The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 314

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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 314
Episode 314.
445 points.
A score that surpassed Tokaji, the user in second place, by over forty points.
‘Tokaji?’
Jin-woo had climbed various Hall of Fame rankings up to now.
Each time he’d been at the top, and occasionally he’d placed somewhere in the middle, so there were names he always saw.
But this time there was a name he didn’t recognize.
‘Tokaji and Arianne, was it.’
Even more surprising, both of them ranked above Slayer.
‘I assumed Slayer would naturally be holding the top spot as always.’
Slayer was in fourth place, and the previous number one before Jin-woo was a user named Tokaji.
‘I’ve never even heard of this name before.’
NewGen truly had many remarkable users.
‘It’s a system where one user can’t monopolize every Hall of Fame record.’
With such a wide variety of Hall of Fame achievements and so many specialized rankers in different fields, there were numerous top-tier players.
‘Interesting.’
“Hmm.”
‘It seems Slayer didn’t perform particularly well in the Neutral Zone Conflict.’
If that weren’t the case, it would mean Tokaji was impressive enough to rank above Slayer.
Jin-woo stared at the names of Tokaji and Arianne.
“At this point, I’m curious what kind of users they are.”
The two people who had ranked above Slayer before Jin-woo entered the list became quite interesting to him.
What equipment they used.
What class they played.
He was curious about these two people in detail.
‘It’s about time I started taking commissions from rankers anyway.’
They were probably ace users from major guilds. Users like that would have conviction and pride in their equipment.
‘And there’s a certain satisfaction in crafting for users like that.’
“Forty-four points.”
The score gap between Tokaji, now in second place, and Jin-woo was quite substantial.
He had a rough idea of the reason.
Tokaji, Arianne, and Slayer probably all participated in the Neutral Zone Conflicts repeatedly alongside their guild members.
But Jin-woo had not.
‘That’s because I occupied Positano single-handedly.’
Positano was a fairly massive neutral territory. Jin-woo had essentially pacified it alone.
Some users from the Avalak Kingdom had participated, but they were truly a tiny minority.
‘Good.’
Jin-woo smiled slightly.
“This is why the Necromancer is so good.”
You don’t have to worry about numbers. You can monopolize everything by yourself.
“When fighting against users, this is the downside.”
Even after finishing a large-scale battle, nothing remained in Jin-woo’s hands.
It was still worthwhile just from the combat experience his familiars gained and confirming the MR Grade equipment, but he still wished he had materials.
“Monsters drop materials, after all.”
On top of that they dropped souls, so there was definitely something to regret.
But an alert appeared that soothed that regret.
-Reward granted!
-A reward befitting you, Jin-woo, has been granted.
Shhhhhiiiing—.
-You have received the Positarium!
What Jin-woo received was a mineral that gleamed with a golden light, as if wrought from pure gold.
“!”
Jin-woo reached out and touched the Positarium.
Suddenly, an extraordinary golden light began to burst forth.
“Wow.”
Jin-woo gazed at the Positarium in admiration.
“This grade is…….”
-Positarium [MR+]
The grade of this Positarium received from occupying Positano was, remarkably, MR+ Grade.
This Positarium, shining brightly with golden light, was intoxicating merely to behold.
“MR+ Grade, is it.”
Even Jin-woo himself had not yet reached that tier.
‘Exquisite.’
Whoosh—.
It was a subtle sensation he had never felt before.
‘Oh, interesting.’
It felt as though the power contained within the Positarium flowed through his fingertips and into his body.
“If just touching it feels like this…….”
If he were to craft equipment with this, the work would be extraordinary.
“I can’t wait.”
Now that he had obtained this, it seemed best to begin crafting at once.
Shhhhhiiiing—!
Suddenly light poured forth from the Positarium.
“What?”
It wasn’t just pouring out at random.
The light shot out in a straight line, pointing toward the cliff face. Like an arrow, it burst forth in swift strokes, as if showing him the way to go.
Shhhhhiiiing—!
A house began to appear at the place the light indicated.
A house standing alone atop the cliff.
And it was quite large, giving off an ominous feeling.
‘What is this? I didn’t see it before.’
“Does this relate to a quest?”
The quest marker for Positano’s Technology Quest also pointed toward that cliff.
“It must be connected to the Positarium.”
Jin-woo placed the Positarium in his inventory first. He wanted to use it right away, but for now he needed to restrain himself.
“Let me go check it out.”
Actually, this was better. If there was a chain quest, he wanted to accept it.
“Just touching it feels incredible.”
If he could obtain more material like this, he could do anything.
“I’m curious what Positano’s technology really is.”
Jin-woo began running toward the cliff with a smile on his face.
* * *
If one were to name the three best guilds in NewGen, Leap would come first, and Jiryong would come second.
The Jiryong Guild.
Tokaji, the guild master leading that guild, was looking at an alert with an amused, incredulous expression.
“What is this?”
Tokaji was quite agile. Two swords hung at his waist, and even at a glance, the light armor he wore seemed to far exceed MR Grade.
He wore rings on all ten fingers, and he had on a necklace, bracelets, earrings, and even special sunglasses around his eyes.
It was the kind of luxury befitting the master of one of NewGen’s top three guilds.
“Hall of Fame ranking changed?”
Tokaji was both the guild master leading the Jiryong Guild and its vanguard.
Where Leap had Slayer, Jiryong had Tokaji.
He was the strongest user in Jiryong and its guild master, and when this Main Quest began, he’d been pioneering the tower conquest as the guild’s vanguard, conquering multiple towers.
Of late, Tokaji had been registering in the Hall of Fame quite frequently.
He naturally thought this Hall of Fame ranking alert was related to his activities.
But the ranking change seemed strange.
“I don’t remember going to a Neutral Zone Conflict recently?”
Before the towers from the Main Quest appeared, he used to enjoy the Neutral Zone Conflict content.
He raised the Jiryong Guild’s reputation and gathered guild members that way.
But after the Main Quest began, he didn’t have the capacity for that. All his effort went into the Main Quest.
Which meant there was no reason for his ranking to rise.
“What?”
Looking more carefully, his past registered ranking had changed.
“Defeating Slayer and…….”
This Hall of Fame ranking was symbolically significant.
While Slayer had swept nearly every combat-related Hall of Fame ranking, the only Hall of Fame where Tokaji had beaten Slayer to first place was this Achievement: Hero of Conflict.
If the ranking had changed, it meant either Slayer or Kalantiir had deliberately gone all-in on Neutral Zone Conflict strategy to push him out.
If that were the case, it would actually be advantageous.
“If both of them shift their focus to the conflict zones, that means the Main Quest tower conquest opens up. It works out well.”
But the new top ranker was neither Slayer nor Kalantiir.
“?”
A shocking name had appeared in first place.
And with an overwhelming score at that.
“Jin-woo?”
Jin-woo.
Tokaji’s body trembled for a moment.
“That crazy bastard. Why is Jin appearing here?”
Tokaji was a veteran from multiple games.
He’d played Eternal Sunshine, he’d played Bridge, and he’d even played Dragon’s Legend.
Because of that, he knew the rankers from each game well, and through them, he’d started NewGen.
After starting, he couldn’t be said to be from any single game, so people didn’t think of him as a ranker from Eternal Sunshine specifically.
But paradoxically, this had been the driving force that allowed Tokaji to grow quickly.
He knew the playstyles of rankers from nearly every game.
So when Tokaji experienced this, his shock transcended into his heart pounding wildly.
“No, you deliberately stayed away.”
After Jin started NewGen, Tokaji had decided to avoid getting entangled with him.
He’d only thought about speaking with him later and placing a crafting commission—he’d consciously set aside all other plans and discussions for now.
But……what in the world was this.
“What is this? 445 points? How does 445 points even come out of a conflict? X. He’s a Necromancer Craftsperson!”
No matter how skilled a Necromancer Craftsperson he was, 445 points in a conflict was absurd.
“I scraped together everything and only got 401 points.”
He’d performed crazily, scraped together everything crazily, and gotten 401 points. How many times had he tried to achieve this 401 points.
He’d poured so much time into the neutral territories that he’d neglected other areas. He’d postponed leveling, postponed stat growth.
Which was why Tokaji knew this Neutral Zone Conflict better than anyone.
445 points was in the realm of the impossible.
If it were achievable…….
“That would have to be a Fortress-class neutral territory. How did he even get it?”
Small, medium, fortress, and large.
That was how neutral territories were categorized by size.
A fortress-class territory was larger than most small and medium cities.
If he’d handled it alone, 445 points would make sense.
But how could someone handle a fortress-class neutral territory by themselves?
“……Have I lost my mind?”
Why was he following him here and ending up like this!
Knock knock—.
“Guild Master. I have a report. Currently, in the Neutral Zone Positano…….”
The report came in immediately after the ranking changed.
The fortress-class neutral territory, Positano.
He’d suspected as much.
The guild executive continued the explanation.
“We had guild members in Positano…….”
They’d taken heavy losses in that conflict.
“The death penalty was severe, and they suffered a one-sided defeat.”
The guild executive gritted his teeth in frustration.
“……You must go immediately!”
This was a challenge to the Jiryong Guild.
Their guild members in Positano had suffered significant losses. Overlooking this would seriously damage the Jiryong Guild’s reputation.
“Are you insane?”
“……Yes?”
“They might be overwhelmed.”
“Yes……?”
The executive looked bewildered.
“If Jin pushes, they get pushed.”
This was his first time experiencing something like this.
Tokaji, the guild master of Jiryong, was aggressively combative to the point of recklessness.
Of course, his aggression was tempered with reason—he knew the lines he absolutely should not cross.
That’s why this was his first experience of this.
“I suppose……. Sigh. I have to go anyway.”
To be honest, he didn’t want to go.
But there was a matter of face. He had to go and settle things. He couldn’t sit still with his ranking dropped.
Besides, his guild members had suffered—he couldn’t just ignore that.
“I’ll do my best…….”
Tokaji resolved himself.
“Settle it with words. Just words.”

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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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