a Legend.

“Yeah... with a move like this, it works. Calming the angry public sentiment—no, public sentiment will welcome it. Maybe I’ll get something closest to a Legend too. No, maybe the expectation that the guy who made something closest to a Legend will someday make a Legend for us....”

Kim Taehyun got chills at how meticulous Blacksmith Hyun was.

He’d hidden the Short Arrow’s information tightly, then revealed it at exactly this moment. Now everyone had no choice but to shut up.

Why?

Because nobody wanted to make an enemy of a creator who had made two artifacts closest to a Legend.

The viewers who had been asking if he could make another one fell silent.

Because he’d already made two.

“...Bring me a check.”

Bill frowned in confusion.

“A thirty-billion-won check?”

Kim Taehyun snapped back in an excited voice.

“Not that pocket change. A blank check! Offer it to Hyun—tell him whatever number he writes, Black Anvil Forge will match it!”

Black Anvil Forge, the guild of the world’s blacksmith ranking #1.

“We’re putting everything into recruiting Hyun. Maybe someday he’ll make a Legendary artifact!”

He had no idea.

That Blacksmith Hyun had already made a Legend.

****

The broadcast ended smoothly. Those who checked the Short Arrow’s information saw the possibility and fell silent.

‘The plan ended cleanly.’

Hyunsoo was sure.

Subscribers must have surged steeply because of the Thousand-Pound Bow.

And with the extra firepower from revealing the arrows crafted long before, subscribers would rise even more.

When he turned on the auction notifications he’d muted, alerts poured in.

[Subscribers are updated.]

[Subscribers are updated.]

[Subscribers are—]

[Subscribers are—]

More than a dozen alerts.

And then—

[Nell: Hyunsoo, this is insane! This is totally insane!]

For once, Nell was genuinely excited.

And—

[Bark: Feels like you got way too famous before founding a guild, huh?]

Bark sent congratulations too.

Subscriber numbers and rankings would play the most important role in branding Hyun’s Forge going forward.

‘How much did it jump for them to react like that?’

Hyunsoo checked the subscriber count with a fluttering heart.