Final Gate.
It was a game that was once expected to become the best in the world.
And.
The most famous player in that game was not the swordsman who first defeated the final boss monster, Sword Sovereign.
Nor was it the strongest mage who devastated gates with a single spell, Arcana.
Nor was it the cleric who resurrected all allies with a single prayer, Glory.
[ Status Window ]
Name: Steel Hammer
Class: Blacksmith
Level: 100
Titles: The One Who Forged Myth, Celestial Blacksmith, Master of Divine Weapons, King of Blacksmiths, Iron Master, Grand Blacksmith.......
Skills: Smelting Lv 100, Repair Lv 100, Enhancement Lv 100, Precision Strike Lv 100, Engraving Lv 100, Polishing Lv 100.......
Strength: 999
Agility: 999
Vitality: 999
Intelligence: 999
Wisdom: 999
It was a blacksmith.
The reason was simple.
[ Dragon Slayer +18 ]
Type: Longsword
Rank: SSS
Restrictions: Level 100, Strength 999 or higher, Grand Sword Master
Description: A vengeful Dragon-Slaying Sword crafted solely to kill dragons, curse dragons, and end the era of dragons.
Attack Power: 8800
Abilities: Dragon Slaying Lv 10, Dragon Eradication Lv 10, Fury Lv 10, Sever Lv 10, Fatal Lv 10
The greatest blacksmith of Final Gate.
The weapons crafted by Steel Hammer.
Because those very weapons determined all the 'Kings' and 'Legends' of Final Gate.
* Sword Sovereign being able to defeat the final boss monster was all thanks to Steel Hammer in the first place.
* That is true.
* The attack power and abilities of the swords crafted by Steel Hammer are seriously brutal, haha.
* He is on a completely different level from other blacksmiths, haha.
* If I had received that sword, I could have killed the boss monster too. Agreed?
The sword crafted by Steel Hammer.
Because Dragon Slayer existed, the final boss monster of Final Gate could be defeated.
[ Demise of the Magic King +19 ]
Type: Staff
Rank: SSS
Restrictions: Level 100, Intellect 999 or higher, Grand Archmage
Description: A legendary staff heralding the end of magic, crafted for the true Magic King who has reached the pinnacle of magic.
Attack Power: 8950
Abilities: Magic Mastery Lv 10, Amplification Lv 10, Domination Lv 10, Obliteration Lv 10, Meditation Lv 10
* It is the same for Arcana.
* Wow, is the 'Demise of the Magic King' crazy?
* It is truly on an unbelievable level, haha.
* With that staff, I could destroy the field itself, not just the gate, haha.
It completely eradicated the threatening gates.
[ Final Commandment +19 ]
Type: Holy Grail
Rank: SSS
Restrictions: Level 100, Divine Power 999 or higher, Saintess
Description: The Holy Grail of Commandments revealing the absolute majesty of God, created by deciphering the final commandment left behind by God.
Attack Power: 9010
Abilities: Healing Lv 10, Salvation Lv 10, Grace Lv 10, Revival Lv 10, Rest Lv 10
* It is the exact same for Glory.
* Well, all of Glory's equipment was made by Steel Hammer, too.
* I heard the 'Great Revival' that Glory used to resurrect all allies was carried by Steel Hammer's equipment in the first place, hahaha.
It was the reason why the one named Glory came to be called a Saintess.
In fact, it was thanks to the items created by Steel Hammer that Sword Sovereign became the 1st ranked swordsman and was able to defeat the final boss monster.
Arcana became the 1st ranked mage and dominated the gates.
Glory became the 1st ranked cleric and came to be called a Saintess.
Thus.
* Kingmaker, Steel Hammer.
* You just hit 1st place if Steel Hammer makes equipment for you, haha.
* Simply God Hammer.
* Steel Hammer, he is a god!
Steel Hammer held the alias of Kingmaker in Final Gate.
And.
I, who had earned the alias 'Kingmaker' in such a way, was...
CLANG!
As expected today as well.
I was sitting in front of the anvil in my personal smithy, swinging my hammer with all my might.
CLANG!
I must not miss the timing.
It must not be off by even 0.1 seconds.
No, it must not be off by even a single frame, which corresponds to 0.0166 seconds.
"Please, please, please!"
The strongest weapon of 'Final Gate' that I made myself, the 'Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan'.
I was enhancing that weapon right now.
And at that.
[ Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan +19 ]
I was challenging the highest enhancement stage of Final Gate, the +20 enhancement.
If I succeeded, this weapon would undeniably become the strongest weapon in Final Gate.
CLANG!
In Final Gate, enhancement did not rely solely on probability.
Probability was one thing, but the most important factor was 'control'.
There were various elements similar to a mini-game, but the most important among them was 'timing'.
Clicking the most appropriate spot at the most appropriate moment.
Through this, one could increase the probability of a successful enhancement.
CLANG!
I focused on the game so much that it felt like I had entered a state of trance.
Finally.
CLAAAANG!!
[ You have successfully enhanced the Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan +19. ]
[ Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan +20 ]
Type: Greatsword
Rank: EX
Restrictions: Level 100
Description: The true strongest sword crafted by forging the flesh of the Black Dragon, Nadan, who stained the world with fear and agony, and tempering it with his soul.
Attack Power: 9999
Abilities: Execution Lv EX, Capital Punishment Lv EX, Sentence Lv EX, Condemnation Lv EX, Obliteration Lv EX
I succeeded in enhancing the Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan.
Attack Power 9999.
It was the highest value of attack power permitted by Final Gate's system.
The abilities attached to the weapon were not only all ultra-rare abilities, but they were also EX levels that transcended the ability level limit of 10.
With this, the strongest weapon in Final Gate.
I succeeded in creating the 'Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan +20'.
"Woooooooaaah!"
I leaped up from my seat without realizing it.
A cheer burst out from my mouth naturally.
Even if the people in the next room came over to complain about the noise, nothing could stop me today.
Right now was the greatest moment of my life.
I wanted to solely bask in this moment.
[ Player Steel Hammer has successfully enhanced the 'Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan +19'. ]
Did Final Gate acknowledge my achievement?
The news of my enhancement spread across the entire server.
As such.
* Congrats, congrats, congrats!
* Wow, this is crazy.
* Is the Nadan Execution Sword +20 crazy or what, haha.
* You actually made this, whoa.
* Congratulations, Steel Hammer.
* You finally achieved your long-cherished desire, haha.
All the players of Final Gate became aware of the existence of the 'Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan +20'.
Everyone who had me added as a friend sent congratulatory messages through the whisper function.
* Nadan Execution Sword +20, whoa.
* There is a reason Steel Hammer is Steel Hammer, haha.
* With that, you could probably one-shot the Black Dragon, Nadan, haha.
* It would be a real spectacle to see the Black Dragon, Nadan, get taken down in one hit by the Nadan Execution Sword +20, hahaha.
Even players I did not know congratulated me through global messages using megaphones.
People even flocked to my smithy just to get a glimpse of the 'Execution Sword of the Black Dragon, Nadan +20'.
They looked at the visual effects of the 'Nadan Execution Sword +20'.
They checked its performance.
Everyone trailed behind me, admiring the demonstration as I swung the Nadan Execution Sword +20.
The more they did, the more an indescribable sense of pride washed over me.
* Wow, how much would that sell for?
* He could get at least hundreds of millions for it.
* What do you mean hundreds of millions? Someone with greed would buy it even if they had to pay billions.
* Well, it is the ultimate weapon of Final Gate, haha.
Subsequently, the players' chats came into view.
Right.
It was, in name and reality, the ultimate item of Final Gate.
I did not know much about real-money trading market prices, but for an item of this caliber, someone might really buy it for billions of won.
It would be incredibly wonderful if that happened, but...
* Of all days, on the last day of the server.
* Too bad.
* Still, Steel Hammer has achieved his wish.
* Leave while they are applauding! (Forced)
* What a shame.
* Why is Final Gate shutting down?
Unfortunately, I could not sell the 'Nadan Execution Sword +20'.
Because today was the final day of Final Gate.
End of service.
It was quite a successful game, so there were many rumors as to why it was suddenly shutting down its service.
One of them was that it faced pressure from the government for overly romanticizing gates, which could be considered a threat to humanity, into a mere game, but...
"No one knows the real reason."
Final Gate declared its end of service without giving a proper explanation.
The exact reason remained unknown.
Thinking about it that way, the sense of accomplishment that filled me just a moment ago completely subsided, and emptiness rushed in.
"Gates, huh..."
A few years ago.
'Gates' suddenly appeared in South Korea. No, in the entire world.
Humanity was plunged into peril due to the monsters that poured out from those gates.
Fortunately, at the same time the gates appeared, individuals who awakened and gained new abilities emerged.
Thanks to them, humanity was able to magnificently defend against the gates.
Since then, because the 'mana stones' dropped by monsters were recognized as a new energy source, it was said that the Awakened were making fortunes by defeating monsters and obtaining mana stones.
"I want to awaken, too. Then I could pacify the gates and become a billionaire."
No, come to think of it, that was not quite right.
Even though the Awakened earned a lot of money, honestly, it could also be considered hazard pay.
To think I would have to swing spears and swords to hunt monsters even if I awakened an ability.
I could never do it.
If I had to, maybe a Mage?
"No, a Mage would not work either. Do they not say smart monsters prioritize Mages as their primary targets?"
Being a ranged class did not mean it was safe.
Therefore, the ability I desired was...
"A Blacksmith is the best, as expected."
A Blacksmith.
That was the absolute best.
Because a Blacksmith could swing a hammer in a safe place and make huge amounts of money without needing to face monsters directly.
That was why my class in Final Gate was also a Blacksmith.
However.
"If there is a problem, it is that no Awakened has ever awakened an ability like a Blacksmith yet."
Most of the abilities of the Awakened were meant for combat.
Generating fire, unleashing superhuman strength, summoning spirits, and so on.
As far as I knew, no one had ever awakened an ability like item crafting up to this point.
As I briefly indulged in such delusions...
[ The Final Gate server will shut down shortly. ]
The system message announcing the end of Final Gate popped up.
* Hey, Final Gate was popular, why are you closing down?
* At least explain the reason before you go!
* For real.
* Can not another game company acquire it and open it anew?
* If it opens anew, will the Nadan Execution Sword +20 disappear?
* Then Steel Hammer would wail in despair, haha.
* Bye-bye.
* Anyone want to play Leaf Story together? FinalGateKing << Whisper
* Good work, everyone.
"Haa..."
Now it was truly over.
It was a game I had devoted all my youth to.
What do I do now when this is over?
Should I play a new game?
Even if I played a new game, I did not think I would be able to feel the thrilling sensation that could only be felt from Final Gate's crafting system.
In the midst of that.
A chat that caught my attention appeared in the chat window.
* Looking at this, you are totally going to awaken game abilities when the game ends, haha.
* Stop reading so many fantasy novels, mister.
* Even if people awaken abilities, only those at the level of Final Gate's 1st rank would awaken. Do you think someone like you could awaken? Haha.
"Pfft."
A cliché intro one would only see in a web novel.
A story where the 1st ranked player of a dead game gains abilities along with the game's termination, or gets sucked into the game.
Well, it had nothing to do with me.
I did not know if they counted the 1st ranked Blacksmith, but looking at the overall rankings, there were dozens of rankers who had accumulated experience even after reaching the max level above me.
After a short while like that.
* 3!
* 2!
* 1!
* Bye, bye, bye, bye!
The moment the server shut down.
[ You have awakened. ]
[ Congratulations on becoming an Awakened. ]
[ You acquire a new ability. ]
System messages popped up before my eyes.
"...?"
It was not something like an error message popping up as the server closed.
Above all, the system messages that just appeared were not messages displayed inside the monitor.
Between me and the monitor.
System messages floating in midair.
"A-Awakening? Me?!"
I, too, had heard about how the Awakened initially awaken.
The most representative among them was precisely this system message.
A message congratulating the awakening.
"Crazy, it was real?"
Was the server termination of Final Gate really connected to awakening?
No, that could not be.
It might have just been a coincidence that the timing aligned perfectly.
Anyway, that was not what mattered right now.
There was a word that the Awakened who had awakened an ability had to shout first.
"Status Window!"
It would have been embarrassing if nothing had popped up before my eyes.
Fortunately.
[ Status Window ]
* Name: Jang Gang-cheol
* Level: 1
* Class: Blacksmith
* Ability: Forge of Time
* Strength: 10
* Agility: 10
* Vitality: 10
* Intellect: 10
* Wisdom: 10
"Ooh!"
Really.
The unique function of the Awakened that I had only heard about.
The status window appeared.
I had seen depictions of the system window only visible to the Awakened before, but facing the status window in reality evoked a completely different feeling.
That was not the important part.
The five stats listed below were said to be fixed at 10 for all Awakened at the beginning.
The two things I had to look at were...
Class and Ability.
First, the class was...
"A Blacksmith!"
It was the class I had desired so much.
But it was strange.
When I had looked it up in the past, it was definitely said that production-type classes themselves did not exist.
Even when I rubbed my eyes and looked again, my class was a Blacksmith.
Wondering what was going on, I searched for 'Blacksmith Awakened' once again, but...
"There is none?"
As expected, nothing came up.
Of course, I could see attention-seeking posts or speculative posts.
However, there was not a single piece of proper information stating that a Blacksmith Awakened had actually emerged.
"Could it be that I am the first Blacksmith?"
Was this perhaps thanks to Final Gate as well?
Such reasonable doubt crossed my mind.
After all, I was nominally the 1st ranked Blacksmith in Final Gate.
* Looking at this, you are totally going to awaken game abilities when the game ends, haha.
Because I recalled the chat someone had typed at the very last moment.
Well, it did not matter either way.
The important thing right now was...
[ Class: Blacksmith ]
That I had awakened as a Blacksmith.