Starting with the Tutorial!

An idle weapon-crafting game. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Now that was a curious combination. If you were going to make weapons, grinding should come with the territory — so how was it idle?

That odd little contradiction in the name was more than I could resist.

"Alright. Gonna give this one a shot today."

I hit download. The file size was surprisingly large.

"Why does an idle game take up this much space...? Gonna go wash up."

I tossed my phone onto the bed and hopped in the shower. By the time I came back out, the download was done.

"Let's see what we've got."

Heart fluttering with anticipation, I tapped the game — and it immediately launched an in-game download. Heat rose in my chest.

"Oh, for — what kind of idle game needs an in-game download..."

I couldn't hold back my irritation and chucked the phone into the corner of the bed again. My stomach was starting to growl.

"Guess I'll eat first."

I stir-fried the leftover kimchi, side dishes, and cold rice from the fridge, ate, and finished the dishes. Only then did the in-game download finally wrap up.

I stretched out on the bed, got comfortable, and started the game.

"Alright, alright, let's see~"

The opening trailer tried to play. I mashed skip and moved on. If a game wasn't something I'd been genuinely hyped for, skipping the trailer was standard procedure.

The moment it started, a race selection screen popped up.

"Oh, so you pick a race first?"

Swiping through, I realized it wasn't my character's race — it was the workers'. There were dozens of them, every shape and size imaginable.

"Orcs, nymphs, dryads, goblins... why are there so many?"

Still, this was a weapon-crafting game. Dwarves were the classic choice, right? I scrolled sideways and picked a dwarf.

"Man, he's ugly."

Short stature, thick arms and legs, a coarse-looking beard, and eyes full of stubborn grit. A textbook fantasy dwarf, no question.

For a second I regretted not picking something easier on the eyes — but if I was going to craft weapons, a dwarf was non-negotiable.

The moment I confirmed the race, a single dwarf appeared in the empty lot that served as the background. Following the on-screen icon, I long-pressed him, and a window for naming the character popped up.

"You're Worker 1 from now on."

I typed the glorious first worker's nickname as Worker 1 and confirmed.

Thud—!

The dwarf who'd been standing still suddenly dropped to one knee and threw up some incomprehensible text on the screen.

"What is he even saying? Wait, why is the translation like this? Is this a foreign game?"

Whether some Chinese-Korean freelancers had half-assed the localization or this was intentional flavor, I had no idea. I ignored it and kept going. Rapidly tapping through the endless tutorial text, I eventually got a prompt to drag the dwarf.

"So I just drag this guy to the mine?"

I long-pressed the chattering dwarf and hauled him over to the nearby mine. He vanished straight into it. After a short wait, he emerged carrying something, walked back to the empty lot, and stood there blankly.

A prompt appeared telling me to place something in the vacant lot.

"Guess I need to build something here."

I tapped the constructible buildings tab and a list of dozens of structures unfurled. Everything from a shabby little forge to high-tier facilities with names like "Arcane-Engineering Fusion Laboratory" stretched on without end.

Naturally, only one building was unlocked.

"So I put a temple here?"

I dragged the temple onto the center of the lot. It rose up from beneath the ground, and—

—the dwarf dropped to his knees again and shouted something. His antics were entertaining enough that I watched for a moment. Then the kneeling dwarf picked up whatever he'd brought from the mine and carried it into the temple.

Whatever he yelled as he entered the temple, an item acquisition window appeared right after.

So the system was probably: workers labor to bring in resources, and I use those resources to craft weapons.

"If I have to make the weapons myself, doesn't that kind of defeat the point of an idle game?"

The moment I muttered that to myself, another building unlocked as if the game had overheard me, and a placement prompt appeared.

The second entry in the building tab — the Shabby Forge — was now available.

I placed the Shabby Forge in the empty lot beside the temple. Unlike the temple, it didn't finish instantly; about ten seconds ticked by before construction completed. Higher-tier buildings would probably take longer.

"Bet they'll sell a package that cuts construction time later."

The iron law of Korean free-to-play. Money solves most things.

I tapped the finished forge and a weapon list appeared. The building list had been long, but the weapon list was genuinely endless — the scroll just kept going until it made me nauseous.

"Why are there this many weapons? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Longsword, dagger, chain armor, greatsword, short bow, rapier... wait, what is this? Nuclear Mana-Fusion Nano Greatsword? Is this for real?"

From the lowest F-Grade weapons all the way up through Mythic and Epic grades. The weapon ranking system was subdivided to an exhausting degree.

"If I ever try for a full weapon collection, that's gonna be a nightmare."

But that was a problem for later. I didn't even know how long I'd stick with this game, so I filtered down to craftable weapons only.

A single result: Worn Longsword. I hadn't expected much. This was the tutorial — more weapons would unlock as I progressed.

"So I just make this?"

Living alone for so long had left me with a habit of talking to myself. I crafted the weapon. Cost: Crude Copper 1/1. Being the lowest-grade weapon, it barely used any materials.

I hit craft. A little hammer animation clinked on screen, then vanished.

"Huh. Game's simpler than I expected."

The finished longsword went straight into my inventory. Tapping the blinking inventory tab brought up an explanation: crafted items could be stored or sold.

"I kind of want to keep the first-acquisition items."

Storing or selling probably wouldn't make a huge difference either way, so I chose to keep it.

"But if I'm the one making the weapons, isn't this just a grinding game instead of an idle one?"

The moment I muttered that, an exclamation mark sparkled over the dwarf's head on screen. I tapped it, and a message window appeared.

"Ah. So that's why it's an idle game."

The structure was simple enough. Hire workers, they gather resources, they craft and sell weapons on their own. And if I logged in now and then to craft things myself, I could unlock higher-grade items.

"So the worker mines, processes, and sells everything by himself."

He went into the mine for Crude Copper, carried it to the forge to make a Worn Longsword, then brought it to the temple and offered it to me.

I watched for a bit. Worker 1 bustled around diligently on his own, crafting items and presenting them. Something about him reminded me of the little pet shrimp I'd kept as a kid. I stared for a while, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then spent my leftover gold to hire two more dwarves.

Two more dwarves popped out of the temple. I named them Worker 2 and Worker 3, then closed the game.

It's an idle game, so by the time I wake up there should be a decent pile of gold waiting.

I'd set the dwarves' crafted items to auto-sell, so the money should add up nicely.

I'd gotten so absorbed that bedtime had come and gone. If I wanted to make it to work tomorrow, I needed to sleep.

"Haaah~ Time to call it a night."

I plugged my phone into the charger and drifted off.

Light.

A vast presence.

The two concepts he recognized the instant his eyes opened. In the same breath that he became aware of himself, he knew what he was — and who had made him.

That immense gaze and presence pressing down from the heavens. An overwhelming force no mortal could endure; one before whom the earth itself must bow, and whom every created being was bound to praise. That great one had personally shaped him and sent him down upon this land.

He understood. He was His servant, His sheep, His worker.

That he could be the first servant shaped by His own hand filled his chest with a joy so fierce it nearly overflowed.

And then the voice of God reached his ears.

Ah—! At the sound of that voice ringing in his ears, Opus Fallac trembled from head to toe with rapture. That God Himself had shaped him was already a grace demanding the full devotion of his soul in gratitude and service.

And yet the merciful God had gone further still — bestowing upon him a name, and a sacred charge.

Opus Fallac could no longer contain the joy surging through him. He fell to his knees and began to praise Him.

"Ahhh!! Most gracious and merciful One!! I praise Thee!!"

Kneeling upon the earth, both arms flung wide toward the heavens, he cried out.

Tears of overwhelming emotion ran down through his coarse beard, but he paid them no mind.

He simply praised, face turned to the sky.