I Became an SSS-Grade Time-Transcending Almighty Blacksmith - Chapter 97

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 97
Episode 97
Lee Seo-yun had become my secretary.
Her competence exceeded what I’d expected.
First, let me look at the item sales strategy.
“As I mentioned, we could raise prices even higher on high-level items. The same goes for accessories.”
“I see.”
“Especially with set items—I think it’s better to bundle them and sell them at a premium. If we sell them separately, we get less money and the buyers have less convenience.”
“That makes sense.”
I wasn’t changing anything about the items I made.
In fact, having a secretary meant paying her a salary, so logically I should’ve been taking a loss.
But I wasn’t.
The moment she started working, my revenue climbed.
And that wasn’t all.
Since she was handling all sales,
I no longer had to check prices myself or upload items to the Exchange—I just sent her everything I made.
She handled everything after that.
I’d worried the price increases might upset the Awakeners,
[ Finally got the set item!!! ]
I’ve been so frustrated hunting for pieces separately, overpaying for extras—this is way more convenient
– I want it too ㅠㅠ
– But the price went up;
– When you think about it, hunting for parts and overpaying anyway, this is actually cheaper lol
– For real
[ Got Kang Cheol-mangchi SS-rank gear ]
This was something you couldn’t buy even with money before, but the higher price seems to have cut competition lol
Insane blessing
– Why’s a higher price a blessing?
– You never shopped for Kang Cheol-mangchi gear before? You literally can’t buy it no matter how much money you throw at it. Especially SS-rank stuff—that’s commission-tier, so it’s way harder to get
– If you’ve got money you buy the expensive version, if not you buy the cheaper tier lol
– Yeah that’s right
The reception wasn’t bad.
Actually, the response seemed better than I’d hoped.
Even with the prices raised, people were reacting more positively.
I never would’ve imagined this.
With Lee Seo-yun handling item sales,
[ Crafting Complete. ]
[ Crafting Grade: S ]
[ Obtained ‘Pufferfish Poison Needle Arrow’. ]
[ Obtained ‘Rock Lizard Leather Armor’. ]
…….
I could focus entirely on crafting.
Before, I’d checked the Exchange prices, decided how much to list each item for, registered all of Naume’s mass-produced goods, and handled every step myself.
As the volume grew, that took considerable time.
But with Lee Seo-yun managing it all,
my free time expanded dramatically.
I wondered why I hadn’t hired a secretary sooner.
And my hired staff didn’t end at Lee Seo-yun.
“My junior colleague here has agreed to organize the commission requests for you.”
“Thank you.”
“M-me too!”
Lee Seo-yun’s junior had come on board.
After that,
I posted on the Awakener community:
[ This is Kang Cheol-mangchi. ]
I’ve found it impossible to handle all commissions alone, so I’m setting up a dedicated business email account.
Going forward, please send commission-related messages to the Awakener account ‘Kang Cheol-mangchi-Request’ or email ‘SteelRequest.xxxxx.xxx’.
For official proposals, please message ‘Kang Cheol-mangchi-Official’ or email ‘SteelOfficial.xxxxx.xxx’.
I uploaded this post.
For this, Lee Seo-yun had even changed her Awakener username.
The new recruits were no different.
After that, all the notes that used to come to me were forwarded to Lee Seo-yun and her junior colleague.
Some people who hadn’t yet heard the news still sent me notes occasionally.
But I no longer needed to check my message box.
Instead.
“Kang Cheol-mangchi, I’ve organized only those requests related to Special Ability Items that you’re looking for. There haven’t been any items listed on the Exchange yet.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Also, apart from Special Ability Items, I’ve organized requests sent from major Guilds or the Association, as well as requests offering above-average commission fees.”
“Excellent.”
“I’ve only organized them, so please review and let me know if any of the requests catch your interest.”
“Thanks, Lee Seo-yun.”
“It’s my job! Once we start running the Guild, things will get even busier than they are now!”
Lee Seo-yun took the lead in organizing only the requests I needed and reporting them to me in crisp, efficient summaries.
She also looked out for any Special Ability Items that might appear on the Exchange, so I could purchase them if needed.
I’d thought having a secretary would be convenient.
But I never imagined it would be this convenient.
At this point, Lee Seo-yun was practically my sixth assistant.
Her abilities were on par with the assistants I summoned through the Summoning Platform.
“Kang Cheol-mangchi, would it be much harder to craft more Underwater Breathing Items?”
“Not harder exactly, but sourcing the materials is a bit challenging. I’m building up supplies again gradually, though.”
“Then whenever you have a chance, could you let me know how many you can produce? There are still many places that need them, so I’m thinking of coordinating and exporting them myself.”
“You’re not leaving it to the Association?”
“The Association isn’t taking a commission either, but when they’re trying to secure diplomatic advantages, they inevitably stop focusing on price alone.”
“I see.”
“Don’t worry—I have no intention of making an enemy of the Association.”
In fact, she took over the sales of the Underwater Breathing Items that had been paused due to lack of materials.
“I think it would be good to actively pursue overseas exports, not just domestic sales.”
“Like with the Underwater Breathing Items?”
“Yes. However, exporting items involves strict licensing requirements, so I’ll do my best to navigate and coordinate those aspects.”
Starting with the Underwater Breathing Items, she said she would find export methods for other items as well.
Once that was approved, we agreed to accept requests not just from Korea, but on a global scale.
That way, we could receive far more diverse requests than we do from Korea.
Much larger commissions as well.
Above all, we could accept requests related to Special Ability Items scattered across the world.
And if luck was on our side, we might even be able to purchase Special Ability Items outright.
‘This is too good.’
Even without my doing anything, the business was growing and operating on its own.
It couldn’t get better than this.
And.
Thanks to Lee Seo-yun’s sales efforts recently, particularly with the Underwater Breathing Items exported to various countries, bearing fruit—
“Is this even real…?”
The funds needed to enhance the Forge of Time.
I managed to accumulate 32 billion won in rapid succession.
To be precise, 32 billion 760 million won.
That’s the amount needed to purchase three highest-grade Mana Stones, two high-grade Mana Stones, seven mid-grade Mana Stones, six low-grade Mana Stones, and eight lowest-grade Mana Stones.
Of course, I had accumulated a particularly large sum of money during my previous Enhancement.
And I’d earned even more through Repair work and similar activities.
Still, I never thought I’d accumulate 32.76 billion won so quickly.
The problem was.
“What’s this? Why aren’t there any listings?”
There was a shortage of Mana Stones.
I opened the Exchange, but Mana Stones weren’t showing up.
I’d purchased about half of the Mana Stones I needed, but the other half simply wasn’t available.
I considered sweeping up lower-grade Mana Stones instead.
“Why is the market price like this?”
The price of Mana Stones was rising absurdly.
Puzzled by this, I asked Lee Seo-yun about it.
“It can’t be helped. The higher the grade of the Mana Stone, the more extreme the difficulty in obtaining it becomes.”
“I know that, but….”
“And the uses for Mana Stones are truly endless. In that situation, once you started purchasing large quantities of them, the supply inevitably became strained.”
It was only natural, really.
This should have happened long ago, but it seemed the Association had been artificially controlling the price of Mana Stones.
A situation where even with money, you couldn’t buy them.
As I began to feel the weight of that problem—
“I think I can resolve this.”
“You can?”
“After all, where in Korea holds the most Mana Stones?”
“…The Association?”
“Exactly. Since the Association Director is favorably disposed toward Kang Cheol-mangchi, he’ll surely support your growth with whatever resources you need.”
Lee Seo-yun took the matter in hand.
I’m not sure what conversation she had with the Association Director after that.
“It’s been approved!”
“Really?”
“Yes, they said they’ll sell all the Mana Stones you need at the original price—not the inflated rate it’s at now, but the proper market price from before.”
“Oh, thank you so much! You’ve done me a great service!”
“Don’t mention it—it’s only right. Hehe!”
I was able to purchase all the Mana Stones I needed.
The price of Mana Stones had risen more than 1.5 times over.
But I was getting them at the original rate instead.
With the Mana Stones secured, I headed straight into the forge.
“The next Enhancement should definitely be this.”
I picked up the hammer.
[ Would you like to raise the Level of ‘Blacksmith’s Hammer Lv 5’? ]
[ Y / N ]
All the other elements mattered.
But if I had to pick the single most crucial one, it was this hammer.
Whether it was for crafting items,
or for enhancing the next Summoning Platform to call forth a new assistant—
improving the hammer’s performance was my highest priority.
The moment I nodded, all the Mana Stones I’d prepared were consumed.
[ Blacksmith’s Hammer has become Lv 6. ]
[ 1. Crafting Lv 6 ]
[ 2. Repair Lv 6 ]
[ 3. Disassembly Lv 6 ]
[ 4. Special Crafting Lv 6 ]
[ 5. Modification Lv 6 ]
The hammer had leveled up.
With this, crafting items would become far easier.
The Summoning Platform aside, as the tier of items I created rose higher, the difficulty kept climbing, so—
I decided to always prioritize leveling the hammer first.
The problem, though—
“Next one… 65.5 billion? Oh no….”
The next Enhancement.
The previous one had required roughly 32.7 billion worth of Mana Stones.
This time, it would require a staggering 65.5 billion won worth.
And that was just talking at the original price.
In a situation where Mana Stones had become this scarce, the price could climb even higher.
There was even a risk of running out of available Mana Stones before I could scrape together enough money.
Perhaps sensing my distress,
“Kang Cheol-mangchi, you need more Mana Stones, don’t you?”
“Yes, roughly twice what we got before….”
Lee Seo-yun asked first.
To which I replied—
“Supply within Korea will be difficult. While Korea ranks among the Awakener powers, our Mana Stone production rate isn’t particularly high.”
Lee Seo-yun paused briefly to think, then—
“Then we’ll have no choice but to import from abroad.”
She offered a solution.
But there, I spotted a problem.
“But aren’t Mana Stones classified as strategic materials, making export and import difficult?”
Just as she was currently working hard to find ways to export my items—
Exporting or importing items and Mana Stones is no simple matter.
Mana Stones especially present challenges.
Mana Stones had become prized as the energy source of a new generation, treated as a strategic material of immense value.
High-grade Mana Stones—the finest quality—face even stricter restrictions.
I’d heard that Mana Stone exports rarely happened unless circumstances were truly dire.
But then.
“What if we changed the terms?” she ventured.
A new idea had taken shape in her mind.
Specifically.
“We’re planning to sell additional Underwater Breathing Items to Japan. What if, instead of payment in currency, we asked for Mana Stones in return?”
Receiving export proceeds not in money, but in Mana Stones.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————