The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 363

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

Chapter 363
Episode 363.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The essence of the Sacra Eternal Stone rose like a bloom.
“Soul Forging.”
The violet essence rising from Jin-woo’s fingertips was strengthened directly.
-Casting Soul Forging.
Jin-woo applied Ultra Maximized Refining to the Sacra Eternal Stone, which he’d pushed to its absolute limit.
Then he crystallized the Intermediate Demon Soul he’d just obtained.
Crack!
-Casting Ether Flame Engraving!
He strengthened the Sacra Eternal Stone with Ether Flame Engraving.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Sacra Eternal Stone itself possessed considerable power.
‘It’s infused with mana.’
This mana could be converted into any other form of energy.
‘If I forge a blade from this, I can greatly enhance its attack power.’
With armor, I could bolster its defense.
‘I could even boost its durability.’
So Jin-woo decided to concentrate all this mana in one direction.
‘I’m crafting a weapon for First.’
Whoooosh—.
Clang!
Jin-woo funneled all the mana into attack power.
But doing so would naturally throw off the balance. Yet Jin-woo continued to deliberately break it.
‘Shatter the balance to maximize the material’s inherent strengths.’
“Advanced Circulation.”
He locked it in place with Advanced Circulation.
Jin-woo circulated the energies that had been clustering from the one-sided power, keeping them flowing smoothly.
Whoooosh—.
The violet radiance grew one shade deeper.
Clang!
Jin-woo immediately pulled out a flask.
-Using Kraken Blood.
The Kraken Blood he’d harvested from that turbulent Positano Sea had struck him at first glance as perfect potion material.
‘I’ll use it for essence infusion.’
Jin-woo created a potion in an instant using the Kraken Blood.
-Potion created!
-Potion: Kraken Blood Potion created!
Bubble-bubble—.
The newly created Kraken Blood Potion bubbled vigorously. The image it gave off was of something that would run wild the moment you drank it.
-Kraken Blood Potion: Grants a Berserk effect! All energy is suddenly drawn up, enabling tremendous power. Buff: Obtain Kraken Transformation.
The potion’s effect was Berserk.
An effect that suddenly draws out all power—exactly the attribute Jin-woo had anticipated.
‘And it has a Kraken Transformation buff attached too.’
That meant by drinking this potion, he could gain multiple traits that the Kraken possessed.
Jin-woo sprayed the potion onto the Sacra Eternal Stone.
-Infusing essence!
As powerful energies continued flowing in, the Sacra Eternal Stone bore tremendous strain.
‘Even Advanced Circulation is struggling.’
So here, he’d need to restore balance once more.
“Harmonia Smelting.”
For the final touches, Jin-woo employed Harmonia Smelting.
‘There was one attribute that needed the most attention.’
Users inherently have substantial defensive power.
They possess countless techniques capable of blocking an opponent’s attacks.
‘I need power that can pierce through that.’
Defense Penetration.
That had to be the priority.
‘Pierce through everything.’
Clang! Clang!
Jin-woo visualized it.
For the weapon to pierce all defenses, it needed to be sharper.
‘This will be First’s weapon.’
It could be hefty, but right now it needed to be keen. So that it could ignore defense and deliver devastating damage to the enemy.
Clang!
The Sacra Eternal Stone gradually began to transform.
An elongated handle.
At the end of that handle hung something blunt-looking.
A war hammer.
The weapon Jin-woo would craft for First this time was a war hammer.
‘It’s different from the ones I’ve made before.’
The blunt weapons he’d crafted previously had weight, but lacked explosive power.
‘The explosive force came from the familiar’s own strength itself.’
The weapon itself had no such component.
But this war hammer would be a Mechanical Engineering device.
‘I’m embedding Mechanical Engineering function into the war hammer’s inherent power.’
Heavy yet explosive.
‘No matter how they defend, it pierces right through.’
Imagining that devastating single blow, Jin-woo brought his hammer down on the Sacra Eternal Stone.
Clang!
Thus the refining of the Sacra Eternal Stone was complete.
Whoooosh—.
Whoooooosh—.
At this very moment, the light radiating from the Sacra Eternal Stone began to pour forth with incomparable brilliance.
With violet power now infused in the war hammer, it gleamed luminously.
“Phew—.”
He’d done all he could.
Because of that, the Sacra Eternal Stone itself had risen to an exceptionally high level.
“Now I need to synchronize a Runestone with this Sacra Eternal Stone.”
It had become no simple task.
So he wouldn’t use the Sacra Eternal Stone that way. No matter how excellently crafted, it was meaningless if he couldn’t secure materials to synthesize with it.
‘But to use this Sacra Eternal Stone properly, I had to push to this extent.’
Jin-woo had deliberately raised the difficulty for complex reasons.
As a craftsperson, it was natural to push a material to its limits and craft complete gear—that was first. Second was because of the coming confrontation with the Special Months Guild.
‘I was falling behind quite a bit.’
The Eternal Circulation Sword and the War Hammer both.
His two MR+ Grade pieces of equipment, which had shown overwhelming dominance against monsters so far, were blocked repeatedly in direct combat with users.
‘They held up well.’
The sub-guild master of Special Months endured, and so did Gordan, the guild master.
Of course, these two had accumulated strength over more than a year in New Gene.
They were right to have held on.
Only after all the power they possessed and could muster was exhausted did they falter beneath Jin-woo’s equipment and ultimately fall.
‘But I can’t be satisfied with that.’
Yet still, Jin-woo found the whole affair deeply irksome.
‘Skills, accessories, artifacts, runes, authority.’
Within New Gene existed countless elements that made users powerful.
Especially for Jin-woo, there was his class as a Necromancer—both an advantage and a disadvantage.
‘Undead have far too obvious weaknesses.’
That’s why he’d compensated through mechanization.
‘But it’s not enough.’
The fundamental nature was still Undead.
Whether mechanized Undead or mechanicalized Undead, Jin-woo’s power itself ultimately came from darkness, so when considering elemental affinity, there would be far too many disadvantageous matchups.
‘What if I brought the elemental affinity of this mechanization?’
If I brought Holy Power along with attributes strong against machines, what would happen?
‘Lightning or flame.’
Holy Power fundamentally contained sacred divine force, making it easy to combine with other attributes.
Holy lightning or sacred flame.
‘That would be devastating. Common yet fatal.’
Just as Jin-woo could unfold his field of Proclamation of Thousand Names, Rankers who had reached that level could each unfold their own domains.
‘I was quite shocked seeing the Divine Realm—the domain of Holy Power.’
My Proclamation of Thousand Names was overwhelmed due to elemental mismatch. If such a domain unfolded once more, overwhelming both Undead and Mechanical attributes, what would I do?
‘This isn’t a simple matter. If I don’t solve this quickly, a counter-strategy will eventually emerge.’
The word would spread through Special Months, and moreover, this would become extremely valuable intelligence for those targeting Jin-woo’s growing fame.
So Jin-woo decided to probe his own limits.
‘Actually, this is good. Now that I’ve identified the weakness, all that’s left is to erase it.’
Though the concern ran deep. If this were easy to hide, New Gene would contain only perfect gear.
‘I’m glad I encountered this.’
Users are strong.
Incomparably stronger than monsters.
‘They precisely and clearly exploit my weaknesses.’
Rankers are those who’ve gained experience in combat.
They use any method to win.
Jin-woo had been pierced by that.
‘This is it.’
Jin-woo felt exhilaration in that.
Back in Eternal Sunshine, there hadn’t been a single day of rest—so many people constantly challenged the throne, madly analyzing Jin-woo’s gear and trying to exploit it.
The slightest weakness appeared, they’d probe it relentlessly. That’s why Jin-woo had to shore up weaknesses daily.
Sometimes a weakness he’d patched returned as a different weakness within three hours.
The sub-guild master of Special Months and the guild master both deployed every method imaginable to counter his gear. Because of that, even First and Pur, who deeply understood MR+ Grade, were momentarily caught off-guard.
‘My familiars weren’t lacking.’
The opponent was simply stronger than expected.
Because of that, his familiars’ experience accumulated at breakneck speed.
‘Experience built in real-time. The risk was worth bearing.’
This fight carried immense risk. But he’d gained enormously in proportion to that risk.
‘Now existing MR+ Grade equipment can no longer satisfy my two familiars.’
With such rapid growth, Jin-woo’s current creations surely couldn’t inspire them going forward.
‘This time I’m falling behind.’
Jin-woo grasped the Wave Carving Knife.
Whoooosh—.
An Advanced Runestone greeted Jin-woo.
It boasted powerful Rune Energy, speaking to him.
What kind of movement would he show?
Magic Core, Ether Core.
And feedback from the gear he’d obtained swirled through his mind.
Jin-woo became absorbed.
His hands, which would normally move without hesitation, now extended with extreme caution.
Crunch—.
Insufficient.
So.
Snap—.
Crunch—.
Compensate.
Jin-woo inscribed a Runeword. Whoooosh—. The Ether Energy carved the Runestone more cleanly than before.
But this alone was insufficient.
To synchronize with the Sacra Eternal Stone, far greater power was needed.
Power that could match it.
Whoooosh—.
Jin-woo now began Rune Inscription with Ether.
This was new even for Jin-woo.
‘I don’t know if synergy will emerge.’
You could only find out by trying.
Scritch—.
Scritch—. Scritch—.
Arkshak.
Layering Rune Inscription atop the Runeword.
He drew Arkshak—the rune for enhanced attack—again and again.
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!
The Rune Energy ran rampant.
Jin-woo paid it no mind. He inscribed Rune Inscription – Extreme with delicate precision.
Sssrrrr—.
The moment the Rune Inscription completed, the previously rampaging Rune Energy stabilized.
-Ether Magic Core completed!
“Dust, Coco.”
As his final act, Jin-woo summoned two spirits.
“Chirp.”
“Whirrrrr—.”
The two spirits descended upon the two powerfully infused materials.
“……Phew.”
Jin-woo tilted his chin up. Then he gazed upon the completed Ether Magic Core.
“This is the final step.”
The most crucial final work remained.
He immediately combined the Ether Magic Core with the refined Sacra Eternal Stone War Hammer.
Whoooosh—.
Whooooooooosh—!
The Ether Magic Core was driven directly into the hammer’s handle.
Snap—. Crash-crunch!
The Sacra Eternal Stone shook.
As if about to explode, it convulsed wildly.
Jin-woo pressed harder.
‘Go in.’
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Jin-woo struck with his hammer.
Then, gradually, the Ether Magic Core began sinking into the Sacra Eternal Stone.
Spark—.
Spark!
Suddenly a powerful resistance erupted. Yet Jin-woo did not falter.
Snap—!
As he wielded the hammer with such force, they merged.
Crack—!
-Gear created!
-MR+ Grade gear created!
Purple smoke rose from the completed gear.
-Mechanical Engineering Eternal War Hammer created!
Violet steam flowed from the violet war hammer. Jin-woo gripped it to test it.
Whoooosh—.
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!
The war hammer answered immediately, proving the destructive power Jin-woo had imbued into it.
Jin-woo breathed slowly.
To that realm he’d sought to reach from this Sacra.
“Almost there.”
Ding—!
-A new god observes you!
Then a new god began to observe Jin-woo.
“!”
Jin-woo’s expression shifted in surprise.
“This god is…”

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