I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 23

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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 23
Episode 23
This was the second time summoning an Assistant.
So I was swinging the hammer far more naturally than the first summoning, thinking I might even manage to call forth an S-rank or perhaps even SS-rank Assistant.
Hum!
Watching the Magic Circle rise before me.
“Ugh…….”
I realized that thought had been pure arrogance.
The thing is, the Magic Circle rising now looked completely different from when I’d summoned Serin.
Some aspects were more difficult, but the structure itself felt entirely different.
I was thrown off, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Clang!
I swung the hammer.
It felt almost instinctive.
In cash terms, this was a challenge worth sixteen million won.
I couldn’t afford to make a mistake.
The Magic Circle may have changed, but my own skill had improved since last time.
I was sure of that.
So I pushed forward with even greater confidence.
Clang!
I struck the Points with Heavy Strike.
Each time I shattered a Point, its energy scattered and the Magic Circle’s light burned brighter.
And in that moment, I felt something.
‘It’s hard.’
The Points were far harder than expected.
If my Level were lower and I hadn’t invested Stats into Strength.
If I hadn’t leveled up the Blacksmith’s Hammer.
If my Stats hadn’t increased through crafting Masterpieces and Legendary items.
Breaking even a single Point would have taken far longer than it did now.
Feeling this, I came to an understanding.
‘This is my limit right now.’
Having realized the usefulness of an Assistant.
I’d been thinking of upgrading the Summoning Platform right away.
But I couldn’t.
If I attempted Level 3 reinforcement immediately, I might not have the strength to break even a single Point.
I needed to raise my Level and increase my Stats further.
I’d need to raise the hammer’s Level to boost its power, only then could the next summoning proceed smoothly.
Such thoughts were fleeting.
Concentrating on the Magic Circle before me, swinging the hammer without pause, the result was.
Crash!!
Finally, I shattered all the Points floating above the Magic Circle.
As that powder seeped in and the Magic Circle blazed with brilliant light.
[ Summoning complete. ]
I successfully finished the summoning work.
And the result was.
[ Crafting Rating: S ]
“Whew…….”
S-rank.
The same result as last time, but I was grateful even for that.
When I started hammering, the Magic Circle looked different from what I knew, and I panicked for a moment.
The Points proved far harder than I’d anticipated, and their appearance came so rapidly that it was difficult to keep pace.
Not long after, the bright light from the Magic Circle filled the room.
When the light faded away.
A new shadow had appeared before me.
Its identity was.
“Ahahaha! Finally, it’s my turn!”
“……A dwarf?”
“Oh, you recognize our kind? Not many take notice of us. Is there a dwarf population in this place too?”
“Oh no, that’s not it. I’ve just read about dwarves in fantasy novels and such. Dwarves.”
“Hm? Your world has no dwarves, yet our kind appears in your novels? That’s curious indeed.”
Thick, stumpy limbs.
A full beard and a hearty laugh to match.
A dwarf straight out of the novels—the very image that literature had painted.
Not that I’d ever seen a dwarf before, but his appearance was so quintessentially dwarven that I recognized him at once.
The moment I laid eyes on him.
‘A blacksmith!’
I understood immediately.
This assistant’s job had to be blacksmith.
It made sense—dwarves were known as a race born to smithing, master craftsmen by nature, weren’t they?
Hoping I might learn craftsmanship from a dwarf of such renown, I felt a flutter of anticipation.
[ S-rank Assistant ‘Toran Stonebreaker of Lumina Mountain’ summoned. ]
“……?”
The title struck me as odd.
Not “the blacksmith of Lumina Mountain” or “the craftsman of Lumina Mountain,” but “the Collapse-bringer of Lumina Mountain”?
And collapse usually meant something like a mountain or building crumbling, didn’t it?
Didn’t that mean he’d brought down Lumina Mountain itself?
I didn’t know what kind of place Lumina Mountain was, but just the name made it sound sacred.
Puzzled, I checked his status.
[ Status Window ]
– Name: Toran Stonebreaker
– Level: 8
– Job: Miner
– Ability: Fracture
– Strength: 36
– Agility: 15
– Constitution: 20
– Intelligence: 10
– Wisdom: 12
As I’d suspected.
No blacksmith after all.
Checking his skill window only confirmed it.
[ Skill Window ]
1. Mining Lv 5
2. Ore Vein Detection Lv 4
3. Heavy Strike Lv 4
4. Perseverance Lv 3
…….
A miner, unmistakably.
The difference from Serin lay mainly in the number of skills.
Serin had learned a diverse range of skills at relatively low levels.
This dwarf.
Toran Stonebreaker, by contrast, had fewer skills but higher proficiency in each.
Still.
‘How in the world is someone’s name Toran Stonebreaker?’
I couldn’t quite get used to it.
“Would it be alright if I just called you Toran?”
“Waha! A splendid name, isn’t it? Call me whatever feels natural!”
“A splendid name, yes……”
“And what’s your name, master?”
“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Jang Ganghyeol. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Jang Ganghyeol? Now that’s a name fit for a master blacksmith! Waha!”
Then you were named to shatter Toran, weren’t you.
I swallowed that uncharitable thought.
“The last time I counted my years, I was 225. No need for formality with this old dwarf.”
“……225 years?”
“Waha! For a human, it’s worth the shock. Your kind lives maybe sixty years, does it not? We dwarves live nearly three hundred!”
“That’s extraordinary.”
“Even that’s nothing compared to the elves. Anyway, grateful to work with you, youngster!”
Youngster.
A far cry from Serin’s respectful address of “Master,” treating me with such formality.
Well, I wasn’t expecting formal speech anyway.
It’s not as if my age is ordinary, and there’s not much to say when he’s over 225 years old.
“I look forward to working with you.”
In any case, after we finished with the introductions.
Like Serin, Toran too.
“Well then, shall we head straight to the Mine?”
He made his way toward the Mine.
Serin exchanged a few pleasantries and slipped off to the Hunting Ground.
I passed through the Smithy and arrived at the entrance of the Mine alongside Toran.
I’d thought that even as a dwarf, he might show some interest in the Smithy, but he seemed entirely unmoved.
Rather, the moment we stepped into the Mine.
“Whoa, this is a brand new Mine!”
“Ha ha…….”
He began to marvel at the sight before him.
“Indeed, this is the Smithy of Time’s Mine! It’s on a completely different level from ordinary mines. Ore veins everywhere you look.”
“You can get something no matter how carelessly you dig near the entrance here.”
“That’s because we’re near the entrance. If we went deeper, it’d be difficult to mine without proper technique.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course! And if we dug any further without proper support, even the hardest terrain could collapse. You need to install proper bracing for the tunnels!”
“Ah…… I’m afraid that’s not my area of expertise.”
“I can’t help myself! Hand me a Pickaxe! Any one you’ve got lying around will do!”
“Here you are.”
With that, he immediately picked up the Pickaxe.
The Pickaxe I handed him was a Standard-issue Pickaxe of my own making.
Though it’s called a Standard-issue Pickaxe, it’s a solid S-rank one nonetheless.
I’d say it’s still quite a serviceable Pickaxe.
Toran too.
“This is a solid Pickaxe! You must be quite skilled?”
“Thank you.”
He praised my Pickaxe highly.
Immediately after.
“Right then, let’s begin! Step back now!”
Toran motioned me to step back.
Then.
“Hup!”
Whoosh!
The Pickaxe swung with a force entirely different from when I wielded it.
He simply swung the Pickaxe, but as the air split with a sharp whistle.
“Hya!”
Crack!
The Pickaxe buried itself cleanly into the Mine’s wall.
Half the head of the Pickaxe sank deep into the stone.
The power was on an entirely different scale from when I swung it.
But that wasn’t all.
Radiating from where the Pickaxe had struck.
Snap—
A web of fractures spread across the wall in a massive network.
That must be Toran’s unique ability.
Then, as Toran extracted the Pickaxe and swung it once more with perfect precision at the center point.
Crunch-crunch-crack!
The fractures expanded further.
Rumble—
The wall where the fractures had formed began to collapse.
Tremendous power.
What’s more remarkable is that the moment the wall came down.
“Whoa!”
An enormous quantity of Iron Ore came tumbling down.
The speed and force were on an entirely different scale from when I wielded the Pickaxe.
“Ahahaha! And this is just the outer layer—we haven’t even reached the heart of the ore vein yet! This really is the Smithy of Time’s Mine! If we dig just a bit deeper, we’ll strike ore that rivals what you’d find at Lumina Mountain!”
“What is Lumina Mountain?”
“It’s the place where the god Lumina is said to have ascended—there’s an absurd amount of Orichalcum buried there. But all those cowards refused to go, so I went and mined it all out myself.”
“…Isn’t that sacrilege?”
“Sacrilege? When Orichalcum’s gleaming right there, not mining it is sacrilege against minerals!”
Fair point.
Now I understand why Toran is an S-rank miner and was summoned under the epithet “Collapse of Lumina Mountain.”
Still, I have to admit his skill is genuine.
This means I no longer need to spend time on Mining.
The Mine now has Auto-Mining enabled.
I’ll have to gather firewood directly from the forest myself—that can’t be helped.
But now I have a new assistant.
‘Should I make him a new Pickaxe?’
Just as I had for Serin’s equipment.
I decided to craft a new Pickaxe for Toran—his primary tool.
The current Pickaxe is good enough, certainly, but it is the one I used to work with.
And like with Serin, I wanted to give him a gift.
“Toran, what did your original Pickaxe look like?”
“Hm? Why do you ask?”
“I’d like to make you a new one.”
“This one’s already plenty good! It’s fine!”
“Still. If you describe what your old Pickaxe looked like, I’ll do my best to recreate it.”
“Well… if that’s the case.”
Just as I had with Serin.
I began asking Toran about his past equipment.
After the interview concluded.
Leaving Toran absorbed in Mining at the Mine, I returned to the Smithy.
[ Special Crafting Skill activated. ]
[ Please compose a Blueprint for the special craft item. ]
I immediately used Special Crafting.
I began drafting the Blueprint based on my conversation with Toran.
When I made Serin’s bow, getting the form of a recurve bow right took some time.
But honestly, how much difference can one Pickaxe’s shape really have from another?
The Pickaxe Toran described was no exception.
The basic shape of the Pickaxe itself wasn’t that different—only the length, weight, and grip design varied slightly.
Still, drawing on every detail Toran mentioned and marshaling my imagination.
[ Blueprint composition complete. ]
I was able to finish a satisfying Blueprint.
Pleased with this.
[ Please select materials. ]
I selected the materials.
In truth, this is where it matters.
While the shape of Toran’s original Pickaxe wasn’t much different from an ordinary one, the materials were another story.
Usually a Pickaxe’s shaft is made of wood.
But according to Toran, his Pickaxe had a shaft forged entirely from metal.
So I fed Iron Ore into the materials.
If Toran was right that the Pickaxe’s head was also made of metal, I should use Iron Ore there too.
But as I paused to consider.
Instead of Iron Ore.
[ Wild Boar Tusk ]
The material Serin had obtained from conquering a Gate.
I inserted the Wild Boar Tusk instead.
Being a boss monster material, the tusk’s weight and hardness were as formidable as any forged metal.
No—harder still.
And above all, since this was a gift for my new assistant, I wanted to create something stronger and more impressive.
The moment I fed in all the materials.
[ Crafting begins. ]
Crafting commenced.
The moment I strike the emerging Points, I can feel it.
It’s hard.
Harder than any Point I’ve struck until now.
The Points emerge slowly, and there are fewer variations, but.
The fact alone that the Point was so solid made the crafting difficulty feel like it had skyrocketed.
It was similar to when I’d swung the hammer at the Summoning platform.
If my strength had fallen short by even a little, it could have been dangerous.
Setting aside both the thought that I should focus my Stats on Strength for a while and the thought that I needed to find another way to raise my Stats further.
Crack!
I began striking the Point down with even greater force.
Was that the reason?
I hadn’t noticed.
“Hey there, kid! I’ve given it a few swings now, and this Pickaxe is plenty usable. No need to make a new one…… Hm?”
My gift recipient.
Toran Stonebreaker had returned to the Smithy and was watching me.

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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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