I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 20

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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 20
Episode 20
That day, I only crafted the standard series with moderate monster materials mixed in, then took my rest.
With ordinary crafting, I might develop sore muscles, but I’d never experienced a headache.
After doing Special Crafting, my mental stamina depleted far more than I’d expected.
Though I suppose using Special Crafting so much all at once was the reason.
I’d need to be more restrained with repeated Special Crafting going forward.
And so, the next day.
After finishing breakfast.
“I’ll head out to hunt right away.”
“I’m counting on you!”
After Serin set out to hunt.
As a way to loosen up and get my hands moving, I picked out some materials I’d never seen before from what Serin had brought back and crafted a few items.
[ Crafting complete. ]
[ Craft Evaluation: A ]
[ Obtained ‘Sturdy Bone Club’. ]
I carefully shaped the femur of a skeleton into a club.
[ Crafting complete. ]
[ Craft Evaluation: S ]
[ Obtained ‘Frog Shoes’. ]
Or crafted shoes with the Leap ability attached, using materials from a foam frog.
Working with such diverse materials to create such varied items, creativity bubbled up inside me.
After finishing my warm-up.
“All right, shall I begin?”
I turned my attention to the main task for today.
I decided to fulfill a commission.
And I’d already decided which commission to take on.
Before fulfilling it, I reviewed the commission I’d selected yesterday one more time.
The title of that slip was.
[ Could you possibly be the Steel Hammer from Final Gate……? ]
It was this.
An Awakener who knew me from when I was the blacksmith of Final Gate.
And that nickname was.
[ Whip Master ]
A name I recognized.
And for good reason—the Whip Master was one of my regular customers.
I’d often customized items for him, and whenever I needed materials, he was always the first to bring them to me.
The Whip Master himself.
Feeling a sense of familiarity, I read the contents.
[ Could you possibly be the Steel Hammer from Final Gate……? ]
I’m not sure if you’ll remember, but it’s the Whip Master!
If you’re really the Steel Hammer, then truly, congratulations!
To think you’ve awakened as the world’s first blacksmith!
Then it really might be that Final Gate has some connection to Awakening.
In fact, I’ve awakened too.
And I awakened as a Whip Swordsman—the same Class as my main character the Whip Master in Final Gate.
My abilities awakened with a whip-related focus as well…… but I’m having a hard time finding a proper whip.
That was the gist of it.
In short: he’d become a Whip Swordsman but was struggling to find a whip.
That’s what it meant.
I checked the marketplace after reading the commission, and sure enough, listings were scarce.
Especially since most whips were tailored for high-level users, making it difficult even for newly awakened individuals to find low-Grade weapons.
“That’s quite the predicament.”
Now that I thought about it, the Whip Master had also awakened when Final Gate ended.
A chat message from someone before the game closed came to mind.
‘Looking at this, you definitely awaken game abilities once the game ends lol’
At this point, I wondered if we should go on some kind of pilgrimage.
But the server was shut down, so pilgrimage wasn’t an option either.
Regardless, as a fellow Final Gate user.
And someone who’d gotten along with him quite well at that.
I chose this commission to help the Whip Master out of his predicament.
Since my Awakening, I’d never crafted a whip before, so I was curious as well.
“Poor fellow. Whips aren’t even in my codex.”
Reading through his request, it seemed he’d awakened a fairly impressive ability.
But it happened to be tied to whips, so he couldn’t unlock its full potential.
[ Using Special Crafting Skill. ]
[ Please provide a blueprint for the Special Crafting item. ]
I got straight to work drafting the blueprint.
This wasn’t particularly difficult.
After all, I’d crafted several whips for the Whip Master before.
Calling to mind my experience at the Final Gate, I compared the appearance of items there with the form of real whips.
[ Blueprint Complete. ]
I produced an appropriate design.
[ Please select materials. ]
After the blueprint, the most crucial part was the materials themselves.
In the past, I’d only had iron and wood to work with, so I would’ve had to make iron-wire whips or chain whips.
But those were too heavy for a low-level Awakener to wield.
If I made them anyway, unreasonable restrictions like “Strength 50 or higher” would certainly emerge, separate from the level requirement.
But now—
[ Giant Rat Tail ]
[ Three-Tailed Fox Hide ]
[ Poison Spider Web ]
…………
That was no longer the case.
[ Level increased. ]
Even at this very moment, Serin was slaughtering monsters in the hunting grounds.
Piled beside me were the monster materials she’d brought back.
Not only had the variety grown, but as the monsters in the hunting grounds grew stronger, the quality of the materials improved proportionally.
In any case, the materials I selected were:
[ Giant Rat Tail ]
[ Rough Scale Tail ]
These two.
I added some basic materials on top, but the heart of it came down to these two.
Once I’d finished selecting the materials,
[ Beginning crafting. ]
Clang!
I threw myself into the work at once.
First came the grip.
I made the handle from ordinary wood, nothing special.
Instead, I wrapped suitable leather around it so it wouldn’t slip.
Next.
Clang!
I used the rat’s tail as the core—the backbone of the whip—and connected it to the handle.
You can’t make a whip by simply twisting leather.
To increase its elasticity and durability, there needs to be a proper core running through its center.
Of course, the rat’s tail wasn’t long enough on its own to serve as a whip’s core.
Clang!
Every time I swung the hammer
and broke a point,
the giant rat’s tail grew thinner and longer, extending into a shape suited for the whip’s core.
Next came
Clang!
wrapping the Rough Scale Tail around the tail that now formed the whip’s frame.
Scales and all.
That would be impossible in reality, but Awakeners themselves are far from realistic, aren’t they?
I’m no exception.
I didn’t need to braid the hide myself by hand.
Each time I swung the hammer, the scaled hide naturally wove itself over the frame.
Clang!
Simple as the explanation sounds, the work itself was anything but simple.
Because it was Special Crafting, the mental energy drain was substantial, and the material—rough as scales from a rough-scaled serpent—was difficult to strike cleanly.
But thinking of my connection with the Whip Master, I swung the hammer with determination.
Clang!
For the final piece, the whip’s tip—
The part called the fall or cracker, which delivers the actual strike, I fashioned from the tail of a rough-scaled serpent, composed of particularly large and sharp scales.
And then—
[ Crafting complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: S ]
[ You have obtained ‘Rough Scale Tail’. ]
Fortunately, I managed to complete it with an S-rank evaluation.
It was a pity that SS-rank didn’t appear like when I made Serin’s bow, but that bow was something special.
I should be satisfied with an S-rank instead of an A-rank.
Still, though.
[ A Masterwork has been born. ]
[ A masterwork crafted with all your might has been completed, granting you inspiration and raising your abilities. ]
[ Strength increased by 1. ]
[ Agility increased by 1. ]
With a masterwork created, I believed it would surpass most items, so I checked the item information.
[ Rough Scale Tail ]
Type: Whip
Rank: S
Requirements: Level 5 or higher, Whip Swordsmanship
Description: A whip crafted by blacksmith Jang Gang-chul, inspired at the Final Gate, fully preserving the scales of a rough-scaled serpent.
Attack Power: 49
Abilities: Bleeding Lv 2, Critical Lv 2, Stagger Lv 2, Ferocity Lv 2
A perfectly satisfying item had been created.
For the requirements, I matched the Whip Master’s level and profession.
The attack power measured higher than existing S-rank weapons.
The abilities attached were perfectly suited to a whip.
With this, the Whip Master should be able to fully demonstrate her skill.
With that thought—
[ This is Steel Hammer. ]
Here is the whip you commissioned.
And… it’s good to meet you.
Whip Master.
I sent the Rough Scale Tail to the Whip Master.
This was the first time I had crafted a special item for someone other than Serin and myself.
Still, she was from the Final Gate, same as us.
So I sent the item with the hope that things would go well for her too.
Well, even so, I received proper compensation for the commission.
* * *
The Mir Guild, one of South Korea’s largest guilds.
The Mir Guild periodically conducts entrance examinations to find talented Awakeners.
And only those who win the competition there can join the Mir Guild.
Connections, popularity—
none of it mattered.
Only those who proved their skill and potential in the entrance examination could enter.
That was the Mir Guild.
And today was—
“The Mir Guild entrance examination will now begin.”
“Ooooooh!”
“I’ve been waiting for this day!”
“Today it’s definitely me!”
The day of that entrance examination.
The Mir Guild was a massive organization, well-known even in South Korea.
As such, the number of participants was enormous.
All of them were doing their absolute best to display even a fraction more of their strength.
If you won here, you could not only join the Mir Guild, but if you performed well enough, you had a high chance of receiving offers from quality guilds who recognized your ability.
And it wasn’t only the Mir Guild watching the entrance examination.
In the midst of all this—
One person in particular had managed to capture everyone’s attention.
“A whip?”
“How unusual.”
“Indeed. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen an Awakener wielding a whip.”
“Even when they do, handling a whip as a weapon is ordinarily far from simple.”
Participant number one hundred.
An Awakener named Chae Jin-ho.
Most of the other competitors were swinging swords or spears, or casting magic.
So it was natural that the lone whip-wielder stood out.
Had it been merely that, people would have found him interesting and moved on.
“His skill is formidable.”
“I’ve never seen an Awakener handle a whip with such mastery.”
“Is it an auxiliary effect of his Ability? Something like a ‘Whip Proficiency’ skill?”
“That doesn’t seem to be it. It appears distinct from any Ability he possesses.”
“Remarkable. The Whip Swordsmanship Class must provide some bonus, but even so, to wield a whip with such finesse…”
Participant number one hundred.
Chae Jin-ho’s Whip Swordsmanship was far more than merely novel.
Crack—!!
First and foremost, it was devastating.
As the whip snapped through the air, its tip tore through the sound barrier with a violent crack.
Those struck by it flew backward as though they’d been hit by cannon fire.
Part of it was the raw power of the weapon itself.
But a whip, properly wielded, could deliver a force several times greater than most other weapons.
And that was far from all.
Whoosh—!
The whip was not merely a weapon of brute power.
“Ugh!”
It could bind and restrain an opponent.
It could sweep their legs out from under them.
It could coil around stone or another Awakener and be wielded or hurled with terrifying force.
Its versatility was extraordinary.
And its reach was remarkable.
Difficult to master, yes—but properly handled, few weapons proved more effective.
Watching this display,
“Extraordinary.”
“Hah, is this the protagonist of today’s trial?”
>”Mm, this isn’t good. We can only hope he doesn’t take first place.”
The representatives from guilds other than Mir grew uneasy.
Mir Guild accepted only champions.
If this contestant failed to win, they would have to find some way to bring him into their own guild.
At a glance, he was clearly a rising star destined to lead the next generation.
But, unfortunately,
“Champion: Participant number one hundred, Chae Jin-ho!”
Chae Jin-ho claimed victory.
Those from the other guilds let out sighs of disappointment.
Well, it was an inevitable outcome, really.
Chae Jin-ho had become such an overwhelming presence among the contestants that everyone else viewed him as an opponent to be avoided.
And so Chae Jin-ho was recruited into South Korea’s premier guild:
Mir Guild.
And at Mir Guild’s induction ceremony,
“What do you believe enabled you to win the entrance trial?”
A promising prospect set to guide the era—
When a journalist posed this question to Chae Jin-ho,
“I believe it was thanks to Steel Hammer, who created a whip tailored entirely to me, allowing me to fully express my abilities.”
Rather than inflate his own prowess, Chae Jin-ho
spoke the name of Steel Hammer instead.

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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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