Chapter 67- After Effects of the world’s First.
[ACHIEVEMENT REWARD]
Player [****] is rewarded with the title "Forge Pioneer II" and 1000 Gold coins.
MONOMYTH SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT .... (2nd)
MONOMYTH SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT ... (3rd)
Every player on the server heard the prompt and looked up at the glowing text.
A nearby group of players started talking.
"Woah! It’s been a while since the last announcement."
Another nodded. "Do you think it’s the same guy from last time?"
A girl standing beside them answered, "Probably not."
Leo waited, wondering whether he was only the first on this server or the first across the entire world of Myth Online for players from Earth.
A moment later another notification appeared. A small smile formed on his face
[Ding!]
[A global announcement will be made across all servers.]
[Do you wish to hide your identity?]
[Yes] [No]
He picked "Yes" again without hesitation.
[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT — MYTH ONLINE]
[World First]
A Epic-grade item has been forged for the first time across all servers! Congratulations to Player [****] for being the first player across all servers to forge a Epic-grade item in Myth Online!
[ACHIEVEMENT REWARD]
Player [****] is rewarded with the Annals of Creation II and a Permanent stat bonus: CHA +25, MFT +55, STM +42.
[A new Chapter begins.]
The global announcement also repeated twice more.
Global announcement ..... (2nd)
Global announcement ... (3rd)
Players everywhere stared at the sky in silence for a few seconds, stunned by the back-to-back announcements.
Hugh saw the notification as well. "Lad, you’ve done it again."
Leo simply nodded and let the words settle. Then he opened his status to check the upgraded title.
[Forge Pioneer II]
[Tier: Epic (Growth)]
[A title granted to the one who forges his path forward. The first hammer strike always rings the loudest — yours echoes across "THE WORLD". Where others follow worn paths, you raise your hammer and make your own.]
[Effects:]
[Forging Speed +20%]
[Hidden Attribute Chance +15%]
[Growth requirement: Upgrades to Legendary Title upon forging the first Legendary-grade item.]
[Annals of Creation] — LOCKED
(Requirements not met.)
He reviewed the rewards. The permanent stat bonuses were solid, and the upgraded title gave a clear improvement.
The only thing that hadn’t changed was the Annals of Creation—he now owned two of them, and both remained locked.
Leo waited a little longer in case another notification appeared, but nothing else came.
He shook his head once and closed the panels.
He opened the external view again and checked the area around the ruins. The group was still there, camped among the broken stones.
Nearly a full day had passed since they began waiting.
Only eight remained now—an archer, a shield guard, and several warriors. They stood in a loose circle around a young man who appeared to be giving orders.
Leo could see them clearly through the display, but he could hear nothing.
....
Outside the ruins, a young man spoke.
"So ten of you got killed by a level 19. Hmph. You guys were just pigs for the slaughter. You didn’t even manage to track him. The trail ends here, in the middle of nowhere."
The female archer answered. "Yes. He was out of our league. Are you sure he’s a blacksmith?" She looked toward the others as she spoke.
The remaining members looked frustrated. One of them replied, "We received that information. We don’t know how accurate it is."
The man who had arrived this time was Kang Tae-oh, an Epic-rank Assassin contracted through the Ascendant Guild.
"Tsk. Excuses." His expression was openly arrogant. He did not bother to hide his contempt for the people in front of him. "You lost. There’s no need to invent ridiculous explanations."
"People are making headlines, world announcements like the ones earlier. But here you are, all rotting away. Tsk tsk."
At the mention of the world announcement, everyone once again had the look of shock and fascination. They wished they also had such achievements.
One of the warriors muttered, "If I had achievements like that, every guild would probably die just to recruit me, right?"
Another player let out a short, bitter laugh. "Die to recruit you? They’d throw gold and titles at your feet. First on the server, then first in the entire world... that’s not something money can buy."
The female archer crossed her arms, still staring at the empty sky where the golden text had been. "I checked the forums the moment the second announcement finished. Half the posts are just people guessing who it is. The other half are begging the player to join their guild."
A spearman nearby nodded. "I saw someone offer a Legendary weapon just for a private message. Can you imagine? One announcement and the whole server goes crazy."
Kang Tae-oh scoffed. "Of course they go crazy. A world-first Epic forge is the kind of thing that changes a player’s entire future. Guilds will fight over him. Sponsors will line up. He’ll never have to worry about resources again."
One of the younger members clenched his fists. "And we’re stuck out here chasing a level 19 who wiped half our party. While that guy is collecting titles and permanent stats."
"Permanent stats," another repeated, almost enviously. "CHA, MFT, STM... just handed to him. Most of us grind for months and barely see numbers like that."
The archer glanced at Kang Tae-oh. "Do you think the guild will try to find him?"
Kang Tae-oh’s lips curled slightly. "Every major guild will try. The ones that don’t are fools. A player who can forge Epic items this early is more valuable than ten of you combined."
Silence settled for a moment as the group processed the gap between themselves and the unknown forger.
Then the warrior who had spoken first muttered again, quieter this time, "Must be nice... having the whole world look up at your name."
He settled back onto a fallen log.
One of the warriors shifted his weight. "Sir, if he’s really just a blacksmith, maybe he’s already gone. The trail is cold."
Kang Tae-oh turned his head slightly. His eyes were flat.
"The bounty is still active. The guild paid for results, not for guesses. You will stay here and watch. If he comes out, you hold him. If he doesn’t come out, we wait."
The archer opened her mouth as if to argue, then closed it again.
Kang Tae-oh leaned back against the log and closed his eyes for a moment.
"No rush," he said, speaking to no one in particular. His tone was calm, the voice of a man who believed he had all the time in the world.
"The bounty doesn’t have an expiry date."
Inside the forge dimension, Leo closed the external view.
He had already shifted his attention to the next project: the armor.
His plan was to use the Aegis Stone together with the Berserker’s Bloodsteel. He did not want the final armor to be heavy or rigid. He needed it flexible and light enough that it would not slow his movement in a fight.
He began working out a rough blueprint in his mind.
First, he would have to merge the Bloodsteel and the Aegis Stone into a single alloy. That way the Bloodsteel would be strengthened. Even if the final material could not reach the full quality of pure Aegis, it would still be a clear upgrade over standard Bloodsteel.
The real problem was structure.
Solid plate would give strong protection but would restrict movement. Full chain would be flexible but weaker against heavy impacts. He needed something in between.
Leo considered a layered approach. A thin outer layer of the new alloy for hardness. Beneath it, a more flexible mesh or segmented plates that could move with the body. The joints—shoulders, elbows, hips, knees—would need special attention. Overlapping scales or articulated lames might work, as long as they did not add too much weight.
He also had to decide on coverage. Full armor would be safest but heaviest. A lighter set focusing on the torso, shoulders, and upper legs might be better for his fighting style. He could leave the lower arms and lower legs less armored to keep speed.
The Aegis Stone’s properties were still not fully clear to him. He would need to test small samples first—how it mixed with Bloodsteel, how it responded to the Eternal Flame, whether it kept any of its defensive traits after forging.
Leo sat down at the workbench and pulled out a small piece of the Aegis Stone and a short bar of Bloodsteel. He would start with a test melt. If the alloy behaved well, he could move on to the full blueprint. If not, he would adjust the ratio or the method.
Outside, the camp remained quiet. Kang Tae-oh and the remaining eight continued their watch.
Leo stared at the crucible inside the forge hearth. Inside it, two metals sat on the verge of conflict.
The berserker blood steel melted the moment it touched the heat. It moved with a crimson current, restless and alive, like a sea that refused to stay still. The Aegis stone sat in the middle of that sea with no sign of melting.
Leo watched with both hands resting on his knees. The stone was only a small fragment of the legendary material, a piece taken from a Guardian’s shield.
By his estimation it should have begun to soften already. The blood steel should have swallowed it whole. Instead the steel washed around the stone and could not touch it in any lasting way.
Seeing no reaction, Leo increased the heat. The blood steel boiled harder. It thrashed against the Aegis stone and against the walls of the crucible. Sparks and small sprays of molten metal leapt up and died against the air.
"Well, that didn’t work," Leo said.
Hugh stood nearby and said nothing. He only watched.
Leo lowered the heat. The blood steel gradually settled. When the surface calmed, the Aegis stone still sat exactly where it had been.
Unscratched, Unmelted....
And somehow more stubborn than before.....
...