Genius Blacksmith’s Game - Chapter 198

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

The Genius Blacksmith’s Game
Reunion (2)
While the Continental War raged on.
Whoosh—
The nurse and Jin-seop carefully lifted the sleeping Kang Hyeon-tae from the Capsule and laid him on the bed.
“…Are you satisfied?”
A faint smile seemed to linger at the corners of the sleeping Kang Hyeon-tae’s mouth.
His attending physician Jin-seop was a doctor.
He should have thought only of his patient Kang Hyeon-tae and prioritized his safety above all else.
When Kang Hyeon-tae entered the Capsule, Jin-seop was a doctor, so he should have removed him from it.
However, the VVIP patient Capsule placed in the patient room was distinctly different from standard Capsules.
The cables connected to the machine monitored both the patient’s physical and mental condition.
A red light illuminated if danger was detected; a green light if stable.
Jin-seop, who had intended to terminate the connection, stopped when he saw the green light.
Of course, he could have forced a shutdown.
But he judged that allowing him to force Logout on his own would be better for Lee Se-jin, who had been a vegetative patient, than forcing a termination.
And….
‘…I’m his father too.’
Jin-seop clenched his fists with that thought.
There was only one reason for his excitement.
‘Kang Hyeon-tae, a miracle has happened to you.’
Michael, a world-renowned doctor in the field of vegetative patients, stated in this research that vegetative patients who experienced a miracle in a single day had an overwhelmingly high probability of fully awakening.
In other words, Kang Hyeon-tae had taken another step forward.
And for his attending physician Jin-seop, while Jin-tae was precious, there was another person equally dear to him.
-It’s Crazy Rookie. Many experts suspect he’s a Weapon Master, and it seems he’s attempting to summon another weapon.
Attending physician Jin-seop gazed at the Ore materializing on the screen.
The Continental War was reaching the entire nation, much like the World Cup.
Ji-hye, the nurse who harbored unrequited feelings for Hyeon-su, wore an anxious expression.
Lee Ho-seok, the team leader of the Personnel Department—the one who had received a shirt as a gift from Hyeon-su—had rushed over at the news that Kang Hyeon-tae had awakened.
Everyone in this room who had known Hyeon-su and cared for Kang Hyeon-tae was watching him with tense expressions.
-However, it seems that no matter what weapon is summoned now, nothing will change.
Contrary to what the commentators said, those present knew a truth only they understood.
“…What are they talking about?”
Jin-seop laughed, crossing his arms.
“Our Hyeon-su is a Blacksmith.”
The finest Blacksmith he knew, at that.
Soon, as an alarm spread across the screen, everyone in the room erupted in cheers.
[A World Message rings out.]
*
*
*
Elsewhere.
At a beer house, a young man had been cheering exclusively for Crazy Rookie while eating chicken and beer with his guild members.
“Ji-hoon, come on!”
“Hehehehe….”
The young man called Ji-hoon. He was Hyeon-su’s closest friend.
Unbothered by his guild members’ jabs, he kept shouting “Crazy Rookie, fighting!” from the chicken restaurant.
Then, suddenly.
“Ugh, sob… hic-hic….”
He began to cry.
One guild member tilted their head in confusion, but Ji-hoon wept audibly.
After his father had become that way, Ji-hoon had gone to a pension located in the mountains with Hyeon-su.
And when morning came, he saw Hyeon-su gazing blankly down at the base of the mountain.
At that moment, Ji-hoon had casually shouted at him to come eat.
But he could never forget Hyeon-su’s expression then.
Hyeon-su’s world had crumbled.
And that father he had so desperately wanted to meet.
Learning that he had finally met him, Ji-hoon was genuinely overjoyed.
“Damn….”
“Ah, he lost….”
“Geez, why even have this Continental War nonsense!”
Unlike the weeping Ji-hoon, people began losing interest, convinced of inevitable defeat in the Continental War.
-What is that ore?
The people at the chicken restaurant suddenly turned their heads at the commentators’ abrupt words, their hopeful expressions cooling instantly.
“That guy’s a Weapon Master?”
“He really is a Weapon Master?”
“I don’t know, but the experts and rankers say so, so it must be true?”
Ji-hoon, who had been dazed, pulled himself together.
People were already quenching their thirst with cooled expectations and lukewarm beer.
Yet Ji-hoon’s eyes remained fixed on his friend Hyeon-su’s image broadcasting on the TV hanging nearby.
With wavering eyes, he gazed closely into Hyeon-su’s eyes.
“Excuse me.”
“Ah, we can’t see the TV!”
He and Hyeon-su had been friends for a long time.
Should one say that just by looking at his eyes, he could now understand?
From his gaze, Ji-hoon discerned one truth.
‘Confidence… conviction….’
A voice from behind.
“Ji-hoon, do you happen to know that Weapon Master?”
Ji-hoon did not answer.
Sweat begins to drip from my clenched fist as I shake my head.
‘Weapon Master? What is this nonsense.’
And then the announcement spreads.
At the mention of a World Message, the eyes of everyone in the shop—which had grown cold—snap back to the television.
‘He’s the only Master Craftsman in this world!’
And then it comes back to me.
[The first legend is being written.]
And with that, Ji-hoon shouted.
“Go! Sweep them all away!”
Elsewhere.
A shabby two-story residential area.
Park Hae-su, the only son of Kim Hye-suk, had returned to his hometown for the first time in a while.
Hae-su, who had been watching the Continental War on his smartphone, immediately turned on the TV the moment he arrived.
Kim Hye-suk and Park Bong-sik, who had come out of their room to greet their son, felt disappointed when he turned on the TV right away and began nagging him.
“Son, is the TV more important than your mother and father? You brat!”
“Ah, wait! It was a crucial moment—this person called Crazy Rookie was making something out of ore… Ugh, what would you two know!”
Park Hae-su kept his eyes fixed on the television.
But suddenly, Hye-suk’s astonished voice rang out—someone who didn’t even know the first letter of the word “game.”
“Wait, isn’t that Hyeon-su?”
Her husband Bong-sik reacted.
“Huh? That’s right! It’s Hyeon-su from the two-story house!”
“My goodness, it really is him! But why is Hyeon-su doing that!?”
“Oh, Hyeon-su mentioned it before—he said he made money as a Blacksmith in some place called Aresong or something.”
Hae-su’s expression grew puzzled.
“Huh…? What are you talking about? That person is a Weapon Master.”
But suddenly his mother and father squeezed in between him.
“What’s happening!?”
“Ah, let me watch too!”
Hae-su tilted his head and absorbed the notification with wavering eyes.
“What, what…? The first legend…? Could it be that someone just became the first User to reach legendary status!?”
“Legend? What’s that?”
“Is it a good thing?”
“Um… it’s similar to scoring a goal in the World Cup.”
Hye-suk and Bong-sik suddenly stood up from their seats.
And soon Hae-su focused on the additional notification appearing. It was the kind of message that usually told what he had become, and what Achievement he had accomplished.
[He has created a new grade Artifact that doesn’t exist in the world—the first among all Users.]
Hae-su gasped in shock.
‘A, a new grade Artifact that doesn’t exist in the world…!?’
And Bong-sik and Hye-suk demanded an explanation again.
“Um… it’s like being down 0-3 and then one person suddenly scoring four goals in a row to reverse it…!”
At those words, Kim Hye-suk and Park Bong-sik embraced and danced together.
“Wooooooooh!”
Unable to contain his excitement, Park Bong-sik struck a triumphant pose and shouted, while Kim Hye-suk stretched her arms forward and cried out.
“Hyeon-su, go for it, go, go, go!”
Elsewhere.
The MVP award ceremony for the Continental War, which would soon conclude, was to be presented by Lee Se-jin, the representative of Pureum Corporation.
Though the Continental War had not yet ended, Lee Se-jin, who was preparing for the ceremony, could see the employees gathered in the central hall.
Given that it was Korea versus China, Lee Se-jin had installed a massive screen in the company headquarters’ largest hall so that all employees could watch.
Moreover, as employees of Pureum Corporation, they understood the current situation better than anyone else.
Lee Se-jin walked toward the hall to confirm what was happening.
At that moment.
The Story Team leader spoke.
“No, this can’t be… It wasn’t supposed to appear for at least another six months….”
Lee Se-jin’s expression grew puzzled.
Six months? It wasn’t supposed to appear for six months?
Lee Se-jin’s eyes widened as notifications flooded in.
‘What, what is this…!’
Lee Se-jin had judged that although Kang Hyeon-tae had suddenly intervened, it would not affect the Continental War.
It had to be that way.
“Representative….”
Soon, Kim Tae-seok and Lee Ji-hee from the Special User Management Team arrived.
“A user named Kang Hyeon-tae handed Hyeon-su a piece of paper with the Twin Dragon Sword’s crafting method drawn on it.”
With that, Tae-seok held out an image of the Twin Dragon Sword’s crafting method that he had captured on his mobile phone to Se-jin.
Se-jin’s eyes wavered.
It was a complex-looking blueprint.
It resembled an automobile.
To operate a single automobile requires hundreds of different materials.
Could even those exceptional in their field create this after seeing it just once?
“Moreover, it was an emergency craft.”
Those words made Se-jin’s heart pound even harder.
Emergency crafting took only 4 to 8 seconds.
In those 4 to 8 seconds, he understood and completed the crafting method for the Twin Dragon Sword?
This was a difficult feat even for those exceptional in any field.
If someone were to bring Se-jin, a scientist, a crafting method for some program, he could not do it that quickly.
In other words, the meaning was simple.
Just as the notifications appearing now suggested, Hyeon-su was the only user with the unique glory to stand at that pinnacle.
And the notification that had just emerged.
He was the first user to create a new grade of Artifact that did not exist in the world, and this news was striking the entire globe.
Following that.
[He has newly inscribed the grade of the Artifact called Transcendence.]
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
An employee screamed. It was Lee Ji-hee from the Special User Management Team.
In that instant, everyone’s eyes turned toward Ji-hee, radiant with joy. They were gauging the room, acutely aware of Lee Se-jin’s presence.
Lee Se-jin soon pushed through the crowd of employees and strode forward.
“There are dozens of Legend candidates scattered across the world….”
The people gathered here knew this fact better than anyone.
Lee Se-jin clenched his fist without thinking and thrust it powerfully toward the sky.
“Korea did it first! User Hyeon-su did it!”
It was proof that he, too, was a citizen of Our Country.
The employees in the room, who had been watching cautiously, now unleashed their fervor.
“Woooooo!”
“Insane!”
“The first Legend!”
“The first among 1.2 billion, the first!!!!”
“Let’s goooooo!”
“The first transcendent Artifact!!!”
*
*
*
Inside the Korean Fortress.
The Chinese Users who had annihilated every Korean User were now breaking through the Barrier.
‘Stubborn bastards.’
Pond marveled. He had never imagined that Users from Korea—a nation barely a speck compared to China—would mount such a formidable resistance.
Only about fifty of China’s strongest Users remained alive on this battlefield.
Before them fluttered a crimson flag emblazoned with “Asgan”.
Then, all the Users breaking through the Barrier suddenly stopped in unison.
[A World Message rings out.]
[The first Legend is inscribed.]
They could not hide their shock.
They had heard tales of dozens of Strong Ones across the globe pursuing Legendhood.
But they had never dreamed it would happen so soon.
“Keep going, it’s unrelated to us….”
The next notification brought him to an abrupt halt.
[He has become the first User to forge a new grade Artifact never before seen in the world.]
“What…?”
He was bewildered.
A new grade Artifact?
‘Such a thing exists?’
Then one User spoke.
“There’s still one left alive—shall we just leave him be?”
One more left? I recalled Crazy Rookie, whom I had deliberately kept alive to kill last.
Pond scoffed at him.
While facing Crazy Rookie, I had thought this.
“Nonsense. He’s nothing but a vessel of recklessness and stubbornness.”
In Pond’s assessment, Crazy Rookie could only have reached this position thanks entirely to Blacksmith Hyeon.
“I’ve faced many renowned Users. But this was my first encounter with someone so renowned yet possessing such pathetic skill.”
Named Users each had their own reasons for their strength.
But with Crazy Rookie, I saw none of that.
“Merely above-average skill, and the Artifact that Hyeon crafted was extraordinary. As an individual User alone, he’s so utterly unremarkable….”
[He has newly engraved the rank of the Artifact Transcendence.]
With the continuous notifications, Pond froze in place.
‘What?’
Then Pond was taken aback.
It was because of the final notification.
[His name is Blacksmith Hyeon.]
“…?”
For a moment, those present wore expressions of shock.
And the minds of Pond and the Chinese Users seemed to momentarily freeze.
The reason their minds froze.
Super-Named NPC.
That is, when NPCs of Legendary Grade or higher entered a certain radius, a specific notification would sound.
Screeeeeech—!
As the half-destroyed Castle Gate opened and Hyeon-su entered, the notification rang out.
[The one who first recorded Transcendence has arrived.]
[10 Legends. The emergence of Master Craftsman Hyeon!]
Information materialized above Hyeon-su’s head.
[10 Legends. Master Craftsman Hyeon-su Lv.339]
The entire world was engulfed in shock.

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