The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 20

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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 20
Episode 20.
The NPC Red.
And the surrounding players were at a loss for words.
“Your level, you said it was what again?”
“Level 25, sir.”
“That shouldn’t be possible…… Have you mined before?”
“No, sir.”
“No Skill, no experience whatsoever.”
One thing was certain: he had no Skill.
-You have learned a Skill!
-You have learned the Mining Skill.
Since he had just learned his Mining Skill moments ago.
So it was fair to say he’d pulled off Mining with no Skill and at a low Level.
Or rather, it only looked easy.
“It has something in common with craftsmanship,” Jin-woo observed.
Jin-woo gripped the Pickaxe again.
“Let me try once more. I think I can do better this time.”
With the Skill learned and one attempt under his belt, he felt he could improve.
Jin-woo grasped the Pickaxe anew.
‘This ore deposit has a real feel to it.’
The ore deposit had recoil.
‘I think this recoil is what determines the difficulty of the deposit.’
If he tried to push back against the recoil, his wrist would strain badly. That would drain his Stamina and throw off his striking angle.
‘Then I can’t strike the same spot twice in a row.’
But if he held back on power, he couldn’t even scratch the deposit.
So.
‘I change where I apply the force.’
Not by striking hard from the start.
At the moment of impact.
He needed to channel his strength hard in that brief instant.
-Using Mining Skill!
Using the Skill, Jin-woo brought down a powerful strike.
Crack!
Once more.
Crack!
In just two strikes, a fissure appeared.
With the Skill and his understanding of Mining, Jin-woo’s Pickaxe work was superb.
“Excellent. Truly excellent.”
Even the fastidious and cantankerous Red had no choice but to admit it.
“Listen up, everyone! Don’t miss this opportunity!”
Red shouted then.
“You won’t see something like this everywhere. Many of you foreigners asked to learn from me before, didn’t you? Then watch this foreigner!”
Red didn’t need to shout—all the players were already watching Jin-woo.
Clang!
There was something mesmerizing about Jin-woo’s Pickaxe technique.
Lift, strike.
The entire sequence was extraordinarily smooth.
“It’s the same Pickaxe work, so why does it look different?”
It felt almost like he was playing a different game altogether.
Clang! Clang!
Jin-woo shattered the ore deposit once more.
His technique had improved dramatically compared to the first strike.
“Incredible.”
As one player gasped in admiration, others joined in.
The Pickaxe work was as superb as Red had said.
“Your Pickaxe technique……”
Red spoke to Jin-woo.
“I don’t think you need to learn anymore.”
There was nothing left to teach him about Pickaxe work.
* * *
“Then we’ll start with Mineral Appraisal.”
Red hadn’t expected to be teaching Appraisal before even a day had passed.
“Once you’ve mined a Mineral, you need to know what it is. That’s how you gauge its true value.”
Red said this while producing a Mineral.
-Unconfirmed Mineral
Description: A Mineral whose identity cannot be determined.
“Minerals extracted from ore deposits are fundamentally Unconfirmed Minerals. You unlock them with the Appraisal Skill. Of course, common Minerals like Iron Ore sometimes reveal themselves by chance.”
Red held the Unconfirmed Mineral in his palm.
“When you use the Skill like this——”
-You have learned the Appraisal Skill.
“Give it a try.”
-Using Appraisal Skill!
“Hmm.”
The moment Jin-woo used the Appraisal Skill on the Unconfirmed Mineral, it transformed instantly.
-Iron Ore
“But this one didn’t identify,” Jin-woo noted.
Among the Unconfirmed Minerals, some refused to identify.
“That’s where the real difficulty lies. There are Minerals the Appraisal Skill can’t unlock.”
Then you’d need a higher-Rank Appraisal Skill. But there was another way.
“There’s also a method of discerning with your fingertips.”
“With your fingertips?”
“Yes. Each Mineral has its own unique properties. If you know those properties, you can appraise with your fingertips.”
Red felt the Mineral that refused to appraise with his hand.
“Steel.”
Shimmer.
The black Unconfirmed Mineral’s color shifted.
Deep gray.
Steel.
“This is how you appraise—you must feel the Mineral’s properties alongside the Skill. That’s how you distinguish and identify them.”
Even just hearing the explanation sounded difficult.
It truly required accumulated experience.
“Or you could just keep using the Skill. There’s an easier method than this difficult approach. My recommendation is to raise the Appraisal Skill’s Proficiency and take the easy path.”
But Jin-woo was already handling the Unconfirmed Mineral with his hands.
“Mm.”
“You’re going down that road?”
Red naturally assumed that’s the path Jin-woo would take.
Hadn’t he just demonstrated it?
That overwhelming handiwork.
Yes, if anyone could walk this difficult road, it would be Jin-woo.
“It’ll take about thirty days just to distinguish them. But with you, I’d wager a week. A week from now, then, we’ll see——”
Then light began emanating from Jin-woo’s hand.
He examined the Unconfirmed Mineral Red had just shown him with his fingertips, then closed his eyes.
And opened them again just as quickly.
“I’m done.”
“??”
“Sensing through the fingertips proved difficult. So I identified it by weight instead.”
“By weight?”
Red stared at him incredulously.
“That’s possible?”
Ding!
-The Guardian Deity of Flame and Craftsmanship marvels at your actions!
-The Guardian Deity of Flame and Craftsmanship bestows a blessing upon you!
-Your Strength Stat increases!
-The Guardian Deity grants you a Rune.
The moment Jin-woo succeeded in identifying by weight, the Guardian Deity of Flame and Craftsmanship who was sponsoring him bestowed a blessing.
Moreover.
‘A Rune?’
Jin-woo immediately checked the notification about receiving a Rune.
-Rune [Will of Flame]
Greatly increases your resistance to Flame!
A Rune was a kind of divine protection.
The Will of Flame enhanced resistance to flame—the most crucial element for a blacksmith.
‘With this, I’ll take less damage from flame.’
Which meant he could craft equipment for longer.
“How splendid.”
‘The deity truly likes me now, doesn’t it?’
Not only was the deity marveling at his actions, but bestowing a special power like a Rune suggested he’d made a remarkably good impression.
Jin-woo touched another Unconfirmed Mineral.
‘Weight identification by touch isn’t easy.’
But after several repetitions, he grew quite proficient at it.
-You have obtained Steel!
‘The Synchronization Rate plays a big role too.’
Jin-woo’s high Synchronization Rate was supporting his impossible abilities right now.
“……”
Red fell silent watching Jin-woo. He hadn’t imagined learning even the Appraisal Skill would happen this way.
Basic Appraisal Skill was easy to learn, but this advanced process was difficult to begin and even harder to master.
“Huh……”
Red scratched his head.
“Now I understand why Hoz sent you.”
Surely the old man felt the same way he did now.
There was nothing left to teach.
He’d never imagined he could teach everything so quickly.
“Did he send you because he couldn’t handle it……?”
Red sighed.
“Thank you for learning so well.”
“Thank you for teaching me…… so well.”
Red looked at Jin-woo with an expression of uncertainty—he couldn’t tell if this was something to celebrate or lament.
-You have cleared the Quest!
-You have received a reward!
-Your Level increases!
A Quest of considerable Rank had been cleared in an instant.
‘I gained two Levels.’
Of course, since it was an easy Quest for Jin-woo, it felt like easy gains.
Leaving Red and the other players’ gazes behind, Jin-woo entered deeper into the Mine.
* * *
GM Kim Na-yoon quickly checked the alert that chimed.
“……A Rune?”
A Rune was a special power bestowed by the deity.
Deities were extremely capricious—the same action didn’t always produce identical results.
Runes were no exception.
These Runes they granted conveyed quite powerful abilities, but the criteria were extremely stringent.
“He received that Rune?”
Not only had he received a Legendary Job Advancement Quest from the Guild Master, but now he’d received a Rune from the deity too.
“What exactly is he doing in Sync……?”
She’d sent a mail about the Steel Colossus clear reward from Lucent, but it still hadn’t been read.
“Now I’m curious what reward he’ll ask for.”
* * *
Deep within the Mine.
There were several ore deposits there.
To Jin-woo’s eyes, those deposits now looked like mouth-watering materials themselves.
“Let me try self-sufficiency.”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Jin-woo mined all day long.
-Unconfirmed Mineral
-Unconfirmed Mineral
-Unconfirmed Mineral
……
After a full day of Mining, he’d secured quite a stockpile of Minerals.
-Insufficient Stamina!
“Insufficient Stamina?”
Jin-woo immediately began drinking Stamina Potions.
Gulp, gulp.
“I’ll mine until I show Potion Addiction symptoms.”
Mining up to his addiction limit, Jin-woo kept mining and mining.
-Pickaxe Durability below 10%!
“Hmm.”
Jin-woo examined the Pickaxe.
“There’s more than one thing that needs fixing here.”
He stopped for now. He couldn’t continue further.
“But I’ve gathered quite a bit.”
He’d mined enough Minerals to feel satisfied.
“Let’s go.”
Now came the most fun part.
* * *
Hoz’s Blacksmith Shop.
He arranged the Unconfirmed Minerals on the work table.
“This is tedious. And I keep borrowing Hoz’s Blacksmith Shop like this……”
‘It would be nice if I could craft anywhere.’
He’d need to think of a good solution.
First, Jin-woo identified the Unconfirmed Minerals.
-Using Appraisal Skill!
-You have obtained Steel Ore!
-You have obtained Brass Stone!
“!”
Steel Ore and Brass Stone.
-Brass Stone [Rank: C]
Description: A brightly gleaming brass-colored Mineral.
“Steel and Brass Stone. I’ve never worked with these before.”
Quite rare ores had turned up.
“So the Minerals that separate from ore deposits are completely random. Some can be used directly like they’re already refined.”
Others, like Steel Ore, required refining first.
After finishing the Appraisal, dozens of Minerals had accumulated.
“Hm!”
Jin-woo gazed contentedly at the pile of Minerals.
Steel and the yellow-gleaming Brass Stone—a tier above Iron—were lovely just to look at.
Jin-woo unknowingly gripped the hammer.
“No, wait. Let me finish appraising first.”
Jin-woo appraised the remaining Unconfirmed Minerals.
In total, five Steel and three Brass Stones emerged.
“Hm!”
Jin-woo decided to craft his most pressing need with these two materials.
“The Pickaxe I got from Red isn’t bad, but it’s not good either.”
It was simply an average Pickaxe, nothing more.
“It’s passable for a beginner, sure.”
Whenever Jin-woo saw poorly-crafted equipment, he’d naturally scowl. He’d even felt nauseous at times in the past.
The workmanship had been that shoddy.
Of course, this Pickaxe wasn’t quite that bad.
“But I can’t use something like this.”
Jin-woo immediately kindled the forge fire.
“A Pickaxe is quite important for Mining.”
From the Mining he’d done, he’d gotten a feel for how a Pickaxe should be made.
“It needs to concentrate force on a single point. For that, the shape should be……”
Clang! Clang!
Jin-woo began striking the heated Steel.
“Oho.”
He marveled.
The Steel had a remarkable quality. That recoil when striking, that elasticity—it felt entirely different from Iron.
“Different even from Black Steel? This is actually harder.”
Black Steel and Steel.
Two Minerals fundamentally similar, yet their feel was completely different. Black Steel had a firmness similar to Steel but was lighter, while Steel was even harder in return for greater weight.
Jin-woo then placed the Brass Stone in the forge.
He intended to blend Steel and Brass Stone.
Clang!
The unique quality of Steel.
And the recoil of Brass Stone mixed together.
Jin-woo hammered with rhythm.
Clang! Clang!
Flow state.
Using the new material brought him into flow instantly.
Shimmer!
Moreover, the power of the Rune he’d just received suffused Jin-woo’s hammer.
Clang!
Strike and cool.
And so a Pickaxe retaining its yellow gleam was born.
“Complete.”
Ding!
-You have crafted equipment!
-You have crafted A-Rank equipment!
-You have crafted your first A-Rank equipment!
-You have received additional Stat Points!
The birth of his first A-Rank equipment.

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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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