The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 123

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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 123
123.
Bang! Bang!
The Miner was trying to bore a hole through a massive mountain.
But his old Pickaxe only gouged shallow scars into the stone.
Breaking through such a colossal wall seemed beyond reach.
‘If I just help him bore through it.’
Jin-woo decided to give the Miner what he wanted.
‘His goal is to carve a path through the mountain.’
To tunnel through this massive stone sentinel.
‘On the surface, it’s impossible.’
Like cracking a boulder with an egg.
Smashing a mountain with a single Pickaxe?
‘It’s laughable.’
There was no way to think of it as anything but absurd by conventional standards.
But Jin-woo could do it.
‘One Pickaxe won’t be enough, granted.’
When one breaks, make another.
When that one breaks, make another still.
“That works.”
Crash! Crash!
Jin-woo struck the Chitin.
A burst of azure light—
As he extracted the soul of the Blaze Worm Chitin, an enormous level of Contamination revealed itself.
“Purify.”
-Deep Refining Technique proficiency increases.
He purified the Contamination with Deep Refining Technique, then immediately honed it to a razor edge.
-Equipment created!
What emerged was a Chitin Pickaxe.
Holding the Chitin Pickaxe, Jin-woo positioned himself beside the Miner.
“Let’s carve that path through the mountain.”
Jin-woo didn’t ask why the Miner wanted the path.
If he wished to carve it, then helping him was all that mattered.
Bang!
Crack!
As he swung the Chitin Pickaxe, he felt the inherent flexibility of Chitin.
The Miner glanced at Jin-woo for a moment.
“You’re… going to help me?”
Watching Jin-woo offer help without even asking the reason, the Miner let a faint emotion surface on his face.
“Yes.”
Jin-woo handed the Pickaxe he’d crafted to the Miner.
“Two would be better than one, wouldn’t it?”
Then Jin-woo called upon his Subordinates.
“And three, four, five—even better still.”
……
The Miner’s previously expressionless eyes flickered with something.
“Do as you wish.”
Once permission was granted, Jin-woo and his Subordinates prepared in earnest to excavate the mountain.
The mountain was so vast that a Pickaxe alone seemed utterly incapable of boring through it. But the Subordinates had never entertained such doubt in the first place.
Jin-woo gave his command.
Jin-woo never issued impossible orders.
So if he commanded it, then boring through the mountain with a Pickaxe was possible.
“We excavate with the Pickaxe alone.”
Jin-woo had them put away all their other equipment. For this particular task of breaking down the mountain, neither the Orichalcon Greatsword nor World Tree’s Judgment was needed.
The moment the command fell, his Subordinates moved.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As though competing with one another, the four Subordinates began hacking at the mountain with feverish intensity.
Then Jin-woo joined in, swinging his Pickaxe with fierce vigor.
The mountain began to yield, bit by bit.
It was work the Miner could never have accomplished alone.
The impossible was gradually becoming possible.
Bang! Bang!
The Chitin Pickaxe’s performance was quite solid. But as they drove it against the mountain’s unyielding stone with such force, its durability plummeted rapidly.
Crash! Crash!
Shatter.
-Equipment created!
Jin-woo continued crafting Chitin Pickaxes.
The moment one wore down, he forged another. Another worn out, another crafted.
“It’s working.”
The Miner’s hands trembled.
“It’s breaking through……”
Jin-woo pressed on with gathering momentum.
Bang! Bang!
As though excavating a cavern, the colossal mountain was gradually shaved away.
‘I can do this.’
How many more times did he swing the Pickaxe?
The hole had certainly grown larger than before, but there was still far to go.
‘I see.’
The looming Mount Tai would not yield its passage easily.
Even for Jin-woo, this was no simple task.
Jin-woo paused to think.
At this rate, they might not escape until the Dragon had swallowed everything whole.
‘Or they might not escape at all.’
Crack. Crack-crack.
As time passed, fractures were spreading across the sky of this place.
‘There’s a time limit.’
If he died here, everything would be finished.
“I need to raise the efficiency.”
Jin-woo completed several more spare Pickaxes, then
called for Pur.
“Pur.”
“Yes, Master.”
He then withdrew something from his possession.
A piercing wail—
What he’d drawn forth was the Soul of Basago.
Jin-woo handed the Soul of Basago to Pur.
“I trust you here.”
!
In this desolate wasteland, Pur had been relatively ineffective so far.
“I will accomplish this.”
Unintentional though it was, Jin-woo’s words had steeled Pur’s resolve.
-Soul of Basago binds to Pur.
A piercing shriek—!
Pur was already a Subordinate forged from the soul of an incarnation of malice.
Now, with the soul of another incarnation of malice added,
tremendous power began to accumulate in his form.
Thud.
Thud-thud-thud!
-Pur’s Tier changes.
-Powerful force settles into your Subordinate Pur’s body!
4.
Name: Pur
——-
Tier: Hero Level 1
Type: Undead, Melee (Banshee Lord)
Traits: High combat capability, high combat comprehension
Skills: Soul Absorption, Soul Slaughter
Hero Skill: Cold of the Yellow Springs
His previous Tier had been Elite Level 3.
But Pur, evolved through absorbing the Soul of Basago, was no longer merely Elite-grade.
“Hero Level 1.”
A Banshee Knight had become a Banshee Lord.
An aura of endless blackness billowed forth.
Yet within that black aura, blue light was woven. Over the skeletal frame of his body, muscles wrought of pitch-black aura took shape, and a steed formed of brilliant blue aura was conjured.
He had transformed from the guise of a knight into that of a phantom commander—a leader of Banshees.
‘First and Pur.’
Jin-woo’s one-two punch was now properly formed.
“That gaze is magnificent.”
The blue light that had frosted Pur’s eyes burned far more intensely now.
But that was not all.
Currently, Pur was the only Hero-grade Subordinate among Jin-woo’s servants.
“A Hero Skill, then.”
A special skill befitting a Hero-grade Subordinate had manifested.
“Cold of the Yellow Springs. It must be far more potent than ordinary Skills, yes?”
Jin-woo observed Pur.
The aura he radiated.
And the biting chill that emanated from him.
“An Undead risen from the Yellow Springs itself.”
Overcome by the sheer magnificence of it, Jin-woo let out an admiring chuckle.
“Give me your orders.”
Jin-woo tossed a Pickaxe to him. The existing ones had already worn to the point of uselessness.
“Show me your power, Pur.”
“Yes!”
Bang! Crash! Boom!
Pur swung the Pickaxe down with frenzied ferocity.
Hero Skill: Cold of the Yellow Springs
The Cold of the Yellow Springs flowed through the Pickaxe and began to pierce through the mountain.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The power was so formidable that even the other three Subordinates were startled. First in particular felt a potent surge of stimulus watching Pur work.
That power.
At this very moment, Pur was the most useful to Jin-woo. There was no doubt in that.
Yet even so, First was reluctant to relinquish it.
The cherished position of favorite Subordinate.
Bang! Bang!
In rhythm with Pur’s Hero Skill, First too swung the Pickaxe with manic intensity.
The hole widened.
The hole deepened.
A path began to take shape.
The pace had become far more rapid than before.
‘I can break through. I can create the path.’
With Pur’s enhancement, the path was forming at accelerated speed. It was overwhelming progress.
“Ah……”
Watching this, the Miner’s eyes began to glisten.
Then he swung his Pickaxe alongside them.
With each swing of his Pickaxe, the black aura enveloping his body—the Contamination—began to fade away.
A howling wail—
Another—
He was no longer the slave of the Dragon, Shadow Wing. He was breaking free from that bondage entirely.
Bang! Bang!
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!
Pur and First, having tunneled far into the depths, broke through from the opposite side.
Light poured into what had been a cavernous darkness.
From the entrance they had opened to the exit beyond.
A shaft of light pierced straight through in a perfect line.
They had broken through.
A path was created.
The mountain had been carved away with a Pickaxe.
The impossible had become possible through the hands of Jin-woo and his Subordinates.
Emotion returned to the Miner’s face, which had been void of expression until now.
With an overwhelming surge of feeling, he gazed at the opened passage.
Then, slowly, he opened his mouth.
“My child needed a hospital. The fever was so severe—I wrapped them tight and carried them on my back……”
But the path to the hospital was far too long.
“I had to circle the mountain entirely while carrying my child……”
By the time we arrived, everything was already over.
From that day forward, the Miner had excavated.
If only a path through the mountain had existed.
If only we hadn’t had to take the long way around.
We wouldn’t have lost someone so precious.
That regret filled his mind entirely, ultimately dominating his entire existence.
Every day he swung the Pickaxe, not even knowing if he was alive or dead.
The regret accumulated over long years remained in his soul, manifesting only in action.
It lingered in one corner of his heart.
That this was an impossible task.
The Miner looked at the now-open mountain passage.
What he saw was different.
“It was possible.”
It had been something he could do.
At this incomprehensible sight, the Miner simply dropped the Pickaxe.
And looked up at the sky.
A deep, profound sigh escaped him. With that sigh, all Contamination dissolved.
“Thank you. Thank you truly. Because of you, I could carve a path through the mountain. Now, no more will suffer this same regret.”
The Miner bowed deeply to Jin-woo.
Through his words, Jin-woo understood the nature of the Miner’s regret.
The Miner offered his gratitude and gazed upon the path he had helped create.
‘I see it.’
Now he was watching.
Himself carrying his child through the mountain’s passage.
Arriving in time.
“Now it’s all right……”
Now it doesn’t matter who falls ill. A path exists. Such painful things will never happen again.
A piercing wail—the Miner’s form vanished entirely.
Ding!
-Quest cleared.
-A soul trapped in deep regret has been saved by you.
-Soul Sight proficiency increases.
-Level increases.
-Integrity Score increases.
Before Jin-woo lay a luminous soul.
-Luminous Soul of Salvation
“The Tier on this……!”
Jin-woo checked the Tier in amazement.

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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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