I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 28

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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 28
Chapter 28
Creating an item with Fast Casting ability attached.
It’s certainly an interesting problem.
The challenge is figuring out how to do it.
Since awakening as a Blacksmith, I’ve crafted all manner of items, but I’ve never made something specifically to attach a single ability to it before.
Rather, I’ve always selected and crafted items to maximize the performance of whatever materials I chose.
Of course, it’s not as though the method is completely beyond me.
“I could use materials related to the ability.”
For instance, the Rabbit Spear I made from horned rabbit horns gained the Piercing ability.
The Dagger I crafted with walking mushroom spores came with Paralysis.
So Fast Casting should follow the same logic.
If I use materials related to Fast Casting, I should naturally get the Fast Casting ability.
But here’s the thing.
“What even relates to it?”
Fast Casting.
It’s annoyingly abstract.
It would’ve been easier if Yeom Je had simply asked, “Make my fire magic stronger!”
Then I’d just hunt fire-attribute monsters and craft from their materials.
But what Yeom Je is asking for is Fast Casting.
I have no obvious materials or monsters in mind.
So here I am, puzzling over it.
– The Guidance function should work well for this.
Ember’s voice came through after a long silence.
“Guidance?”
But Guidance function—
I’d never encountered such a thing since awakening, so I was confused.
– It’s a new sub-function added to the Blacksmith’s hammer now that it’s reached Level 3.
“You didn’t mention any new skills before?”
– It’s not a skill in the traditional sense, but rather a new sub-function added to the Crafting skill itself.
“Oh?”
So a sub-function was added.
I don’t know exactly what it does, but leveling up the hammer was clearly the right call.
“How do I use it?”
– You can activate Guidance once you’ve begun crafting.
– However, Guidance merely channels the direction of the materials, components, or blueprint toward the desired ability.
– It cannot add an ability that is completely unrelated to what you’re working with.
– Please keep that limitation in mind.
Ember then explained the detailed mechanics of how to use Guidance.
To verify the Guidance function as Ember described it,
I decided to start crafting something arbitrary and then activate Guidance.
[ Please select the ability to guide. ]
Just as Ember said, I could activate Guidance.
After confirming the basic operation,
I began in earnest to conceptualize the item Yeom Je had requested.
Actually, designing the blueprint wasn’t particularly difficult.
What mattered most was something else.
“Do I have any suitable materials?”
The materials.
What materials could I use so that the Guidance function would activate toward Fast Casting?
Materials from magic-using monsters seemed like a good starting point.
Thinking along those lines,
“Serin, are there monsters at the Hunting Ground that use magic?”
I asked Serin.
Questioning her would be faster than examining every single material one by one.
I worried the Hunting Ground’s tier might still be too low for magic-using monsters,
“There are.”
Fortunately, the answer came back positive.
She then told me about the magic-using monsters that existed in my Hunting Ground.
“The Eye Bat used curse-type magic, and the Noise Frog attacked with sound magic.”
“Hmm…….”
Vague, at best.
No matter how I listen, they’re nothing like Fast Casting.
Still, since they’re Monsters that use magic, using Guidance should be possible enough—but as a Blacksmith, I can feel it.
The fact that whatever I make this way will have abysmal efficiency.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many magic-using Monsters yet, so I was thinking I’d have to buy suitable items from the Trading Post and dismantle them for materials instead.
“Ah, there are also Imps.”
“Imps?”
“Yes, Monsters also called minor demons of fire.”
A Monster name that caught my ear landed in my mind.
Imps.
Monsters with the form of small red demons.
Somehow, they were exactly the kind of Monster that matched the image of materials I’d been imagining.
“Do you happen to have materials obtained from Imps?”
“Of course. Around here……ah, here it is.”
Fortunately, there were materials obtained from Imps as well.
When I checked the item information.
[ Imp’s Small Fire Seed ]
Form: Material
Grade: E
Description: A small fire seed that can be said to be the foundation of the magic that Imps use.
I found a word in the item description that delighted me.
‘Foundation of magic.’
I hadn’t particularly planned to use fire attributes.
Still, the fact that it was the same fire attribute as Yeom Je appealed to me.
I decided.
This would be perfect.
With this, I could not only give her the Fast Casting ability she wanted, but if all went well, I might even add fire-related abilities on top of it.
The only problem was whether I could draw out the performance, since the Imp’s Small Fire Seed itself wasn’t a particularly high-grade material.
“Hauling ore is quite the task! I’d better get started on that railway and cart system connecting the Mine to here!”
Toran’s voice rang out.
Then Toran dumped out the ores he’d mined as well.
Among them, one ore caught my eye distinctly.
“Toran, that’s…….”
“Wahaha! Quick to spot it, I see! That’s right! I managed to mine another one today!”
A violet ore.
Though the color differed, its form clearly resembled the Strength Ore I’d used yesterday.
As expected, when I checked the item information.
[ Mana Ore ]
Form: Ore
Grade: A
Description: A raw ore that, having received the power of ore veins over a long time within rich vein networks, has come to possess the essence of magical power.
Ability: Intelligence Lv 1
“Oooh!”
The magical power version of Strength Ore.
It was Mana Ore.
The moment I saw it.
It felt like the missing 2% in my mental blueprint was perfectly filled in.
“Thank you, Toran!”
“Wahaha!”
“Just wait a bit! I’ll make this one thing, then buy you a huge lunch of whatever you want! Think about what you’d like!”
“Now that sounds good!”
The moment those words left my lips.
[ Special Crafting Skill is now in use. ]
[ Please provide a blueprint for the Special Craft. ]
I started crafting immediately.
Since I’d already worked out the blueprint, I was able to produce it quickly.
Also, just as Ember had told me.
[ Please select the ability to be guided. ]
Using the Guidance ability, I set ‘Fast Casting’ as the target.
This time, thanks to thoroughly examining not only Yeom Je’s background but also detailed battle footage to raise my Comprehension,
[ Blueprint Design Complete ]
I was able to finish a blueprint that suited my vision perfectly.
Next.
[ Please Select Materials. ]
Material selection.
Here, I chose
[ Imp’s Small Fire Seed ]
[ Mana Ore ]
as the two primary materials, along with supplementary base materials.
[ Crafting Begins. ]
Crafting started at once.
Clang!
Power surges from the very first strike.
The high Strength ability attached to my Gloves and the Level 3 Blacksmith’s hammer effect certainly play a part.
But the “power” I’m talking about now isn’t that.
An item perfectly envisioned in my mind.
Swinging the hammer while holding that image is exhilarating beyond measure.
And from that exhilaration, power flows naturally.
Clang!
When I crafted the Gloves before, I completed the form first, and then the Strength Ore powder was absorbed into it—that’s how the item came together.
But now it’s different.
With each hammer strike, the Mana Ore begins to change form first.
Unnecessary pieces shatter away.
The power embedded in the ore condenses, and its size diminishes.
It’s not just shrinking.
As the power concentrates, it transforms into the shape of a small flame, exactly as I designed it.
And then,
[ Imp’s Small Fire Seed ]
the material I obtained from the Imp is placed upon it.
The placed fire seed gradually adheres to the processed ore and begins to be absorbed.
As the essence of flame is absorbed into the Mana Ore that had been refined into a flame shape,
the Mana Ore, refined in the form of a flame, began to flicker as if it had become an actual living flame.
After that, I swing the hammer even more to help the Mana Ore and the Imp’s Small Fire Seed fuse better,
and inscribe fine details using additional materials.
[ Crafting Complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: SS ]
“Whew!”
I finished crafting.
An SS Grade, no less.
As expected.
It seems that higher Comprehension really does lead to higher Crafting Evaluations.
If I want to create items of even higher grades going forward, this “Comprehension” will likely be the key.
[ A Masterpiece Has Been Born. ]
[ A masterpiece worthy of spreading your name across the world has been completed, and through it you gain inspiration—your stats increase. ]
[ Intelligence rises by 2. ]
[ Wisdom rises by 1. ]
Sure enough, the Masterpiece message appeared this time as well.
And at that moment, Intelligence and Wisdom—stats that had never increased before—rose.
It seems this came from creating a Masterpiece related to magic.
With that thought,
I examined my creation, flickering gently like a living flame.
[ You have obtained the Living Fire Seed Brooch. ]
I checked the brooch’s information.
[ Living Fire Seed Brooch ]
Form: Brooch
Grade: SS
Restriction: Yeom Je Hong Arin
Description: A flame-shaped brooch created by perfectly fusing the Imp’s fire seed and Mana Ore, crafted solely for Yeom Je Hong Arin
Ability: Fast Casting Lv 2, Flame Lv 1
Fortunately, it was exactly what she wanted.
And Fast Casting—the skill I’d been hoping for—had successfully embedded itself.
At Level 2, no less.
Up to that point, everything had unfolded as I’d anticipated.
But there was an unexpected bonus ability attached beside it.
“Flame comes with this too?”
Flame.
An ability that lives up to its name.
When attached to a melee weapon, it adds fire-attribute damage to attacks; when attached to a staff or accessory, it amplifies fire-attribute magic or skills.
I hadn’t deliberately worked it in—the Imp’s Small Fire Seed had simply fused so well as a material that this extra ability emerged naturally.
But I couldn’t complain.
Hong Arin, known as Yeom Je, was as formidable a fire mage as her epithet suggested.
“It came out better than expected?”
In common knowledge, imps were weak monsters—barely a step above goblins.
Just an item crafted from such a creature’s materials.
Yet the result exceeded my projections.
Both Fast Casting and Flame were rare abilities that don’t often appear together, let alone on the same piece.
Satisfied with my work,
“This should be to her liking,”
I sent the finished item to Hong Arin.
* * *
Korea’s greatest mage.
Yeom Je. Hong Arin.
She was formidable.
Precisely because she was, she always maintained that strength in public.
Even when hunting monsters, she spoke as little as possible, concentrating entirely on casting.
But in truth,
“Hah……”
her true nature was timid to the core.
And that had become a problem.
Things had been manageable until now, but as time passed, her level climbed—and so did the strength of the monsters she faced.
Yet her powerful magic still carried that fundamental weakness: slow casting speed.
It was in the midst of this struggle that
“Arin, is it true? Steel Hammer actually accepted your commission?”
“Yeah……”
The man recently thrust into the spotlight as the world’s first master Blacksmith.
She’d submitted the request to Steel Hammer on a whim, hoping against hope.
And the request had succeeded.
Of course, given her level, she couldn’t commission a staff or armor.
But hadn’t the recent selfie Hwang Geumjae posted and the Trading Post records made it clear that Steel Hammer could craft accessories too?
So she’d asked him for an accessory with Fast Casting attached.
“But Arin, try not to hope too much. Fast Casting isn’t a common ability. It’ll probably be difficult. The less you expect, the less it’ll hurt.”
“I suppose……”
She knew.
That it would be hard.
If Steel Hammer grew and became a skilled Blacksmith, it might be possible someday.
But judging by the Evasion Level 1 scarf that Hwang Geumjae had posted, Fast Casting seemed impossibly out of reach.
“And even if he succeeded, honestly, Fast Casting Level 1 wouldn’t make much practical difference.”
“Mm……”
Her one true friend.
Kim Nayeon soothed her worries.
Though a non-Awakener, that was precisely what made it better.
Dealing with other Awakeners felt far too burdensome for Hong Arin.
That’s why she avoided joining a guild, instead working as a mercenary in other parties to clear Gates.
Being tied to one organization and moving according to its rules was simply too much weight for her to bear.
And then,
[ This is Steel Hammer. ]
At last.
The commission had arrived.
Her friend had warned her to temper expectations, saying disappointment grows proportional to hope.
How could she not be hopeful?
“A brooch?”
“Wow, it’s beautiful. The way it shimmers—it really does look like real flames, doesn’t it?”
Hong Arin accepted the commissioned item.
It was a brooch.
While it could be worn as a pendant, it had been crafted as an ornament to be fastened to clothing.
Just as her friend had anticipated, it was shaped like a flame, and the way it wavered made it beautiful enough to seem almost alive.
But the real question was never about its appearance.
The moment Hong Arin checked the item information with rising anticipation.
“Huh…?”
“See? I told you not to expect too much. But it’s still good, you’re Korea’s finest——”
“No, Fast Casting. It’s really there!”
“Really? Wow, Arin, congratulations! This Steel Hammer person is amazing, isn’t he? If it’s ‘Fast Casting Level 1,’ then surely——”
“No!”
“What do you mean, no?”
“It’s ‘Fast Casting Level 2’!”
“What?!”
Hong Arin’s eyes went wide of their own accord.
And Kim Nayeon felt the same shock.
Though she was an ordinary person, she knew well enough how rare it was for a skill like Fast Casting—a rare ability in itself—to appear on an accessory rather than a main piece of equipment like a weapon or armor.
And an ability at Level 2 was even rarer still.
But Hong Arin’s astonishment didn’t end there.
“F-Flame as well! There’s Flame on it too!”
“You’re lying! Flame is also attached to it?”
“I’m serious!”
“Oh my gosh! Congratulations, Arin!”
The Flame on the brooch.
Though she’d been an Awakener for quite some time and had seen all manner of items,
she had never before encountered an item that was both this exceptional and so perfectly suited to her.
And most of all, there was the brooch’s restriction.
[ Restriction: Yeom Je Hong Arin ]
Seeing this,
the thought that Steel Hammer must have crafted this brooch solely for her, thinking only of her, made her
feel a bit embarrassed when she recalled the hurried, unguarded words she’d written in her note to him without thinking.
“With this…!”
But that wasn’t what mattered now.
With this, she’d be able to cast spells even faster.
Faster and stronger flames would rise at her command.
Now she could strike down her enemies
with tremendous fire before anyone else got hurt.
And just as fate would have it,
“I’m heading out on a raid!”
“Arin, will you be alright?”
“Yeah! With this, I feel like I can do anything!”
A raid request had come through for her.
She immediately prepared to depart.
She didn’t forget to attach the brooch to the red cloak she usually wore.

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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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