The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 48

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Chapter 48
Episode 48.
‘This is good stuff.’
The Whetstone proved to be quite the tool.
‘I can actually carve smoothly like this.’
Thanks to the Whetstone, Jin-woo no longer wasted energy on unnecessary force.
As a result.
“Beautiful!”
The gem shapes were incomparably more beautiful than before.
He carved them round, square, and teardrop-shaped, just as Rodin had shown him.
“How about that! Now you’ve experienced using a Whetstone! That’s the proper way to engrave.”
“I was engraving rather crudely before, wasn’t I?”
“Not crude, exactly…….”
It had been rather overwhelming.
“I can carve much more steadily now. My engraving skill feels like it’s improving.”
“That’s your true skill coming out.”
-You have learned the Rodin Engraving Technique!
“This is the foundation of my engraving art. The cornerstone. But you didn’t come here just to learn the basics, did you?”
Now came the real lesson.
His signature was the Flame-Engraving.
“As you can see, engraving is delicate work. Because of that, when you emphasize one gem’s beauty, you can’t add other effects to it.”
Rodin explained.
“So I designed a new method to break through that limitation. And that is.”
Blue flames flickered in Rodin’s hand.
“Flame-Engraving. I became able to infuse flame power directly into gems.”
He took out a Ruby.
Then he brought the blue flames from his hand to the gem.
With a sharp cracking sound, the gem shattered.
“This is what we call ‘Flameburst’—burning the gem with flame to gather the essence of its power. And the essence gathered this way I engrave like so.”
Into the gem.
“This is Flame-Engraving.”
A second layer of engraving with flame is applied to the gem already carved with the Whetstone.
This was the Flame-Engraving technique that Rodin had perfected over a lifetime.
“This way, you can layer the gem’s effects. You create a gem of an entirely different caliber from others.”
The gem becomes beautiful in appearance and functionally superior.
Accessories made from such gems far outperform those made by ordinary craftsmen.
“But this is really.”
Rodin paused mid-sentence.
He had something he wanted to say, but felt a bit awkward.
Yet he spoke anyway.
“This is genuinely difficult.”
Truth be told, the earlier techniques had been quite difficult too. But Jin-woo had picked them up instantly. So calling it difficult felt a little embarrassing.
“It certainly looks difficult. To engrave flame into a gem that’s already engraved—you’d need to move your hand with extreme precision.”
“Exactly! You’ve got it. One slip and the already-engraved gem could shatter, so it demands incredibly delicate work.”
Swish—!
“And this flame also serves as a whetstone, so you can add an extra polish. But the risk is enormous.”
High reward came with high risk.
“The effect is certainly reliable, though.”
Jin-woo applauded right then and there.
“I really did find exactly what I was looking for. This is the technique I needed.”
‘There’s definitely something that parallels the Forging technique.’
This engraving shared a fundamentally similar framework with Forging.
The only difference was that engraving required more finesse and took a different directional approach.
‘This engraving fills in the gaps that Forging leaves.’
At Jin-woo’s praise, Rodin smiled genuinely.
“Ahem! I’ll teach you this flame now. But before that, there’s something you need to prepare. Only when that preparation is done can I properly teach you Flame-Engraving.”
Rodin said.
“The Flame Ceremony. Once you undergo it, you’ll be able to control flame as you wish and perform the engraving.”
“What kind of ceremony is it?”
“I’ll explain properly once I’ve prepared the ceremony.”
With that, he left the Workshop immediately, saying:
“It’ll take quite a bit of time. So while I’m gone, you keep practicing your engraving. Feel free to use the gems in the Material Storage. There’s plenty anyway, so use as much as you like!”
At Rodin’s words, a fierce gleam lit Jin-woo’s eyes.
“Understood.”
Jin-woo grinned widely.
“I’ll use as much as I need.”
* * *
While Rodin went to prepare the ceremony.
Jin-woo began practicing engraving in earnest.
“I never knew a Whetstone could be this convenient.”
For Jin-woo, who had carved by hand until now, the Whetstone opened up a new world.
-Using the Whetstone!
The Whetstone was a consumable item, so it disappeared after one use.
But Jin-woo made every use count.
Carving, carving, and carving again.
“I can carve exactly the shape I want. I can carve with much more precision now. That changes everything. It has to.”
Rodin had given Jin-woo permission to use as many gems as he liked.
So he enthusiastically carved gems and crafted accessories.
“Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, what’s this one? Blue Sea Stone?”
Rodin’s Material Storage held an astounding variety of gems.
“He definitely said I could use them all.”
-Created a Ruby Ring.
-Created a Sapphire Necklace.
-Created an Emerald Bracelet.
First, he made the basic rings, necklaces, and bracelets.
With the gem engraving supported by the Whetstone, the metalwork became quite easy.
“Hmm!”
Once his hands had warmed up, Jin-woo began crafting accessories for his own use.
“This definitely has some difficulty to it.”
Engraving was quite challenging work.
“I can make it like this because I have decent experience, but.”
He now fully understood why ordinary users complained about the poor return on investment.
“Still, using a Whetstone drops the difficulty significantly.”
Of course, they all used Whetstones too.
Only Jin-woo had been practicing without one, carrying invisible weights; so with the Whetstone, the difficulty felt substantially lower than before.
As Jin-woo crafted more accessories, he learned various pieces of information.
“A gem by itself doesn’t become an accessory.”
An accessory’s effect comes from its gem.
The gem must be properly engraved and then fashioned into an accessory to become truly effective.
That’s why the gem was essential.
‘To maximize the effect, not just gem engraving but the process of fashioning it into an accessory matters enormously.’
Jin-woo activated the Whetstone.
“Varied shapes.”
The most difficult thing Rodin had shown him was teardrop carving.
Carving gems into teardrop shapes changed how the effects manifested.
For example, a Ruby offered increased health along with flame resistance, and with this difficult carving method, the effect was roughly twice as strong as with standard engraving.
‘Normally it would add 200 health, but with this carving method, I get 400.’
So the higher the engraving difficulty, the better the accessory produced.
‘Materials matter, of course, but engraving skill is absolutely critical.’
And beauty.
“The beauty of the shape itself matters a lot. It determines the durability.”
Swish—.
Jin-woo carved the Ruby with the Whetstone.
“Into a teardrop shape.”
As he completed the high-difficulty carving, Jin-woo paused for a moment.
“Can I infuse Darkness Power into this the way I did with equipment?”
On impulse, Jin-woo poured Darkness Power into the Whetstone.
Swish—.
“It works.”
Jin-woo combined the teardrop Ruby infused with Darkness Power with the finished metalwork.
-Created a Teardrop Ruby Ring!
-Created an S-Grade item!
-Level increased!
-Dexterity stat increased!
-Rodin Engraving proficiency increased!
From Jin-woo’s fingertips emerged a historic first: an S-Grade accessory.
[Teardrop Ruby Ring]
-Grade: S
-Durability: 1000 / 1000
Health +1000 / Strength +80
<>
*Special Option [Teardrop Ruby]: Additional Health +500
*Special Option [Essence of Darkness]: 3% additional Darkness Energy damage on hitting opponents
“Hmm!”
Having confirmed the ring’s options, Jin-woo wore it immediately with a satisfied expression.
“This is quite impressive.”
The ring was excellent both functionally and aesthetically.
“I never knew engraving could be this fun.”
He hadn’t expected crafting accessories to be this enjoyable.
“I could apply this in lots of different ways.”
Just as Jin-woo was about to take out another gem.
Rodin entered.
“Did you wait long? The preparation’s all done now. Come here. Did you get some practice in? I thought you were making accessories? If so, you’ll need to engrave the gems even more beautifully. You got used to the Whetstone in no time, but for making accessories, that sense of…….”
Rodin looked at the accessories arranged neatly beside Jin-woo.
By rough count, there were about ten of them.
“……?”
He approached and examined the accessories Jin-woo had made.
“A-Grade, A+-Grade, S-Grade……?”
The grades ascended in order.
“Your sense is insane, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I practiced as you suggested, and I’m getting more familiar with the Whetstone. I’ve been trying various engraving methods too.”
“No, but this isn’t just a teardrop gem. There’s a teardrop within the teardrop……? What is this?”
“Ah! I tried my own variation. It was quite difficult.”
Jin-woo said.
“But once I tried it, it worked.”
“What a wonderful thing to say. I want to steal that phrase and use it myself someday.”
You try it, and it works.
How magnificent those words were.
“I want to teach you Flame-Engraving soon. Come on. Let’s begin the ceremony—the most essential one for Flame-Engraving.”
The Reception Room.
A Magic Circle was drawn at its center.
“The very foundation of Flame-Engraving. That ceremony is a contract with a Spirit.”
Rodin said.
“A contract with a Flame Spirit?”
“Basically, yes. If you contract with a Flame Spirit, you can wield flame magic. Once you contract with a Spirit, you can handle flames much more intuitively than with standard flame magic.”
Rodin explained.
“The Spirit summoned depends on your Spirit Affinity. Stand in the center of that Magic Circle.”
“If my Spirit Affinity is low, could nothing appear?”
“That’s possible. But it rarely happens.”
Rodin brought his hand to the Magic Circle.
“With your level, you should summon a Superior Spirit. For reference, my first contracted Spirit was only an Intermediate Spirit.”
Crackle—!
A gale erupted.
The surroundings darkened, and soon the gale coalesced, something being summoned into existence.
“This… this is…….”
Looking at the summoned Spirit, Rodin gasped in astonishment.