I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 64

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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 64
Chapter 64
Whoom.
A Summoning Circle rises above the Summoning Platform.
Of course, even to the eye.
‘Complicated.’
It looked far more intricate, far more solid, far more difficult than the Summoning Circle that had appeared last time.
Still, it doesn’t matter.
I simply swing my hammer toward the brightest point in the Summoning Circle.
Clang!
Solid, as expected.
Solid, but.
‘I can do this.’
I’m not who I was before either.
Power flows into my swinging hammer.
Even if the point has grown more solid.
I too have reached Level 20.
I’ve made custom items and equipped them to raise my stats.
I’ve raised the Blacksmith’s Hammer to Level 4.
I’ve created countless decent works, masterpieces, and great works, raising my stats with each one.
Ting!
No matter how solid the point has become.
I can shatter it.
The difficulty is no trivial matter either.
When the point breaks, it sometimes splits into two points.
The light of the point dims, making it difficult to tell which is the real point.
Clang!
With my heightened Dexterity, I swiftly smash both points.
With my heightened Intelligence, I find the light of the dimmed point.
With my heightened Wisdom, I discern the true point.
With my heightened Health, I endure the stamina and focus that plummet more sharply as time passes with the increased difficulty.
‘It’s not perfect.’
This is the fourth time summoning a Subordinate.
I’m striking the Summoning Circle perfectly, but I can feel it with the instinct of a blacksmith.
That my hammer work is not perfect.
Perhaps this is why I haven’t managed to summon an S-tier or higher Subordinate.
That’s not to say my stats are lacking.
It’s not a lack of stats.
It’s my skill as a blacksmith.
I have experience from the Final Gate, and Ember has always been lifting me up, so I have confidence in my hammer work.
But now, I can feel it.
That I’m still not perfect.
That I still have a long road ahead.
And.
That fact.
‘Honestly, it feels good.’
It makes me happy.
Having a long road ahead means there’s still much more to travel.
Which means I can enjoy that much more.
Maybe it’s not a good thing to compare real life to a game.
But wouldn’t any gamer find it thrilling that there’s still so much content left to explore?
Thinking it through like that.
Smirk.
The corners of my mouth lifted without my realizing it.
In the moment I swing my hammer one final time, pouring that feeling into it.
Clang!
The Summoning Circle completed with a satisfying metallic ring.
[ Summoning complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: S ]
S-tier.
It’s regrettable, I’ll admit—but by now I understand it myself.
My current power stands at that level.
Still, it doesn’t matter.
I’ll continue to grow, aiming for SS-Grade and beyond.
Perhaps even SSS-Grade is within reach.
As I thought this, the light of the Summoning Circle grew brighter still.
[ An S-Grade Subordinate, “Mimic of the Forging God,” is being summoned. ]
A new Subordinate had been summoned.
Yet the light was remarkably small.
It hadn’t been this faint when Toran was summoned.
As the light faded, I could finally see my new Subordinate.
Its form was—
“Hello!”
“A dwarf…?”
Yes, it was a dwarf.
Even among the shortest of dwarves, most reach up to my waist.
But this Subordinate barely reached my knee.
Of course, my Subordinate—
“Noum is not a dwarf! Noum is a Noum!”
“Noum?”
“Yes, Noum! An earth sprite! An earth folk! That’s Noum!”
“You just called yourself a dwarf…”
“Ah, I misspoke! Noum is not a dwarf!”
Despite the insistent denial,
I glanced at Serin, Toran, and Grom standing behind me.
“Noum. I’ve never seen one before, but I’ve heard tales of dwarves,” Serin offered.
“Ahahaha! How can something be so small? A real dwarf, this one!” Grom laughed.
“Chirp! Tiny!” Ember chimed.
“Noum is not a dwarf!”
None of them seemed to know much about Noum either.
Noum bounced with indignation at their words, then declared his name.
“Noum is not a dwarf, but Noum! Noum was the apprentice of the Forging God!”
“Ahahaha! The Forging God, you say? Well, he’s certainly short enough!” Grom chuckled.
“The Forging God isn’t short-bodied, but the God of the Forge! The deity of blacksmiths!”
“Right, right. A short god of the forge. Ahahaha!” Grom continued laughing.
“And Noum is not what you think! Noum is not a dwarf at all!”
Noum, the Mimic of the Forging God.
At times like this, there’s only one truly reliable method.
To check the Status Window.
[ Status Window ]
– Name: Noum
– Level: 20
– Profession: Blacksmith
– Ability: Mimicry
– Strength: 29
– Dexterity: 29
– Health: 29
– Intelligence: 29
– Wisdom: 29
‘So his name really was Noum?’
What first startled me about Noum was his name itself.
I’d thought it was his race—but now Noum was his actual name.
It seemed the race and name were indeed the same, which struck me as odd.
I didn’t know why that would be, but it hardly mattered.
That wasn’t the real issue.
‘What is this?’
What second astonished me were Noum’s stats.
Looking at all my other Subordinates, each had stats specialized to match their nature.
Serin excelled in Dexterity, while Toran and Grom had high Strength.
But Noum was different.
All the ability stats are identical.
Of course, compared to a typical Awakener, the stats are relatively higher.
In game terms, it was exactly the kind of stat distribution you’d call “generic NPC.”
But.
“A blacksmith?”
“That’s right! Noum is a blacksmith! After all, Noum was Master Danshin’s apprentice!”
Seeing Noum’s Job, it all made sense.
A blacksmith, just like me.
Just as Ember had said, blacksmithing surprisingly required not just Strength and Dexterity and Health, but Intelligence and Wisdom too.
After all, I myself have been distributing stat points into Wisdom and Intelligence, haven’t I?
I suspect Noum’s stat distribution is simply optimized to its extreme.
‘Mimicry — so that means he copies things?’
The unique ability was rather peculiar.
Mimicry, of all things.
Perhaps that’s why the epithet “Danshin’s Copycat” had stuck.
‘But a blacksmith? Is this even right?’
I never expected a blacksmith to appear as a new subordinate.
No, wait—my own Blacksmith’s Forge, and now a blacksmith subordinate shows up? Is that even how this is supposed to work?
Based on my experience so far, Serin, Toran, and Grom all seemed like masters of their respective domains—experts and prodigies in their own right.
So that must mean Noum is also an extraordinarily skilled blacksmith, doesn’t it?
Especially since he was an apprentice to Danshin, the God of the Forge.
What if Noum’s skill surpasses my own?
Of course, in that case I suppose I’d just learn from him and grow.
But still, it feels like I might be losing control of things, and that bothers me a little.
Well, regardless.
“So you’re Noum’s master?”
“I’m Jang Gang-cheol. Pleased to work with you, Noum.”
“Noum is pleased too! Noum will work hard!”
Being a newly arrived subordinate.
I welcomed him as warmly as I could.
Serin, Toran, and Grom all seemed to be doting on Noum too.
“Where will Noum be working?”
“This way.”
“I’m excited!”
I led Noum out of the Subordinate Waiting Room and arrived at the Blacksmith’s Forge.
Naturally, I wanted to check his skill right away.
“Noum, do you have a hammer?”
“I did, but I don’t have one now!”
“I’ll make one for you.”
“Wow!”
“What kind of hammer did you use originally? I’ll make something as close as possible, even if it’s not perfect.”
“Thank you!!”
Just as the previous subordinates had.
Noum also had no items whatsoever.
[ Using Special Crafting skill. ]
[ Please provide a design blueprint for the special craft item. ]
I immediately activated Special Crafting.
First, the size.
Based on Noum’s description, I designed a hammer to fit his hands.
In the process, I ended up creating a tiny hammer completely different from the Blacksmith’s Hammer I used.
“Even the hammer is small! Since it’s Master Danshin’s hammer, is that a short-hammer? Hahaha!”
“Noum is not short—Noum is Master Danshin’s apprentice! Noum is not small!”
Noum bristled at Toran’s teasing.
The sight of it was quite endearing.
There was something fun about the way he got riled up.
I could see why Toran enjoyed needling him.
In any case, after finishing the design.
[ Please select materials. ]
I was choosing the materials when.
“Noum uses a wooden hammer!”
“A wooden hammer? Then won’t it be difficult to smelt ore?”
“Noum can do it!”
Noum’s choice of materials was quite unusual.
I was supposed to craft a blacksmith’s hammer, yet he’d asked for a wooden one instead.
By ordinary logic, smelting ore with a wooden hammer should be impossible.
‘Well, does it matter?’
Now that I’d become an Awakener, common sense hardly applied anymore.
After all, when I swing my hammer, I’m not actually striking the materials themselves—I’m striking Points.
I’m already performing tasks that should be impossible with a hammer, using nothing but this single tool.
So there was nothing strange about Noum crafting an item with a wooden hammer.
“If you could make it as heavy and sturdy as possible, I’d be so grateful!”
At Noum’s continued request,
“Hehehehe! Heavy and sturdy wood—I have some! Brought back Jungjolmok last night!”
“Oh, that’s perfect then.”
I retrieved the Jungjolmok from the Storage Warehouse.
True to its name, it was wood that felt as heavy and solid as iron.
Since Grom had only brought it back yesterday for the first time, my supply was limited—but there was no reason to hold back.
The moment I finished preparing the materials,
Clang!
I began crafting.
Jungjolmok.
As a rare material and a dense one at that,
Clang!
the crafting difficulty was quite high.
But compared to the Summoning Circle I’d just worked on when Noum arrived, it was nothing.
Two blacksmiths in one space.
I didn’t know how things would unfold, but determined to give Noum my best, I swung my hammer with all my effort, and the result was—
[ Crafting complete. ]
[ Crafting evaluation: SS ]
[ You have obtained the Dwarf’s Heavy Wooden Hammer. ]
I’d successfully crafted an SS-Grade hammer exclusively for Noum.
And then some.
[ A Masterpiece has been born. ]
[ A work worthy of spreading your name across the world has been completed, and through this inspiration, your abilities increase. ]
[ Dexterity rises by 2. ]
[ Strength rises by 1. ]
The Masterpiece judgment had triggered.
Checking the item information,
[ Dwarf’s Heavy Wooden Hammer ]
Form: Hammer
Grade: SS
Restriction: Level 20 or above, Blacksmith
Description: A blacksmith’s wooden hammer crafted by Jang Gang-cheol for his copycat subordinate.
Attack Power: 140
Abilities: Crafting Lv 4, Weight Enhancement Lv 3, Vitality Lv 2
That was the gist of it.
When I crafted items for other body parts, I could never manage to include the Crafting ability.
But creating a blacksmith’s hammer, I’d had no trouble incorporating the Crafting ability.
As a result, I’d attached no fewer than four levels of Crafting, and
‘Weight Enhancement?’
a new ability had appeared as well.
It seemed to be a trait of the Jungjolmok material itself.
Looking into it,
[ Weight Enhancement Lv 3 ]
When the user desires, they may increase the item’s weight.
That was how it worked.
It seemed like a useful ability for blunt weapons.
Especially if Noum had the Weight Enhancement ability when swinging his hammer, he could generate greater force, which might even aid his crafting in turn.
Once I handed over the completed hammer,
“But Noum is not a dwarf…….”
Noum pouted a little when he saw the item’s name.
“But I really do like this hammer! It’s just like the one I used to have! It fits my hands perfectly!”
Still, he seemed pleased enough with its performance.
And so.
“Should we try making something now?”
I’d wanted to observe Noum’s skill for myself.
“Yes!”
“…….”
“……?”
“No, anything works. Make whatever you want to make. There’s plenty of material in the Storage Warehouse.”
From Noum’s lips came:
“Noum doesn’t know how to make new things!”
“What? But you were Danshin’s apprentice. You should be able to make anything you learned under him.”
“That was only because Master Danshin was there! Noum is good at copying, but Noum doesn’t know how to make something new!”
Shocking news had just been delivered.

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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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