Chirp-chirp-
The birdsong tickled Hyun-soo’s ears.
Squinting against the brightness, Hyun-soo slowly opened his eyes.
Before him unfolded a world entirely different from the one he knew.
All around, NPCs dressed in what seemed like medieval armor wandered the streets.
He also spotted other players, appearing new to the game, wearing shabby clothes.
Hyun-soo looked down at his hands.
Like in the character creation screen, his hands were steady, not shaking at all.
Craaack-
He clenched and unclenched his fists several times.
Hyun-soo always became unconsciously cautious when using his right hand.
Afraid of further injury, of making things worse.
But here, no matter how much strength he used, his hand took it.
Hyun-soo smiled slightly as he spotted a wooden dummy training area in the distance.
“That must be the place where if you succeed, they give you a capsule worth 50 million won, right?”
Hyun-soo didn’t have the money to buy a capsule.
Therefore, to earn money in this game, he had to succeed at breaking the wooden dummy by all means.
“Hey, watch. This guy’s gonna get himself a capsule.”
“Oh, is that the place where 2.5 billion people failed to beat the devilish wooden dummy?”
Players new to the game like Hyun-soo also showed interest in the wooden dummy.
Blue Inc. Marketing’s doing a good job…
Hyun-soo was impressed.
It was a brilliant idea, how it sparked interest in players as soon as they started the game.
Hyun-soo followed them.
‘Before crafting a weapon, I should check out this wooden dummy first.’
He noticed the instructors standing ahead.
The instructors looked on with indifferent expressions as players hit the wooden dummies.
One of them saw Hyun-soo and approached.
“Choose any wooden sword and strike the wooden dummy 50 times.”
Ding!
[Quest: Strike the Wooden Dummy 50 Times]
Grade: Tutorial
Restriction: New players.
Reward: 10 silver.
Penalty if failed: Cannot proceed to the next stage.
Description: Let’s learn the basics.
“Can I just pick any?” Hyun-soo asked.
The instructor nodded.
Hyun-soo surveyed the long row of wooden swords.
There appeared to be about 500 of them.
It indicated how many players came and went each day.
Hyun-soo hesitated before picking one up.
“Hmm…?”
A curious expression crossed his face.
The sensation, the feel of the wooden sword he picked up.
In the past, Hyun-soo had made thousands of wooden swords to earn some pocket money with his father.
It hadn’t been easy to make ends meet.
That’s why he was familiar with the materials used for wooden swords.
‘Wait a minute…’
His face was puzzled again.
Why were there so many wooden swords laid out?
All 500 of them.
There was no need for such cumbersome acts in a game.
And that thought was prompted by the feel of the wooden swords.
His eyes scanned the wooden swords.
They all seemed to be the same color. The difference was in their make.
Some were glossy, others looked worn, the bark peeling and rough to the touch.
Hyun-soo touched one wooden sword, then another beside it.
‘They’re different…’
Though they looked the same, the many swords here were all made of different materials.
About 90% were made of magnolia wood.
The rest were jujube, oak, and zelkova wood.
Magnolia wood swords were sturdy.
The others weren’t bad either.
But if there was the best choice, shouldn’t he choose that?
‘Normally, you could tell by the color…’
They seemed to have deliberately hidden the colors.
Hyun-soo’s hand moved from one wooden sword to another, picking them up and putting them down.
“Come on, just grab any and start hitting.”
“Choosing a better one would be nice, though,” Hyun-soo said.
The instructor looked annoyed but soon moved on to another player.
Hyun-soo continued to feel the wooden swords.
Then, finally.
“This is it!”
Hyun-soo smiled faintly.
To the eye, the sword looked rough and worn, like it had been handled by many.
‘No wonder people don’t pick this one.’
But the reality was different.
‘This is made of ebony.’
Ebony.
Among the various woods, ebony is the strongest and most efficient for making wooden swords.
Meaning, out of all these wooden swords, the ebony one was the best.
“I’ll take this one.”
He selected the wooden sword.
Then.
Ding!
[Hidden Piece. A Talent for Discernment.]
[You’ve gained 3 dexterity.]
‘Huh?’
Hyun-soo tilted his head in confusion. Hidden Piece.
A secret in the game and the rewards for unlocking it.
An exceptionally cruel probability, or a special reward triggered by a player’s particular actions.
Hyun-soo didn’t immediately understand why this was a Hidden Piece.
‘Shouldn’t it be possible to choose by luck?’
Then it hit Hyun-soo.
‘I physically touched and distinguished dozens of wooden swords.’
The notification clearly said ‘distinguish.’
This means it’s highly likely that the condition was not just to choose, but to physically touch and swipe through several wooden swords to make a choice.
For the average person, discerning just by the touch of the wooden swords is almost impossible.
And then something amazing happened.
Swoosh-
[The ebony wooden sword emits a glow.]
The sword, which had the color of ordinary wood, now revealed its true ebony blackness.
“Hey, check out that user’s wooden sword.”
“What about it?”
“It’s a Hidden Piece! The ebony one that’s famous on the forums. But can you believe they didn’t know?”
“Huh? Why?”
“Even if they know, normal people can’t distinguish it.”
“Wow… that’s some talent…”
People briefly showed interest in Hyun-soo.
But as soon as the instructor approached, the crowd that was about to gather quickly dispersed.
“Congratulations. You’ve obtained a fine wooden sword. Before you start hitting the wooden dummy, let me explain about stats.”
There are five basic stats.
Strength, Stamina, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom,
“Special stats and things like the status window or quest window, you’ll learn about those as you go.”
“……”
“Just mumble about it.”
“Status window.”
(Hyun-soo)
Level: 1
Job: Unemployed
Strength: 5 Agility: 5 Stamina: 5 Wisdom: 5 Intelligence: 5 Dexterity: 3
“What’s the dexterity stat for?”
“Dexterity helps non-combat jobs with crafting, production, cooking, etc., making those tasks easier and better. It also has a very minor effect on things like attack power…”
“Oh…”
It was a stat Hyun-soo certainly needed.
Hyun-soo then checked the ebony wooden sword as well.
(Ebony Wooden Sword)
Grade: Common
Durability: 500/500
Attack Power: 11
Special Ability:
• Strength +1
Description: An ebony wooden sword that has 4 more attack power than a regular wooden sword and gives an additional +1 to strength.
Hyun-soo was impressed.
It had 4 more attack power than a regular wooden sword and increased strength.
A better start from the very beginning.
And finally, Hyun-soo stood in front of the wooden dummy.
‘If I break it in 10 hits, that’s 50 million won…’
He swung with all his might.
Wham
Bang
Thump-thump-thump-
However, Hyun-soo’s expression twisted after hitting it a total of ten times.
‘How am I supposed to break this…?’
[Wooden Dummy Durability 811/1,000]
[You have failed to break the Wooden Dummy.]
[You may retry in 30 minutes.]
Hyun-soo couldn’t hide his astonishment. After ten hits, he hadn’t even reduced half of the dummy’s durability.
Even though he had used the ebony wooden sword.
‘No wonder 2.5 billion people have failed…’
But for Hyun-soo, it was a challenge worth taking.
He went on to complete the remaining 40 hits.
[Quest: Hit the Wooden Dummy 50 Times Completed.]
[You have earned 10 silver.]
Hyun-soo left the area.
Hyun-soo had been researching the beginner zone of Ares since Ji-hoon left yesterday.
First, to craft a sword, he needed certain things.
‘Materials and a forge’
Without these two, even the most skilled blacksmith couldn’t craft anything.
Luckily, while this beginner zone didn’t offer job changes, it did have a forge.
There was also a quest available at the forge: collecting 50 rabbit skins.
But it was a quest people usually didn’t bother with.
The reason, he heard, was that the reward offered by the forge was too stingy.
Of course, the quest for collecting rabbit skins wasn’t the goal.
To use the forge, one needed the forge master’s permission.
With that in mind, he made his way over.
***
Clang, clang, clang-!
Len, the blacksmith in the beginner zone, was hammering away at the red-hot iron with all his might.
He stopped hammering and his face hardened.
“Damn, this is another failure…”
He had been on bad terms with the instructors in the beginner zone lately.
The instructors often came to the forge to have their blades sharpened and complained about the high costs.
Their complaints turned into arguments over time.
“The cost of using the forge is determined by the skill of the blacksmith. Does it make sense for you, a novice blacksmith, to charge so much?”
This challenged Len’s pride.
‘I can make decent swords too. It’s just a slump lately!’
‘A slump that lasts a lifetime? Well, if you make a sword better than what I have now, I’ll acknowledge it. And apologize for this whole conversation.’
‘Apologize? No, if I make that sword, I’m raising your sharpening fee by 30%!’
“…Do as you like.”
Len felt a deep scratch in his pride.
But despite having made dozens of swords, he hadn’t produced one better than the instructors’ blades.
There were some close calls, but as they said, it was a tall order for a ‘novice blacksmith.’
He kept hammering until he set aside the heated metal and took out another piece of hot iron.
“Why isn’t this working?”
The problem was the strength of the metal. Better quality metal would create swords that wouldn’t break easily and would have the high attack power people favored.
But no matter how much he hammered the heated iron, the desired swords didn’t materialize.
Clang-!
Clang-!
Clang-!
There was only one forge in this place.
Naturally, Len had his own dreams.
To reach a higher skill level and surpass his own masterpieces.
Or, well, to have a masterpiece to surpass at all since he hadn’t managed to create a single rare artifact in his life.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
Clang-!
Blaming his humble skills, he clenched his teeth, the only blacksmith in this beginner zone.
Like all humans, he wanted to show the instructors what he was capable of.
“Please, just once…!”
Clang-!
However, the results were still disappointing, and he continued to hammer.
Just when his strength seemed to fade and his grip on reality along with it.
“That’s not how you’re supposed to do it…”
An unknown voice sounded.
Turning his head, Len saw a man.
Len wasn’t in a good mood.
‘You say that’s not how it’s done?’
The man was clearly a stranger.
“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
The stranger quickly bowed at a 90-degree angle, a polite gesture.
Whether he was being polite or not, Len was taken aback.
“A mere foreigner…?”
Was this stranger putting his two cents into his blacksmithing?
Many foreigners had passed by the forge before.
But those foreigners admired his blacksmithing work.
‘Wow, is that a blacksmith…!’
‘Cool, that’s amazing!’
Why would they say that?
Because they didn’t understand blacksmithing.
So what gave this man the right to comment?
Len, irked, took big strides over.
“Then how do you do it? Go on, give it a try.”
He handed over the hammer with a frustrated expression.
***
At the forge, Hyun-soo realized his mistake as Len handed him the hammer.
Should he have waited until after it was all over…?
But as he overheard Len mumbling to himself, longing to create something better, he realized why he had offered advice.
Why did he put his two cents in? Because he needed to make a better sword, and that’s what Len needed too.
‘The creation of this sword was wrong from the start.’
Sighing softly, Hyun-soo took the hammer from him.
‘If something’s wrong, it should be corrected.’
He walked into the forge.
It had been three years since he last held a hammer, and now it was warming his blood again.
Cliche Novel 
Excellent chapter, thank you for the translation.
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