The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 378

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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 378
Episode 378.
Clang!
Jin-woo struck the Sacra Orichalcum.
—
There was less recoil than with Mercurium, but a sharp tingle lingered in his fingertips.
‘Good. I like this feel.’
It was a sensation he’d experienced before, yet had never truly known—entirely fresh.
Jin-woo immediately placed the Sacra Orichalcum into the forge.
The flames roared.
Jin-woo withdrew the Sacra Orichalcum from the forge at precisely the right moment.
Clang!
Then he struck it again.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
He continued striking in rapid succession, savoring the sensation. The feel lingering in his hands. The waves rippling outward with each blow.
Jin-woo’s lips parted.
“Ah.”
He exhaled in admiration.
Because Jin-woo knew the original Orichalcum, he had struck this Sacra Orichalcum with considerable delicacy just moments before.
‘That level of finesse isn’t enough, then?’
It fell short by far.
The material was demanding an even finer control of force.
The Sacra Orichalcum rejected Jin-woo’s Hammering, as if proving what manner of ore it was.
‘This isn’t simple.’
Far more sensitive than the original.
‘Sometimes I wonder if this might be the true original instead.’
The very sensation was different.
Whether that was because of its Grade or because Sacra Orichalcum was a higher-tier material, he couldn’t say.
Yet working with it was pure joy.
How could he master it better?
‘More finesse? Is that what it demands?’
No. His finesse was sufficient.
Then what was lacking was but one thing.
‘Power.’
Control of power, distribution of it, striking the precise point—Jin-woo focused on the sensation in his hands. From his hands to his shoulders, his torso, down to his hips and legs.
He brought down the full weight of his body in one decisive blow.
Clang!
In that instant, the Sacra Orichalcum quivered.
“Found it.”
He’d found the answer. But finding it was only half the battle—he hadn’t yet written it down.
‘Control of power is the key. Finesse matters, but what’s crucial is driving that colossal force like a sharp awl in a single impact.’
His strength was formidable.
Hunting Faust just before had strengthened the Ten Thousand Demon Palace’s power further, and on top of that, he possessed runes and artifacts that amplified his strength.
But raw power alone didn’t translate to skillful material handling.
Sometimes overwhelming strength became a liability.
The slightest effort could shatter his control.
Yet Jin-woo saw advantage in that very weakness.
‘Fine control flows more naturally when you have immense power to draw from.’
What others struggled with came naturally to him.
Jin-woo began channeling force through each finger individually.
He needed to search for the feeling.
He had to understand what level of power was required.
Clang.
With each hammer strike, Jin-woo tested and adjusted the force suited to the Sacra Orichalcum.
‘With every strike, it changes. The force the Sacra Orichalcum releases keeps shifting.’
Then he merely had to control his power so the Sacra Orichalcum wouldn’t shatter.
Once he could Refine it, he could craft something extraordinary without that restraint.
But he didn’t want to do that.
‘I’d only be drawing out half its potential.’
That kind of Crafting was meaningless.
Jin-woo didn’t call that Crafting.
‘It’s a material that lets you create excellent equipment without drawing out every drop of its potential.’
Then he had to coax out every ounce of that potential.
That was a Blacksmith’s role—that alone. Jin-woo kept his focus there.
‘We breathe together.’
The ore tests him.
‘And I prove myself.’
Who I am.
What kind of Crafting I do.
Proven to the material itself.
Clang!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Jin-woo swung the hammer. If the force it released changed with each swing, then his own power had to adjust with each one.
Easy in words, infinitely harder in practice.
Yet he did it anyway.
His face was suffused with a smile.
At first glance, happiness.
At second glance, a hint of madness.
‘That’s why working with quality material is so intoxicating.’
Good material scrambles his mind, demanding the correct answer.
It draws out desire, translates thought into form.
It makes him want to craft better, fills him with the certainty that material of this caliber could yield something greater still.
Of course, enjoyment and difficulty were separate matters.
Right now, Jin-woo stood before a fog so thick he couldn’t see a step ahead.
The ground beneath him was a single thread; one misstep and he’d plummet into the abyss.
There was only one answer.
Survival meant moving forward, nothing else.
Jin-woo took a step forward on that gossamer wire.
Clang!
‘I stand now upon a proving ground that tests me.’
Clang!
If so, then let him destroy that ground.
Crack!
Jin-woo brought the hammer down with tremendous force.
The Sacra Orichalcum in his hands began to writhe.
‘Break first, then begin anew.’
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Mercurium, High-Grade Rune Stone, and Sacra Orichalcum.
What Jin-woo fashioned with hammer and Engraving Knife sent a shiver through Mergari.
“……Ah!”
She would have paused countless times by now. Wavered and second-guessed.
Agonized whether this was right, whether she was on the correct path.
But Jin-woo never stopped.
As if the answer were written before him, he struck with the hammer. Minerals that seemed impossible to Refine were Refined under his blows.
“Should I be allowed to witness this alone?”
Mergari’s hands trembled.
This was something all of Sacra’s Mechanical Engineers should see. If she kept it to herself, it would be a profound loss for Sacra.
A loss beyond measure.
“Ah…….”
If greatness were compressed into a single name, it would be Jin-woo.
And he was proving it right now!
“What I thought of him—it wasn’t too high, it was far too low…….”
She had held him in high regard based on the accounts she’d heard, yet seeing this spectacle now, she realized that estimation itself had been a grave undervaluation.
Clang!
The Sacra Orichalcum was Refined under Jin-woo’s fingertips.
“There.”
Jin-woo carved away another Runestone.
“Demonization.”
Shadow consumed him entirely.
His eyes blazed crimson as dark-red lightning erupted outward. Crackle. Snap-snap.
Jin-woo channeled all that energy into his hammer.
‘One blow, all in.’
Clang—
He drove that energy precisely into the Sacra Orichalcum.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
With each strike, the Demonization energy collided with the Sacra Orichalcum.
‘Circulation.’
Jin-woo used the Circulation to weave the Demonization energy seamlessly into the existing Sacra Orichalcum.
Crack! Clang!
Form took shape gradually.
Doubt flickered across Mergari’s eyes as she watched.
By all rights, this was the moment for finishing work.
Yet Jin-woo continued laboring at something else.
“This……is not standard equipment……?”
Mergari’s expression grew uncertain. The first two pieces were equipment she’d crafted herself a handful of times.
But this was different.
Almost like……
“A cannon……?”
What Jin-woo was fashioning resembled a cannon.
Yet it was not a cannon.
‘A Cannon.’
The term Cannon suited it better than mere cannon.
‘The Spirit King Blacksmiths of Elementia were forging an ultimate weapon.’
That ultimate weapon was a Cannon.
Jin-woo remembered it.
Clang!
Though smaller in scale than that one, it bore the same crushing authority compressed within.
‘It truly deserves the name ultimate weapon.’
Of course, they had never completed theirs.
‘Before I left, I shared my thoughts with them.’
Whether they’d finished it afterward was unknown.
Jin-woo was crafting that Cannon now—from Sacra Orichalcum.
‘This Cannon will be a hidden trump card beyond all expectation.’
This Sacra Orichalcum Cannon was designed to drink in all the strength of First, his legion commander, and release it in a single, devastating shockwave.
‘The Sacra Orichalcum and the Ether Magic Amplification Core handle that role.’
This wasn’t just any Ether Magic Amplification Core.
‘By blending Magic Core and Ether Magic Amplification Core.’
He’d completed the Ether Magic Amplification Core.
-You have created an Ether Magic Amplification Core!
Jin-woo forged even the final Core.
Now Jin-woo possessed three weapons.
The Eternal Maul.
The Mercurium Guillotine.
And now, a ranged weapon—a Cannon, forged of Orichalcum.
Beyond that, three Cores as well.
The materials were gathered; everything rested in Jin-woo’s hands now.
‘The first two are already bound together. But loose.’
Intentionally loose, awaiting the third weapon’s integration.
“You mean to join these into a single weapon……?”
“Yes.”
Jin-woo focused on the head of the Eternal Maul.
‘I insert a Magic Core here and Synthesize it with the Guillotine.’
The summit of Mechanical Engineering lay here.
‘Channel all the Core’s power purely into transformation.’
There was reason Jin-woo hadn’t crafted a hilt for the Guillotine.
Clang! Clang!
‘When it transforms, the Maul’s head becomes the Guillotine, and the handle extends.’
Injecting mana activates the Magic Core, triggering rapid transformation instantly.
‘And if I transform once more while in Guillotine form.’
Shadow unfurled.
The Sacra Orichalcum Cannon emerges.
With his mental blueprint complete, Jin-woo bound the final transforming weapon—the Sacra Orichalcum Cannon—with its Core.
The Eternal Maul.
The Mercurium Guillotine.
And the Sacra Orichalcum Cannon unified in an instant.
Clang!
-Equipment has been upgraded!
Violent steam erupted, and with it, an Aura infused with the essence of each material rose skyward.
“There.”
Jin-woo beheld his completed weapon.
“I’ve reached it.”
-You have created an L-Rank weapon!
Grade M, MR Grade, and now.
“L.”
-You have attained LEGEND Grade!
-Your extraordinary achievement spreads your renown across the continent!
-You have unlocked an Achievement!
-You have achieved [Legendary]!
-You are inscribed in the Hall of Honor!
-You have accomplished something truly great!

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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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