The Blacksmith's Hidden Potential
The sound of pencils scratching across paper filled the examination hall.
“Everyone, please focus on your test. If you look anywhere else, it will be considered cheating and you will be disqualified immediately!”
When several examinees kept sneaking glances toward one particular person, the proctor issued a sharp warning.
The one drawing all that attention was none other than Yujun.
While everyone else was struggling with troubled expressions, he alone continued solving problems without pause.
“What the…?”
“How is he solving them…?”
The others were bewildered. But the proctor’s stern announcement prevented them from openly staring.
Besides, they didn’t have time to gawk. They were here to take the test too.
“……”
Once the examinees refocused on their own papers, the proctor turned his full attention to Yujun.
Kang Yujun was already a topic of considerable interest among the proctors.
They had heard that the Promise Guild’s golden prospect had switched to becoming a trainer. Rumors even claimed he had achieved remarkable results at Sky Guild.
The scouts were also singing his praises after he successfully trained Woo Hana.
Yet alongside that praise came criticism—that Yujun treated training far too lightly.
A few of the proctors agreed with that assessment.
But watching him in person, something felt different.
It was extremely rare to see someone write answers so fluidly during the theory exam.
“……”
The proctor’s opinion began to shift in a more positive direction.
The early questions were easy, so it made sense that he was moving quickly.
“Ugh…”
“Hmm…”
Quite apart from Yujun, the awakened examinees were grimacing heavily.
Veteran trainers who had been working without licenses found these theoretical questions particularly difficult.
“I did study, but…”
“Isn’t this too hard…?”
Despite their preparation, the difficulty was higher than expected, and their frustration was obvious.
“Hah.”
The same was true for the young trainer candidate Kim Gyucheol.
He had studied diligently, but mana dynamics and biological response theory were not easy subjects.
That was why he was so shocked by Yujun’s performance.
Sitting diagonally behind him, Gyucheol had a relatively clear view of Yujun’s desk.
How on earth…
And his astonishment didn’t end there.
Only about ten minutes had passed, yet Yujun had already moved on to the next subject’s test paper.
“W-what…?”
Flustered, Gyucheol looked down at his own paper.
These were not easy questions at all.
There were far too many subjective questions. Solving them required complete understanding.
“Who is that guy…?”
Since they appeared to be the same age, Gyucheol had assumed Yujun was simply taking the test for experience.
But that clearly wasn’t the case.
“……So he wasn’t just saying empty words.”
When Yujun had asked about his arm earlier, Gyucheol had been too startled to answer and had dodged the question. But the truth was exactly as Yujun had said.
There was something wrong with his arm.
Yet until now, no one had noticed it before he mentioned it.
“With that level of skill… he must have noticed.”
Gyucheol stared at him for a long time.
Watching that level of ability, it was impossible to believe they were the same age.
“No way.”
Suddenly his eyes widened.
There was one possibility that came to mind.
“……Is he an eternal youth?”
Otherwise, that level of skill simply didn’t make sense.
Scratch-. Scratch-. Scratch-.
Yujun had so much time left that he even finished reviewing his answers.
The written exam ended.
“The test is over. Please submit your papers. No more writing is allowed.”
“Ha……”
“Why was this test so difficult?”
“Proctor, what is this? None of these questions were in the past exams!”
The proctor frowned at the complaint.
He knew very well how hard this test was.
“It is difficult. But you should have studied harder.”
There was nothing else he could say.
“Sigh, the government ordered it. What can we do?”
Following government directives, they had no choice but to increase the difficulty of the written exam.
“There have been too many accidents and problems because people’s practical work doesn’t match theory.”
Trainers who hadn’t properly studied theory kept causing incidents, which led to these government instructions.
The order was clear: stop handing out licenses so easily.
But even I wouldn’t be confident of getting a good score if I had to take this test.
Among licensed trainers, quite a few would probably fail if they were forced to take it now.
With that thought, the proctor secretly glanced at Kang Yujun’s answer sheet.
“Whoa.”
His mouth fell open.
“……He answered everything?”
Kang Yujun was the only one who had filled in answers for all the subjective questions.
Moreover, his answers were incredibly long and detailed.
“He might even get a perfect score on the written portion.”
But the practical exam was just as important as the written one.
“He’ll pass the license test. As long as he doesn’t make any mistakes in the practical.”
However, there were several notoriously strict proctors for the practical exam.
“It won’t be easy.”
While the written test’s difficulty had risen significantly, the real increase had been in the practical exam.
“Too bad.”
Yujun, who had relatively little real combat experience, was likely to fail.
“They say he trained Woo Hana, but that’s probably exaggerated.”
Besides, Woo Hana wasn’t even on the main team—she was still in the youth division.
“We’ll see once he faces the real thing.”
The proctors were waiting with full intent to test him harshly in the practical. Training under those conditions would be no small feat.
After the written exam ended.
While Yujun waited in the waiting room, Kim Gyucheol approached him.
“You wrote answers for everything by yourself! You must have studied like crazy!”
“I did study quite a lot.”
Yujun smiled as he answered, then shifted his gaze to Gyucheol’s arm.
It looks like his condition is getting worse… Should I take a look?
There was still an hour left before the practical exam.
Activating Awakened Scan.
The unexpected result forced Yujun’s eyes wide open.
Overall rank D-class, but physical ability is S-class?
Yet looking at him, there was no way to sense S-class power at all.
Yujun focused on his ability and special notes.
Geumgang Hand.
The hand of diamond.
Just from the name, it was clearly a production-type ability.
It’s a crafting class.
S-class physique paired with a crafting ability.
Yet the ability was currently sealed.
And it’s sealed because of this?
The mana circuit abnormality and mana disconnection listed afterward explained why.
“Gyucheol. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. But… are you a blacksmith by any chance?”
“!”
Kim Gyucheol’s expression froze instantly.
“How did you…?”
He hadn’t said a single word about it.
So how could Yujun know?
Not only had he noticed the condition of his arm, but he had even guessed his profession correctly.
“Is that level of observation required to become a trainer?”
Did one need to be able to read everything about a person just by looking?
The thought made him laugh bitterly.
“I guess I could never have become a trainer from the start.”
“You don’t actually want to be a trainer, do you?”
At Yujun’s words, Gyucheol nodded with a gloomy face.
“I injured my arm. My right arm is completely unusable, and the other one is gradually stiffening as well.”
As expected, he was a blacksmith.
But his physical condition was so terrible that he could no longer be called one.
“I was kicked out of the family, so I’m not really a blacksmith anymore.”
Geumgang Hand.
And the mention of being expelled from the family immediately gave Yujun an idea.
“Are you by chance a member of the Geumgang Kim Family?”
“Member? I’m no longer part of the Geumgang Kim Family. They threw me out because my hands ended up like this.”
As I thought.
The Geumgang Kim Family.
They were a prestigious blacksmith clan famous for artifact creation.
After awakened hunters and towers spread across the world, powerful awakened began to appear one by one.
Among countless combat-type awakened, there had been one production-type awakened who held an unrivaled position—Kim Gwangryeol, the first awakened of the Geumgang Kim Family.
The artifacts he created helped countless awakened, and even became the catalyst for producing S-class awakened.
Thanks to the equipment made by the Geumgang Kim Family, many previously unconquered towers were cleared. As a result, the family rose to become one of Korea’s most prestigious clans.
“I’ve talked too much. Anyway… thanks to you, I realized that being a trainer isn’t my path either.”
“Kim Gyucheol.”
Yujun looked at him and swallowed hard.
I was wondering where I could find one.
He had been worrying about where to find a blacksmith who could become the core member of his future team.
And now, here one was right in front of him.
No one but me can fix that arm.
Otherwise, there was no way Kim Gyucheol would be in this state.
“If I fix that arm for you, could you do me one favor?”
Reconstructing the Mana Circuit to Restore Right Arm Function
The correct answer was already visible to Yujun.