The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 154

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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 154
154.
Crack-! Crack-!
Without his Hammer, Jin-woo was still Jin-woo.
Using his Strength Stat and Dexterity Stat, he shattered spirits with his bare hands.
‘Is this what refining souls feels like?’
As if reading Jin-woo’s thoughts, a message appeared in an instant.
-The Master of Soul and Abyss says that Soul Refinement is not like that!
“Haha.”
Jin-woo laughed awkwardly.
Then he continued shattering spirits. Though, it wasn’t mere thoughtless bashing.
‘Normal weapons don’t work.’
He could only capture them using the Soul Sight ability.
‘But those transparent weapons did work, didn’t they?’
Jin-woo quickly hunted down the green spirits.
“Gack.”
“Krrgh.”
They fell without understanding how it was even possible—how Jin-woo was able to capture them at all.
Shhhhhh-.
The moment the green spirits collapsed, light scattered through the air.
-You have hunted an Abyss Soul!
-Your Necromaster profession experience has increased!
“Oh. Now I’m seeing something I actually recognize.”
Only then did the form of spirits Jin-woo was familiar with come into view.
‘If it’s like this…’
Jin-woo smirked.
“I can level up my Necromaster profession considerably.”
-You have obtained an Abyss Soul!
“An Abyss Soul.”
-Abyss Soul [SR]
The Abyss Soul’s Grade was SR—remarkably high.
“It’s ranked that high?”
Fundamentally, the Underworld was a place saturated with yin energy.
“Better than I expected, though.”
He judged that he could expand his number of Familiars quite substantially here.
Once all the green spirits were hunted down, the blue spirits looked at Jin-woo in alarm.
They couldn’t comprehend what had just happened before their eyes.
-The God of Bone and Death praises you!
-The God of Bone and Death asks if you’re on vacation!
Like the Master of Soul and Abyss, the God of Bone and Death belonged to that same category.
“Surely you’re not the new god who conquered the Underworld?”
-The God of Bone and Death says that is not the case!
“Thank goodness.”
Jin-woo observed the spirits that hadn’t rushed him.
Shhhhhh-.
Suddenly, a powerful force erupted from Jin-woo—the Aura of the Master of Soul and Abyss who had been supporting him.
The blue spirits, who had been wary, looked at Jin-woo with astonishment.
“That force…”
“Finally…”
“Ahhh…”
“You have come at last.”
They were looking at Jin-woo. Or more precisely, at the one behind him.
-The Master of Soul and Abyss greets his followers!
Shhhhhh-.
They knelt before Jin-woo.
Jin-woo gestured to them with perfect naturality.
“Bow in reverence.”
Jin-woo spoke.
-The Master of Soul and Abyss is confused!
The scene was remarkably natural.
* * *
Boom-!
A massive tower came into view.
And behind that tower, it illuminated the Slayer.
Netflix.
At the same time, among the three broadcasters that opened simultaneously, KBC’s broadcast was chosen by quite a lot of viewers.
Everyone’s anticipation was considerable.
-They said outright they’re going for 4-star difficulty.
-4-star is really hard. I went through a 2-star once and even that was insane.
-But who decides the star rating?
-It’s not decided—it just appears, I think?
-I don’t see it though.
-It seems like you can only see it if you clear certain Quests or have certain Skills.
People watched the Slayer’s broadcast with high anticipation.
Boom-!
The moment the Slayer entered the tower, an enormous tiger lunged at him.
The Slayer swung his sword lightly.
The massive tiger was cleaved in two.
Four stars. After the Main Scenario opened, the Slayer began clearing the tower with the highest difficulty level alongside just five Guild members.
-Damn. What a start.
-KBC has great visual quality.
-Placing compelling content up front like that really grabs attention. Brilliant.
-The Slayer committed to it. Didn’t expect him to tackle a 4-star tower with only a 5-man team.
-Isn’t that supposed to be a 30-man raid?
-Even a 30-man raid struggles to clear it now.
The Slayer and five others, six in total, were clearing a tower of that difficulty.
-Wow. That’s…?
-The other 5 are just providing support?
But there was something even more shocking.
It meant the other Guild members were focused solely on support.
-Jeez.
-They really put a lot of thought into this, didn’t they?
-This is basically a direct shot at Jin-woo.
Jin-woo, both a blacksmith and Necromancer, had cleared the tower alone.
Meanwhile, the Slayer had cleared the tower alongside his Guild members in his first broadcast.
A non-combat profession like Jin-woo cleared it solo, yet the top combat professional, the Slayer, formed a team to clear it? There was plenty of talk about that.
-He’s definitely committed to this.
The Slayer’s overwhelming combat scenes continued unfolding.
The 4-star tower’s difficulty was truly remarkable, and the Slayer clearing it alone was even more so.
1 hour 40 minutes.
In the tightly edited broadcast, the Slayer demonstrated what it looked like to brute-force the Main Scenario with pure power.
Often, broadcasts that perform well in part one struggle in part two.
But KBC’s broadcast was different.
-Insane. Way better than part one.
-Really enjoyed watching it.
-1 hour 40 minutes felt like 10 minutes.
Glowing praise poured in for the Slayer’s broadcast.
-OBC and JBS are done for after this.
-Can’t compete with this.
KBC, OBC, JBS.
All three broadcasters’ content opened at 11:00, so those who chose KBC hadn’t seen the other broadcasts yet.
But they didn’t need to.
-It’s over.
-JBS moving to Netflix was a losing move. Looks like it drove KBC to put in real effort.
-The Slayer showed why he’s number one.
KBC’s broadcast came out exceptionally well.
Normally, any broadcast has its fans and detractors. But this one had neither.
-Broadcasts without detractors are really rare.
-Excellently done.
Those who watched KBC first praised it, saying KBC was KBC, and immediately headed to the community.
SharkNet.
They wanted to see how those who watched other broadcasters first were reacting.
-Curious about JBS’s broadcast.
-They did nail the teaser though.
-How was it? Anyone with a review?
But there was silence.
-Must’ve been pretty bad then.
But exactly 25 minutes later.
Explosive posts began flooding SharkNet.
-Seriously lost it. Dopamine went crazy!
-The teaser hyped me up so much I was worried it’d be all there was, but nope. Absolutely insane.
-2 hours felt like 2 minutes;; fr fr going nuts.
-Crazy entertaining.
-No words needed. Genuinely incredible??
-Felt like watching a movie.
Rave reviews poured in for Jin-woo’s broadcast on JBS.
The response was intense. Simultaneously, posts continued streaming into SharkNet nonstop.
The posts that appeared had 20+ comments, and some community users said they were going to write analysis posts and asked everyone to wait a little.
-Why… is it like this?
-Everyone showing up all at once.
-Ah. The runtime…
KBC’s broadcast was 1 hour 40 minutes.
JBS’s broadcast was 2 hours 5 minutes.
They’d come to SharkNet the moment Jin-woo’s broadcast ended.
-The Slayer is insane…
-Did you all see Jin-woo crafting the dragon? I never thought he’d make something he’d actually seen by hand.
-Damn. He was just freely constructing the skeleton using bones?
-Every time I see it, I’m amazed. Didn’t know that was possible.
Whenever talk of the Slayer’s broadcast started to come up, posts about Jin-woo’s broadcast would flood in five times over, quickly burying it.
“Sigh.”
The KBC PD was carefully monitoring community reactions.
“Really to that extent?”
Then the KBC PD clicked on JBS’s broadcast on Netflix.
“The teaser though…”
He hated to admit it, but among the three broadcasters, it was by far the best-crafted teaser. While the first two broadcasters focused their teasers on flashy impact, JBS constructed theirs around what only Jin-woo could do, controlling the pacing carefully.
“We did focus on content only the Slayer could deliver too, though.”
But that was just what the broadcaster thought.
Clearing a tower with overwhelming power wasn’t something only the Slayer could do—any top-5 ranker could manage it.
Of course, not like the Slayer. The Slayer pulled off a 4-star tower practically solo through sheer insane performance.
But that wasn’t the real issue.
Irreplaceable content.
The Slayer didn’t have that.
“Let me just watch it.”
The KBC PD clicked directly on Jin-woo’s broadcast.
“…”
2 hours 5 minutes.
A runtime you could call short or long depending on perspective.
But the KBC PD just stared blankly at the screen, unable to look away.
“Already… over?”
But for the KBC PD, the runtime wasn’t long.
It was far too short.
“The editing’s firing on all cylinders.”
You could see the care JBS had put into this.
Since the content was unique, they’d structured it to maximize that uniqueness while delivering entertainment.
Jin-woo’s charm as a character.
The things he did.
Everything was fascinating.
To exaggerate, it could be said the broadcast contained everything New Gene had wanted to know but couldn’t.
“Sigh…”
His team had poured manpower into strengthening the editing.
Good content plus good editing. Of course good results followed.
But did good results automatically translate to viewership?
“No. No, it doesn’t.”
There’s well-made content, and then there’s what people actually want to watch.
If you were making broadcasts, you had to follow the latter. Making something well wasn’t enough—you had to make what people wanted to see.
“That’s it…”
JBS’s broadcast was exactly that answer key.
Even he, a KBC PD, found himself thinking that JBS’s broadcast was more what he wanted to watch—traitor or not.
“I’m sorry, Slayer.”
But it wasn’t over until it was over.
“The rankings will tell the story!”
He still held onto hope.
And at that same moment.
The PDs from High-tech and OBC were watching the broadcasts together.
“What… is this?”
They’d watched KBC’s Slayer broadcast first.
It was brilliantly made—inspiring admiration. But after watching JBS’s broadcast immediately after, High-tech was left speechless.
“Your broadcast is more entertaining than mine.”
High-tech made an odd expression. To be honest, it was true.
He wanted to watch more of Jin-woo’s story.
“More… I want to see more.”
His pride was wounded, but he had to admit it.
“How about you, PD? Am I being weird about this?”
“No. I feel the same way.”
“…Isn’t it inappropriate for you to say that?”
“My apologies.”
OBC fell into a funeral atmosphere.
* * *
“I’d like you to briefly explain the current state of the Underworld.”
The followers of the Master of Soul and Abyss gave a brief account of the situation.
“This Underworld was always filled with spirits who believed in the Master of Soul and Abyss.”
This place was a city where countless spirits lived.
Dead beings living—it was quite contradictory, but it wasn’t strange in the Underworld.
“It’s where the dead come. Of course, each race has its own destination upon death, but spirits lingering with regrets mainly arrive here. They all receive power from the Master of Soul and Abyss.”
That’s how they were able to live in the Underworld.
But at some point, the Master of Soul and Abyss left.
“The moment he left, a new god arrived. This new god told the existing spirits he would give them bodies and tempted them. He also promised tremendous power… and furthermore, he showed them his Successor.”
A Successor—a being who had inherited all of the new god’s power appeared.
“That Successor… actually had a real body.”
After that, the situation completely reversed.
“Those who believed the Master of Soul and Abyss would surely return maintained their original color—blue—while the traitors became green spirits.”
Jin-woo could grasp the situation roughly.
But he had a question.
“Why did he leave?”
-The Master of Soul and Abyss says he was pursuing Hephalese!
“He had no choice then.”
The spirits, witnessing Jin-woo speaking with the Master of Soul and Abyss, nodded vigorously.
“Oh!”
“You can communicate!”
“Truly the legitimate Successor. The great Successor!”
The spirits prostrated themselves again.
“I’ll set this place right.”
Jin-woo spoke.
But the spirits showed considerable reluctance.
“Well…”
“We truly appreciate you coming for us, but…”
“It will be extremely difficult. What we just fought wasn’t combat personnel. Just spirits who’ve defected.”
They were the weakest of the weak.
‘They were certainly weak.’
“You’ll need to craft equipment that can harm spirits.”
“For that, you’d need to handle spirits and create them into equipment…”
The spirits shook their heads.
“He’s already defected.”
Rek, the leader of the spirits, showed his sword.
Jin-woo had been curious about it from the first sight.
‘It’s just steel, though.’
Jin-woo touched it lightly.
“Ah.”
Shhhhhh-.
Jin-woo was momentarily shocked.
‘It’s coated with spirits.’
“These are Yellow Spring Equipment. They’re all covered in spirits.”
“You are the Master of Soul and Abyss’s Successor, but…”
“It will be difficult. Still, we have weapons you can take…”
They didn’t know.
“It’s fine.”
Jin-woo grasped a spirit.
“I’ll make it myself.”
“We appreciate the offer, truly, but it’s impossible. As a Necromancer, you can naturally handle spirits. But that’s not enough. Crafting is…”
Then Jin-woo pulled out one of the spirits he’d processed earlier.
He grasped it in his hand.
‘This one’s rather malleable.’
If he couldn’t use the Hammer…
“!”
Crack-!
“I’ll just use my hands.”

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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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