Genius Blacksmith's Game

A big match.

Master Blacksmith VS Master Blacksmith.

Interest in Hyunsoo VS Smith was high enough to pierce the sky.

The proof came through the viewership ratings.

Broadcasting stations around the world were screaming happy screams.

Viewers were flooding in endlessly.

In an instant, the global viewership rating reached 35%.

That meant that, among the people around the world currently watching TV, one in every three was watching the current broadcast.

There were several reasons why interest in “Master Blacksmith” had no choice but to be so high.

—According to the match prediction site Hanpan, Master Blacksmith Hyun’s win rate is estimated at 52%, while Smith’s win rate is estimated at 48%.

—On the other hand, another match prediction site, Match, predicted Smith’s win rate at 53% and Master Blacksmith Hyun’s win rate at 47%.

—The opinions of Ares experts are clearly divided as well. Some say that, if you look at their achievements so far, Hyun is indeed superior, but Smith’s years of experience cannot be ignored.

—There is also the fact that one player insists on handcrafting, while the other insists on a machine-based method.

—What is handcrafting, and what is the machine-based method?

—Handcrafting means making the item with one’s own hands from beginning to end. The most important parts in blacksmithing, such as hammering, and every fine detail are all done by hand.

—In the machine-based method, there is a separate machine that performs the forging, and the blacksmith only needs to bring the material to it for the forging to be done. As you can see, while they are the same, the two players’ production methods are completely different. One is the Master Blacksmith who has existed since Ares launched, while the other is a newly emerged Master Blacksmith, so interest can only be intense.

—In particular, interest has become even hotter now that the rules of “Master Blacksmith” have been revealed.

—Please explain the rules of Master Blacksmith to the viewers.

—Yes. The rules of the event Master Blacksmith begin with all players being given the same 24 hours, and of course, everyone is given the same materials.

—The total quantity of materials provided is as much as they want, but that does not change the fact that the materials themselves are the same. What matters is that everyone is given “Normal Grade” materials.

—Normal? You mean the lowest-grade materials?

The commentator already knew the fact, but he let out an exclamation to entertain the viewers and spoke.

—Normal materials are what beginner blacksmiths use, aren’t they? Or materials used for practice.

—That is correct. In “Master Blacksmith,” a contest between blacksmiths, the player who makes the greatest artifact with the lowest-grade materials wins. There are several points of interest. Hyun VS Smith, and the question of just how far blacksmiths can go with ordinary “Normal” minerals.

—Are there any separate restrictions?

—There are no restrictions whatsoever, and they may use all their skills and equipment to make the best artifact possible!

—As we speak, Master Blacksmith Hyun and Smith are shaking hands.

Smith was surprised as he gripped Hyun’s hand tightly.

Ares maximized realism.

Because of that, excluding things such as actual “bleeding” or “injuries,” there were things that did not recover and remained.

Calluses were one of those things.

Hyunsoo’s hand was perfect.

The calluses he could feel simply by holding it, the scars visible across the back of the hand—

and forearm muscles disproportionately developed on one side.

“......You take after your father completely.”

Smith saw Hyuntae’s image in him.

Korea’s Master Blacksmith, who had started the latest and become the greatest Master Blacksmith.

Smith admired the son who resembled him, then said,

“Ares and reality are different. There is something I felt while looking at your crafted works. You forge only through ‘pure handcrafting.’”

“.......”

If it had been the usual Hyunsoo, he might have said, “That is my strength, though?”

However, it was a fact Hyunsoo acknowledged.

“Your class has nothing that helps with ‘crafting.’ In other words, you have no blacksmithing skills.”

That, too, was true.

God’s custom crafting.

God’s custom repair.

And various other skills.

They did not “help with crafting.”

That was because all of them were based on skill.

And the greatest problem lay elsewhere.

“You also cannot know what skills others possess. And surely you know this as well?”

Hyunsoo listened silently.

“The higher a blacksmith’s Level, the more effects they receive as compensation when handling lower-grade minerals. More skills exert greater power and settle into the item as though exploding. You craft with the lowest-grade mineral. At that point, the weakness of those with low dependence on ‘skills’ is that they have nothing they can receive compensation from.”

Strength entered Smith’s hand as he held Hyunsoo’s.

SQUEEZE—

“Even so, I do think a handcraft blacksmith can make up for that with skill. No one here will be your match. However, I, too, was a handcraft blacksmith in my teens, and now I have become a machine-based blacksmith.”

That was right.

What Smith wanted to say was that he himself possessed both the power of skills and actual ability.

And also—

“I have been waiting only for today.”

Smith had watched Hyun rise by breaking down each and every one of his own accomplishments.

Before he knew it, Brand Hyun’s subscriber count had grown far higher than Smith’s.

Of course, Smith had also forged a Mythic artifact.

However, Hyunsoo had been one step faster, and he had made more of them.

“If I win today, I will be able to take everything back.”

But the event “Master Blacksmith” was about proving things through a fair contest against each other.

And the fact that he had been waiting only for today hid another meaning.

“It activates immediately, once only.”

Hyunsoo looked surprised.

Hyunsoo himself had experienced many such titles and Passive Skills.

Ares gave a special benefit to the first person to obtain something.

Something that could be activated by probability.

Something from titles or skills that could be triggered instantly.

And this “immediate activation” was a special benefit that allowed the user to choose when to activate it.

“......When you said you had been waiting, did you mean you had been saving those ‘immediate activations’?”

“......That is correct.”

Smith’s mouth filled with confidence.

“Today, the world will see it. The victory of a blacksmith who has staked everything on a single artifact.”

Smith turned without hesitation and entered his forge.

And he could tell.

Is this the organizers’ trick? Or coincidence?

The more than one hundred forges were spread out in a circle.

At the very center, Hyun’s forge stood on the right, and Smith’s forge on the left.

It was a position where every blacksmith could see the two of them while crafting.

And viewers would be able to focus on the match between the two who had become the main event.

This is good for me.

Because the throne would return to his arms.

“The match begins.”

FWEEEEEEEEET—

At last, the moment Smith had been waiting for arrived.

[An infinite quantity of Lowest-Grade Iron Ore will be supplied.]

(Lowest-Grade Iron Ore.)

Grade: Normal.

Restriction: None.

Difficulty: Lowest.

Special Abilities

·Cutting Power increases by up to 3%.

·Critical damage increases by 2%.

Description: One of the commonly obtainable materials, and the lowest-grade iron ore of the poorest quality among iron ores.

Materials do not change.

It was an immutable law.

Even Lowest-Grade Iron Ore was buried beneath earth and stone for a long time before becoming such a mineral.

In that way, materials did not change.

However.

That is only true in reality.

This was the reason Hyun would have no choice but to lose to him.

The blacksmiths of Ares possessed countless skills and titles, and as mentioned, Smith had postponed one-time-use opportunities for today.

Even everything was perfect.

His condition had reached its peak, and the powers he had saved would unleash their strength here today.

In particular, he had recently forged the Mythic Azure Dragon Sword.

The truth behind the forging of the Azure Dragon Sword was that Smith had been able to forge it by meeting a Dwarf Master Blacksmith for the first time.

Smith had received several skill benefits from that Dwarf Master Blacksmith, and one of them now occurred.

[Dwarf’s Breath settles into the forge.]

[It makes you, for a brief time, like a dwarf.]

[The probability of the artifact’s Grade increasing rises greatly.]

[A wide variety of Special Abilities will settle into the crafted artifact.]

It was a forge buff.

The other blacksmiths doing forge work were shocked by what had occurred the moment the event began.

Then Smith placed the mineral into the furnace.

RUMBLEEEEEEE—!

The most insignificant, lowest-grade iron ore melted down.

Looking at the orange glow, Smith reached out and finally drew out what he had saved.

[The title Dwarf’s Friend shines!]

Dwarf Master Blacksmith Pan.

It was the power he had obtained after building high Affinity with him.

The effect of this title was simple yet astonishing.

It is absurd.

It lay in evolving a “mineral.”

In other words, it was a power that allowed him to escape the blacksmiths’ rule that “materials do not change.”

[Lowest-Grade Iron Ore evolves.]

The orange iron ore flowing down was enveloped in light.

A power possible only in Ares, and possible only for me, who can harmonize with skills.

However, even with immediate activation, whether it rose by one Grade or two was a matter of luck.

But then.

[It rises by two Grades.]

[Lowest-Grade Iron Ore changes into Dwarf’s Iron Ore.]

[You have created a new Epic Grade mineral.]

(Dwarf’s Iron Ore.)

Grade: Epic.

Restriction: Level 120 blacksmith.

Difficulty: Low.

Special Abilities

·Attack Power increases by 32%.

·Cutting Power increases by 36%.

·Critical damage increases by 32%.

·A skill related to slashing can be settled into it.

·A skill related to thrusting can be settled into it.

Description: Through the application of the title Dwarf’s Friend to commonly obtainable iron ore, it has been reborn as a new mineral.

Smith’s heart pounded.

It felt as though even the heavens were helping him.

That an Epic had been created instead of a Rare was heavenly luck.

And when everyone had to craft with Normal Grade materials, the fact that he had evolved his material into Epic through his own power alone was astonishing.

The entire world was stunned.

—Lowest-Grade Iron Ore looked unimpressive at a glance. But Smith’s mineral has changed into a violet color and is cooling.

—To evolve a mineral during the event, it can only be called incredible. From the very beginning, he is overwhelming the other users and advancing forward.

He did not stop.

Smith’s refined material now entered the purification process.

While purifying it, he settled another power into it this time.

A skill he had gained while crafting with a dwarf.

Dwarf’s Purification.

This was a probabilistic Passive Skill.

Originally, it activated at a dramatic probability of 2%.

However.

[Dwarf’s Purification activates immediately.]

[Dwarf’s Breath is breathed into the mineral.]

[An artifact of a superior Grade will be born.]

Once again, the violet mineral changed into a blue light.

Ahhh......

Smith marveled.

Now, all he had to do was make it with this.

Smith knew.

He carried the mineral he had made to Hyunsoo’s forge and stood there as if to show it off.

“You are repeating purification and refining. Do you feel pressured?”

There were so many minerals Hyunsoo had thrown away that he could not count them.

“Nothing will change. Look at this mineral. This is the ‘handcrafting’ of me as a blacksmith and as someone who uses Ares’s system.”

Handcrafting.

He was not talking about the mineral.

It was simply a rebuke toward Hyun, telling him that Ares was not a game that could be won through skill alone.

“As you grow older and develop, there may come a time when you abandon your stubbornness and become like this.”

The reason he had become the winner of this match—

Smith thought it was because of experience.

In reality, handcrafting was not such a good thing.

In reality, the arm that held the hammer creaked and broke down as time passed.

Because half the body ended up covered in large and small scars from flying shards of metal and sparks.

“It’s amazing.”

And Hyunsoo acknowledged it, then asked,

“By any chance, what is your Dexterity?”

Dexterity.

It was a stat possessed by all production-class users.

“Why do you ask that? And who would tell someone else their Dexterity?”

Smith checked his own Dexterity stat.

[Dexterity: 20,193.]

The average Dexterity stat of high-Level blacksmiths Smith knew was between 5,000 and 10,000.

Yet his was a staggering 20,000.

He also knew that the average Dexterity of other high-Level production classes hovered between 5,000 and 10,000.

Smith did not answer, but he felt immense pride in his own Dexterity and thought,

It must be high. Is he saying this because his is around 35,000?

Just as Smith found the sight of him trying to break his momentum with that rather cute—

Hyunsoo said,

“Mine is 100,000.”

“What......?”

THUD—

Smith’s brain froze, and he ended up dropping the mineral.