[The king who comes out to greet is accompanied by the ties he has built.]
Painful thoughts crossed Purung’s mind again as he closed his eyes.
Those ties had to be founded on towering Affinity.
They also came from the other party cherishing the king and wanting to protect him.
Around a king, there were countless people who wished to shield him.
His royal guard.
The commander of his knights.
A family of loyal retainers that had served for generations.
People who would gladly lay down their heads for him.
But it was not those kinds of people.
They were people born under destiny to serve the king.
These ties were born from those who went against that destiny and came, simply, to respect the king and cherish him.
They were the road he had lived.
The life he had passed through.
Purung’s face twisted.
There had been someone like that for the one I served too. It had been me.
If an examiner had gone to the Overlord...
The Purung of the past would have stood beside him as an illusion.
The one who had held out a hand to Purung when he had been nothing more than a boy, a discarded orphan on a battlefield.
Will you come with me?
Purung had followed him.
The one who had told him he brought him along because he had seen his “towering talent,” and then taught him swordsmanship.
The king who had hung a badge on him to mark him as a commander of the Overlord’s nation, smiling that subtle smile.
And Purung himself, smiling only because he was happy he could be of use to his king.
All of it scattered like a mirage, dissolving into memories, ill-fated ties, and nightmares.
Focus on your duty.
What kind of king was this one?
Would he be any different?
Purung slowly opened his eyes and took in the king approaching Atlas in a shower of light.
That man is Hyun?
To Hyun’s left and right, and behind him, ran Azure Heaven, the Sword King, and Antro.
Off to one side, watching them with his arms crossed and a smile on his face, stood Luxiu.
The lord of the Beginner Zone, looking on as if quietly pleased by Hyun’s tremendous growth.
And beside him, even the lord of Kassel Territory.
...Is that all?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he saw others jogging behind Hyun—people who had once been the stars of a nation.
Sword Duke Raisen, and Bella in a brilliantly beautiful dress that shone like light.
Past them were the masters of the Tower with hammers in their hands, and dozens more besides.
Running around Hyun were Lucky Lump, Golemmy, Kkoko, Pretty, and KyooKyoo.
“...”
They were only illusions, yet through the power each one possessed, Purung observed them through the Sword of Judgment.
The Sword of Judgment was simple.
It showed the assessment gauge based on personal ties.
Until now, the highest assessment gauge ever recorded from a King’s Welcome based on ties had been 56%.
But then—
[The assessment gauge based on ties is too high.]
[An assessment gauge of 97% based on ties is determined.]
It was right when that shock struck him.
[Correction.]
“...What?”
Purung faltered.
[High-ranked beings notice that their own illusions have manifested.]
[High-ranked beings observe the King’s Welcome.]
[You cannot resist.]
[High-ranked beings respond.]
They were supposed to be nothing more than illusions.
And yet beings with towering power forced their way through Ares’s authority, judged whether he was a danger, and in that instant observed him to determine whether this power posed a threat.
Purung blinked.
A man stood there, arms crossed, like a tiger in human form.
Dressed in crimson armor, he had been watching Hyun run with a gaze full of affection, but then he turned his head toward Purung.
With a shock that made his heart seem to stop, information about him was forced into the examiner’s mind.
Story Island.
The king of the sea who had held back tens of thousands alone.
A sovereign comparable to the Overlord.
Yi Sun-sin.
Purung staggered backward at the name, but then he felt a chilling pressure at his back and whipped around.
BOOOOOM-!
Several whiskers nearly a meter long.
Black tiger-striping painted across parts of its body.
A towering beast fourteen meters tall, like a mountain made flesh.
Just meeting its yellow eyes, their pupils narrowed to slits, made his legs weaken.
ROOOOOOAR-!
White Tiger.
The roar of the tiger known as the strongest of the Four Divine Beasts locked even Purung, a Transcendent, in place.
White Tiger smiled as it looked at the tiny figure of Hyun running below, then bounded toward him.
The man called Yi Sun-sin merely gave a faint smile and slowly scattered away.
[The assessment gauge based on ties is recalculated.]
As Hyun faded, his eyes met Purung’s.
At the sight of the young king’s small smile, something Purung could not understand took root in his heart.
How...
How had that young man become the king of a nation?
The answer was being revealed through Azure Heaven, the Sword King, and Antro.
It was because men like them were guiding him.
When Purung had first descended, he had doubted whether the epithet Hyun King—meaning a virtuous and generous ruler—truly suited him.
A man who bore an epithet the moment he became king.
No such person had existed in all of history.
Purung now faced the recalculated assessment gauge.
[An assessment gauge of 231% is determined.]
[It is the highest among all kings in history.]
The previous record-holder had only been in the fifty-percent range.
Even examiners who graded more generously had never seen anyone exceed 100%.
“...”
Purung stared blankly at the place where the king who had come to greet him had stood.
Then, snapping out of it, he finally realized something.
“He wasn’t a pervert...?”
Purung, who had mistaken Ben for some man curious about other people’s underwear, suddenly understood what that question had meant and looked down.
Drip. Drip...
That was right.
Purung had wet himself.
A short while later...
Crouched by a stream near Atlas, Examiner Purung scrubbed at the underwear he had soaked, drowning in self-loathing.
Did I become an examiner just to end up doing this...? I feel pathetic...
And yet, for some reason, a certain sense of expectation had taken root inside him.
Still wearing the damp underwear, Purung began his evaluation.
He evaluated all kinds of things.
“Kingdom development. Low.”
[The assessment gauge based on kingdom development is 32%.]
“Military numbers. Bottom tier.”
[The assessment gauge based on military numbers is 23%.]
“Population density. Rock bottom.”
[The assessment gauge based on citizen density is 12%.]
As far as development and military numbers went, the kingdom was pitiful.
No matter how newly founded it was, it still fell short of the standard.
But then he encountered the people he had seen during the King’s Welcome.
Talent with the sword that surpasses even Legend...?
At the training grounds.
A woman standing there with her arms crossed as she drilled soldiers possessed strength worth far more than a thousand men.
And then—
“Anywhere worth looting?”
“...How about robbing the merchants?”
“Strip them clean and offer it to Lord Hyunsoo. Not a bad idea.”
Akao, the pirate out of legend.
And beyond even that, there was one person who shocked Purung most of all.
The Undefeated Knight, Luxiu?
The only man whose renown followed after the Overlord’s.
Even the Overlord himself had once said, I hear there’s a man called Luxiu, and taken an interest in him.
Why is he here?
Purung stared in astonishment at Luxiu, who stood atop a rooftop. Luxiu wore a small smile as he gazed somewhere.
Toward the castle.
What is in the castle?
As Purung made his way there, he looked over the faces of the citizens.
How...
They were nothing like the pitiful people who had lived in the Overlord’s nation.
“Ehehehehe!”
“Take this, Twin Dragon Sword!”
“I’m the Sword for the One Who Follows the King!”
It was a small nation, yet not a single shadow lay across the faces of the children playing with wooden swords.
“Are you a guest visiting Atlas? Would you care to try one of these apples?”
CRUNCH-
“That’ll be 5 silver.”
“...?”
He had been startled because he thought it was free, but he could only stare at the peaceful, lively place around him.
As he walked on, he turned at the sight of a pregnant woman smiling softly at the lively children in the street.
It was White Tiger’s mother.
“White Tiger, our lord has become a king before we even knew it. Your mother is so happy, it feels as though her wish has come true.”
“...”
There was resonance in the voice of the woman looking toward the distant castle, her eyes reddening.
Though the citizen-density score had been rock bottom, the Sword of Judgment testified to what mattered most.
[The Sword of Judgment evaluates the happiness of the citizens.]
[This is a nation overflowing with vitality and love.]
[It is worthy of the Hyun King, who desired a nation that lives for its people.]
[The assessment gauge based on kingdom happiness is 97%.]
And then—
[The Sword of Judgment evaluates the skill and strength of the military.]
[Though few in number, they overwhelm the soldiers and knights of ordinary kingdoms. Driven by the thought of protecting their king and their nation, they train and improve without even being ordered to do so.]
[The assessment gauge based on military strength is 184%.]
[The Sword of Judgment resonates.]
The Sword of Judgment was asking Purung a question.
Was this king different?
Could he perhaps become the new master of the Ironclad Corps?
No. Impossible.
The doubt that had swallowed Purung toward kings was still stronger.
Then he arrived at a forge.
Countless blacksmiths had already gathered around it, and their eyes were filled with endless respect and trust.
CLAAANG-!
CLAAAANG-!
CLAAAANG-!
Like a bard lured onward by a melody, Purung walked inside.
There, a young man stood drenched in sweat.
CLAAANG-!
Scarlet sparks burst from him in a steady stream as he worked, then he plunged the metal into cold water to quench it.
HSSSSSS-
Purung stood to one side and simply watched.
*****
Ding!
[The Undefined Hammer Crafting Method is completed.]
(Undefined Hammer Crafting Method)
Grade: Legendary–Mythic
Attack Power: 423–641
Crafting Restriction: Master-grade artisan, level 500 or higher
Crafting Materials: Mythic-grade mineral
Substitute Materials: Guidance will be provided when clues are discovered.
Special Abilities:
· Up to an 80% increase in the probability of producing a better artifact
· Other blacksmiths receive buff effects simply by having it held nearby
· When it strikes an enemy, it may at times inflict multiple status ailments
· All blacksmith-related skill levels increase by up to 3
· All blacksmith effects increase by 30–50%
· Active Skill. Headcracker.
· Active Skill. Conqueror.
· Passive Skill. Lightning-Fast Crafting.
Description: This is the crafting method for a hammer that even the Blacksmith God would covet, and that may at times inflict devastating critical wounds upon an enemy.
It was the hammer crafting method Hyunsoo had completed, and the fact that it could produce something all the way up to Mythic made his heart pound.
But then he ran straight into a problem.
The Tower of Honor shop.
The minerals Hyunsoo had managed to obtain from that shop were only Transcendent grade.
Making a Mythic item out of something as “mere” as Transcendent was never going to be easy.
I’ve just been lucky until now.
The only way to make it possible was to pour in endless time and effort.
Time passed until he no longer knew how much had gone by.
The roosters cried at dawn, the burning sun rose, night came again, and then it all repeated.
In truth, Hyunsoo was acknowledging his own foolishness.
You said it was for the nation.
Yet he had never made the Blacksmith’s Heart that could become its symbol.
And out of arrogance, he had kept turning away from the truth, telling himself skill alone was enough.
But once he cast off that arrogance, he understood.
[This is the most perfect level of understanding.]
[This is the most perfect crafting method.]
[The heart for the citizens has been infused into it.]
[You will be able to create the hammer that leads an era.]
His understanding of hammers had reached the point where he could make the finest hammer possible.
And those who had spent a long time doing one thing developed a certain feel for it.
The best one would be born.
Only—
[The materials do not keep pace with your skill and understanding.]
Blacksmith’s Soul, in the end, was tied to luck as well. It was not a power that flared up every single time.
What he needed was to keep going until his instincts told him Blacksmith’s Soul was about to activate.
But reaching that point was never easy.
That was when, after five days had passed, he staggered.
“Are you all right?”
A man caught him under the arm.
It was a face he had never seen before.
Purung?
The man said,
“All evaluations are complete.”
Evaluations? What is he talking about?
Information about the examiner was quickly forced into Hyunsoo’s mind.
[An examiner determines a king’s qualifications.]
[Purung has evaluated your kingdom and you as its king.]
Hyunsoo’s heart dropped.
What...?
Qualifications. An evaluation of the kingdom.
There were roughly three hundred kingdoms in Ares.
And the current ranking of the nation of Hyun—
dead last.
There was nothing strange about that.
It had only just been founded.
And yet he had encountered an examiner without making any preparations for this moment.
On top of that—
Shrrrng-
At the end of the brief explanation, Hyunsoo realized what role that examiner’s sword served.
If it was swung at a king, that meant disqualification.
If it was not drawn, that meant approval.
Hyunsoo clenched his teeth.
Do you know how hard it was to build this kingdom?
It carried the weight and labor of countless people.
And now Purung was drawing that sword.
Shrrng—
Then—
[Examiner Purung presents the Sword of Judgment to you.]
He said something Hyunsoo could not make sense of.
“I think this should do if you melt it down and make it from this.”
What is he talking about?
Hyunsoo examined the Sword of Judgment.
Unlike any ordinary sword he had ever seen, the black blade was suffused with a faint silver radiance.
Even for Hyunsoo, who now possessed knowledge of hundreds of minerals that existed throughout Ares, it was an unfamiliar ore he had never seen before.
The moment he accepted it, the notification that rang out sent a chill through him.
[God’s mineral. It was crafted from Adamantium.]
