The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 5

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

Episode 5
5.
* Quest: The Craftsman’s Path
Rank: Legendary
Description: You have received an Introduction Letter from the Town Guard Captain. It is a legendary blacksmith’s introduction letter, passed down through generations in the Town Guard Captain’s family. Find the location written in the introduction letter and go there.
Reward: Legendary Occupation
-You have received the Tutorial reward.
-You have received an Occupation Quest.
It was a remarkably straightforward quest.
Rank: Legendary.
Yet the quest content was simply to find the location written in the introduction letter and go there.
‘Can I really become the apprentice of a legendary blacksmith?’
Eternal Sunshine had quests like this too.
Of course, Jin-woo had changed his Occupation to Legendary back then.
‘Lucky me.’
“Thank you for the introduction letter.”
Jin-woo swiftly pocketed the Introduction Letter he’d received as a reward.
‘I don’t know if I’ll become an apprentice or not.’
The most important thing was that he’d be able to craft more enjoyably.
‘Plus, I should definitely be able to make higher-quality equipment, right?’
Jin-woo loved making equipment, but he enjoyed viewing it just as much.
Especially viewing high-quality equipment—for Jin-woo, it was no different from cultural appreciation.
That was why he felt excited.
-Tutorial Quest Complete!
-You have cleared the Tutorial Quest without assistance from anyone!
-You have been registered in the Honor Hall for the quest [Wyvern’s Assault *Tutorial*].
-This is an unprecedented result!
-Tutorial Quest bonus points have been added.
-First Quest Clear bonus points have been added.
-Rankings have been recalculated!
-<>
-Honor Hall Ranking
1. Jin-woo [200 points] NEW!
2. Slayer [192 points]
3. Starlight [188 points]
4. Rapid [180 points]
……
First place in the Tutorial Quest.
From the very start, Jin-woo was already sweeping the Honor Hall.
“That was a bit too close, wasn’t it?”
His quest to help the Town Guard Captain had given him a decisive lead and secured first place, but this Tutorial Quest had only an eight-point margin.
“Looking at it, I’d say some people must have hunted the Wyvern directly? Is Slayer one of those users? That guy’s a monster. He cleared the Wyvern without even being level 1 or having decent gear.”
Right now, this was a Tutorial Quest.
A Tutorial Quest was literally a quest designed to explain and show what kind of game this was and how to play it.
The Wyvern was the strongest monster in the tutorial—not a monster made simply for you to hunt.
“But they didn’t make it impossible to clear either.”
Jin-woo felt quite satisfied.
“It says ‘unprecedented result,’ but I’m not sure if that’s just standard praise or if I’m the only one who’s cleared it this way.”
Still, at least among these four, he was the sole person to break the 200-point threshold.
“I earned my meal.”
As Jin-woo was content with himself,
“Here, take this.”
the Town Guard Captain held something out to Jin-woo.
“The introduction letter is the introduction letter, but you should receive this separately. It’s a reward for what you’ve done.”
An enhanced reward.
What Jin-woo received in his hand was a hammer of dark, muted grey.
-You have received a reward!
-You have received a Dark-grey Crafting Hammer!
The hammer he’d received was quite magnificent.
But what was even more surprising was the hammer’s grade.
[Dark-grey Crafting Hammer]
-Attack Power: 10~20
-Rank: S
-Durability: 5000 / 5000
<>
* Special Option [Powerful Force: While holding this hammer, your Strength increases.]
‘S-Rank? Do they really give S-Rank equipment as a reward straight from the Tutorial? And it’s from Hedorotos’s collection?’
“It’s been passed down through our family for generations.”
“On top of the introduction letter, a hammer as well. Aren’t I taking far too many family heirlooms?”
How did a simple village Town Guard Captain have all these things?
‘They must have been quite accomplished once.’
“You have the talent to deserve it. You’ve done work worthy of such recognition. If it weren’t for you, our village would have suffered greatly from the Wyvern. People would have died. But thanks to your sword, everyone’s lives were saved.”
The Town Guard Captain gestured with his hand as he spoke.
“So don’t think it’s excessive. It’s a reward perfectly befitting what you’ve accomplished!”
Conversely, it meant Jin-woo had conquered the quest so well that he deserved an S-Rank item.
“Thank you.”
“Take care.”
Whoosh—
Jin-woo’s body shone with light.
The Tutorial had ended.
The true beginning of Neugene was now.
“See you around.”
* * *
Synchronization Rate: 80 percent.
For the first time ever, an unprecedented occurrence had brought the Vice Director of Neugene to the monitoring room.
“Huh, seriously? Eighty percent? This isn’t some kind of bug, is it?”
“The system is operated by an super-artificial intelligence AI. Bugs cannot occur.”
“But that’s exactly the problem. If bugs can’t occur, how can the Synchronization Rate be eighty percent? That doesn’t make sense.”
Then he expressed his shock.
“Wasn’t it said that it’s rare for users to surpass 50 percent? And that it would cause physical problems? That’s why they set a limit in the first place, right?”
The Synchronization Rate had truly broken through the limit.
At this level, it could affect the user’s body and mind.
“Any danger signals?”
Of course, if something like that happened, the capsule would send a danger signal to Neugene.
“None whatsoever.”
Yet not only were there no danger signals—no problems had occurred at all.
“So they’re a Suited User?”
Suited User.
There were extremely rare individuals naturally suited to full-immersion virtual reality games.
Neugene called these people Suited Users, and the criterion was maintaining a high Synchronization Rate.
Roughly 30 percent. If you exceeded this threshold, you could be considered a Suited User.
“A Super-Suited User, actually.”
The previous highest reading had been 49 percent.
Now a user with 80 percent had appeared.
It was a figure far beyond all projected estimates.
“That’s incredible. I thought it would be impossible, but it’s actually possible!”
The Vice Director couldn’t hide his astonishment.
But at the same time, he felt regret.
“The thing is, they showed up far too late.”
In the early days, there had been high expectations.
If a Suited User appeared, it alone could showcase Neugene’s appeal to another level entirely.
But it hadn’t happened, and time had passed.
In the meantime, the players had surged ahead rapidly.
The current top-tier users were dedicating themselves to growth without wasting time.
Numerous Main Quests.
Side Quests.
And as they cleared Occupation Quests, they were achieving Leveling and Stat Increases.
Of course, their growth will eventually plateau.
Time alone is not the sole factor in growth.
Yet absolute time still matters.
A year behind?
No matter how suited a user is, it’s difficult to catch up.
Of course, the prowess of a Suited User will certainly be demonstrated.
“Since how important Synchronization Rate is has already been verified by the super-artificial intelligence AI, there will definitely be some impact. I’m quite looking forward to it.”
The Vice Director rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Monitor closely. They’ll definitely do something significant. Even if they’re a year behind, they should be able to become a Ranker. A top Ranker will be difficult though.”
Since the Synchronization Rate is quite high, they’ll find quests quite enjoyable even when doing many. They’ll provide material for Neugene’s official video channel.
With some expectation, the Vice Director left.
“Yes, understood.”
The Vice Director had shown considerable expectations for this newly appeared Suited User, but Kim Na-yoon thought his expectations seemed less than she’d anticipated.
After the Vice Director left, Kim Na-yoon, who had been working on personal tasks, was startled by a sudden “Chime” sound and looked to the side of her screen.
-[Urgent!]
It was a message box indicating an emergency.
“Huh?”
The same person.
The Super-Suited User Jin-woo.
“What’s this?”
-Legendary Quest Opened
“A Legendary Quest!?”
Kim Na-yoon checked the message in alarm.
-User [Jin-woo] begins Blacksmith Legendary Quest
Up to now, there had been exactly 20 Legendary Occupation Quests.
Among those 20 Legendary Occupation Quests, only two were Crafting-class Legendary Occupations.
And Jin-woo had just begun one of them.
Kim Na-yoon the GM called back the Vice Director who had just left.
“What is it?”
“A Legendary Quest.”
Kim Na-yoon reported simply.
“Huh. Wasn’t the Crafting-class Legendary Occupation Quest already finished?”
The Vice Director let out a breath and shook his head in surprise.
“Yes, that’s correct. After Inclassic and then Starlight obtained Legendary Occupations, we determined that Legendary Occupation Quests themselves had ended since none appeared.”
“But didn’t those two take quite some time?”
“Yes, that’s correct. This fast is unprecedented.”
Unprecedented.
Kim Na-yoon found herself unable to do anything but monitor Jin-woo.
“Wait, they cleared the Tutorial already?”
Kim Na-yoon quickly assessed the situation.
The early Tutorial phase was a section where most users couldn’t move proactively.
It was positioned in the very early stages of the game, and most users simply found themselves pushed around by the Wyvern.
Of course, among those involved in combat, there were those who attempted to hunt the Wyvern through extreme control.
But the early Wyvern was not a monster made to be hunted.
“Though there are people who hunted it with insane control, of course.”
There were indeed quite a few who hunted it directly. Though a minority, among the current top-ranked combat-class users, many had achieved the feat of hunting the Tutorial Wyvern.
Naturally, they received very high scores in the Honor Hall.
Slayer, who could be called the top-ranked warrior right now, demonstrated his overwhelming control skill and hunted the Wyvern directly.
The score he received as a result was what could be called the highest—192 points.
192 points. Just hearing it sent chills down the spine.
But Jin-woo had 200 points.
He was the first user ever to achieve a 200-point score, breaking into three figures.
“200 points? How on earth did they manage that?”
Monitoring team staff had to have extensive knowledge of Neugene.
That way they could understand how remarkable the achievements of the users they monitored truly were.
Along with knowledge as a Neugene player, they also needed knowledge as an operator.
Kim Na-yoon looked at the 200 points Jin-woo had achieved as though she couldn’t believe it.
The 192 points Slayer had held as the previous first place could be considered an overwhelming score.
“When 192 points was achieved, I really thought it was impossible, that generating a score higher than that was unthinkable.”
The user who had achieved 192 points had met numerous bonus conditions.
Taking the lead in the quest,
helping the Town Guard Captain perfectly, and even pulling off the feat of hunting the Wyvern directly.
That was how they achieved 192 points.
“Crafting-class users are supposed to struggle to even exceed 100 points in this Tutorial Quest.”
The Occupation Quest [Help the Town Guard Captain] was competitive among users of that class, but this Tutorial Quest [Wyvern’s Assault] required competing with all users.
“Huh.”
And that wasn’t even the end of it.
“This doesn’t make sense. What is this? Does the Town Guard Captain really give out rewards like this?”
There had been quite a few users who had pleased the Town Guard Captain before.
But Jin-woo was the first user ever to receive an S-Rank item from the Town Guard Captain.
“I’ve seen them teach skills before, but this is the first time I’ve seen them give out S-Rank equipment!”
Kim Na-yoon quickly typed, composing a report on what she was witnessing.
“Still, it’s a shame. If they’d just started a bit earlier.”
The gap with the top-tier Rankers was simply too vast.
But even so, this record-breaking start made Kim Na-yoon hopeful.
“It’s been a while since I’ve felt this motivated to work.”