The God of Lightning and the Naked Crafter

According to the lore, thousands of gods inhabit this world. The nine strongest and most benevolent are known as the Nine Great Sages, while the malevolent ones are called the Seven Great Evils.

Naturally, this distinction between good and evil is based on human perception. Beyond these, countless other deities exist, either ambiguous in nature or possessing diminished awareness.

It is a world overflowing with gods, where anyone can invoke a deity’s name. And I am a player, after all.

No one typically pays attention to what I say, unless I use a specific keyword. These two, however, react with an unusual degree of sensitivity.

“I understand you’re reacting this way because you’re Hamman’s priests,” I stated, “but if what I said was truly forbidden, a bolt of lightning should have struck me by now. Hamman isn’t a god who tolerates insubordination, you know that, right?”

“People often speak of divine judgment,” one of them replied, “but the power of a god is not so readily witnessed.”

“Hamman, you hypocritical bastard.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than a loud CRACK echoed, and a small bolt of lightning erupted right beside my feet.

The Nightmare Steed flinched, trembling, and took a step back. Where the lightning struck, the ground was charred black and pulverized, with tiny sparks dancing before fading away.

Hamman had shown considerable restraint, it seemed. If I weren’t the “Demon Extermination X-Force,” that bolt would have undoubtedly fallen squarely on my head.

The two of them stood breathless, merely blinking their eyes. I chuckled at their stunned reaction.

“See? I told you he’s not the type to hold back!”

“No, no, what in the world…”

“Why are you so surprised? He showed remarkable leniency, considering you two were here. He must have liked my plan to train you to hunt demons.”

The thought struck me as so utterly hilarious that I burst into unrestrained laughter.

Though I hadn’t tried it myself, I once read a post from a player who, with a clear concept in mind, had dedicated themselves to Hamman as their patron god. They prayed daily, drew Hamman’s symbol on every spot where a demon fell, and inscribed his name on all their good deeds, eventually earning an invitation to Hamman’s paradise.

Yet, the very player who cultivated that character and posted about it reportedly grew bored after becoming an apostle, finding Hamman’s excessive generosity made the game uninteresting, and thus deleted their character.

Truly, there’s no middle ground with him. When he’s pleased, he bestows everything; when displeased, he strikes with lightning swiftness.

The next thing I saw from them was a special raid video, I believe, where they hunted demons with a rabbit.

This incredibly cute and adorable rabbit would body-slam and back-kick, pummeling enormous demons into a bloody pulp. By the end, the blood-soaked rabbit was truly unsettling.

‘What in the world had they done to that beautiful rabbit!?’

I’ll go with a pill bug, though. I’ll make it green and name it Pea.

“You nearly died just now! What’s so funny that you’re laughing like that!?”

“Ahahaha—No, he won’t kill me right now. If he killed me now, who would hunt the demons?”

He can strike me with lightning until I’m on the verge of death, but he won’t actually kill me. This is because he’s a god of benevolent alignment, and by lore, the player is the sole demon hunter. Even if I were to die by mistake, he’d revive me once at critical health.

As a beginner, if I accumulated too many debuffs and lacked the money to remove them, I would intentionally blaspheme to be struck down by Hamman. Hamman’s lightning is divine, and it purges all debuffs.

As Faust mentioned, he doesn’t just unleash lightning bolts whenever he pleases. He has to consider karma, so he can’t just kill indiscriminately.

“Hamman doesn’t particularly like me, but he doesn’t dislike me either.”

Simply put, he strikes me with lightning because I’m strong enough to survive it.

“We’ve arrived.”

After a considerable journey, we had finally reached a village. I had completely forgotten to ask if there was a blacksmith here.

Sometimes, smaller villages not near a city or major hub lack a forge. Surely, one would be present in a village of this size?

As we entered, all the NPCs turned to stare at us. ‘Hmm?’

“Is something wrong? Why are they all staring?”

“Well,” one replied, “wouldn’t it be harder not to stare?”

“Why?”

“One naked man, and two men riding a terrifying, black, ghostly steed—that’s quite enough, wouldn’t you say?”

‘What? That’s nothing.’ I gestured for them to dismount, and they both looked around before hopping off.

When I dismissed the Nightmare Steed, the surrounding NPCs let out strange gasps and recoiled half a step. Their reactions suggested there might be some minor quest involving wariness of outsiders.

I’d just quickly craft their equipment and then we’d be on our way.

“First, find an inn. Go eat something there.”

“First? What will you be doing?”

“I’m going to make your equipment.”

“Make it? You intend to craft it yourself?”

“No, come with me. We’ll try out different types and see what looks best on you.”

“You keep talking to yourself! Listen to what we have to say!”

After all, isn’t the beginning and end of any game about customizing one’s character for aesthetic satisfaction?

I’m a veteran player who has long transcended the need for perfect aesthetics, but for new players just starting out, the appearance of their gear is incredibly important.

Though a true master doesn’t blame their tools, these guys aren’t masters, so they’ll need good equipment.

I forcibly dragged the two of them along. They kept throwing tantrums, claiming they were embarrassed to walk with me, a naked man.

Fortunately, there was indeed a blacksmith shop. It seemed too small for casting, only suitable for crafting, but that was fine. I had an abundance of materials.

If I lacked anything, I could always buy it.

Dragging the two men along, I flung open the door to the weapon shop, which was attached to the blacksmith’s forge, with a loud BANG!

The shopkeeper, who appeared to have been dozing, startled awake and stared at us.

‘How much was the forge usage fee again?’ I casually pulled out 100 gold from my inventory and dropped it with a thud onto the counter.

It barely seemed like a handful. The man blinked, his gaze darting between the gold on the counter and me.

“I’ll be using the outdoor forge and workbench,” I informed him. “Oh, by the way, do you happen to sell glass stone? Mithril would be great too, if you have any.”

“Uh, yes, you can use them, but… we don’t have glass stone or other such high-grade materials.”

“Ah, it would look prettier with raw gemstones embedded. No matter. I’ll call you if I need anything else.”

“E-Yes, yes! Uh, uh… use it as much as you like!”

Now that the fee was paid, I should get to crafting! As I excitedly trotted out, my arms were abruptly grabbed from both sides.

Huh? Why? I looked at the two of them, and they began to squawk.

“Why would you pay 100 gold just to use the forge for a bit? You’re not even buying the place!”

“Sir Haut,” one of them said, “I don’t know how much wealth you possess, but… it’s not that expensive.”

“What are you talking about? It’s only 100 gold.”

I couldn’t understand what the problem was. Glancing back, I saw the shopkeeper trembling as he counted the gold. In-game, gold coins aren’t very large; they’re about the size of a tiny coin, meaning quite small.

“Why are you making such a fuss? 100 gold is barely enough to buy the Snow Lion fangs you ate this morning.”

“Those were that expensive? No, no, that’s not the point. Anyway, our point is that you paid too much. Even giving generously, one gold would have been plenty!”

“I already paid. It’s fine. Don’t haggle so much over something so cheap. The owner needs to make a living, too.”

“That amount of money could feed him for a year!”

‘Feed him for a year with that? What ridiculous nonsense.’ I shook off their arms and went to inspect the forge I had seen outside. It seemed a bit small, but it was well-maintained. As soon as I checked its condition, I took my spot and began choosing materials.

The two of them bickered and circled around me, but their chatter didn’t register. This was a historic moment, after all! It was a monumental day, fitting new equipment for my newbies! How could I possibly pay attention to such trivial noise?

“Ah, right. What’s your Hamman symbol stone?”

“Wait, were you even listening to us?”

“I was going to buy raw glass stones and engrave them, but there aren’t any pretty colors.”

“Well, lapis lazuli, I guess… Why do you ask?”

It wasn’t that I lacked raw glass stones; I had plenty. But they were too small for proper engraving. You needed larger raw stones for the color to really stand out. Since they were Silver Knights, white would be good, right? Had Hamman’s temple run out of money? When I first met them, their iron armor was just haphazardly whitewashed.

“Oops, I forgot the most important thing.”

“Haa, yes. You weren’t listening.”

“Heavy armor, light armor? Do you have a preferred material?”

“It’s issued equipment, so we just wear whatever we’re given. We’ve never really chosen before.”

“I’m making new ones now, so pick what you like.”

“Hmm… then heavy armor. It’s what we’re used to.”

‘I secretly hoped they’d choose light armor, darn it.’ I grumbled as I pulled out mithril, platinum, and quartz for polishing.

“I have some good leather, but there’s no use for it.”

“How good is it, if you’re lamenting it so much?”

“Green Scale Dragon leather. But now that I think about it, it’s green anyway, so I can’t really coordinate colors.”

“We’re too tired to be surprised anymore.”

“I never asked you to be surprised.”

Green Scale Dragon leather isn’t incredibly rare, just hard to come by. It’s literally from a green dragon, but its scales are smaller and denser than other dragons’. When crafted into clothing, it adheres like fish scales and sparkles beautifully. The problem is that it can’t be dyed, so being limited to green is quite unappealing.

What is there to in-game crafting, really? Just toss the materials in, hammer a few times, and poof! It’s done. I stood by the forge, placing the metal on the anvil, and began to hammer away. It was a bit tedious having to manually craft anything not in a blueprint, but custom creations always looked better.

I started by simply crafting the basic shapes. While I could make them in standard sizes, tailoring them to their bodies would grant an additional +1% movement speed.

“Try it on.”

“Wait, is making things usually this easy? Aren’t swords supposed to take days to craft?”

“It’s not finished yet. I need to adjust the size.”

“How can we try it on when you just pulled it out of the fiery pit?”

‘Ah, how bothersome. Did I used to care about such details? I don’t think so. How convoluted has this system become?’ I placed the upper body armor back on the anvil.

“Fine. I’ll just finish making everything and use magic to adjust the fit. I’ll make up for the auxiliary effects with enchantments and fine craftsmanship. It’s only a 1% increase, after all.”

And right there, I swiftly crafted all the upper and lower armor, shoes, and gloves. For the finishing touch, I embedded lapis lazuli for a chest ornament. I didn’t bother with precise engraving yet, as I’d be adding special enchantments later.

Still, seeing the finished product made me feel quite proud. Hehe.