The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 211

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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 211
211.
Curse Inscription had been the power of Rigardo, the orc shaman.
‘Of course, I can do Curse Inscription well enough, like an orc would.’
“I’m not sure where you see an orc in me.”
-The god with green skin says that you are an orc incarnate!
“Only the technique resembles theirs.”
When Jin-woo frowned, the mage stepped back slightly and apologized.
“Your build is… ah, no. My apologies!”
Jin-woo learned Magical Imbuing from Tachi, the mage who led the mages’ rest area.
“Hmm!”
‘This will help with Curse Inscription. But this alone isn’t enough.’
Magical Imbuing itself was a lower grade than Curse Inscription, but it had plenty of practical applications.
“Tachi. But why do you do this part that way?”
“Eh? When you say that part…”
“When flowing mana…”
Through communion, Jin-woo corrected the mage’s Magical Imbuing.
‘Of course, I can’t teach Curse Inscription – Extreme.’
He merely adjusted their Magical Imbuing slightly.
“Gasp. Yes, that’s it. That’s the part I kept getting stuck on.”
The mage bowed repeatedly to Jin-woo.
-Mage Tachi’s affinity has reached MAX!
“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
Tachi bowed deeply.
“And welcome, Jin-woo.”
From his very first day, Jin-woo began raising his influence throughout the craftsman district.
He had simply exchanged knowledge because he found it genuinely enjoyable, yet it was elevating his standing all the same.
“Come again! Let’s exchange again!”
Leaving Tachi waving his hands excitedly, Jin-woo moved quickly to begin his next exchange.
“True exchange is indeed a delicate thing—just one misstep and it becomes discourtesy, or ends badly. As you know, craftsmen are finicky.”
Yet by the end of each exchange, everyone held strong affinity for Jin-woo.
“I’m grateful that you hold me in such regard.”
Jin-woo lifted a hand slightly in reply to Tachi, who was still waving.
Next, Jin-woo visited the woodworking workshop.
This was already his tenth exchange, yet Jin-woo showed no sign of fatigue.
“I’m afraid blacksmith technique and woodcraft are quite different!”
The Carpenter shook his head firmly at Jin-woo.
“Doesn’t exchange require a baseline of skill in the first place?”
He then showed Jin-woo the wooden equipment he had crafted.
Well-carved Wooden Helms and Wooden Shields, along with Wooden Swords, caught the eye.
‘Impressive.’
Jin-woo smiled slightly.
‘There’s not a single craftsman without skill in Chanran. Yet it’s ranked last among the three kingdoms.’
Jin-woo felt considerable anticipation.
‘I really should visit the other craftsman districts.’
“If I may show you something.”
He repeated the same words he had been saying throughout his workshop tour.
“Would you care to exchange?”
“By all means!”
The Carpenter smiled broadly.
“This Giant Thornwood is special material. If you work with it without first achieving communion with the wood, it crumbles to dust immediately.”
Communion with the material was essential to work with this special timber.
“It can’t be done overnight, so exchange might be difficult…”
Crack!
Jin-woo carved into the Giant Thornwood without hesitation.
The special wood, which would crumble to dust without proper communion, began to take shape beneath Jin-woo’s hands.
“Yes. That’s it.”
Jin-woo was communing with the Giant Thornwood.
“No. How did you—”
The Carpenter’s eyes blinked five times per second.
Jin-woo’s woodworking technique was what he had learned in the Elven City.
‘Meticulous work.’
Crack. Snap.
“Hmm!”
The Carpenter nodded as he watched Jin-woo’s woodworking.
How he was doing it, the Carpenter didn’t know. But this wasn’t something to merely observe.
“May I have my apprentice observe as well?”
“Of course.”
The Carpenter’s Apprentice immediately entered the workshop.
“Yes, master!”
“Watch carefully. This is the most rightful way to treat wood. This is how wood should be handled.”
At the Carpenter’s words, the Apprentice observed Jin-woo.
Jin-woo’s Hammer and chisel in motion.
And how the force flowed through each movement.
“Master, is that really Giant Thornwood he’s working with?”
“It is.”
“But how is he handling it so easily?”
Giant Thornwood was a high-difficulty material.
Not only were the handling conditions strict, but even after achieving communion, the wood’s unique properties made smooth carving nearly impossible.
Hard. Thorny. Powerful.
Every concern when working with wood was concentrated in Giant Thornwood.
Yet watching Jin-woo work with it, the Apprentice had to wonder if this was truly Giant Thornwood.
Snap. Crack.
The Giant Thornwood was transforming under Jin-woo’s hands with startling ease.
Crack!
What Jin-woo had completed was a slender Wooden Sword.
Swoosh…
-Equipment created!
-Giant Thornwood Sword created!
-USSR Grade equipment created!
“Handling material for the first time,”
Jin-woo said, looking at the Carpenter.
“It was quite enjoyable.”
“…Creating USSR Grade equipment from material you’ve never worked with before.”
The Apprentice was astounded, but the Carpenter was the one truly shocked.
“B-but there was a lacking aspect!”
The Carpenter spoke urgently.
Jin-woo’s woodworking was brilliant, yet it had areas for improvement.
At those words, Jin-woo smiled.
“Would an exchange be possible?”
At Jin-woo’s words, the Carpenter nodded his head vigorously up and down.
Thus, after mastering woodcraft, Jin-woo left the workshop watching the Apprentice wave his hands rapidly.
‘Good. The detail in woodworking technique is different here.’
Though the carpenter in the Elven City possessed considerable skill, the Major City’s carpenter was different—and significantly so.
Because of this, Jin-woo was able to refine the details of his own woodworking technique.
“Are there materials you can’t work with?”
“Many. I still have much to learn.”
“…”
Next, Osan led him to an alchemy workshop.
“I’m looking forward to this one as well.”
“This won’t work easily, I’m afraid. It’s a place that deals with dark materials—quite different from Trent’s alchemy workshop in character.”
The alchemy workshop Whispers of the Dead.
This was an alchemy workshop run by a Necromancer.
“Actually, that works out perfectly.”
Jin-woo smiled broadly.
“This is actually my primary specialty.”
“…?”
As they entered the workshop, the Necromancer greeted Jin-woo.
“Exchange? Ha ha. I deal with spirits here. If you can’t handle spirits,”
Before the Necromancer, pale spirits swirled.
“Exchange is impossible…”
Whoosh.
Jin-woo grasped the spirit with his bare hand.
“?”
The Necromancer’s expression went blank for an instant.
“How did you grab that?”
* * *
“I figured it would take about two weeks.”
Jin-woo and Osan toured through every workshop in Chanran, exchanging with each one. There was a cooking workshop they had planned to visit, but it had been closed for rest.
“There’s nowhere left to go. We’ve exchanged with them all.”
When Jin-woo first mentioned wanting to exchange with the craftspeople of Chanran, Osan had felt sincere regret.
He had assumed it would take at least two weeks.
Consider how diverse the workshops here were.
Even a street that had lost its former glory still retained a considerable number of skilled craftsmen.
To exchange with them, one had to be able to receive their techniques and offer one’s own knowledge in return.
But that was impossible even for Osan.
One could exchange with craftsmen of the same discipline, but true exchange with those of entirely different fields was impossible.
Yet Jin-woo had done it.
Moreover.
“Who would have thought he’d finish in half a day!”
He had completed the exchanges with all those craftsmen in just half a day.
One might have been satisfied at this point, but Jin-woo seemed to be genuinely enjoying these exchanges.
‘This is good.’
Jin-woo had received considerable stimulation from these exchanges.
‘The craftspeople of the Major City have something different about them.’
Until now, Jin-woo had exchanged with NPCs who possessed special techniques.
The Disciples of AllMaster quest was the prime example, and through it he had learned a tremendous amount.
But.
‘My masters. They dig stubbornly into one aspect, so there’s much to learn—but they’re somewhat removed from general crafting.’
Besides, their fields were quite limited.
But the craftspeople here were different.
‘Perhaps they began with the ordinary.’
Over time, that ordinariness had become extraordinary. In that process, the insights they had gained—Jin-woo could hear them all through exchange.
Their insights became his insights.
‘I’m so glad I did these exchanges.’
Jin-woo had gained a new perspective on crafting itself.
He had filled in much of that sense of lacking he had felt in the Underworld.
‘Based on these exchanges.’
Jin-woo’s hands itched to work.
‘The grade is uncertain.’
He couldn’t be sure if he could reach a grade higher than his current USSR+ Grade.
Yet one thing he was certain of.
‘I can create something better than what I made before.’
“Are we finished?”
“Just one place left.”
This was truly the last one.
“This is truly the last one, lad. If our Osan Workshop marks the entrance of Chanran, this place marks its exit.”
Osan gestured toward the Eritun Workshop.
“This here is the workshop of Eritun, a craftsman who keeps a foreigner as his apprentice. The Eritun Workshop is famous for blades.”
“Oh.”
‘I’d wanted to exchange with a user.’
Perfect timing.
“Eritun!”
“Osan, is that you?”
Eritun greeted Osan warmly.
“The thing is,”
Osan had become quite practiced at explaining exchanges by now.
“I’d like this foreigner apprentice of yours to exchange with Jin-woo here. What do you say?”
“Of course. Do come in!”
Osan stepped in front, leading the way into the Eritun Workshop.
Bang! Bang!
The sound of Hammering.
Intense heat.
There was a user here.
Moreover.
“A ranker?”
A Ranker blacksmith user, no less.

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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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