Arte, who had been dying, was able to come back to life thanks to Belia.

‘How can a mere blacksmith, just one man.......’

How could he make the Sword King and Blue Sky descend, risking penalties?

And for a blacksmith to command, his guild members had possibilities that were far too boundless.

What was most shocking was the ingenuity he showed at the very end.

He fought the enemy with astounding martial prowess, and then at the end, as a master craftsman, he executed the demon called Graut.

“......”

Arte stared at Hyunsoo’s back for a long while.

From that broad, iron-hard frame, he felt an indescribable power.

‘He has the makings of a sacred king.......’

Arte thought.

One enormous name that many kings throughout history had pursued.

Sword King, Blue Sky, guild members.

If not Hyunsoo, who else could be a person capable of gathering and concentrating all of them through nothing but the path he’d walked?

And Arte didn’t know.

That earlier, like Arte, Saint Aria had also once seen that Hyunsoo had the makings of a sacred king.

And because of that, something special had been accumulating in Hyunsoo.

Anyway, Arte, who had been looking at him, walked up to him.

He thought Hyunsoo was catching his breath from the enormous achievement he had accomplished.

“Listen.......”

Arte tried to place his hand on Hyunsoo’s shoulder.

Before he could.

THUD.

He fainted fast.

“???”

Arte recalled the calm words Ben and Barad had said at the Sage’s Tower not long ago.

‘He does that often.’

‘Our kid’s always been kind of frail.’

Arte finally realized why they’d reacted like that.

‘Pushing it to the extreme, again and again.......’

He fought without collapsing, without retreating.

And then it hit him. More than the thought that Hyunsoo fainted again, it held a greater weight.

If anyone runs for you, or for something related to you, and then accomplishes everything and collapses unconscious, it makes you feel many emotions, starting with gratitude.

Arte stared at the unconscious Hyunsoo for a long while.

One reward rose in his mind.

But a doubt flickered—was it right, as a sage, to make it real?

He hoisted him up, slipped Hyunsoo’s arm over his shoulder, and supported him.

And Arte went down the short remaining distance together with Hyunsoo.

Arte’s chest swelled.

The Beres Mountain Range, where he had been trapped for 300 years.

[Arte succeeds in leaving the Beres Mountain Range.]

[You have succeeded in opening the door of a cage that had been closed for a long time, allowing the bird to fly freely.]

They were notifications that reached the unconscious Hyunsoo.

Finally seeing a new world, Arte looked up at the sky and smiled brightly.

And at the foot of the mountain, Radiance’s people were waiting.

“Did he faint again?”

“At this point, shouldn’t we give him an award for being the best at fainting?”

Arte, too, exhausted to the bone, soon collapsed.

Hyunsoo and Arte were transported side by side to Vallas Territory.

*****

Before fainting, Hyunsoo fought to cling to consciousness.

The cage quest from Arte that he’d received still wasn’t completely over.

But unlike his will, the system judged that Hyunsoo’s body had reached its limit and made him faint.

When Hyunsoo woke up, he could see Nell sitting there.

“You’re up?”

“Where’s Arte?”

“Arte is asleep in the room next door, too. Why don’t you log out and rest some more, Hyunsoo?”

“I should. But before that, there’s something I want you to find for me.”

“Something you want me to find?”

Nell made a puzzled expression.

The reason she recommended logging out was because she wanted to show him what was happening outside.

What kind of shockwaves were spreading in the real world.

But once Nell learned what he wanted her to find, she smiled.

‘That’s so like you, Hyunsoo.’

She thought to herself.

Sometimes emotional, sometimes more calculating than anyone—Hyunsoo was that kind of person.

‘Maybe that’s why you were able to gather us.’

Nell liked that about Hyunsoo.

“I’ll find it as quickly as possible.”

Not long after, Nell quickly brought him the information.

Hyunsoo moved right away.

The place he arrived at.

It was none other than the small village where Arte’s mother had lived 300 years ago.

The decisive reason Arte had wanted to come down from the mountain was because he wanted to go to his mother’s grave.

‘Can I find it?’

Hyunsoo worried.

It was someone who had lived a full 300 years ago.

He thought it wouldn’t be easy to find information about her here.

But something unexpected happened.

“The sage’s mother? Of course I know. It’s a tragedy that’s been passed down in our village for generations.”

Hearing that, Hyunsoo was left speechless.

“After Sage Arte—who supposedly knows all the world’s information—suddenly vanished, his mother learned he was at the Sage’s Tower in the Beres Mountain Range. She went to the entrance of the Beres Mountain Range at the same time every day. She couldn’t go up. The demon’s power prevented anyone from going up.”

The villager speaking gave a bitter smile.

“Until the day she died, the sage’s mother went every single day to the entrance of the Beres Mountain Range because she wanted to meet her son, Arte. And then from one day on, she wasn’t seen in the village. She met her death near the Beres Mountain Range. A body? A grave? How could there possibly be such a thing.”

“......”

Just as Sage Arte longed for his mother, his mother also longed for him.

Hyunsoo knew Arte would come here soon.

“I have a request.”

He pulled out a gold coin and spoke to the villager.

He went around the village, handing gold coins to those who knew the story.

And after saying everything he needed to say, Hyunsoo rolled up his sleeves.

After making something one last time, Hyunsoo returned to Vallas Territory.

*****

Arte asked about Hyunsoo first thing as soon as he woke up. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“The lord? He’s sleeping in the room next door.”

And he headed straight for the village where his mother had lived, to meet her.

‘Doesn’t he know.......’

There’s no way a gravestone from 300 years ago could exist.

Moreover, there’d be no one to make her grave for her.

Maybe Arte insisting he would go to his mother’s grave had only been a thread of hope he’d clung to.

But then......

“Of course it exists.”

Arte made a surprised expression.

He walked, guided by the people.

It was strange.

Something that couldn’t be.

It looked like it had been imitated to appear old, but there was something it could never hide.

[The sage’s mother rests here.]

“......”

That gravestone was there.

Arte had, in truth, seen it in the Beres Mountain Range.

His mother, crying as she desperately waited for him at the foot of the mountain.

And in the end, his mother, who kept waiting like that, and froze to death.

Demon Graut’s curse had been horrific.

“A person’s mouth is light, and if it’s a good story, it’s bound to get even lighter.”

A villager appeared.

He spoke about the one who had given him a gold coin.

Don’t say she froze to death waiting, and say the gravestone had always been there.

Arte knew why he had done this.

Hyunsoo had said.

That his father was close by, yet he couldn’t speak with him.

It came from the empathy between the two.

“Three hundred years.”

Arte spoke to his mother’s gravestone, then corrected himself.

“No, it was from before I was trapped in the mountain.”

Arte had been the most arrogant person in the world.

Knowing all the world’s information was enough to make him that way.

That’s why—exactly 376 years—he couldn’t make even a single friend, something everyone had.

“......But now I have one. A very good friend.”

He spent a day in front of the grave.

“I’ve decided on the gift I’ll give my friend.”

Arte moved his feet.

*****

Meanwhile.

Sniffle, sniffle.

Taeseok gave a bitter smile as he watched Associate Lee Jihee redden at the eyes.

The reward tied to the miraculous story rate had already been decided.

Because the notification was proving it.

[Sage Arte will remain in User Hyunsoo’s territory.]

But even with a miraculous story rate, additional rewards couldn’t be predicted.

And a miraculous story rate can also become a kind of permission.

That permission lies in the fact that even if the supercomputer Ares wants to give a reward, it won’t stop it.

Taeseok was curious about what Arte had said in front of the grave.

“He decided on the gift he’ll give him. What is it?”

Sage Arte must have agonized over it.

Whether to give something, or not.

In truth, just Sage Arte staying in User Hyunsoo’s territory is an outrageous reward by itself.

And he had already handed Hyunsoo the created legend-rank skill as a reward.

In effect, he didn’t have to give anything at all.

To that question, Jihee, who had blown her nose with a PAAAANG, said,

“......He’s Sage Arte. Won’t he give User Hyunsoo what he needs most?”

Taeseok’s mind spun rapidly.

‘What User Hyunsoo needs most right now?’

As soon as Taeseok realized it, he couldn’t help but be shocked.

*****

Archmage Luwon and Absolute Shield Peya.

Sage Arte went to find the two of them, two among the Ten Legends.

The two had received countless kinds of help from Arte until now.

“......So that’s why you stayed in the Sage’s Tower all that time.”

After hearing the whole story, the two nodded.

“The knowledge I’ve given you all this time. Repay it, just this once.”

“......For Sage Arte to say that much, fine.”

“Just this once, we’ll fight for you.”

With two legends in tow, Arte moved to find it.

It was something he didn’t even know where Hyunsoo was right now, and even if he did, it would never be easy to obtain.

But with two legends, it wasn’t that difficult.

The sea’s depths tomb, known as the most brutal hunting ground in Ares.

Inside it, Arte obtained it.

And he parted ways with the two legends.

Holding onto it, Arte headed to Vallas Territory to meet Hyunsoo.

*****

‘Why isn’t he coming back?’

Hyunsoo was swamped by all sorts of distracting thoughts.

Because Arte, who had gone to his mother’s village, hadn’t returned for days.

There were two reasons Hyunsoo did what he did.

First was that he wanted to complete the quest he’d been given perfectly.

Second was because of the power of empathy he’d felt from Arte.

‘Does it end like this with Arte? Is Arte going to travel the world now?’

It was entirely possible.

Arte had been trapped for 300 years, so he’d want to see the world.

That was when—

“Lord, the sage has arrived.”

Hyunsoo’s face brightened.

Not long after, Arte came in.

As soon as he entered, he said,

“Thanks to you, I was able to greet my mother’s gravestone.”

Hyunsoo realized his actions had been found out.

After swallowing those rough, embarrassing words for a long while, Arte said,

“I want to remain here.”

“......!”

It was an extremely surprising thing for Hyunsoo.

The legend Arte stays here.

It was very good news.

The problem was this.

‘Then what does my relationship with Arte become?’

Arte said,

“Exactly 376 years. I looked back on the life I’ve lived, and all that time, I didn’t have a single one.”

Hyunsoo made a puzzled expression.

“A friend, I mean.”

At first, Arte couldn’t understand Ben and Barad.

Now, he understood them more than anyone.

The first one who said he wanted to become Hyunsoo’s friend was Barad.

The second one who wanted to become Ben’s friend was Hyunsoo.

And now, the one who wants to become Hyunsoo’s friend is Sage Arte.

“Will you become my friend?”

Hyunsoo bared his white teeth and smiled.

“Of course.”

[Sage Arte remains in Vallas Territory.]

[Arte will provide countless help in territory development.]

“This is my gift to my friend.”

Receiving it, Hyunsoo had no choice but to look ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) at Arte with a horrified gaze.

‘This is.......’

Hyunsoo had asked in his two chances to ask questions of Arte.

To tell him the mineral that suited him best.

The reason he had asked that was because it was something he absolutely needed in order to become a legend.

[You have obtained the mineral of legend. Story Stone.]

Now, he had obtained it.