The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 278

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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 278
Episode 278.
Jin-woo had entered Skypia, the floating city that had broken away from Elementia, the spirit city.
Whoooosh—!
In an instant, his entire body was caught in a whirlwind, and before he knew it, Jin-woo, Nordin, and the two Spirit Kings had arrived at Skypia.
“Oh.”
Skypia was a small city that drew admiration.
“They say the spirit blacksmiths gather and live here.”
Quite beautiful buildings lined the streets.
The buildings weren’t particularly tall, but their designs were remarkably impressive.
Moreover, the streets were well-maintained, and despite its modest size, the place exuded the atmosphere of a major city.
“We haven’t been here in quite some time ourselves.”
“There was a time when there were no walls?”
“That was how it was in the early days of our migration.”
Nordin and the two Spirit Kings also gazed at Skypia in amazement.
Thud—!
And just as Jin-woo was about to fully enter Skypia.
An Artifact installed at the entrance began to respond.
—Intruder detected.
Whizz-whizz-whizz—!
The moving Artifact attacked Jin-woo and his group.
Bang—!
An energy projectile like a cannonball came flying straight at them.
Jin-woo deftly twisted his body to evade the projectile. At the same moment, he moved forward.
But then, Artifacts burst out from all over the place in a frenzy.
Boom—.
Countless Artifacts simultaneously charged their energy.
“We need to evade…….”
Nordin stepped forward to protect Jin-woo.
But Jin-woo simply picked up a Hammer, approached the Artifacts, and disassembled them on the spot.
“……?”
The seemingly durable Artifacts shattered without any resistance.
Or more precisely, they were disassembled.
“Fine Artifacts these are.”
Jin-woo examined the disassembled Artifacts closely.
‘They were made to remove intruders, it seems.’
The energy projectiles were fired simultaneously with considerable density.
‘Well crafted.’
“…….”
“Was that supposed to be easy……?”
There’s no way.
The Artifact that had just emerged was clearly a high-grade item.
In fact, nothing in this Skypia lacked quality.
“What in the world is this! Nordin!”
Just then, a spirit came flying from afar.
‘Not as bulky as I’d expected.’
Unlike human blacksmiths, spirit blacksmiths retained the distinctive aura unique to spirits.
‘Though they do appear somewhat more robust.’
In every way, they seemed unremarkable.
Of course, there was a certain emotion that shone from their eyes.
‘That unmistakable look of a blacksmith—spirits and humans alike wear it the same way.’
“Your manners are poor.”
“No matter that you’ve broken away from that place, speaking to Nordin with such disrespect is unacceptable, is it not?”
The two Spirit Kings cried out at the spirit blacksmith.
“We’ve already broken away from there. You two may be spirits to them, but not to us.”
The spirit blacksmith clicked their tongue and spoke.
“I don’t know how you got in, but right now you’re invading a nation!”
“A nation?”
“Ha—! Do you know how things stand in Elementia right now?”
“Do I need to know how things stand there?”
The spirit blacksmith then looked at Jin-woo.
“Human! How dare you destroy my Artifact so carelessly—”
The spirit blacksmith saw the Artifact that Jin-woo had broken.
“……?”
They’d assumed it was simply smashed and rushed over in panic.
But it wasn’t smashed.
“……It’s been disassembled?”
They examined the remains of their Artifact closely.
“That’s right. It’s been disassembled.”
Not destroyed. Disassembled.
To disassemble something meant to understand it.
“Are you……a blacksmith?”
It was unbelievable.
“It was constructed loosely. I don’t think that was intentional. Was it to compensate for the Artifact’s inability to handle its own energy—venting the excess energy simultaneously with the attack?”
At Jin-woo’s words, the spirit blacksmith’s eyes widened.
“Exactly right. Hahaha—! So it was you? You’re the one who opened the wall and came in?”
With the spirit blacksmith’s sudden change in attitude, the atmosphere became warm and friendly in an instant.
“How did you know? Exactly as you said. That part…….”
At this sight, Nordin and the two Spirit Kings wore bewildered expressions.
“……Is it smiling?”
The spirit blacksmith was smiling.
“Come here! It happens to be competition day! We’re building something collectively…….”
‘Building something collectively?’
Jin-woo’s interest was suddenly piqued.
“Let’s go.”
Like an old friend, Jin-woo followed the blacksmith.
Nordin and the two Spirit Kings quickly followed behind.
* * *
The Plaza of Skypia.
The plaza was filled with the sounds of countless crafting tools, including the sound of Hammering.
There was a massive Artifact there.
It appeared to be a greatly enlarged version of the Artifact seen at the entrance.
“The Iron Heart. It’s what we’re making right now.”
The spirit blacksmith who had brought Jin-woo gave a brief explanation of the situation.
The Iron Heart, a large-scale project of Skypia, was a kind of weapon.
“We debated the ultimate weapon for nearly twenty years.”
Naturally, no conclusion was reached, so a new direction was proposed: all the blacksmiths who had participated in the debate would gather and attempt to create this ultimate weapon together.
Fifteen years had passed since they began attempting to create this ultimate weapon.
“And then we spent another fifteen years focusing on creating the Iron Heart, this ultimate weapon. But……problems kept arising, and conflicts of opinion have persisted for a long time.”
All the blacksmiths who lived in this Skypia were gathered here.
“Every blacksmith gathered here is skilled enough to craft equipment of M Grade or higher.”
The spirit blacksmith said.
“But that’s the problem. They’re all roughly equal in skill.”
Nordin frowned as he looked at them.
“It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen them. Their dispositions still don’t seem any better.”
Everyone was in a heated argument.
“That’s wrong! The Buffer structure itself wasn’t properly established!”
“The circulation sequence is flawed, isn’t it? Isn’t that your design?”
“Dammit! The whole problem started because we poured in too many Ignite Flame Spirit Stones. We should’ve used only M Grade minimum, but instead we mixed in USSR+ and USSR and created this mess!”
The massive Artifact they were creating, the Iron Heart, had a serious problem.
“Hmm.”
Jin-woo marveled as he looked at the Iron Heart.
‘It seems to be equipment that gathers energy and fires it like a cannon.’
It felt like a cannon that destroyed everything with explosives.
‘That they could make something like this.’
A simple design.
Powerful-looking destructive force.
‘It wouldn’t be strange to call it the ultimate weapon.’
Jin-woo observed the Iron Heart carefully, examining it from every angle.
“Who is that?”
“Who is this human?”
“Wait, how did a human even get here?”
The spirit blacksmiths, belatedly noticing Jin-woo and his group, frowned.
“Nordin……Your……no, how did Nordin get here.”
“How did you enter? And there are Spirit Kings too.”
The spirit blacksmiths frowned.
It had been quite a while since they sealed Skypia with a wall.
“You broke through it?”
“Hmmmm.”
They were certain. Nordin and the Spirit Kings could never break through that wall.
Then it must have been that human who broke through.
“He’s a human named Jin-woo.”
The spirit blacksmith who had brought Jin-woo showed them the Artifact he had disassembled.
“Harper. What is that?”
“Look closely.”
Looking at the remains of the Artifact that Harper had presented, the blacksmiths wore expressions of surprise.
“It’s been disassembled.”
“Disassembled so cleanly at that.”
“For the record, I didn’t do it.”
“You didn’t do it?”
“Then……”
“Jin-woo over there did it. The first time I saw him, he disassembled it in an instant.”
“!”
“Oho.”
The spirit blacksmiths’ eyes turned toward Jin-woo.
Seeing those bright, eager eyes, Nordin and the Spirit Kings were taken aback.
Could they even make such expressions?
They approached Jin-woo and soon spoke to him.
“How did you disassemble that?”
Jin-woo repeated what he had said earlier.
Then the eyes of the spirit blacksmiths gleamed once more with light.
“Heh heh, well.”
Nordin recalled what Jin-woo had said before entering.
It was the confident certainty that they wouldn’t turn him away at the door.
Of course, Nordin thought that such confidence arose because Jin-woo had sufficient strength to subdue them by force.
But now, stepping in here, Jin-woo had uttered only a few words.
He hadn’t even deployed his Familiars, let alone resort to force.
Yet the spirit blacksmiths were genuinely welcoming him.
“Am I dreaming right now?”
“Could my mental control not have been released yet? Your Highness Nordin.”
The Spirit Kings spoke in bewilderment.
“This can’t be real.”
“I’m convinced. I think I’m being mentally controlled right now. Those vicious demons. Showing us such a sight.”
The Spirit Kings had suffered at the hands of these spirit blacksmiths many times before.
That obvious disregard and contempt.
But because they possessed skill, there was little the Spirit Kings could do to stop them.
“They could smile like that?”
“Jin-woo may be an impressive person……but they haven’t shown anything yet.”
Though Nordin and the Spirit Kings didn’t realize it, Jin-woo was already demonstrating his worth.
A truly skilled blacksmith can see through to the essence with but a few words.
A few words were enough to prove whether someone was genuine or a charlatan.
The spirit blacksmiths had been won over by Jin-woo’s remarks.
“Hmmmm. We need to discuss this more deeply.”
“You see, that Artifact there. It’s a prototype of this Iron Heart. We made it small and simple.”
Only then could Jin-woo understand.
‘Ah, it was meant to confirm whether it works properly.’
He’d been puzzled why their skill seemed quite remarkable but the result was mediocre.
“No need for separate explanation. As you can see, there are multiple problems. Complex problems, and you all have different solutions in mind.”
The spirit blacksmith wore an angry expression.
“Naturally, I believe we should reduce the amount of materials and address the fundamental issues of Magical Engineering. Perhaps incorporating more of the power of spirit arts…….”
“What are you talking about! It’s because the materials are insufficient?”
Jin-woo listened with keen interest.
‘Everything they’re saying is correct.’
Their talk was without fault.
But the direction was wrong.
‘With so many complex problems layered on top of each other.’
They just needed to think simply.
“……It seems like it would work if you just fixed all of those?”
At Jin-woo’s words, every blacksmith suddenly turned to look at him.
Those here couldn’t possibly be unaware of that.
But it was technically impossible.
“Are you serious?”
Assuming Jin-woo couldn’t be unaware of that, the spirit blacksmiths wore bewildered expressions.
They wondered if perhaps he was joking.
But Jin-woo was serious.
“That would be impossible…….”
The spirit blacksmith’s mouth suddenly stopped.
They too had their philosophy and their convictions.
There was no such thing as impossible in this world.
Only insufficient skill.
To speak of impossibility now was to admit that their skill was inadequate.
“There are several problems, certainly.”
So instead they chose their words carefully.
“Yes. There are several problems.”
Jin-woo responded to his words.
“Several problems that can be solved.”
“…….”
“…….”
“Did you say……they can be solved?”
“Curious?”
At Jin-woo’s question, everyone unknowingly nodded their heads.
“I don’t see why I couldn’t tell you.”
Jin-woo said with a slight smile.
“As long as the conditions are right.”

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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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