A surge of excruciating pain suddenly overwhelmed Ten as a deafening ring rang in his head. “Agh!” Albeit not a person who easily succumbs to pain, Ten still couldn’t help but let out a groan.

‘What kind of a reward is this? This feels more like a punishment!’ The head-splitting strain lasted no more than a few breaths before receding. It was as if the agony he felt just now was a mere illusion.

Ten staggered trying to regain his footing. [Activation— Complete!]

…

[Character Sheet]

Name: Huan Ten [Lvl 1] (0/2)

HP: 10/10

MP: 5/5

Class: None

Race: Human

Occupation: Metalsmith Lvl 5 (0/20), Occupation Bonus - Enhanced Strength and Dexterity. Bonus will increase for every ten-level increment. Current Stat Bonus: +10

…

Strength: 1 (+10)

Spirit: 1

Agility: 1

Dexterity: 1 (+10)

Intelligence: 1

Vitality: 1

Available Stat Points: 0

…

Innate Abilities: [New] Celestial Blueprint (Passive)

Skills: None

…

Illusory screens filled with words he was already familiar with buzzed in front of Ten. Stat pages full of ones and zeroes flashed brightly—It was the price he had to pay for crossing the continental border. If not for the higher power of the World Law allocating the ‘minimum strength’ to all ordinary individuals to help them survive and keep the balance of power, Ten would have long been toast given his stats were no better than an infant.

Ten examined his character sheet closely. The page was almost completely the same as the last time he had checked. One peculiar change, however, caught his attention.

“Celestial Blueprint?” he muttered.

It wasn’t the first time he was viewing his own character sheet. He had tinkered with it as soon as he came to discover the game-like aspect of this world. Strangely, it was his first time seeing the ‘Innate Abilities’ tab.

‘Did I somehow miss this? Or is this the reward for completing the beginner quest?’ He pondered for a brief moment before concluding it was likely the latter.

As someone who had played his fair share of video games, Ten knew the value of an innate ability. An additional ability could spell the difference between a mediocre character and an overpowered one.

To reward him an ability by just forging ten weapons? It seems he had misunderstood the smithing system if it was this generous!

Ten was about to test out his newfound gift when a thought struck. It was as if a bucket of cold water was poured on him; He fell silent. “... How do I even activate it?”

The passive nature of the [Celestial Blueprint] ability meant it needed a trigger for it to work. ‘Does this thing not come with a tutorial or something? A short demo perhaps?’

This was a problem. It was akin to having a revolutionary, brand-new appliance that came without an instruction manual! Ten quickly scrambled his attention back to the floating screens to look for a pamphlet of sorts.

…

Innate Abilities: [New] Celestial Blueprint (Passive)

…

“There’s nothing…” No description. No instruction. Not even a ‘round question mark button’--where one could pull up more information by simply hovering over it—could be found.

Ten’s face twitched. “What the hell is this?”

Was he supposed to discover the use of this “innate” ability on his own? “This is just bad game design!”

Who would have thought something as simple as ‘using an ability’ would be the first thing that would stump him since his arrival. ‘There’s gotta be a way…’

In all fairness, perhaps he could just wait and then chance upon its use. But that method would be ridiculously inefficient. Who could know when that would happen? A day from now? A month? Heck, it might even take years!

It was not a matter of ‘sooner or later’. It all hinged upon uncertainty. And Ten could not bear to take up such an unreliable method.

He rubbed his glabella thinking of ways to trigger the ability’s effect. He paced back and forth the span of his small workshop for the entire afternoon. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t come up with anything.

Grumble

The sun was already setting when Ten decided it was better to just put things off and have dinner. He couldn’t think straight with an empty stomach.

He let out a deep breath as he stretched his tired muscles. ‘I’ve been sighing a lot recently…’ he noted.

Ten was about to head out to grab a meal when a bleary-eyed man greeted him. The man was walking towards the shop with wobbly legs. “Hanul?” Ten blurted.

The drunk fellow was someone Ten was familiar with. Just like him, Hanul had also hailed from the Rising Sun Continent and had crossed the border around a year before he did. A respected swordsman, Hanul had a promising future and was on the path to becoming a Sword Saint when he had suddenly decided to migrate to the Twilight Continent.

It was questionable why he crossed and sacrificed his strength just so he could prove his swordsmanship was the best. However, Ten—or at least his lingering will—couldn’t blame him for it. The two of them shared almost similar reasons for coming here.

“What are you doing here? And why are you drunk so early?” Ten asked, fanning away the strong smell of alcohol.

Unlike Ten, Hanul had already recovered a great portion of his lost strength and had been living well. So why was he throwing away his chance to spread the greatness of his swordsmanship and frequent the tavern instead?

Ten was about to ask when Hanul interjected, “Those damned monsters! I’ll never rest until I slay all of them! Hick. Young master Ten, lend me your strength!”

What? This contextless babbling… Ten couldn’t help but shake his head. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Earth? What is that? Hick. Ah, it doesn’t matter. Young master Ten, help me find a way to slaughter my enemy!”

Hanul started drunk-talking; recounting how he, a genius swordsman with a promising future, had been bullied by horrid, waste monsters — Slimes!

No matter how strong his sword art was or how elaborate the sword dance he would execute, the gelatinous creature wouldn’t budge in the slightest. It was as if they were nigh-invulnerable!

Ten couldn't help but chuckle after hearing such a ridiculous story. However, Hanul’s frustration wasn’t totally unfounded.

Swords were ineffective against slimes. Worse, some of the stronger ones would have the ability to corrode weapons by merely being in contact with them.

Even higher-grade swords would be rendered useless against the acidic might of these putrid monsters. Of course, only a portion of this was true. Weapons with fire enchantment would work wonders.

“[Fighter] weapons, as its name suggests, are weapons that cannot harness the power of mana exceeding 10 units and are solely used for pure physical combat. However, if you use an [Arcane] sword, surely that would be enough for you to deal with them, right?” Ten earnestly offered a suggestion.

Besides their quality—Low, Intermediate, High, and Pinnacle—weapons could also be classified by their use and origin; Fighter, Arcane, Spirit, and Heroic.

In Hanul’s case, wielding an [Arcane] weapon would have sufficed, so why was he making so much fuss about his inability to slay slimes?

“That,” Hanul smiled awkwardly, “I don’t have a spell to pair with an [Arcane] weapon.”

Ten nodded, “I guessed as much.”

Slimes were natives of the Twilight Continent. Naturally, it was the first time Hanul had met them. He would have no way of efficiently dealing with them even if someone offered a feasible solution.

Trying to salvage the situation, Hanul quickly recovered and explained how he, through the repeated losses against his gooey nemesis, discovered that a specially designed [Fighter] weapon could theoretically deal with them without relying on enchantments or spells. He came looking for Ten to forge this very weapon he had in mind.

Ding!

As soon as Hanul mentioned the “theoretical weapon”, the smithing system whirred in action. A blueprint materialized in Ten’s hands, detailing a conspicuous-looking weapon.

Blind drunk, Hanul failed to notice the sudden appearance of the magical blueprint.

Strangely, the sword depicted in the design matched whatever Hanul was saying. ‘It’s the Celestial Blueprint!’

Ten excitedly examined the blueprint. ‘I can forge this right now!’

The exhilarating feeling of knowing he didn’t have to wait for years in order to know how his innate ability works made him forget his hunger.

“Wait here.” Without listening further to Hanul’s long-winded story, Ten left for his workshop. The sound of sonorous hammering echoed once more.

It didn’t take long for Ten to process the needed metal lump as it mostly used the same ones as the [Blue Steel Shortsword].

What took most of his time was shaping the weapon; The design depicted a longsword with ridged edges reminiscent that of ocean waves. It was quite a complicated shape to hammer out. Fortunately for Ten, his increased dexterity alleviated the difficulty, turning what would have been an entire day of work into just two hours.

Sizzle!

…

‘[Sea Severing Sword] - (Pinnacle Tier Fighter)’ - A longsword made of [Cold Steel] reinforced with [Cobalt Dust]. The high amount of [Cobalt Dust] gives it its blueish hue. Its edges are specially designed to obliterate any resistance given enough strength. A product of a budding master blacksmith; This [Fighter] weapon has reached the ‘Pinnacle’ quality tier.’

Suggested Retail Price: 2 gold credits

…

It was a success! Not only did Ten forge the strange sword quickly, but he was also able to break his own record and create his first ‘Pinnacle’ quality tier weapon!

Without delay, he headed out and handed the [Sea Severing Sword] to the drunk Hanul. If only he was sober, as a respected swordsman, Hanul would’ve protested how bizarre-looking and ugly the sword was. Blind drunk still, however, he took the sword without much resistance.

“Young master Ten, how can I accept this? This is too much! How can I ever repay this favor?”

“Repay this favor? Who says I'm giving it to you for free? That’ll be 2 gold credits. Pay up.”

“...”