Genius Blacksmith's Game

Kimura.

He had been relieved when he saw the linked quest: Gather Mandara’s Materials, trigger.

After Hyunsoo left, Mandara had laughed wickedly, and Kimura had been able to check the detailed quest contents.

According to what he confirmed.

A user at the same level as Hyunsoo would have to hunt for at least a month or more to gather it all.

Because Mountain Owlsbears had to be hunted evenly as well, an ordinary user would have needed to recruit a party, and in truth, it was practically impossible.

Thus, Alrod’s quest had completely failed, and the thing they were worried about would absolutely never happen.

That was what Kimura had thought in an ordinary way.

Even if he knows he can obtain a blessing.

For the king of a nation and the world’s top ranker to stay in one hunting ground for that long was a loss.

However, currently.

[Extreme mental strength has activated a total of 16 times.]

[Will has activated 17 times.]

Extreme mental strength.

It was a user’s limit.

Breaking through that limit was not easy, and just as the stat’s name implied, it depended literally on one’s “Will.”

If Kimura were an ordinary user, how many times could he achieve extreme mental strength at most?

Three times?

And that would only be if he kept stepping on and over his limits again and again.

Moreover, this had happened in a mere five days.

On top of that, the moment Hyunsoo obtained the title Owlbear Ruler, the situation changed even faster.

The title Owlbear Ruler announced that a new ruler had appeared in Owlbear Nest.

Its advantages and disadvantages were clear.

The advantage was that, based on the 40% drop-rate increase, gathering progress naturally rose exponentially as well.

The disadvantage is that every owlbear rushes only toward him in order to drag down the ruler.

Every time the owlbears in one hunting ground respawned, they continued to charge at a single person in order to hunt him.

It was an enormous danger.

However, even in that situation, Hyunsoo summoned his pets.

He fought fiercely once again against the enormous owlbear legion.

And when he obtained the title Owlbear Ruler.

It stated that the respawn rate of Mountain Owlbears would only increase exponentially.

From the start, Mountain Owlbear was a semi-boss-grade monster.

Its respawn rate continued to grow faster as “the number of owlbears hunted” by the target increased.

[Mountain Owlbear’s respawn rate has increased up to 7x.]

Unbelievable.......

Kimura, an employee who had been on the job for only a month and a half.

During that month and a half, he had seen all kinds of truly tenacious people.

But this was his first time seeing someone this tenacious.

And the result was right before his eyes.

[Number of Mountain Owlbears hunted: 16.]

“.......”

All he could say was that it was insane.

Kimura was so shocked that he thought about telling someone, and then he remembered the employee of the Korean Special User Management Team.

When Kimura had seen Mandara’s quest, he had thought she had too many “pointless worries,” but his thoughts changed.

She had been worrying about exactly what needed to be worried about.

Tremble—

With shaking hands, he tapped away at the keyboard and explained the current situation.

Then he asked.

[How is something like this possible?]

The answer came immediately.

[The reason he is Zero-grade.]

“Ha, haha.......”

Kimura let out a hollow laugh.

Then he thought of the woman on the other side.

Thanks to her, he was learning many things.

So Kimura also tried to think through “causality” and see if there was anything else they should perhaps be worrying about.

And soon, when he found it, chills ran down his spine.

Because, like her.

And like his own team lead.

He had come to look into something and predict it.

He hoped this would be of help to her.

[I’ve found one thing we need to be concerned about.]

Kimura began tapping on the keyboard.

[There is one tradition among alchemists across the entire continent.]

[A tradition?]

Kimura smiled bitterly.

[That’s right. What alchemists need most is materials. They commission materials, and when the target brings those materials, they make a potion with them.]

[What is there to be concerned about there?]

She filled in what he lacked, and Kimura, who had grown quite a bit, filled in what she lacked.

[The tradition is that when an alchemist makes a potion using the materials brought by the client, the alchemist gifts the best-made potion to that client.]

However, there was another condition, and the Korean Special User Management Team stated that condition.

[I remember that tradition. But it also has this condition, doesn’t it? They gift it if the “best thing” they have ever made comes out.]

For alchemists, making the best thing meant “growth.”

That growth had to be achieved because the client had brought the materials.

But what she was thinking was this.

[Isn’t the idea that he’ll suddenly whip up his greatest potion a bit too far?]

Kimura supplemented her words.

[It’s possible.]

He pointed out the “core” of this story.

[Because right now, the materials have become overflowing.]

It was a clear factor, and soon she replied.

[You’ve grown.]

From beyond the screen, he felt as though he could see a smile.

She was probably smiling like a gentle teacher looking at a student who had grown.

[Now you’ll have to experience growing pains.]

[Growing pains?]

But soon, Kimura understood.

That smile.

[The growing pains called overtime.]

Had been evil, like a demon.

*****

Late at night.

Crash—!

Mandara picked up a potion filled with red liquid and hurled it away.

Looking at the shattered potion bottle, Mandara clutched his head.

“Damn it, with worthless materials like these, only potions like this come out!”

Mandara.

He was a priest and alchemist who could make rare and even epic potions from normal materials.

That was now a story of the past.

Back when he was in the Ares Church.

Thanks to the Ares Church, which overflowed with money, he was supplied with excellent and outstanding materials.

Of course, the materials permitted to a mere priest could only be so special.

Still, about five times a year, he had been able to receive materials from rare monsters.

Mandara’s talent had been so exceptional that he was mentioned as being elder-class solely through potion crafting.

The fairly good supply of materials added to that had fostered his growth.

However, now.

Mandara, who ran a mere general store, could not easily obtain high-quality materials.

Of course, if he set his mind to selling potions across the entire continent, he could quickly raise funds.

However, the Ares Church was not kind to those who left the church.

That was why Alrod was the Star of Knowledge, and Mandara was stuck in this rural corner.

“Damn Alrod!”

That was why Mandara’s anger was even greater.

Even knowing that, when Alrod, who had grown up together with him in the Ares Church since childhood, had been expelled.

Mandara had left the church with him.

But what had Alrod said to him?

If not for you......!

Mandara might have overcome his limits and risen to Legendary.

That was why he had been an elder candidate.

To the point that everyone had been certain Mandara would soon become Legendary.

“Damn it.......”

Right then.

Thud-thud-thud—

What is it?

Someone knocked on the door, and Mandara grew tense.

Could it be?

Had the Ares Church found him?

He approached the door warily and opened it carefully.

Hm?

A puzzled expression crossed his face.

The person who had knocked.

It was the person Alrod had sent not long ago.

From the start, Mandara had demanded such a large amount that he would be unable to obtain it.

“Why have you come?”

“I gathered it all.”

Since it was night, Mandara let him inside for the time being.

The place he led him to.

It was the material warehouse.

“Take them out here.”

And after seeing what he took out, Mandara intended to tell him directly to get lost now.

“Here?”

But the man looked puzzled.

“Yes.”

“......Mm, understood. There’ll be quite a lot.”

Then the man took the materials out of his inventory.

Huh? Owlbear teeth?

The man had looked ordinary on the outside.

But he had hunted owlbears?

Soon, Mandara was about to put on an indifferent expression while looking at the piled-up teeth, hides, and other materials.

Huh? Why do they keep coming out?

Rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle—

Before he knew it, one side of the warehouse was full.

And after a while.......

[Owlbear Claws: 2,397.]

[Owlbear Pelts: 3,351 kg.]

[Owlbear Teeth: 2,860.]

[Gathering progress has reached 43%.]

“......Huh?”

Mandara fell into shock.

Mandara also gave gathering-type quests to others from time to time.

However, he set the amount at least ten times higher.

I-Impossible.......

Only five days had passed.

Then, seeing the dark circles under the man’s eyes and the bloodstains on his body, he realized it.

This man had continued a forced march for those five days.

And Mandara acknowledged this man.

“Go in and rest for now.”

So he was about to guide him toward a room......

“......I haven’t taken everything out yet.”

“???”

[You have acquired Mountain Owlbear Giant Claws (45).]

[You have acquired Mountain Owlbear Hide (457 kg).]

[You have acquired Mountain Owlbear.......]

Mandara nearly stopped breathing.

“Kuh-heoook!”

But then.......

Thud—

The one whose breath gave out was the man.

Hyunsoo had fainted again after quite a while!

“Hehe, potion...... Alrod...... reconciliation...... Hehe, I did it.......”

Looking at the collapsed man, Mandara was astonished.

The man had not merely carried out his request well. He had done it in a way that bordered on the miraculous.

He did what I told him not to do.......

Through the mutters he let out at the moment he fainted, Mandara learned that Alrod had not sent this man with empty hopes.

He laid him down to one side.

As he laid the young man in a room where the moonlight shone well, Mandara’s competitive spirit boiled.

That competitive spirit was toward the effort this man must have poured in to bring these materials.

Mandara, too, was a stubborn madman acknowledged by the Ares Church.

He closed the door and stepped out.

Today, the materials he would use were the materials of the “Mountain Owlbear.”

He could attempt it at least over a hundred times.

Lighting fires beneath the enormous cauldrons filled with boiling materials, he rolled up the sleeves on both arms.

Into the bubbling, boiling water, he placed claws, talons, and teeth.

Bones became the source that contained a monster’s “greatest” power.

Boiling that source vigorously and mixing its essence at various perfect ratios was the virtue of an alchemist.

It was like a perfumer.

Just as a perfumer combined many diverse fragrances to create a single “fantastical scent.”

Gathering things into harmony and containing them in one bottle was “alchemy.”

However, it was not easy.

Failure.

“Again.”

Failure.

“Again.”

Failure.

“Again.”

The materials the man had brought overflowed.

The more he repeated failure, the more solid and perfect the formula became.

The lacking portions were filled in, and he established how to boil them and what kind of potion to make.

Yes.

This was.

An elixir.

A peerless miracle medicine known to raise all stats.

After many failures and successes, he attempted it with his own “elixir crafting method.”

And he put all the materials the man had brought into it.

Teeth, claws, talons, hundreds at a time, became only a single drop.

Two drops.

Three drops.

Drip, drip—

They fell into the potion bottle.

Even the essence derived from a whopping 400 kg of owlbear hide amounted to only five drops.

At last, he made the liquid that could allow this solution to mix properly.

And the essence that had come from teeth, talons, claws, hide, and the rest.

The moment he finally placed it into that solution.

“.......”

FWAAAAAAASH—!

Looking at the bright light bursting out together with the surging purple liquid, Mandara was moved beyond words.

*****

Ugh...... idiot...... moron, dumb mutt!

As Hyunsoo gradually woke up and his exhaustion disappeared, he realized it.

Just how foolish a thing he had done under the conviction that he would “do it no matter what.”

Just selling those things would have been more than enough to buy ten bottles of things better than Mandara’s potion!

The materials he had poured into Mandara.

They were worth over two hundred million won.

He should have given half and sold half.

Argh, argh, argh!

Hyunsoo realized how stupid he had been and fell into despair.

But then.

The moment he woke up, he heard a notification.

[Linked Quest: Gather Mandara’s Materials completed.]

[This is a wondrous achievement.]

[You have achieved a total gathering progress of 91%.]

[The reward has changed, and you may receive the reward from Mandara.]

91%? I raised it to 91%?

Hyunsoo was surprised, and because of that, he felt even more dizzy.

Mandara.

Hyunsoo still did not know exactly who he was.

He only knew him as someone who ran a general store!

That was why he thought nothing would change even if he had raised it to 91%.

But then.

“Are you awake?”

[Legendary Alchemist, Mandara.]

“......???”

Hyunsoo was flustered.

The name that had simply read “Mandara” had changed.

On top of that, he heard this.

[Your intimacy with Mandara is MAX.]

[Mandara was able to become Legendary because of you.]

[You are Mandara’s benefactor.]

What were his conditions for becoming Legendary?

His curiosity was immediately answered.

Thump—

Mandara held a potion out to Hyunsoo.

It was beautiful, as though the universe and stars had been contained inside a single bottle.

It was the most mysterious potion Hyunsoo had ever seen in his life.

“It is yours.”

The condition for him to become Legendary.

[You have acquired the Transcendent Elixir.]

Like Hyunsoo, it was to craft “Transcendence” for the first time.

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