“Hah... Wahh...! Hup! Fucking!”

Zibal was anxiously watching Raiders being thoroughly disassembled and made sounds one after another. It was with admiration, not lamentation. It wasn’t because Raiders had been innovated or strengthened as Grid promised. Raiders was still half deconstructed, but Zibal didn’t care.

What if something went wrong with Raiders? There was no time to feel such anxiety or worry. It was Grid that Zibal couldn’t take his eyes off, not Raiders. It had been 14 hours. For more than half the day, Zibal was impressed and thrilled. He felt an unfamiliar shock at the sight of Grid, who worked hard without wasting a minute or a second.

‘How can a person do this?’

As he disassembled Raiders, he figured out how to innovate the next item, made new items, and innovated it when done. He inspected the items made by the Overgeared Skeletons and God Hands, sincerely answered the dwarf asking for advice from the sidelines, disassembled Raiders, thought about it, remade it, and innovated it...

Grid never once rested as he listened to and discussed the reports of Lauel, who stopped by. He kissed Irene’s cheek as thanks for the packed lunch she gave him, but didn’t stop thinking. His mind was as bright and clean as a mirror despite the hatchling popping up and complaining. Even when he summoned Overgeared Corn because he was exhausted, he didn’t let go of his thoughts as he stared at the furnace.

This already wasn’t the attitude of a player. The essence of a player was to ‘pursue pleasure’ and they could often relax. Meanwhile, Grid always remained tense and ‘worked.’ Zibal was a person who once coveted the supreme spot and he knew the concept of effort, perseverance, and labor, but... in front of Grid, he thought it was something that he didn’t dare discuss.

‘This guy... he has a different mindset toward this world.’

Therefore, no one could beat him. Of course, Zibal couldn’t win. Zibal was thrilled as he realized it once again. Then he suddenly glanced to the side. ‘By the way, what is with this guy?’

Picasso—it was obvious just from the ID, but the 1st ranked artist with the eccentric temperament had been sitting next to him since some time ago. Zibal stared at the small woman filling up the canvas while staring at Grid and finally couldn’t stand it. He asked, “What are you doing now?”

“Drawing a picture.”

“Is it a portrait of Grid?”

Picasso replied sluggishly, “Fortunately, I have a good brush and paints.” It was an attitude like Zibal was asking the obvious.

However, it wasn’t obvious for Zibal. “Why are you painting a portrait of Grid?”

He heard there was a painter in the guild, but it was a fan? Did she join the Overgeared Guild with the heart of a fan and to satisfy her own self-interest?

“An average person... you wouldn’t understand it even if I explained it to you.”

Picasso had poor speaking skills. She didn’t enjoy conversing. It was complicated and cumbersome to explain the concept of the extremely honorable painting. Thus, she shut up unilaterally during the conversation. It was a temperament unique to an artist. It was easy to be misunderstood by others.

“Uh. Ordinary? Me?” Zibal doubted his ears. He was puzzled because he had never been called ordinary in his life. “You... do you happen to know who I am?”

From the time he stepped down as a guild master and joined the empire, Zibal had already put down his honor. He didn’t show an ounce of desire from the time he followed Zikfrector. However, being openly treated as a nobody was a separate matter from his mindset. Zibal thought that this young woman must’ve started the game late, so she didn’t recognize him, who was one of the first generation players. He wanted to make sure if his thoughts were right.

Picasso didn’t answer. She no longer wanted to be bothered so she shut up and concentrated on the canvas. The world in her eyes was full of Grid and her nerves were solely concentrated on the tip of her brush. No matter how good the tool, no matter how long it took, the chance of ‘updating’ the extremely honorable painting was less than 2%. She was obsessed with almost the only means by which she could prove her worth in the Overgeared Guild.

“It is really interesting...” Zibal was ignored all of a sudden and laughed. It was absurd at first, but he was soon convinced. Yes, he was ordinary. He became ordinary after Grid gained Zikfrector. As he served Zikfrector, he approached the abyss of the ‘seven malignant saints’ worldview. The closer he got to the abyss, the more he was crushed by a great sense of responsibility.

He was liberated thanks to Grid taking responsibility for him instead. It was a fact he hadn’t realized... looking back now, his worries had completely disappeared after joining the Overgeared Guild. He had been very comfortable lately. He had no worries.

...I’m ashamed.

He realized that the responsibility he put down was weighing on Grid’s shoulders even heavier.

“Grid, you... are you okay?”

Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!

The scenery of the smithy, which seemed ordinary just before, was now completely different. The flames in the furnace never went out and they seemed to whip at Grid violently. The metal on the anvil—it gradually strengthened and carried the lives of those touched by Grid. Grid sat enduring the heat of the flames and swung his hammer silently and he abruptly felt lonely and pitiful. Zibal caught a glimpse of Grid’s shoulders that couldn’t rest for a moment, being weighed down by heavy responsibility.

“...Dammit.” What were these embarrassing, sentimental thoughts? The young painter’s unexpected words made him think of the stars. Zibal was surprised by the sudden thoughts and swore when he came to his senses. He stared at Picasso, who instilled such awkward sensibility into him, and stood up. “I still have the pride of the supreme one. This isn’t the time to be so laid back.”

“The supreme one? This uncle? I thought you were number two.”

“You do know who I am.” Zibal snorted with anger at Picasso’s words to herself and left the smithy.

‘Grid, I won’t let you take all the responsibility alone.’

The great human and demon war—it was said that it would be an unprecedented war. First of all, he would be helpful from then on. Until then, he would struggle a bit more and become stronger so he could share some of the responsibility weighing on Grid’s shoulders. Try and feel the pride of an American.

“Grandmaster! Stop sleeping and wake up! Let’s go hunting! Hurry!”

A bus was needed to become stronger quickly in the absence of Raiders.

***

One week passed. The number of people falling out of the hell expedition was increasing every day. Still, Yura seemed to be doing well considering the expedition was still going on.

In the meantime, Grid had innovated 14 additional items. A total of 17 items were innovated, including Zibal’s Raiders. His understanding of Raiders increased to 100%. In addition to the ‘Magic Machine: Raiders Production Method,’ he also acquired the innovated Raiders’ production method.

“Hrmm.”

Grid flew to the middle of the Red Sea with Braham and designated one God Hand as the target for the skill.

Rumble!

The sea soared high as the God Hand grew in volume and took shape.

Flash!

The golden eyes that didn’t sway even in the rough waves, faced Grid. A matte black giant that devoured light from the sky without projecting it. It was none other than the magic machine, Raiders, who stood before Grid and waited for an order. Item Transformation made it easy to realize.

‘As expected.’

Grid smiled brightly, but there was more tension on his face than satisfaction. It was because there was an important experiment left. The reason Grid asked Braham to fly him to the Red Sea was because... he wanted to accurately gauge the potential of Overgeared God Grid’s Techniques.

Grid pulled out a huge lump of Greed from the inventory. In exactly one minute, it would multiply to twice the mass.The moment it doubled in size, the energy of the insane dragon would reach a dangerous value and the tower members would react immediately.

‘I don’t think this will happen, but... If I accidentally miscalculated the mass, the intermediate process might be skipped and a dragon might appear.’

He was afraid. Grid waited in silence. Greed normally would’ve been split in half before the cooldown time of the characteristic of ‘double once every 10 days,’ but now it was left intact. Soon—

It happened as Grid gulped...

Greed doubled in volume and weight. However...

“......”

...Nothing happened.

The system was quiet. It was silent without warning that the tower members would come or a dragon would emerge.

“That’s... it...”

The shadow on Grid’s face finally disappeared. He had established a hypothesis after being convinced that Overgeared God Grid’s Techniques was a myth rated skill. It was the moment when the hypothesis ‘this technique can completely control minerals’ was proven to be true.

It was a highly feasible hypothesis. It was because there was Mineral Creation and Minerals Strengthening among the skills Grid could use. A legendary blacksmith meant being a master of minerals. It would be ridiculous if a mythical blacksmith couldn’t control a single mineral. No matter how great and wicked the energy of the insane dragon in Greed might be, it was still only a remnant left behind by the insane dragon. It was right that a blacksmith with divinity would improve what was perceived as a ‘flaw.’ Just like right now.

‘In the future, I can increase Greed without anyone noticing.’

It was a day before the start of the great human and demon war. On this day, as Lauel had predicted, the players started to split into three forces. Additionally, the only disadvantage of Greed had disappeared. It maintained the almighty chaotic proliferation, but the madness stimulating the dragon had dissipated. It now had the proper qualification to be a symbol of a god. It was a mineral that had grown up with its owner.

“Thaaaaaaaat’s it!” Grid’s cheer scattered the high waves. It was clearly imprinted on the world.

Braham watched as Grid clenched his fists and cried out with joy.

‘You are the greatest legend of all time.’

No one could deny the official recognition of the Duke of Wisdom. Braham’s rare smile was obscured by the waves.