Genius Blacksmith's Game

Go, Belia. The Calamity still hasn’t noticed you yet.

Belia recalled Saint Aria’s face, faintly smiling.

Saint’s Child was a Saint Candidate class.

The Epic-class Saint’s Child had a variety of buff skills and excellent healing output, and as a Saint Candidate, she followed the saint and learned many things.

Saint...

Belia’s eyes reddened as she thought of how she had managed to escape through the portal Saint Aria created.

Belia’s appearance was far too beautiful. Black hair and skin so clear it was almost transparent.

Her height was an ordinary 165cm, but her looks were comparable to a celebrity’s, enough to shake the hearts of many men.

What am I supposed to do...?

Belia bit her lip.

As always, Saint’s Child had followed the saint to visit a temple.

Ares Church.

The greatest church.

Temples of Ares Church stood all over the world.

Some of those temples had aged, and some of them were vast enough to rival castles.

The place they had visited this time to convey the words of god was Reas Temple.

Reas Temple was a place that rivaled a fortress.

Long ago, when Ares Church fought battles with its enemy sect, the Cult of Calamity, it was used as a fortress-temple.

Cult of Calamity.

It was a cult that worshipped evil in opposition to Ares Church.

Ares Church and several churches had waged war against the Cult of Calamity for a long time.

Belia recalled what happened then.

When the saint was, as always, delivering warm words to those who worshipped Ares.

A black light shot up into the sky, and this notification sounded.

[The Fifth Calamity has appeared.]

[The Fifth Calamity uses the Tome of Calamity to form a barrier over the entire territory.]

That barrier was the problem.

[NPCs and users above level 200 cannot penetrate the barrier to enter.]

[The barrier extends in a 5km radius around the temple.]

[All beings imbued with Divine Power are weakened by 20%.]

The black beam spread out and formed a barrier over the entire fortress and temple.

What was the Fifth Calamity?

They were the powerful leaders of those who served the evil god.

The higher the number, the weaker they tended to be, but even Fifth Calamity Jack belonged to the absurdly strong side.

Of course, assuming they could borrow the power of Ares Church, they had more than enough strength to oppose him, but Jack had aimed exactly at that.

No one above level 200 could approach.

A debuff effect that defied common sense.

Naturally, Jack and the evil god’s believers inside also suffered a massive debuff.

But Jack had achieved his intended goal.

Kidnapping the saint.

There’s no time.

Belia heard the notification.

[Three days from now, Saint Aria will have all her Divine Power stripped away and be offered as a sacrifice.]

The Fifth Calamity intended to offer the saint as a sacrifice in order to realize evil.

Soon, a tear ran down Belia’s cheek.

Saint...

Belia was an NPC, but the thought that the saint might die brought a flood of sorrow crashing over her.

They might call it artificial intelligence, but inside this world called Ares, they were no different from real humans.

The bond she had built with the saint was special.

What am I supposed to do?

Her mind raced.

Should she write a post on the Ares community and ask for help from high-rankers?

Impossible.

The level-200 restriction blocked her.

Then should I gather Super Rookies under level 200?

That was impossible too.

The time she had left was at most three days.

Even if Super Rookies gathered in that short span of three days, they had no chance of winning.

Even if Jack’s levels have dropped across the board as the price for using his power, he’s still strong.

Belia stamped her feet, unable to do this or that.

What if the saint really gets offered as a sacrifice?

The moment she realized how weak she was, an indescribable sense of helplessness washed over her.

Just then.

DING!

[Class Quest: In Search ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) of the Savior]

Grade: A

Restriction: Saint’s Child

Reward: Divine Power 200

Penalty on failure: Destruction of the temple.

Description: Your temple, and the Saint Aria you serve, are in danger. Set out to find the savior. That savior is currently located at the Blacksmith Tower of Sword.

Belia saw a ray of hope.

A savior exists? 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The system was telling her directly.

The savior was there. Belia had no time to hesitate.

She made a puzzled face.

Why would the savior be at the Blacksmith Tower of Sword?

Soon, she realized.

Ah... they must have commissioned weapon crafting from the Tower Masters of the Sword Tower!?

The fact that Ares was a supercomputer was already well known to the public.

Just what kind of person is it?

Ares surely wouldn’t want the saint’s death either.

So it was assumed that it had carefully selected someone very powerful and special.

A combat-type Legend class. Something like that? Maybe...

Her eyes took on a strange light.

Recently, she’d heard that one of the hot rookies had become the Successor of Spear-Heaven, one of the Ten Legends of the continent.

Could it be that person?

She set aside any further thoughts.

To meet the savior, Belia headed for the Blacksmith Tower of Sword.

[Class Quest: God’s Wish is generated.]

A new story broke out for Hyun.

[Class Quest: God’s Wish]

Grade: S

Restriction: Successor of the God of Blacksmiths

Reward: mineral Asnium, God’s Secret Artifact.

Penalty on failure: Cannot proceed to the next Class Quest.

Description: The God of Blacksmiths has been shunned not only by believers but even among the gods. The gods denied Asca, who possessed great power and was an outstanding craftsman. Now, the saint of Ares Church is in danger. By rescuing her, lay bare what kind of power the God of Blacksmiths possesses. Soon, Saint’s Child Belia will come to find you, the savior.

Hyun made a puzzled face as he looked at the newly popped quest.

Saint’s Child Belia?

That was someone Hyun currently had little information on.

Right then, divine envoy Balam got to his feet and approached Hyun.

“Successor, I knew what the next thing you would do was. It was to create a Legend. Since you have already accomplished that, I believe you have been given a new mission. May I ask what that is?”

[The faith Balam has in you is MAX.]

Balam’s voice was soft and humble, like he was appearing before a king.

Balam, who had wished this line would end with him, had found the strength to believe in and follow his god again.

All of it had begun from the achievements Hyun had shown.

Hyun explained the quest contents to him.

Balam’s face twisted in surprise.

“Haha, it seems the god wishes to show the other gods, through you, Successor, what he can do.”

There was one thing Hyun was curious about.

“What is the mineral Asnium?”

“Asnium? Is Asnium what you’re going to obtain?”

Balam’s voice grew excited.

Hyun made a puzzled face. From his tone, he could tell this mineral was no ordinary thing.

There isn’t even any info on it to begin with.

In Ares, beyond the iron ore, mithril, and orichalcum we commonly know, there were many divine minerals.

“It is a sacred mineral forged by the God of Blacksmiths.”

That meant it was a mineral created by the god Asca.

“It is one of the three Minerals of the Gods, and a very powerful divine power is imbued in it.”

The contents of the myth Balam knew.

Listening to him, Hyun suddenly realized something.

“Could it be...”

“That’s right. Asnium, one of the three Minerals of the Gods, is a mineral that holds Divine Power. It is a Legendary mineral.”

Hyun’s eyes widened.

A Legendary mineral?

The only Legendary mineral Hyun had ever possessed was lowest-tier orichalcum.

And even that had been a tiny amount, barely enough to make a single arrow.

Insane...

A small spark was kindled in Hyun’s chest.

It came from the mineral called Asnium, which contained vast Divine Power.

There was a sword he absolutely wanted to craft using it.

Once before, Hyun had already crafted it via Emergency Crafting.

The sword back then had been nothing more than a fake.

There was a clear reason why, even though Hyun had already made that sword in reality, it was still a fake.

The system gives you a high effectiveness rate if it judges the method as most suitable for that sword.

But in truth, that sword couldn’t be handled that way.

It had to be crafted only in the Tiger Year, Tiger Month, Tiger Day, and Tiger Hour, and if you strictly followed those conditions, you could make it only once every sixty years.

However, if he had a mineral filled with strong Divine Power, it would bend those conditions.

The sword Hyun would craft with Asnium.

That was the Four Tigers Sword.

What kind of power will the real Four Tigers Sword crafted in Ares possess?

When most of the Tower Masters had gone back and it was late at night.

“Saint’s Child Belia has arrived.”

Hyun was able to meet her. The two of them only exchanged brief introductions; they didn’t have time to spare.

The two of them climbed onto the horse Deng had prepared.

“Where do we need to go?”

“We have to go to the Wolves’ Sanctuary in the north. Only by passing through the Wolves’ Sanctuary can we reach the temple.”

The horse bearing the two of them galloped swiftly toward the Wolves’ Sanctuary.

*****

Wolves’ Sanctuary.

It was a hunting ground for users from level 110 to 180, so far out on the fringes that it wasn’t popular.

That place had grown noisy.

[Boss monster has appeared!]

[Ashen Wolf Lv.212]

[Whoever hunts the Ashen Wolf will receive a reward.]

It was because the Ashen Wolf, which appeared perhaps once a month at best, had spawned.

“Run! Our party could never take down the Ashen Wolf!”

Party leader Look hurriedly led his party members, running toward the safe zone.

“GRRAAAAAH!”

“GAAAH!”

“U-URGHAAAH!”

From behind came the chilling sounds of users being torn to shreds by the Ashen Wolf.

The Ashen Wolf has never once been killed by users within the suitable level range for this hunting ground.

What made the Ashen Wolf so terrifying was its traits.

Ashen Howling applied more debuffs the more targets the wolf recognized as enemies within a 30-meter radius.

With ten people gathered, all stats dropped by a whopping 40%.

On top of that, its speed was like lightning.

As he ran full tilt, Look spotted two people who had just dismounted from a horse.

A beautiful woman who looked to be a priest class. Even Look felt a gasp of admiration as she spoke.

“A level-120 blacksmith? Not the Successor of Spear-Heaven?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Hyun. Are you sure it’s really okay to go in there? When the Ashen Wolf appears, lots of wolves gather around it.”

“...?”

Look furrowed his brow.

A blacksmith?

And a priest class?

And those two were going in there?

Glancing back as he ran, Look saw the priest and the blacksmith walking inward.

Has their ego eaten their brain?

Just as the priest said, when the Ashen Wolf appeared, wolves would gather around the area.

A level-120 blacksmith going in there?

Is it because he’s in front of a pretty woman?

As he reached the safe zone and panted roughly for breath, a pleasant idea flashed through Look’s mind.

“Let’s go back in after thirty minutes.”

“Are you crazy? Why would we go back in there?”

“Didn’t you see the gear that priest and blacksmith were wearing?”

Look had scanned the blacksmith and priest’s gear.

When users were forcibly logged out, they dropped items.

“You want to go scoop up dropped gear?”

But the other party members shook their heads.

“They were right at the entrance. We’ll die before we can even pick it up.”

“If you want to die, die alone.”

“I’m not going either.”

The party members left the party.

Since it had been a one-off run just for hunting in Wolves’ Sanctuary, Look didn’t care much.

Cowards. The sword that blacksmith was wearing was at least Epic.

Thirty minutes later, Look started back in.

Hopefully they died right near the entrance.

If the priest and blacksmith had died together, their gear would be dropped side by side.

Look stepped past the entrance and his face twisted in shock.

“W-what the hell?”

All over the place, traces of wolves, dozens of them, lay scattered as piles of ash.

Soon, Look heard a shocking notification.

[The Ashen Wolf has been hunted.]

It was a notification that the Ashen Wolf, which had never once been raided by users, had been hunted.