The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 380

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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 380
Episode 380.
The US Auction House.
The auction was drawing to a close.
-The bid has been updated!
The bids that had been updating at a frenetic pace at the start were now taking considerable time between each increment.
With the most recent bid, Jin-woo’s Mechanical Engineering Tournament Pickaxe had already surpassed 250 million Gold.
It had broken the previous auction record that Jin-woo himself had set.
-That one was really just massive inflation, to be honest.
-Now it feels like the real price.
-A pickaxe with specs like this really shouldn’t be much cheaper than this.
Everyone marveled that the price had finally found its true level.
-The tycoons and other Rankers have stopped bidding.
-It’s not easy to load a pickaxe with this kind of power.
-And people have sense, you know.
The ones continuing this competition were Rankers from the mining sector.
The two highest-ranked Rankers—Yur and Artemus. One of them had to win this auction.
-They both deserve it, really.
-It should go to someone who’ll use it.
-So now it’s a two-way match. It’s basically over, honestly.
-I wonder who’ll get it.
-Where will this even end up going?
The buyer had now narrowed down to one of two.
Yur or Artemus. One of the two miners would purchase Jin-woo’s pickaxe.
What everyone wanted to know now was simply the price.
-It’s already over 250 million, so isn’t it going to hit 300 million?
-300 million doesn’t make sense, though…….
-But why does it feel like it’s going there……?
At the endgame of an auction, 250 million Gold would normally be the ceiling.
But something felt like it would go higher.
“Hah…….”
“I’m out of funds now.”
But the auction participants, Yur and Artemus, had reached their limit.
“I’ve spent everything. I don’t have any more Gold.”
Both Yur and Artemus had exhausted all the Gold they could spend.
They’d brought what they thought was more than enough, but it wasn’t.
But they couldn’t give up here.
“There has to be something I’m keeping in reserve.”
“Yur must have more. Absolutely not. I can’t lose after coming this far.”
Yur and Artemus each believed the other had hidden funds remaining.
So they went looking for their connections.
Now it was a battle of networks.
“With this pickaxe, I’ll mine the finest ore.”
With this pickaxe, they could access mines they’d never been able to reach before.
“I’ll be able to extract deposits I couldn’t reach before!”
Artemus was doing the same thing.
“So trust me.”
“So I’m asking for your trust, sir.”
Ding-! Ding-! Ding-!
Yur and Artemus kept borrowing Gold. Bidding again and again.
-Five minutes until auction closes.
-The auction will close soon.
-The auction will close soon.
The auction was in its final moments.
Three minutes left.
Two minutes left.
And then.
-The auction has closed!
Just before the auction ended, someone placed a final bid.
-Who is it?
-Who bought it?
-Wow, this is really the first time I’ve found an auction this thrilling.
Ding-!
-Congratulations!
Final price: 272 million Gold.
A new record—a new piece of history—was written in the US Auction House.
-Final winner: Yur
And the buyer of this historic moment was none other than Yur.
“I got it.”
Whoosh—
-Your item has been delivered!
The Mechanical Engineering Tournament Pickaxe settled into his hands.
Hisssss—
It was Jin-woo’s masterpiece at this moment—a work of pure Mechanical Engineering genius.
“MR+.”
MR+.
His hands trembled as he held the pickaxe with its overwhelming stats.
When he’d first met Jin-woo, Yur had been in the late 500s level-wise.
Mining was a profession with relatively slow leveling, and simple monster hunting alone wasn’t enough to level up efficiently.
His specialty was mining ore deposits, so he gained experience primarily through extracting and collecting quality minerals.
Because that process was so grueling, miners leveled up slowly.
But Yur’s current level had surpassed 800.
He’d been able to jump forward by nearly 1.5 times his original level—all thanks to Jin-woo.
“You have no idea how hard I’ve worked to use Jin-woo’s equipment!”
To wield Jin-woo’s ever-improving gear, he’d had to push his own specs to the limit.
“This is the result of that effort.”
Yur gripped the pickaxe firmly.
“I’m going to the Chaos Mine.”
It had been discovered, but to this day, no one had successfully extracted ore from it.
“With this, I can do it!”
With Jin-woo’s pickaxe, there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish.
The pickaxe had sold, but the US Auction House was still buzzing.
-Jin-woo’s final bid: 272 million Gold!!
-What about McCarthy?
-And Stranger?
-What about Mr. Horn??
The other competitors who’d heated up the US Auction House were also seeing their auctions wind down.
-Wow.
-Pride is pride, though.
-Isn’t that McCarthy setting a new record too?
McCarthy: 211 million Gold.
It surpassed his previous record of 150 million Gold.
-And Stranger’s insane too, right?
Stranger: 108 million Gold.
Mr. Horn: 135 million Gold.
Stranger had listed five pieces of equipment, with the highest bid coming in at 108 million Gold.
-Stranger’s breaking personal records too.
-Insane. This round. Everyone really got seriously motivated.
-This might be Mr. Horn’s first time breaking 100 million, right?
-But really…… this is a historic record.
McCarthy’s Workshop.
McCarthy had his eyes closed.
“That’s quite an achievement.”
211 million Gold—that was something he’d only dreamed of before.
“Jin-woo…….”
In a way, one could say Jin-woo had elevated the blacksmiths of the industry. But his pride was wounded.
He hadn’t wanted to be elevated.
He was the one who wanted to lead. Yet here he was, being led and breaking new records because of it. The feeling was strange.
“Master McCarthy…….”
“I don’t understand this.”
His disciples felt the same way.
They wanted to call it a bubble. But no matter how they looked at it, this wasn’t a bubble.
It was just…….
“He’s remarkable.”
In the end, that’s what he had to say.
Regardless of his feelings, regardless of whether he liked it or not, what needed to be said had to be said. He was remarkable.
Jin-woo was superior to any blacksmith McCarthy had ever encountered.
“My pride is wounded.”
McCarthy said.
“At the same time, I’m excited.”
The upper echelon of New Gene was currently quite entrenched.
“Whether I can break into the hierarchy that Starlight, Inclassic, and Pendant have built.
Or if I’ll just stop at becoming a gatekeeper like myself.”
-The auction has ended!
At the exact moment the auction closure announcement sounded, McCarthy clenched his fist.
At this moment, there was only one thing on his mind.
Flames flickered across his eyes.
Everyone has a limit, he’d always thought.
Was his current rank his limit?
Maybe that was why he’d been so wary when Jin-woo first arrived at the US Auction House. Out of fear of losing his position.
Out of fear of having to admit his thinking was wrong.
Out of fear that he himself might be coasting on excuses about his limits.
But there was no time to think about such things.
“From today, I’m throwing myself into crafting. And I’m telling you clearly: if you want to climb higher, you have to craft more. Everything else gets set aside.”
McCarthy said.
“Let’s go together. To a higher place.”
“……Yes!”
“We’ll do our best!”
But not everyone accepted this readily.
Stranger’s Workshop.
The Ranker Stranger ground his teeth.
He couldn’t accept the results recorded at the auction house. No—he didn’t want to accept them.
“A gap this wide?”
He couldn’t accept it.
“I’m going to Avalon.”
He wanted to meet Jin-woo directly and prove his own skill.
“Your speed and my speed—let’s test them against each other. That’s the real measure, isn’t it?”
A blacksmith’s worth doesn’t come from Gold.
Stranger headed straight for Avalon.
* * *
Whoosh—
Jin-woo gripped the Mechanical Engineering Trinity.
Slide—. Sliding—.
Hissssss—!
The moment he held it, he felt the distinctive sensation of Mechanical Engineering equipment, and steam vented forth. Jin-woo slowly infused Mana.
Then suddenly, he felt it.
‘If I inject more here.’
The war hammer converts into a great axe.
Click—!
Jin-woo immediately infused more Mana. The head of the hammer transformed, and the handle extended.
“First conversion.”
Two-handed weapon: the Mercurium Guillotine.
Jin-woo hefted the guillotine and gave it a test swing.
Whoosh—
A chill spread outward as an enormous shockwave erupted. Despite the light swing, the destructive force was staggering.
“The name is worth every penny.”
Jin-woo grinned. This overwhelming offensive power would certainly give him a significant advantage in combat.
And he hadn’t even activated the special options yet.
‘There are special options that push offensive power to the limit.’
Jin-woo continued infusing Mana.
Then it transformed once more.
“Cannon.”
The cannon made of Sacra Orichalcum resembled a hammer in form.
“It fires projectiles from the head.”
And in a pinch, it could function as a hammer as well.
Though he likely wouldn’t need it as a hammer. The Eternal War Hammer would fill that role far more effectively.
Hisssss—
Jin-woo infused Mana into the Orichalcum Cannon where he stood.
Blue energy gathered in the cannon’s chamber.
Whoosh—. Whoosh—. Whoooooosh—!
Then, with a thunderous rumble, the energy coalesced into a single mass.
He aimed.
Jin-woo slowly opened the workshop door.
Then fired toward the sky.
Crack—!
BOOM—!
The sky seemed to collapse inward under the impact of the shockwave.
“Wow.”
Along with Mergari’s exclamation, every resident of Sacra outside looked up at the sky.
“T-the sky is collapsing!”
“What was that!?”
“Could it be those Special Months outsiders again……!?”
Jin-woo quickly stepped forward.
“My apologies, everyone.”
Then he spoke.
“I was just testing the power of some equipment I made.”
Everyone’s faces registered shock.
“……The sky nearly collapsed…….”
“You’re saying that was just a simple equipment test……?”
Some people who’d heard Mate’s recent speech promoting the Jin-woo legend had been skeptical of whether it was all actually true.
Surely Jin-woo was talented, but wasn’t this something that would require the god of blacksmithing to descend directly?
But now that they could see it with their own eyes.
“……It really happened.”
The god of blacksmithing was standing right before them.

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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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