I Became an EX-rank Blacksmith

There was probably no one on earth who wanted time to stop moving more than I did.

Why, you ask?

"Because my enlistment date is in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a week!"

This is bullshit. I absolutely do not want to go. Please, just let me awaken overnight, or turn into a girl, or something — anything that gets me an exemption!

"Haah… hunters have it so good."

All because of those damn magic stones, they skip the military, rake in money, and enjoy a sparkling public image. A dream job if there ever was one.

"And it's not even that dangerous."

Your average hunter never walks into a place where their life is truly on the line, after all.

Even a non-combat job would have been fine. Lifestyle awakeners still got plenty of respect.

It was only the unchosen nobodies like me who got left to cry about it.

"Ugh… they just sit around sharing info among themselves."

It used to be open to civilians like any other community, but they slapped on an identity check under the excuse that the trolling had gotten out of hand.

"Whatever. I'm just gonna sleep."

It was already three in the morning. Time to start fixing my day-night cycle before it was too late.

"Wouldn't mind just dying in my sleep at this point."

Goddamn life.

Right before I drifted off, I thought I saw something —

"Mmmnnhh…"

— but I was already halfway to dreamland.

When I opened my eyes, a weird system window was floating in midair.

"What the hell is that? Am I still half-asleep…"

Wait. Hang on. Why does my voice sound like that?

"…Huh?"

Has my voice always been this cute?

I stretched my arm out.

"Uh?"

The faintly muscled forearm I was used to had turned into soft, smooth skin.

"What is this? What the hell is going on!"

An adorably high voice I couldn't get used to, and skin soft as marshmallow. I tried to get up and look in a mirror —

"Wah!"

— and immediately tripped over pants that were dragging on the floor.

"These fit me perfectly yesterday, so why…"

Looking down, every piece of clothing I had on was ridiculously oversized. I felt like a kid drowning in a giant's shirt.

"Ugh…"

Dragging my clothes behind me, I crawled over to the mirror — and froze.

"This… is me?"

As of last night, I had been a solid, bald adult man. Now I was a soft little girl — and a ridiculously cute one at that.

The silver lining? As a shut-in with no family and no friends, there was no one I particularly needed to explain this to.

"Wait. That means…"

I patted myself down.

My chest was… somehow even flatter than when I'd been a guy. My stomach had a soft little pooch. And the most important part of all —

"It's gone… it's just gone."

I hadn't even gotten to use it properly once.

"I'm a virgin!"

My cute little voice bounced around the tiny one-room apartment.

A sturdy man turning into a delicate little girl overnight. The only thing that could make something like that happen wasn't any system Earth originally had — it was an awakening. And not just any awakening: a grade high enough to rewrite a person's entire body.

That was when I finally remembered the system window I'd seen earlier.

"Whoa…"

Looking up, a translucent hologram still floated overhead. Most of it was locked, but the first entry was open.

Blacksmiths were so-called lifestyle hunters who made and sold artifacts. For a blacksmith, crafting was the alpha and the omega —

"If I can't even do that, what's the point!"

What was this? Ever since I'd turned into a girl, I was snapping at every little thing. If I'd still been a guy, even a useless ability would have had me grinning ear to ear.

I thought about why, and the answer hit me immediately.

Back when I was a man, the military draft had made me desperate for anything. And now that I was a girl…

"I'm getting an exemption!"

Awakening one week before enlistment! I felt like I'd clawed my way back from the grave.

"I'm running to the Military Manpower Administration right now!"

Crash, bang!

"Wah!"

Right — every piece of clothing I owned was now supersized.

"Clothes first, then…"

I was going to march down there and put the fear of god into the same Military Manpower Administration that had been ready to drag me to hell.

"Mwahaha — I'm already feeling better."

I rushed an order of same-day-delivery clothes, flexing on multiple sizes because I had no idea what would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fit. The next day, after the best night's sleep I'd had in ages, I tried them on.

"Perfect fit!"

On my old body, these would have burst at the seams. On me now, they were the ideal athletic set.

"Mmm~ I like it."

All set. Time to collect my military exemption.

Sure, someone might say I could have just called it in over the phone…

"Hi, I've got a week left until enlistment, and I woke up this morning as a pretty girl. Can I get an exemption?"

Yeah. That would go over great. Instant lunatic.

Bang—

I threw open the examination office door, slapped my enlistment notice on the counter, and announced:

"I'm here for my exemption."

"……Proxy applications aren't allowed."

The clerk looked back and forth between the photo of my male self stamped on the notice and the girl standing in front of him, decided this was impossible, and tried to send me packing.

"It's mine."

I pressed my thumb to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the fingerprint scanner. A beep, and identity confirmed.

"Uh…?"

The clerk blanked out for a second, then frantically called over a supervisor. After a lot of back-and-forth —

"We've never had a case of a man turning into a little girl before… If you can just show us proof of awakening, we'll process the exemption immediately."

Wow. So even after turning into a girl, if I hadn't awakened, I'd still have had to go? What the hell.

I pulled up my awakening window and showed the supervisor.

"E… EX-rank?! W-wait, let me verify."

The supervisor hammered the keyboard, looking me up. Of course, my awakening was already registered.

"W-we'll exempt you immediately. Our apologies."

Awakener exemptions were common enough these days that a supervisor could clear them on the spot, apparently.

Everyone's staring at me.

At the words "EX-rank" and "exemption," the poor lambs sitting around with dead eyes all turned to look at me with pure, soul-crushing envy. Unable to take it, I bolted home the second I had confirmation in hand.

"Haaah… an exemption."

A year and a half of my life, saved with a single click.

Something that would have been nearly impossible as a man, done this easily.

"This is the best!"

Life difficulty had already dropped a whole tier.

"But the main course is still waiting."

An EX-rank awakening ability. A special grade that had never existed before. I scoured community after community and couldn't find a single other EX-rank. Just me.

The one and only grade in the world…

"Eheheh."

It had to be something good. I opened the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠system window and checked my ability.

That's it? That was the whole description — one short sentence. It didn't look all that amazing, and the wind went right out of my sails.

"And what's a 'dedicated hammer' supposed to be?"

A gift icon on the system window was blinking. I tapped it —

Poof!

— and a small hammer, perfectly sized for one hand, dropped out of thin air.

"Yaaah!!"

Landing on my foot was a minor issue, all things considered.

Thankfully, a warning flashed and the hammer bounced off.

"'Yet,' huh? So eventually I can enhance people?"

What kind of ability even is this?

I wanted to check the other skills, but everything else was locked. Probably the kind of system that unlocked with growth…

"Should I try it once?"

I looked around for something worth enhancing.

"Ah, this'll do."

I found a suitable object: a thick monster encyclopedia with zero special effects — just dead weight. I wasn't sure enhancement would even work on something like that, but —

"Here goes!"

I brought the system-gifted hammer down on the encyclopedia. A burst of intense light, and then —

CRACK—

"Huh?"

The encyclopedia shattered into pieces. What used to be a book went flying to every corner of my tiny studio.

A closer look at the skill showed a success rate of about 1%.

"What kind of garbage ability is this!!!"

I needed something easy to get and completely worthless. I considered trying a trash bag, but if it exploded into confetti like the encyclopedia…

"My place would be a disaster zone."

While I was hunting for the perfect material, a brilliant idea hit me. I ran straight to the playground and gathered up a bunch of sticks.

CRACK—

POP—

"When is this thing gonna work already!"

I started smashing them with the hammer. After dozens of attempts —

FLASH—

— a burst of light, and a system window rose up.

My first successful enhancement.

"Attack power +20… how good is that, exactly?"

For this kind of artifact info, Hunter Gallery was the most accurate source. Nowhere else had this many hunter users.

I entered my awakening info and got in as a full member without any trouble. I switched my flair to Blacksmith and started reading from the top concept post.

"Huh? This is considered well-made?"

I looked back at my enhanced stick.

I could pick up a random stick off the street, smash it with a hammer a few times, and add twenty attack power.

"Heheh."

Looking at it now, I was starting to get why this was EX-rank.

"Eheheh. Bait successful."

Just as I'd expected, the view count was rocketing upward.