I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 27

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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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Chapter 27
Chapter 27
I was torn.
Accepting a commission meant using Special Crafting.
Unlike General Crafting, Special Crafting drained not just stamina but mental energy as well.
I know it sounds strange—it’s a game, after all—but mental energy really does get consumed.
I only discovered this after I’d pushed myself too hard with Special Crafting.
Not just headaches, either. There was this fuzzy, numb feeling in my head.
It’s hard to put into words, but my mental energy was genuinely depleted.
So I needed to choose commissions carefully.
“Hmm…….”
But the more carefully I tried to choose, the more uncertain I became.
The Whip Master was someone I knew—a fellow countryman, in a sense.
That’s why I’d accepted her request right away.
The other commissions were different.
Still, what caught my eye first was always this:
[ How much would you charge? ]
If you create only the items I desire, I will pay whatever amount you ask.
Commissions with messages like that.
Offers to pay astronomical fees.
But when I’d contacted the people behind these requests, they’d just replied: “Money is no object—simply craft the best equipment you’re capable of making.”
I’d certainly earn a lot taking on work like that.
But no matter how I thought about it, nothing pulled me toward it.
And for good reason.
“I don’t think I’d be able to meet the Completion Score on something like this.”
With Special Crafting, you drew up a design and then received a rating on your Completion Score for it.
Only with a proper score could you actually produce decent work.
If your Completion Score was off, even Special Crafting could result in equipment worse than what General Crafting would yield.
That required a high level of understanding on your part.
But these commissions offered no way to deepen that understanding.
I was scrolling through my message box when—
“Huh?”
I spotted a familiar username.
[ Hong Yeom-hwa ]
Hong Yeom-hwa.
There was no way I wouldn’t know this name.
After all, when people said Hong Yeom-hwa—
“Hong Arin?”
South Korea’s greatest mage.
The Flame Emperor, as she was also called.
It was Hong Arin’s username.
While usernames in the Awakener Community did protect anonymity, someone of Hong Arin’s rank—a top-tier player—was known by her handle to practically everyone.
So even before I’d Awakened, I’d heard the names and usernames of a few particularly famous Awakeners.
But still.
“Why would Hong Arin contact me?”
Hong Arin was called South Korea’s greatest mage, so her Level had to be incredibly high.
What business could she possibly have commissioning me, when I still couldn’t make Level 10 gear?
Curious, I opened her commission details right away.
[ To Steel Hammer, ]
Hello……. I apologize for the sudden message.
I’m not sure if I’m even in a position to ask, but I contacted you hoping you might take on a commission for me!
I’m an Awakener who specializes in flame magic, but my casting speed is a bit slow…….
In combat, I always feel a step behind…….
I was wondering…… would you be able to craft an accessory that could address this weakness?
I saw that Hwang Geum-jae recently purchased a Necklace from you, and thought I’d reach out…….
“Is she always like this?”
The Flame Emperor—Hong Arin.
As South Korea’s premier flame mage, I’d imagined her as supremely confident, with the bearing of a commanding general.
But her message radiated extreme hesitation.
What’s more, she introduced herself as simply “an Awakener who specializes in flame magic.”
If I hadn’t known the Empress’s nickname was Hong Arin, I never would’ve guessed this note came from her.
That aside.
“Tempo?”
Her concern.
I couldn’t quite grasp what she meant about feeling a beat too slow in combat.
Then again, the only image I had of the Flame Empress was her igniting flames and slaughtering monsters.
That was partly why she was famous as an Awakener in the first place.
So I.
[ Flame Empress Combat Footage ]
searched for related content on NewTube.
Most of the Flame Empress’s combat videos were guild or party-scale operations, suggesting she belonged to some organization.
I pulled up the latest footage.
– Roooooaaar!
The opposing monster appeared immediately.
Its identity was none other than.
“Wow, vicious.”
A Drake.
Though it lacked wings and couldn’t use magic,
its physical prowess was known to rival that of a Dragon, which made its presence seem formidable.
Having to face such a monster directly.
I felt grateful I’d awakened as a Blacksmith, even as
“I wonder what materials drop from hunting a Drake?”
the question escaped my lips unbidden.
Lately, thanks to Serin, I’d been acquiring Monster Materials in bulk, so the thought came naturally.
In any case, the moment the Drake appeared,
– Let’s go!
– Attack!
the Drake hunt began in the video.
Though I didn’t know these people, I could tell from the equipment alone
that their skill level was extraordinary.
And sure enough.
– Haaah!
The swordsman’s blade cleaved through the Drake’s hard scales,
Thud!
while the shield-bearer blocked the massive Drake’s assault,
– Light’s Judgment!
and a woman in pristine white robes like a priestess cut off the Drake’s movement.
Serin fights well too, but this was a different caliber of combat entirely.
Would even Serin fight like this if she recovered her original strength?
I watched the footage with that thought in mind when
“I could do better than that.”
“Oh, startled me. Serin, you didn’t go hunting?”
Serin’s voice came from behind.
“I just returned. More importantly, when hunting a Drake like that, you should focus on attacking exposed weak points like the eyes and pinpoint the Reverse Scale.”
She’d already finished hunting.
Serin’s abilities really are remarkable.
Her hunting prowess is so exceptional that she spends more time waiting for monsters to respawn in the hunting grounds than actually hunting them.
That’s why lately Serin’s been doing some logging on the side.
Thicker trees are difficult, but she volunteered for thinner ones, saying she can manage those.
Anyway.
“Reverse Scale?”
“It’s the critical weakness of Dragon Species. Merely slashing scales like that is meaningless. Hunting without finding the Reverse Scale and merely accumulating damage is far too foolish a method.”
“You’ve hunted one before?”
“Drakes? I’ve taken down several.”
“But didn’t you say you hunted alone?”
“Yes, I hunted alone.”
“……that Drake?”
“Yes.”
“Wow…….”
I must have been underestimating Serin.
That she could hunt a drake like that alone.
I couldn’t even imagine how strong Serin would be once she had fully recovered her power.
At this level, I thought she might even shoot down the wyverns that flew across the sky without needing help.
“Among Dragon Species, I’ve hunted wyverns the most.”
It was true.
Just how strong had she been originally?
If Serin was an S-Rank assistant, then what of the SS-Rank and SSS-Rank assistants? How powerful were they?
And Toran was also an S-Rank assistant, so he was this strong too?
Of course, Toran wasn’t a combat specialist like a hunter but a miner… yet the memory of his thick, muscular frame made me think such thoughts anyway.
Well, that was neither here nor there.
The battle was now drawing toward its climax.
Then.
– Rooooaaaarr!
– It’s going berserk!
– Its health is running out!
– Please, Hong Arin, finish it!
The drake began to rampage.
It was the Berserk phenomenon that many boss monsters triggered when their health was nearly depleted.
It wasn’t merely thrashing about in madness—sensing danger, it was wringing out every last ounce of strength, its physical abilities enhanced in the process.
The Awakeners rushed in to contain it, but.
– Ugh!
The swordsman who had been about to swing his blade was sent flying backward.
Thud!
The shield bearer bounced away, his shield warped and buckled.
– Gck!
The assassin was slammed into the wall by the drake’s tail.
– Hong Arin…!
Yet all the Awakeners waited for Hong Arin’s magic.
– Ah, not yet….
She was still casting.
There was no help for it.
The fact that others were waiting didn’t make the spell cast any faster.
Rather, that pressure was scattering her concentration, causing the casting to drag out even longer.
It was only when half of the Awakeners holding the line at the front were knocked away that.
– Prominence.
Her spell reached completion.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!!
A searing pillar of flame erupted skyward.
Prominence.
Was that what it meant—the pillar of flame that rises from the sun, the solar prominence?
Looking at that column of fire.
– Kuuuooohhh!!
The name really was well chosen.
The flames burned with such heat that the drake’s body was visibly melting away in real time.
With that, the raid video ended.
Checking the comments that followed.
– This is a video of top-tier Awakeners hunting?
– I’m scared, I’m never going high-tier;
– You couldn’t even if you wanted to lol
– Hong Arin’s insane ㄷㄷ
– For real though, her destructive power is the strongest in Korea. No, probably the world
As expected, the comments were filled with talk of Hong Arin.
Most of it was praise for her abilities.
– But isn’t it kind of slow?
– Yeah, how many Awakeners got taken out while Hong Arin was casting lol
– Still looked cool though, let’s drink~
But among them were those who pointed out Hong Arin’s weakness.
That was likely why she had made her request.
Just from reading her note, her personality seemed cautious.
Because her magic took time to cast, several Awakeners had been knocked out of commission protecting her while she prepared—
I had come to feel a sense of guilt.
Seeing this,
‘Poor thing.’
A wave of pity washed over me unbidden.
Of course, it made no sense for me—an Awakener not yet Level 10—to pity her, South Korea’s greatest archmage.
But weren’t we both human, after all?
And so,
“All right. Let’s go with this.”
I decided to accept Yeom Je’s commission.
My heart was in it, the payment would be substantial given her ranker status, and
most importantly, there was plenty of footage to reference, which would make it easier to raise my understanding.
Still, video alone had its limits for raising comprehension.
[ This is Steel Hammer. ]
I sent her a message.
To increase my understanding for the Special Crafting.
I asked her to explain in as much detail as possible the current situation, the form of item she needed, and the abilities she desired.
And shortly after,
[ Thank you! Thank you so much!! ]
her reply arrived.
Based on her information, I began conceptualizing materials in earnest and drafting the design.
Through this process, I realized the item I’d be making this time was similar to the Necklace I’d created before.
Weapons and armor were simply beyond my current level.
I had to craft an accessory with no level restrictions.
And the most crucial element was, as always,
“Fast Casting.”
The ability she wanted.
An ability that increased the speed of spell casting.
Embedding Fast Casting into an item was the challenge.
When I searched the marketplace briefly,
[ No items matching your criteria found. ]
There wasn’t a single listing.
Looking further, Fast Casting itself was apparently so rare that it rarely appeared on items at all.
Moreover, the few items that did have it were almost always staffs; accessories with the ability were virtually nonexistent.
That was likely why she’d submitted the commission to me.
However, despite all the items I’d crafted thus far, every single one possessed physical effects.
This was my first time attempting to embed a magic-related ability like Fast Casting.
“What materials should I use?”
At the thought of crafting something new, anticipation stirred in me unbidden.

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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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