The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 234

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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 234
Episode 234.
“This can’t be. This can’t be real. How? Why!”
A member of the Leap Guild stared at his fallen comrade in disbelief.
He quickly glanced down at his own equipment.
“I’m wearing it……!”
He had on Pendant’s Equipment.
It wasn’t some other gear.
Yet Pendant’s Equipment wasn’t working.
No—it was being eaten through.
Crack! Snap!
Attacks that should have bounced off, blows that should have been withstood—all of it came through clean.
“This is insane!”
The tank holding the front line fell back in panic. But the Realize Guild member surged in the same instant.
The movement carried the certainty of someone who’d known from the start that his weapons would pierce.
Caught off guard, his own side had no time to mount a proper defense.
Still, these were members of Leap Guild.
Ring!
He caught the strike using his shoulder.
Crash and splinter!
The moment he thought he’d blocked it, his shoulder shattered clean through.
-Part Destruction!
-Armor has suffered critical damage!
-Durability drops sharply!
-Critical damage received!
“Part Destruction……!?”
In all his time wearing Pendant’s Equipment, he’d never faced anything like this.
Who was Pendant again.
NewGen’s finest…….
Screech!
His thoughts shattered along with the axe-spear’s blow.
“Why are you hesitating.”
An elite Realize Guild member grinned wickedly.
“You really thought you’d hold forever?”
“You bastard……! That equipment—could it be!”
“I don’t know what you’re imagining, but it’s not that.”
Crunch and crack!
-Equipment durability drops significantly!
-Defense becomes useless!
Once equipment durability fell, that gear could no longer use its original attributes.
Pendant’s armor had lost all durability and ceased to function as armor.
“It’s over.”
Then Casino drew his sword.
“Push them!”
A Leap Guild commander assessed the situation in a heartbeat.
“Fall back! Retreat!”
Twenty guild members had already fallen. Not simply fallen—they’d been rendered useless, their Pendant’s Equipment stripped of all function.
That meant one thing: the equipment gap was staggering.
“Retreat!”
But retreat itself wasn’t an option.
Not until thirty more had fallen could they finally pull back.
“Huff. Huff.”
Guild Master Casino breathed hard, surveying his elite members.
“We won.”
The battle wasn’t finished, but this was the first time they’d achieved such a decisive victory over Leap.
“……!”
“……!”
Realize’s elite felt an indescribable emotion in that moment.
Could the tide of war really shift because of one piece of equipment?
Paradox, a Run-up Guild commander, came rushing in and froze at the sight.
“What, what is this!”
What in the world was happening?
The Leap Guild members, once an impenetrable fortress, were gone.
The corpses of the Leap members they’d just defeated dissolved with a soft fizz, and Paradox shook his head.
“Their equipment…….”
The fallen Leap members’ gear was rendered completely unusable.
“Pendant’s Equipment……!”
Everything they’d worn was Pendant’s Equipment.
Old-model though it might be, they’d been unable to overcome Pendant’s Equipment and thus couldn’t clear the Seven Swords Tower.
But Realize had just resolved the matter in an instant.
“How did this happen……?”
Paradox asked urgently.
Realize’s Guild Master, Casino, was beaming.
He’d been waiting for this moment.
At last he’d taken a tower away from Leap.
Of course, they hadn’t even entered the tower yet, so whether they could clear it remained unknown—but wearing this equipment gave him certainty.
They could definitively secure the Seven Swords Tower.
“It’s as you see it, Paradox.”
Casino spoke.
“We’ve won. With new equipment.”
“Ah, no, I can see that! But what exactly is that equipment that it could overcome Pendant’s gear? It can’t be Starlight or Inclassic equipment. Could it be Crafting Han U-mul? No, it couldn’t be. That Korean crafting user couldn’t possibly make something to match Pendant’s Equipment.”
“You got one thing right.”
Casino clicked his tongue.
“You’re right about the Korean part. But it’s not Crafting Han U-mul.”
“……?”
Paradox was baffled.
Among Korean crafters in NewGen right now, Crafting Han U-mul was the best.
But extraordinary equipment capable of defeating Pendant’s gear was made by a Korean? Who else was there?
In an instant, one face came to mind.
A crafting-system user who’d become a sensation on MiTube, SharkNet, and Netflix through sheer overwhelming skill.
“Could it be…… Jin-woo……?”
The memory struck him then.
Jin-woo was Korean.
“How…….”
“Circumstance aligned. In any case, we’re going now. We can’t miss this window.”
Leaving Paradox to his stunned silence, Realize Guild hurried toward the Seven Swords Tower.
“Don’t touch the materials that drop!”
“Yes!”
Casino was buzzing with excitement, but he kept one thing fixed in his mind.
All materials from clearing the Seven Swords Tower belonged to Jin-woo. In the long run, that could become a massive asset for Realize Guild.
Paradox trembled as he watched Realize leave.
“Jin-woo…… defeated Pendant……?”
Old-model or not, this was extraordinary.
“I have to find him.”
A new current was flowing.
And at the heart of that current stood Jin-woo.
* * *
The Seven Swords Tower.
Leap Guild had reached the final chamber, just before the top floor.
“This is tricky.”
“I think we’ll need help from Seir or Mirs.”
“Or we might have to request equipment support.”
The Seven Swords Tower had punishing difficulty.
When a team entered, the dungeon scaled to match; they gathered only their best, but then each person’s workload became crushing.
Especially here—the Seven Swords Tower spawned monsters wielding seven different types of equipment, and those monsters were hellishly awkward to fight.
“We haven’t faced equipment like this before…… This is rough.”
“We’re still okay though. Let’s try again.”
As they stepped out and prepared to make another attempt.
Boom-boom-boom-bang!
A tremendous roar echoed.
“What’s that?”
“There’s no way sound from out there could reach here?”
The Leap Guild members assigned to the Seven Swords Tower had split into two teams.
The clear team.
And the defense team, keeping other guilds from attempting the tower.
The defense team was fighting far enough ahead that sounds shouldn’t carry back to the tower.
If sound was reaching them, that meant……
“They’ve broken through!?”
“That’s impossible! The defense team has Pendant’s equipment, right?”
“I think Seir was there.”
“Seir has been eliminated!”
Even so, there was no reason the defense should have crumbled.
“It’s Realize!”
A clear team member who’d rushed forward grimaced.
“……How?”
The moment the question formed, Realize Guild members came pouring in.
In seconds, they overwhelmed the clear team.
“I don’t know how they broke through!”
“We miscalculated!”
Of course, the clear team’s equipment was superior to the defense team’s.
And it was made up of elite members with actual skill—Realize had no chance at victory.
Though Realize did have skilled fighters. Purely on ability, Realize held an edge.
Leap’s absolute best weren’t at the Seven Swords Tower—they were deployed elsewhere.
But the equipment gap…….
Crash!
“!”
“This is insane!”
“Are we just relying on equipment?”
Realize’s Guild Master, Casino, smiled.
“We are. We came here relying on nothing but equipment.”
And with that, he cut down the clear team.
“Go in!”
Realize Guild’s entry into the Seven Swords Tower.
And twelve hours later.
-The master of the Seven Swords Tower, Seir, falls into eternal rest.
-Tower cleared!
-Registered in the Hall of Honor!
“We cleared it—!”
Casino gestured quickly.
“Gather all the materials and pack them! That…….”
Then he roared.
“Goes to Jin-woo!”
* * *
Jin-woo gripped his Hammer.
Then he drew out a Twilight Stone.
“Let me help.”
“Help me……? You can take away this pain?”
Mirs’ eyes widened.
Just moments ago, he’d been trying to kill Jin-woo.
To snuff out this flame.
Yet despite that, Jin-woo was offering to help.
“You are…….”
Different from any flame he’d ever known.
Flame, yes, but not flame.
But that didn’t flip everything upside down like turning a hand palm-forward.
Jin-woo was still a flame, and every time Mirs looked at him, his whole body burned. It ached. It tormented him.
“Why.”
Why would he offer to help?
Jin-woo didn’t answer that.
Instead, he placed the Twilight Stone directly into the forge.
Whoosh and crackle.
The Twilight Stone ignited.
True to its name, this orange-hued mineral was a ??? Grade material.
It was in a tier above the USSR+ Grade Jin-woo had reached.
So Jin-woo had to pour his concentration into it without limit.
‘Draw out everything the material has.’
Jin-woo’s concentration was sharp right now. Just before this, he’d been crafting on water.
That immersion was still crystal clear.
-Concentration Stat rises!
-Dexterity [Precision] Stat rises!
“Wave Resonance.”
Jin-woo wrapped the material in Wave Resonance.
Then he pulled the Twilight Stone out and struck straight down.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
A moment ago, that hammer sound had been terrifying.
But now, somehow, peace filled his heart. Mirs’ unease began to fade bit by bit.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Jin-woo shaped the form broadly.
‘Powerlessness, despair, defeat.’
Countless negative emotions dwelt within Mirs.
And the flame kept burning him, bringing only torment.
So I’ll forge equipment that can block it all.
‘Equipment that can stop anything.’
Ring!
‘A shield.’
Ring! Ring!
Jin-woo’s hammer work, wrapped in Wave Resonance, transformed the Twilight Stone in an instant. But the Twilight Stone was a ??? Grade material.
It rejected the resonance, singing with its own unyielding pride.
‘Each step up is harder than the last.’
The corner of Jin-woo’s mouth rose.
‘I love that part.’
Ring! Ring!
“Soul Forging.”
Jin-woo extracted and refined the soul of the Twilight Stone.
The soul property of the Twilight Stone was reflection.
‘I felt it when I swung the hammer. This bounces damage right back.’
So the harder he struck, the more damage reflected back at him—making refinement impossible.
Ring!
‘Then.’
He simply had to endure.
Beautifully simple.
When the reflected damage came in, he’d twist his body back to minimize impact.
Ring!
The Twilight Stone spread flat. Jin-woo caught the details.
‘One Twilight Stone isn’t enough.’
“Mirs.”
Jin-woo extended his hand.
“Lend me your power. I need the power of water.”
At Jin-woo’s words, Mirs concentrated force to his fingertips.
A pale-blue droplet fell.
Drop.
The fallen droplet crystallized.
-Obtained Essence of Water!
-Essence of Water [ ??? ]
The Essence of Water was also a ??? Grade material.
Jin-woo immediately worked the Essence of Water.
Crack. Crackle.
‘This is enough. Equipment to heal Mirs.’
Can be made.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Wave.
Jin-woo spread the Wave Resonance and refined the Twilight Stone.
Then he placed the refined Essence of Water at the stone’s center.
“Spell Enchantment – Extreme.”
Spell Enchantment – Extreme.
Pour.
He poured essence potion.
He imbued the Wave’s power and pushed the function up another tier using Harmonia Smelting Technique.
“Harmonia Smelting Technique.”
Spending long at USSR+ Grade, Jin-woo had mastered everything available at that tier.
And this very moment, all of it was seeping in.
Upward.
A step higher.
Ding!
-Equipment created!
The power of water and the power of the Twilight Stone.
A shield carrying both forces was complete.
And that equipment’s Grade was……
-M Grade Equipment created!

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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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