I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 75

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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 75
Chapter 75
“Master, this is……!”
“It’s my masterpiece. The first item I’ve ever crafted with a special ability attached.”
“You made something like this for me……!”
“I made it for Serin in the first place. Things might get dangerous once you enter the next zone, so be careful.”
“Master……!!”
“Oh, while we’re on the subject, do you have any other items you’d like me to modify? I’ll adjust them to match your new level.”
Serin, the hunter of the Forge of Time.
She couldn’t help but be moved by her master once again.
Fangs of the Saber-tooth Tiger.
He had crafted her item from such precious material.
Excluding consumable items like Piercing Lightning, this was her first piece ever to possess a special ability.
“I’ll use it well! Master!”
“Take care of yourself. And tell me if things get too hard.”
“Yes, Master!”
Serin answered loudly and nodded her head.
This master truly was different from the rest, she thought.
This master alone was the true owner of the Forge of Time who could overcome destiny, she believed.
Whoosh!
She rushed toward the Blacksmith’s Hunting Ground.
Her swift legs carried her through the first and second zones in an instant.
And upon arriving at the third zone.
The first thing she encountered there was.
“Grrrrr……”
“A Dire Wolf.”
The kind of wolf she’d seen often even in the snowy peaks of the Ikaya Mountain Range.
A Dire Wolf, indeed.
Compared to ordinary wolves, its frame was far larger, and its long white fur—hard and thick—could withstand most weapons without taking deep wounds.
And such Dire Wolves.
“Grrrr.”
“Grrrrrrr……”
“Roooaarrr!”
Were gathered in a pack.
The moment she arrived at the third zone, she faced this.
The third zone earned its reputation for good reason.
The monster difficulty had jumped sharply compared to the second zone.
Yet even as the massive Dire Wolves threatened her in numbers, she didn’t retreat an inch.
Simply.
“Dire Wolf fangs and hide, claws…… My master would surely appreciate those.”
She nocked an arrow and drew back the bowstring.
“Grrr.”
The Dire Wolves flinched slightly at this.
“Roooaarrr!”
But within moments, they bared their sharp fangs and lunged at her.
Whistle!
The arrow flew.
The arrows she released were unlike those of ordinary archers.
Not only were they fast, but even as she fired in rapid succession, each one landed with uncanny precision.
The arrows found their marks in the Dire Wolves’ vital points almost without fail.
Up through the second zone, monsters fell each time she loosed an arrow.
The Dire Wolves here too suffered lethal wounds—
“Rooooaarrr!”
But these were third-zone monsters, after all.
Despite arrows lodged in their eyes.
Despite shafts sunken so deep into their chests that the arrowheads pierced straight through to their hearts.
They did not back down and lunged toward Serin nonetheless.
Retreating while maintaining rapid fire, she managed to bring down a considerable number of Dire Wolves, yet many still remained.
And so.
[ Special Ability: Dual Fangs of Saber-tooth Tiger ]
She gripped the dual short swords her master had forged for her, one in each hand.
In that instant.
Slash!
She swung toward the Dire Wolf charging at the front.
The moment she cut down one of them.
A low hum.
Her Unique Ability.
Weak Point Discernment activated.
The spot she’d just slashed with the short sword was now recognized as a weak point of the Dire Wolf.
The reason, naturally, was this:
[ Dual Fangs of Saber-tooth Tiger ]
When attacking with the Gnawing Fang, the targeted area is marked as a weak point, increasing damage on subsequent strikes to that location.
When attacking the marked area with the Shattering Fang, a special critical strike is triggered, further increasing damage.
The short sword she wielded.
It possessed the Shattering Gnaw ability.
Using the Gnawing Fang held in her left hand would mark a target area as weak, and then.
The moment her Unique Ability activated, and she swung the Shattering Fang in her right hand toward that weak point.
The moment the blade moved.
Thud!
The Dual Fangs of Saber-tooth Tiger combined with her Weak Point Discernment ability and Fatal Strike Lv 5 all triggered at once.
“Howl—!”
Thump.
With just two swings, she brought down the Dire Wolf.
And she hadn’t even driven the blades in that deeply.
Truly, her master.
Had crafted short swords that fit her Unique Ability perfectly.
At this rate, hunting with short swords rather than her bow might actually be faster for a while.
And it wasn’t just speculation.
Slash!
As her swift footwork combined with the devastating power of the short swords.
Whether the monsters of Zone 3 had grown stronger or not, she began clearing them at a rapid pace.
Depending on the monster, some were genuinely faster to handle by rushing in and using the short swords directly.
So the monsters of Zone 3, just like before.
“Screee…….”
Thud.
Fell under her hand, were carved up, and transformed into materials for Kang Cheol-mangchi.
* * *
After handing Serin the Dual Fangs of Saber-tooth Tiger.
He’d been repairing items as usual when.
“Master!”
Serin had returned.
Since she’d ventured into Zone 3 to clear monsters, it seemed to have taken longer than usual.
“Serin, how was it? You weren’t in any danger?”
Given that it was called Zone 3, he’d worried whether she might have faced serious risk.
“Thanks to the short swords you gave me, master, I was able to finish quickly.”
From the look on her face, it didn’t seem to have been particularly dangerous.
Her armor looked intact too.
Which made him wonder if Zone 3 was easier than expected, but.
When he saw the materials she pulled from her pack.
[ Dire Wolf Fur Leather ]
[ Fragment of Skeleton Warrior ]
[ Thorn of Carnivorous Thorned Bush ]
…….
He couldn’t help but be stunned.
“…These came from monsters that weren’t dangerous?”
“It was all thanks to the equipment you made for me, master.”
What manner of creature was a Dire Wolf?
Its sheer size and strength were incomparable to ordinary wolves—it was a formidable monster.
The next monster was no different.
Skeleton Warriors were undead that barely stayed dead, and they came at you in formations, properly armed and equipped.
The Carnivorous Thorned Bush…… even its name alone sounds ominous and vile, doesn’t it?
And yet she’s already cleared several of them.
Without sustaining a single wound.
That was truly Serin.
And there was something else.
Since the Zone 3 monsters were strong, the Experience Points were correspondingly high.
[ Your Level has increased. ]
My level had risen in the meantime.
Since I’d just finished hunting Zone 3, I suspected my level wouldn’t climb as sharply for a while yet.
But more pressing than that was, of course.
“How was the short sword?”
“It was flawless. A perfect blade—incomparable to any short sword I’ve wielded before.”
The short sword.
The first item with a Special Ability I’d ever crafted was the Piercing Lightning, but that dissolved the moment I used it once.
After that, I’d only been doing repairs.
This short sword was the first intentionally crafted item of mine to bear a genuine Special Ability.
Curious, I asked Serin for her impressions.
“It was a blade that harmonized perfectly with my Weak Point Discernment.”
“That’s a relief.”
Perhaps it was because I’d crafted it with her Unique Ability in mind.
Or perhaps it was simply chance.
Either way, a Special Ability had emerged that suited Serin perfectly.
Fortunately, it harmonized beautifully with her Unique Ability—it was proving to be far more compatible than I’d expected.
‘Good. I’m starting to understand now.’
I had a sense of it.
If I crafted items while recalling the sensation I’d felt when I made the Fangs of the Saber-tooth Tiger.
I might be able to create more items with Special Abilities.
With that thought.
“Why not try right away?”
I began crafting a new item.
Again, aiming to create something with a Special Ability attached.
[ You are using Special Crafting. ]
[ Please provide a design blueprint for the special craft. ]
I activated Special Crafting.
An item made through Special Crafting was far more likely to acquire a Special Ability than one made through standard crafting.
For the blueprint, I loosely modeled it after an item I’d seen back at the Final Gate.
Using the Dire Wolf Fur Leather I’d just obtained as material.
[ Crafting begins. ]
Clang!
I started the craft.
As expected, being material from a stronger monster.
The difficulty I felt while crafting was noticeably higher than usual.
But even so.
Although I’d been repairing rather than crafting, I’d been working on items at the maximum difficulty level I could handle until now.
Having repeatedly worked at that ceiling, this felt almost like a break in comparison.
Thanks to that.
[ Crafting is complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: S ]
[ You have obtained the Dire Wolf Cloak. ]
I’d completed the item.
Though I felt a twinge of disappointment.
It earned an S grade, but not a Masterwork judgment.
I’d held out hope, but as suspected.
‘No Special Ability attached.’
The Special Ability hadn’t manifested.
Still, I wasn’t ready to give up.
‘Could it be because I made the item shape too plain?’
If so, there was a way around it.
The Fangs of the Saber-tooth Tiger I’d made for Serin was actually modeled after a Named item from the Final Gate—the Frost Wolf’s Rupture Blade.
The only difference was that I’d used Fangs of the Saber-tooth Tiger as material instead of frost wolf parts, so the shape and name came out slightly different.
Then what if we proceed the same way this time?
Moreover, even if not a Frost Wolf, if we use the Fangs of the Saber-tooth Tiger!
Since they’re both wolves, wouldn’t the effect be even more amplified and create a special ability?
Thinking thus.
[ Using the Special Crafting Skill. ]
[ Please provide a blueprint for the special crafted item. ]
This time, just as I’d made for Serin, I drew up the blueprint using the Frost Wolf’s Rupture Blade as the base.
[ Fangs of the Saber-tooth Tiger ]
And incorporated materials suited to it.
Clang!
I swung the hammer.
Though the material’s value was somewhat inferior to the Fangs of the Saber-tooth Tiger.
Still, since I’d modeled it after the Frost Wolf’s Rupture Blade, this would suit it even better.
This time, surely a special ability would emerge, or so I thought.
[ Crafting complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: S ]
[ You have obtained the Dual Short Swords of Dire Wolf. ]
“Why won’t it work…….”
No luck.
A weapon with better performance than usual had been created.
The ability levels were higher than before, and there were more abilities too.
But no special ability appeared.
And from this, I could draw my own conclusion.
‘It’s not just about good design and fine materials.’
A special ability.
To create one, it seemed some other element was necessary.
The sense of urgency I’d felt making the Piercing Lightning, or the devotion I’d felt for Serin when creating the Fangs of the Saber-tooth Tiger.
That sort of thing.
If that’s what’s needed, I have no way to produce it on demand.
So, rather than forcing the issue of a special ability.
“Noum!”
“Noum!”
“I’ll teach you a new crafting method.”
“Noum is ready!”
To make use of the Zone 3 materials Serin had brought.
I decided to teach Noum a new crafting method.
Special crafting was enjoyable, but I found this moment equally delightful.
Taking new materials and crafting items that seemed most suited to them.
This never got old.
“Master is amazing! Noum was astounded!”
“About what?”
“Master has never seen these items before, yet you handle them so perfectly! Noum wants to learn from you!”
“Noum is doing well too. Thanks to you, I’ve had an much easier time lately.”
“Noum will work even harder!”
As I continued making new items with Noum.
Since Serin had reached Zone 3, I wondered if boss monster reports would soon start coming from the mine and forest.
And sure enough.
“Toran!”
“A boss monster?”
“Yeah, it’s here!”
A boss monster had appeared in the mine.
Upon hearing this immediately.
“Should we head right over?”
Toran and I boarded the cart and headed toward the deepest part of Zone 2.

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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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