The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 129
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 129
-Dragon Jade [UR]
Description: A gemstone infused with the power of dragons. Overwhelming force ripples through it.
-Dragon Ore [UR]
Description: A mineral containing the breath of dragons.
Dragon Jade and Dragon Ore.
These two materials retained the full force of the dragon’s power intact.
Jin-woo swept the two byproducts into his hands.
Whoosh—
The sensation flowing through his palm.
The power of Shadow Wing coursed through him directly.
“So it carried both gemstones and minerals at once.”
Jin-woo came to understand just how formidable a monster Shadow Wing had been.
“You all did well.”
Jin-woo gestured to his familiars, then patted each one on the back with words of praise.
“We gave it our best!”
Pur reported in a rigid stance.
“Excellent work, Pur. I’m counting on you going forward as well.”
At Jin-woo’s words, Pur lowered his head. That single phrase was enough. Everything they had done in the battle against Shadow Wing was repaid in that one moment.
Jin-woo dismissed all his familiars.
Next, he confirmed what he had anticipated.
-Dragon Bone [UR]
-Dragon Hide [UR]
-Dragon Claw [UR]
-Dragon Tooth [UR]
Bone, hide, claw, tooth.
Not a single one was below UR Grade.
And among them, one thing shone the brightest.
Whoosh—
A dark soul.
-Soul of Shadow Wing [UR]
“Hm.”
A dragon was still a dragon, after all.
“Even its soul is UR Grade.”
It was the most overwhelming grade among all the souls he had ever obtained.
-You have obtained an overwhelming soul.
-Soul Sight proficiency has increased!
-The number of familiars you can command has increased!
-9 >> 10
-You can now command up to 10 familiars.
Ding!
-You have achieved an achievement!
-You have achieved the [Lord of the Dead] achievement!
-You have learned a skill!
-You have learned the Death Mist skill.
A new achievement and a new skill.
“I’m getting quite the haul from all this effort.”
His familiars had struggled considerably in this battle.
“The rewards are generous.”
He was receiving them properly now.
-[Lord of the Dead] FIRST
Effect: King of the dead. Lord of the undead. Your familiars gain tremendous power under your command. [All Stats +200]
“This…”
Jin-woo examined the achievement carefully.
“It’s a first-achievement?”
The First mark was clearly displayed. Jin-woo had seen this same First mark before when he received Luton’s Steel Colossus Quest.
This meant no one else had achieved it.
“No one else has achieved this one, it seems.”
There were surely many Necromancers out there.
“But none who directly craft and command like I do.”
Jin-woo smiled to himself.
Then he immediately tested his new skill as well.
“Death Mist.”
Whoosh—
A mist spread throughout the surroundings.
“This should have good synergy with Sacred Declaration.”
This was no ordinary mist.
“My body feels lighter.”
It seemed to boost various stats of Jin-woo and his familiars, as the Lord of the Dead.
“Speed seems to get the biggest boost.”
The newly obtained achievement and skill both pleased him greatly.
Jin-woo first checked the condition of the materials.
‘Since it was contaminated.’
“The flame was completely purified and clean.”
It had been difficult to fully purify the massive Shadow Wing.
“As expected.”
Indeed.
The byproducts still carried traces of contamination.
“There are some contaminated parts.”
There were quite a few sections tainted with a sickly green and pitch-black corruption.
“But that’s not a problem.”
Jin-woo already possessed a skill that could cleanly eliminate contamination of this level.
“I’ll raise my Deep Refinement Technique proficiency too. Two birds with one stone.”
After confirming all of Shadow Wing’s byproducts, something glinted before Jin-woo.
“Right. That’s still there.”
There were still more rewards waiting.
“The lair.”
Dragons were creatures that built nests and dwelled in them.
The Dragon Lair, as it was called, had a very high likelihood of containing treasures.
“Dragons hoard treasures in their lairs. Even corrupted ones would have stashed everything they could.”
Shadow Wing, having been bound to this place for quite a long time, would surely have accumulated many valuable things in its lair.
As Jin-woo approached the Dragon Lair, the magic that had been concealing it began to unravel at that very moment.
Whoosh—
“What wasn’t visible before…”
Now came into view.
Ding!
-The Great Dwarf God sends you a signal.
-Your quest has been updated!
The quest Jin-woo had received from the Great Dwarf God was updated.
“It was hidden there.”
Jin-woo saw a tower suddenly looming before him.
“And the location of the Great Dwarf God’s quest, too.”
The newly updated quest location pointed directly at that tower.
“Could that tower be the temple?”
Just then, another notification sounded.
-It says its temple was swallowed by the tower.
-It asks you to reclaim the temple for it.
-The Great Dwarf God promises substantial additional rewards!
Ding!
-Your quest has been changed!
-The quest difficulty has been adjusted.
-This is a quest that is difficult to clear at your current level.
Difficulty adjustment.
* Quest: Reclaiming the Temple
Grade: UR
Description: According to the Great Dwarf God’s tale, you have arrived at Iron Helm, the city of dwarves. However, the god’s temple you seek has been swallowed by a tower. Conquer the tower and reclaim the temple!
Reward: User’s discretion, substantial additional rewards
The grade was UR Grade itself.
‘I’ve never received this grade from a quest before.’
But the difficulty matched with the substantial additional rewards promised.
“Great Dwarf God.”
Jin-woo spoke.
“What exactly are the rewards?”
-The Great Dwarf God promises generous rewards!
“Could I receive one more?”
Additional rewards on top of additional rewards.
‘That way the math works out.’
-The Great Dwarf God accepts your proposal!
“Then that works well.”
-You have accepted the quest!
“Let’s do this.”
* * *
Ding! Ding!
-User Jin-woo, achievements unlocked: [The Great, Great Hunter] [Dragon Slayer]
Logical Message: Purified and defeated a dragon. Astonishment. The reason was to obtain the flame.
“……A dragon?”
Dragons ranked among the most powerful monsters.
Of course, dragons varied wildly in strength, and while some dragons with the name truly existed, there were weaker dragons as well.
But fundamentally, dragons were formidable.
“A Level 200 shouldn’t be able to defeat a monster like that……”
However, it wasn’t entirely surprising either.
“The one who defeated Luton’s Steel Colossus.”
GM Kim Na-yoon clapped her hands in realization.
There was no way Jin-woo had simply defeated a dragon head-on.
“Is this a sequel? Are you filming a follow-up?”
The ratings war currently raging between the broadcasters was fiercely competitive, with no clear winner in sight.
It was Jin-woo, whom no one had expected, who burst onto the scene with his tower-clearing footage.
Normally, only KBC and OBC would have been planning sequels.
“JBS was said to be making a sequel too.”
Perhaps this footage was that very sequel.
“But what does it mean by ‘purified and defeated’?”
GM Kim Na-yoon checked the information available alongside the logical message.
“He defeated a corrupted dragon.”
If it was a corrupted dragon, it would have been maddeningly powerful. On top of the basic dragon magic it used, the added strength from corruption would have multiplied its power.
“And he purified it while enduring that? What, what? To obtain the flame……?”
This was astonishing enough even for Logical to register shock.
He had purified and defeated a dragon that was already difficult to simply beat.
And all to obtain the dragon’s flame for the furnace!
“If it’s Jin, I thought I could take most things in stride……”
This was considerable.
“There’s still a ways to go.”
The range of “Jin can do it” was this broad. GM Kim Na-yoon began to doubt whether she was truly a genuine Jin fan.
“The Vice Director would be pleased to hear this.”
She could picture the Vice Director’s delighted face—”Right? Surprising, isn’t it? Impossible, right?”—saying just that.
* * *
Dragon Lair.
In Shadow Wing’s nest, Jin-woo first selected what would be useful.
“There’s quite a lot of Gold here?”
Gold was the most eye-catching thing in the Dragon Lair.
Various treasures filled the space, and those treasures were essentially treated as Gold.
-You obtained 50,000 Gold!
-You obtained 50,000 Gold!
“100,000 Gold in spending money.”
Jin-woo then examined the materials gathered in one corner of the lair.
“This is the crux of it.”
Various shimmering gemstones lay there.
-Amethyst
-Emerald
-Ruby
-Sapphire
…….
…….
The gemstones all appeared to be of excellent quality.
Among them, Jin-woo picked up a particularly striking gem.
“This pearl seems to be made by elves?”
Because Jin-woo possessed elven power, he could immediately sense the strength emanating from the gemstone.
-Elven Pearl
“Just as I thought.”
The gemstones varied in grade.
From S Grade to SSS Grade.
“There’s nothing SR Grade or above, though.”
An SSS Grade gemstone was still excellent to possess.
“The Elven Pearl is SR Grade, I see.”
There was clearly a reason it had been set apart.
Jin-woo gathered all the gemstones.
Then he immediately prepared to work. This Dragon Lair was quite cozy.
‘It’s a good environment for crafting.’
Of course, Jin-woo could craft in any environment.
“Summon.”
Jin-woo’s Workshop opened.
-Jin-woo’s Workshop [Level 1]
[Hephaestus’s Furnace] [Anvil] [Work Table] [Flask]
“Whooo.”
Jin-woo took a deep breath. This work was critical. Even a momentary lapse in focus could ruin the hard-earned flame.
After placing the bottle inside the furnace.
Jin-woo opened the bottle from within. There was a method to attack from a distance and shatter the bottle, but the Magma Bottle itself was quite sturdy and built to withstand dragon flame, so it would be wasteful to break it.
Click—
Roaaaaarrrrr—!
The instant the bottle opened, Shadow Wing’s flame began surging wildly. Like a living creature, it lunged toward Jin-woo.
“That’s right. That’s how it should be.”
Jin-woo smiled as he watched Shadow Wing’s flame.
He spread both hands and swept through the roiling fire.
-Rune, Flame Breath activates!
-Rune, Rune of Harmony with Nature activates!
The countless runes Jin-woo possessed resonated together.
Boom—!
The flame, suppressed under Jin-woo’s force, flowed directly into Hephaestus’s Furnace and settled down.
-The flame now lives and breathes within the furnace.
-Jin-woo’s Workshop level increases!
Jin-woo exhaled deeply.
“Done.”
The moment the dragon flame was placed in Hephaestus’s Furnace, Jin-woo’s Workshop—which had been stuck at Level 1 for quite some time—leveled up.
“I wondered why it wasn’t rising.”
It seemed there were specific conditions for leveling.
-Your workshop expands in scale!
The effect of the level-up was workshop expansion.
But new effects emerged as well.
-Jin-woo’s Workshop has become an Intermediate Workshop.
-New functions have been unlocked!
-You can now add additional furnaces!
“There was a reason the level rose so late.”
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced.
It seemed the grades were divided by level.
“Adding furnaces, huh? That’s a better ability than I expected?”
Just as he was checking that new function.
A new notification window appeared before Jin-woo.
-A new god watches you!
-A new god says it has observed your capabilities!
A new god watching him was no longer a particularly special occurrence for Jin-woo.
But this god was different somehow.
-It says you, as Hephaestus’s successor, are now ready.
“Do you know of Hephaestus?”
-The new god says it regrets being unable to support him!
‘It’s not the crafting side.’
Jin-woo discerned which type of god was watching him from those words.
Hephaestus had become a Necromaster through his own method.
‘It’s the Necromancer side.’
The god that would have supported him had Hephaestus not been consumed by that regret and remained of sound mind.
-The Master of Souls and Abyss supports you!
-You have received a new quest!
* Quest: Into the Abyss
Grade: UR
Description: The Master of Souls and Abyss invites you into the abyss world. There, you will be able to obtain special power possessed by the Master of Souls and Abyss!
Reward: Soul Refinery
“Soul…… Refinery?”
Until now, Jin-woo had used souls as they were.
But when he thought about it, it made sense.
“Why shouldn’t souls be refined like anything else?”
A completely new perspective.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————