‘Painting isn’t easy.’
Ttang!Ttang!Ttang...
Grid had already finished working 10 minutes ago. He had completely repaired all the items he normally used. However, he didn’t stop hammering. He didn’t want to disturb Pica.s.so, who was transferring his image to canvas. Grid could feel the spirit of an artist from Pica.s.so who observed him without blinking. He couldn’t help having respect for her.
‘Let’s think.’
What should he do until Pica.s.so’s work was over? He didn’t want to make underwear in the painting, so should he make the ma.s.s-produced Grid items for a while? Grid thought about it before recalling the First Holy Sword. His understanding of it was at 60% after repeatedly disa.s.sembling and rea.s.sembling it in an attempt to resolve the curse.It was impossible to perfectly reproduce the First Holy Sword, but a ‘reproduction’ was possible.
‘I should use this opportunity to make a smaller holy sword.’
It would give him a glimpse of how powerful the First Holy Sword was.
‘If I’m lucky, my understanding will rise.’
Grid was filled with antic.i.p.ation as he looked at the minerals warehouse on one side of the smithy.
“What do you need me to bring over?” A young blacksmith noticed and quickly came forward.
Grid frowned. ‘It is like I am a bully making them buy me bread.’
Now people were trying to do things for him. He didn’t even have to say anything. They just read his desires. It wasn’t due to his strength but pure goodwill and respect!
“Iron ore and mithril.”
“Yes!” The young blacksmith rushed to the warehouse at Grid’s instructions. After the young blacksmith returned with a large amount of iron ore and mithril, Grid poured the iron ore into the furnace he had heated up.
‘Of course, it is insignificant compared to the divine stone that Hexetia created.’
Among the minerals present on the Earth, those which could accept as much divine power as mithril could were rare. Grid planned to reproduce the First Holy Sword by using a minimum amount of iron ore and a large amount of mithril.
Ttaaang!Ttang!
He repeatedly smelted, tempered, and quenched the minerals. The iron ore and mithril which seemed to just be stones were transformed into a single blade through the process of smelting and hammering.
‘The First Holy Sword! I can perfectly reproduce its image!’
Ttang!
Extremely focused, Grid entered a trance state and thought back to when the holy sword was still in the hands of the Yatan Servants. He recalled all the impressions he felt when he saw it the first time, from the divine stone to the history and intentions of the First Holy Sword. Then he tried to completely reproduce the holy sword.
Ttang!Ttang!Ttang!
It wasn’t perfect, but he hadn’t ruined its essence. The appearance of the sword on the anvil wasn’t much different from the original. Still, there was a problem.
‘Ah, the divine power.’
It was the absence of divine power. The holy sword that Grid was making resembled the original, but the divine power was incomparably weak. This was natural as there was a clear limit to the divine power in the mithril. The biggest feature of mithril was its ability to accept divine power. It was like the Divine s.h.i.+eld in the past where Grid had needed the help of a Rebecca priest to truly reproduce it.
‘I made a mistake!’
This was bad. The sword wasn’t a holy sword. He had actually overlooked an important part of its essence!
‘I’m really stupid.’
Grid was greatly disappointed in himself. He believed he was stupid because he had forgotten to ask for a priest for help. However, it was too much of a leap. Anyone could make this mistake. Grid had only focused on recreating the intent and form of the holy sword, so he ended up missing something.
‘...Sigh, yes. Calm down.’
Grid stopped hammering and took a deep breath to control his mind. The sword on the anvil was already half finished, but there was no need to fret.
‘I can ask for support from the priests at the temple.’
It didn’t matter if the temple authorities reported that they lacked manpower. He had other chances to try recreating the holy sword. Yes, there was no reason to be frustrated by one failure.
‘...Wait?’
Once his mind relaxed, his way of thinking expanded. Grid shook off his anxiety and was reminded of the advanced light elemental. He noted two possible methods.
‘First, there is the iron ore magic training method!’
Grid could train the iron ore using attack magic. The speed of the iron ore magic training depended on the power and skill of the magic used. A slow speed made the magic training very challenging.
‘Now I have the elemental!’
That’s right. The second point that Grid noticed was the advanced light elemental.
‘Can I train minerals with the light elemental?’
Grid recalled the detailed information of the elemental.
[Light Elemental (Advanced)]
[You can use the advanced light elemental.
Current level of the light elemental: 1
-Available Elemental Techniques-
* The energy of the advanced elemental is infinite. An advanced elemental doesn’t consume the resources of the contractor.
[Sword of Light]
Makes the elemental into a sword of light.
It will follow the contract and help the contractor secure visibility in the dark. When an enemy with the attribute of darkness is found, it will move by itself and attack the enemy.
The attack power of the Sword of Light is affected by the contractor’s physical attack power and magic attack power.
* This skill can be maintained at all times. However, separate techniques can’t be used in the Sword of Light state.
[Flash]
The light elemental will ‘instantaneously’ move to the target pointed out by the contractor.
If the target is an enemy, it will s.h.i.+ne intensely and blind the target for 0.3 seconds. The target can’t resist the blindness effect.
If the target is the contractor’s ally, it will s.h.i.+ne brightly and give the target a one-time ‘dark attack resistance’ effect.
Cooldown Time: 5 minutes.]
‘This is it! I can use the Sword of Light to keep hitting the sword!’
Grid was neglecting the Magic Battle Gear Production Method due to the excessive labor required. In the past, Grid used a whole fortnight to train the metal with Magic Missile. He had used magic and mana potions, but his stamina had dropped and he had become physically and mentally exhausted.
Although Grid might be the master of labor, he couldn’t endure the challenge of the Magic Battle Gear Production Method. Then what about now?
‘I have the light elemental!’
The one using the magic was the light elemental and the energy of the light elemental was infinite.
‘Let’s melt the blade again. Then I will let the Sword of Light hit it 10,000 times.’
The completeness of the sword would increase due to the injection of divine power, and there was a high chance the level of the Magic Battle Gear Production Method would rise. Grid wouldn’t have to waste any energy!
“Kukuk! Puhahahat!”
What idiot? Wasn’t he a genius? He was very impressed with himself at coming up with the idea to use the advanced light elemental. Thrilled, Grid put his plan into action. He melted the sword and ordered the light elemental to train the metal. Then the struggles of the light elemental began. The white light sword hit the minerals on the anvil without stopping, and Grid watched with folded arms.
“What is that?” The young blacksmiths were surprised by the sight and started to mutter. They asked their seniors about the new method Grid was using. Yet who could answer them? The blacksmith craftsmen weren’t able to give an answer because this was their first time seeing a blacksmith use an elemental.
So, they could only silently watch the process. They couldn’t even imagine what would be born.
“...”
Pica.s.so put the finis.h.i.+ng touches on the canvas. The painting was completed. There was an intense blazing red background behind a man with a crown who hammered away while dozens of blacksmiths watched. A brilliant light elemental surrounded the man.
‘What is the result?’Pica.s.so focused on the painting with a burning soul. She gulped and waited for a rating to be a.s.signed to the finished work. Pica.s.so had poured everything into this painting and thought that the level of the finished work was better than she had expected, but she wondered if the system would give the same evaluation. The result came out pretty quickly.
[You have completed a new work!]
[It is the birth of a masterpiece that perfectly captures the appearance of the legendary blacksmith, king, and Hero King who impresses all the blacksmiths in the world!]
[It is the first extremely honorable painting born in 177 years.]
[You deserve praise for your accomplishment in portraying the greatest character of this day to the next generation!]
[All stats will increase by 20 points due to the completion of a masterpiece.]
[All stats will increase by 50 points due to the completion of an extremely honorable painting.]
[The level of all cla.s.s-related skills will increase by 1!]
[The cla.s.s quest ‘Painter who will go down in History’ has been generated!]
[The protagonist of the extremely honorable painting will feel deep grat.i.tude toward you.]
‘Extremely honorable painting?’
What was this? Pica.s.so was confused by the unintended and unexpected result.
[You have become the protagonist of an extremely honorable painting. Your appearance and achievements will be handed down to later generations unless the extremely honorable painting is destroyed.]
[Your current stats will be engraved on the extremely honorable painting. No matter what happens to you, you will be able to recover the strength stored in the extremely honorable painting if you recall your ident.i.ty engraved in it. However, there is only one chance.]
“...?????” Grid had dozens of questions.
Pica.s.so said to him, “Even the system acknowledges that you are the best.” It wasn’t an unproven speculation. Pica.s.so expressed her deep grat.i.tude to Grid, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to draw you. I will never forget this honor. I will continue to serve the Overgeared Kingdom and repay this favor.
“...????”
Grid took back the term ‘genius.’ He couldn’t understand the situation. Bewildered, Grid belatedly looked at the painting. Was he seeing things? Or had Pica.s.so intentionally made him more handsome? The drawing which showed his pa.s.sion while he smithed was extremely cool.
20 days later...
[A temple of G.o.d Hexetia has been completed in Reinhardt, the capital of the Overgeared Kingdom!]
[This is the first temple for Hexetia!]
[The artistic value of the statues which are perfect recreations of the appearances of G.o.d Hexetia and G.o.ddess Rebecca have pierced the sky!]
[The new artifacts will enhance your insights. We recommend that you visit Reinhardt.]
All players currently accessing Satisfy had this world message rise in front of them.