I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 94

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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 94
Episode 94
An Underwater Gate emerged in Gyeonggi Bay.
Underwater Gates are notoriously difficult to navigate, but the single greatest problem they pose is, without question.
‘Breathing.’
Breathing.
No matter how powerful an Awakener is, they still need to breathe.
Without solving this problem, even the strongest Awakeners cannot breach an Underwater Gate.
Someone devised the idea of entering with an Oxygen Tank strapped to your back, but fighting while burdened with an Oxygen Tank is hardly convenient.
And if the tank sustains damage mid-combat, you’re as good as dead. There was no way around it.
Well, there is one way, actually.
‘Underwater Breathing.’
An item imbued with the Underwater Breathing ability.
With that item, you could breathe without trouble even in an Underwater Gate.
The problem is.
‘There isn’t a single one on the market.’
I’d searched the exchange thoroughly, and not a single item with Underwater Breathing was available.
Items with Underwater Breathing were exceedingly rare.
Which made them all the more coveted.
Then.
‘Why not just make one myself?’
If I crafted an item imbued with the Underwater Breathing ability, wouldn’t that solve everything?
Then even those who weren’t Underwater-type Awakeners could attempt Underwater Gates.
And I could breach that Gate in Gyeonggi Bay as well.
The Gate is troublesome because it’s underwater, not because the Gate itself is too high a tier to clear.
The moment that thought struck me.
“Forge of Time.”
A low rumble.
I stepped into the forge.
I considered contacting the Association Chairman right away.
But since I’d never crafted an item like this before, I figured it was better to make at least one prototype first, then reach out.
“Let’s see…….”
What material would I need to create the Underwater Breathing ability?
As I surveyed the storage, the first thing that caught my eye was, naturally.
[ Crazy Scale Fish’s Gill ]
That.
Gills.
Since gills are the respiratory organs of fish, couldn’t I use them to create the Underwater Breathing ability?
The moment I thought that.
“Let’s try it.”
I began work immediately.
[ Crafting initiated. ]
An Awakener item’s ability isn’t heavily affected by which body part it’s attached to.
Even if Underwater Breathing were on a pair of shoes, the ability would function without issue.
Still, the protective equipment I could craft was limited in tier.
And since I was making something related to breathing.
‘A necklace would be best.’
I decided on a necklace as the item type.
Bang!
The process was straightforward.
I just had to Smelt suitable materials that Drake had gathered from the sea, using the gills as the core component, and forge it into a necklace.
Of course, while doing so, I employed the Guidance function, hoping to manifest the Underwater Breathing ability.
Bang!
As I brought down the hammer.
[ Crafting complete. ]
[ Craft Evaluation: S ]
[ Acquired: Gill Necklace. ]
Before long, the item was finished.
With a tense heart, I checked its information.
[ Gill Necklace ]
Form: Necklace
Grade: S
Restriction: –
Description: A necklace crafted from the gill of a Crazy Scale Fish, made in admiration of the fish’s underwater breathing ability.
Ability: Underwater Breathing Lv 2
“Excellent!”
As expected.
An ornament with Underwater Breathing had been created.
Just to be thorough, I tried making one with another fish’s gill as well.
[ Gill Necklace ]
Form: Necklace
Grade: S
Restriction: –
Description: A necklace crafted from the gill of a cold Ice Fish, made in admiration of the fish’s underwater breathing ability.
Ability: Underwater Breathing Lv 2
Only the type of fish changed in the item description.
Still, it came with the Underwater Breathing Lv 2 ability.
This was enough to be certain.
As long as I used gill materials, I could craft items with Underwater Breathing.
I acted immediately.
“Drake, could you bring monster materials, focusing on gills?”
“Understood…….”
I instructed Drake to collect gills.
Drake, like Serin, possessed the Butchery Skill, so through it he could obtain the desired parts from materials as efficiently as possible.
Gathering gill materials as a priority wouldn’t be difficult for him.
Stepping out of the forge, I then
“Hello?”
called the Association Chairman.
Only a handful of people possessed the Chairman’s direct line number.
He’d given me the number with instructions to contact him immediately if anything urgent arose.
I could have sent a message, but given the urgency of the matter,
a phone call seemed better.
– What is it?
The Chairman, hearing my call shortly after,
received from me
“Chairman, I heard about the Gate that appeared in Gyeonggi Bay.”
– ……The Association is doing everything it can to find a solution.
“That’s actually why I’m calling—I’ve developed an Underwater Breathing item. It looks like mass production will be possible too. Would you have use for it?”
The moment I mentioned the real point,
– ……Is that true?
I could hear the Chairman’s voice rise.
Even through the phone, I could tell
that he’d shot up from his chair in shock.
* * *
The Underwater Gate that had appeared in Gyeonggi Bay.
In truth, underwater Gates were nothing new.
Korea is a nation surrounded by sea on three sides.
As a result, many Underwater Gates appeared,
and correspondingly, many Underwater-type Awakeners had emerged.
However,
“There simply isn’t usable equipment…….”
there was a severe shortage of gear for Underwater-type Awakeners to use.
Because of this, they couldn’t grow properly,
and though they managed to clear Gates somehow, even that had reached its limit.
The Gate that appeared in Gyeonggi Bay was far too difficult to conquer.
Resigned to near-defeat,
“We’ll send reinforcements.”
“Reinforcements, you say? Have you secured mercenaries? The Deep Blue mercenary company, perhaps…….”
word came from the Association.
The Ocean Guild, which had failed to conquer the Gyeonggi Bay Gate and had been lingering nearby, responded eagerly with the question,
“The Association mobilized Lightning Mages and Freezing Mages.”
But the answer I heard wasn’t what I’d hoped for.
Lightning Mages and Freezing Mages.
Both were capable of wielding considerable power in underwater combat, true enough, but——
“No, you are bringing Underwater Breathing items, aren’t you? Surely you know this, Association Chairman—without Underwater Breathing items, it’s completely meaningless!”
That was the problem.
Even if the Underwater-type Awakeners helped with transportation.
They couldn’t do anything about breathing.
Even if the mages came in wearing Oxygen Tanks, there was no way to predict when or how the monsters in an Underwater Gate would attack.
In such circumstances, it was impossible to protect the mages’ Oxygen Tanks perfectly.
The mages would know this too, so there was no chance they’d come willingly, accepting such risk.
I’d thought as much.
“All of them are equipped.”
“……Pardon?”
What did he mean by that?
They’d equipped everyone with Underwater Breathing items.
Underwater Breathing items were so rare that not only were they impossible to find on the market, but as essential equipment for conquering Underwater Gates, they were extraordinarily difficult to acquire.
How had they possibly obtained such items?
And that wasn’t all.
“Furthermore, the Flame Emperor has agreed to participate.”
“The—the Flame Emperor? You mean Flame Emperor Hong A-rin?”
The Flame Emperor was coming with them.
It didn’t sound like a jest, because not long after——
“We’ve arrived!”
The Flame Emperor and the mages reached the site.
True to the Association Chairman’s word, they all wore distinctive necklaces.
Those must be the Underwater Breathing items.
We cautiously entered the seabed.
“Wow, it actually works?”
“Underwater Breathing—that’s incredible.”
The performance of the Underwater Breathing was undeniable.
All the mages wearing the necklaces were breathing without any difficulty.
More than that—seeing they could converse without problems meant this wasn’t ‘Underwater Breathing Level 1’.
At minimum, ‘Underwater Breathing Level 2’.
I had no idea how they’d managed to procure such items.
“We’ll guide you from here on!”
The Underwater-type Awakeners began leading the mages forward.
Being able to breathe didn’t mean one could swim well, after all.
The moment we entered the Gate, powerful monsters attacked us, but——
the mages who’d come as reinforcements, powered by ‘Underwater Breathing Level 2’, freely cast their incantations even submerged.
“Ice Spear!”
“Chain Lightning.”
“Raidin.”
Boom—
They began their assault on the monsters.
Since these were aquatic monsters, most creatures here were vulnerable to electrical attacks.
Ice worked just as well.
Stronger monsters would shake off the freezing cold, but ordinary ones froze solid along with the water, unable to move an inch.
The Gate conquest proceeded in mere moments.
And then came the final trial.
The instant the Boss Monster appeared——
“Prominence.”
The Flame Emperor, Hong A-rin.
She finished her long, drawn-out incantation.
Boom—boom—boom——!
A pillar of searing flame erupted.
Fire magic, underwater.
Weak, wasn’t it?
That was a fair assessment.
Generally speaking, a Fire-attribute mage would struggle to exert true power casting magic in an Underwater Gate.
But she was different.
Serin, Hong A-rin.
Her flames revealed themselves clearly in the underwater-type Gate.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-!!
The water temperature rose sharply.
The temperature spiked in an instant, the water churning and boiling.
The Boss Monster, already thrashing under concentrated fire from the other mages, finally
“Gurgle—.”
collapsed.
And so, the Gate in Gyeonggi Bay was cleared.
There had been fears that if the assault failed and a Gate Break occurred, the waters off Incheon would be overrun with monsters.
Yet that perilous Gyeonggi Bay Gate fell far more easily than anyone expected.
And given how prominently the Gate had featured in danger reports,
[ Gyeonggi Bay Gate clearance: complete. ]
[ Serin’s flames that do not die even beneath the waves! ]
[ Support from the Awakener Association? ]
[ How did they manage to clear the Gyeonggi Bay Gate? ]
Countless journalists ran stories on the matter.
And naturally,
“It was all thanks to Jang Gang-cheol.”
“Thanks to Jang Gang-cheol, you say?”
“Jang Gang-cheol, concerned about the Gyeonggi Bay Gate, provided the Association with Underwater Breathing items. It was thanks to those that we were able to clear the underwater-type Gate safely.”
“Jang Gang-cheol can craft Underwater Breathing items?!”
“Yes. Not merely one or two, but dozens of Underwater Breathing items were provided.”
Jang Gang-cheol’s name entered the conversation.
Serin had cleared the Gate, but
in truth, the fundamental reason they’d been able to clear it at all was because of Jang Gang-cheol.
– Wait, he made Underwater Breathing items too?
– Wasn’t that supposed to be a rare ability?
– Of course it’s rare, and the supply was so scarce relative to demand it basically counted as a strategic material
– And he made it…?
– That’s insane lol
– So Korea’s escaped the threat of underwater-type Gates?
– For real lol
– Japan’s apparently been dealing with headaches from underwater-type Gates, they’ll be jealous as hell when they hear this lol
Naturally, turmoil broke out among Awakeners as well.
Underwater Breathing items.
Jang Gang-cheol had crafted them without much thought, simply because the Gyeonggi Bay Gate seemed to need them urgently.
But the existence and value of Underwater Breathing items exceeded what Jang Gang-cheol himself had imagined.
As such, the news spread not just across Korea but around the world,
and countries especially struggling with underwater-type Gates
“Contact Jang Gang-cheol at once!”
“Well, that is… we’ve already submitted requests, but Jang Gang-cheol is known for not checking requests….”
“Then contact the Korean Awakener Association! Get as many Underwater Breathing items imported as possible, immediately!”
They began searching for Jang Gang-cheol with desperate urgency.

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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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