The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 338

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 338
338.
Jin-woo’s confident words made the Mechanical Engineers’ eyes widen.
“So you’re Baxter’s disciple, then.”
“Are you really certain about this?”
“Can you actually reverse it?”
“We won’t know until we try.”
Even Baxter wore an uncertain expression at Jin-woo’s words.
The situation was dire.
All they had were scattered materials—a pittance, really.
The numbers fell far short, and no method of reversal came to mind.
Yet now Jin-woo was suggesting they could actually turn this around. Could it truly be possible?
It seemed absurd, utterly absurd.
So why did the thought keep creeping in—that perhaps there really was a way?
“Could we get a Workbench first?”
“Of course!”
Baxter immediately activated his belt.
Whirr—!
Wind burst from the belt. Baxter moved it deftly, beginning to clean the Workbench thoroughly.
“We’ll go back to the material warehouse!”
The Mechanical Engineers hurried off toward their secret base.
Only Mate remained, watching Jin-woo and Baxter.
“Baxter.”
Mate approached Baxter, who had finished cleaning.
“Given the circumstances, I haven’t been able to properly welcome you back.”
Mate spoke.
“Welcome home. Though the situation is dire…….”
Mate smiled as he said it.
“Your theory was not wrong.”
Though Sacra was now defined by Ether Core theory, Mate could say with conviction:
Baxter’s theory had not been wrong.
“……Thank you.”
Baxter looked at Mate with glistening eyes.
“So you came to prove it. First…….”
Then Baxter pointed to Jin-woo.
“Let’s have faith in a disciple even greater than myself.”
At the words “greater than himself,” Mate felt doubt stir.
Baxter was the foremost Mechanical Engineer in Sacra.
Greater than such a man?
“I know we should flee. But born here, wishing to die here, I’ve been seduced by what Jin-woo has to say.”
Mate spoke.
“Can this really be done?”
The Mechanical Engineers had just asked Jin-woo if reversing this situation was truly possible.
But Jin-woo had given no definitive answer.
He’d only asked if they could use the Workbench.
So Mate wanted to know for certain.
He wanted to hear that it could be done, even if it was hollow encouragement.
“I don’t know.”
Baxter replied.
……
He didn’t know?
Wasn’t Jin-woo Baxter’s disciple?
“I never imagined the situation would deteriorate this badly.”
Mate fell silent at those words.
Baxter had returned knowing next to nothing.
“At least I cannot set everything right in circumstances like these.”
That was Baxter’s honest assessment.
The situation had already spiraled beyond the point of recovery.
How could they reclaim Sacra, now occupied by the Guild of powerful foreigners and filled with combat Mechanics?
Besides, they had almost no allies, and no materials to speak of.
What could be done in such circumstances?
Even the legendary Baxter found answers elusive.
“I would have abandoned Sacra.”
That was Baxter’s answer.
Mate understood this too—wasn’t it already too late? Even with Baxter’s return, could they truly reverse this calamity?
His fears had become reality.
“Then…….”
Everything they had done until now would be rendered meaningless.
For what had they lost their comrades?
For what had they remained and endured here?
For what…….
“But I didn’t do that.”
Then Baxter spoke with sudden strength.
“Jin-woo saw possibility.”
In the short time spent with Jin-woo, Baxter had come to understand who he was.
He was a man who made the impossible possible.
“If he said it could be done.”
Then it could be done.
“It will be done.”
Not “it might be possible”—but a firm assertion that it would be done.
“How…….”
Mate spoke. How could Baxter trust Jin-woo so absolutely?
“You were never one to trust people so completely, were you?”
What had happened to Baxter since his expulsion?
“I’m the same as I was.”
Baxter smiled as he spoke.
He hadn’t changed. He still didn’t trust people easily.
But this wasn’t about trust.
“You’ll understand once you experience it yourself.”
You’ll see—it’ll all become clear.
……
Mate wondered if Baxter was being evasive. Expulsion must have been a grave matter for him, after all.
Just then, the Mechanical Engineers who had left returned.
“We found some remaining stock.”
“Though it doesn’t look useful…….”
What they brought back was seven worn Mechanics.
Baxter examined the seven Mechanics closely.
“The bolts are rusted.”
The bodies creaked and groaned as well.
“These won’t be easy to use properly.”
But they weren’t completely unusable either.
“At least the Magic Cores are still intact.”
Yet even this much wasn’t enough to accomplish anything.
Seven worn Mechanics would only marginally improve their position.
“With just these…….”
“We thought it better to bring something than nothing, but…….”
The Mechanical Engineers who had brought them looked embarrassed.
This was pointless either way.
The Mechanical Engineers, who understood the enemy well, hung their heads in shame.
“We apologize.”
“We scraped together what we could, but this is all we found.”
As the Mechanical Engineers gathered the remaining materials from the Harbor Warehouse, they harbored the same thought Mate had: Could they truly defeat the vast enemy that had swallowed Sacra?
Could they really?
These people had resisted Hamad and the Special Monsters Guild while holding onto hope.
Their goal had been simple: bring over other Mechanical Engineers from Central City, leave Sacra, retrieve Baxter, and return.
Then, alongside Baxter, reverse everything once more.
But as countless comrades were captured and killed, that hope fractured.
What kept them going was the thought of Baxter.
If Baxter returned, they could fight back.
If Baxter could set foot on Sacra again, they could counterattack!
Yet when Baxter finally returned, he brought only a single disciple.
One.
What could one person do?
Baxter said he was a disciple.
Which meant he wasn’t a combatant—he couldn’t fight them directly.
……
……
The Mechanical Engineers fell silent, glancing between Mate and Baxter.
“Baxter.”
As they wore expressions of resignation rather than hope,
Jin-woo was grinning.
‘Materials I’ve never seen before.’
Though they called the Mechanics worn, they were actually crafted with considerable precision.
‘Sacra’s different. Very different.’
For an engineering city, even the materials they’d casually brought had impressive quality.
‘Yes, this much will do.’
And the Workbench itself pleased him greatly.
‘It stabilizes vibrations, and the auxiliary functions are specialized for Mechanical Engineering.’
Materials could be shaped freely.
—Ether Alloy [M]
—Mana Silver Wire [M]
—Synthetic Lubricant [M]
—Precision-Crafted Quartz Runestone [M]
Alloys, silver wires, lubricants, and precision-crafted quartz runestones.
‘This should be enough.’
A Mechanical Familiar.
This was sufficient to make one.
‘Since I have Shaking’s Bone, anyway.’
Jin-woo smiled knowingly.
‘Coming to Sacra was the right call.’
“How do I use the Workbench?”
Baxter immediately showed him how to use it.
“Basically, you press this button to stabilize the vibrations.”
This Workbench had many functions.
The key technique was placing and fixing materials on the Workbench, then stabilizing their vibrations—doing so proved invaluable when engraving or layering Runewords on Magic Cores.
‘Ultra-Precision Machining becomes possible.’
Jin-woo smiled.
Which meant the level of Mechanical Engineering equipment he’d created thus far could rise several tiers.
“And here.”
Baxter pressed another button, and—shwoosh—parchment shot out.
The parchment bore detailed diagrams.
“Blueprints. These are all the Blueprints for the Mechanical Engineering equipment I’ve created over the years. And these are Mechanic Blueprints.”
Jin-woo examined the Blueprints.
‘Impressive.’
They were incredibly detailed diagrams showing how Mechanics had been assembled and constructed.
Reading through them, Jin-woo began to understand why Baxter was called the Mechanic Master.
‘Bold designs.’
“I understand why you’re called the Mechanic Master.”
“An inflated title.”
What good was being called a Mechanic Master?
All honor and strength had been stripped away. Now he could do nothing.
Jin-woo looked at Baxter.
Then he looked at the Mechanical Engineers standing behind him like criminals.
“I need more detailed information.”
He needed to paint a clearer picture of the enemy.
“How many enemies are we facing?”
“The foreigners of the Special Monsters Guild number roughly five hundred. And there are five hundred combat Mechanics.”
“That’s what we’ve assessed, but it seems Hamad has hidden additional forces.”
“Hamad hasn’t appeared for some time. We thought perhaps the foreign Guild eliminated him or imprisoned him in the Underground Prison.”
The enemy forces totaled roughly a thousand, by his count.
‘Plus Hamad himself.’
Hamad was the core of this entire situation.
‘I need to account for his power as well.’
The numbers were clear now.
‘As for strength—roughly treating the 800-Level Guild members I saw earlier as standard…’
Jin-woo sized up the situation tightly.
“There’s no need for elaborate planning.”
Keep it simple.
‘Just craft equipment powerful enough to handle them all.’
Jin-woo placed the Runestone the Mechanical Engineers had brought onto the Workbench.
Hummmmm—
The Workbench perfectly caught the Runestone’s natural vibration.
A moment of silence. In that stillness, Jin-woo slowly gripped the Wave Engraving Knife.
Crack—!
“!”
“!”
“!”
The Mechanical Engineers’ eyes went wide with shock.
Mate’s mouth fell open.
Now they understood what Baxter had meant.
He hadn’t changed.
He had merely…….
“Now you see?”
Encountered an exception named Jin-woo.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————