Genius Blacksmith’s Game - Chapter 158

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Blacksmith’s Game
The One Who Flies Above the One Who Runs (5)
Upon entering the Blessed Snowy Field, Hyeon-su received another notification.
[You must hunt all monsters in the Blessed Snowy Field to proceed to Sage’s Tower.]
The location of Sage’s Tower changes once every two weeks.
Accordingly, the trials Hyeon-su must overcome while climbing the mountain shift as well, and this requires considerable time.
However, Dun had completely relieved him of such hardship.
‘All the monsters around me were far beyond my level.’
Monsters at minimum level 330.
When hunting monsters above one’s own level, a User gains significantly more experience.
Moreover, upon reaching level 300, the total experience required for leveling increases exponentially.
At this point, this threefold experience gain was like a treasure bestowed by heaven itself.
Furthermore, the monsters Hyeon-su had hunted before arriving at the Blessed Land yielded experience at roughly this rate.
[You acquire 8,862 experience points.]
But now, per monster, the rate applied was in the twenty-four thousand range.
[3x experience gain and 3x drop rate applied.]
[Due to the large amount of experience acquired, monster experience is consolidated.]
[You acquire 1,310,010 experience points.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[Due to the large amount of Gold acquired, monster Gold is consolidated.]
[You acquire 331,689 Gold.]
And on top of that came the miscellaneous drops from the monsters.
These drops were also tripled, arriving simultaneously from roughly sixty creatures.
[You acquire Yeti’s Claw.]
[You acquire Snowy Wolf’s Fang.]
[You acquire Snowy Orc’s Mark…]
The value of the miscellaneous drops alone was excellent.
In Gold alone, approximately 3.34 million won; the miscellaneous items alone appeared to hold a value of roughly 5 million won.
Of course, Hyeon-su waited for something else.
When NPCs and Users were judged to be villainous, experience and Gold could be obtained.
In other words, their Chaos rating caused them to drop money and experience as well.
And the higher this Chaos rating, the more experience and Gold they dropped.
This difference ranged from as little as 20% to several times greater.
[You have eliminated Won.]
[His Chaos rating is abysmal.]
[You have eliminated Bon.]
[His Chaos rating is abysmal.]
[You acquire 293,013 experience points.]
[You obtain 467,310 Gold.]
[Buns has been eliminated…]
[Level Up.]
[Level Up.]
Hyeon-su had achieved five consecutive level ups.
At level 300, it was an absurdly massive amount of experience.
Moreover, a total of 1.4 million Gold had dropped from them, and each of the fallen had left behind the equipment they’d been wearing.
[You obtain Blackened Short Blade.]
[You obtain Assassin’s Visage.]
[You obtain Crimson Knight Order’s Longsword.]
‘Epic, Epic, Unique, Epic….’
They were all nothing but items of this caliber.
[HP is below 3%.]
[You have contracted a severe status abnormality.]
[Your body cannot move easily.]
Kneeling Dun understood what his comrades had dropped.
‘We’ve lost only the most important things….’
From as little as 20 million Won to as much as 100 million Won.
One could say they had played the game precisely to obtain these items.
Among them, Dun’s Artifacts—as both leader and the highest level—were the finest.
But what Dun feared most was this.
By opening the Friends window, one could check the levels of those registered as friends.
The levels of his comrades displayed in the Friends window had dropped at minimum 12 levels, and at most 18 levels, compared to just moments before.
In truth, a level drop of 10 or more was nearly unheard of.
In fact, it was practically impossible.
This occurred because of the number of people they had killed.
Their Chaos value had skyrocketed due to the sheer number of Users they had slain without reason.
The game Ares was sometimes fair.
What was taken immorally would be stripped away immorally in turn.
“P-please, just this once, I beg you!”
Dun pleaded with genuine desperation.
“If I die, I’ll lose 20 levels. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to gain 20 levels at my current level….”
His expression was one of a man who would have grasped at Hyeon-su’s pant leg if he could.
“And if I drop equipment here as well….”
“Isn’t that terribly selfish?”
Hyeon-su spoke without expression.
“You’ve only ever chosen opponents you could handle, haven’t you? And like you, countless others must have worried about their experience drop rate and Artifact drop rate before dying. They must have felt far more miserable and resentful. Why? Because they were killed for no reason.”
Shing—
Hyeon-su severed his neck without hesitation.
As if further conversation was too tiresome even to bother with.
[Dun’s Chaos stat is at its worst.]
[You obtain 502,301 experience points.]
[You obtain 735,203 Gold.]
[You obtain the Abominable Snowman King’s Ring.]
[You have leveled up.]
With this, I had achieved a total of six level-ups in this place and obtained quite a number of valuable Artifacts.
In particular, the Abominable Snowman King’s Ring I had acquired proved to be far more extraordinary than I had anticipated.
‘Closest to legend itself….’
Then.
Ding!
[You are ascending the Beres Mountain Range faster than anyone else.]
“…?”
I furrowed my brow in confusion.
‘Faster than any of the initial entrants?’
Thanks to Dun, I had managed to reach a point where the Sage’s Tower came into view through a shortcut.
‘If I had climbed alone, I might not have arrived within three days.’
The Beres Mountain Range was treacherous terrain to that degree, with monsters swarming everywhere.
And I felt a sense of foreboding.
‘If a notification like this appears….’
Notifications never appeared without reason.
Soon enough, I could see it.
Kuuuuuuuuuu—
Suddenly the blizzard intensified, and a tremendous gust of wind came howling down.
Shhhhhhhh—
So much snow fell that I could not see ahead.
[A new story begins.]
My lower and upper teeth chattered together at the ominous sound.
[A blizzard unseen for a hundred years rages.]
[Temperature drops rapidly.]
[You have contracted the abnormal status: Severe Cold.]
[Your body shrinks, and frostbite may develop across your hands and feet.]
[All stats decrease by 20%.]
Ding!
[Sudden Quest: Break Through the Blizzard]
Rank: S
Restriction: Only those who triggered the new story
Reward: What the superior Blacksmithing God left behind
Penalty upon failure: You can never meet Sage Artea again.
Description: You have drawn closer to the Sage’s Tower faster than anyone else, and this is closely connected to what the Blacksmithing God left behind. You must reach the Sage’s Tower without fail.
Those who complete the new story receive even greater rewards.
The reward was inscribed with “left behind by a more superior Blacksmithing God.”
Hyeon-su grasped it then.
‘Faster, and arriving despite such adversity.’
It was a form of trial.
Whiiiiiish—
“Ugh!”
Hyeon-su was suddenly struck by a violent gust and sent flying.
Buried in the accumulated snowdrift, I shuddered at the biting cold.
I pushed myself upright.
‘I must go.’
What the Blacksmithing God left behind.
I had to obtain them.
As days passed, Hyeon’s Forge would grow more renowned, and soon many would seek it out.
I needed the strength to protect myself and the countless people who believed in me and followed.
I slipped the Snow King’s Ring onto my finger.
[A warm energy settles into your body.]
Within the blizzard where I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
‘I will, without fail, reach Sage’s Tower.’
A blacksmith who never learned to lose walks that path.
*
*
*
Whiiiiiish—
Grrrrrgh
Sage’s Tower.
Absolute Shield Peya and Grand Mage Ruwon watched the blizzard battering the windows.
Ruwon suddenly spoke.
“Peya, could anyone survive out there for half a day?”
“….”
Peya said nothing.
No matter how superhuman one’s body, that and this were entirely different matters.
The fierce blizzard and the snow filling one’s vision would shatter the mind, and as the cold crept deeper into fingertips and toes, even taking a single step would become impossible.
No matter how strong, natural disasters were such things.
Ruwon sipped warm tea.
“He must already be dead. Without even climbing halfway up Beres Mountain Range.”
Both wore expressions of relief.
“For a craftsman to survive in there is simply impossible.”
Peya smiled faintly and spoke.
“When I too sought to become a legend, I climbed this Beres Mountain Range.”
And that was not all.
Most who aspired to become legends had climbed this Beres Mountain Range.
To meet Sage Artega, the longest-reigning legend who remained alive and breathing.
“It took me exactly two days back then. The mountain was terrifyingly harsh.”
Ruwon also reminisced about that day and spoke.
“I too required two days. When I attempted to fly using Flight, a sudden gust of wind slammed me straight into the ground.”
It was a distant memory.
Back when they were mere upstarts making their names known.
Now they would reach it in a single breath.
They had grown far stronger since then.
“To freeze to death in half a day—somewhat pitiful, I must say.”
Yet despite their words, both men wore small smiles.
“We should leave now. No need to wait any longer. I should tell them we’re heading back.”
The two men left the chamber together.
The Sage’s Audience Hall, near the entrance.
At a measured distance, Sage Artega, Sword King Barad, and Spear Heaven Ven sat waiting.
Whoooooosh—
A gale powerful enough to shake the tower roared through.
And before departing, Ruwon opened his mouth.
“Artega, the trial is complete.”
In the silence that followed, no one spoke.
“We agreed to reconvene in two days, but it seems there’s no need for that now. I must return with Peya….”
Then.
“…It is not yet finished.”
At Artega’s words, both men’s expressions grew puzzled.
In that moment, Ruwon and Peya’s heads snapped around.
‘Something is coming?’
Their senses were extraordinary.
Through the blizzard, they felt something approaching.
Ruwon’s perception was especially keen.
His eyes pierced through the wall to see beyond.
Where the sun had set, snow swirled in a frenzy.
A man trudged forward, cutting through snowdrifts piled up to his waist.
Ruwon nearly gasped in admiration without realizing it.
But he clenched his lips and held it back.
And soon Ruwon understood.
The movement of that mysterious figure had ceased.
‘He is dying…?’
Yes, he was undoubtedly dying.
Even now, he moved as though his consciousness had fled.
‘Remarkable, yet he will surely perish like this….’
At that moment.
“…!?”
Ruwon witnessed it.
The dying entity began moving again.
One step, two steps, several strides forward.
With each movement, his life force continued to fade.
He collapsed once more, but moments later.
‘What is this….’
He rose again.
Like a solitary spark above the vast snowy field.
Ruwon could not believe it.
Before long, that dying entity stood before the tower’s entrance.
Ruwon’s pupils trembled violently.
‘Why, why… he should already be dead?’
Creak—
Ruwon’s gaze turned toward the sound of footsteps.
Then a man appeared.
Pallid lips, a face drained of all color. Snow piled thick across his entire body. A frame that could collapse at any moment.
[HP is below 1%.]
Yet his eyes shone with unwavering brilliance and clarity.
He brushed the snow from his body and swept back his wet hair.
Slowly taking in the sight of the legends before him, he spoke.
“Master Craftsman Hyeon. I greet you, Sage Artea.”
[You have arrived at Sage’s Tower.]
[The hidden Divine Recognition Rate is now unlocked.]
Standing before the legends, Hyeon-su understood.
Development rate, negotiation rate, hatching rate. He had experienced many such metrics.
As that percentage climbed, what Hyeon-su gained was magnified exponentially.
The Divine Recognition Rate that Hyeon-su had never known.
An invisible trial that occurred during the ascent of the mountain.
And what the god of a greater blacksmith had left behind, recorded in the sudden Quest.
[You have reached Sage’s Tower faster than any legend in history.]
[You acquire 44% Divine Recognition Rate.]
[You began climbing at the lowest level among all legends in history.]
[You acquire 25% Divine Recognition Rate.]
[You have reached this place by piercing through a blizzard unseen in a century.]
[You acquire Divine Recognition Rate…]
[You have demonstrated an indomitable spirit that transcends death itself, repeatedly.]
[You acquire Divine Recognition Rate…]
Amid the endless notifications.
The final notification sent a shiver through Hyeon-su’s chest.
[Rewards will be maximized.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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