The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 212

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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 212
Episode 212.
“Guild Master! We finally found him!”
Avalon, the kingdom’s capital.
Beside the royal palace of Avalon stood a building somewhat smaller than it.
This towering structure, needle-like in its height, was the headquarters of the Realize Guild, a major guild.
“Who did you find?”
Casino, the guild master, asked the executive who had entered in such haste.
“Jin-woo is here in Avalon right now, sir!”
“In Avalon?”
Ever since the Leap Guild snatched the tower from him, the guild master had been searching for Jin-woo relentlessly.
He wanted to commission equipment from Jin-woo and, moreover, secure victory over the elite forces of the Leap Guild.
But meeting Jin-woo was not easy.
No matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find him.
Most players could find anyone if they set their mind to it, but Jin-woo was so difficult to locate that one might wonder if he was actually playing the game.
Yet JinTube videos kept uploading, and Netflix videos too, which was nothing short of bewildering.
Of course, it made sense that he was hard to find. Jin-woo had been traveling to places where users simply didn’t go.
“Wasn’t he supposed to be in the Underworld? It was even announced. The third video’s content was about reclaiming the Underworld.”
Just before, he’d heard that Jin-woo was in a place called the Underworld that no one had ever heard of.
And now that same Jin-woo was in Avalon.
“Yes, that’s correct. But he’s here in Avalon now.”
“I searched everywhere and couldn’t find him. I never thought he’d come directly to us.”
Avalon was the stronghold city of the Realize Guild.
He hadn’t expected Jin-woo to come like this.
“Why, why has he come? But where exactly is he right now?”
“He’s in Chanran.”
“Chanran?”
Chanran, the Forge District.
It made sense that Jin-woo, a blacksmith, would be in Chanran, and yet it didn’t make sense at all.
“Why Chanran?”
If Jin-woo, a blacksmith, were seeking cities related to crafting, he would have chosen the Malen Duchy or the Grona Kingdom instead of Avalon.
This Avalon Forge District fell considerably short of the standards in those two kingdoms.
“I’m not entirely certain about that. But I heard he purchased a building!”
“What!? A building!? Already?”
For a moment, the Realize Guild master recalled a notification window that had appeared not long ago.
“Wait a minute. The Hall of Fame rankings changed recently.”
The Realize Guild master, Casino, immediately checked the Hall of Fame rankings.
“First place?”
Jin-woo’s name was at the top.
Casino stared in shock and looked again.
No matter how he looked at it, it was first place.
“Why the expression, sir?”
“There’s an achievement for building owners, you know. The one that unlocks when you buy a property. The Hall of Fame rankings updated recently. Jin-woo is in first place.”
“Isn’t that ranking determined by level?”
The “Building Owner” achievement had its score and rankings determined by level and various other metrics.
“So what level did he buy the building at? Everyone said no one could ever break Uslis’s record.”
Uslis, who had previously held first place, was the vice guild master of the Leap Guild.
Uslis, a player that the Leap Guild had deliberately raised, received full support to break every record, which allowed him to purchase a building in the very early stages of Level 500.
Yet he had been overtaken by this Jin-woo to claim first place.
“It must be at least lower than 500. Could he have bought it at level 400?”
“He should have more than enough funds. Just from the sales at the Auction House alone, he’s already earned hundreds of millions of Gold.”
At that, Casino marveled.
“There’s never been a blacksmith in that level range who earned hundreds of millions in Gold.”
“I’d imagine Starlight and Inclassic might have reached around that much.”
“But you’re not certain of his level?”
“That’s correct.”
Even top-tier Rankers like Starlight, Inclassic, and Pendant had fairly high levels when they purchased their buildings.
“So he’s in Chanran now?”
“That’s likely the case.”
“Let’s go immediately.”
Casino’s eyes lit up.
“This means we don’t have to give up the Tower of Seven Swords!”
Currently, each guild was still waging war over the towers.
In the early stages, many guilds didn’t fully understand how important the towers were or their value, and wanting to avoid competition with the higher-ranked guilds, many had remained withdrawn.
But as multiple towers were conquered and videos about them were released on Netflix, the towers’ significance began to be highlighted.
The towers were an opportunity for reversal.
A chance to overturn rankings that had solidified over a year.
So everyone was desperate to enter and conquer towers by any means necessary.
Of course, since there were different difficulty levels for the towers that could be conquered, the highest-tier guilds, upper-tier guilds, and mid-ranking guilds all targeted different towers.
The Tower of Seven Swords was what the highest-tier guilds all coveted.
The tower was located in the Malen Duchy, and since it wasn’t far from the Grona Kingdom, everyone expected the Leap Guild would take it without difficulty.
But with Slayer suddenly not participating, and the Leap Guild having caused so much trouble, it seemed possible they might be able to seize the Tower of Seven Swords.
But that was short-lived.
“Slayer suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I thought it was all over.”
For some reason, Slayer, who had not been participating, suddenly jumped into the battlefield, so everyone had given up.
But now Jin-woo had come to Avalon!
“We can win. We can get the tower.”
Of course, it was uncertain whether Jin-woo would accept the commission or not.
“The Tower of Seven Swords is five stars, right?”
Among the existing towers, the highest difficulty had been four-star towers.
But this Tower of Seven Swords had a difficulty rating of five stars.
The highest difficulty naturally meant a proportional return.
“Yes, that’s correct. Five stars. The difficulty will be quite high, but the rewards will be substantial as well.”
“Good. Pack your things. Let’s go right now. The materials we obtained from our tower conquest—we still have them all, right?”
“Yes. We haven’t touched them at all.”
The Realize Guild’s exclusive blacksmiths had wanted the materials, but Casino absolutely refused to give them up.
The reason was simple.
“Let’s take everything. As the commission fee!”
This was both a commission to Jin-woo and a serenade of sorts.
* * *
The reason Jin-woo had judged him to be a Ranker was straightforward.
‘He’s radiating a special Aura.’
After undergoing his first Awakening, Jin-woo had gained a unique Aura that only Awakened ones could use. From that experience, seeing an Aura like that bloom meant he was at least a Ranker.
‘But it doesn’t seem to be the exclusive Aura of an Awakened.’
Still, there was no doubt he was a remarkable master.
“!”
The user, upon seeing Jin-woo, wore an expression of surprise.
“Are you perhaps Jin-woo?”
Jin-woo generally dressed quite plainly.
Because of this, most people failed to recognize him. Hadn’t the users at Oson’s forge also failed to identify him?
But this user had recognized him.
“You recognized me.”
“How could I not?”
The user chuckled.
“I was planning to go find you directly.”
And then he walked slowly toward Jin-woo.
Coming directly to find him like this!
“I’m Peran.”
Peran.
A Ranker blacksmith with the nickname “The Mad Dog.”
“Oh. Are you the Peran?”
At that name, Jin-woo looked at Peran with interest.
Could it be that he recognized him?
“Do you know of me?”
“I saw you in the Hall of Fame. Are you that Peran?”
“If you mean from the Hall of Fame rankings related to the Auction House, then yes. I’m that Peran.”
Peran was surprised.
To be honest, he hadn’t expected Jin-woo to recognize him first.
While he had the nickname “The Mad Dog,” only those who knew of him were aware of it, and compared to the current Jin-woo, he wasn’t particularly famous.
Jin-woo’s current status was astonishing.
From the day Peran had first wanted to find Jin-woo and compete against him.
Peran had set out searching for Jin-woo.
He gathered information about him, gathered and gathered, but couldn’t find him.
And in that short time, Jin-woo had become a famous blacksmith. Of course, he hadn’t even entered the Ranker rankings yet, nor had he ever directly faced off against top-tier blacksmiths in the rankings.
He had simply become famous through Netflix.
Peran, however, was thrilled. Right now Jin-woo was in a state of unwarranted hype.
He believed he could peel away that hype and show Jin-woo’s true face.
When that happened, naturally that fame would come to him, and with that fame he’d be able to compete against other top-tier blacksmiths.
But the problem was Jin-woo’s location. He couldn’t compete without finding Jin-woo.
Yet Jin-woo had appeared directly!
Peran couldn’t hide his expression as he looked at Jin-woo.
“I wanted to meet you.”
Bang—.
He brought his hammer down hard.
“I believe you reached that position because you were lucky and rode the current trend well.”
At that provocation, the air around them grew heavy.
“I believe I craft better. Isn’t USSR+ the limit? For me, that’s not the end.”
Peran fixed his gaze on Jin-woo.
There was no need for further politeness.
At those words about wanting to meet him, Jin-woo thought this had worked out perfectly.
The feeling was mutual for him as well.
Jin-woo too had wanted to meet a Ranker blacksmith.
“Is that so?”
Jin-woo took a step toward Peran.
“I was curious as well.”
At that bright smile, Peran found himself unconsciously stepping back.
Even though he was smiling, there was a presence that felt overwhelming.
Jin-woo approached Peran. And extended his hand.
“Could we exchange techniques?”
Peran’s heart raced. That feeling he’d just experienced was probably a phenomenon born from the thrill.
This was the moment.
Seize Jin-woo and pull him to the position he wanted.
His goal was to stand alongside the renowned craftsmen Pendant, Inclassic, and Starlight.
“Yes.”
Peran nodded and grasped the extended hand. Jin-woo, who shook his hand, smiled faintly.
“I look forward to working with you.”
* * *
Peran.
‘I saw him in the Hall of Fame rankings.’
There was an achievement that required surpassing 100 million Gold in sales at the Auction House.
Peran’s name was among those ranked in that achievement.
‘If someone’s sold over 100 million Gold in equipment at the Auction House, they must have that level of skill.’
Jin-woo had never before seen a user’s crafting in action.
‘It wasn’t intentional.’
Which made him quite curious.
‘How will he craft?’
“Simply sharing our crafting wouldn’t be interesting. So we’ll make swords from the same materials,” Peran said.
Peran explained.
“And the swords that are made—”
He grasped the hammer as if it were a sword and swung it.
Crack—!
“We’ll have them collide. And whichever breaks loses. And we’ll film all of this. What do you think?”
At Peran’s proposal, Jin-woo nodded.
“Let’s do that.”
‘Content expanded.’
Heh—.
When Jin-woo nodded, Peran laughed.
“Hmm.”
“What’s wrong?” Oson quietly asked Eriton. Eriton’s expression seemed off.
Eriton had an uneasy look on his face, which was why Oson asked him.
“He’s already surpassed me with swords. Lately, he’s been making nothing but swords.”
Eriton gestured with his eyes toward where the swords Peran had made were displayed.
There sat a sword that looked deceptively simple.
Oson approached and examined the sword closely.
“…….”
The options were overwhelming.
What’s more, despite being made of ordinary steel, its Grade was USSR+.
“The attack power…….”
Not only was the basic attack power remarkable, but there were no fewer than 13 additional options attached.
“You see it as I do.”
Eriton’s words about being surpassed made perfect sense.
“It might have been better to have a competition between sword and armor.”
One could make a sword and the other could make armor, each verifying the quality of their respective equipment.
That way, they wouldn’t be directly compared one-to-one.
“My apologies in advance.”
Eriton thought that Jin-woo, the disciple Oson had brought, might lose heart here.
“No, it’s fine.”
The way he said it—as if to suggest that such things could happen during an exchange—made Eriton think once again that Oson had a generous heart.
“Thank you.”
But Eriton didn’t know.
He didn’t know why Oson had said it was fine.

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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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