[HP falls below 30%.]
[HP falls below 29%.]
The heavy snow soon reached up to Hyun-soo’s waist.
The swirling snow filled his vision.
He looked at his own hands.
[You have frostbite.]
[It is difficult to move your hands, and they feel like they could shatter.]
“Haah.”
White breath exhaled from Hyun-soo’s mouth. At that moment, a warm warmth could be felt from the ring of the Snow King.
[Temperature Control]
[A warm energy envelops your body.]
[Ice resistance increases by 60%.]
(Snow King’s Ring)
Grade: Unique
Durability: 5,000/5,000
Defense: 68
Requirement: Level 310 or higher
Special Abilities:
· Health increases by 4%.
· Ice attribute attack power increases by 43%.
· Ice resistance increases by 50%.
· Passive skill: Survival.
· Active skill: Temperature Control.
· Active skill: Snow Trail Running.
Description: A ring dropped by the Snow King, it is most effective in snowy mountains.
Temperature Control.
This active skill can be triggered once every 10 minutes and normalizes all body temperature for 1 minute.
However, it was not omnipotent.
[HP falls below 5%.]
[You are afflicted with the status abnormality of fear.]
[You are afflicted with the status abnormality of fainting.]
Overwhelming notifications tormented Hyun-soo.
Hyun-soo collapsed on the snowfield as if he would faint at any moment.
His mind became hazy, and sleep approached.
Then he remembered.
If he didn’t meet the sage Arte this time, he would never be able to meet him.
That meant he couldn’t obtain what the God Blacksmith had left behind.
Hyun-soo needed it.
A way to become stronger and a path to progress.
Hyun-soo suddenly opened his eyes.
[You exert extreme mental strength.]
[You gain 1 willpower.]
[Survival is activated.]
[HP recovers by 10% and all status abnormalities are expelled.]
Survival embedded in the Snow King’s Ring is activated depending on the wearer’s mental strength.
Hyun-soo continued to advance.
He faced situations where he nearly lost consciousness multiple times.
[You exert extreme mental strength.]
[Survival is activated.]
He was also blown by a gust and crashed into a tree.
Crash-!
“Ugh…”
But Hyun-soo stood up again and walked.
Finally, he could reach the Sage’s Tower.
Creak-
Entering inside, Hyun-soo was able to face unexpected figures.
[Absolute Shield Pehya Lv.475]
[Great Magician Luwon Lv.481]
[Sword King Barad Lv.478]
[Spear Heaven Ben Lv.488]
[Sage Arte Lv.472]
Levels that defy common sense.
In there, Hyun-soo brushed the snow off his clothes and thought.
‘I won’t shrink back.’
It used to be that way.
Every day, he became increasingly desperate and mourned his despairing life with shoulders hunched.
But not anymore.
He himself had overcome the snowstorm and made it here.
He is not inferior to them.
“Master Craftsman Hyun (現). I have come to see Sage Arte.”
[Your reward is maximized.]
Hyun-soo’s heart raced.
A reward for breaking through that impossible path.
He was curious what the reward would be.
And he felt a deadly silence envelop the room.
Ben and Barad silently took in their comrade Hyun-soo with their eyes.
They were also quite surprised.
In the midst of a blizzard that hadn’t been seen in a hundred years, he worried that his close friend might not be able to make it here.
But that was not the case.
‘When did he grow up like this?’
‘Is this really the Hyun I know?’
Barad and Ben felt an inexplicable pounding in their hearts as they watched him.
The most shocked were Luwon and Pehya.
‘He’s practically a walking corpse now…’
However, his eyes still brimmed with life.
‘It would be interesting to watch him become a legend.’
‘If anyone with such mental strength deserves to become a legend, it’s him.’
With growing expectations, they said,
“We’re going to head back now.”
“See you next time.”
Luwon and Pehya vanished in a flash of light.
And among them, Arte was the most intrigued.
As the owner of the Sage Tower, Arte was well aware that he was coming.
‘But he was like a candle burning out.’
Continually in the fierce wind, teetering on the edge of extinction.
He thought that he would die without ever reaching this place.
Yet, he overcame.
And here he was.
And look!
Still unshaken, firm in his resolve, his flesh unyielding…
Thud-
“…?”
Suddenly, Hyun-soo fainted.
“They often do that.”
“Our kid’s always been a bit frail.”
More baffling were the calm reactions of Barad and Ben.
“???”
Their continued conversation shocked Arte even more.
“It’s expected, they’re weaker than both of us.”
“Do you know, it’s his unbreakable spirit that brought him here.”
Arte was purely amazed.
Soon after, Barad and Ben picked him up.
A moment later, Arte also walked off somewhere.
***
Where Arte arrived after his walk.
There stood a statue of the God Blacksmith, Asca.
The statue of the handsome man with white hair tied back held a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other.
It symbolized both martial prowess and blacksmithing.
Arte reminisced about his conversation with the God Blacksmith.
“If my descendant comes, just bring him in front of this statue, then he will be able to obtain what I have left behind.”
The God Blacksmith Arte knew was the strictest person.
Or rather, had to be strict.
“Even towards his own descendant.”
At any time, the God Blacksmith was ready to dismiss his descendant.
“Power should indeed belong to those who possess it.”
And what the God Blacksmith had said.
“My statue will prove the path he has traveled. And the reward will vary depending on what he proves. If he excelled in the work of blacksmithing, he’ll be granted a hammer; if he proved his martial prowess, he’ll receive a sword.”
If granted a hammer, Hyun would gain the strength needed as a blacksmith.
If granted a sword, it would be a reward for displaying outstanding martial prowess.
But whether one or the other, this too is important.
“A rusty hammer, or a golden one?”
A rusty hammer or sword means one could receive a reward from the God Blacksmith but failed to prove adequately.
And receiving a golden hammer or sword would mean he had made a commendable proof.
“As demanding as ever.”
But Arte understood him.
For those who walk the path of the gods are not ordinary.
Moreover, this god’s approval ultimately depends on climbing this mountain.
Thinking this, Arte waited and half a day later, he knew that the man had awakened.
Soon a pigeon flew towards him.
***
Awakening from his sleep, Hyun-soo had a resigned expression.
“Hyun faints again, Hyun faints…”
A shorthand for Hyun-soo fainting again.
Then he checked his current level of divine approval.
‘I had no idea this existed.’
From the moment Hyun-soo began climbing the tower, this approval had begun to increase.
‘In a way, meeting Dun turned out to be an opportunity for me.’
Dun was the person who understood the Beres Mountain Range the best.
Thanks to him, Hyun-soo climbed a two-day journey in half a day.
‘Truly an incredible level of approval.’
Hyun-soo grinned as he looked at the figures he had achieved.
Then the arriving pigeon gestured for Hyun-soo to follow.
“Am I finally getting it?”
Hyun-soo realized that if he followed this pigeon, he could obtain what the God Blacksmith had left behind.
For the first time, he could see what the God Blacksmith looked like.
He had the appearance more of a noble than a blacksmith, with a majestic demeanor holding a white hammer and a white sword.
Arte then said, “Hammer or sword. One of the two will appear, and with the hammer, you will gain the power of a blacksmith, and with the sword, the power related to martial prowess.”
Hyun-soo liked both options.
“How do I receive it?”
“Just touch the statue.”
Hyun-soo placed his palm on the chest of the statue and then stepped back.
Soon, a small light flickered from the statue.
“The degree of recognition you received as you climbed the mountain, and the path you have taken will also appear.”
Then, Hyun-soo heard a notification.
[You gain additional recognition based on the path you have walked.]
[You achieve 65% of the god’s recognition.]
Arte asked, “I’m curious, how much recognition did you achieve?”
‘Could it be around 80%? Such an incredible figure, to achieve that level of divine recognition…’
Then, Hyun-soo said, “Total recognition is 227%.”
“What?”
Arte looked at Hyun, the blacksmith standing in front of the statue, with shaking eyes.
Only upon hearing the exact recognition did Arte understand.
‘It’s too little.’
Just one hammer, one sword to be gained.
Arte soon noticed something strange.
Suddenly, the sword and hammer held by the statue of the God Blacksmith crumbled into ash.
Then, a noise came from the statue holding those two items.
Creak, creak-
‘Could it be…!?’
Arte couldn’t hide his astonishment.
[The God Blacksmith Asca descends.]
Arte’s eyes shook violently.
Gods do not appear easily in the world.
Indeed, that’s why the statue was supposed to give the reward.
Arte’s throat moved.
Gulp-
He could understand why the god had descended.
‘Out of too much recognition, because he was too pleased with his descendant…!’
The god was delighted and had rushed here.
And soon Arte could see it.
A completely new reward was being given.
Arte sensed it.
‘Something incomparable even to a hammer or sword.’
***
[The God Blacksmith Asca descends.]
Hyun-soo was surprised.
Even playing the game as a descendant, he thought it would take a long time to meet Asca.
The god is great and noble.
That was the setting of Ares.
In reality, no user had ever actually encountered a god.
The statue’s eyelids moved.
And god Asca, curious about his descendant who had achieved such remarkable recognition, had descended.
It was just a temporary descent.
Asca’s eyes scanned him.
‘Sturdy build, calluses filling the right hand, unwavering eyes. But these alone could not have achieved such recognition.’
Asca pondered deeply.
What made him like this?
Outstanding skills?
That was also true.
But soon Asca saw what was truly important.
‘Unbreakable determination.’
Purely, Asca admired it.
Asca, even while observing his descendant, said nothing.
He just knew.
If someone had accomplished this much, they deserved a corresponding reward.
‘Yes, let’s give it. A reward even greater than a combination of a hammer and sword.’
And Hyun-soo could see him, smiling an unknowable smile as he looked at him.
Asca’s fluttering eyelids stopped.
[The soul of god Asca disappears.]
Where he disappeared, something else remained.
[The god cherishes you.]
It was as if he was whispering to him.
And from the sky descended something mysterious.
[You acquire a crown forged by the god.]
It was a crown made of platinum.
As Hyun-soo reached out and grasped the crown, his heart throbbed.
Hyun-soo was certain.
This was the highest reward bestowed by the god.
Hyun-soo examined the crown.
Cliche Novel 