The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 318

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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 318
318.
“Haha! Hahahaha—!”
Baxter was quite pleased with Jin-woo’s answer.
It wasn’t that he wanted to learn more.
He wanted to learn everything.
When Jin-woo said he wanted to learn whatever he could, Baxter felt a deep hunger awakening in him.
A true craftsperson was always like that.
The desire to learn more grew until it became the desire to learn it all—and that was the mark of a true craftsperson.
“Good. Very good! That answer right there. I like it very much.”
“I’m glad it pleased you.”
“You see, we once asked our master that same question.”
All Master’s disciples had asked him.
Why he had learned so many techniques.
They asked how he had accumulated so much knowledge when even mastering a single discipline would have let him command the continent.
And this was the answer All Master had given them.
Because he wanted to learn it all, he learned everything.
Jin-woo had just given the exact same answer.
“You said the same thing as our master. You did.”
So how could it not please him.
He too lived by that same principle, but actually putting it into practice was far from easy.
Learning more was difficult enough; to say one would learn everything meant the deeper you dug into Crafting, the harder it would become.
Yet Jin-woo was living that way.
How could he not be impressed.
Baxter extended his hand to Jin-woo.
“I’ll teach you everything I can.”
The formal transmission of Mechanical Engineering knowledge had begun.
* * *
Ding—!
-You have learned a Skill!
-You have learned Mechanical Assembly.
-You have learned Mechanical Disassembly.
There were two essential Skills in Mechanical Engineering.
Assembly and disassembly.
“Assembly is literal—combining things, joining them together. And disassembly is the technique of taking apart completed equipment or breaking down materials themselves.”
‘I did this back in Elementia.’
There were similarities to the techniques of the craftspeople in Elementia.
‘Now that I think about it, I was straddling both worlds.’
The golems and massive cannons they made could ultimately be seen as part of Mechanical Engineering.
‘But the mechanisms here are more complex.’
“Now, let me teach you the most basic Crafting method first. This is the Small Rat Mechanic.”
Baxter was a craftsperson who specialized in Mechanics within Mechanical Engineering.
“Since I mainly make these Mechanics, I’ll use them as an example.”
He drew out materials.
Pozitano Steel, Pozitano Copper Screws, and even a Pozitano Magical Core.
“Have you ever made a golem?”
“I haven’t made a golem, but I have created a Familiar.”
“……A Familiar?”
Baxter’s expression showed confusion.
“It’s similar to a golem.”
“Oh, I see. Then this will go faster. Since you’ve made a golem, you’ll understand well. You build the exoskeleton and fill in the endoskeleton. For example, you make the body from this steel and use this Magical Core as the power source.”
Click—.
Baxter gripped the Hammer. With it, he quickly fashioned a steel frame using Pozitano Steel.
Then he joined the pieces with copper screws and placed the Pozitano Magical Core at the center.
“This Magical Core is the heart of hearts, you see. In terms of a golem, it’s the power source. A power source inscribed with Magical Enchantment.”
Whirrr—!
The Small Rat Mechanic’s eyes lit up right before them.
“Ah.”
The moment the Mechanic golem was complete, Jin-woo let out a sound of wonder.
‘Now I can feel it clearly.’
“This is how you make it. Hmm, truth be told, I’m not particularly gifted at explanation. To go into more detail…….”
“No need.”
Jin-woo found this level of explanation sufficient.
“I understand what you’re telling me.”
At that, Baxter chuckled.
“Good! This is a small and simple golem, so the work is relatively easy. But you need this Magical Core. Without materials, even this simple golem is hard to make.”
Baxter held up a Magical Core as he spoke.
“This Magical Core is the alpha and omega of my Mechanical Engineering.”
The foundation of Baxter’s Mechanical Engineering techniques lay in this Magical Core.
“That’s why creating this Magical Core is the most important part.”
Baxter breathed magic into a wrench.
The end of the wrench transformed, becoming pointed.
“It’s a kind of Magical Enchantment, you could say. You create circuits, inject mana, and make an energy core. The primary material of this Magical Core is something called a Rune Stone.”
‘To put it simply.’
A Magical Core was a power source imbued with magic.
‘And this Magical Core is the primary material that makes Mechanical Engineering equipment move and become powerful.’
He wasn’t sure if all Mechanical Engineering worked this way, but at least Baxter’s did rely heavily on Magical Cores.
“This is going to take considerable time.”
Baxter was confident.
Even though Jin-woo had picked up the techniques of the previous students easily, making a Magical Core was not simple.
It was about creating a kind of energy circuit that would allow Mechanical Engineering equipment to function. Good manual dexterity alone wouldn’t do it.
“Let me try.”
Jin-woo began making a Magical Core based on what Baxter had just shown him.
‘Making a power source.’
Creating the fundamental power source for Mechanical Engineering equipment.
‘Letting energy flow.’
Jin-woo examined the primary materials of the Magical Core.
“That right there is the Rune Stone. The Magical Core is made by processing this Rune Stone.”
Baxter chuckled.
At those words, Jin-woo suddenly felt the Pozitarium he carried within him.
“Then this Pozitarium…….”
“That’s right. Exactly. My finest Magical Core.”
Pozitarium was no ordinary mineral.
‘It was a Rune Stone.’
Pozitarium felt completely different from other minerals.
And that light that had been blazing toward the cliff face.
‘The power of Runes.’
Jin-woo ran his fingers over the unprocessed Rune Stone.
“First, try processing it. Carve the Rune Stone smooth and inject mana into it. There’s condensed power inside the Rune Stone, you see. You just need to draw it out.”
Following Baxter’s words, Jin-woo immediately took hold of the Universal Wrench.
As Jin-woo breathed mana into it, lightning erupted from the end of the Universal Wrench.
Crackle—.
Jin-woo put on goggles.
“Hmm.”
‘Do I really need to use the Universal Wrench for this?’
With the Wave Carving Knife’s resonance, he felt he could carve more delicately.
“Without the Universal Wrench’s lightning, it’ll be hard to carve. It doesn’t just cut cleanly on its own, you see. And drawing out that condensed power is the most important part—and it’s quite difficult. But don’t worry. If you fail, it’s fine! I have more Rune Stones. I brought plenty when I left Engineering City.”
When he saw Jin-woo reach for the Wave Carving Knife, Baxter spoke.
He encouraged him, saying failure was acceptable.
“With ordinary carving…….”
Whirrr—.
But Jin-woo’s carving was anything but ordinary.
“……It won’t cut, but the Rune Stone……?”
Crack—! Bang—!
Under the powerful resonance, the Rune Stone began to be carved beautifully.
It wasn’t simply cutting.
‘This is different.’
Unlike ordinary minerals, this Rune Stone contained a different kind of energy.
‘Rune Energy.’
Crackle—. Crackle—.
There was Rune Energy lying dormant and quiet.
Jin-woo brought the carving knife to that Rune Energy.
‘This is it. This is the key.’
Crack.
He wrapped resonance around it, trying to draw out the energy.
‘This……’
Just then, Jin-woo gripped the Universal Wrench. Indeed, the Universal Wrench’s lightning seemed better suited to drawing out this Rune Energy.
‘Instead.’
Not just using the lightning by itself, but wrapping that lightning in resonance.
Crackle—whirrr—!
Jin-woo stimulated the Rune Energy powerfully.
“Circulation.”
The easiest way to extract this Rune Energy was Circulation.
-Using Advanced Circulation!
This Skill, which allowed primary attributes to flow continuously rather than remain static, could be applied in many different ways.
‘Rune Energy is ultimately a mass of powerful force.’
If he kept circulating this Rune Energy as he would circulate an attribute, he could draw out all the energy while maintaining safety.
Crackle—. Crackle-crackle-crackle—!
‘So that’s the weakness of Rune Energy.’
Even as he drew it out through Circulation, Jin-woo grasped the strengths and weaknesses of Rune Energy in an instant.
Such powerful energy as Rune Energy had an extremely high Limit Point.
‘High limit point in exchange for danger.’
Push even slightly beyond the Limit Point like this, and the Rune Energy would run wild.
That rampage would go straight to the operator handling the Rune Stone.
‘Through the hands.’
Then it would explode inside the body.
‘The danger level is quite high.’
Mishandle it and it was straight death. Not “might die”—straight death.
‘But if you only hover around the limit point, you can’t really be said to be using the Rune Stone properly.’
Grasping this sensitive and subtle point accurately—that was what it meant to use a Rune Stone well.
Crack—! Crack—!
“Splendid!”
Watching Jin-woo handle the Rune Stone, Baxter let out a gasp of admiration.
Those unhesitating hands meant he had already grasped the Rune Stone quickly.
“Yes. That control right there. You draw it up to just short of the limit point, then stop. If you were just using the Rune Stone, you wouldn’t need to reach the limit point. But what we’re making now is a Magical Core.”
To make a Magical Core from a Rune Stone, you had to extract the purity of the Rune Energy.
The fact that Jin-woo, handling a Rune Stone for the first time, had grasped this much was already quite impressive.
This delicate control was something Baxter himself still struggled with.
Even now, with considerably heightened skill, handling a Magical Core required intense focus.
“Let me stop you there, I’ll…….”
But Jin-woo did not stop.
Gripping the Universal Wrench, he poured lightning onto the Rune Stone without hesitation.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle—!
‘Powerful force to its limit.’
“Jin-woo—! You’ll die like that—!”
Baxter cried out in alarm.
He’d really die. The Rune Energy the Rune Stone possessed was immensely powerful.
“!”
At the moment of explosion, Baxter froze.
The Rune Energy, grown so powerfully it had nowhere to go, suddenly couldn’t be felt.
“No……it’s still in the Rune Stone…….”
That enhanced energy was rotating and spinning within the Rune Stone.
While maintaining perfect balance.
“……How?”
Jin-woo looked at Baxter.
“I circulated it.”

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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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