I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 78

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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 78
Chapter 78
Ember, the curator of the Forge of Time.
Since Jang Gang-cheol had grown accustomed to the forge, Ember’s presence had faded considerably.
Yet Ember continued to observe Jang Gang-cheol still.
And now.
Ember could finally render a judgment on Jang Gang-cheol.
– SSS Grade.
To use item grades as an example.
Yes, it was unmistakably SSS Grade.
No, to be honest, even that fell short.
When considering all those who had passed through the forge.
When measuring the gap in skill, Jang Gang-cheol possessed an ability so far beyond SSS Grade that even that ranking seemed inadequate.
There were many reasons for this.
– Fundamental skill.
The grade of the first weapon Jang Gang-cheol ever crafted was A Grade.
To be frank, it was preposterous.
Even the most skilled blacksmiths struggled to craft B Grade items, let alone A Grade, before adapting to the forge.
And this was only the beginning.
From there he steadily honed his craft, and now an A Grade item was dismissed as a failure.
He produced S Grade items as standard.
When in peak condition, he churned out SS Grade items with ease.
Most of all.
– To think he’s already crafted SSS Grade items. Unbelievable.
Jang Gang-cheol had already created an SSS Grade item before.
Specifically, an SSS Grade arrow.
The Piercing Lightning.
Though it was partly because his potential had surged to extraordinary heights in an urgent moment.
And even then, it vanished the moment it was used once.
Regardless, an SSS Grade item was not something one should craft at this stage.
Many past masters of the forge had faded away without ever crafting even an SS Grade item.
Among all of them, only two blacksmiths had ever created an SSS Grade item.
And even those were their final masterpieces, forged by pouring every ounce of their essence as death drew near.
And yet.
Such an item.
Created less than a year after becoming the master of the forge.
Even for Ember, it was a sight almost impossible to believe.
Was that all?
– All four assistants summoned as S Grade.
The assistants of the Forge of Time.
Summoning S Grade assistants from this platform was originally as difficult as plucking stars from the sky.
The conditions for SS Grade or higher summons were effectively sealed off at present, so set those aside.
S Grade assistants—truly the highest tier one could obtain.
And yet all four of them were summoned as S Grade assistants.
Other blacksmiths had cancelled and resummoned dozens, hundreds of times to bring forth better assistants.
It was a fact almost beyond belief.
Ember had numerous other reasons for judging Jang Gang-cheol as transcendent, beyond even SSS Grade.
An overwhelming rate of growth.
Overwhelming powers of concentration.
In any case, why was she bringing this up now?
Because Ember, the curator of the forge.
– Had no one else.
The sole Awakener blacksmith on Earth.
Jang Gang-cheol.
– It’s impossible without this man.
She had recognized him as the true master of the forge.
Having watched countless masters over the years, Jang Gang-cheol’s talent was incomparable to any blacksmith who had come before.
If he were not that Jang Gang-cheol.
No one else could ever fulfill the Forge of Time’s deepest desire.
Ember’s long-cherished wish.
So confident, too.
– It has to be now.
Ember had poured all her strength into interfering with the Forge of Time’s systems in her capacity as its caretaker.
In truth, even as a caretaker, her authority was limited.
There was nothing she could directly manipulate.
Yet.
If she expended the power and strength she had accumulated over all these years as the Forge’s caretaker.
[ Awakening Stone Lv 4 ]
The boss monster of the Forge dropped it at approximately a 1 in 1,000 probability.
She could make it drop an Awakening Stone of just the right level to benefit Jang Gang-cheol.
However, it was not yet time to mention his Secret Wish to Jang Gang-cheol.
– You have obtained an Awakening Stone.
– My congratulations, Jang Gang-cheol.
Ember simply played ignorant.
She offered nothing but words of celebration to Jang Gang-cheol, the true master of the Forge.
* * *
An Awakening Stone worth sixteen billion!
I never thought such an item existed.
So I asked, just in case.
“Does this drop every time I hunt a boss monster from now on? Or does it drop after I hunt three boss monsters or something like that……”
I asked Ember.
– It is a random drop item.
– You may assume the probability is approximately 1 in 1,000.
“……One in a thousand?”
It seems there’s no real chance of obtaining it again.
One in a thousand odds.
And that only after defeating a boss monster—a one in a thousand chance to get such an item.
In other words, obtaining this item right now was pure fortune.
So I put aside any lingering attachment.
‘Where should I use it?’
Now was the time to decide what to do with this Awakening Stone.
Among the current elements of the Forge, there were two at Level 4.
‘The Forge of Time’ itself, and the Summoning Platform.
Both were far too tempting, so I paused to think for a moment.
“Let me craft an axe first.”
I decided to take a step back for now.
And with good reason.
“Squeak!”
Grom was looking at me with gleaming eyes.
I’d defeated the boss monster of the hunting grounds and crafted a short sword for Serin.
I’d defeated the boss monster of the Mine and crafted a Pickaxe for Toran.
Now he was waiting for his turn, I’m sure.
Well.
“I’ll craft it for you right away, Grom.”
“Squeak!”
That was true anyway.
I returned to the Forge, summoned my assistants through an emergency recall, sent them back to their positions, and then.
[ Using Crafting Skill. ]
I stood before the anvil.
[ Using Special Crafting Skill. ]
[ Please draw up a blueprint for this special craft. ]
This time as well, I drafted the blueprint while thinking of the named items from Final Gate.
The varieties of named axes were quite diverse.
There were ornate double-edged axes with elaborate patterns carved into them, or War Axes, and such.
But rather than those.
‘Logging Axe’—I selected a named axe that would suit it best and modified the blueprint to fit Grom.
Then.
[ Black Sap Ancient Tree Sap ]
[ Black Sap Ancient Tree Branch ]
Using materials obtained from defeating the forest boss monster.
[ Crafting has begun. ]
I started hammering away.
Clang!
First, the branch.
As I swung the hammer, the branch compressed and gradually took on the shape of a shaft.
Given the quality of the material, it took a bit of time, but it wasn’t particularly difficult.
The real problem came next.
Clang!
The Black Sap Ancient Tree Sap.
This was far trickier to work with than I’d expected.
Strike the point too hard, and only the surface hardened.
Strike it too gently, and it just rippled.
I had to keep striking the same point with just the right amount of force.
The boss monster had turned sap into a weapon in a single second.
I couldn’t figure out why it was so difficult in my hands.
Still.
Clang!
Perhaps because of my effort put into it.
Clang!
With each swing, I felt the sap growing harder and harder.
Far harder than any iron ore could be.
The blade, too, was being honed sharper than when I’d been smelting ore.
I bound this together with the axe shaft, fusing them as if they were a single piece.
[ Crafting has been completed. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: SS ]
[ You have obtained ‘Black Forest Executor’. ]
[ A Masterpiece has been born. ]
[ A masterpiece worthy of spreading your name across the world has been completed. Drawing inspiration from this, your stats increase. ]
[ Strength increases by 1. ]
[ Vitality increases by 2. ]
A masterpiece had been born, exactly as I’d anticipated.
And now, without even checking the item information, I could feel it.
That this weapon would have its own unique Special Ability.
[ Black Forest Executor ]
Form: Axe
Grade: SS
Requirement: Level 26 or higher
Description: An axe crafted from a Black Sap Ancient Tree branch, with sap refined to its limit, becoming smaller, denser, and essentially the Black Sap Ancient Tree itself in miniature form.
Attack Power: 170
Abilities:
Black Sap Erosion
, Logging Lv 4, Strength Lv 2, Vitality Lv 2
As expected.
The Special Ability had been attached exactly as I’d predicted.
[ Special Ability: Black Sap Erosion ]
Black sap seeps into the struck point and erodes it.
The Defense of the affected area decreases.
When the Erosion Level reaches its peak, an attack can be judged as an instant kill.
The effect of the Special Ability is… honestly, I’m not entirely sure.
Whether it’s good or bad.
The only real way to find out is to use it directly.
“Cheep-cheep! Thank you, Master! Grom will work even harder!”
“You’re already doing great. Just try it out and let me know what it’s like.”
“Understood!”
I handed the axe to Grom.
And a short while later.
Grom came rushing back urgently after finishing the logging.
“Cheep-cheep-cheep!”
He was breathing heavily and forcefully.
“Calm down and tell me. What is it?”
“Master, this axe is incredible! Absolutely incredible!”
“I see. But what makes it so incredible? Take a breath first, and explain calmly.”
“Squee-eek!”
He was too excited to form proper words.
I offered him water to settle down, but Grom drained a full 1.5-liter bottle in one go.
Only then, having calmed slightly, did Grom begin his explanation.
“Squee! Zone Three has bigger, thicker trees! Not all of them, mind you! But there are way more of those!”
“And?”
“Thicker trees mean more swings! Takes longer! But you get way more wood!”
I thought that was obvious enough, but then he continued.
“But the axe you made for me! With this axe, chopping is so much easier!”
Once I heard the rest, I understood why Grom was so excited.
Zone Three had plenty of thick trees, which meant a lot of swinging required.
The special ability of the axe I’d made—Black Sap Erosion.
Thanks to that, the trees’ defense weakened, and with each swing, the axe sank deeper and deeper.
But that wasn’t all.
“The axe marks turned black, and the tree came down in one stroke!”
It seemed the “instant death” judgment attached to the special ability worked on trees too.
A tree that had finished eroding was felled in a single blow.
Logging speed had shot up considerably as a result.
For smaller trees, the old axe with its higher Strength level was slightly more efficient.
But in places full of large trees like Zone Three, the Black Forest Executor axe was overwhelmingly superior.
As the trees grew thicker—which they would—they wouldn’t thin out.
The Black Forest Executor would clearly remain invaluable to Grom.
And then.
Rumble—
The timber Grom had brought back looked exceptional at first glance.
Just as the high-quality ore from Zone Three of the Mine had improved item performance,
using this timber would boost my crafted goods once more.
Like iron ingots, timber was a fundamental material that went into countless items.
“Squee! Grom goes again! Got new axe, earn more now!”
After Grom snorted and vanished once more,
instead of swinging my hammer, I reached for an item.
[ Awakening Stone Lv 4 ]
While I was making the axe for Grom,
I’d already decided where to use this Awakening Stone.
On reflection, it was the obvious choice.
The Summoning Platform still needed further growth before Enhancement.
That left only one element.
[ Would you like to raise the level of ‘Forge of Time Lv 4’? ]
[ Y / N ]
Raising the level of the Forge of Time to unlock a new space.
The moment I accepted the message,
Fwip—
the Awakening Stone Lv 4 in my hand vanished,
[ The Forge of Time has reached Lv 5. ]
[ A new space has been unlocked. ]
A new space in the forge opened before 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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