Genius Blacksmith's Game

Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls.

The Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls, which had opened exactly eight months ago, had been packed with people when it first opened.

Because for users, the appearance of a new challenge was an extremely enjoyable and interesting thing.

Its popularity in the early days had been blazing hot.

The instructors of the Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls had even handed out numbered tickets to users.

Considering that the minimum entry level for the Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls was 400, that showed just how many high-level users had gathered there.

However, now that eight months had passed...

The number of challengers had dropped drastically compared to back then.

How dull.

Lime, the chief instructor of this place, yawned as he recalled those crowded days.

Well, the people who come here are divided into three types.

Lime thought of the types of people who came here.

The first.

The Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls was an indicator that allowed people to check how much they had grown compared to a few months ago.

They could confirm their growth by seeing how many more dolls they broke than before.

Because of that, it was common for people who had come a few months ago to visit once and leave.

The second.

Those who want to challenge that man’s record.

Six months ago.

A man had visited.

He had been slender and as pretty as a flower.

Strangely, that pale, delicate man had looked very fitting with a sword in his hand.

Every time that man swung his sword, wooden dolls were swept away like fallen leaves.

Even now, that memory remained vivid to Lime.

The final type.

Those who set foot here belatedly.

The reason Lime had that thought...

Was because someone presumed to be of that final type appeared in a flash of light.

He looked around as if everything was fascinating.

Then, seeing the wooden dolls spread out across the vast space, he let out an exclamation of admiration.

“This is incredible, isn’t it? Wooden dolls... It brings back memories.”

Lime grew interested in the man who had appeared.

Because his presence was quite good.

Will today be interesting?

The man who had been looking around soon approached him and said,

“Hello. May I ask you something?”

Lime nodded, and soon came to understand.

“How many did Valhalla break?”

That this man was the third type, and also the second.

*****

Hyunsoo, who had come to the Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls, felt amused as memories came back to him one after another.

But he realized the reason he had come here.

He had come to check how much stronger he had grown, and also because he wanted to know how large the gap between him and Valhalla was.

So, after finishing his brief appreciation, he approached the closest instructor and asked a question.

“How many did Valhalla break?”

He could see instructors gathering around him and drawing unreadable smiles.

Why are they acting like that?

Leaving Hyunsoo’s question behind, the NPC named Lime said,

“1,690.”

“Pardon?”

“The number of people who asked the same question as you.”

“....”

It meant that there were that many high-rankers who had set Valhalla as their goal.

“They were all different races and born in different places.”

Beginner Zone.

The wooden doll breaking challenge that had been held before.

Every Beginner Zone had a “wooden doll.”

In other words, people had done it on their own continent anywhere in the world.

But this place was different.

All the high-rankers from the entire continent gathered here.

Most likely...

The other strongest people I knew, too.

They must have come here.

“Not one of them has ever heard that man’s number.”

And Hyunsoo learned one more fact.

The wooden doll in the Beginner Zone could also be set to anonymous.

Likewise, the NPCs here did not disclose the number of the record-holder.

Even if it was not Valhalla, they would not reveal anyone’s number.

“There is a way to find out.”

Hyunsoo became interested in that.

“Surpass him. If you surpass the rank of the highest record-holder, then you can learn it.”

“I see.”

Then the NPC named Lime said,

“Give it up. More than one or two people like you have challenged it and fallen into despair. Sometimes it is better to ask how many ordinary people who came here broke, rather than about someone like that.”

The reason the instructors had been laughing under their breath was revealed.

“There are countless people who collapse while trying to reach a place they can never touch.”

“How about setting an ordinary number as your goal, and then aiming for a number slightly better than that?”

The instructors were people who had personally seen Valhalla’s military power.

The words “a place you can never touch” made Hyunsoo uncomfortable, but then he realized they had come from a small measure of concern.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Do that.”

The instructors did not say anything else in particular.

They simply scattered with expressions that said, “There’s no stopping him.”

Lime looked at Hyunsoo and chuckled.

“You have good eyes.”

Putting his worries behind him, Lime now acknowledged this outsider strongman who had grown enough to come this far.

“Let us go together.”

Then he led Hyunsoo onward.

*****

Team Lead Kim.

He still had not returned to the Continental War.

There was one reason.

“The only person who ever broke the wooden doll is challenging the record for the second installment? How am I supposed to resist watching that...?”

Fortunately, the Story Team lead was holding his place as assistant coach for him.

“Exactly.”

“...?”

Team Lead Kim looked at Employee Lee Jihui, who had already bought popcorn, and thought, Ah, has she grown this much already?

In the past, Employee Lee Jihui would have been stiff with tension.

It’s even caramel?

If this had been her in the past, there would have been a reason she should be stiff with tension.

“Our Pureum simply hasn’t made an official public announcement.”

“Right.”

Unlike the wooden doll breaking in the Beginner Zone, the reward for the Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls had not been revealed to the world.

The reason the Beginner Zone’s wooden doll had become such a hot topic was that it had awarded a VVIP capsule worth fifty million won and +5 to all stats.

Being ahead by +5 in all stats at the beginning?

Numerically, that meant being ahead by 25 stat points, so at beginner levels, it was practically monstrous.

Also, a fifty-million-won capsule was enough to send the whole world into a frenzy.

But they had also been cursed at just as much for it.

How can they put something in that can’t be broken in the first place?

You bastards at Pureum, get out here!

Of course, that had quieted down after Hyunsoo appeared.

And now.

Unlike the first wooden doll, the Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls should not originally have had such a wall.

A wall saying a user could not reach something.

And yet.

“To think Valhalla would create that wall...”

Like the first wooden doll, which had seemed to exist to never be broken, the second Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls had become something that seemed to tell people not to break the record because of Valhalla.

The surprising fact was...

“Even Valhalla never reached the reward.”

Of course, that was a story from six months ago.

Valhalla had been busy and had not visited the Sanctuary of Wooden Dolls again.

That was because the information network he possessed surpassed imagination, and there were many things he judged more valuable than the wooden dolls.

Of course, Valhalla had received “Destroyer of Wooden Dolls,” the reward for being the “record-holder,” at the time.

It was a Multi-Title, and anyone could obtain it as long as they reached a new record.

What mattered was that no user had reached the number Pureum had set.

Lee Jihui cleared her throat and imitated what CEO Lee Sejin had said.

“If the first wooden doll breaking gave such an excellent reward, shouldn’t the second one give at least that much too?”

It was a fairly good imitation.

At Sejin’s instruction, the Story Team had created that reward in cooperation with the Special User Management Team.

And this reward...

“It’s an even better reward than the first one.”

“Right.”

Team Lead Kim nodded.

Of course.

Whether he would reach it or not was something they would only know by watching, and before long, the two of them began watching together while eating caramel popcorn.

Of course.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH—

That’s mine...

Lee Jihui was flustered by Team Lead Kim, who was quietly stealing her popcorn.

*****

Before the countless wooden dolls.

Lime began introducing himself.

“My talent was fairly exceptional.”

Lime looked down at his sword.

“But it was exactly that—exceptional. I became the knight captain of a certain kingdom. That was as far as I rose. I was incompetent and failed to protect my country, and our kingdom scattered to the winds. Then, one day, we who had scattered were given the task of managing this place.”

SQUEEZE—

Lime tightened the hand gripping his sword.

“As I said, I was exceptional, but compared to truly great people, I was nothing. Someone like me can cut this down with about this much strength.”

The reason for his self-introduction was revealed.

Lime held his sword and took a deep breath.

Then he struck one wooden doll with all his might.

CRAAAACK—!

With an impact neither loud nor quiet, the wooden doll staggered.

[The wooden doll’s durability falls below 96%.]

“The wooden dolls are at exactly this level.”

Showing it directly was faster than explaining it with numbers.

Lime had proven that himself.

[Chief Instructor Lime Lv. 503.]

...He’s this high-level?

Of course, compared to when Hyunsoo had first started the game, the levels of NPCs in Ares had generally risen.

The NPCs grew in step with the users’ growth.

Of course, their growth was slower than the users’.

But if they did not grow at all, Ares’s balance would collapse in an instant.

Even if he isn’t a named NPC and is only knight-captain class...

Of course, level was not what mattered.

What mattered was whether or not he was named.

One Level-500 boss monster could face ten Level-500 users, but a Level-500 ordinary monster could not face even one Level-500 user.

It was the same principle.

Chief Instructor Lime was around semi-named level.

But it was still surprising that when such a Lime struck once, he only shaved off 4%.

Lime lowered his sword and caught his breath.

“Potion use is prohibited, and you are given two minutes. You may only use a skill once, so you must choose carefully.”

“Understood.”

Hyunsoo nodded.

Then he recalled what Kabel had told him.

Ordinary users supposedly broke about ten.

Then how many did Valhalla break?

Thinking that, Hyunsoo gripped the Twin Dragon Sword.

Hyunsoo’s original purpose for coming here.

Mercenary King Dante’s Blessing.

And the powers he had gained before that.

He had come to check how much he himself had grown because of them.

“The moment you strike one, it begins.”

Soon, Hyunsoo regulated his breathing and swung the Twin Dragon Sword with all his strength.

*****

“104.”

Instructor Han spoke from among the instructors.

What the man named Valhalla had given the instructors that day when he appeared had been shock.

The instructors challenged the wooden doll breaking under the same restrictions as everyone else, and even they could only break five ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) or six.

“He didn’t seem like a bad kid, did he?”

“Right.”

“At first, I thought he’d be the same kind as the others, but he was polite.”

Until now, many high-rankers had come to them and asked for Valhalla’s number.

However.

They were different from Hyunsoo.

How many was Valhalla’s?

How many did the sky achieve?

Hey, NPC. Tell me the number the sky achieved, or I’ll beat you to death.

They had not shown them any respect.

But that young man had greeted them politely before asking.

That was why they had told him not to chase the sky, and it was also concern.

“Was that meddling?”

“...Maybe. But I didn’t want that young man to lose time to something futile.”

“It’s true that if a sparrow tries to follow a stork, its legs will split.”

The instructors were adults and people too.

They had said it because they did not want him to despair while chasing something he could never reach.

At that moment.

CLAAAAAANG—!!!

CRAAAAAACK—!!!!

An unidentified roar shook heaven and earth.

“...?”

“...?”

The instructors were startled.

“What was that sound?”

A fair amount of time had passed since they had come here, but it was a sound they had never heard before.

Following it, the instructors scattered throughout the place began moving.

Of course, Instructor Han was among them.

Instructor Han, who ran over, soon discovered the true source of that roar.

“...What is this?”

The man from earlier gripped a huge greatsword with both hands.

Then he swung the greatsword at another wooden doll.

At that moment, an enormous crack spread across the wooden doll, whose durability had not been damaged at all.

CLAAAAAANG—!!!

[The wooden doll’s durability falls below 78%.]

“Gasp!!!?”

“That’s impossible!”

More than 20% of its durability had been damaged in one blow.

Also.

It was a greatsword, but it was strange.

Because despite being a greatsword, the speed of that blade was far faster than their own swings.

BOOOOOOM—!

BOOOOOOOM—!

BOOOOOOM—!

CRAAAAACK—!

As if an ancient tree were splitting apart.

Another wooden doll split and collapsed.

Soon, Han saw an even more shocking sight.

It was the wooden dolls behind the man, already split in half and collapsed.

He roughly counted them by eye, then fell onto his backside.

THUD—

“What is it?”

“What happened?”

At that, Han spoke as if he had seen a ghost.

“H-he’s already... passed 104.”

“What!!!!?”

The instructors’ eyes turned to the timer above the man’s head.

[59 seconds elapsed.]

The given time was two minutes.

Not even one minute had passed yet.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!