Genius Blacksmith's Game

Hyunsoo met with the construction company and finished signing the contract. The forge he had torn down would soon be rebuilt.

Logging in with a satisfied smile, Hyunsoo heard a commotion outside the forge and saw the old man Per there.

Hyunsoo quickly grasped the current situation.

[Blacksmith Examiner Books Lv.299]

‘Examiner?’

He caught on immediately.

He was the main force of Edrol Merchant Guild who had turned Vallas Territory into this state.

The problem was that his level was far higher than Hyunsoo had expected.

At that moment—

DING!

[Emergency Quest: Win the Evaluation Against the Examiner]

Rank: S

Restriction: One who has received Barad’s proposal

Reward: Large jump in development.

Failure Penalty: Per’s death.

Description: You have been entrusted by Sword King Barad with the mission of developing Vallas Territory. Help the old man Per so that he can win the Evaluation.

The reward was a large jump in development, and the failure penalty was horrific.

‘Per’s death?’

He had only seen old man Per for a single day, but the man was very good.

Hyunsoo watched the situation for the moment.

Books was far more skilled than he had expected.

Judging by level, he had reached the realm of a Master Blacksmith.

Before he knew it, Per, who had been working in the holographic forge, looked over at his own work and turned pale.

Seeing him let his hands that had been weakly hammering fall with a thud, Hyunsoo realized.

Per had lost his will.

In fact, even as Hyunsoo watched, the gap between a Master Blacksmith and a top-grade blacksmith was simply too great.

Even by bare-eye estimation alone, the examiner Books’ skill itself was superior.

‘If that’s the case, then I just have to tell him.’

Hyunsoo took a step forward.

“Pay more attention to shaping and finishing the tip of the blade.”

Per turned his head. At the certainty on Hyunsoo’s face, he paid more attention to the tip of the blade.

Soon he wore a surprised expression.

And Hyunsoo kept talking.

“Make the edge sharper and keener.”

CLANG CLANG CLANG—

[Your understanding of swords far exceeds your usual level.]

Per’s eyes trembled. It was strange.

He was just a blacksmith who had only just rented a forge and taken his first step, wasn’t he?

His level was only 101 at best, wasn’t it?

Then what on earth was this?

Before he knew it, the young man was standing behind his back.

It was as if he and I had become one.

He began to speak in a firm, sometimes gentle voice.

“Relax the hand holding the hammer.”

“When you strike the edge, you need to hit it harder.”

“You need to carry out work that increases hardness.”

“With more force—and sometimes softly.”

[Your understanding of swords far exceeds your usual level.]

[Your understanding of swords far exceeds your usual level......]

From behind him, that gentle voice spoke.

“Don’t forget that this sword is going to save your territory, that this sword has to become the masterpiece of your life.”

It was strange.

Falling into that voice, he began to focus.

Only his voice and the sounds of the forge could be heard, and his concentration went beyond his usual self. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

[You are receiving instruction from a Master Blacksmith.]

[You surpass your limits.]

Per had spent twenty years trapped inside the frame of being a top-grade blacksmith.

No matter how much he thrashed about trying to move forward, he couldn’t advance.

He had thought it was a difference in the size of his vessel.

But it wasn’t.

He realized.

It wasn’t a difference in talent; maybe it was just that there had never been a truly great person to teach him.

Before he knew it, he was grinding the blade and at last completing the sword.

[Per has crafted an artifact that is closest to a Legend.]

[Per has created the masterpiece of his life.]

[He goes beyond the realm of a top-grade blacksmith and grows into a Master Blacksmith.]

[Affinity with Per increases.]

[Development increases by 8%.]

[Emergency Quest: Win the Evaluation Against the Examiner completed.]

Hyunsoo wore a puzzled expression.

‘Per has grown, so why did development go up?’

And it had risen by a very large margin.

Hyunsoo was able to understand the reason.

‘Per is someone of Vallas Territory. The very fact that he has been reborn as a Master Blacksmith itself contributes to the development of this territory.’

In reality, almost no territory possesses even a single Master Blacksmith.

Among NPCs, one of the conditions for being recognized as a Master Blacksmith is known to be having crafted an artifact closest to a Legend.

In other words, the mere existence of Per caused the territory to develop.

And Books also finished crafting his sword.

Books could not hide his bewilderment.

‘What in the world......?’

He had just watched a strange blacksmith who suddenly appeared give advice to Per.

Blacksmith Examiner Books had once worked at the Tower of Blacksmiths.

Disgusted, he had left that place, and he had been subduing blacksmiths using the special trait he possessed.

That Books compared his sword and the old man’s sword and doubted his own eyes.

‘This old man......?’

It made no sense.

Books was a thorough man. He had already investigated the old man Per in advance.

The lord was, in effect, currently held like a puppet in their hands.

And he had recently learned that the one the lord had sent out was Per.

He had intended to eliminate the last remaining risk factor.

But he had failed.

Books was so shocked he was at a loss for words.

With a puzzled expression, Books looked at the young blacksmith.

And he realized.

‘The owner of that forge?’

Books had already confirmed that a new forge had opened here. According to the report, the owner was a level-101 blacksmith.

That was clearly written, and it could not be falsified.

‘What is this?’

Books was able to arrive at one answer.

‘An outsider specialized in teaching others?’

Outsiders possess far too many different powers through mysterious force.

Of course, he himself was also someone who possessed a trait.

If that was the case, then maybe that man was specialized in teaching, but his own skill was totally worthless.

‘Right, from the beginning those people make weapons while being ignorant about blacksmithing.’

They were that kind of people, so they could have that sort of power.

Books felt an intolerable rage boiling up.

Because of that man, the tower of work he had piled up over a year had collapsed. That was why he walked toward him.

He even considered forcing an Evaluation on him and taking his life.

****

Special User Management Team.

At Team Leader Kim Taeseok’s summons, Story Team Leader Lee Min-gyu hurried over.

When Lee Min-gyu entered the Special User Management Team office and saw the blacksmith examiner and Hyunsoo on the monitor, he pressed a hand to his forehead.

“Why did a blacksmith examiner of all people have to meet user Hyunsoo?”

Blacksmith Examiner Books was someone who was scheduled to be used in an important later episode.

It was an episode exclusively for blacksmiths.

Books’s growth method was special. The more he won Evaluations, the higher his level rose.

They had planned to eventually make him the continent’s eleventh Legend.

Not all of the continent’s Legends were necessarily good people.

In reality, nearly half of the Ten Legends of the continent were infamous.

And Kim Taeseok asked the thing he was curious about.

“When user Hyunsoo was teaching Per, a notification about a Master Blacksmith popped up?”

“Ah, that.”

Kim Taeseok had noticed to some extent, but it sounded like a question to confirm it.

In fact, Hyunsoo’s level was 101, and his actual blacksmith grade was now correctly intermediate.

“The God of Blacksmiths doesn’t have a blacksmith grade in the first place.”

“That’s true.”

“And the reason it pops up as ‘Master Blacksmith’ is because the supercomputer Ares judged it that way.”

“Ares did?”

“Yeah. It judged that, starting with user Hyunsoo’s blacksmithing ability, all sorts of things far surpass the realm of a Master—regardless of level.”

“Then even if user Hyunsoo’s numerical level is 101, what level is he as a blacksmith?”

“At least around 400?”

Taeseok let out a short, incredulous laugh. At least 400.

Then, checking Blacksmith Examiner Books’s level on the monitor, Taeseok spoke.

“Who the hell thinks they’re evaluating whom.”

****

[Books has failed Per’s Evaluation.]

[The terms agreed with him will be carried out.]

[The 70% tax imposed on all blacksmiths of Vallas Territory is corrected back to the original tax rate.]

[The agreement with the lord is nullified.]

[Development increases by 10%.]

Hyunsoo wore a puzzled expression.

‘We just solved the biggest problem, so why did it only go up by this much?’

And Hyunsoo was able to quickly understand him.

‘It means this isn’t the only problem right now.’

If it were simply problem-solving, there would need to be something like “problem solved.”

But this was development; in other words, he had to develop this territory.

At that moment, Hyunsoo saw Blacksmith Examiner Books approaching him.

“I think I’ll evaluate you.”

[An Evaluation begins.]

Hyunsoo was momentarily dumbfounded. It was because the Evaluation notification was so coercive.

‘So it’s forced.’

And this time, Books proposed a new Evaluation condition.

“I’ll test you using something called Fast Crafting. Fast Crafting is literally ultra-high-speed crafting.”

And it was also the field Books was most confident in.

“Based on the blacksmith’s usual crafting speed, knowledge, experience, and skill, it allows you to do in a matter of several tens of seconds what would normally take days.”

In a way, it was similar to Emergency Crafting.

The difference was that you could perform crafting without thinking about what to make.

In other words, you just had to make it fast.

And Books had average data for this.

Beginner blacksmiths needed 30 seconds to make a single sword.

Intermediate blacksmiths took 24 seconds.

Top-grade blacksmiths took 19 seconds.

Master Blacksmiths took 14 seconds.

And the /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ interesting thing was that Books had repeatedly trained for this.

Because of that, although he was a Master Blacksmith, he could break it in 12 seconds.

And Books was cunning.

‘I won’t just kill him outright.’

“If you fail to pass the Evaluation, your arm will be cut off.”

[If you fail to pass the Evaluation, you must carry it out.]

[State your terms.]

“I want your hammer.”

Books thought the man in front of him had quite an eye.

This hammer was an extremely excellent hammer.

But what made him foolish was this.

‘He should have gone for my neck instead of my hammer.’

Either way, the terms meant nothing to Books.

And it began.

Just like when Hyunsoo used God’s Emergency Crafting, a hologram floated up.

[1 second.]

[2 seconds.]

In front of Books, based on his knowledge and experience and his usual crafting speed, the ore melted down.

‘I’m even faster today.’

His condition was good.

At this rate, with today’s condition, he might really be able to break into the 11-second range......

[5 seconds.]

[The opponent finishes their Evaluation.]

[Crafting completion time: 5 seconds.]

[He passes the Evaluation.]

[You lose the Lightning-Summoning Hammer.]

As Books wore a puzzled expression, Hyunsoo pointed the completed sword he had crafted at his neck.

Goosebumps ran down Books’s back, and Hyunsoo spoke in a cold voice.

“I’ll begin an Evaluation.”

The thing he had always done to others—this man was now turning that Evaluation back on him.

And then—

[An Evaluation begins.]

The notification sounded.