The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 166

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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 166
166.
A sharp whistling sound.
Blue coldness swept across Jin-woo’s entire body, then was absorbed within him.
—Conditions fulfilled!
—Special Skeleton Crafting ability has been added to Bone Making skill.
—Achievement [Bone Maestro] obtained!
[Bone Maestro]
Description: Bones you handle gain special effects. You can fuse bone with bone.
‘Interesting.’
The evolution of Bone Making.
With the creation of an SSR-Grade Skeleton, the Bone Making skill had upgraded based on the conditions fulfilled.
—Awakening preparation complete.
And that wasn’t all.
‘Awakening preparation?’
—Necromaster level increased!
—Quest received!
—Job Awakening Quest received!
* Quest: Path of Awakening [Job Awakening Quest]
Grade: ???
Content: You have reached the limit of the Necromaster job. To draw out more power from your job, you need to awaken!
Reward: Job Awakening
What Jin-woo received was a Job Awakening Quest.
‘So awakening is what allows further growth in a job capacity.’
“Indeed.”
Creating a skeleton for Ice Elze had been extraordinarily difficult.
‘It’s also the highest grade skeleton I’ve made so far.’
Perhaps that’s why the conditions had been fulfilled.
‘Awakening, then.’
Jin-woo examined the quest in detail.
‘The conditions are quite demanding.’
Moreover, the grade was marked with a question mark.
‘The difficulty is at the peak.’
But the reward that came in return was equally worthy.
‘With job awakening, I’ll be able to do far more than I can now.’
Currently, Jin-woo had been staying in the UR-Grade tier for quite some time.
Since Jin-woo’s standards were distinctly different from those of others, this duration could certainly be considered lengthy.
‘It’d be nice to move up to a higher grade.’
Jin-woo confirmed the conditions of the Job Awakening Quest.
—Quest Clear Condition: Obtain a Great Bone.
“A Great Bone?”
He didn’t know what kind of material a Great Bone was, but just from the name alone, it sounded like something worth coveting.
‘How great must it be to earn such a name?’
“Excellent.”
Jin-woo’s motivation surged considerably.
Jin-woo slowly handed the completed SSR-Grade Skeleton to Ice Elze.
“Ice Elze.”
Then he gave confirmation.
“Every condition you asked for.”
This SSR-Grade Skeleton contained everything Ice Elze had desired.
“All fulfilled.”
Ice Elze’s spirit trembled.
“Put it on.”
Ice Elze slowly reached toward the skeleton, and as if finding her own spirit, the skeleton responded.
Hum—
Hummmmm—!
Ice Elze’s spirit was instantly pulled into the skeleton.
A sharp whistling sound.
—Learned Necromaster skill.
—Learned Skeleton Contract.
Ice Elze’s spirit merged with the body Jin-woo had created, the skeleton.
And in that moment.
—Skeleton Contract established!
—The one who receives the skeleton falls under your power!
—You can borrow their strength!
—Summoning becomes possible with their permission!
—If summoned, they are treated as a familiar for a fixed duration!
“Remarkable.”
Skeleton Contract.
Fundamentally, Necromancer was a job where one raised countless corpses to make them familiars.
‘It’s typical to command tens or hundreds of familiars.’
But Jin-woo was walking a unique path even among Necromancers.
“There was a part I found somewhat disappointing before. It seems this was the condition. The condition for awakening.”
It appeared the condition for receiving the Awakening Quest was precisely this Skeleton Contract.
Using this Skeleton Contract, he could borrow their power without creating familiars.
‘If I create skeletons for them. I can use them just like familiars. Now that I think about it, it’s like I’m lending them skeletons, isn’t it?’
Jin-woo smiled wryly.
‘This way, large-scale summoning would be possible whenever I need it.’
The spirits in this Underworld had received a promise from the New God, the King of Death.
That he would give them new bodies, so they should free themselves from the Master of Soul and Abyss and serve him instead.
“Every spirit in the Underworld.”
Jin-woo clenched his fist.
“Could become my strength.”
* * *
Suomi Company.
—User Jin-woo accepted Job Awakening Quest
—First to reach Level 299
Job awakening.
NewGen had countless jobs, and every job had a limit.
Awakening was what allowed one to break through that limit.
“Awakening?”
This awakening was a quest that opened to those who had hit a job ceiling, but it wasn’t something anyone could do.
Even if one maintained the same job for over a year, the Awakening Quest wouldn’t open at all unless they’d grown that job to its limit.
Yet Jin-woo had received a Job Awakening Quest.
Moreover.
“A Unique Job… he received the awakening already?”
A Unique Job Awakening Quest, no less.
Among those currently holding Unique Jobs, the most recent to undergo Unique Job Awakening was the Sword Saint Heres.
The Sword Saint Heres had been continuously failing ever since receiving the Unique Job Awakening Quest.
“The difficulty is absolutely immense.”
Yet he had received it.
“Heres’s level reached 700 before he received it.”
Jin-woo was at 299.
“How did he receive it already?”
Now Jin-woo was receiving messages from Logical constantly. Originally, messages weren’t sent this frequently—only when Logical truly wished to add commentary.
There were even GMs among the monitoring room staff who had never received a Logical message.
—Logical Message: A normal user would never choose this option. Then from that choice, choosing again an option no one would select. And from that state, choosing once more an option absolutely no one would pick.
“……?”
Reading it once didn’t make it clear.
GM Kim Na-yun read it again.
“So…….”
It meant choosing an option no ordinary user would select, then again choosing an option no one would choose.
“And then choosing once more an option absolutely no one would pick?”
And the result of that situation had ended overwhelmingly positively.
“Logical.”
GM Kim Na-yun now felt somewhat sorry for Logical.
“It’s hard to predict, isn’t it?”
Superintelligent AI.
Most variables could be controlled, and its judgment was near prophetic in predicting the future.
Yet before Jin-woo, control and prediction were impossible.
“Let’s cheer him on. Together.”
GM Kim Na-yun smiled brightly.
“Then the number of Unique Job awakeners will increase to seven now!”
Among the tens of millions of NewGen users, only an extreme minority held Unique Jobs, and of those with Unique Jobs, exactly sixteen had undergone awakening.
“But… it is difficult, after all.”
The Sword Saint Heres had dedicated himself to the Unique Job Awakening Quest and saw his ranking plummet rapidly.
Outpaced by Slayer and surpassed by Kalantiir as well.
“Since you’ve spent considerable time in UR+ Rank…….”
Suddenly, she covered her mouth with her hand.
“Considerable time……?”
It hadn’t even been two weeks since reaching UR+ Rank.
That wasn’t a long time. Even staying here for another month would be reasonable.
“His standards had risen this high…….”
GM Kim Na-yun reviewed the evaluation reports of users she was separately monitoring.
“Insane.”
Then she struck her forehead.
“I’ve been evaluating by Jin-woo’s standards.”
By Jin-woo’s standard, all the specially managed users were slow.
Endlessly so.
* * *
Ice Elze was delighted like a child.
“Keeeee! Keeeeee—!”
She moved about with her newly acquired body, the skeleton.
Swinging a Hammer.
Wrapping herself in cold.
Ice Elze tested every skill she possessed with her new body.
“Kraaaa—!”
“Why is she like that?”
“I’ve never seen Ice Elze like this……”
Lerankal had observed Ice Elze over many ages, but never like this.
“She’s that pleased……?”
A new body.
The skeleton Jin-woo created was good enough to turn Ice Elze into an excited child.
Gulp—
The spirits watched Jin-woo.
‘It’s not time yet.’
He could create them right away, but Jin-woo intended to handle what needed doing first.
“Ice Elze.”
“Yes, yes!”
Ice Elze had become wholly devoted to Jin-woo.
“Let’s reclaim the Underworld together.”
“Yes!”
Ice Elze immediately revealed the location of the Successor of the New God.
“The Successor of the New God is located here.”
Ice Elze pointed to the place glowing on the Map.
“However, we cannot simply enter. The Successor of the New God is protected by a powerful guardian spirit.”
In this Underworld, monster grades differed from those on the surface.
“The highest grade of monster in this Underworld is the Tyrant-Grade.”
Tyrant-Grade.
The ruler-class monsters of the Underworld.
“Since it is this Tyrant-Grade monster that guards, you will need to deal with that.”
“How strong is a Tyrant-Grade?”
“Hmm.”
Having lived her entire life only in the Underworld, Ice Elze struggled with comparisons.
Jin-woo immediately summoned First, Pur, and Bone.
They were his three strongest familiars.
Moltus was strong too, but since he was fundamentally a long-range support familiar, strictly speaking, these three were Jin-woo’s strongest.
A sharp whistling sound—!
The three familiars were summoned and stood behind Jin-woo.
Jin-woo demonstrated to Ice Elze.
The majesty of his familiars.
He meant for her to make a proper comparison.
“If you compare them to these?”
A sharp whistling sound—!
The summoned familiars radiated tremendous power.
Ice Elze could understand them even better now. She had the new body Jin-woo created.
As skeleton connected to skeleton, their strength flowed into Ice Elze completely.
They were certainly strong.
The skeletons themselves were remarkable, but above all, they wielded equipment forged from all of Jin-woo’s craftsmanship.
And beyond that, understanding.
Having fought alongside Jin-woo, they understood and wielded his equipment.
Using fine equipment without understanding and using it with understanding were entirely different matters.
“I shall tell you.”
Summing it all together, Ice Elze spoke.
“We could engage the Tyrant-Grade monster. However.”
She trailed off the rest.
“The Successor is stronger than that, then?”
“……Yes.”
Jin-woo smiled wryly.
“Thank you for your honesty.”
On Jin-woo’s Map, the glowing section had a new light appearing just ahead of it.
—[Job Quest Marker Location]
That was the Job Quest marker location. That place corresponded exactly with where the Tyrant-Grade monster that Ice Elze had indicated was located.
And that light continued further back. That was where the Successor was.
“I’m looking forward to it.”

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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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