[Damn it, just drop some gear already!!!]
Posted by: B-RankSwordsmanGuildWanted
Am I asking for too much?
Huh? I said C-rank would be fine!
How much longer do I have to keep using these mass-produced D-rank swords!!!
–If you’re a B-rank swordsman, just diligently carry two D-rank swords, lol.
–Is it just me, or have equipment drops gotten really stingy lately?
└22 It’s true, they’re not dropping an unusual amount.
└Crazy brag-tards, I’ve never had one drop in my life;;
–FireStick: Buying B-rank or higher fire-attribute staves at the highest price……
└Even the Crimson Lotus Guild Master is struggling, damn it, lololol.
└Posted by: Even S-ranks are doing legwork because they lack weapons; I was too arrogant…
****
[These crazy blacksmith bastards;; Does it even make sense that C-rank is still the maximum???]
Posted by: BlacksmithWorkHard
And why the hell are they only releasing D-rank quantities;;
They’re definitely hiding something… This simply cannot be…
–These guys are seriously so incompetent;;
└For real, okay, new players, fine, but there must be people who awakened ten years ago, how can they still be like this;;
–The guilds monopolizing blacksmiths need a special investigation, lol. They’re definitely holding blacksmiths capable of making B-rank or higher gear captive and hiding them.
–PseudoBlacksmith: You goddamn bastards!
****
[At least let me be a real blacksmith before you curse me, damn it!]
Posted by: PseudoBlacksmith
If I’m making equipment effective against monsters without any skills, isn’t that pretty damn amazing?
–It’s true, lolol…
–? You don’t have blacksmith skills?
└PseudoBlacksmith: There’s no such thing as a blacksmith profession to begin with, damn it! I’m just a D-rank warrior with high strength and stamina!
└So they really were incompetent (TL Note: A play on words, ‘muneung,’ meaning both incompetent and lacking abilities), lololol.
–I think the standard should be raised above D-rank. All B-rank and lower strength-type Awakened should just be dragged to the blacksmith shop, lol.
└For real, lol. What good are high-ranking warriors if they don’t even have weapons? Lol.
└That B-rank swordsman who was whining about not having equipment earlier should just go make it themselves, lololol.
[No need to be depressed about equipment, life is more important]
No? I’m about to die right now because I don’t have any equipment???
–Fact) It’s a fact.
–FireStick: Buying B-rank or higher fire-attribute staves at the highest price……
****
[Hopeless trash newbie blacksmith made this, is it good?]
Posted by: BraggartBlacksmith
『Dagger crafted by BraggartBlacksmith (A)』
Should I just throw it away? TTTT
–??? How did you do that?
–Wow, now they’ve ‘crafted’ A-rank equipment themselves???
–FireStick: This is Crimson Lotus Guild. Please check your direct message.
└Damn, wasn’t that a macro??
–I’m tracking BraggartBlacksmith’s IQ and going to kidnap this bastard.
–It’s obviously something synthesized with a manipulation-type ability, and people are falling for it, lololol.
└For real, lol.
└There was just one person who made a B-rank item, what’s with A-rank;;
└That blacksmith who made the B-rank item is this person.
└Damn, so it’s real?
[Blacksmith who posted the A-rank dagger earlier, please…]
If it’s a hoax, please say it’s a hoax…
Just in case, I’ve been staring at the auction house for an hour now…
–Lololololololol, you think so?
–Even as you’re writing this post, there’s a truckload of people waiting in the auction house, lol.
–But usually, hoaxes like that get exposed quickly by appraisers, yet this time there’s been no news for an hour.
└For real, lol. Ranker guilds might have already contacted them and suppressed the information.
└But even if it’s real, could you guys even buy it? Rankers are practically drooling over it, lol.
[Whoa, damn, it’s up!]
Posted by: HunterGaller
A-rank dagger listed on the auction house for 48 hours.
It hit 10 billion in 3 minutes;;
–It’s really real…
–It’s 30 billion now, shudder.
└They’re spending 30 billion on one weapon???
└If it’s A-rank, S-rank hunters would buy it, lololol. 30 billion is cheap.
–Seriously, didn’t an S-rank strength-type Awakened become a blacksmith? Lololololol.
└If it’s not this, it makes no sense, lololol.
└This is truly a nation-saving decision only a patriot could make, shudder.
BraggartBlacksmith is a god and the hope of humanity.
****
“Tomorrow, finally…?”
“Indeed.”
Tomorrow was none other than their twentieth birthday, the day they would officially become adults.
While it used to be called that, now it was known by a completely different name.
The Day of Awakening.
Ten years prior, gates had appeared across the globe, initiating the invasion of monsters.
Initially, humanity had somehow fended them off with modern technology, but this method proved highly inefficient, eventually reaching a point where further resistance became impossible.
It couldn’t be explained by a mere lack of modern weaponry’s firepower.
It was as if an intangible aura protected them.
Monsters that could withstand RPGs were often trapped, ironically unable to even breach concrete walls.
With humanity’s extinction all but assured, a turning point arrived.
On January 1st, as the New Year dawned, those turning twenty—reaching adulthood—gained supernatural abilities to combat the monsters.
This phenomenon was dubbed ‘Awakening,’ and ever since the initial event, every individual reaching adulthood on New Year’s Day awakened, collectively referred to as the ‘New Humanity.’
Within five years, they successfully reclaimed all territories invaded by monsters.
Now, five years later, monsters had merely devolved into lucrative prey.
The New Humanity, having awakened abilities to hunt monsters, now stood at the very heart of the world.
****
“Alright, everyone… will you please come in one by one and tell me your abilities?”
The man who had gathered them, now newly minted adults, wore a benevolent smile; he was the Orphanage Director of the Twilight Orphanage.
Even the New Humanity, destined to gain Awakened abilities, were ordinary people no different from the Old Humanity until they turned twenty.
Even if one lived as a nobody until twenty, awakening a high-grade or rare ability meant an immediate reversal of their life’s fortunes.
It was, in essence, like carrying a twenty-year lottery ticket.
Neither being born into a wealthy family nor possessing exceptional talent guaranteed extraordinary abilities.
It was simply luck.
Even an orphan with an uncertain future could fairly dream of a life-changing reversal.
“Now, everyone, please form a line in front of the director’s office and enter one by one.”
An orphanage housing dozens of these ‘lottery tickets’ was, quite literally, hitting the jackpot.
The orphanage system, where adults received subsidies and departed, had undergone a significant change.
“You all know that if you lie inside, you’ll be found out immediately, right? Everyone, please answer honestly~”
On January 1st of the year they came of age, they underwent a group examination of their awakened abilities.
If their awakened ability was subpar, they would simply receive their subsidy and leave.
However, if they obtained a good ability, they would be connected to the orphanage’s affiliated guild.
“Yujun, hurry up and come!”
Standing halfway down the line, calling out to me, was Kwon Yena, my closest friend at the orphanage.
She was my childhood friend, with whom I’d been together since we were five, back at the old general orphanage.
“Yujun, you can stand with me, right?”
“Uh-huh…”
“Of course!”
Thanks to her overwhelming beauty, such minor considerations were accepted and even requested as if they were her natural right.
Consequently, unwelcome gazes were now fixed upon me.
‘So what? They should have just said no.’
Why were they resenting me after they had yielded their spots to impress Kwon Yena themselves?
After casually dismissing the familiar stares, I moved to stand behind Kwon Yena.
“Yujun… what did you awaken as?”
As I stepped up and stood beside her, she immediately turned to me and whispered into my ear.
“You already checked?”
“Oh, right!”
Although one could check their abilities immediately upon awakening, the orphanage strictly forbade it.
They were only permitted to open their status window for the first time in the director’s office, under the director’s explicit permission.
Of course, this rule was merely words, without any real enforcement, so most children checked immediately after the New Year.
I, too, had checked right away, and Kwon Yena, who had just openly boasted about already checking, was no different.
In fact, every child currently in line had likely already confirmed their abilities.
‘Status Window’
—
Name: Shin Yujun
Age: 20
Stamina: E
Strength: E
Agility: E
Intelligence: E
Magic: E
Occupation: Blacksmith (EX)
▶️
—
I had awakened as a Blacksmith.
“You checked too, Yujun? Hehe…”
At the sound of her voice, I couldn’t check the next page and closed my status window.
Then, Kwon Yena was right in front of me, staring intently, her face close to mine.
She seemed eager to talk about our awakened abilities.
Such a reaction suggested that her ability was at least not a dud…
I felt the same, or perhaps, I had even won the grand prize.
‘I thought I was ruined because all my stats were E, but my occupation is EX??? ‘
‘And was ‘Blacksmith’ even a real occupation?’
As far as I knew, no one had ever held the occupation of Blacksmith before.
The individuals currently referred to as blacksmiths, who crafted and repaired equipment, were all strength-type Awakened without any special skills.
In other words, I had become the very first Blacksmith.
In that case, Yena and I would surely pass the Orphanage Director’s criteria.
We would be connected to the Twilight Guild, which had the Twilight Orphanage, where we had grown up, under its wing.
“It’s my turn! I’ll be back, Yujun!”
Yena, greeting me brightly, entered the director’s office.
Just how good was her ability to make her so eager to boast about it?
…
“It appeared!!!”
The director’s office, which had been quiet all along, suddenly echoed with the director’s voice, piercing through the door.
…
Click—
A moment later, Kwon Yena opened the door and whispered to me.
“Hehe… Isn’t it amazing?”
My childhood friend had become the third S-rank Awakened in South Korea.
And the eleventh worldwide.
****
Before I could even offer congratulations, the other orphanage residents swarmed around her.
Ultimately, I was called into the director’s office alone.
“Hehehehehe…”
Upon entering the office, I was met by the Orphanage Director, who wore an unsettling laugh.
“Director?”
“Ah, yes, Yujun. Open your status window and check your abilities.”
“Just a moment.”
I deliberately paused, pretending to be opening my status window and checking for the first time.
If I revealed my occupation, I would likely be sent to the Twilight Guild, just like Yena.
Being forcibly bound by a contract was certainly not ideal, but I had no choice.
Inside the director’s office, there were lie-detection devices and cameras recording both video and audio of the situation.
Any lie would be immediately detected, and even if I somehow managed to deceive the machines with an awakened ability, it wouldn’t matter much.
If my deception were later exposed, all my assets would be confiscated by the orphanage, and I would have to transfer 50% of my earnings to the orphanage for ten years.
Given that alternative, joining a guild affiliated with the orphanage and becoming free to extend the contract or join another guild after three years was a hundred times better.
“Yujun? You’re taking a bit long.”
“Ah, yes.”
Still, the Twilight Guild maintained its position within the top ten guilds nationwide.
Anyway, wherever I went, I’d likely be working for ‘passion pay’ under the guise of ‘new hunter development’ for the first three years of my contract, so it was better to be dragged into a good guild.
“Alright, Yujun. What occupation did you get?”
“Blacksmith.”
“Haa…”
‘What was that reaction?’
He surely knew that Blacksmith was a first-ever occupation, so why that reaction?
“And the rank?”
“E…”
“That’s enough, you can leave.”
‘Could it be… he thought I was an E-rank strength-type Awakened?’
He simply hadn’t accepted that the first-ever Blacksmith occupation had been born.
‘Then I won’t be tied to a contract, will I?’
It was a situation akin to being perfectly healthy but receiving a military exemption—an absolute windfall.
“Didn’t I tell you to leave quickly?”
As I stood there, momentarily blank, trying to process the situation, the director urged me to leave quickly.
This was such a favorable turn of events for me that I immediately turned and grasped the doorknob.
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
“You know this entire situation has been recorded and documented, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good, you wouldn’t lie unless you were insane. You may leave.”
Click—
“Phew…”
‘I didn’t… lie!’
The EX-rank orphan Blacksmith cast off all shackles and restraints, found happiness, and left the orphanage.
