I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 105

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

Episode 105
Episode 105
Some time had passed since then.
– It’s up!!!!!
– Charge forward!!
– There goes my dopamine
A commotion erupted on NewTube.
The reason was simple.
[ Steel Guild’s Second Guild Member ]
[ Battle Musician, Han Hyun-a ]
On the Steel Guild’s NewTube channel.
A second video had been uploaded there.
That wasn’t all.
On NewTube, you had to bait viewers from the thumbnail and title itself, as was the law.
– Battle Musician?
– So you’re saying she’s a Bard?
– There are Bards among the Awakeners?
– Personally, never heard of one lol
This video was bound to attract attention from the very start.
The keyword “Steel Guild” itself was already clickbait gold.
A guild founded by Kang Cheol-mangchi, the world’s first and only Blacksmith.
That was precisely what the Steel Guild was.
And that wasn’t even the half of it.
The first video from the Steel Guild featured “Stone-Armor Soldier, Kim Tae-san.”
Hadn’t that video blown up spectacularly?
Thanks to that, Han Hyun-a’s video became a trending topic the moment it went live.
Once the video started playing.
– Wow, she really is a Bard
– A violin?
– Is she an actual musician?
– A battle musician omg
– The first guild member was wielding some pillar as a weapon, and the second one has a violin?
– Seriously, does the Steel Guild only accept people with unconventional weapons? lol
– Actually, that might genuinely be true;
A woman holding a violin came into view.
Looking at the armor and accessories that followed, she was a textbook Bard.
Exactly the kind of Bard you’d see in games.
Then her introduction appeared.
[ Steel Guild’s Second Guild Member ]
Name: Han Hyun-a
Level: 14
The introduction didn’t have much else on it anyway, so viewers moved past that quickly.
Separately, the chat began scrolling faster and faster.
The reason was simple.
– Hyun-a’s so pretty!!!
– Wow, she’s gorgeous
– What’s with that face?
– Yeah, that’s a real Bard!
– lol no joke
It was because of Han Hyun-a’s beauty.
Dressed in a minstrel’s outfit and holding her violin, her appearance was absolutely stunning.
The promotional video continued on regardless.
Though there was one difference from the first video this time.
Specifically.
– Is that a party?
– Yeah looks like a party
– No wait, isn’t that raid-level? Looks like more than ten people
– That’s not the Steel Guild
– That’s the Guardian Guild
– Wait, really? What’s the Guardian Guild doing there?
– I heard the Guardian Guild got a proposal from the Steel Guild and cleared it that way.
– A Bard, then?
– Yeah, right after they finished the clear, they submitted another request for us to team up with them
– The Steel Guild did?
– Nah, we did lol
– Why?
– You’ll see when you watch lol
It was a raid-unit format.
Just looking at the first video alone, it showed Kim Tae-san clearing a Gate by himself.
Then suddenly a party-based raid.
Rather, a raid video.
I wondered if presenting it this way might make individual performances seem lacking.
But I was wrong.
– Roaaaargh!
The moment larger and more numerous monsters poured in—stronger than other Gates usually encountered in raids—
Ding—
A violin’s melody began to echo through the Gate interior.
Not merely sound.
The sound had taken shape visually.
No—the melody itself had become visible, spreading outward.
The melody that spread out settled into the bodies of the Guardian Guild members.
– Uuuoooooh!
– We’re bursting with power!
– Let’s go!
It began to strengthen the Guild members of the Guardian Guild.
First, the forceful melody turned red, raising the strength of the members.
Next.
Ding-ding-ding—
With a bright rhythm, the melody shifted to green, heightening the speed of the Guardian Guild members.
In that manner, she swiftly boosted the abilities of all these Guild members.
That alone would have been remarkable.
– Whoa!
The moment the Guild members made a brief mistake and a monster slipped through—
Han Hyun-a didn’t panic and drew her bow across the strings with force.
Shriek!
With that, a sharp melody cut down the monster.
The force was so strong it was hard to believe it came from a Bard’s attack.
And when powerful monsters rushed in by the dozens—
She began to exert even greater power.
Screeeeeech—
Releasing an unpleasant sound, she began to torment the monsters.
The monsters, suffering from how grating that sound was, covered their ears in agony.
Because of it, they couldn’t properly defend against the Guardian Guild members’ attacks.
What was strange.
– Uuoooh!
– Thank you, Bard!
– Keep attacking!
Was that the noise had no effect whatsoever on her allies.
From that point on, Han Hyun-a’s performance continued.
Sometimes lulling enemies with dreamlike melodies.
Other times confusing them with chaotic ones.
Among the many Awakeners, hers was the most striking power.
It was as if she were using the Guardian Guild members as notes, performing a symphony of Gate conquest.
Yes.
– Battle Musician…….
The epithet written as the video’s title.
The epithet of Battle Musician seemed perfectly suited to her.
As her performance continued to shine until the very end and the Gate clear was finished—
– Incrediiiible
– Hyun-a, you were so cool ㅠㅠㅠ
– Is that a Bard?
– Wait, the Bard is carrying?
– The Guardian Guild is strong too, but honestly, I don’t think they would’ve cleared it without the Bard.
– Seriously, I agree.
– What is this Bard? How is she so broken?
– Other Awakeners cast buffs one by one, but the Bard does group buffs? Doesn’t that mean the bigger your team, the better off you are?
– The debuffs are brutal too. Seems especially strong in multi-person combat.
– Back when Kim Tae-san was the Awakener showing peak damage in single combat, now it’s completely the opposite lol
– But even though it’s group buffs, it doesn’t feel weak; if anything it seems better.
– The buffs are one thing, but those debuffs especially are vicious.
– She can use all of that by herself?
– That’s not broken, seriously.
– It really is broken lol
An explosive reaction erupted.
It made sense. What Han Hyun-a had just demonstrated defied the common sense of Awakeners.
She delivered buffs all at once regardless of her allies’ numbers.
She didn’t just cast buffs; she could impose debuffs on enemies all at once.
She could even attack monsters with reasonably strong restraint techniques.
And though it was slow, she could heal her entire team through the Melody of Recovery.
An ability that defied belief in its sheer power.
Those watching could only stand amazed.
But the real story was elsewhere.
“I hear the Steel Guild is sending this person as a mercenary?”
“Yes, it seems the Steel Guild is short on personnel.”
“Put in a mercenary request right now!”
“What? But she’s only Level 14. Her level is too low to bring into our clearance team.”
“Did you not see what just happened? Buffs, debuffs, healing. No matter how low her level is, she’ll absolutely help our raid with twenty people deploying simultaneously!”
“… Yes!”
Those who recognized Han Hyun-a’s skill began formally placing requests with the Steel Guild.
To secure her support.
What was remarkable was that those clearance teams’ levels weren’t restricted by Han Hyun-a’s level.
There were teams at roughly the same level as Han Hyun-a.
Level 30.
Even those exceeding Level 40 were requesting Han Hyun-a’s support.
It likely meant her abilities were that extraordinary.
In that way.
– The Steel Guild has lost it, seriously.
– “King Maker” wasn’t just something they made up lol
– So if I joined the Steel Guild, could I become like that too?
– You couldn’t.
– I want to join too ㅠㅠ
– Come on, give me a chance!!
– What are even the acceptance criteria?!
– Why can’t they just recruit dozens at once and be done with it ㅠㅠ
The name of Han Hyun-a and the Steel Guild began spreading even faster among Awakeners.
* * *
The second promotional video.
In other words, Han Hyun-a’s promotional video was drawing more attention than Kim Tae-san’s had.
Not merely in terms of netizen enthusiasm.
“The requests are piling up like crazy.”
“Really?”
“Yes, we’re having trouble coordinating schedules as we speak. So I was thinking, would it be alright to assign a dedicated manager for Hyun-a?”
“Ah, that sounds good.”
“Then I’ll arrange that. Scheduling requests to match Hyun-a’s condition has turned out to be trickier than expected.”
Unlike Kim Tae-san, who received Gate assignments and cleared them solo,
Han Hyun-a was working as a mercenary through requests.
As such, she had to coordinate with other guilds.
At first, since Han Hyun-a’s name wasn’t known, the Steel Guild had to reach out first.
But now things were completely different.
[ This is the Guardian Guild! ]
We’re the Guardian Guild, who built trust with Han Hyun-a by clearing Gates together before!
That’s why we’re reaching out now—we’d love to clear the next Gate alongside her again!
[ Mercenary request from the Fierce Tiger Guild. ]
The Fierce Tiger Guild has successfully cleared forty-nine Gates without a single failure to date.
We’re contacting you because we’d like to tackle the fiftieth Gate together with Han Hyun-a.
[ This is the Mugungwha Guild. ]
[ Request from the Jeong Daun Guild. ]
…….
We don’t even need to make the first offer.
Not only the footage itself, but the testimonies of all the Awakeners who’d cleared Gates with Han Hyun-a—
Those stories spread far and wide, and now they’re the ones seeking her out.
Even.
[ This is the Mir Guild. ]
Even the massive guilds were reaching out first.
Of course, it wasn’t the Mir Guild’s elite roster handling the Gate clear.
It was a mercenary request coming from a party formed by their rookies instead.
In any case, thanks to all that.
“I heard her level’s already climbed quite a bit.”
Han Hyun-a’s level was rising at an astonishing pace.
Which made sense—the Gates she was clearing now were far higher level than her own.
She was in the low tens, but most of those seeking her out were tackling Gates at level twenty and above.
So it was only natural her level was climbing so fast.
“It seems like Kim Tae-san’s in the same boat.”
Kim Tae-san was doing even better.
He was solo-clearing Gates above his own level.
He was tackling alone what normally required a whole team.
Which meant he was pocketing all the experience that should’ve been split among multiple people.
Of course his level would climb fast.
I’d thought he might catch up to me eventually, but.
[ Level increased. ]
That didn’t seem likely.
My level was rising more than twice as fast as theirs.
And for good reason.
“Master, we’ve finished hunting.”
“I’ll rest a moment…….”
Serin and Draco.
With the two of them hunting together, the experience flowing in was literally doubled.
Thanks to that, my level was climbing at an extraordinary rate.
Everything was proceeding without a hitch.
And then, in the midst of it all.
“Kid, we’ve got company!”
“What is it?”
“A big one! A real big one!”
“You mean a Boss Monster?”
“That’s the one!”
A pleasant twist of fortune had arrived.

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