< Blacksmith’s Debut (3) >

The eager tribute that was like an acceptance speech dedicated toward one's parents finally ended. If you took out the point that my name took the place where parents should have been, it was quite good. It was as moving as an F-Rank, who had turned over a new leaf, putting in all of his sincerity.

...If it was now, it was probably okay to shut myself inside for about a month. I mean, Myeongwoo, that guy, really, really, how was he like that like it was nothing? If I was Myeongwoo's parent, I probably would have been brimming with moved tears… We were just friends... And we weren't even close childhood friends of twenty years, and hadn't even known each other for two months.

'Wow, crap… everyone is staring at me with gazes asking what kind of a relationship we have...'

It wasn't just here. On the monitor, questions mentioning my name were coming up in the press conference room, too.

Uh… alright, well. It's okay. Myeongwoo was probably being like that with good intentions. It was just something that was done with me being embarrassed briefly. Though it was a pity that the interest didn't disperse.

I had expected that when the blacksmith without a limit on item production rank appeared, I would be buried a little, but it seemed like it would be the opposite. Myeongwoo, you should've just gotten the spotlight by yourself; why were you passing the ball to me?

Shortly after, the discussion ended, and Myeongwoo and Yerim came back to the waiting room. Yerim didn't put the Ice Wood Spear in her inventory, and was hugging it tight, and that Myeongwoo looked straight at me and smiled brightly.

Unlike before, there wasn't anyone who grabbed him before he came over to me. As if they had promised to, everyone just stared.

"How was I?"

Myeongwoo asked, with a smiling face. What do you mean how were you.

"You did well."

Would I ruin it here? I should smile.

Truthfully, he did speak well. And there wasn't anything he left out. Even related to guilds, he did well in extending a hand and pacifying them by saying that it hadn't been long since he got the skill and that he would strive to train for a long time, so he wasn't planning on being affiliated with a particular guild, and that he would receive support instead.

"But wasn't it a little excessive to pass the ball to me that much? You're the main character."

Myeongwoo opened his mouth while glancing around the surroundings.

"I did it on purpose though."

"…Huh?"

"Of course I was being a hundred percent sincere, but it was my intention to publicly emphasize every single word."

...Even just half a month ago, he was quite gentle, kind, and shy. Was it possibly a side effect of the skill?

"Uh… why?"

"To let them know they wouldn't get a single thing if they bothered you."

Myeongwoo said in a clear voice, as if telling the surrounding people to listen.

"That's why I purposely said I wouldn't go public until I made an S-Rank item. I have to hand over at least an S-Rank weapon for there to be an effect."

It was a confident and proud face. Though truthfully it was a little baffling and dumbfounding.

"Thanks. Really."

Those two words came out on their own. Was it possible for me to not be thankful? He must've wanted to be acknowledged even one day faster, but he held back. He didn't enjoy alone even the moment he saw light at the end of a long darkness.

He was giving enough for me to wonder if it was alright to accept this; what more could I say in front of him?

"Ah, it's not much."

Seeing how he was bashful, he really was the Myeongwoo I knew.

"Nobody would be able to bother me, for fear of getting written off by you, really."

I spoke jokingly, but it was the truth. Unlike with kiseungsu, where would there be Hunters who would want to leave the sight of the blacksmith who could actually increase the abilities of a Hunter? If I were possibly kidnapped again, from high ranks to low ranks, all Hunters might roll up their sleeves and take action, in order to look good in front of Myeongwoo.

Since he had excessively paraded our closeness, people could use me as a hostage and extort valuable equipment, but that wouldn't be easy. If they did well, it would be a mega success, but if they failed, they would lose everything.

"You're really reliable."

Although the pouring gazes filled with evil intentions were stinging.

Appearing with a highest grade S-Rank weapon, the world's first equipment production Hunter!

Gold Forge's Owner, Yoo Myeongwoo. Revealed that there is no limit on produced item's rank!

There is nothing like rank limitation, the appearance of a god's hand!

From an F-Rank Hunter, into SS-Rank in one morning!

The secret to acquiring an SS-Rank skill?!

The image of the press conference was placed in the main page[1] of a large portal site, and in an instant, articles related to Myeongwoo covered all sorts of sites. The real-time search words were all taken up by, starting from 1st, Yoo Myeongwoo, Gold Forge's Owner, Ice Wood Spear, S-Rank equipment, SS-Rank equipment, rank limit, etc. My name was there too, but let's consider it not.

The reactions in comments were also incredible. It wasn't that there weren't any malicious comments, but most of them were envious. It wasn't a mid rank, high rank Hunter from the start, but an F-Rank that became a hit, so people's interest was even higher. There were also a lot of comments asking what an F-Rank had to do to get a good skill.

'If it's this atmosphere, there would be many more people who'd hold back on going straight to the Awakening Centers, and would check for special skills first.'

[Gold Forge's Owner, Yoo Myeongwoo. There is burning interest pouring out toward this first blacksmith Hunter from, of course within the nation, but also from overseas.]

Even from the TV, they were repeating over and over again that 'our Meyongwoo is this impressive!'. Do more, more.

"Wow, Yerim, look at this. They're saying it's a definite method to get an SS-Rank skill."

Yerim, who was breaking an armchair while playing with Blue, burst out laughing. Yerim, that was a newly bought one.

"What did they say the method was? There are lots of skills I want to have!"

"Lately, the world is in an uproar about the SS-Rank Gold Forge's Owner skill, right? If you get a high rank skill like this, your life will completely change. But, not only is normal Awakening difficult… Why are there so many useless words?"

"Oh, that's bait. It probably says 'what can you do to get one', this and that, 'the weather is something', 'health is something', 'anyways SS-Rank skills are the best', and end with that."

Yerim said, hurling Blue up as if to make her touch the ceiling.

-Kkyaa kkya!

"But I had thought that ahjussi didn't like looking up those kinds of things. For ahjussi's case, there also were articles plastered everywhere and real-time search words coming up and such. That time, you stopped after watching the TV a little."

"Is this the same as my case?"

At that time, seeing the articles come up, I didn't even open up the internet window. Why would I look at that? No matter how good of an article it was, there definitely wouldn't have been no malicious comments. Even if a virtuous messiah had descended down and gave miracles and mercy, guys who put up comments like 'isn't this a hoax', 'who does he think he is'[2], 'does he think he's Jesus', 'he sucks'[3] definitely wouldn't disappear. So even now, I was skipping articles that mentioned me even a little bit.

Even if they became things that didn't exist, I was hit enough, so why would I choose to stab my eyes? On top of that, I didn't even really look at my social media comments.

"Yoojin. Do you have any items you need? Or something you want."

Myeongwoo, who might have finally become embarrassed, because he couldn't look straight at the TV and was giving side-glances, suddenly asked. It seemed like he was going to make me something. Something I needed, he said.

"I can't really use anything other than stat integer increase equipment… Purposely making integer increase equipment is a waste of time and materials."

"How about something with a special effect?"

"Special effect? Um…"

Special effects, what were there? Something that would help with the kids' growth? Or was something that could send skills or titles to others without contact, possible? If even things like that worked, then it would be too omnipotent.

"Even as a special effect, anything isn't possible, right?"

"Yeah. It's fundamentally based on the materials. In order to put special skills in an item, the material that becomes that basis is necessary. Like the Ice Wood Spear that was made from a material with a powerful chill."

So he really wasn't omnipotent.

"Are there possibly materials that can make skills transferable or something?"

"I don't think there are."

"Then a defense skill type? Not something that completely blocks you off so that even allies can't touch you, but could something that increases the body's defense power work? Even with a one or two hour restriction."

To use the One More as a Freebie skill, to share a skill while touching somebody, I couldn't use ordinary shielding. If my body itself became about A-Rank or higher in defense power for a short time, in contingencies, I could safely share the doubled attack skill effect title.

"Of the materials, there are the most defense-related ones. I'll try making one."

"Don't overdo it. It's good if I have one, but I don't particularly need it."

Even if the speed of the dungeons' level of difficulty rising was faster, there would still be over 1 year left until high rank dungeons burst open. If I diligently raised the kids before then, I wouldn't need to go as far as sharing my skills.

Not having cause to lead a stat F-Rank's body and put myself forward would be the best.

Already one month had passed from the day of the first dungeon attack after my regression. In other words, the standby time of the My Brat is the Best skill that I put on the kids had ended. Time really was fast.

For Yerim, I didn't have to think, and chose the Cold Resistance(A) skill. Since, even if an ice attribute reinforcement skill appeared from the Ice Wood Spear, a resistance skill was necessary. Resistance skills for your own attribute normally grew fast, so it was better to quickly get it and raise it into S-Rank.

Yerim didn't have any particular conditions this time either, and only needed to raise just 1 more level.

On the other hand, it wasn't easy to choose for Myeongwoo.

'You really can't get a sense of which skills are good at all, with just looking at the skill names.'

The problem was that there were a lot of what seemed like special skills.

[Unacquired Optimized Skills

Master of Hammering(A)

Delicate Fingertips(A)

Flame Resistance(A)

Metal Classification(A)

Sharpen Knives(A)]

First, there were these five unacquired optimized skills. If you excluded Flame Resistance, all of them seemed related to production skills. And all four looked useful.

'Should I just make him get them in order?'

It wasn't like the skill explanation windows popped up even if I thought it over. The My Brat standby time was just one month, so it was just that if I just let him get all of them.

First, starting from Master of Hammering. When I chose it, the conditions appeared. Unlike with the Gold Forge's Owner, it demanded only 5 level ups. He probably had already filled the other conditions. Wouldn't it have been something like 'hammering a thousand times'?

"Myeongwoo. You should level up before you raise your stat rank more. It gets harder to level up as your rank gets higher."

At my words, Myeongwoo, who was marinating ribs, nodded his head. It looked tasty. Though it pricked my conscience that the Hunter-nim who was receiving attention worldwide was doing something like that to feed me.

"Anyways, I was going to raise them up to a point that's easy to raise to."

"Yerim said she's going to rest for about ten days soon, so do you want to go together then?"

"That's good for me."

Myeongwoo was stat C-Rank, but his levels were low and he wasn't a combat Hunter, so something like an easy mid to low grade D-Rank dungeon would be good. Could you move into the Forge inside a dungeon, too?

"You said that there's a living facility in the Forge, right?"

"Yeah. On the 2nd floor."

"If you raise your stats more and become able to go into a high rank dungeon, that would be really useful. Since it's the same as having a safe place where you can comfortably rest."

Pushing through a place teeming with terrifying monsters for several days, was a high rank dungeon attack. A safe resting space would feel as sweet as honey to even sturdy and healthy high rank combat Hunters.

If he could really use it inside a dungeon, that Myeongwoo would be a complete jack-of-all-trades. I was starting to want to ask him to attack a dungeon with Yoohyun. Though he would probably be too busy making equipment.

After Yerim and Myeongwoo, the next person whose My Brat skill standby time had ended was none other than Peace.

[Time required for adult transformation(56:15)]

Thanks to playing with him in spare moments in the meantime, only 56 hours, two and half days, were left. Since I could decrease the time up to 3 times as fast at maximum during the time the skill is applied, it would end with one day.

I put on equipment prioritizing Stamina and Strength, and filled the training room with training tools, and even prepared restorative drinks.

"Okay, Peace. Let's end this quickly."

-Kkiang!

Peace tapped his tail and replied at the same time.

And one day passed straight through. I felt like I had halfway died.

"...Peace, can you go find my cell phone for me?"

I said, stretched out on the cot. I had taken it out and put it away in case it would break while training, but I couldn't remember where I put it. Even if I remembered, I didn't think I could go get it.

-Kkyang

Peace, who was still in his juvenile appearance, brought over my cell phone and put in on top of my hand. He really was smart. It was to the point that I wondered if he could understand human words.

"It's past seven."

It was dinner time. I had to go take care of the kids' food, and I had to eat, too. Let's just close my eyes for exactly thirty minutes only, and then go up.

Thinking so, I closed them, but when I opened them, it was eleven. Oh shit. Peace, who had come up to the bed some time and was clinging right to my side, tilted his head.

"Aren't you hungry? Why didn't you wake me up?"

-Geureureung

I was going to call Myeongwoo right away, but I belatedly remembered that he had turned his cell phone off because it was getting so many calls, and contacted the dorm maintenance. The maintenance connected me to the house intercom. Thankfully, Myeongwoo was outside of the Forge.

[Don't worry. I took care of the food. I also contacted the place with the unicorns, saying that you probably couldn't make it today.]

"Really? Thanks!"

[Just take care of yourself as you work.]

Look who's talking. Anyways, it was a relief. Myeongwoo was stat C-Rank, so he could take care of Blue, too – it was great.

I ended the call as I got up from the cot. Peace also jumped down. Ugh, my hip.

"Peace, didn't you finish growing?"

-Kkiang?

"Can you get bigger just once so I can check? Hm?"

When I asked while gesturing, Peace stepped back. Then shortly after, whoosh, as something like a flame that wasn't hot rose, Peace's body grew big.

He was bigger than when he was an adolescent. He was about twice as big as that time.

It was a giant magnificent red body, with the golden mane swaying showily. The size was big, but there was no sluggish feeling. Even if you said he was in the same cat family, rather than a lion or a tiger, he had a sleek silhouette like a leopard. There was still a side that was reminiscent of a fox because of the pointy ears and the fluffy tail.

[2nd Rank Unicorn Subtype – Horned Flame Lion Peace

Current Stat Rank S

Possible Growth Stat Rank A~S

Optimized Initial Skills

Flame Breath(S) Acquired

Blaze Run(A) Acquired

Giganticize(A)[4] Acquired

Flame Resistance(A) Acquired]

"Good! You're stat S-Rank and achieved all the initial skills!"

I had worried a little because I was growing him, not Awakening him optimally, but it was a relief. Our Peace, now you had really grown up. When I stretched out my hand, Peace touched his head to it. Now, even if I hugged just his head, there was still some left after both my arms were full.

"Our Peace, you really are good-looking."

-Geureureu

The rumbling was also completely different from when he was little. Would Yoohyun take Peace along when he went to the S-Rank dungeon attack in a few days? Though it seemed too early. I should contact him first of all.

Shortly after contacting him that Peace's growth finished, Yoohyun came down to the training room.