Genius Blacksmith’s Game

Special User Management Team.
[User Hyunsoo is now eligible to receive the Legendary class Radiant Lord advancement quest.]
At the alert blooming on the monitor, Kim Taeseok shot to his feet.
“Insane…!”
Ordinarily, clearing up to Stage 3 prompts an offer of the Epic class Radiant Knight.
But Hanul didn’t get the offer.
Because he chose Accumulated Reward and failed at Stage 4.
And if you clear through Stage 4, you’re supposed to receive the Epic-class Radiant Knight offer along with the Instructor’s Rare weapon and Rare armor as gifts.
“Illogical…!”
Right—this is happening because something illogical occurred.
Stage 1, Stage 2. Two goblins, one hit each.
And then running Stages 3 and 4 simultaneously—that’s what did it.
“Looks like Instructor Relson saw user Hyunsoo as the right candidate.”
On top of that, the Affinity between Instructor Relson and Hyunsoo was completely different from ten minutes ago.
In Ares, with its high freedom, even the Special User Management Team runs into things they didn’t foresee.
But then Lee Jihee let a sly smile curl.
“Weren’t we actually predicting user Hyunsoo would climb to a Legendary class?”
That was true.
Of course, he was walking a path completely different from what they’d imagined.
“User Hyunsoo is going to become a Grade-2 Special User now.”
The Special User Management Team monitors special situations and sudden incidents.
The grades are generally divided from Grade-1 to Grade-5.
Usually anything up to Grade-5 doesn’t merit attention.
But starting at Grade-3, the story changes.
The two of them looked at the monitor.
User Hyunsoo fell deep into thought about something, then answered.
— I refuse.
“…!?”
“…!?”
Kim Taeseok and Lee Jihee’s faces froze in shock.
On the monitor, Hyunsoo wore a small smile—without a trace [N O V E L I G H T] of regret.
Just then—
Bee-beep, bee-beep—
A red light flashed on the monitor and an alert popped up.
[User Hyunsoo has satisfied one of the conditions for a Divine class.]
[You are promoted to Grade-1 Special Subject.]
“D—Divine class!?”
Kim Taeseok couldn’t believe it.
Among 2.5 billion people, there is still a class no one has obtained.
That is the Divine class.
The absolute top class in the game Ares.
“One of the conditions for the Legendary-class Blacksmith advancement was refusing an Epic-class offer once…”
To become a god among blacksmiths, you have to refuse a Legendary-class offer once.
Kim Taeseok recognized how serious this was.
“What other conditions are there to become a god of blacksmiths?”
It’s Grade-1 confidential, known only to team leads for now.
But since Kim Taeseok couldn’t monitor Hyunsoo twenty-four hours a day, he told Lee Jihee:
“There are a few, but for now he needs to accomplish two ridiculous achievements in that job category.”
“By ‘ridiculous achievements’…?”
“He’s already done the first by creating Radiance. More importantly, both achievements must be met before he hits Level 10.”
“Wow… that’s impossible no matter how you look at it…”
Lee Jihee clicked her tongue. The clear conditions themselves were absurd.
There’d been a moment for concern, but Lee Jihee let out a breath of relief.
“Since it’s standard meta to hit Level 10 the moment you leave the Beginner Zone, actually fulfilling those conditions will be hard, right?”
“Probably?”
Once you finish the Hunting Zone, you arrive at a village right away.
Leave that village and the real hunting grounds open up and you level up.
If it’s Hyunsoo, he’ll level up fast.
But more importantly, it seemed like Hyunsoo no longer had anything left he could count as an ‘achievement.’
Soon, Kim Taeseok focused on Hyunsoo on the monitor again.
“More than that, I want to know why user Hyunsoo refused a Legendary class.”
Kim Taeseok fixed his eyes on the monitor.
 
****

“I refuse.”
After a long silence, Hyunsoo answered. The expression on Relson’s face—who had of course assumed he’d accept—was painted with bewilderment.
“Why? If you become Radiant Lord, you’ll be extraordinary—you’ll seize the glory of leading Radiant Knights as a Radiant Lord, and not only that.”
He hurried to sell him on how great Radiant Lord was.
“You’re an outstanding blacksmith, are you not? A man who is both Radiant Lord and blacksmith. Isn’t that magnificent!”
At those words, Hyunsoo did think that was certainly true.
But his decision didn’t change.
In real time, Hyunsoo had only been playing Ares for roughly ten days.
But in that span he had felt many things in Ares.
Like an ore layered with impurities—once the impurities were stripped away, he himself was a truly exceptional ore.
I have value.
He felt his own worth with stark clarity.
He was sure.
Even if I refuse Radiant Lord now, I can climb high as a blacksmith.
Conviction.
It was not arrogance. It was confidence possible because he was Hyunsoo.
There were other reasons as well.
“I like being a blacksmith. I’ve been holding a hammer since I was ten.”
“No matter how much you like that work…”
“It’s not just ‘like.’ Whenever I grip the hammer my heart pounds, and when I start striking I feel like I’ll go mad from joy. That’s right. I’m crazy for blacksmithing.”
Hyunsoo smiled gently.
“And I came in here to enjoy myself.”
Relson’s eyes met Hyunsoo’s. At the sight of him, Relson lost his words for a moment, then let out a helpless laugh.
“Ha—haha, what a man mad for blacksmithing.”
Soon he laughed heartily.
“Splendid. Truly splendid!”
Hyunsoo’s path, unshaken by any offer.
“That’s how you reached that realm at such a young age.”
[Relson learns what a true artisan’s spirit is.]
[Affinity with Relson reaches MAX.]
[Legendary class. You refuse the Radiant Lord advancement quest.]
[You receive the other rewards for running Trials 2–4.]
[You gain All Stats +2.]
“Wait here a moment.”
Instructor Relson soon went somewhere and came back with a suit of armor.
[You have obtained the Radiant Lord’s Old, Rusted Armor.]
Hyunsoo checked it immediately.
(The Radiant Lord’s Old, Rusted Armor)
Grade: Rare
Durability: 300/1,000
Defense: 83
Restriction: none.
Special Abilities:
· Endurance +3.
· ???
· ???
· Passive: Damage Reduction.
Description: Armor once worn by the legendary Radiant Lord. Three hundred years have passed, many sections are broken, and it looks hard to use for long.
Armor once worn by a former legend.
“Three hundred years ago it would have been better than it is now, but it should still be excellent for your use. I’m sorry I can’t give you more than this.”
Relson’s regret was sincere.
Hyunsoo turned the armor over, looking it up and down.
The plate armor had sections broken here and there; some parts even dangled loose.
While he inspected it, his eyes landed on the ‘???’ entries and he tilted his head.
“So once, it was greater than this?”
“That’s right.”
“Then if I repair and restore it, it will regain what it once was.”
“Yes, repair and restore—hm?”
For a moment, Relson’s words stuck fast in his throat.
This armor was once good armor.
But with long years, it had become a worn-out relic.
Even if you brought it to the blacksmiths nearby, they would say they couldn’t repair it, let alone restore it.
Because they were Beginner blacksmiths.
“Y—You’re going to restore that?”
“Yes.”
“How is that even possible?”
“…Because it’s possible.”
“You don’t even possess any mystic power, do you?”
Mystic power—the name NPCs use for skills.
“Do I need it?”
“You do! As far as I know, blacksmiths learn restoration-related techniques only once they reach a certain level.”
Hyunsoo let out a short laugh.
Yes—the system of skills blacksmiths have does help them.
“I don’t need that.”
“…!?”
Hyunsoo also knew why skills were needed.
To restore something, you first need the artifact’s information.
What it’s composed of, how it’s structured, which parts to grind and which to repair.
For an ordinary user to judge that by sight alone is impossible.
But Hyunsoo is different.
The material is presumably an alloy. If I secure the sections about to fall off, remove the rust, it’ll turn like new.
In an instant he grasped the tattered leather aged by time and even the decorative elements on the armor.
This’ll be fun…
A restoration job he’d done a very long time ago.
When was the last time?
Ah—Molten Sword.
Molten Sword, said to have been used by Haemosu.
The National Museum commissioned the restoration, and Hyunsoo restored it himself and returned it.
Then a thought flashed across his mind.
…Can I restore Molten Sword here too?
At that thought, an unknown thrill rose from deep in his chest.
Molten Sword—one of the legends of our country.
But more than Molten Sword, there was another blade Hyunsoo wanted to restore or reproduce.
It was the first dream Hyunsoo had ever held at age eleven.
The Royal Four-Tigers Sword of the Joseon court…
Just imagining it was electrifying—the thought that he might craft a sword out of history, even if only inside the game.
But for now, he set that aside.
For the moment, he focused on the Radiant Lord’s armor in front of him.
In a way, this Radiant Lord’s armor was, within this game, like the Royal Four-Tigers Sword—an artifact of a legendary figure.
But Hyunsoo ran into one obstacle.
“There’s no forge here… ugh.”
Unlike the Wooden Dummy training yard, there simply wasn’t one here.
Hearing that regret, something flashed across Relson’s mind.
“Who says there isn’t?”
“…Sir?”
Relson wanted to help Hyunsoo.
At first he’d looked down on him, then he’d come to acknowledge him.
The biggest reason was that his Affinity toward Hyunsoo was MAX.
“There’s one at the Lord’s Castle.”
“The Lord’s Castle?”
“Yes.”
Along with that, the moment he heard restoration was possible, something else came to Relson.
Something that, even now after long years, not a single person had accomplished.
“Are you any good with bows as well?”
“I know them to a degree.”
His father’s forge handled many things.
“This is a territory too, with a Lord’s Castle and a lord. About a year ago, the castle caught fire and a bow the lord cherished was damaged.”
Hyunsoo’s brow tightened. He felt the birth of a quest that wasn’t ordinary.
“However, because outside high-level blacksmiths can’t set foot here, a countless many have failed at restoration. Impossible. Yes—an utterly impossible task for anyone.”
There was one reason Relson said this.
Because he felt sorry for having looked down on Hyunsoo, and wanted to repay him.
And Hyunsoo had learned something from breaking the Wooden Dummy.
High risk, high return.
The more impossible the thing you break through, the greater the reward.
“I’ll write you a letter of recommendation. How about going to the Lord’s Castle, meeting the lord, and trying to restore the bow?”
Ding!
[Hidden Quest: Meet the Lord]
Grade: B
Restriction: The one who has received a letter of recommendation.
Reward: Fame +10.
Failure Penalty: Affinity with Relson decreases.
Description: Meet Lord Vance.
Relson grinned roguishly.
“Will you try it? The impossible thing no one else could do.”