The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 225

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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 225
Episode 225.
Successor to the Flame.
Rupema received sponsorship from the Goddess of Fire and Furnace, but never became her direct successor.
It wasn’t because his skill fell short.
He simply didn’t meet the Goddess of Fire and Furnace’s standards.
Yet despite this, he had received her long patronage and spread her teachings far and wide.
But now, a successor had appeared before him.
Rupema studied Jin-woo carefully.
Muscle rippled across his entire frame.
But what caught the eye more than that was the aura radiating from him.
Whoooosh—
A blood-red aura, distinctly different from any blacksmith he’d encountered in all his years.
This man was no ordinary craftsperson.
Flame is life-force, vitality.
It should overflow with vigor. Yet from Jin-woo came that same pulse of creation intertwined with the scent of death.
In that uniqueness, Rupema understood why the Goddess of Fire and Furnace had chosen this Jin-woo as her successor.
“Successor.”
Rupema shifted his tone. The Royal Palace Blacksmith Workshop’s craftspeople could only gape in shock.
“The power of flame alone doesn’t seem to be all you possess. How many deities have taken an interest in you?”
He asked carefully.
That he was the Goddess of Fire and Furnace’s successor was already astonishing—but the power he sensed went deeper still.
Mighty and profound.
Which meant he was receiving patronage from other deities as well.
‘Ah.’
Jin-woo regarded Rupema.
‘So he can sense all of it.’
“I’ve been fortunate. Several deities have shown me favor.”
“Fortunate, you say……”
Rupema nodded as he looked at Jin-woo.
“Come inside. Let us talk further.”
Inside the Royal Palace Blacksmith Workshop.
This space belonged to Rupema, the Grand Master of the Royal Palace.
‘Refined.’
A forge, anvils, work tables, and crafting tools the like of which he’d never seen before.
Rupema’s workshop held the accumulation of his years.
And above all, the fire was different.
“Indeed. There is a difference. Successor. Being favored by multiple deities is no small matter of luck.”
Rupema spoke.
“The Goddess of Fire and Furnace chooses her successor by exacting standards. And yet you’re not only that…”
He employed a skill he hadn’t been able to use properly before, with the other Royal Palace craftspeople present.
Whoooosh—!
A technique that gathered the power of flame around his eyes and pierced through his opponent.
“Hm.”
One, two, three, four, five……
Countless shadows stood behind Jin-woo—too many to count.
“Speak freely, I beg you. In truth, I’m the one made uncomfortable. I received this Hand Tempering technique from Oson as well.”
‘This is even worse.’
Being shown respect by the master of one’s master was not a familiar sensation.
And besides.
‘Being treated as a student often yields better results.’
Blacksmiths were generally generous with their disciples.
Remarkably so.
“Excellent! Then let us proceed that way!”
Rupema regarded Jin-woo. For one receiving patronage from so many deities, his humility was striking.
Jin-woo’s attention, like Rupema’s own, had been captured by the forge in the workshop.
A vast flame dwelling within it.
“Curious about the fire?”
Rupema pointed to that flame.
“This is the flame that the Goddess of Fire and Furnace bestowed upon me.”
“It seems different from the flames outside.”
‘Different too from the flame in Oson’s workshop.’
“Because those are flames derived from this one.”
Whoooosh—
“Then this is the original flame of the Goddess of Fire and Furnace?”
“No.”
Rupema shook his head.
“This too is a derived flame.”
-The Goddess of Fire and Furnace says this flame is roughly one-third the strength of her true flame!
‘One-third?’
Jin-woo’s expression flickered with surprise.
“The true flame is far greater. Magnificent, glorious—merely to gaze upon it is to feel as though you might be consumed by its power.”
The true flame.
Rupema said it dwarfed this derived flame beyond comparison.
“I have seen it myself, in a Temple I visited when I was young.”
Now came the heart of the matter.
“Do you know the location of the Temple?”
“I do.”
Rupema answered.
“But my memory of the precise location has grown hazy. I have tried many times to find that place in my mind, yet it eluded me. In my recollection, it lay somewhere within the Royal Palace Forest.”
Ding—!
-Quest updated!
-Temple location updated!
Whoosh—
The Royal Palace Forest that Rupema mentioned appeared marked on the map.
‘Wait—didn’t you say you couldn’t find it in the forest?’
“You couldn’t find it within the forest?”
“That’s right. I even brought sorcerers with me, thinking it might be veiled by illusion magic. But there was no magic in that forest at all.”
Rupema frowned.
“So I thought perhaps my memory had deceived me. But no, I’m certain. The Royal Palace’s Chief Sorcerer, Hans, is of my generation. Hans remembers it too—the Temple of the Goddess of Fire and Furnace once stood in the Royal Palace Forest.”
‘The Temple of the Goddess of Fire and Furnace was in the forest?’
A fire temple in a forest—the irony was not lost on him.
‘And they searched with the Chief Sorcerer and still found nothing? It seems as though the temple isn’t there at all.’
And yet the quest had clearly been updated.
‘So it must be in the forest.’
“The irony, you see, is that a fire temple stood in the forest. Which is why I doubted my memory. But no, I’m certain of it.”
Rupema voiced the very thought Jin-woo was having.
“The Temple is in that forest.”
‘Still, this is a solid lead.’
The Royal Palace Forest lay on the outskirts of the city.
“Will you depart at once? If so—”
“Not yet.”
He hadn’t accomplished everything he’d come here to do.
Jin-woo smiled at Rupema.
“I’d like to exchange knowledge with you, Rupema.”
Then he handed over the letter of introduction.
“Hm!”
Rupema read the letter that Oson had sent, then regarded Jin-woo with evident interest.
“I didn’t get to see your craftsmanship properly before.”
Rupema tucked the letter into his robes.
“Oson wrote that your craftsmanship is quite remarkable. That it surpassed what even he could manage. And he apologized for it.”
Oson, his student, had been brimming with talent since childhood—rivaling even those his senior.
Had he not committed himself to preserving Chanran’s traditions, the position of Royal Palace Master Craftsman would have been Oson’s.
For such a one to say he was overwhelmed was deeply intriguing.
“You are too kind.”
“Is that so? Then…”
With that, Rupema grasped a hammer.
“First, watch. Observe, and tell me afterward what you wish to learn. I’ll examine your work after that.”
Clang—!
Rupema’s hammering began.
‘Ah.’
Just as Jin-woo’s had, Rupema’s hammering possessed a compelling quality that drew the eye.
Each stroke true and precise.
And with each clang of the hammer against the anvil, aura burst forth from the hammer and flowed into the material.
By the third strike alone, the material had transformed.
Whoooosh—
Rupema wrapped flame around his hand. The Hand Tempering technique Jin-woo had learned from Oson originated here—clearly distinct from Oson’s own method.
Clang—!
Jin-woo watched, spellbound, as Rupema worked.
Of all the craftsmanship he’d witnessed in NewGen, this was supreme.
By comparison, Peran’s work from just before was lesser—crude, even.
‘He said he’d passed his prime and retired.’
This was what a blacksmith past his peak produced?
‘Then what must he have been like at his height?’
Jin-woo found himself curious about Rupema in his prime, even as he remained absorbed in the present work.
Clang—!
With each strike of Rupema’s hammer, multiple techniques unfolded.
The process flowed so naturally that had one not been watching closely, one couldn’t have counted how many skills were being employed.
Whoooosh—
The material, glowing bright red, suddenly returned to its original hue.
‘Cooling.’
Jin-woo gasped as he observed the process.
‘Can it be done that way?’
Ordinary metal gains hardness through repeated cycles of heating and cooling.
To make it harder, the cooling phase was absolutely necessary. Yet in Eternal Sunshine, that very step had been omitted.
‘But in NewGen, it exists.’
The process was distinctly present.
‘And the effect looks impressive.’
Rupema repeated the cooling and heating in rapid succession.
Astonishingly, the process was so swift and precise that another observer might never have recognized it as cooling and heating at all.
To the eye, it appeared only as repeated hammering.
Clang—!
Another strike.
Jin-woo smiled faintly, savoring Rupema’s craft.
But the pleasure was fleeting—a strange feeling crept in.
‘Something’s off.’
Countless techniques were apparent to Jin-woo’s eye.
Even the Heat Treatment process of warming and cooling was wholly transparent to him.
But one thing alone—
Something flashed past, incredibly swift.
‘There’s something different.’
Jin-woo’s eyes widened. He opened his senses and watched Rupema’s work again.
Then he saw what had flashed past.
‘That seems to be the crux of it.’
Yet he couldn’t discern what it was.
Jin-woo closed his eyes entirely.
And—
Zing—
The moment he felt it, his eyes opened.
“That’s it?”
‘Vibration.’
Something finer than mere vibration.
‘Resonance?’
Resonance from the hammer surged forth and flowed into the material.
And the origin of that resonance was Rupema’s hand.
‘He’s creating resonance.’
Clang—!
Rupema exhaled softly.
What emerged was a shield.
“Cecilia Pure Silver has a wonderful feel to work with.”
-Cecilia Pure Silver Shield [Grade: ???]
The shield’s grade displayed as a question mark.
Rupema, who had just finished the demonstration, smiled.
“Well? Did you observe well? What would you like to learn?”
Rupema asked.
When the Royal Palace craftspeople had arrived earlier, Rupema had posed the same question.
Watch the work, then tell him what you wish to learn.
They had offered various answers.
Hammering.
Magical Enchantment.
Techniques for wielding flame.
This single question allowed him to gauge their skill quickly.
Craftsmanship, after all, is transparent—it reveals one’s true capacity.
With this one question, Rupema meant to take Jin-woo’s measure.
“Resonance.”
At that word, Rupema’s body went rigid.
“That resonance from the hammer. Could I learn it?”
The vessel he had prepared to contain his appraisal shattered completely.

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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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