The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 168

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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 168
168.
When the Bone King and his Successor first arrived in the Underworld.
The existing inhabitants naturally offered fierce resistance.
Trusting the Master of Soul and Abyss was one thing, but since belief had seeped in so naturally, there was displeasure at the notion that another god now ruled this Underworld.
-We will never convert!
That was why Metatron stood before the new god’s Successor.
The Underworld’s greatest warrior and a powerful soul who had never once faced Dissolution Crisis until now.
Never facing Dissolution Crisis meant superiority not merely in combat, but in many other respects as well.
Mental fortitude.
Presence.
And martial might.
Metatron was a soul superior in all three of these measures.
Metatron was so powerful that the Master of Soul and Abyss had once granted him the most formidable strength.
Yet the new god’s Successor suppressed Metatron with ease.
The mightiest soul. At the sight of Metatron’s state, the souls ceased their resistance.
And so they converted in the most natural fashion imaginable.
Now that same scene was repeating itself.
Moreover, the old god’s Successor had not even fought directly.
“This is impossible…….”
“If that’s the case…… then what of that Physical Body!”
-The Master of Soul and Abyss expresses admiration for your skeletal frame.
-He feels regret toward Metatron, who was once his mightiest fist.
That Metatron would suffer such a one-sided defeat seemed to have left the surroundings in utter silence.
Even the souls who held weapons at the ready, prepared to attack Jin-woo at any moment, had become completely rigid.
Even Iceelze, who boasted the tremendous power of his skeletal frame, was shocked by this turn of events—words seemed unnecessary.
“Remarkable, truly.”
Fresh admiration welled up at Jin-woo’s abilities. He had anticipated that Metatron’s attacks would not land properly, but he had never imagined they would be frozen in place like this.
“Did you see? This power. This Physical Body is a gift created by Jin-woo himself.”
“Really…… you truly gave him a Physical Body?”
They had just witnessed it with their own eyes.
Now there was no choice but to believe.
“That Physical Body we longed for so much.”
“You received it.”
Every soul gazed upon Iceelze’s skeletal frame.
“Everyone! How much longer will you cling to promises spoken only in words, promises that would be given someday!”
Iceelze struck his own chest with resounding thuds.
“Behold! I have been promised a new Physical Body by the old god’s Successor, and I received it at once!”
Fragment City 12. The souls’ aggressive stance halted.
“Will you…… create one for us as well?”
At that question, Jin-woo stepped forward.
“That depends on how you conduct yourselves.”
Jin-woo said.
“I came to retake this Underworld by promise with the Master of Soul and Abyss. If you lend me your aid in that retaking.”
All listened intently to Jin-woo’s words.
“I will craft the Physical Body that the new god had promised you.”
With those words, the foremost soul dropped to his knee.
Thud.
Then every soul knelt at once.
Thud-thud-thud!
Jin-woo nodded as he observed their posture.
“Your hearts are now clear to me.”
He then continued.
“Where is the Bone King?”
* * *
Inside Fragment City 12.
-Entering Fragment City 12.5!
Much like Iceelze, the Bone King also dwelt in his own territory on the outskirts of the city.
“Smiths are rare, you see. To survive in this Underworld, the equipment of smiths is essential. Thus they receive nothing but good treatment.”
Iceelze’s eyes gleamed with intensity.
“Bone King!”
A massive structure.
If Iceelze’s dwelling was filled with cold, the Bone King’s residence was a building woven from bone.
“Ah.”
This was Jin-woo’s first time seeing such a building.
He marveled at the sight.
‘This is interesting.’
“Bone King! Are you here!”
The Bone King.
He was a different sort of smith than Iceelze.
Eyes burning with pale blue light.
And though his soul appeared quite gaunt, he possessed considerable lean muscle.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me. Iceelze.”
“Iceelze? What brings you all the way from Fragment City 9 to this remote place?”
Upon seeing Iceelze, the Bone King’s gaze shifted to Jin-woo.
“A living being here?”
“You’ve been so absorbed in bone carving you haven’t heard the news.”
Iceelze broached the subject.
“This is the Successor of the Master of Soul and Abyss.”
Jin-woo approached the Bone King.
The Bone King sensed something peculiar as Jin-woo drew near.
A sharp rushing sound.
The powerful Aura he emanated.
More precisely.
“I sense bone in him.”
The Bone King spoke, regarding Jin-woo.
“I hear you carve bone.”
Jin-woo too felt something peculiar as he observed the Bone King.
‘The bones piled around here.’
There were bones carved into various forms.
From those carved with meticulous precision to bones carved in ways so audaciously unconventional they seemed almost bizarre.
‘Bone is, up to a certain level of craftsmanship, a manageable material.’
But once a certain threshold is crossed, there are limits to what can be accomplished with bone.
‘He has surpassed that limit.’
“Looking at this.”
Jin-woo stepped past the Bone King and picked up one of the bones the Bone King had crafted.
“The rumors of your carving skill appear to be true.”
Then he examined the bone closely.
“Deliberate fractures created with intent. You’ve minimized weight as much as possible, which allows the bone to be assembled easily. Three advantages. Or is it four? You’ve highlighted the strengths while using those strengths to conceal the weaknesses. Excellent. With this sort of carving, force control is the crux of it all.”
“!”
At Jin-woo’s flawless assessment, the corners of the Bone King’s mouth lifted.
Iceelze looked at the bones after hearing Jin-woo’s evaluation.
“It’s just bone though……?”
To Iceelze’s eye, they were simply bones. Well-carved bones. Nothing more. Thus he could not perceive any of the intricate details Jin-woo had described.
But the Bone King was different.
He gazed at Jin-woo with eyes full of emotion.
“You understand bone well. Your assessment is precise.”
The Bone King suddenly became formal. Until now, no one had ever spoken directly to him about the specifics of his bone-carving method.
They simply said he carved well.
Or they asked, how is such a thing even possible with bone?
This was an entirely new experience.
To have someone recognize the details of his craft.
Seeing the Bone King’s expression, Jin-woo smiled slightly.
“May I borrow a bone?”
“By all means.”
The Bone King tossed over a bone. He seemed curious about the skill of someone who could offer such precise assessment.
“Since you showed me something good. It’s only fair I show you something too.”
Jin-woo drew the Vibration Stone Carving Chisel right there.
Then he began to carve the bone.
Scrape.
Scrape. Scrape. Crack.
‘This bone. It seems like that of some enormous monster.’
Smaller than dragon bone, yet larger than Griffin’s Bone.
‘Weighty.’
And above all, extremely hard.
‘Without skill, this bone would be perfect for crushing.’
He could now understand why the Bone King had offered him this particular bone.
Jin-woo moved his hands.
‘Then I should live up to his expectations.’
Scrape. Scrape.
“!”
The moment Jin-woo’s carving began, the Bone King stared, not blinking once, utterly absorbed in the work.
Before long, a Bone Shield woven from bone had been created in Jin-woo’s hands.
-Equipment has been created!
-UR Grade equipment has been created!
The Bone Shield created was UR Grade.
‘Indeed, with good materials, the Grade works out well enough.’
“Magnificent.”
Upon seeing the completed Bone Shield, the Bone King nodded vigorously.
Iceelze watched the Bone King with a satisfied expression.
Now it was certain.
The Bone King was a smith well-versed in bone. His acknowledgment meant that Jin-woo’s bone-carving skill was outstanding.
And since that outstanding smith had crafted his own skeletal frame.
There could be nothing but satisfaction.
“Though I must say, you employ a rather antiquated method.”
“Antiquated method?”
“Using Vibration Stone, I mean.”
“This method was indeed used quite long ago in the Underworld. But it is no longer employed in that manner.”
A sharp rushing sound.
The Bone King infused Dark Energy into his carving chisel.
“The Ultra-Vibration Carving Chisel. This is the latest equipment.”
When Jin-woo made a face as if seeing the Ultra-Vibration Carving Chisel for the first time, the Bone King was taken aback.
“How surprising. I thought you deliberately used the old method. Rather like training while wearing a weighted vest.”
But that was not the case.
Did he truly only know of the Vibration Stone Carving Chisel and use only that?
“Yet with only that, you produced such a Bone Shield.”
Creating such a Bone Shield with merely the Vibration Stone Carving Chisel.
This meant he was not even practicing Ultra-Vibration Carving yet.
“Might I ask you to demonstrate bone carving directly?”
“Certainly.”
The Bone King drew out the Ultra-Vibration Carving Chisel right there.
This Ultra-Vibration Carving Chisel could be said to represent the very pinnacle of Underworld technology.
A sharp rushing sound.
The Ultra-Vibration Carving Chisel infused with Dark Energy vibrated with remarkable finesse.
‘Ah.’
Indeed, the Vibration Stone Carving Chisel he had used until now seemed crude by comparison—so refined was this technique.
‘More intricate.’
Using this Ultra-Vibration Carving Chisel, one could carve with far greater delicacy and precision.
‘The method itself is different.’
Rather than assisting, this was equipment whose application changed entirely depending on the user’s talent.
Scrape.
Crack. Crack. Crackle.
The Bone King’s bone-carving technique was considerable.
‘I already understood from the bones created beforehand. But seeing it now with my own eyes is startling.’
Particularly that delicate fracturing he had marveled at earlier—the process of deliberately creating it for weight reduction, maintaining that reduced weight, and assembling the bone was extraordinary.
‘Bone that should not bond together, bonds.’
Shape.
Size.
And.
‘The ability to create micro-fractures proves he can maintain clean bone integrity without fractures.’
If you can break something, you can assemble it too.
A sharp rushing sound.
The Bone King had created a Bone Great Sword.
It appeared as though carved from a single bone, but it was not.
Three bones had been assembled to make it.
“Because of the exceptional assembly technique, the equipment’s quality rises considerably.”
Because it was assembled this way, the characteristics possessed by all three bones were fully embedded in the single sword.
‘This way, you can gather only the advantages of the materials and maximize them.’
This was a technique worth coveting.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The Bone King smiled.
Jin-woo was different. Whatever he did, this man grasped it all completely.
“I believe we will communicate well.”
“That technique. Could I learn it?”
“Yes. I shall teach you. You will learn quickly.”
The Bone King was utterly captivated by Jin-woo.
Whether a green soul or a blue soul—it mattered not.
And what of a living being? If one possessed the eye for bone, were they not kindred spirits?
“Learn it quickly!”
Iceelze spoke to the Bone King.
“That’s not a technique you learn quickly.”
Iceelze himself had once attempted to learn that bone-carving technique from the Bone King.
“You and the Successor are not the same, Iceelze.”
“That’s true, but…….”
“Don’t worry. A week should suffice for mastery.”
“……?”
At those words, Iceelze’s expression turned perplexed.
“A week isn’t quickly.”
“What are you saying?”
The Bone King wondered if Iceelze had gone mad upon receiving his Physical Body.
A week wasn’t quick.
Even a talented individual requires a full year to master it.
He himself had spent a year becoming proficient.
Jin-woo possessed overflowing talent and outstanding skill, so the Bone King had estimated one week.
That was not merely quick—it was learning in the blink of an eye.
“So you’re telling me I’ve set the estimate too low. Well, if ‘quick’ is the standard, then a month might be more appropriate. But with the Successor’s talent, I’m certain. One week is indeed quick.”
The Bone King shook his head in disbelief.
“…….”
Iceelze did not add further comment.
“Then I shall teach you at once.”
The Bone King handed the Ultra-Vibration Carving Chisel to Jin-woo.
Jin-woo grasped the Ultra-Vibration Carving Chisel.
‘The vibration is more refined.’
Thanks to the delicate vibration, Jin-woo could carve bone exactly as he desired.
‘I can apply more force.’
“Ah!”
If one moved so boldly, the bone would shatter!
“It will break…… no, it didn’t break……?”
That was Ultra-Vibration Carving.
He hadn’t even properly taught it yet. He was supposed to teach it now. Yet he was already doing Ultra-Vibration Carving.
Surely not.
“Just from the demonstration I showed……?”
The Bone King looked at Iceelze urgently.
Iceelze shrugged his shoulders.
“A week.”
Iceelze said.
“Isn’t quickly.”

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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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