The Transcendent Blacksmith Awakens

The world before my eyes flashed pure white for only a moment.

"Huh? What was that—static?"

Lee Rin shook out the hand she'd been holding and took a step back. Surprise flickered in the eyes looking up at me, but that was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as far as it went. She hadn't noticed a thing about what had just unfolded right in front of me.

A blue window floated in the center of my vision.

"...Uh."

I rubbed my eyes a few times. Far from disappearing, more text kept stacking on.

Exclusive Weapon... Blacksmith?

The other me living inside my body—the one who already knew this world—fed me the information at once. In G.O.G., Exclusive Weapons were top-tier gear that only the heroines possessed. They never dropped from gacha; you had to push deep into the story just to unlock them one by one. And now I was supposed to be the class that made them?

"Woon? Why's your face like that? Are you hurt?"

Lee Rin shoved her face right up to mine. Wait—too close, way too close.

"Uh... yeah. No, I mean... I think I just awakened."

"Whaaaat?????"

Lee Rin's voice rattled the whole workshop. Hey. Maybe lower it a little?

"You awakened now?! What is it, what is it! Tell me too!"

She rounded her eyes and waved a hand in front of my face. Ah. So she couldn't see the window. Well—I was the one who'd awakened, so that tracked.

"A class popped up, but the name's kind of weird."

"What is it, what is it?"

"Exclusive Weapon Blacksmith."

"...What's that? I've never heard of a class like that."

Of course she hadn't. If it didn't even exist inside the game, people here wouldn't know it either.

I decided to stay calm and check my status first. The moment I thought status window, a larger panel unfurled in front of me.

Reading it line by line, I let out a hollow laugh. The word Transcendent stuck next to the class name sure knew how to steal a gaze. But was the rest of it actually good? No—this was pure lottery luck, wasn't it?

Still, the last skill name felt unfamiliar. Blacksmith's Keen Eye. Legendary rank, stamped right there—and not a single line of explanation for what it actually did.

"What? What? What does it say?"

"Class, rank... a few skills. But one of them only has a name. Nothing about what it does."

"Ooooh, try it! Try it!"

Lee Rin sparkled at me and pushed. Perfect timing, honestly. I'd wanted to check it anyway.

"Then stand still for a second."

"Huh? Why all of a sudden?"

"Just testing something."

Lee Rin blinked, clueless, and stood there quietly. I carefully reached out, rested my fingers lightly on the back of her hand, and focused while calling up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the skill name I'd just seen.

An information window bloomed in front of my eyes.

...Huh?

An Exclusive Weapon with three question marks attached. I didn't know what that meant, but something ominous crawled up my spine all the same.

A different thought hit me first, though. Status windows were supposed to be visible only to their owners, right? And yet here I was, reading someone else's like an open book.

Blacksmith's Keen Eye. Legendary rank.

So that was the skill. Not that only I could see my own—that only I could see everyone else's.

And tucked in one corner of the window was another unfamiliar entry.

Affinity.

Lee Rin: 70.

...What?

Affinity? What even was that? And the number was already at 70? It wasn't like I'd just met her for the first time in this body—ah, right. From this body's perspective, we'd known each other since we were kids. So those years were baked in?

But why specifically 70? It was an oddly high, oddly awkward number.

"Ugh..."

I'd left my hand on the back of hers a little too long. Lee Rin had turned her head slightly, and her face had gone red. Had the silence made it awkward?

"Sorry... you okay? Your face is all red."

"I-It's nothing, okay!"

She yanked her hand free and snapped it primly.

Right. I withdrew my hand and sorted through what I'd just seen. Lee Rin was a C-rank hunter and I was a measly E-rank—so how was I getting this much detail? With a gap like that, you normally shouldn't be able to pull this much information at all.

That number from earlier floated back up.

Affinity: 70.

...Was it because of this? Even with a rank gap, if Affinity stacked high enough, the information unlocked accordingly? Then for people with low Affinity—or none at all—the stronger they were than me, the more I'd only get scraps.

My head got complicated, but at the same time it was strangely fascinating. In that other world, a relationship with someone had never once shown up as a number. Here it floated right in front of me, and I even had a vague sense of what it meant for that number to climb. Weirdly, I kept wanting to smile.

Then a memory from this body surfaced. After losing my parents as a kid and wandering lost, Lee Rin's father had stepped in and looked after me until I could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stand on my own as a blacksmith. I'd taken it for granted—but thinking about it now, it hadn't been a given at all. If we'd only been casual acquaintances, he never would have gone that far.

In the other world, even a lifetime of grinding against people only ever stacked into the negatives. Here, the number had already blown past double digits so thoroughly you could almost mistake it for a short acquaintance. The funny part was that it wasn't a mistake—it was real accumulated years. The total sum of a heart built up, piece by piece, across the time this body had lived. Seeing that float in front of me as a number left me with a strange feeling. Strange in a not-bad way.

I got one gut sense out of it, at least. Raise this thing, and something good was probably going to happen. That kind of feeling-of-a-feeling.

"You've been grinning to yourself this whole time. What is it, seriously."

"Nothing. Just... it's interesting."

"What's interesting?"

"...I'll tell you later. I need to sort some things out first."

Lee Rin folded her arms and shot me a look, but she didn't dig further. Instead, as if something had just occurred to her, she rummaged through her bag.

"Oh, right. I actually came today for a different reason."

"What is it."

"That shield I was using last time—I think it's about done for after all the sparring. Figured I'd bring it by while I was at it, and see your face."

She pulled out a battered shield and held it out. The leather straps were loose; it had clearly seen a lot of use. The face was covered in nicks and scratches, a few of them cut pretty deep. Damage like that meant she'd scraped through more than a few genuinely dangerous moments. My hands suddenly got careful.

Even as I took the shield, the status window from earlier wouldn't leave my head. Those four words—Grade Transcendence. If that was real, anything that came out of my hands could be a different conversation entirely.

"But Rin, I've told you before—shouldn't you be using proper Awakener-grade gear by now? I'd love to make you something, but you know my limit right now is D and E rank."

"Yeah, but... you've awakened now, so maybe it's different?"

Lee Rin was a C-rank healer hunter. What I could make right now was D- and E-rank specialist gear—equipment useful when slightly-better-than-average Awakeners ran low-tier Gates. Hunters at C-rank and above, like her, couldn't properly protect themselves without real Awakener equipment.

"I get how you feel. You've got dangerous Gates coming up, so you need to start using proper stuff."

"...Fine. But I'm still using this one for sparring."

"I'll fix this up for now. Give me a minute."

I set the shield on the workbench and went over the joints with familiar hands. Years of the same work—I could've done it with my eyes closed. The scrape of metal, the spit of sparks, and in between, Lee Rin chattering from the waiting seat. Strangely, that combination felt comfortable.

"Hey, Woon. The Academy's been insane lately. There's a huge event next month and everyone's losing their minds."

"The Academy? You talk about school all the time, but I still don't really have a feel for it. Is it that big a deal?"

"Obviously! Sejong Academy is the world's top hunter training institution. You didn't know?"

I half-listened while refining the joints, and through the window I caught a few hunters heading out on patrol. Shields, armor, each of them geared up. This world had been flipped upside down by Gates for decades already. The details could wait—I'd learn them bit by bit.

"...Did you even hear what I just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said?"

"Yeah, yeah. I was listening. Sejong, event, super impressive. Right?"

"Your lying face is obvious, you know."

"...Sorry."

I apologized honestly, and Lee Rin snorted a little laugh. That one smile, somehow, set my heart a little easier.

By then the shield work was done. I focused carefully on the Appraisal skill. That odd sensation lingering at my fingertips since earlier—I felt like I could finally put a name to it.

An information window appeared.

Huh.

It was real. Higher defense than the standard model, and a Perfect Block chance tacked on for free. I'd only repaired an old piece, and the trait had layered itself on automatically. No wonder the work had felt so good under my hands.

"What? What? What is it this time?"

"No, it's just... I think I might be a little broken."

"What does that mean. Explain properly!"

While I was still figuring out how to put it into words, Lee Rin shot up from the waiting seat and came toward me—

Thump-thump-thump—

And tripped over her own feet. Again.

I caught her on instinct.

Always ending up half in my arms like this. Ahem.

"Why do you only ever fall when you're walking toward me? You're a C-rank hunter."

"Hehe..."

"Hopeless, honestly."

I set her back on her feet and glanced over my status window one more time. Transcendent rarity. A skill I still didn't fully understand. Nothing about any of it was ordinary. And yet instead of anxiety, what I felt was a strange excitement. In that other world, no matter how hard I'd struggled my whole life, I'd always been stuck in the same place. Here, overnight, the whole board had been flipped.

That was that, though. First I had to finish what I was doing. Once I sent Lee Rin off, I was going to test exactly what these hands could make.