Chapter 17

Chapter 8

Item Crafting Contest!

Winston Central Square!

Although the place was usually bustling with people, even more had gathered today.

This was because an item crafting contest was to be held here, where a forge had been built.

"I hope Grid can win and protect Master Kan's forge. The forge is like our last pride."

"Yes. If the forge falls into the hands of the Mero Trading Company, there will be no place left in Winston where we can feel at ease."

"Go, Grid! You mustn't lose!"

The hearts of the Winston residents, who had all gathered, were earnest. They prayed that Grid would surely win the contest.

However, the attitude of the players was different. The outcome of the contest had nothing to do with them.

"An item crafting contest? It's not particularly interesting, but since it's not a common event, I might as well watch for a while."

"Sure. We don't have anything else to do anyway. If it gets boring, we can just leave. Hey, whoever wins, they're on our side~"

Most players watched the contest with no particular interest, treating it like a casual pastime. This was the better reaction.

"Hey, isn't it funny? Just a contest of blacksmiths making items, and they're holding it in such a grand manner with so many people here?"

"Exactly. Watching blacksmiths work is boring and uninteresting. Even if they make an item, it'll probably just be a low-grade epic, and I won't be interested in the result."

"Even an epic? A rare item would be lucky. I heard that famous blacksmiths aren't participating in this contest."

"What? Are they just bringing in some no-name blacksmiths? Hey, let's just go hunting. It's a waste of time. Who cares who ends up with the ruined forge?"

Many players mocked and ignored the contest, considering it trivial.

But soon,

When the participants of the contest appeared, the male players decided to stay and watch until the end.

"Here are the main characters of today's contest! Arina of the Mero Trading Company! And Grid, the successor of Kan!"

"Ooh!"

The eyes of the male players widened when they saw the blonde girl ascending the stage, and cheers erupted from all around.

"Wow! She's really pretty!"

"I fell in love with you at first sight!"

"She's my type…."

The blonde girl wore a deep cap, so her face wasn't fully visible, but her beauty was undeniable.

Her luscious lips were especially charming.

The male players, who had no interest in the outcome of the contest, all became her fervent supporters the moment they saw her.

"Arina! I'll cheer for you, bro!"

"Go, Arina~!"

"Arina! Arina! Arina!"

A newly formed group of uncles!

Arina, or Yufemina, elegantly waved her hand to the enthusiastic cheers, feeling uplifted.

"Thank you for cheering for me."

"Ooh!"

She spoke softly and smiled slightly, but the men were overjoyed as if they had received a favor from a goddess.

Their reaction was reminiscent of soldiers' response to a female idol visiting their base.

Grid, seeing this, was taken aback.

'Is it my turn next?'

The male players were enthusiastically supporting the female contestant. It would be natural for female players to support the male contestant as well!

Grid, mimicking Yufemina's smile, waved to the female players in the audience.

He expected their cheers and support.

But the reaction he received was completely different from what he had anticipated.

"Who does he think he is, grinning like that? Ugh, it's annoying."

"The bread I just ate is coming back up…."

"He really looks unappealing…."

The female players, who not only refused to cheer but also reacted negatively!

'What a superficial society! If I were a legendary handsome man, they would have cheered for me properly!'

Feeling disheartened as no woman cheered for him, Grid heard the Winston residents shouting.

"Grid! We're here! We're cheering for you! We believe in you! You must win!"

"Show the skills worthy of Master Kan's successor!"

"Go, Grid! Go, Grid! Go, Grid!"

Grid shuddered.

"You say you're cheering for me, but why are your eyes following that girl…?"

NPCs, especially men, were all the same wolves.

Even among the Winston residents, the men, forgetting that the blonde girl was their enemy, couldn't take their eyes off her.

Even Kan!

"That old man, the more I know him, the more of a fool he is."

The alluring blonde girl, who could charm even an elderly NPC with depleted vigor!

Grid, who was treated like a side character just because he stood next to her, was furious.

"You! I will definitely win! And I'll enjoy seeing that pretty face of yours twisted in defeat!"

Grid's declaration surprised Yufemina.

Although they were enemies, how could a man remain so indifferent after seeing her beauty?

'Unless he's gay or blind, every man in the world should fall in love with my beauty and worship me as a queen, right?'

Yufemina felt a sense of pride.

'Let me show you the full extent of my beauty.'

Yufemina, who had been hiding her ID, slightly lifted the brim of her deep cap. Her beautiful face was now fully revealed.

Grid couldn't help but admire her.

'Wow, she's really beautiful. She's on par with Yura, that wicked witch, right?'

If Yura was a mature woman with noble grace, Yufemina was a lively and fresh girl.

Their auras were completely different, but they both possessed transcendent beauty.

'Is she human or a doll?'

Grid, with a dumbfounded expression, couldn't take his eyes off Yufemina!

Seeing this, Yufemina became overconfident.

'Hmph, of course. Now that you've seen my face, you've fallen in love at first sight. Now you'll follow me like a dog, just like all the other men, right?'

There can't be a man in the world who isn't captivated by my beauty!

Yufemina, with an immense sense of pride in her appearance, decided to further tame Grid.

"Mr. Grid? Don't be so hostile. Meeting like this is a kind of fate, isn't it? Who knows? Maybe we can develop a good relationship in the future? So let's get along without hurting each other's feelings."

She drew her long eyes into a crescent and spoke in a gentle voice, putting on a coquettish act.

No man could resist her when she acted like this.

But Grid didn't even snort.

"What? Develop a good relationship? Don't say such a terrifying thing, kid."

Yufemina's face turned red.

"Terrifying? Developing a good relationship with me? And you call me a kid?"

"Exactly! I have no intention of developing a good relationship with a fox-like woman like you! Kid! Have you graduated high school? A tiny girl like you using seduction on me won't work! I'm not a lolicon! Damn! Do you think I don't know the sinister intentions of pretty-faced women? You're trying to charm me so I can't focus on the contest, but that low-level trick won't work on me!"

Grid had a clear ideal type.

A quiet and modest beauty! At least 168 centimeters tall with a chest size of D-cup or larger!

Yufemina was undoubtedly extremely beautiful, but she was far from Grid's ideal type.

She seemed to lack modesty and was only about 160 centimeters tall. Her chest was at most a B-cup.

No matter how beautiful her face was, Grid didn't recognize her as a potential romantic interest.

'Kid? Fox? Low-level trick?'

Hearing Grid's harsh words, Yufemina was momentarily stunned, then began to tremble.

The humiliation she had never experienced before was making her extremely angry.

'First of all, I'm 20 years old!'

That's right. Yufemina was not a girl but a full-grown adult. She only looked young for her age, and her short stature was a complex for her.

Being called a kid in front of so many people was like touching her sore spot.

'I'll make you humiliate yourself in front of all these people!'

Yufemina, now a goddess of anger, made a decision.

She pulled her cap down again and smiled coldly. Then, looking at Grid with a condescending gaze, she said,

"Seeing that you can't recognize my charm, you must be gay, right? Fine. I'll give you a taste of the consequences of going against nature and choosing the gay path. Let's see who can make a better item. I'll win, no matter what."

"What, what? Gay? I'm gay?! What makes you think I'm gay! You insolent woman! Do you call unattractive men gay!"

Grid, misinterpreting her words, shouted loudly.

And Yufemina, hearing the word 'insolent,' was shocked again.

She had never imagined that she would hear such harsh words from a man.

"Insolent? Me? You're really a trashy man I can't associate with!"

Grid was the one who had shown hostility first, provoking and insulting her. From Yufemina's perspective, Grid was just a crazy man spouting nonsense.

After suffering repeated humiliations from this crazy man, Yufemina, unable to bear the shame, shouted with tears in her eyes.

"I'll part ways with someone like you as soon as possible! Let's start the contest right now!"

"Fine, let's start. I was already annoyed by this one-sided cheering. I'll definitely defeat you today and make a statement against superficial beauty!"

Even before the host announced the start of the contest, Grid had already put the iron ore into the blazing furnace.

Yufemina, who had experienced the entire item crafting process in the past, also began the steel refining process, not to be outdone.

Whoosh!

The two, fueled by anger, worked the bellows with incredible momentum.

The temperature of the furnace rapidly increased.

The host shouted,

"The contest has already begun! I inform the audience that the theme of this contest is 'dagger crafting'! The winner will be determined by who can create a higher-quality dagger within the time limit!"

A dagger is an item that can be crafted relatively quickly. While it's better to spend more time to create a true masterpiece, a skilled blacksmith could complete a decent dagger in about two hours.

The time limit for this contest was three hours.

"Go, Arina!"

As more players gathered, Yufemina's fans multiplied like cancer cells.

The cheers of her fans completely drowned out the cheers of the Winston residents, making Grid feel as if he were fighting alone in enemy territory.

One-sided cheering!

But Grid, far from being discouraged, became even more energized.

Weeds grow stronger when they are trampled!

'I will definitely win! I'll shut all of you up!'

Having completed the steel refining, Grid began the actual dagger crafting.

Clang! Clang!

As Grid started hammering the steel, Yufemina became anxious. She hadn't finished the refining yet.

'So fast! The skill gap is too big!'

It was inevitable.

After all, Yufemina wasn't a blacksmith.

'Don't get anxious. Getting anxious won't help.'

Yufemina calmed herself and focused on the refining process. She finally completed the refining just as Grid was repeating the quenching and forging processes several times.

She took a hammer from her inventory.

It was a crafting hammer she had purchased at great expense, determined to succeed in this quest.

<Blessed Blacksmith's Hammer>

Grade: Epic

Durability: 299/320

Attack Power: 50~70

Rare-grade item creation probability: +15%

Epic-grade item creation probability: +5%

This hammer was used by a renowned blacksmith and helps in creating high-grade items.

Requirement: Level 150 or higher, Strength 100 or higher.

Intermediate blacksmithing skill.

[You do not meet the item usage requirements.]

The only requirements Yufemina met for the <Blessed Blacksmith's Hammer> were level and strength. As a non-blacksmith, it was impossible for her to have the intermediate blacksmithing skill.

However, the situation would change if she could analyze and replicate Grid's blacksmithing skills.

Yufemina's 'Skill Observation' activated, targeting Grid, who was fully focused on dagger crafting.

At that moment, Yufemina smiled confidently.

'If we both have the same blacksmithing skills, the one with the better crafting tool has a higher chance of winning, naturally.'

Grid's crafting hammer was old and shabby compared to Yufemina's.

Confirming this, Yufemina was confident of her victory.

But her confidence was short-lived. She was shocked when she saw the notification windows appearing before her eyes.

[Your Skill Observation level is too low.]

[You cannot analyze the target's skill.]

"What, what?"

Yufemina's current Skill Observation level was 7.

Even the highest-level skills of 3rd-class NPCs had never failed to replicate.

Moreover, when she had analyzed and replicated advanced blacksmithing skills from a blacksmith NPC in the past, her Skill Observation level was only 5.

How could it be impossible to analyze Grid's blacksmithing skills with a level 7 Skill Observation?

Could Grid's blacksmithing skills be advanced or higher?

"...Impossible. Skill Observation! Skill Observation!"

[Your Skill Observation level is too low.]

[You cannot analyze the target's skill.]

[Your Skill Observation level is too low.]

[You cannot analyze the target's skill.]

No matter how many times she tried Skill Observation, the same notification windows kept appearing.

"Is this a bug? Skill Observation!!"

[Your Skill Observation level is too low.]

[You cannot analyze the target's skill.]

She tried Skill Observation until her mana was completely drained, but she ultimately failed to analyze the skill. Her face turned pale.

"How can this be…."

Given the circumstances, Yufemina had no choice but to admit it.

That this rude, disrespectful, and foolish man had a blacksmithing skill higher than advanced!

'Is he a master blacksmith? But that's impossible!'

The blacksmithing skill of the top-ranked blacksmith was only intermediate. How could a man like Grid, who wasn't even a ranker, let alone unknown, have a skill higher than advanced? It was impossible.

Even among NPCs, master blacksmiths were rare!

'No, he can't be a master blacksmith. But if he's not a master blacksmith, why can't I analyze his skill? Could it be…?'

Yufemina thought of a possibility.

Grid might not be an ordinary blacksmith.

Despite his low-level appearance, this foolish man could be a hidden-class job changer, just like herself.

'I don't want to believe it, but it's the only logical explanation. Otherwise, I can't explain why I can't analyze his skill.'

Not just blacksmithing, but all top-ranked crafters in the game were at the intermediate level.

Even famous NPCs mostly had advanced skills, and master-level NPCs were extremely rare.

This meant that if Grid were an ordinary player, it would be impossible for him to have a master-level skill.

Yufemina had no choice but to believe that Grid was not an ordinary blacksmith but a job changer with an epic-level or higher blacksmithing-related job.

'It's not a rare job. I can't fail to replicate a rare job's skill. It must be at least an epic-level job. But the only epic job changers besides me are Agnus and Kats… Could this man be a unique job changer? When did unique jobs even appear?'

It was the worst possible scenario.

Accepting a quest with unknown difficulty was a mistake.

'This is absurd! I never thought I'd be facing a unique job changer!'

Yufemina was in a state of confusion.

'What should I do? If I continue like this, I'll fail the quest without doing anything!'

Without being able to replicate blacksmithing skills, she couldn't even start crafting.

She knew the crafting method from experience, but without the support of blacksmithing skills, the result would be a poor-quality item.

'Should I give up? Again?'

Following the <Revenge Executor>, she was now facing a situation where she had to give up another quest.

Yufemina's mood was at its worst.

Grid, noticing her indecision, sneered.

"What's wrong? Are you completely frozen? Did you get scared by my skills, kid?"

"Ugh!"

Yufemina, feeling a surge of anger, made a decision.

'I can't lose to such a low-level man without doing anything!'

At this point, it didn't matter who the opponent was. As long as they were a blacksmith, she had to replicate their blacksmithing skills and at least attempt to craft an item.

'But where can I find a blacksmith…? Ah!'

Yufemina had a good idea and signaled to Rabbit in the audience.

Rabbit, who had noticed the unusual situation, approached her.

"Is there a problem?"

Yufemina whispered into Rabbit's ear, careful not to be over