I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 10
Episode 10
It was an obvious outcome, really.
The S-Rank Weapon I’d crafted could fell even a Goblin in a single strike—and Goblins were considered fairly strong among the lowest-tier Monsters.
So when I attacked a Slime, which was known to be the weakest of the lowest-tier Monsters, the result was all but inevitable.
But even so, I found myself at a loss as the battle ended far too easily.
“What’s this?”
Where the Slime had fallen.
Something lay on the ground.
A lime-green, gelatinous item that looked like semi-dried Slime.
It was clearly something dropped by the Slime.
Out of curiosity, I checked it.
[ Soft Slime Fragment ]
Form: Material
Grade: F
Description: Gelatinous mucus obtained from defeating a Slime.
It really was a Material-type item from the Slime.
But something was off.
“I thought defeating Monsters didn’t give you Materials like this?”
Common knowledge among Awakened.
A defeated Monster would turn to dust and scatter after a certain amount of time passed.
Instead, Mana Stones or items appeared randomly in its place.
The items mentioned here weren’t Materials—they meant finished products like the Goblin Blade I’d seen before.
The Orc Warrior’s Elixir I’d drunk was probably an item obtained from defeating an Orc Warrior.
But this was classified as a Material right from the start, wasn’t it?
“Wait—is this place where you’re supposed to gather Monster Materials?”
Blacksmith’s Hunting Ground.
I’d thought it was simply a place for a Blacksmith to level up.
But that wasn’t it.
Just as one mined ore in the Mine and logged timber in the forest.
This place was meant not only to gain experience, but simultaneously to gather Monster Materials.
“That’s convenient.”
Monster Materials could be used in various ways.
Parts like bones, horns, and claws could be used in place of ore.
Hides could be used to craft durable armor.
Especially when you created an item using Monster Materials, you could imbue the item with the Monster’s characteristic properties.
For instance, the horn of that Horn Rabbit charging straight at me right now—
Wait.
“Agh?!”
Bang!
The Horn Rabbit suddenly leaped up and struck me hard.
Thanks to my Iron Armor, the damage was minimal, but I was so startled that I fell on my backside.
Looking around after that.
“Damn it, what’s going on? Why are they all—”
The Monsters that had been around the Slime were approaching me with murderous intent.
It was simple to figure out the reason.
“Conditional Aggro Monsters!”
Game Monsters fell into two broad categories.
Aggro Monsters that attacked first the moment you drew near.
Passive Monsters that wouldn’t attack even if you approached.
But that wasn’t all there was to it.
Beyond these, there were many other types, but given the circumstances, these creatures were definitely Conditional Aggro Monsters.
They reacted and attacked when one of their allies came under assault—that much was clear.
And so they came at me.
Clang, clang!
Crash!
They began attacking me in rapid succession.
The one saving grace was that my armor was extremely sturdy.
After all, it had withstood the attacks of Goblins, who were among the stronger lowest-tier Monsters—there was no way these things would penetrate it.
Still, to be safe, I raised my Shield.
“Gah!”
I swung the hammer desperately.
But there was a problem.
Once I’d started fighting, the number of monsters attacking me kept multiplying.
This was impossible.
The armor was doing its job well enough, but if the monsters kept coming and I ended up surrounded, I’d be helpless.
When that situation began closing in,
I had only one choice.
The thirty-sixth stratagem from the Art of War—the most famous one.
“Run for it!”
Discretion.
In other words, retreat.
Even as I fled, the monsters kept attacking, but thanks to my S-Rank armor, I took no damage.
“Hah…….”
I barely managed to escape the hunting ground.
That was far too close for comfort.
“This is exactly why I hated fighting.”
Frustrated, I tore off the S-Rank Standard Iron Helmet I was wearing and hurled it away.
Truly.
I was lucky to have awakened as a Blacksmith.
If I’d awakened as a combat class like everyone else, I’d have to fight monsters like this every single day, wouldn’t I?
The very thought was horrifying.
I’d felt it back at the Final Gate too, but close combat and I simply don’t get along.
Melee especially.
“Maybe I should make a ranged weapon.”
It wasn’t an impossible idea.
If I used a ranged weapon, I could probably hunt monsters much more comfortably.
Back in the Final Gate, I’d even leveled a ranged character on an alternate account just to gather materials.
But that itself had a problem.
“When it comes to ranged weapons, really just bows and crossbows, right?”
The issue was that I had no idea how to use either of them.
A crossbow would be easier to handle than a bow, at least.
But could I actually use a crossbow properly?
Even if I could, there’d still be a problem.
Crossbows inherently take forever to reload—could I even use one effectively in the Blacksmith’s Hunting Ground?
Especially as a complete novice.
No matter how I thought about it, it seemed impossible.
While I was lost in these doubts,
“‘That weapon’ would work though…….”
A weapon from the Final Gate came to mind.
I thought I might actually be good at using that one.
Even if I couldn’t draw a bow, even if I couldn’t load a crossbow,
that weapon was something I’d already used something similar to before.
And the skill ceiling was far lower than either a bow or a crossbow.
Well, realistically it wasn’t something I’d ever be able to make, so I was about to head back into the forge and try crafting a crossbow instead when—
“But what if it actually is possible?”
The thought struck me.
If the game let me do it, why not reality?
Besides, my abilities are almost identical to the Blacksmith class from the Final Gate, aren’t they?
With that reasoning,
“Ember.”
—Yes, Jang Gangcheol.
“Can I make items that aren’t listed in the Codex?”
I asked Ember.
My Craft skill required me to choose from the items in the Codex.
Like how I’d reinforced the anvil to make a bed and expanded the Codex that way.
But what if that wasn’t the limit?
I asked on a hunch,
—You’re quite perceptive.
—That is correct.
It’s certainly far more difficult than ordinary Craft work, but it is possible to create entirely new designs that don’t appear in the Codex.
An encouraging answer came back.
“Good, so that’s how it works?”
Right then.
I began preparing to make that weapon.
* * *
After finishing the basic blueprint.
I made my way straight to the Awakened Exchange.
The first thing I looked for there was.
[ Flame Stone ]
[ Explosion Stone ]
…….
These.
Flame Stone and Explosion Stone.
Standing before both options, weighing them carefully, I.
[ You have purchased an Explosion Stone. ]
Chose the Explosion Stone.
If I had more resources, the Flame Stone would be nice too, but for now the Explosion Stone seemed the better choice.
Next, I entered search criteria like ‘heat resistance’, ‘shock absorption’, and ‘fracture prevention’ and began browsing the exchange when.
“These are ridiculously expensive.”
I couldn’t help but gasp at the prices.
What made everything so costly?
I had no idea what people needed them for or why they commanded such high prices.
Even though I’d earned a decent amount of money, it wasn’t enough to purchase anything here at full price, so I sorted by lowest cost and was browsing when.
“This is pretty good, though?”
I spotted an item that caught my eye.
It was none other than.
[ Dulled Volcanic Axe ]
Form: Axe
Rank: B
Requirement: Level 2 or higher
Description: An axe crafted from rare volcanic iron, but after rolling about in the volcano for ages without maintenance, its blade has become extremely dull.
Attack Power: 20
Ability: Heat Resistance Lv 1
This one.
The Dulled Volcanic Axe.
It was a B-Rank weapon for level 2, yet it was listed at an incredibly low price.
It seemed like it used to sell quite expensively not long ago.
But the price had apparently plummeted recently.
The reason, naturally, was.
“……I feel bad for whoever’s selling this.”
Me.
The thing is, the A-Rank Level 1 weapon I’d recently been making has an attack power of 21.
But a Level 2 weapon with lower attack power than that—or rather, even lower—had no chance of being popular.
Well, thanks to that, I was able to purchase the Dulled Volcanic Axe cheaply.
Right then.
“Disassemble!”
Crack!
I used the Disassemble skill.
Since it wasn’t made of ordinary iron, the difficulty points that appeared were far steeper than when I disassembled ore.
[ You have successfully disassembled the Dulled Volcanic Axe. ]
[ Low-Grade Volcanic Iron has been generated. ]
Before long, I had successfully disassembled the axe.
And I’d obtained the material I wanted.
Volcanic iron.
From what I could see, it was a material that had gained strong heat resistance and impact resistance from the volcano’s influence.
It’s a truly fantastical ore that doesn’t exist in reality.
After preparing several other materials as well.
“Shall I get started?”
I prepared to begin crafting the item.
Normally, the proper way to craft an item is to select one from the Codex list stored in the Anvil.
But not this time.
Instead of my existing Craft skill.
I would use the new skill that appeared on the Blacksmith’s Hammer when it reached Level 2.
“Special Craft.”
I decided to try the Special Craft skill.
[ Using Special Craft skill. ]
[ Please provide a Blueprint for the custom item. ]
And then, instead of the system messages I’d grown used to.
An entirely new message appeared.
That’s right, Special Craft.
This was exactly what I’d been planning to do.
I’d been a little anxious about it, but I’d already heard the details from Ember ahead of time and had prepared all the Blueprints.
The weapon I wanted—the one I’d designed in the Final Gate.
To make it practical, I’d compared it against real-world examples and drafted the Blueprint as realistically as possible.
Even so, it was my first time ever writing a Blueprint in reality, and I wasn’t sure if the system would accept my design.
[ Blueprint creation complete. ]
[ Please select your materials. ]
Fortunately, the system seemed to understand my Blueprint just fine.
Given that it had been completed without a single issue.
– Excellent work.
– Custom Blueprints for Special Craft require a great deal of imagination and creativity, so many fail on their first attempt.
– You are the only one, Jang Gangcheol, to have succeeded on the first try with a Special Craft Blueprint.
That’s what Ember had said.
Since I had no confidence I could design an even better Blueprint, I immediately selected my materials.
The primary materials were, as expected, an Explosion Stone and Low-Grade Volcanic Iron.
The moment I added the extra materials I’d prepared.
[ Beginning crafting. ]
Clang!
I swung the hammer toward the glowing Point.
It was a Point I’d hammered relentlessly for the past few days, so the motion felt natural.
‘But it was different.’
I could feel it through the hammer.
This Point was far harder than anything I’d struck before.
As proof, the Point that used to shatter with a single blow now refused to break.
Only after I struck down twice more with all my strength did the Point finally give way.
Then, without pause.
Whoom!
A new Point appeared.
As I continued to swing the hammer, I began to notice something.
‘The hardness and timing change depending on the shape and color of the Point.’
Truly, this was difficult.
The difficulty was incomparable to all the Standard series items I’d crafted before.
But I didn’t care.
Wasn’t I, after all, the number-one Blacksmith-ranked user in the Final Gate?
I quickly adapted to the shape and hardness of each Point, swinging the hammer with precision.
With each strike, the materials I’d prepared began to transform bit by bit.
The Volcanic Iron had become a barrel, and a front sight took shape ahead while six cylinders formed behind it.
Behind the cylinders, a steel frame made of Explosion Stone emerged.
Then, fitted to my palm and fingers, a custom-designed grip and trigger completed, and in the moment when various reinforcing structures finished to improve stability.
[ Crafting is complete. ]
The item had been finished.
[ Craft Evaluation: S-Rank. ]
Since I was making an item from the Final Gate, I’d been worried it might fail.
Thanks to my concentration, I’d managed to receive an S-Rank evaluation.
And so the name of the item I’d created was.
[ Acquired ‘Volcanic Revolver’. ]
The Volcanic Revolver.
In other words, a gun.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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