The song of steel had ceased, and the forge’s heat had softened into warmth throughout the workshop.
Just when I thought it was all over, a new mission came down.
‘A name? A name….’
It was asking me to come up with a name out of nowhere.
‘I’ve never thought about anything like that.’
Following my naming instincts, anything white became White Rice Cake, while anything black became Blackie.
Of course, I could not name a sword Blackie.
‘Ugh… Think of something. It can’t be Blackie, please…! Ah, that’ll work!’
Fortunately, Blackie provided the hint, and a good name soon came to mind.
There was the image I had associated with the sword from the moment I first saw it—the night sky—and the song of steel it had sung to me.
I combined the two.
“Nocturne. Let’s go with that.”
[An item’s name cannot be changed once set. Name it ‘Nocturne’?]
“Yes.”
[New item ‘Nocturne’ has been recorded in the Tower.]
[Reconstructing part of the item’s information based on its name.]
As promised, the item’s information appeared soon afterward.
[Nocturne]
Grade: Masterpiece
Category: Longsword
Description: A nocturnal melody forged from New Moon Iron, a special material that devours light.
The dying breath of a master smith blazes anew through the passion of one who came after.
Special Effects:
[New Moon]: The blade suppresses reflected light to an extreme degree, making it difficult for opponents to perceive the sword’s outline and trajectory.
[Prelude]: After remaining out of combat for at least 10 minutes, the blade absorbs cold and forms frost.
While active, the blade adds cold damage to sword strikes for 1 minute.
[Crescendo]: After remaining in combat for at least 1 minute, the blade grows hot and adds burn damage to sword strikes.
The longer combat continues, the hotter the blade gradually becomes, increasing its burn damage proportionally.
Upon transitioning out of combat, the accumulated heat cools rapidly and disappears completely after 1 minute.
[???: A still-sealed ability. Unlocks when specific conditions are met.]
“…!”
A Masterpiece. My eyes flew wide at the utterly unexpected jackpot.
‘Nice! I knew I wasn’t wrong!’
I had thought I would be grateful for a Masterwork—no, even a Rare item, the Grade below it—but the result far surpassed my expectations.
‘It even has four Special Effects…!’
According to the Tower’s item classification standards, the Grades of most items up through Rare were determined by quality rather than special capabilities.
To use swords as an example, a low-grade longsword was barely capable of maintaining the shape of a sword.
Up through High Grade, workmanship determined the Grade in most cases. A proper ‘Effect’ on an item was generally something one could expect only from High-Grade or Rare items.
That difference formed something like an insurmountable wall between Common Grade and High-Grade items.
‘It’s only a single Grade of difference, but in terms of value….’
It was the difference between having one more zero at the end of the price or not.
But a Masterpiece? At my current level, I could not even begin to imagine its value.
Of course, I had no intention of selling it.
‘I’m going to use it. Why would I sell this?’
If an item like this could make me lose my head and sell it off, I would have sold Endless Hunger—the bonus reward I had received for achieving EX Grade—and retired to spend the rest of my life doing nothing long ago.
“No matter how many times I see it, I cannot get used to the Awakened muttering at walls by themselves.”
The old man’s voice beside me finally snapped me back to my senses.
“Ah, I am sorry, sir. I got distracted for a moment without realizing I was being rude.”
“Forget it. With an item like that, it is only natural. I was busy looking at the sword myself. Ah, yes. If you do not mind, might I examine it for a moment?”
“Of course. In fact, I was hoping to ask you to examine it.”
He was not just anyone. He had contributed immensely to creating this sword.
I gladly handed it to him.
“Oh…… The sound made me think it was not ordinary iron, but what a beautiful ink-black color. I have never seen anything like it. What is this called?”
“If you mean the iron, they call it New Moon Iron. The name uses the character for the first day of the lunar month.”
“New Moon Iron… Yes, a new-moon night looks exactly like this. The new moon and Nocturne… That is not a bad name either.”
“Ha-ha… You heard me?”
For some reason, I felt embarrassed.
I wondered if I had gotten carried away by the atmosphere and chosen an overly grandiose name.
“You and I are the only people here. How could I fail to hear you unless I were hard of hearing?”
He snapped curtly at me, yet the gaze he directed at the sword remained exceedingly gentle.
The old man turned the sword this way and that as he examined it, then murmured softly.
“A song of the night… I thought it was nonsense, but it is rather good. The name suits this one perfectly.”
At the unexpected praise, I could only smile sheepishly.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. A good sword must have a name worthy of it. A nameless sword is nothing more than a well-forged piece of iron. Thanks to you, this one has found a name of its own. That is enough.”
With that, the old man returned the sword to me.
He acted as though there were nothing more to see.
“Now go. Let me get some sleep. Because of you, I skipped dinner, finished tomorrow’s work, left the workshop far later than usual, and am so exhausted I could die.”
The old man grumbled for no reason.
Yet somehow, it did not sound unpleasant.
“I learned a great deal today. Thanks to you, sir, I was able to save this one.”
“What do you mean, thanks to me? Did I so much as lay a fingertip on it? It was all your work.”
No, one thing was certain.
I could never have done this if I had not watched and learned from a master smith of his caliber.
Still, I appreciated him saying so.
“Ha-ha, that is true. Even so, I learned a great deal.”
“Enough. Go. I never taught you anything, so what are you thanking me for?”
The old man abruptly turned away and headed toward the forge.
The order to leave was unmistakable. I bowed politely, whether he could see me or not, and made my way out.
“Ahem….”
Or rather, I started to leave, then stopped.
A rasping throat-clear, tinged with the scrape of iron, arrested my steps.
“…?”
“If you ever need to use a forge or have some metalwork you want to entrust to me, feel free to come by anytime.”
It was unlike the cantankerous old man.
It was the second most surprising thing that had happened all day.
“Really? Would that be all right?”
“We made a wager, did we not? Even if it was a half-baked wager, accounts must be settled properly. I agreed to take proper care of your sword but never did, so it is only right that I tend to something else for you.”
The old man added curtly.
He still did not look at me even once.
“Do not misunderstand. I am only saying this because I cannot stand living in another person’s debt. I am not saying it because I like you.”
The warmth hidden in his words was as obvious as the fire in the forge.
“Yes, sir. I will stop by often and pay my respects.”
***
The next morning.
Blacksmithing must have been exceptionally grueling because, for once, I slept late.
It was already 9 a.m. when I woke.
I had not even heard the alarm I had set for 7 a.m.
‘Whew, I was completely out cold. Blacksmithing really isn’t easy.’
Even after a good night’s sleep, my stiff shoulders felt like a medal.
Apparently, restoring a decrepit sword on the verge of snapping into a Masterpiece-grade blade had not been a dream.
‘Then should I go right away today?’
My body was itching to test the new sword’s performance.
After going all the way to the plaza near the Tower and getting jostled by the crowds yesterday, any thought of traveling directly to the plaza again had vanished.
‘I need to get used to this. The Tower’s System sends me there on its own anyway, so there’s no reason to go all that way out of habit.’
It might be different if I had some special business there, like borrowing a dagger from Kim hyung yesterday.
All I needed to prepare was a quick wash and a light meal.
“Good. I’m ready for work.”
After checking my physical condition one last time, I headed for the Tower through its System.
“The 2nd Floor Waiting Room.”
As though it had been waiting, a portal slid into existence directly before me.
It looked exactly like the portal leading from the Tower’s Waiting Room to a Mission Area.
“Well then, excuse me.”
The moment I stepped inside the portal, a message appeared.
[Awakened ‘Kim Si-hyeon’ identified. Authorization confirmed.]
[Proceeding to the 2nd Floor Waiting Room of the Tower of the Republic of Korea.]
WHOOSH!
The scenery changed in an instant.
I had only lifted one foot and set it down, yet the Tower’s Waiting Room now stretched out before me.
‘That’s really something. I was definitely at home, yet a single step brought me inside the Tower.’
The 2nd Floor lobby I entered was no less crowded, though it did not compare to the 1st Floor.
I pushed through the bustling crowd and headed straight for the Mission Area.
[Leaving the Waiting Room. Entering the 2nd Floor Mission Area.]
Like a drop of paint spreading through water, my surroundings gradually changed to new colors from the top down.
The 2nd Floor Waiting Room was soon erased, and the wasteland appeared once more.
“The air really is nice inside the Tower.”
The 2nd Floor was not significantly different from the 1st.
There was a wasteland and fourGoblins.
One of them stood a full head taller than the others, making it immediately conspicuous.
‘So that’s theHobgoblin.’
If I had to name another difference in the surroundings, was it perhaps the enormous rocks jutting up here and there, unlike the endless, empty wasteland of the 1st Floor?
‘At least something changed now that I’ve climbed one Floor.’
That concluded my assessment of the Mission Area.
My greatest interest at the moment was Nocturne.
It was the entire reason I had hurried to enter the Tower.
“All right, this is your debut. Let’s go.”
SHING─.
The moment I drew the sword that had been sleeping in its scabbard, I felt the chill.
“Wow, it really is covered in frost?”
It was the effect of Prelude, which activated out of combat.
The frost-covered, blue-black blade gave off a wavering haze.
‘It looks like dry ice left out at room temperature. I guess that means it’s just as cold.’
When that mingled with the fearsome sharpness streaming from the keen edge, it finally struck me anew that I was wielding a sword.
‘What I’ve been swinging until now wasn’t a sword. It was a club. Wow, this really is different.’
Now I understood why everyone paid so much money to use good items.
‘But the Effect is already active. Does it automatically account for the interval between the start of combat and drawing the sword?’
It had been active as soon as I crossed into the Mission Area, so that was probably the case.
“…When I see things like this, this bastard of a Tower is surprisingly flexible.”
Thanks to that, I did not have to stand around vacantly for 10 minutes just to check the Effect.
“Well, that worked out.”
And with that, I entered combat.
‘Covert Movement.’
The moment I activated the Skill, I felt myself smoothly blending into the surrounding environment.
I lowered my stance and approached them cautiously.
The plan was as follows.
‘First, I’ll approach with Covert Movement and cut the throat of the most dangerousHobgoblin….’
Then I would test Nocturne’s performance to my heart’s content against the remaining three.
Holding my breath, I cautiously approached my target one step at a time.
‘One more step.’
The creature yawned, unaware that I was already within arm’s reach.
Everything had gone perfectly smoothly up to that point.
But just as I was about to swing my sword at the green neck laid defenselessly bare—
“Grrrk?”
The creature tilted its head for a moment, then turned around.
I smiled awkwardly into its yellow, snake-like slit eyes.
“…Right? This was too close, wasn’t it?”
“SKREEE!”
The hideous cry was the expected result.
I had to end this swiftly. I drove the sword straight toward its neck.
SWISH—!
No, I tried to.
CLANG!
The creature blocked my thrust with the iron club in its hand.
Rather than deliberately reading and blocking my attack, it appeared to have stopped the thrust by sheer chance while raising its weapon.
But its luck ended there.
FSSSS—
White frost spread across the back of its hand.
“Krrrk?”
The startled creature’s eyes flew open, and I laughed.
‘Ha, so that was it?’
I realized how it had noticed my surprise attack a moment ago.
‘It’s this intense even without direct contact, so the back of its head must have felt cold earlier.’
What if my back suddenly felt cool while I stood beneath the wasteland’s blazing sun?
I would turn around in surprise too.
‘If I want to use this combination for surprise attacks, I’ll need to study quick-draw swordsmanship.’
I had learned something thanks to it, so this was my repayment.
“Off you go.”
Painlessly, in a single stroke.
SLASH!
Following an ink-black arc, the head that had lost its owner flew through the air.
***
TheHobgoblin had displayed the impressive feat of blocking one of my attacks, but everything afterward was no different from the 1st Floor.
All I had to do was harvest the heads of the ripeGoblins, one per stroke.
‘No, it was different. The way it felt when I cut them.’
The sword was so sharp that cutting through aGoblin’s neck did not feel like cutting at all. It felt as though someone had already severed the head, set it loosely back in place, and I was merely tapping it off.
‘I tried Crescendo at the end too… but it was a little disappointing. I couldn’t see the Effect properly.’
Even so, the Effect was unmistakable.
The cut on the creature I had deliberately kept alive and slain last had been lightly seared.
‘I should devour theHobgoblin’s shadow. It might prove useful on the next Floor.’
Just as I was about to feed my shadow, a message appeared.
[You displayed outstanding performance on the Tower’s 2nd Floor.]
[The Tower’s ‘Gaze’ turns toward you. A new trial or opportunity may be granted.]
A trial or opportunity? No wonder the message differed from the one on the 1st Floor. The Tower had finally revealed its true colors.
[From now on, after completing each Floor’s Basic Mission, you may challenge the ‘Gaze's Trial.’ Overcoming the trial grants a corresponding ‘opportunity.’]
[Base Reward for Overcoming the Trial: Gaze's Favor (1)]
Gaze's Favor was the very pill I had swallowed on the 1st Floor.
It was an extraordinary consumable item that increased my Basic Stats merely by being swallowed.
In other words, if I kept consuming one on every Floor, I could become twice as strong as everyone else each time I climbed a Floor.
“So the one you gave me on the 1st Floor was a free sample?”
I had found it strange when the Gaze offered me an opportunity without a trial on the 1st Floor. Only now could I see its dark intentions.
‘Lure me in with a loss leader, keep me choosing trials, and then the moment I slip up….’
I would be dead.
‘The Gaze is a devious bastard.’
Whether or not it knew what I was thinking, the Gaze remained busy promoting its trial.
[Gaze's Trial]
[Target: Awakened ‘Kim Si-hyeon’]
[Challenge Condition: Immediately after conquering each Floor for the first time, one opportunity is granted.]
[Warning: If the trial is refused or abandoned midway, the opportunity to challenge it on that Floor is permanently lost.]
[Mission Details: The trial’s mission changes on every Floor and is revealed only upon acceptance.]
[Reward: Overcoming the trial grants a corresponding ‘opportunity.’]
[Base Reward for Overcoming the Trial: Gaze's Favor (1)]
Once again, the Gaze dangled the base reward before my eyes as if tempting a child with candy.
I could plainly see what this devious bastard was planning.
‘All right. I’m risking my life to climb the Tower anyway. I’ll gladly play along.’
I intended to rob its entire candy factory.
Whether my teeth rotted away first or its factory went bankrupt first, I was going to see this through to the very end.
“I accept the trial.”
[Warning: Trials do not follow the Tower’s ordinary laws and present high-difficulty missions in which even the conqueror of that Floor is not guaranteed to survive.]
A red message window smoothly slid into view.
[Do you still wish to proceed?]
“All right, come at me.”
[Final consent confirmed.]
[‘Gaze's Trial’ initiated.]
Only then did the mission details appear.
[Mission Objective: Survive the enragedHobgoblin horde for the designated time. (14:57)]
The allotted time was 15 minutes. Far in the distance, yellow dust rose from the ground. It was them.
‘Survive…? We’ll see. I want to get a proper look at Crescendo.’
The blade was supposed to grow hotter and hotter, but earlier I had barely gotten a taste of the Effect.
‘This works out. I’ll kill a few.’
Then an entertaining thought occurred to me.
‘It says to survive, but what happens if I kill them all? The Tower may be a bastard, but it’s reliable about rewards.’
SHING─.
It was time to find out.