The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 23

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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 23
23.
Whoosh.
The spirit circled around Jin-woo like a butterfly, spinning round and round.
—The spirit likes you!
—It wants to play more!
“Does it think this is a game?”
It seemed as though no one had ever caught a spirit before.
“But why was it attached to the ore vein in the first place?”
When Jin-woo reached out his hand, the spirit dodged again. Since he’d already done this once, Jin-woo snatched it in an instant.
—The spirit is delighted!
—The spirit wishes to form a contract with you!
“A spirit. Not bad at all.”
Jin-woo smiled.
“I never thought I’d end up contracting with a spirit like this.”
From its appearance alone, he couldn’t tell what kind of spirit it was.
But there was no downside to contracting with it, at least.
“It’ll help me quite a bit with crafting.”
Jin-woo nodded.
“Let’s make the contract.”
Shhhhhhh—!
The moment Jin-woo gave his consent, the spirit entered through his hand.
—A Material Spirit has descended upon you!
In an instant, Jin-woo’s body floated weightlessly.
—You have formed a contract with a Material Spirit!
—Please check your information!
—You have obtained the achievement [S-rank Spirit Contractor]!
“S-rank?”
Jin-woo looked at his wrist in astonishment.
What was carved there looked like ancient script.
But what startled him more was the notification saying S-rank.
S-rank Spirit Contractor.
That meant the spirit he’d just contracted with was S-rank.
“This Mun-ji is an S-rank spirit?”
Moreover, it was called a Material Spirit.
“I’ve never heard of it. What exactly is a Material Spirit?”
Most spirits were Elemental Spirits.
Fire spirits, water spirits—that sort of thing.
There were certainly rare spirits, but Jin-woo had never heard of a Material Spirit before.
“What on earth is it?”
Before Jin-woo’s bewildered eyes, information about the Material Spirit appeared.
—Material Spirit [Elementary]
Rank: S
Name: None
Ability: Recycle
“Is it a spirit related to materials?”
Since it had burst out of the ore vein, it seemed like a spirit that guarded materials.
“Let me give it a name first.”
There was no need to think too hard. If it was a Material Spirit, what else would he call it?
Jin-woo gave it a very simple name. It was what he’d wanted to call it from the moment he first saw it.
“Mun-ji.”
Then the Material Spirit burst out from Jin-woo’s wrist.
Its body was pitch-black, and two round eyes gleamed.
—A name has been decided.
—The spirit, Mun-ji, is pleased with the name!
“I really do have a gift for naming. It’s because I’m a crafter.”
He’d named countless pieces of equipment, so it came naturally.
“Let me check the skill first. If it’s a Material Spirit, does it enhance materials? Looking at this Recycle ability, it seems to reuse materials. What exactly is recycling?”
As Jin-woo tilted his head in confusion, Mun-ji tapped at his waist.
It was where he kept his materials.
Jin-woo pulled out an Iron Ore.
In an instant, Mun-ji snatched it.
“Hey?”
Jin-woo instinctively reached out and grabbed Mun-ji.
“Sorry. I thought you were stealing it.”
Boing—!
Mun-ji cried out as if to say: how could you think that of me? Then light began to emanate from its body.
Mun-ji swallowed the Iron Ore it had taken in its mouth.
And then, shortly after—
Ptoooey—.
It spat out the Iron Ore it had consumed.
Gleam—.
—Recycle has been used!
—The Recycle ability is limited according to the level of contractor, Jin-woo!
—The power of the Material Spirit activates!
—The material’s strength increases!
“This is…”
It had definitely swallowed Iron Ore.
“But it’s Steel now?”
It had become Steel.
“So that’s what Recycle means.”
It was literally a recycling skill.
“Whether I should call this recycling or upgrading… No, wait. It said the material’s strength increased, right?”
Jin-woo pulled out all the materials he had.
There were several mushrooms and unidentified minerals he’d collected when breaking the giant ore vein.
“What about this mushroom?”
—Gwangro Mushroom, Rank [D]
Mun-ji immediately ate the mushroom. Then it chewed and chewed before spitting it out.
Jin-woo fed Mun-ji another mushroom.
The same thing happened.
—Hwanro Mushroom
Rank: C
—Hwanro Mushroom
Rank: B
“The C-rank mushroom became B-rank?”
A rank elevation.
“So Recycle transforms materials into other materials, and the Material Spirit’s own ability upgrades the material’s rank?”
And that wasn’t all it ate.
“It’s not just minerals. It seems to eat any material.”
—Mun-ji’s Recycle proficiency has increased!
—As Recycle proficiency increases, more functions unlock!
—Mun-ji has learned Material Synthesis!
“So it has multiple functions.”
Jin-woo looked at Mun-ji.
“You’re more useful than I thought!”
Mun-ji circled once around Jin-woo’s body.
“A good haul.”
Jin-woo smiled.
“So, you.”
Then he looked at Mun-ji.
“Can you help me when I’m crafting too?”
Mun-ji trembled at the gleam in Jin-woo’s eyes.
* * *
SharkNet Community.
And MiTube.
Content creators on MiTube who featured NewGen began uploading videos.
Naturally, they were about Jin-woo, the newly updated rank one in the Hall of Fame.
—There’s barely any real information about him.
—Let’s just grab attention and see what happens, I guess?
But no one had detailed information about Jin-woo.
That made sense. Jin-woo had only been playing for a few days, so there couldn’t be any reliable information.
—Some say the user Jin-woo is Jin, a legend from Eternal Sunshine.
A few content creators claimed Jin-woo was Jin.
But the comments weren’t particularly favorable.
—If he was back, he would’ve already shown up.
—If he hadn’t come back by now, there’s a reason. Why would he suddenly return?
—Even if it’s that Jin, NewGen isn’t easy right now.
—Is making A-rank equipment really that difficult?
“These morons.”
Crafting Han-woo-mul, the top-ranked crafter, was exasperated.
“It’s about when they made the A-rank, not whether they could make it.”
Making A-rank equipment was easy, just as they said. Even now, Crafting Han-woo-mul could toss C-rank materials at himself and churn out A-rank.
Heck, he could probably even make S-rank. The skill he’d accumulated was considerable.
“Starlight was level 50. The fact that he broke it means this person’s level is below 50.”
Making A-rank equipment at below level 50?
“Back then, I was still only making B-rank.”
B-rank and A-rank were only one grade apart, but the difference was substantial in detail.
There were quite a few crafters who never climbed from B-rank to A-rank.
“Defeating the Steel monster in the tutorial was just recently, so realistically, the level must be quite low. Making A-rank at such a low level…”
Crafting Han-woo-mul’s brow furrowed.
“It can’t be. It definitely can’t be.”
There was no way that person had come back.
“But why do I keep getting that feeling?”
It had been the same back then. He’d started Eternal Sunshine first and established himself first.
Though they hadn’t started that far apart, he’d ultimately lost everything to Jin.
“Even if this person is Jin, I won’t lose this time. The start gap is already a full year.”
Crafting Han-woo-mul was the top crafter in NewGen.
He was a member of one of the highest-tier guilds, and the equipment he crafted was already treated as Legendary Equipment.
“You’re too late, Jin.”
* * *
Shins. Hoz’s Workshop.
After contracting with Mun-ji, Jin-woo began crafting with the materials he’d obtained from the ore vein that day.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
“Mun-ji.”
The Material Spirit Mun-ji stayed by Jin-woo’s side.
“After swinging the pickaxe, I figured it out. This Chalcopyrite is good stuff.”
It wasn’t harder than Steel, but it had an effect specialized for piercing.
“A pickaxe is ultimately a piercing tool.”
Rather than thrusting in a straight line, it was more like describing a circle and thrusting. The mechanism was similar to concentrating force on one part and bringing it down.
“Piercing-specialized.”
Jin-woo decided that Chalcopyrite was perfectly suited for a pickaxe.
“Hmm. There is a drawback, though.”
But Chalcopyrite had its weaknesses.
“I can’t break very large, hard ore veins. I need more attacking power.”
So it needed to be a bit harder.
“Hm.”
Jin-woo pondered for a moment. Then he looked at Mun-ji.
“You acquired a new ability, right?”
The new ability Mun-ji had gained was Material Synthesis.
“Let’s test it.”
Jin-woo fed Mun-ji two pieces of Chalcopyrite.
“Material Synthesis.”
Mun-ji chewed and chewed the two minerals before spitting them out.
—Synthesis complete!
—Recycle proficiency increases!
“Just as I thought.”
It was literally an ability to synthesize materials with materials.
—Compressed Chalcopyrite
A new material emerged with Chalcopyrite’s advantages upgraded by a factor of 1.5.
“This works well. I can maximize Chalcopyrite’s strengths even more.”
Jin-woo immediately began crafting.
Whoooosh—.
The flames roared in the furnace.
Through using a Chalcopyrite Pickaxe in the mine, Jin-woo realized several things that needed improvement.
‘I need more speed.’
The pickaxe he’d made before could be called a bit thick.
‘Clumsy feeling. I need to get rid of that.’
Sharper.
More compact.
The overall lines needed to be thinner. And the weaknesses caused by that, he’d compensate with Steel and elevate with Chalcopyrite.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
—Equipment has been crafted!
—You have created a Compressed Chalcopyrite Pickaxe!
—You have created an A-rank piece of equipment!
[Compressed Chalcopyrite Pickaxe]
—Attack Power: 77~88
—Rank: A
—Durability: 3500 / 3500
[A Compressed Chalcopyrite Pickaxe crafted by promising crafter Jin-woo. The latent potential of the materials has been drawn to its limit.]
Graceful curves.
It was a far thinner pickaxe than the one he’d made before.
“Phew.”
His second A-rank.
Now he’d reached a level where he could reliably produce A-rank equipment.
“Hmm.”
But Jin-woo wasn’t satisfied.
“It falls short of being called A-rank.”
Jin-woo gripped the Compressed Chalcopyrite Pickaxe where he stood and swung it.
“What do you think? Mun-ji. Don’t you think we could make it even better?”
Mun-ji seemed pleased with the Chalcopyrite Pickaxe and spun around in circles.
It seemed to take pride in the fact that it had helped in the crafting process.
“You’re not satisfied either?”
Mun-ji spun around once more, as if to say it was satisfied.
“I thought you’d feel the same way.”
Boing, whoooosh—.
“Right then, let’s make it again. We still have plenty of materials and plenty of time.”
Jin-woo smiled.

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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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