I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 8

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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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Episode 8
Episode 8
[ Crafting has been completed. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: B ]
[ You have obtained a Basic Long Sword. ]
The fact that my Crafting Evaluation had dropped to a B told me my Stamina had run dry.
And as I finished today’s work, I came to understand one crucial thing.
“This wasn’t simply a matter of fatigue.”
Yesterday, when I’d finished work, I’d felt my hands losing their strength and assumed it was just a lack of stamina on my part.
But I’d been wrong.
It wasn’t merely stamina—it was the true “vitality” that came from the harmonization of the Strength and Health I’d gained upon awakening.
In gaming terms, HP—Health Points—or what they call SP, Stamina Points.
That pool had run completely dry.
On impulse, I’d even bought and drunk a potion designed to help restore vitality.
“It didn’t help much. It feels like my maximum vitality itself has been reduced.”
There was some recovery, but not enough to continue working.
So I finished the day and—
“Hah, nervous now, am I?”
—stood before my bed.
Today’s work had been heavier than yesterday’s.
Perhaps because of it, the muscle soreness that had lingered even after drinking the Orc Warrior’s Elixir seemed to have grown worse.
If I slept like this and woke up, I was certain to face even more severe soreness than yesterday.
I’d considered buying another Orc Warrior’s Elixir, but—
“Have faith!”
If I don’t believe in a bed I made myself, who will?
I resolved to trust in my own creation.
With that thought, I lay down on the bed, and—
“Oh, this isn’t bad at all.”
I’d worried whether stuffing the interior with leaves might make it uncomfortable, but—
the cushioning exceeded my expectations.
The soft rustling sounds from within were pleasant to hear.
A fresh, natural essence seemed to emanate from it.
“So very… soft.”
The scent of nature that rose from the bed,
breathing it in, I fell asleep without knowing it.
And the next day.
The moment I woke—
“Whoa, good morning!”
The words tumbled out on their own.
Such was the clarity of my rest.
Yesterday I’d slept soundly too, but back then I’d simply collapsed from exhaustion, so it felt more like passing out.
Today, the phrase “I really got good sleep” felt entirely apt.
The weariness that had weighed on me completely vanished.
Still, one couldn’t be too sure.
Worrying about soreness, I rose slowly and carefully from the bed.
And at once, I understood.
“Ha ha ha ha! Of course it’s the bed I made! Absolutely perfect!”
Despite pushing myself even harder than the day before,
I felt not a trace of muscle soreness anywhere in my body.
Had I perhaps worked less hard yesterday?
No.
Because—
[ Through extreme hammering, your Strength has increased by 1. ]
[ Through extreme hammering, your Health has increased by 1. ]
As testament to yesterday’s labor,
the ability stats gained through training materialized before my eyes.
“Excellent—should I get right back to work?”
Thus did I free myself from the worry of muscle soreness and throw myself into Crafting with even greater dedication.
* * *
Thanks to the bed, my worries about soreness had vanished, and—
The result of hammering being recognized as training—my Strength and Health had risen.
Clang, clang, clang!
I could swing the hammer without any hesitation now.
“Should I try making something new this time?”
Until yesterday, I’d kept churning out the Basic Long Sword series because I was worried about wasting materials.
But today, all my anxiety and fatigue had vanished. My condition was pristine.
And given that,
[ I activate the Crafting skill. ]
[ Please select the item to craft. ]
“Wooden armor!”
[ Please select the materials. ]
A new option had appeared when the Anvil leveled up to 2.
I selected armor.
I had leftover wood from making the bed yesterday, so I decided to craft a Lowest-Grade Wooden Armor using that lowest-grade lumber for now.
[ Crafting begins. ]
The difficulty wasn’t particularly high.
After all, armor or not, it was still the Basic series.
Once I struck every vital point perfectly, the lowest-grade wood piled before me transformed.
[ Crafting is complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: S ]
[ You have obtained ‘Lowest-Grade Wooden Armor’. ]
It had finished as S-Rank Wooden Armor.
[ Lowest-Grade Wooden Armor ]
Form: Armor
Rank: S
Requirement: Level 1 or higher
Description: Lowest-Grade Wooden Armor crafted from processed lowest-grade lumber
Defense: 27
Abilities: Defense Lv 1, Stamina Lv 1
Not only was the defense high, but it had gained both the Defense ability that raised defense power and the Stamina ability that raised durability.
Pleased with the result, I immediately checked the Auction House and registered it at a fair price.
Actually, I wasn’t really that satisfied with it.
“S-Rank, huh? That’s a bit disappointing.”
If the system’s judgment ranks matched the Final Gate’s,
then the highest judgment rank would be EX.
Well, EX rank is a separate matter entirely—that’s the rank I got when I strengthened the Final Gate’s supreme item, Hei Long Nadan’s Executioner Sword, to maximum level.
Realistically speaking, the highest rank should be considered SSS.
SSS rank is admittedly difficult to obtain, but in the Final Gate, I’d routinely pulled off SSS-rank items without breaking a sweat.
So the reason I can only produce S rank at best, even while making Basic series items, is naturally
“my stat distribution and this hammer.”
The stats of someone who’d only just Awakened as Level 1.
Even though my stats had risen somewhat from two days of training,
[ Status Window ]
– Name: Jang Gangjul
– Level: 1
– Job Class: Blacksmith
– Ability: Time’s Smithy
– Strength: 12
– Agility: 10
– Health: 12
– Intelligence: 10
– Wisdom: 10
it’s still Level 1 caliber stats no matter how you look at it.
And the Blacksmith’s Hammer I’m currently using is also Level 1.
So there’s no way I could produce proper results.
Honestly, with stats at this level, even an A-rank evaluation would be difficult normally.
It’s only because I was the number-one blacksmith in the Final Gate that I’m managing to pull off S-rank occasionally.
Anyway,
“Let me just craft all the newly registered equipment one by one!”
I immediately began crafting the next item.
[ Crafting is complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: A ]
[ You have obtained ‘Lowest-Grade Wooden Helmet’. ]
The Lowest-Grade Wooden Armor series, of course.
[ Crafting is complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: A ]
[ You have obtained ‘Basic Iron Armor’. ]
The iron armor series — heavier, but with superior defense.
And finally.
[ Crafting is complete. ]
[ Crafting Evaluation: A ]
[ You have obtained ‘Basic Cloth Armor’. ]
The ‘Lowest-Grade Fiber’ obtained by disassembling grass harvested from Blacksmith’s Forest.
Even the cloth armor series created from it.
Every time I crafted equipment like this.
[ ‘Basic Cloth Armor’ has been sold. ]
A pleasant notification chimed from the Trading Post.
And as I stood there.
“Maybe it’s time to upgrade this too?”
My gaze fell on the hammer in my hand.
A Level 1 hammer.
It required a Lowest-Grade Magic Stone that cost a million won each — but I couldn’t leave it at Level 1 like this.
After all, if the hammer reached Level 2 and I could craft S-rank equipment?
I could recoup the investment cost today alone.
With that thought, I asked Ember to confirm the enhancement requirements.
– You will need 4 Lowest-Grade Magic Stones.
“What? Not three?”
– Exactly 4 Lowest-Grade Magic Stones.
The first upgrade had taken one.
The second had taken two, so I’d expected three would be next — but my assumption shattered.
Four Lowest-Grade Magic Stones were required.
“No, wait.”
The moment I heard that, anxiety seized me.
‘Time’s Smithy’ didn’t increase the required Magic Stones by one each time the object level rose — it doubled.
One, two, four, eight, sixteen……
Converting each at a million won apiece: a million, two million, four million, eight million, sixteen million?
And if it kept climbing from there, wouldn’t I hit hundreds of millions before I knew it?
The moment I thought that far, despair crept in.
But still.
“Sigh…… I have no choice.”
There was no way I could skip leveling up the hammer.
I let out a small breath, then paid the hefty sum of four million won at the Trading Post to purchase four Lowest-Grade Magic Stones.
Immediately, I placed my hand on the hammer.
[ Would you like to raise the level of ‘Blacksmith’s Hammer Lv 1’? ]
[ Y / N ]
“Let’s do it.”
I proceeded with the hammer’s level-up.
Once again, the four Magic Stones in my hand.
Four million won worth of stones scattered and were absorbed into my hammer.
[ Blacksmith’s Hammer has become Lv 2. ]
[ 1. Crafting Lv 2 ]
[ 2. Repair Lv 2 ]
[ 3. Disassembly Lv 2 ]
[ 4. Special Crafting Lv 2 ]
The hammer’s level had risen.
The effects were straightforward.
The three abilities that had been attached before.
The Crafting, Repair, and Disassembly levels — the core abilities of a blacksmith — had grown stronger.
Compared to the expanded space of ‘Time’s Smithy’ or the Anvil’s added item encyclopedia, it was a deceptively simple ability.
But that’s how it goes — sometimes simple is best.
There’s an old saying: simplicity is best, isn’t there?
And that’s not all.
“Special Crafting?”
A new skill had materialized.
Special Crafting, of all things.
When I asked Ember what this was,
– Unlike the ordinary Crafting skill that produces items recorded in the codex, this is the skill used when you design and create entirely new items from scratch.
“Oh, so something like that exists.”
It was a skill I quite liked.
Well, I’d save that for later.
I immediately proceeded.
[ Crafting complete. ]
[ Crafting Grade: S ]
[ You have obtained a Basic Iron Armor. ]
Creating a new item,
“Hahahaha! Now this is it!”
I could feel the effect of the Level 2 hammer firsthand.
* * *
Awakened Ones.
Those who awakened mighty abilities and faced monsters were beings worthy of being called heroes.
Yet when you listened to those involved speak, it wasn’t quite so simple.
“The highest casualty rates occur at high levels too. After all, high-level Awakened Ones face correspondingly stronger monsters.”
“I see. As one would expect……”
“But the most accidents actually happen among low-level Awakened Ones. Especially those at Levels 1 and 2.”
“Is that so? At that level, wouldn’t they just be hunting goblins and slimes?”
“The problem is experience.”
“Experience, you say……”
“Goblins and slimes have their own instinctive combat sense and experience. A Level 1 Awakened One, by contrast, has virtually none. They’re unfamiliar with combat itself as a situation.”
“I understand.”
“Equipment supports them through this, but securing gear for Awakened Ones isn’t easy. Especially Level 1 gear.”
The world of the Awakened was far from forgiving.
Awakened Ones earned well precisely because it was work done at the risk of one’s life.
Hazard pay, one might say.
Newly awakened Level 1 Awakened Ones were especially vulnerable.
No combat experience, inadequate equipment, yet confident in their newfound status, they charged recklessly at monsters—that was the typical Level 1 Awakened One.
In that sense,
“Our Awakened Association does what we can to support them, but keeping all Awakened Ones safe is far from simple.”
The safety of Level 1 Awakened Ones had recently become the organization’s most pressing concern.
Then,
“Chairman, have you seen this?”
“Seen what?”
“The Level 1 equipment that’s been appearing on the Trading Post recently.”
“Level 1 equipment? Is there any new kind of Level 1 gear worth mentioning?”
“It’s equipment people are calling the ‘Basic Series.'”
“The Basic Series?”
“The crucial thing is that this Basic Series equipment is graded at minimum A-rank. Maximum S-rank.”
“Truly?”
And so,
new items began appearing on the Trading Post.
A- to S-rank weapons, no less.
Ordinarily, Level 1 Awakened Ones primarily used C-rank equipment.
Higher-ranked items were almost never listed for sale, and when they were, the prices were so steep that only well-capitalized Awakened Ones could afford them.
Yet A- to S-rank gear?
“This is extraordinary.”
“Yes, and the supply is substantial. Tens of items are being listed on the Trading Post daily.”
Tens of items.
Considering the number of Awakened Ones, even that wasn’t quite enough.
But it wasn’t too few, either.
Even if Level 1 was dangerous, it required the least experience to level up, making it possible to advance fastest from that stage.
If Level 1 equipment continued flowing like this,
Level 1 Awakened Ones would be able to use that equipment with ease.
And if that were to happen.
‘I could increase the stability of newly awakened novice Awakened Ones.’
It would significantly reduce the danger level for Level 1 Awakened Ones.
Because with weapons of that caliber, they’d be able to fell weak monsters in one or two strikes.
And they’d be able to withstand the attacks of weak monsters with relative ease.
The moment this realization struck him.
“Purchase all Basic Series items currently listed on the Trading Post immediately.”
“Understood, sir.”
The association president issued the purchase order at once.
But this was not where it ended.
These Basic Series items—items he’d never seen before.
And items appearing on the Trading Post periodically in such regular succession that it seemed unlikely they were obtained from hunting monsters.
Observing this pattern.
“Could it be……”
The association president recalled the existence of a Crafter.
A type of Awakened One that had never once appeared in this world.
Because of this, it was common knowledge that a Crafter-type Awakened One didn’t exist.
Yet, looking at the Basic Series items surfacing on the Trading Post.
“I should investigate this more carefully.”
The president of the Awakened Association began to suspect the existence of that Crafter.

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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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