The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 165

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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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Chapter 165
Episode 165.
Auction House.
The bidding for the Tentacle Whip was proceeding fiercely.
-But why did you list it on the European Union side?
Users who belatedly learned that Jin-woo had listed equipment on the European Union Auction House joined the bidding.
-I almost missed the bid.
-There’s only one, damn it.
-If you’d uploaded hundreds like before.
Ding-!
-The bid price has been updated!
The Tentacle Whip was both a hunter’s weapon and, for those with the right taste, a truly fitting one.
Ding-! Ding-!
-The bid has been updated!
As users flooded in, the bid price surged upward.
-Seriously, are there really that many rich people?
-Anyone who knows anything knows hunters make money.
-There aren’t many people who make whips among hunter weapons.
-And UR-grade whips are almost nonexistent, you could say.
-Nah, there are quite a few UR-grade ones. But this one’s only UR on the surface—the detailed options are even higher.
-Eyes can’t help but roll.
Because the price had climbed so high, only a limited number could afford it.
Thanks to that, only two bidders remained in this auction battle.
-These two. Who the hell are they?
-Grig and Yogurt?
But those were nicknames no one had seen before.
-Can you use aliases?
-Alt character?
-Doesn’t seem to be a famous alt though.
Yogurt, one of the bidders, swallowed hard.
As people suspected, he was indeed an alt character.
“I’m buying it for hunting.”
His main character was a renowned Priest.
“This is my hunter alt, after all. It’s the perfect weapon for this.”
The Priest—Light of Hope. A named Priest from the dungeon festival that erupted one hundred days into New Gene’s launch, who had supplied healing to thousands of people simultaneously while reading the dungeon’s battlefield and issuing orders. A legendary figure in that regard.
Thanks to that, he currently belonged to the Do約 Guild.
Most Do約 guild members earned tremendous sums of money, which allowed him to pour this financial firepower into the auction.
“Besides, the relationship is ambiguous right now.”
The Slayer of Do約 was competing against Jin-woo.
That competition wasn’t merely between the Slayer as an individual—it was a competition of the entire Do約 Guild.
“We’re going up against him alone, and I genuinely never thought this would happen.”
Of course, in this situation, Do約’s options were limited.
But who could overwhelm Do約 in this manner?
Especially when the opponent is a Slayer.
“I’ve never seen the Slayer humiliated like this.”
It was the first time he’d remained silent, full of rage.
Since starting New Gene, he had never once stepped down from the summit.
For the first time, he had lost.
To a Blacksmith, no less.
“If I’d lost to crafting, I wouldn’t even be saying this.”
He’d lost to the Blacksmith in a tower clear.
“So this is.”
Yogurt nodded.
“Justified alt use.”
If he didn’t buy it as an alt, something terrible could happen. This was entirely justified.
Ding-! Ding-!
“This Grig person. Never seen that nickname before either, so they’re an alt too.”
Perhaps they too were in an uncomfortable situation, just like him.
“But I can’t back down. I have something I need to do with this—the monster’s. No, if I’m going to show a hunter’s supreme technique, I need this equipment and no other!”
Yogurt dove back into the bidding.
As the bidding continued in full force.
“What’s this?”
The old guard regulars of the European Union Auction House frowned upon seeing Jin-woo’s Tentacle Whip climb the real-time popularity rankings.
“There’s an Asian Auction House. Why are you coming here to do this?”
“I understand he’s famous. But this is uncalled for.”
At first they felt displeased, but soon they began to think—wasn’t this an opportunity?
“This could actually be an opportunity for us.”
Jin-woo is a Rising Star.
Such a Rising Star had walked directly into their territory of his own volition.
“If we push him down here.”
“All that fame comes straight to me!”
“Let’s show him what we’ve got!”
The European Union Auction House was more active than the Asian Auction House, and it had quite a few named crafters.
They began to devise a grand plan: they would suppress Jin-woo, who had slipped in like a loach, and swallow all the fame he possessed.
“Let’s go!”
Jin-woo was currently gaining considerable fame through Netflix.
Moreover, with both domestic and international subscribers flooding into JinTube, every video he uploaded was climbing the trending video charts.
Moreover, every comment was nothing but praise.
Even inflammatory comments were buried beneath the compliments—a strange sight indeed.
Ding-!
-Item registered!
Crafters who primarily used the European Union Auction House began uploading equipment they’d already made.
“To get traffic from the Auction House, you have to get on this real-time ranking.”
Named crafters on the European Union side could appear on this real-time ranking simply by registering items.
“Let’s push him out.”
Ding-! Ding-!
As though of one mind, named crafters registered their items.
-It’s Faykal.
-Faykal, shouldn’t it be too soon to be listing equipment?
-He uploaded a sword not long ago. Damn. Looks like he felt the pressure?
Users reacted strongly to the newly registered items in the Auction House.
Faykal was a renowned crafter among the European Union’s Blacksmiths.
-Faykal’s equipment is up!
-Folks, it’s Faykal’s gear!
User attention shifted immediately to Faykal’s equipment.
-Zafursis’s gear just went up too??
-Damn. Jin-woo’s making the crafters who were resting get back to work.
-We’re loving it though!
Suddenly, named crafters’ equipment began appearing. The more equipment that appeared, the happier users were.
Ding-! Ding-!
-Bid updated!
A full-scale bidding competition began at the European Union Auction House.
Their registered items rapidly climbed the rankings and jumped onto the real-time popular items list.
One hour.
Two hours.
And three hours.
“Three hours should be enough.”
Normally, the situation would have to end within three hours. Their equipment would have pushed out existing items by that time and mostly climbed to first place.
“Ethel isn’t here, though.”
Currently first on the European Union Auction House was Ethel, who boasted even greater firepower. Within an hour, he’d shoot straight to first in the real-time rankings. Though Ethel was absent, the remaining members were still more than capable.
“…So it should be.”
-Real-time Popularity Ranking 1. <>
Something was off.
Jin-woo didn’t budge from first place.
They waited another thirty minutes, since rankings refreshed every half hour.
“…What the hell. What is this?”
Jin-woo stood firm in that position.
The equipment they’d listed was trading busily, but it was generating less buzz than Jin-woo’s.
The number of people bidding.
And the number of comments flying.
Nothing surpassed Jin-woo.
“Damn it.”
The owner of the European Union Auction House had changed in an instant.
* * *
Jin-woo placed bone onto his workbench.
These bones were from Shadow Hunting Dogs obtained in the Underworld.
‘These are pretty good quality.’
“A new body… How could that be possible, sir?”
Aisthels’s expression was full of anticipation.
He had lived as a spirit for hundreds of years.
His power had reached its ceiling.
But that was only the ceiling as a spirit. If he were to obtain a body, he could delve even deeper into Maximization Refinement.
It wasn’t an excuse.
It was simply a fact, discovered through practicing Maximization Refinement.
But he hadn’t anticipated this.
“I’ll make it using bone.”
Jin-woo said.
“Is that… possible?”
Jin-woo didn’t answer, instead immediately using Bone Making.
Shhhhh-.
“Bone Making.”
He scraped the bone with the Vibration Stone Carving Knife.
Scratch-. Scratch-.
Then he joined together the Shadow Hunting Dog’s bones.
Crack-. Crackle-!
“What kind of body do you want?”
“One befitting this spirit…”
“That’s obvious.”
Jin-woo smiled slightly.
“I’m asking what kind of body you want to have.”
“!”
Aisthels’s expression showed shock.
“Is that… possible?”
Getting a body at all was a remarkable thing.
But then.
“Customization… is possible?”
Jin-woo nodded.
Aisthels trembled.
“Then…”
Aisthels spoke.
“The body I desire is an icicle.”
An icicle.
“Intense cold. Sharp spikes… long and heavy and…”
Having yearned for a body for so long, Aisthels’s request was quite demanding.
Moreover, he was a Blacksmith.
He was thorough with design, having pushed the difficulty to its limit.
“…Can that even be made?”
Lerankal shook his head at those words.
“Isn’t that asking for a legendary sword to be made?”
At their words, Aisthels looked embarrassed.
Because his ideal was literally embodied in that body, the level was bound to be considerable.
“Then…”
He started to remove elements he felt were nearly impossible to realize.
“I’ll take the job.”
But Jin-woo instead smiled and nodded.
“This’ll be interesting.”
He already knew that difficult requests were coming.
‘That’s why I asked.’
A body conceived by someone of Aisthels’s caliber would surely be of high quality, and in creating such a high-quality body, Jin-woo could gain new experience.
‘Because I’ve been making frameworks alone.’
There was no Necromancer besides Jin-woo who directly crafted frameworks. Even Hepales hadn’t directly made one.
So this kind of exchange was necessary for Jin-woo.
‘If I focus alone, I’ll inevitably stagnate.’
That’s why, to make better frameworks, he needed to exchange ideas.
“I understand.”
Aisthels nodded. He thought that with Jin-woo, it might just be possible.
“Then.”
Aisthels pulled something from his bosom.
“This is the Ultimate Glacial Crystal. With this… I entrust it to you.”
Jin-woo gripped the Ultimate Glacial Crystal in his hand.
-Ultimate Glacial Crystal [???]
Description: The essence created in the deepest place, in glaciers filled with extreme cold.
The Ultimate Glacial Crystal’s grade was a question mark.
‘It’s not showing.’
A material whose grade he couldn’t see meant it was beyond his current handling level.
That’s why he hadn’t been using the ??? grade materials he’d obtained after hunting Bellam.
‘But.’
That didn’t mean he couldn’t handle it.
Just that he couldn’t handle it one hundred percent.
‘I’ll think of it as drawing out one hundred percent.’
Any shortcomings would be supplemented with materials whose grades are visible.
Jin-woo caressed the Ultimate Glacial Crystal.
Shhhhhhh-!
“You must be careful.”
Aisthels spoke.
The Ultimate Glacial Crystal was a material difficult to handle properly, even for Aisthels, who had learned Maximization Refinement to its extreme.
“If you’re not careful.”
Shhhhh-.
“You’ll freeze over… I’m afraid.”
Jin-woo’s hand suddenly froze. His entire body was engulfed in ice.
But.
Whoosh-!
Blue flames erupted from his body, and the ice was immediately suppressed.
“A refined material indeed.”
After freezing once, Jin-woo gained a very slight understanding of this Ultimate Glacial Crystal.
‘Noble and pure, and elegant.’
Swish-.
Jin-woo caressed the Ultimate Glacial Crystal once more.
“Its elegance captured your heart, didn’t it?”
“!”
That piercing gaze.
The senses.
With that transcendent power, Aisthels continued to be amazed since that first meeting.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
The concept was now finalized. The time to create had come.
Crack-.
Scratch-. Scratch-.
Bang-!
Jin-woo first organized the framework.
He refined and carved the framework as requested, joining it together.
-Bone Making proficiency increases!
-Bone Making proficiency increases!
‘This has a good effect?’
The framework Aisthels had requested was not one Jin-woo would have made himself.
‘I’ve been making them thinking of the spirit that will dwell in the framework and its role.’
He’d only considered those elements, not such preferences.
‘This is definitely different.’
It felt right to have taken this commission.
Crack-! Bang!
“Phew.”
Aisthels watched Jin-woo’s crafting.
Framework crafting for a new body. A craft he had never imagined.
This was possible only because Jin-woo was both a Blacksmith and a Necromancer, but simply mixing Necromancer with Blacksmith wouldn’t make it possible.
Aisthels was the greatest Blacksmith in the Underworld, yet he couldn’t do this.
This was solely Jin-woo’s signature.
Crack-.
Bang-!
Aisthels knew far better how difficult it was to work with bone.
Bone is hard. In other words, when struck, it shatters.
It breaks—not transforms—because of its hardness.
“It has to break.”
Crack-.
Bang-.
Under Jin-woo’s carving knife and hammering, the bone was transforming.
“Soul Forging.”
Drawing out the potential of the crafted framework.
“Maximization Refinement.”
Drawing out that potential once more with Maximization Refinement.
Shhhhhhh-!
The framework’s characteristics pierced through the ceiling and even the heavens.
Bang-!
Only then did the characteristics Aisthels had mentioned begin to dwell in the framework.
Aisthels was overwhelmed by that sight.
If crafting could contain greatness, then what he was witnessing now was truly that great crafting.
Crack-!
Having carved out the framework, Jin-woo looked at the Ultimate Glacial Crystal.
‘I could just set it as is.’
After all, it already carried the power of glaciers taken to the extreme, true to its name.
Even combining it with the framework in its current state would yield overwhelming power.
‘But.’
For Jin-woo, simply using it as-is felt like an insult.
‘To draw out the material’s limits.’
What was the point if he didn’t use the material properly?
‘That’s just treading water.’
His skills would stagnate.
‘Even the tiniest bit of progress is good.’
If he could advance even slightly while crafting equipment, that was success. So Jin-woo brought his carving knife to the Ultimate Glacial Crystal.
“Maximization Refinement.”
And he used Maximization Refinement on the Ultimate Glacial Crystal.
Shhhh-.
From the point where the carving knife touched, cold began to.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle-!
Spread forth madly.
“!”
“R-run!”
“You must flee!”
The flustered spirits retreated sharply backward.
Aisthels too wore an expression of alarm—he hadn’t expected Jin-woo to use Maximization Refinement on the Ultimate Glacial Crystal.
Only Jin-woo remained composed in this dire situation.
‘So it had this much potential.’
Had he not used Maximization Refinement, that power would have remained hidden.
Jin-woo struck with the hammer slowly.
Bang-!
Not suppressing the power of the Ultimate Glacial Crystal.
“Harmonia Refinement.”
But embracing it alongside harmony, even incorporating Maximization Refinement.
Bang-! Bang-!
The powerful cold gradually subsided with each hammer strike.
“That immense cold.”
“Subdued with just a few hammer strikes.”
Shhhhh-.
Jin-woo slowly placed the refined Ultimate Glacial Crystal atop the framework. The Ultimate Glacial Crystal is a mineral containing formidable power. Placing it atop the framework would cause it to freeze solid, with a high risk of shattering.
“Harmonia Refinement.”
Jin-woo used Harmonia Refinement once more. To be precise, he extracted only the core ability of Harmonia Refinement rather than applying it as a full technique.
Shhhhh-.
“…”
The Ultimate Glacial Crystal settled softly atop the framework.
Shhhhh-!
Aisthels understood well how immensely difficult this seemingly simple act was.
“I told you.”
Jin-woo held out the completed framework.
Dark.
Jet black. Yet beautiful blue.
“I would make it.”
A framework imbued with the power of ultimate glaciers.
-Framework created!
-SSR Grade Framework created!
The framework of Bone he’d previously made was SR Grade.
Breaking through SR Grade and reaching SSR Grade.
Along with that, numerous notification windows appeared.
-Bone Making level increases!
-Necromaster level increases.
Shhhhh-.
Then, pale blue cold emanating from the framework wrapped around Jin-woo.
“Jin-woo sir… your body!”

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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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