Genius Blacksmith's Game

The World Championship had been going on for quite a long time.

Even compared to every public event and match Ares had held so far, this World Championship was unusually long.

Viewers claimed that Pureum had gone mad over the ratings, the influence, and the economic effect being generated by the World Championship, deliberately dragging it out as long as possible.

Lee Sejin gave this response.

“The difference between the World Championship and the real Olympics is that Olympic athletes have trained and waited exclusively for the Olympics. World Championship participants, on the other hand, often come here in the middle of quests, leveling, and their own stories. Interrupting those stories would cause setbacks, so we simply gave them enough time to continue them as well.”

It was a fairly convincing explanation.

One ranker might have to abandon a time-limited quest.

Another might lose the chance to hunt a monster they had waited for.

That meant valuable players might choose not to participate in the World Championship.

Of course, it was nothing more than lip service.

Just as everyone had said, the World Championship’s influence had ushered in a second golden age for Pureum.

Billions of searches.

An unprecedented flood of new users.

During the World Championship alone, Pureum’s stock price on the American exchange had more than doubled. That alone showed how enormous the impact had been.

And that impact grew even greater because of only two people.

Hyunsoo.

He had participated in the World Championship as Team Korea’s captain.

Korea had produced results that defied the global consensus that it would place low.

The Pet Mascot Event.

Endurance.

The Naval Battle Event.

Master Blacksmith.

Dungeon Breakthrough.

After all that, Korea had achieved a shocking result.

[Republic of Korea: 5 Gold, 1 Silver, 0 Bronze.]

Korea stood second in the overall rankings, and Hyunsoo was the primary reason it had managed that.

Without him, Korea would have struggled to win even a single gold medal.

No one disputed the assessments of experts and commentators around the world. The expectations surrounding Hyunsoo, who had elevated an entire country to second place overall, continued to grow.

Then there was the other player.

Valhalla.

[United States: 5 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze.]

The United States currently held first place overall.

If Korea had been supported almost entirely by Hyunsoo, the United States had victories secured by rankers spread evenly throughout its roster.

Their captain, Valhalla, had barely participated in most events.

The Monster Hunt Event was the sole exception.

For all practical purposes, he had not contributed.

During that time, Valhalla had focused on hunting, monopolizing titles, and various other pursuits.

But nobody looked down on him simply because he had not made any visible contributions.

The unbreakable strongest player.

His countless one-against-many victories.

Even when he was not on screen, people all over the world knew the power he possessed.

Korea had overcome each obstacle one by one.

The United States had naturally claimed first place overall.

And now Valhalla was sweeping the Throne Match with overwhelming victories.

Interest continued to build.

Hyunsoo responded to Valhalla’s dominant victories with dominant victories of his own, allowing the two of them to meet in the final.

Another reason their match drew such enormous attention was that its outcome would determine the overall champion.

The exact time of the final was 2:00 p.m. Korea Standard Time.

With the match approaching, the entire world was already filled with anticipation.

Pureum could see that interest had climbed far beyond anything it had seen during the World Championship so far.

Six hours before the match.

Hyunsoo vs. Valhalla.Match time.Who will win?Will Korea or the United States take the overall championship?Every portal site in the world was already filled with talk of the two.

JoyTube.

The sanctuary of individual BJs.

BJs with tens of millions of subscribers.

Even BJs with only two subscribers.

They all spoke about Hyunsoo and Valhalla before their match.

The BJs talked about them all day, to the point that even people who had never cared about Ares knew the names Valhalla and Hyunsoo.

Like people who did not watch the World Cup but still watched the final, more and more people wanted to see this match.

Two hours before the match.

The world began preparing for the final.

The Jamsil Sports Complex had been full for a long time, and traffic throughout Jamsil was grinding to a halt.

Korea was the host nation, and this was the moment that would determine the overall champion.

The nation was gripped by a heat reminiscent of a second 2002 World Cup miracle.

At Gwanghwamun Square, convention halls, movie theaters, and countless other places across the country, viewers waited.

And it was not just Korea.

Under the belief that America’s title as the strongest country would not be broken, major American cities prepared to watch as well.

New York.

Los Angeles.

Washington.

And countless others.

Furthermore—

Would the one towering above everyone else fall, or would he remain standing?

The world watched.

China, with more than 1.3 billion people.

Japan, Korea’s neighboring country.

France.

Russia.

Greece.

South Africa.

Vietnam.

Thailand.

The Philippines.

Taiwan.

More than a hundred countries focused on only two men.

Some people left work early to watch the match.

One Korean company received cheers when it issued an official notice declaring that it would suspend work during the match so employees could support Hyunsoo.

Good-natured small-business owners set up massive screens and seated their customers together, telling everyone to watch.

One hour before the match.

Police units were deployed in preparation for any possible incident, while news broadcasts repeatedly urged citizens to maintain order and avoid getting hurt.

All over the world, the broadcast began showing an arena unlike any used in the matches so far.

The arena.

It was a vast plain.

The venue, which had called to mind Dragon X’s Martial Arts Tournament, had been transformed into something worthy of the final.

With only one hour left, the Jamsil Sports Complex and the entire world boiled with excitement, making clear whom everyone supported.

“Valhalla!”

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

“Everyone’s idol!”

“You can’t lose!”

“Show them who you are!!!”

People admired and loved the man who had been the strongest since the beginning.

He never acted overly confident, nor was he arrogant like other rankers.

He was so far beyond reach that he had become almost deified—someone too distant to even envy.

People envied those a little better than themselves.

But someone a hundred times better than them?

They worshipped them.

But—

“Show us there’s hope!”

“Show us that we can reach great heights someday, too!”

“Hyun! Only you can do this!”

“You’re the only one who can give us hope!”

There were also countless people who believed the same person should not always remain number one.

If everyone lived beneath the same supreme figure forever, then they would never be able to defeat him.

If Valhalla fell, it would prove that they could someday do it too.

And there was only one person capable of doing that now.

The cheers from both sides were evenly matched.

Thirty minutes before the match.

-Current viewer ratings are at 59%... I do not know whether I will ever see numbers like this again.

-The match between the man who has always stood at the top and the man trying to pull him down is finally right before us.

With unprecedented ratings, Pureum struck gold once again.

And they had already expected the match between the two to create this much of an impact.

That was why they had prepared something for the 60% of the world watching the broadcast.

The commentators began discussing the breaking news.

-Before the match begins, footage from both players will be aired worldwide.

-Footage? What kind of footage are we talking about?

-It has been announced that it will show their preparations. Both players have submitted gameplay footage that they personally judged safe to reveal.

-However, neither player will be able to watch the other’s footage.

-Why not?

-Because if they saw each other’s footage, they might discover the cards the other prepared.

The world was fascinated by the small event.

Everyone knew it was only gameplay footage.

It could turn out to be nothing more than ordinary footage.

Even so, the fact that videos from the two would be delivered to the entire world through the screen heightened expectations to the limit.

Five minutes before the match.

The footage began.

Footsteps echoed through a dark screen, seizing the attention of people around the world.

Whose footage would begin first?

Valhalla’s.

A man with finely drawn features walked forward.

He entered a place that appeared to be some unknown mine.

When he ventured deeper inside, a short man with a white beard greeted him at the end.

“Valhalla. It has been a long time.”

The Legendary Dwarf Radma.

Valhalla had once saved his life, and the two had become fairly close because of it.

Valhalla spoke as he looked at Radma.

“Give me the best you have.”

“...The best? All right.”

Radma looked surprised as he led Valhalla onward.

It was the first time Valhalla had ever used the words the best.

Radma had promised to make him the finest things he could when Valhalla truly needed them.

Today was that day.

GRRRRNNK—!

Radma pushed open a wall on one side of the cavern.

Hundreds of Legendary artifacts and more than five Transcendent artifacts appeared.

Like a trained soldier buying weapons before heading into battle—

“Who is the enemy?”

“A monster with impossibly high defense, whose every artifact has infinite durability.”

“...Vegadron’s Gauntlet. It can inflict twice the damage on a target in an instant, and even temporarily damage infinite durability. What else do you need?”

“He walks a path that transcends gods.”

“Geparde’s Cloak. It can make the enemy’s movements appear slower for a moment.”

“His Destructive Power can even exceed that of your Bull King’s Greatsword.”

“Eperde’s Heavenly Robe. It reduces Destructive Power by 30%, and sometimes turns that power back on the enemy, making them suffer from it themselves. A strange artifact.”

One by one, Valhalla equipped them.

Every means capable of standing against Hyunsoo.

He put on the gauntlet.

CLICK.

He donned new armor.

CLACK.

He draped an impressive cloak around his shoulders.

FLAP!

Unlike usual, he put on a helmet.

THUNK.

Then he fastened the two daggers Radma had forged to his waist.

CLICK. CLICK.

Finally—

[Sword God’s Appearance.]

Most of the artifacts were concealed, made invisible by his skill, and Valhalla returned to his usual appearance.

Then he accepted the Old Sword Radma had reinforced.

“Do you need anything else?”

“Cheering.”

“...”

Valhalla turned away.

Then Radma spoke.

“You.”

“...”

“Every time you came to see me, you looked like a dead fish. I could never understand what you lived for, why you killed so many monsters, or why you brought all their remains here and piled them up. Honestly, I had never seen you smile even once. But you look happy now.”

Valhalla stopped.

Only then did he realize it.

As he equipped each item.

As he selected new weapons and armor.

As he assembled the means to stand against Hyunsoo.

A smile had never left his lips.

He was excited.

His heart raced.

He was looking forward to their match, and it made him feel good.

“Who are you going to fight?”

Valhalla looked himself over.

The Old Sword Radma had strengthened so it could unleash even greater power for a moment.

Vegadron’s Gauntlet, worn on his hand but hidden by Sword God’s Appearance.

Eperde’s Heavenly Robe, capable of enduring Hyunsoo’s monstrous attacks.

Two daggers, prepared in case the Old Sword’s ability was temporarily lost.

Valhalla silently looked over everything for a long time.

Then the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.

Viewers across the world had watched plenty of footage of him.

But this was the first time they had ever seen him smile with the innocent brightness of a child.

“Friend.”

Valhalla answered that way.

Then he laughed for a long time.

The footage ended.