The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 47

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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 47
Episode 47.
Jin Woo followed Rodin into his Jewel Crafting Workshop.
Rodin’s Jewel Crafting Workshop was surprisingly simple.
“Surprised by how plain it is? It’s become a habit of mine. My master was always scolding me about it—said the gaudy workshops distracted him from concentrating.”
Rodin explained.
“What exactly did Hodz tell you?”
“Hodz mentioned that you had a master, and that you had students.”
Jin Woo relayed what Hodz had told him verbatim.
“Is that so.”
Rodin’s expression shifted to genuine surprise.
“So Hodz said he couldn’t handle you.”
“I learned a great deal from Hodz. You’re too kind.”
“Huh.”
Rodin found himself at a loss for words.
“You even have humility?”
Jin Woo was arrogant. Infinitely so.
Naturally. In Eternal Sunshine, he’d held the number one ranking, so he’d rarely needed to bow his head.
But even he had been truly humble in the beginning.
As naturally as breathing.
And in this reality, Jin Woo had humility built into him as well.
‘There’s nothing good about making enemies.’
It was a lesson he’d learned well in both worlds.
The more skilled you were, the more humble you needed to be.
‘Enemies arise even when you say nothing.’
Without humility, the entire world became your adversary.
“Huh. So it’s true.”
Rodin had met many skilled craftsmen throughout his life. Few among them had been this humble.
Most just wanted to show off their abilities.
“This won’t do. Show me right now.”
Rodin produced a gem.
“Just follow along with what I show you.”
Hummmmm—.
Along with the gem came something blunt-edged—a Whetstone.
The Whetstone had a shape much like a pen.
When Rodin channeled Mana into the Whetstone, its tip immediately began to vibrate.
“This is a Whetstone. It’s essential for gem crafting and precious metal work. When you hold it against a gem like this, it vibrates and carves away in an instant. Since it’s shaped like a pen to begin with, it’s specialized for Crafting.”
“Such an item exists?”
Jin Woo asked, visibly startled.
Rodin was, in turn, surprised by Jin Woo’s reaction.
“You’ve never tried Crafting before?”
“I have.”
Of course, he’d never done it in New Gene. But in Eternal Sunshine, he’d done it ad nauseam.
“Then why…… are you shocked at the sight of a Whetstone?”
Rodin asked.
If he’d done Crafting before, why would he be surprised at the sight of a Whetstone?
“I’ve never used one before, a Whetstone.”
“……?”
He’d done Crafting, but never used a Whetstone?
“Fundamentally, Crafting requires a Whetstone. So what kind of Crafting were you doing, exactly?”
In response to Rodin’s question, Jin Woo pulled out a bone.
“I did simple Crafting. Carving bones to make equipment, more or less.”
“Equipment from bone? Can you show me once?”
He couldn’t fathom how anyone could do Crafting without a Whetstone.
“Crafting is fundamentally not something that can be done with bare hands alone…….”
Jin Woo immediately produced a bone and began to carve it.
“?”
Rodin’s expression turned bewildered. Jin Woo’s method had an impact so profound that words failed him momentarily.
Hummmmm—.
Jin Woo’s hands trembled. Minutely, yet unmistakably.
“……It’s vibrating.”
It was impossible.
The method itself was impossible.
No matter how dexterous one’s hands were, what in the world was this?
“How did you do that?”
The question escaped him at last. It was pure curiosity.
How exactly had he just managed that?
Crafting absolutely requires a Whetstone.
Naturally, it’s impossible by hand. It has to be. Crafting isn’t merely about chiseling. It’s about grinding.
Grinding the gem down to make it more beautiful.
And this process is difficult to do by hand.
Difficult barely describes it—it borders on impossible. If it could be done by hand, Whetstones wouldn’t be necessary.
“You can do it? How is it even…… possible?”
Yet Jin Woo was doing it. More than that, he was Crafting a bone—not even a gem—with just his bare hand.
“Jin Woo, can you also…… do it with a gem?”
Rodin asked in bewilderment, and immediately handed over a gem.
“Have you ever Crafted a gem like you just did? The way you just worked?”
“Yes.”
“Gems are harder than bone. Of course, there must be some bones harder than gems, but by and large, bones aren’t as hard as gems. Yet you Crafted a gem?”
Crafting a gem without a Whetstone was, literally, impossible unless you had hands of gold.
“Yes.”
Jin Woo took the gem.
“Let me show you.”
Jin Woo immediately began to Craft.
“Ah, I see you have a Crafting Knife. Could I borrow it for a moment?”
Jin Woo took the Crafting Knife and began to work the gem.
Click—.
In reality, of course, gems couldn’t be Crafted this way. The polishing tools Rodin was describing were necessary.
But Eternal Sunshine had no polishing tools.
So.
‘My hands become the polishing tool.’
It was the same mechanism as when he’d carved the bone.
He applied vibration.
Impossibly fast.
Literally, his hands became a Whetstone.
Hummmmmm—!
The gem began to shave away under the frenzied vibration.
Facets began to form on the gem’s surface.
Like stropping a blade against a whetstone.
Rough carving, then fine finishing.
All of it done by hand.
‘Much easier now. My Dexterity Stat has gotten higher.’
Ordinarily, such a peculiar movement would be impossible. But Jin Woo had lived a life without excuses.
If he couldn’t Craft, he’d make it so he could.
Of course, a skill would be better, but when he didn’t have one, he did it this way.
Scratch— scritch— scritch—.
Shaaaa—.
The gem began to gleam.
Rodin trembled.
And only then did he begin to understand Hodz’s feelings toward his master.
“How is this even possible.”
His true feelings burst out of him at last.
In mere moments, Jin Woo had fashioned the gem quite beautifully and returned it.
Glint—.
“…….”
Rodin examined the gem Jin Woo had Crafted.
This is incomplete. The beauty is notably lacking.
But this was made by hand, not with a Whetstone!
“If you can achieve this quality by hand…….”
Then with a Whetstone, Crafting of incredible quality would surely be possible.
Rodin could say it with certainty now.
He himself could not Craft gems by hand.
But Jin Woo could.
He could Craft gems with nothing but his bare hands.
“As for how I did it, to answer your question,”
Jin Woo said to Rodin’s bewildered state.
“I did it because I could.”
* * *
Rodin, having witnessed something shocking, said he needed some time alone.
“To think such a fine item existed.”
While he was away, Jin Woo too felt something close to astonishment.
“With this, Crafting would become much easier.”
A Whetstone.
It seemed like it would be a genuinely interesting piece of equipment.
“It looks like a consumable item, from what I can tell.”
It seemed a waste to leave it as mere consumable. If he was going to continue Crafting, making the Whetstone into proper equipment like a pickaxe might be better.
About thirty minutes passed.
When Rodin returned, having gathered himself, his expression had improved considerably.
“The question of how you did it is no longer particularly relevant, I think.”
Jin Woo’s words rang true.
He simply did it because he could.
The notion that gems could only be Crafted with a Whetstone—that had been born from his own narrow perspective.
“My master always warned me about this.”
He said not to fix your methods in place.
If you wanted to make something good, you had to broaden your vision freely, he’d said.
“By doing only what I was good at, I’ve ended up like this.”
At some point, Rodin had noticed his own Dexterity had begun to decline.
Or rather, it wasn’t exactly a decline.
It had simply stopped growing.
“I thought I’d just hit a wall.”
But that wasn’t it. He hadn’t hit a wall—he’d been standing in front of one. Even though there was a door right beside it.
“Thank you. You’ve opened my eyes.”
Of course, all Jin Woo had done was shatter convention, but for Rodin, it meant seeing his own shortcomings clearly.
-Rodin has developed a favorable impression of you!
-Rodin’s favorability has risen significantly!
-Quest rewards have been strengthened!
“You’re more than capable. I’ll teach you the Flame Crafting Art.”
Rodin first handed the Whetstone to Jin Woo.
“Let’s start with the Whetstone.”
He demonstrated how to handle it.
“Like this. You’ve managed it by hand, but with the Whetstone, you’ll be able to Craft gems much more easily than before.”
Shaaaa—.
Rodin began to Craft the gem using the Whetstone.
First, you carve the gem with the Whetstone.
The Whetstone fundamentally incorporates rotation.
High-speed rotation carves away the gem.
Jin Woo had achieved that same high-speed rotation effect using only his hands, so it was no wonder he was bewildered.
“Like this.”
Rodin began to Craft the gem with consummate skill.
Facets emerged where the gem had been smooth.
“There.”
“This is true Crafting.”
Rodin taught him about various Crafting methods.
“How you shape it is crucially important. The value of the Crafted gem depends on that method. If you make an accessory from a well-Crafted gem, the effect can be two to three times as powerful. You could say everything hinges on the Crafting stage.”
Shaaaa—. Shaa—.
Scratch—.
Using the Whetstone, Rodin Crafted three separate gems.
“They’re all the same Ruby, yet look how much the shape changes depending on how you carve. This one has a Square Cut—carved into a square—while this one is a Brilliant Cut, carved round. And this is the most difficult method, and my personal favorite.”
The gem had taken the shape of a raindrop.
“Blob Cut.”
It wasn’t easy, but Rodin had already seen Jin Woo’s skill.
“These three are the most representative methods, but you can carve however you like. With enough skill, you can even create shapes only you can carve. I have my own signature style, for instance.”
Rodin went on to explain the finer details.
“That’s all you need to know for now. The basic explanation is done. You’ll learn more as we practice directly. And once you’ve mastered that, I’ll teach you my core technique—the Flame Crafting Art.”
Rodin said.
“You should need about ten…… days to get comfortable with all of this.”
Ten days would be enough to adapt, he’d been about to say.
But Jin Woo picked up the Whetstone and began to Craft a gem.
Shaaaa—.
Jin Woo channeled Mana into the Whetstone and set it vibrating.
Then he proceeded to Craft without hesitation.
“This is convenient.”
He said, and continued Crafting steadily.
“…… minutes should be sufficient.”
Not ten days, and not even ten hours.
Jin Woo completed his adaptation to the Whetstone in ten minutes.

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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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