Grid didn’t forget the blacksmith he encountered in a world full of human ideals. Standing in front of the shining anvil and golden clouds, he used his burning nipples to smelt metal and a lightning hammer to temper the metal. The blacksmith god, Hexetia—he was the ideal that every blacksmith in the world, including Grid, had to pursue.

...Except for the nipples.

“...Sigh.”

Grid temporarily put Blacksmith’s Skill Comparable to a God to the side, closing his eyes as he took some breaths.

‘I never thought I could beat you.’

He recalled the last conversations he had with Garam. He recognized his limitations when he failed to overcome Garam, who was only qualified as a fake god. As a player, he had to bear these limits. Yes, he was a player. Not only was it difficult to exceed the growth power of named NPCs, he was overwhelmingly lacking when it came to basic stats. No matter how high he raised his level or how much stats he built up, even if he became a god, it would still be an insurmountable limit.

This was a realistic conjecture. Even if he became a god, Grid’s value would drop as soon as an NPC appeared as an enemy.

‘So don’t try to be foolish.’

That’s why he didn’t say to Garam, ‘One day, I will surely surpass you.’

He left his desperate wish as a hollow cry in his heart and simply relied on Braham and his colleagues who appeared. He felt like he would fall into the brink of suffering that could never be escaped the moment he expressed his vain wish of fighting and beating Garam. No matter how much time passed, it would be hard to beat Garam, even if he struggled insanely.

However, now his thoughts have changed. It was because the heart of the red phoenix showed new possibilities. Recovery—Grid had the overwhelming recovery of beings who were regarded as insurmountable walls. Right now, it was a recovery that could only be maintained for a few seconds at best but for a short period of time, he completely transcended the limits of a player. It wasn’t a transcendence that would be common among players. It was real transcendence.

“......”

The image in Grid’s mind deepened. The image of the beautiful and transparent short sword that looked like it was carved of ice slowly floated in his mind.

[Hexetia’s Short Sword]

[Rating: Myth

Attack Power: 28,990

....

...]

He didn’t remember anything else but he precisely remembered the attack power. It was considered absurd the first time he saw it. He thought it was an attack power that he would never achieve in his life. This wasn’t the case anymore. This time, his recovery suggested a new possibility—players could also have transcendent stats. Grid had the ability to experiment with the possibilities.

[Blacksmith’s Skill Comparable to a God Lv. 1]

[The production button is enabled and the time it takes to make an item is greatly reduced.

A minimum of unique rated items will be produced.

There is a certain probability of producing legendary rated items.

If certain conditions are met, there is a low probability of making a myth reproduction or myth rated item.

* All stats of a production item will increase by 40%.

* When myth rated items are produced, the blacksmiths’ faith in you will increase all stats by 30.

* The deity stat will increase by one for every three myth rated items produced.

★ A temporarily active skill. The myth rated items created won’t accumulate.]

Grid didn’t even pay attention to the fact that ‘a minimum of unique rated items will be produced.’

Since he pursued items above the legendary level, the epic rated and unique rated items had the same value to him. The Blacksmith’s Skill Comparable to a God was a one-off skill that was activated by using Open Potential so Grid should aim for the best results.

Grid noted the effect of ‘40% increase in the stats of production items.’ It was 10% higher than Genuine - (Fighting against the Gods) Legendary Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship Skill. The higher the stats of the produced items, the more effective they would be.

‘I have to unconditionally make a high-grade item.’

The most urgent item was armor. He needed defense to support his recovery. It didn’t matter if he had a lot of recovery if his defense was weak.

‘My items are too old now.’

There was the Holy Light set he swapped to when responding to magic attacks.

Tiramet's Shoulderguards, the Shiny Leggings, and Lantier’s Cloak. Alex's Quick Glove, the Cone Helmet, and the Overgeared Crown. All the armor currently used by Grid were things he had acquired long ago. Even the Cone Helmet and Overgeared Crown were created before the 4th National Competition and had been in use for four years of game time.

‘The Holy Light set has been used for the longest time, since the 1st National Competition...’

He felt it was shameful to be called the Overgeared King in his current state. Ordinary players were diligently gaining new equipment and improving their specs while Grid alone was treasuring antiques. The word ‘overgeared’ still had a negative meaning and if they spoke to Grid, they would insist, ‘I am a person who plays with skill, not items.’

‘I don’t have the answer in my current state.’

Change. It should be changed. The old items might have low basic stats but he hadn’t thrown them away because they had a field-specific performance. Now they should be replaced with new ones. He was convinced from the moment he suffered 18,500 damage just by being hugged by Blue Tiger. [1]

‘I have to harden up.’

Grid pulled out Khan’s Valhalla and the loot he got from the yangbans. There were three White Tiger’s Breaths, three Black Tortoise’s Breaths, and two each of the Red Phoenix’s Breaths and Blue Dragon’s Breaths. The equipment used by the yangbans such as the smoking pipe, soft sword, and short spear were included in the loot but their performance were somewhat lower than the items made by Grid. They were unique rated items dropped by bosses over level 400. It was quite disappointing since the items dropped by half-gods were at an unsatisfactory level.

Grid was convinced—the yangbans used the strong force they were born with and the power of the Four Auspicious Beasts that they had exploited. They didn’t rely on equipment in the first place so it would be strange if their items had a good performance. In common sense, it was a jackpot as long as they dropped one breath.

In the aftermath of the National Competition, the breaths of the Four Gods seemed common but that wasn’t the case from Grid’s viewpoint. There were few items with as much quality as the Four Gods’ breaths.

Black, blue, white, and red.

Grid stared at the different colored breaths and returned all but the black one into his inventory. The black breath he chose was the Black Tortoise’s Breath.

“It was some time ago...”

Before coming to the East Continent, Grid had crafted items with the two breaths that were in his possession. One was a sword made from the Red Phoenix’s Breath, a growth weapon he designed to give as a gift to Lord. It was a gift meant for Lord to grow up with—to protect his family and people—while Grid was away.

“I failed to smelt the Black Tortoise’s Breath.”

The other was a blade made with the Black Tortoise’s Breath. It was planned to be a new sword but unfortunately, the results were the worst. It was so rough that he didn’t feel the need to use it. It was less powerful than the items commissioned by Damian a number of years ago.

“I couldn’t find a way to control the power of death inside it.”

The reason why Grid dealt well with the Red Phoenix’s Breath from the beginning was due to compatibility. The attributes contained in the Red Phoenix’s Breath were only fire and life. It was well-matched with a blacksmith who created things using fire. On the other hand, the Black Tortoise’s Breath that contained the power of water and death was the worst for a blacksmith. The aura of water calmed the blacksmith’s fire and the aura of death hindered the blacksmith’s creation. The Black Tortoise’s Breath possessed such a nature that it became rusty and weakened the more he smelted it.

“Thus, I want to get advice from you. Is there a way to suppress the aura of death in the Black Tortoise’s Breath for a while?”

Once Grid asked this question, the sacred creatures listening started to open their mouths one by one. Their expressions didn’t look good.

“I don’t know.”

“It will probably be tough. The role of the black tortoise itself is the destruction of ‘useless’ things.”

“Useless things?”

“God Black Tortoise only tolerates life and materials born naturally. Artificially created life or objects are considered harmful to everything and are extinguished.”

“......”

The attributes of the black tortoise were water and death. Grid had felt confused the first time he learned this. Water was closely associated with the birth of life so he didn’t understand why it presided over death. However, at this moment, he understood. The black tortoise’s desire to defend all things was so strong that it became inclined to destruction.

‘Is that why not even the yangbans could use the Black Tortoise’s Breath easily?’

Strictly speaking, the yangbans were artificial beings. It would be virtually impossible for them, born for Hanul and by Hanul, to fully control the power of the black tortoise.

‘The Black Tortoise’s Breath is the most threatening one but they don’t use it often. There is a reason for that.’

Grid smacked his lips together with regret. In fact, he had been envisioning a set of armor with the weapon breaker concept. He would create shoulderguards, leggings, and helmets with the Black Tortoise’s Breath, creating a structure that increased his defense while corroding and weakening the target’s weapon.

Now it seemed too hard. The Black Tortoise’s Breath wasn’t suitable as an item crafting material. Of course, this didn’t mean it was impossible. If he used materials with a strong water attribute, just like when he created Damian’s item, it would be sufficient to produce an item using the Black Tortoise’s Breath.

However, in this case, only the water attribute would be emphasized and the true power of the black tortoise wouldn’t be revealed. Thus, expectations weren’t high.

‘I will keep the Black Tortoise’s Breath for now. First, I will use the White Tiger’s Breath.’

The White Tiger’s Breath lacked the ability to weaken the other side. If he compared the armor created with the White Tiger’s Breath and the armor created with the Black Tortoise’s Breath, the potential to utilize the first one would be much greater. It was just that in terms of stability, the armor created using the White Tiger’s Breath was overwhelmingly good. It was because the advantage of the Black Tortoise’s Breath was to weaken the opponent while the White Tiger’s Breath’s defense itself was extremely high.

Hardening, increasing weight, releasing thorns, etc...

The utility wasn’t bad.

‘No, it exceeds the ‘not bad’ level.’

At the time of the red phoenix resurrection battle, the yangbans were unable to control the Red Phoenix’s Breath and lost their recovery. Nevertheless, they avoided the deterioration of their wounds.

‘I must take advantage of the hardness of the White Tiger’s Breath.’

They hardened their wounded areas and this prevented the wounds from getting worse. After many thoughts, Grid lit up the portable furnace. It was to create new gaiters to replace the old ones, which could no longer be called ‘shiny.’