The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 397

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

Chapter 397
Episode 397.
-Overall Ranking: Undetermined
-Logical Message: Further verification required. More samples needed. Cannot determine ranking hastily.
“What’s this?”
“Undetermined?”
“It says undetermined?”
Everyone was thrown off by Logical’s message.
Exception upon exception was piling up.
Once you earned the Star Owner achievement, you were added to two rankings.
One was the ranking for the field to which the achievement holder belonged.
Since Jin-woo was a user in the Crafting category, the Crafting ranking was calculated and determined.
What followed was the overall ranking.
This overall ranking should have appeared alongside the other, but only one was showing.
“It seems the Crafting ranking was able to be calculated quickly.”
“Is the scoring not yet settled enough to establish the overall ranking?”
Ihwa Shin’s expression clouded with confusion.
“Logical can’t handle it?”
Logical was an omnipotent AI.
Until now, it had been the best at expressing things numerically, so people had no complaints about ranking determinations.
Yet now, that very Logical was officially saying it couldn’t calculate the ranking.
“This has never happened before. Not once.”
That’s why it was so unsettling.
Because it had never happened in the history of the system.
“Na-yun, give me Jin-woo’s achievement report and his activity report.”
“Right away!”
Ihwa Shin swiftly reviewed Jin-woo’s achievements from the moment he started playing.
He had been overwhelming from the start—beginning with an insane synchronization rate and clearing unique quests.
“His synchronization rate has increased even further?”
“Yes, that’s correct. His synchronization rate continues to rise.”
The synchronization rate that had started at eighty percent continued climbing, now approaching eighty-three percent.
His synchronization rate had jumped nearly three percentage points.
“What was the previous record?”
“One point five percent during active play.”
He had shattered that by a wide margin, and Jin-woo’s synchronization rate continued climbing even now.
“Unique achievements. Unique Job… Grade… Auction House….”
Ihwa Shin continued reading through Jin-woo’s achievements and accomplishments.
Normally, one or two pages should have sufficed.
Yet Jin-woo’s report went beyond two pages and still hadn’t ended.
He had no choice but to keep reading.
“First… first… and first again.”
Firsts and record-breaking.
Those were the words most frequently appearing in Jin-woo’s achievements and records.
Breaking existing records and clearing things as a first-ever accomplishment.
He had been playing while stacking exception upon exception.
And what was written at the very end was this L-Grade.
“And he reached L-Grade without any obstacles whatsoever.”
Reaching L-Grade came at the same time as breaking through level 500.
“That’s what’s most impressive.”
Ihwa Shin pointed to the level column.
“He’s at level 500 now.”
Level 500 corresponded to the “Intermediate” level in New Gene.
It was the minimum threshold to enter the Ranker ranks, and marked the point from which users could grow familiar with New Gene and enjoy varied playstyles.
“Starlight and Inclassic are both over level 1000, right? Slayer and Kalantiir too.”
There wasn’t a single user in the top 10 who hadn’t surpassed level 1000.
But that was old news now.
With Jin-woo’s inclusion, he was now the sole user among the top tiers whose level hadn’t broken 1000.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“So he’s alone at this level?”
“Yes.”
………
Now Ihwa Shin understood why the overall ranking hadn’t appeared.
He finally grasped why Logical was so flustered, and why the attached Logical message in the report conveyed that bewilderment.
If even Ihwa Shin, who’d only glimpsed this situation, felt this rattled, how astonished must Logical be—the system that judged everything holistically?
“Let’s proceed immediately.”
Ihwa Shin halted his deeper thoughts.
There was no need to puzzle over how this happened or whether it made sense.
He’d accomplished it, so all they had to do was congratulate him.
Moreover, wasn’t his playstyle exactly what Ihwa Shin had hoped for when he first opened New Gene?
True, those hopes had far exceeded expectations, yet there was still a profound sense of satisfaction.
“It’s wonderful that he’s enjoying it so much. Though it seems Logical is bewildered by just how much he’s enjoying it.”
Ihwa Shin smiled.
“Execute promotional ads for the New Continent right away, linking it to the main quest.”
“Yes!”
“You got it!”
Kim Na-yun beamed with delight.
“Everyone’s going to be shocked.”
* * *
-Achievement [Star Owner]
<<>> Hall of Fame
-Ranking.
1. Jin-woo 997 [NEW!]
2. Slayer 880
3. Kalantiir 852
4. Arianne 812
5. Tokaji 767
……
……
The Hall of Fame rankings for the Star Owner achievement were truly filled with stars.
“Everyone who reaches level 500 gets it.”
Rankers from every profession were on this Hall of Fame list.
Slayer, Kalantiir, Arianne, Tokaji….
“So it’s an achievement where all profession types gather together.”
The names of Starlight and Inclassic, who usually dominated, were notably absent.
Instead, Slayer and Kalantiir, the strongest of the combat class, held firm positions, with Arianne and Tokaji below them.
“Those two below are names I’ve seen in the Hero of Conflict achievement.”
Below them were many other formidable players.
Jin-woo didn’t recognize their names, but they were all the strongest users within their respective profession rankings in the top five.
All of them were ranked below Jin-woo.
“Hmm.”
Jin-woo was satisfied with the enormous point gap between himself and second-place Slayer.
“Since it’s based on level 500.”
He knew Slayer had already far exceeded level 1000.
“Based on level 500 standards, no one can catch up to me. I definitely got a lot further than them.”
Jin-woo had grown exclusively through Crafting from level 1 until now—growing explosively, you might say. In other words, he’d compressed his experience tightly and expanded enormously. No wonder his score was high.
‘It feels good to get such a positive evaluation.’
-Crafting Ranking has been calculated!
-Check your ranking position!
Jin-woo then reviewed the shocking ranking again.
<>
1. Starlight
2. Inclassic
3. Pendant
4. Umoresque
5. Jin-woo
“Fifth place.”
‘Honestly, I didn’t expect this.’
Jin-woo himself hadn’t anticipated his ranking would be this high.
At best, he’d thought he’d be in the top 20, and if lucky, top 10.
‘I never imagined I’d be a top-five Ranker.’
Fifth place in the Crafting ranking.
“I just became a Ranker.”
Starting at fifth place—Jin-woo couldn’t help but be thrilled.
Even back in the Eternal Sunshine days, he’d never achieved such a position.
Yet at the same time, there was a slight pang of disappointment.
‘It’s a shame there are only four craftsmen better than me.’
If his ranking had started in the 40s, there would have been dozens above him, which would have been truly exciting.
‘I’d have loved to climb the ranks and exchange pleasantries with each of them one by one.’
Apart from the known Named craftsmen of the Crafting category, everyone else was below him.
“So now there are only four people above me. Such a shame. Really a shame.”
First, Starlight, Inclassic, and Pendant he already knew.
“Who’s fourth?”
The fourth-place user was exactly whom Jin-woo needed to surpass.
“There isn’t much talk about them. That’s fortunate. At least I’ve found a user I didn’t know about.”
Having many people to interact with was a good thing.
Jin-woo recalled the names from the Hall of Fame ranking he’d just checked.
“There was a user named Lafit, I think. Doesn’t look like they’re here.”
That person had been in the rankings on other Hall of Fame lists.
‘I’d regret missing them.’
“But I’m satisfied overall.”
Still, it didn’t mean much had fundamentally changed. He’d simply reached level 500 and become a Ranker.
“Nothing major has changed. Actually, there’s still plenty of room to develop.”
Having cleared all the quests in Sacra, Jin-woo was planning to return to Avalon.
“I’m ready to interact.”
Jin-woo grinned.
“Time to spend some quality time with Pendant.”
* * *
SharkNet.
Rumors began spreading through the community.
-I heard Jin-woo destroyed a guild single-handedly.
-?? The Positano conflict? They posted videos of that. It was insane.
-No, I mean he supposedly destroyed a top-10 guild by himself?
-???
-What are you talking about.
-No matter how strong Jin-woo is, there’s no way he took on a top-10 guild alone.
-You need to say things that make sense.
Naturally, nobody believed it.
No matter how strong Jin-woo was, a top-10 guild was in a different league.
Even Slayer couldn’t beat a top-10 guild in a one-on-one.
-Slayer or Kalantiir might be able to?
-A few users come to mind.
-That famous grand mage known for explosions could probably do it too.
-But Jin-woo…
-Isn’t even a Ranker yet, right?
When evaluating Jin-woo, this was always the point that came up: Ranker status.
Jin-woo hadn’t yet achieved level 500.
Since he hadn’t entered the ranking yet, many said a proper evaluation was impossible.
-He’ll enter the rankings soon anyway.
-If he starts in the top 50, that’d be huge.
-He’ll definitely make it in.
People acknowledged that Jin-woo’s starting position would be somewhere in the 50s. He’d shown more than enough, and having captured both Peran and October through exchanges, it was only natural.
Ding-ding! Ding-ding!
-Huh?
-Why are so many posts going up?
-The post regeneration rate is insane. The lag is killing me.
Suddenly, posts began flooding SharkNet like crazy.
-Guys, the ranking has changed?
-Which ranking?
-The Crafting ranking has apparently changed!
-? Doesn’t that change all the time?
-The top positions all shifted, apparently!
-Did Starlight get overtaken by Inclassic, maybe?
As the Crafting category became hot due to Jin-woo, people quickly checked the situation, expecting another storm in that field.
-?????????????
-????
-Insane.
-Am I seeing this right?
But all their predictions fell through.
“Fifth place… right?”
“Fifth?”
“Fifth!?”
The result was impossible.
This kind of score shouldn’t exist.
-Bug?
-Has to be a bug, right?
-Fifth place doesn’t make sense.
-Did he just hit level 500?
The SharkNet community started going wild.
-No way…
-Wow…
-Fifth…?
-Is this even possible?
-Impossible. Has to be a glitch.
-Is Jin-woo’s skill the glitch?
There was no other way to make sense of such a ranking.

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