Genius Blacksmith’s Game - Chapter 244

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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
Golden Goblin (5)
Before Second Ares opened.
People around the world were intensely curious about Ares after the server integration.
And what the most important thing in Second Ares would be.
Lee Se-jin’s Press Conference Hall, where the most journalists gathered.
One journalist asked a question.
“What do you think is the most important thing in Chapter Two?”
The most important thing in Chapter Two.
It was a question that Users who enjoyed Chapter One would naturally wonder about.
“First-mover advantage.”
“First-mover advantage?”
“Yes. In Second Ares, there exists truly boundless new content. You will reach new places, discover materials you’ve never seen before, and encounter unexpected beings. This boundless content—securing it first will be genuinely important.”
Why would mere first-mover advantage matter so much?
The journalists who thought so soon grasped Se-jin’s meaning.
It mattered. Enormously.
If ordinary Users secured it first, they could sell that information for astronomical prices.
And high-level Users, the top rankers, could grow stronger and advance further based on what they’d secured first.
Especially in a game like Ares.
First, original, pioneer, first entry.
They all grasped special rewards.
First-mover advantage was that important in Ares.
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*
*
A woman emerged from the Capsule in panic.
Her name was Yong-wol.
“This can’t be….”
She tore at her own hair.
She had been forcibly logged out by Hyeon-su and dropped her equipment and armor.
“Why did I have to drop that of all things…!”
And she had dropped other things as well.
It was something connected to the “first-mover advantage” Lee Se-jin had mentioned.
Yong-wol had obtained it during her adventures in Chapter One.
Clever as she was, she had believed without doubt that it would let her monopolize information and secure first-mover advantage in Second Ares.
‘That’s something you can’t even buy with money!’
What made her most desperate was that the one who would pick it up was Hyeon-su.
It was a map.
The map’s name was “Map to Meet a New Race.”
Yet absurdly, the map neither guided the path nor indicated what race it was.
In other words, it couldn’t be appraised.
Yong-wol had once spent considerable money to find the greatest appraiser in China.
That appraiser also failed to appraise the map and said this:
“There appear to be two methods to appraise this map.”
“Two methods?”
“Yes. The first is reaching the conditions the map desires. Simply put, it means reaching a certain level. A new race. Just looking at it, doesn’t it seem like content that couldn’t be done even if the Second Ares opened? I believe you’d need to exceed level 450 to appraise it.”
“What’s the second method?”
“The seal on this map appears to have been placed by those mysterious new races. The one they call. Someone they desire. It seems it will unlock when that someone is reached.”
“Someone they desire? That means there are almost no possibilities, doesn’t it?”
“Correct. You would need to satisfy the level requirement. But Yong-wol, the value of this cannot be measured in money. All Users knew that eventually a new race would appear. To monopolize that itself defies common sense.”
At that time, Yong-wol agreed.
The new materials they would possess, new resources, new monsters, even new dungeons.
The value they held was simply immense.
And Yong-wol knew.
“Hyeon-su couldn’t unlock it anyway.”
She truly harbored such petty thoughts.
But she didn’t know.
That map was connected to an Achievement Hyeon-su had accomplished.
*
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*
Notifications flooded Hyeon-su’s awareness.
[You have eliminated Sword Master Roman, leader of the Rebel Forces.]
[You obtain 1,119,004 experience points.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
With this, I grew stronger still.
Four levels gained in an instant.
Through this power, I could now protect my Atlas even more effectively.
Additionally, notifications regarding the Rebel Forces came through.
[2,103 enemy combatants who participated in the rebellion have been completely annihilated.]
[18 Soldiers and 3 Knights from our forces have fallen in battle.]
[A remarkable Achievement.]
[Contribution accumulates according to the Territory Battle system.]
[You obtain 75,031 contribution points.]
[The King’s successor quells the Rebel Forces, restoring peace to the Kingdom.]
[It was a greedy rebellion that no subject desired.]
[The people’s trust in the King’s successor rises dramatically.]
[You have acquired 300 Prestige.]
[You have acquired 120 Dominance.]
[The amount of dropped Gold increases by 10%.]
[The experience gained by Soldiers and Knights increases by 10%.]
[All stats of all Guild members are increased from +3 to +5.]
[You have acquired +5 to all stats.]
[Your successor’s position becomes solid and unshakeable.]
[However, even more enemies will target you.]
The notification reminds me of what Roman had said.
More enemies target Hyeon-su.
But my Atlas has become even more fortified.
[Average levels are calculated based on battle completion.]
[Soldiers have leveled up an average of 6 levels.]
[Knights have leveled up an average of 2 levels.]
The number of level-ups was truly staggering.
Moreover, a considerable portion of my current forces were Soldiers who had been sleeping in Atlas previously.
They were followers of a sage-king who once ruled the Continent.
They believed I too was walking the path of a sage-king, yet they harbored anxiety about combat.
Naturally.
Because combat was a matter of life and death.
But our casualties numbered fewer than twenty.
Of course, they did not know these were gifts from Kabel, and they all attributed it to the brilliant strategy of Hyeon-su and Nel.
‘I have never experienced a battle like this in my life.’
‘To overwhelm such superior numbers and annihilate them with such excellent strategy.’
‘These Artifacts are unlike anything I’ve seen—they protected me and allowed us to defeat the enemy.’
‘A figure worthy only of admiration and respect.’
[The loyalty of your forces reaches toward the heavens.]
“It is an honor to serve you, Lord.”
Watching them, I smiled softly.
And there was still more.
All the Soldiers and Knights had collected the spoils of war.
A Knight representative knelt and presented the spoils to me.
“It is a great joy to offer these spoils to you, Lord.”
His words carried genuine sincerity.
[The spoils are too numerous.]
[The spoils are being consolidated.]
I was taken aback.
‘This much…?’
The quantity was truly absurd.
I did not know it then, but recalling who I had faced, it was only natural.
The Chinese Users gnashed their teeth and crossed over to plunder.
In the process, they had equipped themselves with the most dazzling Artifacts just in case.
Territory wars also varied their Gold drop amounts based on the opponent’s strength, and Artifact drop rates followed the same principle.
As for the Rebel Forces, with Sword Master Roman at the helm and members of prestigious Knight Families participating, most wore excellent weapons and fine armor.
[You acquire 979,401 Gold.]
A value equivalent to 900 million Korean won.
Beyond that, what deserves attention from the Golden Goblins is the Artifacts.
‘Insane.’
One Legend-tier Artifact dropped by Pond—a tier beyond Legend itself.
Besides that, one Legend-tier Artifact.
Three Artifacts closest to Legend.
Approximately thirty Unique-tier items.
Combining just Rare and Epic tiers brings the total to over two hundred.
When Common Grade Artifacts were included as well, their value reached an astronomical level.
A substantial portion of this wealth would be channeled into Territory development funds.
Artifacts could be melted down and recreated anew.
‘This is a Blacksmith’s Territory, after all.’
The synergy it would generate was beyond imagination.
Atlas had grown twenty percent stronger than before.
It was then that Hyeon-su’s expression shifted to one of bewilderment.
His Inventory was literally crammed with miscellaneous items.
Among them, something was resonating with him.
Hyeon-su opened his Inventory.
Among the abundance, he spotted something gleaming.
‘A map to encounter a new race…?’
Hyeon-su retrieved it.
[The Map to Encounter a New Race resonates with you.]
Hyeon-su’s expression grew puzzled.
‘Why is it resonating with me?’
Yet Hyeon-su understood the significance of what “new race” implied.
‘Could it be…?’
There was one thing Hyeon-su hoped for.
When people think of new races, two come to mind first.
Dwarves and Elves.
Hyeon-su could welcome either of these two conventionally imagined races.
If Dwarves?
‘I am a Blacksmith. For that reason, I’ve always wanted to meet Dwarves someday.’
Dwarves would likely demonstrate Crafting methods differentiated from humans.
This was why it mattered.
‘My skill growth has a clear ceiling.’
I think of the world’s greatest soccer player.
Even at their peak, they cannot climb any higher.
From that point forward, everything depends on condition and luck.
However, learning a new crafting method means my growth continues anew.
Second.
‘Elves….’
I recalled the Cassel Territory.
The territory of Cassel, under attack by the undead.
There, I recreated the Bell of Lamas and saved it, receiving the Lowest Grade Orichalcon from Lord Kern.
‘Orichalcon, a Legendary Grade Ore, is an insane mineral.’
Light, excellent elasticity, and superior cutting power.
For precedent, my Sword, Supremacy, was forged from the highest grade Orichalcon.
And Lord Kern said his Ancestors obtained it from the Elven Lands.
The Elven Lands. If Orichalcon exists in that place humans have yet to reach, what would happen?
I gazed upon my four thousand Soldiers.
‘…An army armed with Orichalcon.’
A mad fantasy.
But this had to be verified.
‘It might not exist.’
Just because Ancestors obtained it from the Elven Lands doesn’t guarantee it’s scattered there.
Then.
[You have gained the qualification to appraise.]
I checked immediately.
“Appraise.”
[A map leading to a new race is being appraised.]
[The name is being changed.]
[It changes to a map leading to Elvenhiem.]
[You are only fulfilling half the qualifications.]
[Once you reach a certain level, the path will open.]
[The level threshold you must reach is far lower than ordinary Users.]
“What?”
I wanted to ask in the old way.
‘What the hell is Elvenhiem!’
In the end, the map provided no guidance, and no information about what race existed there.
Absurd disappointment flooded through me.
‘Still, a lower level than others….’
Then.
[You have saved a small World Tree.]
The connection was revealed.
A small World Tree.
I had first discovered it through Spear Heaven Ben—a legendary material of the highest caliber, utterly insane in its properties.
This material was the finest ever found in Ares for crafting spears and bows, ranking among the highest tier of legends.
But that was in the First Ares.
Hyeon-su had once posed a hypothesis.
‘Why a small World Tree?’
Wouldn’t it suffice to simply call it the World Tree?
That hypothesis now materialized before my eyes.
[You have come to know that a true World Tree exists.]
[The true World Tree is calling out to you.]
Hyeon-su could feel it.
The existence of a new material that overwhelmingly surpassed the small World Tree.
At that moment.
[Supercomputer Ares responds to User Hyeon-su.]
Lee Se-jin watched the Supercomputer Ares’s response with intrigue.
‘Why does it respond to User Hyeon-su when it did not respond to Yong-wol.’
Lee Se-jin realized that the Supercomputer Ares harbored the same concern he did.
That concern now displayed itself on the screen.
[His subjects need not necessarily be human.]

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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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