The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 19

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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 19
Chapter 19.
“Go find Red at the mine. Red’s both a mineral merchant and a miner. He’ll teach you well how to extract the materials you’re after.”
-You have received a Quest!
* Quest: Red of the Mine
Rank: C
Description: Red at the Synths Mine is a skilled miner. Hoze says you can learn what you need from him! Find Red!
Reward: Mineral Mining Skill
“Mention my name and he’ll lend you a hand. Though he won’t teach you for nothing, mind you. The man’s particular about these things.”
Following the quest Hoze had given him, Jin-woo arrived at the Synths Mine.
The Synths Mine.
The place was crowded with users—remarkably so.
“There are so many people. More than in Synths itself, it seems?”
It was deeply ironic that the mine held more people than the city above it.
But there was good reason for it.
The Synths Mine was an excellent place to earn early capital.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A sound echoed through the Synths Mine—similar to that of a blacksmith’s forge, yet different.
The sound of pickaxes striking stone.
Countless miners were hard at work extracting ore.
“Ugh, why is mining so difficult?”
“Do I need more Strength stat? This is driving me mad.”
“Invest more points in Strength. Then you can break through by force.”
Crack!
“Damn it, my pickaxe broke. I just bought it.”
Mined ore sold for more than byproducts from monster hunts—that was the baseline.
And if a player got lucky and struck a valuable ore deposit, the payoff could significantly accelerate early growth.
Which was why low-level users flocked to the mine in such numbers.
It was safe, steady money—and fortune could smile on you.
Yet mining was far from easy.
‘They’re probably short on stats and gear alike.’
After observing the crowd for a moment, Jin-woo made his way deeper into the mine.
There he found a man with red hair.
“Hello.”
“Stranger, I’m busy right now. Got nothing to teach and nothing to say.”
He spoke without even glancing at Jin-woo, his tone sharply unwelcoming.
“I’ve come on the introduction of Hoze.”
“……Hoze?”
Only then did Red look at him.
“I heard he’s the finest miner in the Synths Mine. A true expert in extraction. He said you have remarkable skill in assessing ore quality as well.”
“……Hmm. Well, that’s not wrong, at least. Did the old man say that?”
Though Hoze had said no such thing, Jin-woo nodded with a warm smile.
“He even mentioned that I couldn’t learn properly from anyone but you.”
“Ha ha ha! Well now, that sounds like him. Since you’re mentioning the old man, I take it you’re a blacksmith too? There’s nothing better than sourcing materials yourself. Can’t do it without learning proper extraction, and you’ve got to know how to judge quality ore when you see it!”
Red laughed and extended his hand to Jin-woo.
“Well met. I’m Red.”
“Jin-woo.”
-Quest is now in progress.
-Learn the Mineral Mining Skill from Red!
* * *
Clang! Clang!
“Sourcing materials yourself is crucial work. Right now all the ore on the market looks about the same quality, but as you climb higher, rare materials just don’t show up for sale. Any craftsman who doesn’t secure their own supply will eventually fade out. Even old Hoze used to gather his own materials back in the day. These days I fetch them for him instead, so you don’t see him doing it anymore.”
Red was right on the mark.
To craft higher-grade equipment, you obviously needed better materials.
But good materials rarely appeared on the open market.
‘That’s why I’ve struggled so often. Everything just goes to guild-affiliated craftsmen.’
More than anyone, he understood now: sourcing your own materials was the most vital thing a craftsman could do.
‘This time, I’ll earn it myself.’
“But extracting ore from the deposits here isn’t simple work either. It’s quite difficult, in fact.”
There were several ways to gather materials.
Hunting monsters, clearing quests, and mining ore.
In Eternal Sunshine, Jin-woo had relied chiefly on quest completion for material gathering.
He’d hunted monsters a few times, but fundamentally, his blacksmith class made combat less straightforward.
So he’d often traded finished equipment to rankers in exchange for materials.
“Here, take this.”
-You have received an Iron Pickaxe!
Red handed Jin-woo an Iron Pickaxe.
The tool was surprisingly hefty.
“First thing—you need to practice the swing. That’s the most important part of mining.”
Red pointed toward the back with a gesture.
“See those black things? Those are what we call Ore Deposits. Break one apart, and you get ore.”
The mine’s mechanics were straightforward.
Dark, chunky deposits of various sizes—Ore Deposits—scattered throughout. Break one open, extract the ore inside.
The tricky part was that the darkness made it impossible to know what lay within before cracking it.
Clang!
“But see how those foreigners over there are doing it? The deposits are rock-hard. That’s why mining isn’t easy.”
Red picked up his pickaxe as he spoke.
“But follow the right method, and you can extract ore.”
Difficult, yes—but not impossible.
Red demonstrated.
Clang!
A precise strike landed dead center on the deposit.
“It doesn’t matter where you hit.”
Jin-woo’s eyes widened as Red brought the pickaxe down.
The angle.
The force applied.
And the timing.
All of it registered in Jin-woo’s mind as pure information.
Clang! Clang!
After exactly seven precise strokes, something flew out of the deposit.
“There.”
-Iron Ore
It was Iron Ore.
“That’s how you mine Iron Ore. A week of practice, give or take, and you’ll be cracking these deposits easily. You being a blacksmith, you’ll probably pick it up faster. It’s all about technique.”
Red paused and asked:
“What’s your level?”
“Twenty-five.”
“That’s plenty. Go ahead, give it a try.”
The users here ranged from level thirty to fifty.
Twenty-five was relatively low, but considering Jin-woo’s blacksmith class, it wasn’t bad at all.
Jin-woo gripped the pickaxe.
“What the—?”
“Red’s actually teaching this person mining?”
“That picky Red is?”
“Insane. He never teaches me anything.”
Users turned to stare at Jin-woo. A stranger suddenly receiving instruction from Red was impossible to ignore.
Red the NPC had the temperament of a rough, hardened miner.
His peculiarity had transcended mere eccentricity—there were rumors about him among the players.
“How’d he pull that off?”
No one could figure out how he’d gotten Red to teach him.
“Though even if he learns, it won’t happen overnight.”
If learning from an NPC could make you a master miner in a day, there wouldn’t be a single poor miner in this mine.
“It’s incredibly hard.”
“Actually, the users who’ve been mining seem to get pretty decent at it with a day’s investment.”
“Or if they have the miner class.”
Some players had even chosen miner as a secondary class.
These dedicated miners, who had specialized in ore extraction, understood better than anyone just how difficult the pickaxe work truly was.
“Learning’s one thing. The real issue is Synchronization Rate.”
Synchronization Rate.
It determined control—and the difference could be night and day.
Swing the pickaxe, extract the ore.
Simple on the surface, but intricate when you dug deeper.
So the miners were curious about Jin-woo—but not about his pickaxe work.
Jin-woo was replicating Red’s technique in his mind.
‘Shoulder tension, about this much.’
He tensed his shoulders.
‘And speed.’
Not sluggish, but brisk—almost fast.
And the most critical element was.
Clang!
Jin-woo brought the pickaxe down on the deposit.
‘Striking the exact same spot, repeatedly.’
Clang! Clang!
He struck precisely the same point three times.
A crack appeared in the deposit.
“!”
“What……?”
“The deposit’s cracking?”
“That can’t be right.”
The watching users gasped, eyes snapping toward the deposit.
There really was a crack.
Exactly three strikes.
“What the hell…….”
The miner-class players weren’t looking at the deposit. They were looking at Jin-woo.
“He hit the exact same spot.”
Landing near the same area was something you could do with practice.
But Jin-woo had struck the exact same point.
Even the miner-class players found that difficult.
“That has to be a skill…….”
A skill correction was supposed to be necessary to land on the exact same spot.
“Didn’t he use a skill?”
“If he’d used a skill, the impact would’ve looked different.”
“Normal skills don’t work on deposits anyway.”
Without a miner-exclusive skill, you couldn’t use abilities on ore deposits.
“He’s definitely not a miner…….”
“Then…….”
There was only one answer.
Skill alone—pure technique landing on the exact same point.
Ignoring the commotion, Jin-woo remained focused.
What he held was a pickaxe, yet it was not a pickaxe.
‘Everything in my hands,’
was an extension of his hammer.
‘is an extension of my arm.’
Right now, Jin-woo was bringing down his own extended hand—repeatedly.
Boom!
Crack-crack-crack!
One more strike, and the crack deepened further.
“Haah!”
Jin-woo poured everything into the blow.
-Channeling full power!
-Stamina drops sharply!
Red, watching from the side, dropped his jaw.
He’d been about to offer guidance.
He’d thought that with some basic sense, a bit of instruction would have him mining decently within days.
Days?
No.
Clang!
“The… crack……”
Once more.
Clang!
The deposit crumbled away.
“I see how it works now.”
Jin-woo smiled and picked up the ore that had fallen free.
“I understand.”

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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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