Story Team Leader Lee Min-gyu was enjoying a rare tea break with Department Head Lee Hae-seok.Suddenly, a recent incident came to Min-gyu’s mind.Back then, after Hyun had unlocked the God’s Custom Crafting skill, Department Head Lee Hae-seok had insisted it needed to be nerfed.But after he saw the half-finished Four Tigers Sword that Hyun had created with God’s Emergency Crafting, he hadn’t said a single word since about sanctioning User Hyun.“Department Head, can I ask you something?”“What is it?”“Back then. After User Hyun crafted the Four Tigers Sword, why did you stop going on about balance?”“It’s skill. What kind of trash game harps on balance when what’s on display is raw skill?”“So that’s how it was. Honestly, these days it feels like your expectations for User Hyun are way too high.”Whenever Lee Min-gyu met with the Special User Management Team, he would catch Lee Hae-seok tossing out a line.‘I wonder what User Hyun is up to lately?’‘What did he craft this time?’‘What? He made a Legendary-grade sword? That’s impressive.’The expression on Lee Hae-seok’s face then had been like that of a child hearing a delightful story.Lee Hae-seok let out a faint chuckle and tilted his teacup.“To be honest, it’s true I’m expecting a lot. You know why, right? How it was that a Four Tigers Sword, which doesn’t even exist as an artifact in Ares the game, appeared for real and its effects were applied exactly like the real Four Tigers Sword.”Story Team Leader Lee Min-gyu gave a small laugh.“Even though the supercomputer Ares doesn’t exist inside this game world, it judged that the Four Tigers Sword in the data was the closest match, so it allowed the effect to be applied as-is.”“Right. It’s incredible. Almost all of Ares’s artifacts already have their framework, effects, and abilities set.”Because they were Story Team, they knew that better than anyone.“But User Hyun is different. He’s the only user capable of crafting original artifacts with his own custom effects.”The fact that such a user existed made Lee Hae-seok’s heart pound.“Team Leader Lee, you heard them all too growing up, right? Stories about legendary weapons and armor.”“Of course.”Most people had heard of them at least once.Excalibur, Balmung, Gram, Mjölnir, Ganjiang and Moye, or the First Emperor’s Sword, and so on.Naturally, there were a few in their own country as well.One of them was the Four Tigers Sword, and there were also weapons like Haemosu’s Dragon-Flame Sword or Admiral Yi Sun-shin’s Twin-Dragon Sword.With an expression that said he shivered just thinking about it, Lee Hae-seok finally voiced the reason.“I’m dying of curiosity.”That was why his expectations for User Hyun were so high.“Just how far up that list is he going to be able to go?”That was it. ****As Hyun fed ore into the furnace and began crafting, he had this thought.‘The shield from the blueprint I drew.’That shield resembled a certain shield from myth.Of course, he wasn’t crafting it to be completely identical, but its effects looked quite similar.‘That shield turns its enemies to stone in an instant.’In Greek–Roman myth, it was said to be used by Athena, the goddess of war, or by Zeus, the chief god, and a woman’s head had been set into it.But as he used that framework and mixed in his own specialized knowledge, Hyun made it more original still.‘Uncle Hyuksoo needs other effects on top of that, too.’Suddenly, Hyun remembered himself as a child.The countless weapons and armor from myth and legend.Some of them actually existed, and some did not.‘Dad, I want to make that!’It had been a ridiculous thing to say, but his father had made them with him.‘Of course, they weren’t the real ones.’Most of them didn’t actually exist.‘If something like that really existed, it would probably have been crafted like this.’Hammering away, his father had crafted weapons and armor shaped exactly like what he imagined.And as young Hyun grew older, one year at a time, he kept making them too.Half of it had just been for fun, and half had been from the anticipation of how far he could reproduce them.He had probably made several dozen in all.Before he knew it, it was the third day since he had started crafting, and he was in the final stretch.After he finished the final polishing process, he drew Hyun (現) on one side of the shield to complete it.[An artifact imbued with God’s Custom Crafting is being completed.][The experience and knowledge of a blacksmith with Artisan-level or higher skill have been melted into it, drastically increasing the effect application rate.][Effect application rate is 98%.][Grade is Unique.][You have crafted an artifact that comes closest to Legendary.][Please name the shield.][The God of Blacksmiths Title shines.][All stat increase rates from crafting an artifact with the once-per-week activation limit have been applied.][You obtain 50 Dexterity.][You obtain 100 Renown.][Shield Mastery Lv.1 proficiency increases by 19%.]Checking the completed shield, Hyun clicked his tongue in frustration.“Man, so close…!”The notification clearly said he had crafted an artifact that came closest to Legendary.‘I really wanted to present Uncle Hyuksoo with a true Legendary artifact…’Of course, even this artifact—wouldn’t Uncle Hyuksoo still be happy with it?Hyun tore the corresponding parchment to use the gift function.“I included the user manual too, so he shouldn’t have any trouble using it.”PUDUDUDUK-Hyun hooked the parchment to his toes and watched the falcon fly off. ****[A gift sent by Hyun has arrived.]Just as he was about to turn away in front of Salamander’s Dungeon, Bark spotted a single falcon flying toward him.He stretched out his arm, and the falcon naturally alighted on it.[Hyun: Unfortunately, it didn’t come out at the grade I was hoping for. Still, I’d be grateful if you put it to good use.]Bark, who had not been in a good mood, broke into a small smile.Somehow, just exchanging messages with this guy always put him in a better mood.“Well, sure. What can a level 59 blacksmith even make—that’s going to be that good?”Bark was a high ranker, and Ares was his plaything to spice up an otherwise boring life.Because of that, he had met countless blacksmiths, and even the country’s top blacksmiths.But to Bark, this felt more precious than anything they had ever given him.“Puhuhu, still, he must have been dripping sweat making this just for me. Let’s take a look, shall we?”Smiling faintly, Bark opened the item info.(Hyun’s Eighth Custom Craft Shield)Grade: UniqueDurability: 12,000/12,000Attack: 251Thorn Attack: 111Defense: 401Restriction: Tanker class, Level 150 or higherSpecial Abilities:·Fire-attribute Resistance +201%·Against fire-attribute monsters, Defense +247%.·Against fire-attribute monsters, Attack +222%.·Passive Skill: Freezing Eye.·Active Skill: Frost Thorn.·Active Skill: Frost Wave.Description: Hyun’s Eighth Custom Craft Shield. Close to Legendary, it was crafted with one shield as its motif. If the materials had been an even closer match, a true version of that shield might have been born.Bark’s expression turned briefly puzzled.‘What is this? A bug?’He closed the artifact info once and opened it again.But the artifact info didn’t change in the slightest.‘Unique…?’In Ares right now, user-crafted Unique artifacts were rare.Especially high-level Uniques—there weren’t even fifty in the whole country.And of those, most had dropped from monsters or were crafted by NPCs.‘H-how is a level 59…?’Then Bark checked the time.[Time remaining until Class Quest completion window: 1 hour 37 minutes 32 seconds.]There was no time. If he got the shield he’d wanted, his estimated clear time was about 1 hour 40 minutes.Without any time to think further, he entered.[You have entered Salamander’s Dungeon.][This is your final attempt at the Class Quest.]‘The moment I go in, the Salamanders swarm. I have to deal with them first.’Salamanders were level 260, massive lizards wreathed in flames.Bark planned to start attacking them the instant he went in.‘Time needed: 10 minutes.’The moment he crossed the threshold, a Salamander {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} at the entrance lunged at him.He reflexively raised his shield.And then he heard a strange sound.CR-R-R-R-RACK—[Freezing Eye.][Freezes fire-attribute monsters that are more than 60 levels higher than you.]It was the sound of something freezing over.KUUUUNG—Then the sound of something crashing to the ground.Bark drew back his shield with a baffled look on his face.One Salamander had become a solid block of ice.“…?”Still stunned, Bark soon spotted another Salamander.The moment he showed the shield to the creature—“Guh…!”Watching the Salamanders coming at him, he slowly swept the shield from left to right.The moment they saw the shield—CR-R-R-R-RACK—Every last one of them froze solid.“T-this is absurd.”What he had estimated at ten minutes took one.Of course, he had seen the notification explaining the effect of the skill called Freezing Eye.He had just rejected it as too unrealistic, that was all.And this sight—it resembled a certain weapon from myth.“Aegis…?”The shield called Aegis.The shield of Greek myth set with Medusa’s head.The effect was a little different. The real Aegis turned enemies to stone; this one simply froze them.Bark knew he didn’t have time for this. The faster he cleared, the greater the rewards would be.As he moved deeper inside, he spotted Blazing Archers.There were five of them.[Blazing Archer Lv.301]Their arrow speed was slow, but if they hit you, your entire body would go up in flames.Just then—[The User Manual is being opened.][Press the button on top of the grip once with your thumb.]The User Manual gave instructions according to the situation.Bark did as it said.Click.At that instant, eight spikes embedded in the face of the round shield shot out.CHWAAAARLK—They moved like a long snake gliding forward.Soon that snake of spikes struck all five archers.PUPUPUPUK—CR-R-R-R-RACK—The monsters cooled at a rapid rate.‘Insane…’But Bark shook his head.‘Is it single-use?’Another notification rang out.[Press the button twice to recall them.]Click, click—The spikes buried in the monsters retracted with a metallic CLACK and returned.Bark checked the artifact info once again.He saw a piece of info he hadn’t noticed before.Blacksmith Hyun (現).But since it was already engraved on the artifact, he had already realized it.Bark pushed onward at speed.[You are clearing Salamander’s Dungeon at high speed in a short time!]Fragments of his memories with the man flickered through his mind.Their first meeting.‘Blacksmiths still exist? Remarkable. So you learned blacksmithing as well?’Their second meeting.‘You want me to sell the forge back to you…’Their third meeting.‘I wanted you to live.’Thinking of him, before he knew it Bark was standing before the boss monster.[Boss monster has appeared!][Incarnation of the Queen of Fire Lv.319]‘I’m proud. I’m so damn proud of you, Hyun.’Bark laughed as he looked at this unbelievable shield.He crashed into the Incarnation of the Queen of Fire without hesitation.Leaving her true body aside, she had scattered incarnations across the world—beings whose entire bodies were wrapped in flame.Even her incarnations possessed power that defied common sense, and she was the boss of Salamander’s Dungeon.But even under her searing breath, the shield did not melt.The攻略 of Salamander’s Dungeon, which had seemed impossible, became reality.The more he came to understand the effects of this shield and the power of the artifact, the more chills ran through him.[You have hunted the Incarnation of the Queen of Fire.]A notification floated up. The Incarnation of the Queen of Fire was cooling.Her true body was one of the eight great monsters of the continent, a boss monster.As she froze over, she spoke.“…Who is the maker of that shield?”When there was no answer, her brow twitched.“Speak. If you do not, I will not let you go!”Her true body was dangerous. If she marked him, he might have to quit the game altogether.But he couldn’t sell Hyun out just to save his own skin.Under her threat, Bark gave a faint laugh.“Try and find out for yourself.”“Are you not afraid? Why will you not speak the blacksmith’s name?!”Why?It wasn’t because that blacksmith was Hyun, and it wasn’t because Hyun possessed tremendous value.‘He’s one of mine.’That was the reason. By now, Hyun was someone precious to Bark.Even under that threat, he silently turned his body and walked away.Soon the dungeon collapsed, and the Incarnation of the Queen of Fire froze completely.

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