The Cursed Blacksmith Who Regressed - Chapter 77

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

Episode 77

The notifications continued.

[ The soul has completely settled into the item. ]

[ Item Information will change due to the settled soul. ]

[ Repair has been completed. ]

[ You have succeeded in repairing. ]

[ Due to the effect of enhanced repair, the target has been completely repaired while some options have been improved. ]

[ Due to the effect of fusion repair, a new option has been added. ]

[ Congratulations. You have succeeded in creating an ego item for the first time. ]

[ You have achieved a great Achievement, so the System gifts you 3 bonus stats. ]

Notifications streaming down one after another.

By the way, I didn’t know there would be a bonus for being the first to commune with and create an ego item.

This feels good.

A total of 6 bonus stats.

This is why being first is great.

I invested all the acquired bonus stats into Dexterity.

Soon the teal light completely disappeared and I immediately checked the sword’s information.

[ Geomseung ]

– Type : Item

– Restriction : Level 65 or above, Recognition of Geomseung

– Durability : 2,030/2,030(1,450+580)

– Attack Power : 294/294(210+84)

– Options :

1. The ego ‘Geomseung’ dwells within.

2. When using sword-related skills, additional power increases by 20%.

3. Each time an enemy is killed, total attack power increases by 2% for 12 hours.

# A nameless killer once called Sword Ghost has had his misunderstanding cleared and been reborn with the new name Geomseung.

# The curse has been completely removed by a skilled blacksmith.

# The enhanced performance will disappear if durability falls below the original level.

Choi Hyun smiled after seeing the sword’s information.

While durability and attack power remained unchanged, the special options had improved by about twice as much due to the ego being granted.

‘The options hit the jackpot at almost lottery level.’

Not every item becomes this good just from having an ego granted to it.

Most just have a soul dwelling within them to some degree.

But in this case, it seemed like such a jackpot occurred due to factors like Choi Hyun having already built rapport with the Sword Ghost, plus the sword being the one the Sword Ghost originally used.

Then Geomseung’s voice was heard.

– How is it? Do you like the options?

“Yeah, I like them. Very much.”

He answered out loud.

Geomseung could do this too.

Though he didn’t have a real mouth, if Geomseung put his mind to it, he could make his voice audible to everyone.

Choi Hyun said.

“But you know”

– Yeah?

“I’m sorry to say this right after you were reborn as Geomseung, but could I separate you again for a moment?”

– What?

“I’ll be honest with you. I was actually in the middle of raising my skill level. I needed an ego item for that process, so I made you first.”

– What do you… are you serious?

“I’m serious. Why would I lie about something like this.”

– Hmm, then it can’t be helped. But you can fuse me back when you’re done, right?

“Of course I should. If nothing goes wrong, I’ll keep you and your sword as a set as much as possible. That’s only proper.”

– In that case.

He’s cooler than expected.

Then such a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“But you know. Your sword, when and how did you get it?”

– What are you talking about. That’s obviously…

A moment of silence.

– …How did I get it?

As expected, he doesn’t remember.

It can’t be helped.

– Sorry, I can’t remember.

“It’s okay.”

– Anything else you’re curious about?

“No.”

– When do we start the work?

“Right now.”

– Got it.

I immediately began working after that.

I picked up the hammer and started pounding Geomseung again.

[ Enhanced Repair is activated. ]

[ Dexterity is activated. ]

[ Super Focus is activated. ]

[ Disassembly Repair is activated. ]

With clanging sounds, disassembly lines began to appear.

And one visible teal block.

It was Geomseung’s soul stone.

I switched hammers.

Then I began pounding it without hesitation.

‘Normally, souls dwelling in items are harder to peel off than stuck grease. You have to commune with them first, and if necessary, even subdue them. But.’

In this case, there was no need for that.

I was the one who granted the soul to the sword in the first place.

And I had even gotten permission from that soul to separate it.

So after just a few strikes, I could easily extract the teal block without resistance.

[ Gathering has been completed. ]

[ You have succeeded in gathering. ]

[ Shocking discovery. ]

[ Your gathering skill has now reached a level where you can even gather souls dwelling in targets. ]

[ Conditions have been met. ]

[ You acquire the skill ‘Fusion Gathering’. ]

[ Your trait grows even further. ]

[ The skill ‘Material Hammer’ grows and some information changes. ]

[ You acquire 6 Dexterity stats. ]

I finally reached the realm of Fusion Gathering.

Some might not understand why this is called Fusion Gathering.

However, the reason this is Fusion Gathering is because normally it’s impossible to gather pure souls by themselves, so you have to gather them as a set with something that can contain the soul.

‘You can’t remove it alone, but you can remove it together with something else. Like how you can’t grasp oil with your hands, but if you sprinkle special powder on it, it hardens and becomes movable by hand.’

Having achieved this purpose, all that remained was the final stage: Expansion Gathering.

I had already decided on the material for Expansion Gathering.

It was Geomseung.

More precisely, it was Geomseung with the soul removed – just the sword part that was the target.

Choi Hyun placed the soul block he had extracted onto the table and said.

“Wait here for a moment.”

The work wasn’t finished yet.

He had acquired fusion collection the moment he extracted the soul block.

Choi Hyun gripped his hammer and began to disassemble Geomseung in earnest.

He disassembled the entire Geomseung as if filleting bones.

As he disassembled each block one by one, all the block pieces of Geomseung were soon extracted as if collapsing.

Then he changed the shape of his hammer.

If he had changed it to a small form for collection until now, he now changed it to a large form.

And the first thing he did was none other than starting to combine the material blocks he had individually disassembled into one.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

He hammered without rest.

It looked like he was randomly overlapping and hammering whatever came to hand, but there was a strict rule to this.

That was to first and foremost combine at least one of every type of colored block.

The order didn’t matter.

However, since all the blocks that had been composing it were needed, he also took out the black curse option block he had disassembled earlier.

Gold, black, white, murky.

Since it was an item with low completion, all four types were present.

He excluded the cyan color.

That wasn’t an original component.

And finally, it was the moment when the fourth striker, the murky block, was combined with the rest of the blocks.

Claaang!!

The final strike.

At the same time, mana flowed out and began resonating with the overlapped blocks.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Throbbing.

It felt like listening to the heartbeat of the material fragments.

At the same time, the corners of Choi Hyun’s mouth rose.

‘The reaction comes immediately.’

The resonance wasn’t a mistake.

The fragments that had composed Geomseung were actually responding to Choi Hyun’s hammering, synchronizing their consciousness together and proceeding with resonance.

Blacksmiths called this the resonance phenomenon.

Resonance was a phenomenon that only occurred in expansion collection, and simply put, it was the equipment resonating together inviting the blacksmith into its world.

He concentrated his mind.

And now, regardless of order or color, he brought another fragment, placed it on top of the overlapped fragments, and struck down.

Clang- Thump!

Then the resonance became even deeper.

The next fragment, the next fragment, and the fragment after that were the same.

The more fragments he overlapped, the deeper the resonance phenomenon became, and finally when even the last remaining fragment became one giant mass.

Whoosh!

Resonance reaching its peak.

Bursting light.

That was information.

More precisely, memories.

They were the memories the sword possessed.

The sword’s memories flashing by quickly like a revolving lantern were surprisingly everything seen and heard from the sword’s perspective, showing everything from the origins of what composed it, how it was combined, why it was made, who made it, whose hands it passed through, who used it, and what it cut.

This was the power of expansion collection.

Expansion collection was about harvesting information through the historical memories possessed by equipment, allowing one to know everything including the materials and manufacturing methods used when the equipment was made, and the stories involved.

‘To paraphrase somewhat, it could be considered reverse engineering.’

A collection method developed for when you want to newly make or repair equipment in a near-lost state but don’t know the necessary materials or recipes.

Naturally, since it was an absurd phenomenon, this power was greatly influenced by the blacksmith’s abilities and heart, and was truly the ultimate collection method that could only be described as a skill.

‘Expansion repair and expansion processing. They all allow you to obtain things that cannot be acquired through ordinary technical skills. Therefore, expansion collection is the same.’

That’s when it happened.

“Ugh.”

Nauseous stomach.

A reaction comes.

He immediately covered his mouth with his hand.

But.

“Bwaaahhh!”

Unable to hold it in, Choi Hyun began vomiting.

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