The Broken Wheel and Divine Foresight

"Huh?"

"See for yourself. I think it's the same face you showed me."

Gu Sung-wook hurriedly checked the video Phil had sent him.

That blacksmith really showed up?

What did he show up for?

If someone could put options on equipment like that, it wouldn't have been strange for him to become famous sooner or later.

Blacksmiths were in demand everywhere, after all.

But the video he watched was nothing like what he'd expected.

"Amazing, right? You're watching too?"

"Uh... what... what even is this..."

"So? Is it him?"

"It looks like the same face... no... but he was definitely a newbie...?"

When he had first seen Kim Tae-hyun, Gu Sung-wook had assumed he was a beginner.

First of all, Tyrum was the kind of place beginners started in. Or rather, people who didn't know any better and got suckered into it.

And Tae-hyun didn't look high-level at all. His gear hadn't been anything impressive either—just what looked like plain starter equipment.

No, but if he wasn't a beginner, why had he been doing all that next to the blacksmith?

In Tyrum, all Tae-hyun had done was hunt rabbits, cook for NPCs, and learn techniques from the blacksmith.

Of course he looked like a beginner.

"No matter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠how I look at it, he's not low-level. Sure, the Red Zone Guild Master fell into a bunch of traps, but there's no way a newbie wins like that. What level was the Red Zone Guild Master again?"

"I think he was 82. Two below me."

A hint of pride slipped into Gu Sung-wook's voice.

There were still plenty of players in Fantasy Online stronger than the Red Zone Guild Master, or higher-level than him, just biding their time.

Gu Sung-wook considered himself one of them.

He might be waiting now, but if they caught their chance, their guild would stride forward proudly too.

All rankers in Fantasy Online shared the same dream.

Emperor of the Continent!

Of course, everyone had their own immediate goals, but the highest one was always the same.

Getting even one castle or city was hard enough, and yet—Emperor of the Continent.

Just thinking about it made it feel impossibly far away, and incredible.

"Then no matter how low you estimate him, doesn't he have to be over 70?"

"No, but seriously... then why was he doing that there?"

"Ah. What if it's something like this? His main class was something else, but once he leveled up a bit, he decided he wanted to learn blacksmithing too. So he came to Tyrum and started learning the blacksmith skill. You said he looked shabby, right? That was probably a disguise so he wouldn't stand out."

"Why would a player over level 70 bother learning blacksmithing from scratch?"

At that level, it was much faster to just pay a blacksmith.

The gear a player that high used would be so advanced that even if they learned a little blacksmithing, they wouldn't be able to touch their own equipment anyway.

Raising blacksmith skill proficiency was a road of suffering.

A road of grinding and tears.

If you'd gotten past level 70, there was no reason to do something like that.

"Hey. You never know what's inside someone's head. Don't jump to conclusions so fast. You never know where some lunatic might pop out from."

"Well... true enough."

There were so many players in Fantasy Online that plenty of them went for bizarre concepts.

So even someone over level 70 deciding to train blacksmithing from scratch wasn't impossible.

"Players who run around solo without a guild are often the type to learn a bunch of random skills anyway. Maybe he's preparing ahead of time."

"Then those options came out like that because of his level?"

"Could be. Or maybe his blacksmith class is just unusual. Honestly, I've never seen options come out like that before."

Luck-related options were extremely rare.

The reason was simple.

Most people would rather raise literally any other stat than Luck.

"There aren't just one or two classes in Fantasy Online. Even if there's something we don't know, that wouldn't be surprising."

"Now I'm getting worried."

"Why?"

"If he were a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠newbie, we could go, 'We'll support you like crazy!' and bring him in... but if he's a high-level player, that doesn't work very well."

"We still have to try persuading him. Why do you think players wander around alone in the first place?"

"Uh... because they hate doing things with other people?"

"Exactly. Big guilds have too many people, and there's always one noisy mess or another going on inside. Compared to that, we're a small guild. None of that stuff. Nice and friendly."

That was one of the things Gu Sung-wook liked about it.

His guild, Black Rock Sect, was small and elite, with a good atmosphere too.

It had none of the internal fights big guilds were infamous for.

"Try convincing him with that."

"Understood."

"Good. Ah—and clear the quest this time too. Seriously, when am I ever going to see that Sword of Cold Cry? Even if I want to make it for you, I need to see the recipe first!"

"I know, Mr. Phil. This time, I'll definitely clear it!"

Just thinking about the time he'd spent in Tyrum made his blood boil even in his sleep.

I wish I could smack those Tyrum Hunter bastards just once, nice and hard.

Thinking that, Gu Sung-wook started walking.

Of course, Tae-hyun was already gone.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Tae-hyun-nim."

"Don't call me."

Tae-hyun's voice was cold.

But Pelmas just grinned shamelessly.

"Haha, why not?"

"If you've got eyes, look at the state of this wagon and ask that again."

The floor of the wagon rattled beneath them.

Tae-hyun let out a sigh.

They really had implemented even this with full realism.

At first, when Pelmas had said, "I shall personally escort you all the way to the Atali Kingdom, Tae-hyun-nim, so you need not worry about a single thing!" it had sounded great.

Ah, so this was what it felt like to be treated properly.

Right. If he was a god in name, then naturally this was how his believers should be serving him.

But Tae-hyun had forgotten one thing.

Pelmas looked like a complete beggar.

The wagon he'd brought over looked like it was one pothole away from falling apart, and apparently he didn't even have enough money to hire a driver, because he was driving it himself.

And he was bad at it.

So the wagon shook like it had gone insane.

"Stop, stop!"

That was scarier than any threat he could make on purpose.

At Tae-hyun's words, Pelmas tilted his head and brought the wagon to a halt.

"What is it?"

"The wheel's messed up. Let's fix it before we go."

"The wheel? Haha. You're too timid. It's still fine."

"Want me to wedge your skull between the spokes?"

His temper came out immediately.

Pelmas hurriedly shut his mouth.

Tae-hyun pulled out his hammer.

Blacksmithing was only a basic skill.

Something like repairing wagon wheels was supposed to require a different one.

Still, his Blacksmithing skill was already at the intermediate stage, and he had Luck too, so he figured he'd give it a shot.

It can't get any worse than it already is... right?

Awoooooo—

A howl echoed from somewhere in the distance.

"What the hell is that?"

"There seem to be monsters nearby. Most likely Blackstripe Wolves."

"Blackstripe, spotted, whatever. How strong are they?"

"They can kill me in one hit."

Pelmas said it without the slightest change in expression.

There was a kind of wisdom and pride there that only came from someone who had lived a long time.

Tae-hyun felt a flicker of admiration.

So he did have something going for him. He was an NPC tied to a Legendary Class, after all.

"You mean they'll one-shot—"

"Me, yes."

"...What?"

"If it's a Blackstripe Wolf, then it is a dangerous monster capable of killing me in a single blow. But Tae-hyun-nim, why are you holding that hammer toward me..."

Thunk!

"Aaaagh!"

"I know it doesn't hurt."

It was a hammer that didn't deal damage anyway, no matter how hard he swung it.

Realizing that, Pelmas blinked.

"We'd better fix this and get moving."

Tae-hyun roughly pulled a nail from the wagon floor and hammered at the loose part of the wheel.

The only things he could trust were his Blacksmithing skill and his Luck.

"...?"

Tae-hyun was startled for a moment, then realized what this was.

The path is shown according to the power of Archisus.

The passive skill, Divine Foresight.

When he'd first read the description, he'd thought it sounded like complete nonsense.

Now he felt like he finally understood.

The wagon wheel was glowing in two colors—white in some places, red in others.

So white means where I should touch it, and red means where I shouldn't?

The power of Archisus meant Luck.

If your Luck was high enough, anything was possible.

A quack doctor could wave a scalpel around at random and, through pure luck, cut out a tumor.

A blacksmith could swing a hammer wildly and, through pure luck, create a masterpiece.

That was what Divine Foresight was.

A skill that showed the way through sheer luck, even when you knew absolutely nothing.

Thank god one of these skills is actually useful.

He'd been on the verge of getting depressed because all the skills he'd gotten after his class change felt a little off.

All right, then. If I hit the white part—

Craaack!

"...?"

The wagon wheel shattered instantly.

Ah.

So he was supposed to hit the red part.

Mechanical Engineering.

In short, it was the skill that let you build objects with complex working principles.

If a master blacksmith had high Mechanical Engineering on top of that, they could create truly absurd things.

I used this a lot in Fantasy Online 1...

Tae-hyun sank into nostalgia.

Those had mostly been good memories for Tae-hyun alone.

For the players on the receiving end, they were nightmare fuel they still hadn't forgotten.

Yeah. I should level Mechanical Engineering too.

With Mechanical Engineering, you needed to meet the right NPCs.

Learning recipes all by yourself was hard.

I heard the Atali Kingdom has a lot of production classes. Hopefully there are Mechanical Engineering NPCs too.

"I was quite startled when you broke the wagon wheel at first, Tae-hyun-nim."

"Come on, people make mistakes."

Good thing there had been a spare wheel.

"Then we shall depart at once."

"No. We move after sunrise."

No matter how he thought about it, Pelmas's wagon-driving skills were impossible to trust.

At this point, Tae-hyun felt like even driving it himself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and leaving it to Luck would be safer.

Letting Pelmas handle it in the dark was basically suicide.

"Even though wolves may appear?"

"Haha. Better than you driving."

"Hahaha. I place my trust entirely in you, Tae-hyun-nim."

Pelmas smoothly ignored the insult to his driving and bowed his head.

Still, he wasn't entirely inexperienced. In no time at all, he'd lit a fire and made camp.

Wolves should be manageable.

Tae-hyun's level might have been low, but stat-wise he was comparable to players in their 50s.

And once you added Luck on top of that, he was far from weak.

It wasn't like wolves in these mountains were going to be boss monsters. If they charged him, he was confident he could win.

The real problem was the wagon and Pelmas.

If the wagon broke, getting to the Atali Kingdom would become a pain.

If Pelmas died, the quest would get tangled up.

This is where it sucks not having the right skills.

Tae-hyun didn't really have any skills worth calling combat skills right now.

His attack buff was a good one, but it wasn't the kind of thing that would let him fight while protecting Pelmas.

Moments like this made him jealous of mages.

High-level mages finished things off before enemies could even get close.

Maybe I should learn some magic...

He wouldn't be able to learn the really strong spells, since he wasn't a mage.

But there were some spells that other classes could learn too.