Genius Blacksmith's Game

Hyun received the document with the information about the person Nell had narrowed down.

On it, the name “Dragon Knight °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Ressel” was written.

“Dragon Knight Ressel is level 323 and a high-ranker, officially ranked twenty-first in the country.”

Hyun stroked his chin.

If he was twenty-first and had a special class, he really was something.

“He doesn’t currently belong to any guild. His official ranking is public, but he’s a user who’s never revealed his face.”

“So people know the name Dragon Knight, but it’s not like he’s someone everyone would recognize on sight, right?”

“Correct.”

“What kind of artifact does he want?”

“An artifact imbued with a dragon.”

“A dragon?”

Hyun’s expression turned doubtful.

An artifact imbued with a dragon, just like that?

Nell showed him the content of the note.

[Hello, Blacksmith Hyun. I’d like to ask for a crafting commission. I want an artifact imbued with a dragon. It doesn’t need to have any special abilities. I just need a dragon to appear. I really hope you’ll contact me.]

[Hello, Hyun?]

[Hello......]

[Hello ^^]

[I’m in a bit of a hurry, Hyun.] 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

[Hyun?]

[Hyun......]

[...]

Seeing what Nell showed him, Hyun realized it was all true.

Dragon Knight Ressel was saying he only needed a dragon to be imbued in it.

“Why, though?”

“If he just sees a dragon, it could be enough to awaken his class. Like how Bark changed into a new class.”

It was certainly a plausible thought.

But Hyun shook his head.

“He sounds way too desperate for it to be just that.”

“......That’s true.”

Nell had already done the basic digging on him.

“He apparently went to see Lee Moon, head of the number-one information guild, then blacksmith rankers and summoner rankers, even sculptors at the very least, asking them to show him a dragon. I also wondered whether that desperation was really just about his class.”

Hyun nodded.

But Nell soon told him to turn the page.

“But he’s only one name on the list. We also have Ian, number one in the archer rankings. Ian’s condition is simple. He wants you to make the strongest horn bow in the country.”

“Ressel still pulls me more.”

Nell understood what Hyun meant. The more desperate someone was, the more generous their reward tended to be.

“As a user, Ressel is definitely the best choice. There are rumors he’s the child of a major corporation. People say he’s practically a discarded son, though.”

Even so, there was a separate reason Nell was worried about the Ian candidate.

‘Even for Hyun, making an artifact imbued with a dragon won’t be easy.’

Because he didn’t have a skill for it.

Hyun couldn’t just use a skill and bam—seal a dragon inside.

“If the rumors are true, Ressel could be a huge help to us later. Advertising is the most typical example. His group runs all kinds of ads. And while Ian belongs to a guild, Ressel doesn’t.”

Which meant there was a chance they might be able to pull him into their own guild.

Radiance currently needed a strong damage dealer.

Bark was a high-ranker, but he belonged to a defensive-specialist class, not someone who could fill the role of an explosive damage dealer.

They needed someone who could hit back hard if anyone messed with Radiance.

Nell waited for Hyun’s decision.

And Hyun had a hunch.

‘He might be another person who changes my life.’

Nell was worried, but Hyun was confident.

‘An artifact imbued with a dragon......’

A small smile formed.

He might not have imbued one before, but Hyun had already restored something related to a dragon in the real world.

“I’ll go with user Ressel.”

Hyun made his decision and sent a note.

*****

[Hello, this is Hyun’s Forge. The artifact imbued with a dragon you requested is possible to craft.]

Taeha couldn’t believe it.

Even to himself, his conditions sounded absurd.

Meeting a dragon in Ares, where dragons had never appeared.

Not only that—having it descend by being imbued into an artifact.

The only reason he’d made this request to a blacksmith at all was because he needed to clutch at any straw.

Taeha forced his excitement to settle down.

‘It could be real, or it could be a lie.’

Blacksmith Hyun was just one of the famous blacksmiths he’d commissioned.

[Thank you for your note. If you don’t mind, could we meet and talk?]

[I’m not someone who meets people easily.]

There were all kinds of rumors about Hyun. That he was a chubby guy in his fifties, or that he was a figure created by some blacksmith guild.

None of it mattered in the slightest to Taeha.

He just needed a dragon.

Taeha thought quickly.

[You don’t have to show me your face. I’d just like to meet and talk. And as you probably know, I’m just as reluctant as you are to have my identity exposed to the public.]

The meaning was that they’d each be holding the other’s weak point when they met. After a long pause, Hyun replied.

[I’ve heard you’re the child of the political and business elite.]

Hyun seemed meticulous. Using the thing he himself had hidden from the public to set up his own move.

[^^;;]

[If you come to Frea Territory, you’ll find a forge with no signboard. Come there. As promised, I won’t show my face.]

[All right.]

Before logging in, Taeha made a call.

The man he called was famous across the country.

One of the Ares experts, known as a skill analyst.

Skill analysts figured out users’ skills, their potential, and how they’d grow in the future.

“Find out whether a blacksmith can imbue a dragon.”

He’d put in the request because he needed something to cling to.

But now a blacksmith was saying something everyone believed impossible was possible, so he needed to confirm whether it could actually be done.

Taeha logged in right away.

[You have logged into Ares.]

Heading straight to Frea Territory, Ressel soon found himself standing in front of a forge with no signboard.

As a ranker, Ressel knew this sort of thing. In ninety percent of cases, the owner was so obscure they didn’t bother putting up a sign.

And something else made this even more baffling.

[Beginner–Intermediate Forge.]

Users had to go to a forge appropriate for their level. Since you couldn’t just walk into all of them, the forge owner would put up a floating label you could check.

‘Beginner–Intermediate means around level 130, right?’

Still, nothing was certain yet, so Ressel went inside.

And he saw a single, firmly closed door.

It looked like the place where blacksmiths would rest.

From behind the door, Ressel could hear voices.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Blacksmith Hyun.”

“I’m Ressel.”

It was unexpected.

The voice coming through the door sounded far too young.

“Before I commission you, I came to see whether you really can craft it. It’s something incredibly important to me.”

“I understand.”

Ressel spoke with confidence.

“If I’m satisfied, I’ll pay accordingly. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors.”

He was casually advertising that he was a chaebol heir.

Ressel carefully asked a question.

“Can I know what method you’ll use to craft it?”

“......As you know, I have a lot of secrets.”

Ressel felt stifled.

“I came all the way here to see you. Even if it’s a trade secret, you could tell me a little, don’t you think?”

“I’m sorry.”

At that, Ressel considered attaching a condition. That if Hyun showed him the possibility, he’d pay any amount on the spot.

But then—

[Drod: I’ve checked what Ressel told me, and this is my subjective opinion.]

Drod. He was the skill analyst.

He called it a subjective opinion, but he was the country’s top analyst with an accuracy of ninety-five percent.

[Drod: Within the game Ares, there is currently no skill that can imbue summons or beasts into a weapon.]

Ressel’s brow furrowed.

[Drod: So I analyzed whether there might be a blacksmith class built around that and went looking. If such a person existed, there would have to have been at least one instance of that kind of weapon being traded. But worldwide, not once has any such weapon ever been traded or made public.]

Which meant that, in Ares itself, there was no way to imbue beasts or summons into artifacts.

[Ressel: How sure are you?]

[Drod: I’m ninety-nine point nine percent sure.]

The pieces started to come together.

Hyun said he couldn’t tell him how he’d craft it. Looking at his forge, Ressel estimated him to be somewhere between level 120 and 140.

Hyun hadn’t revealed his face, hadn’t made anything public.

A single hypothesis formed.

‘Were the rumors true?’

Rumors erased other rumors and birthed new ones.

Mystique invited all kinds of speculation.

Some claimed Blacksmith Hyun was a fictional persona created by a rising guild.

Even now, it seemed that way. A level 120–140 blacksmith saying he could imbue a dragon?

The man behind that door could just be a puppet.

If Hyun started talking about a “down payment” here......

‘I might just be the sucker they’ve hooked.’

He could take that down payment and vanish.

Just then—

“The down payment......”

The voice drifting out from inside made Ressel’s patience snap.

“Enough.”

Silence fell beyond the door.

And Ressel received an even more shocking whisper.

[Ragun: Young master, they say the chairman just got past the critical point.]

Ressel’s feelings were a mess. An unknown sense of injustice and anger rose up together.

He was relieved to hear he’d passed the critical moment.

But he hated that there were people trying to exploit that.

Ressel steadied his breathing. Staring at the door, he spoke in a cold voice.

“I came here clutching at straws. Someone precious to me, on their deathbed, wants to see a dragon. That’s all I wanted.”

There was no sound from beyond the door. He didn’t even know why he was saying this.

Was it just a complaint?

“And yet you won’t tell me anything. You won’t say how you’ll make it, what skill you’ll use. You’re just trying to use me.”

His expression had gone cold as he let out a short laugh.

Even as he did, a tear fell from one eye.

“I’m desperate, and you want to exploit that.”

Malice flashed in Ressel’s eyes.

“I had no idea you had such a story. I’m sorry.”

“Even if you’ve just learned it now, I doubt it changes anything. You called me here to cash in on me, didn’t you......?”

Ressel was ranked twenty-first in the country. He was issuing a warning.

The moment he walked out of here, he’d expose Blacksmith Hyun’s true face.

Just as he was about to storm out—

“I’ll prove it right now.”

CREEEEEAK—

In that moment—

Ressel sensed something flying toward him. It buried itself in the wall right beside him.

It was a very beautiful sword.

Its tip curved, and ornate decorations hung from it.

At that moment—

[Drod: But there is a zero-point-one-percent possibility.]

As the whisper arrived, Ressel’s eyes went to the sword’s grip.

From the grip, something began to squirm.

[Drod: That possibility is when the supercomputer Ares recognizes it and grants that power.]

The thing that had been writhing slowly was no bigger than an adult man’s middle finger.

It slowly wrapped around the sword, rising as if ascending to the heavens.

[Drod: The reason this phenomenon occurs is because the supercomputer has judged that this is something that should be imbued with that power.]

A long body, green scales, eyes like a snake’s, and long whiskers sprouting from its chin.

‘Yeah, this is......’

KIHIEEEEEEEEK!

‘A dragon......’

As the sword with the emblem Dragon-Flame Sword engraved on it slowly faded, the little dragon vanished with it.

A shudder he couldn’t name ran through Ressel’s whole body.

He slowly turned.

From the open doorway, someone was walking out.

The one who made that zero-point-one-percent possibility real.

Facing him, Ressel almost forgot to breathe.

Because the face standing across from him was a face he knew all too well.

Hyun asked, full of confidence.

“The commission fee is a little expensive. Is that all right?”

Ressel stared at him for a long time. He had doubted Hyun, and Hyun had proved himself, and now he was presenting himself in a way that matched that proof.

Ressel held out a sheet of paper and a pen.

“Write it down.”

*****

Taking the paper and pen Ressel handed over, Hyun wore a puzzled expression.

‘Write it?’

Ressel spoke in a confident voice.

“Whatever you write, I’ll pay it.”