The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 49

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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 49
Chapter 49.
-Wait, do only Low-Grade Spirits come out originally?
-Do you fail Spirit contracts often?
-I’ve already failed ten times.
-The ritual succeeds, but the contract is difficult.
Posts like these appeared frequently on the Shark Net forums.
Spirits were beings that created synergy effects with various professions, and once you forged a contract with one, there was nothing bad about it.
However, contracting with a Spirit was fundamentally no easy task.
-Even a Low-Grade Spirit would be fine. I just want to make a contract.
-I just hope I don’t fail.
There were quite a few users who failed at Spirit contracts.
They often asked whether there were other ways to contract besides the Spirit Ritual.
-The Spirit Ritual is too difficult. Is there another way to contract?
-I heard stats are important.
-No, I’ve heard Synchronization Rate is what matters.
-Someone told me level was important?
The users’ opinions all differed, but there was one common thread:
-You need to have something exceptional.
-Either your stats match the conditions or your level does.
-The better you match the conditions, the better the Spirit that appears.
-Or you need to be really lucky. Sometimes Spirits appear in special environments, and then you can contract with them more easily.
Jin-woo himself had contracted with a Material Spirit in a special environment—a Mine—when he first obtained one.
But contracting with a Spirit in such special circumstances relied heavily on luck, so everyone had no choice but to make use of the Spirit Ritual.
-The Spirit Ritual can’t produce Mid-Grade Spirits or higher, right?
-I heard High-Grade Spirits are the limit.
-But they say some top-ranked Spiritmasters contracted with High-Grade Spirits through the Spirit Ritual.
That’s how difficult the Spirit Ritual was.
Whooooosh—
Before Jin-woo’s eyes stood a Spirit of black flame.
And he had accomplished that difficult feat.
“This Spirit is…….”
Rodin, who had been watching, stared at the flame with a dazed expression.
Rodin bore the alias “Flame Crafter” and had handled countless flames throughout his life. Even he had never seen a flame of this color.
“It’s even hotter than my blue flame.”
Fierce heat radiated from it.
“But something feels different…….”
Rodin looked at Jin-woo.
“Jin-woo, do you perhaps have a Spirit you’ve already contracted with?”
“Yes, I do. I have a contract with a Material Spirit.”
“……A Material Spirit? What kind of Spirit is that?”
“It’s a Spirit that recycles materials for me.”
“…….”
Even after hearing it, he couldn’t quite grasp what that meant.
“Regardless…… an impressive Spirit has appeared. Among fire Spirits, it’s extremely rare. Hold out your hand. That Spirit is waiting to make a contract with you.”
Jin-woo extended his hand.
‘Just looking at it, it seems like a good Spirit.’
Crackle—
The roaring black flame rippled toward Jin-woo.
‘It looks like Dark energy, just from the appearance.’
It seemed to be influenced by his advancement to Necromancer.
‘Actually, that’s better. The color looks good too.’
If even the Flame Crafter Rodin didn’t know this Spirit, it was either extremely rare or completely unremarkable.
But a Spirit with energy like this was bound to be an extremely rare one.
Whoosh—
The Spirit transformed the flame into something like a hand and grasped Jin-woo’s hand.
-Dark Flame Spirit, Coco, greets you!
A Dark Flame Spirit.
“It’s called a Dark Flame Spirit.”
“Dark Flame……?”
Whooooosh—!
Coco absorbed into Jin-woo’s body like melting into him.
Crack—
Black flames poured forth across Jin-woo’s entire body.
“This is a first for me…….”
He had only meant to help Jin-woo contract with a flame Spirit. He never imagined such a rare one would appear.
“Your talent is truly astounding. Being just a Spiritmaster alone wouldn’t be bad at all.”
Ding—!
-You have forged a contract with a Legendary Grade Spirit!
Coco’s grade was nothing short of Legendary.
-You have achieved an Achievement!
-You obtained the [Legendary Spiritmaster] Achievement.
-You have been registered in the Hall of Fame!
[Achievement] Legendary Spiritmaster
-Hall of Fame Rankings
1. Lyuca
2. Mitrovich
3. Jin-woo
4. Raven
……
He had placed third in the Hall of Fame, no less.
‘Seems like this is a Spiritmaster-exclusive Achievement, but I’ve gone and completed it.’
Unintentionally, Jin-woo had accomplished that Achievement.
‘But at least I didn’t reclaim first place.’
It could be said he had shown respect to that domain.
Jin-woo snapped his fingers, and dark flame appeared before his eyes.
“Nice to meet you, Coco.”
As Jin-woo greeted Coco, the Spirit’s form began to change.
Crackle, crackle—
The flame suddenly flared up greatly, then shrank back down.
And the form of Coco that appeared was one Jin-woo knew very well.
“……It turned into a dog?”
It wasn’t just any dog.
‘It became a black Poodle?’
Of course, instead of fur, its entire body was wrapped in flame.
Crackle, crackle, crackle—
Jin-woo, without realizing it, reached his hand toward Coco.
Trusting his flame resistance, he placed his hand on the roaring fire, but felt no damage whatsoever.
Instead, it felt warm—like Coco’s own body heat.
“Kep.”
When Jin-woo petted its head, Coco let out a sound.
It was a rather unusual cry.
It went “Kep” in a high-pitched voice, and it was utterly adorable.
“Can I change its name to Keppy?”
Suddenly, Coco bit Jin-woo’s hand.
“Sorry.”
“Kep.”
Rodin approached Jin-woo, who had now formally contracted with Coco.
“Are you alright?”
During the moment of contract, Jin-woo had been engulfed in flame.
“You were suddenly wrapped in flames. I thought something terrible had happened.”
“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern. That was likely because I contracted with a Legendary Grade Spirit.”
“……?”
Legendary Grade?
“Wait, you’re saying that Spirit is a Legendary Grade Spirit?”
Rodin pressed his hand to his forehead.
“My Spirit Ritual produced a High-Grade Spirit…….”
He had never imagined something like this was possible.
He had assumed that since Jin-woo had talent, naturally a High-Grade Spirit or Mid-Grade Spirit would appear for him, much like it had for him.
But the result far exceeded his expectations.
“You haven’t been here even a day. Yet I keep being surprised. At this point, I’m so astonished I’ve run out of things to be astonished by.”
His heart was pounding.
“I think I’m getting heart disease.”
“I apologize.”
“You should apologize. Well then…… I’ll now begin teaching you Flame Crafting.”
* * *
The Spiritmasters of New Gene were engaged in fierce competition with one another.
“My Spirit is the best. That fool Repart’s Spirit? Pathetic. It’s just brute force from its attribute.”
“Why would a mainstream Spirit be mainstream? Saying you couldn’t rank higher because your Spirit is non-mainstream is just an excuse. A pathetic excuse.”
With so many Spirits around, naturally there were mainstream and non-mainstream ones, and their power levels varied.
Moreover, because tastes were quite different, Spiritmasters never acknowledged each other’s Spirits and inevitably fought seriously every time.
The top three ranked users fought amongst themselves too, but the community had quite divided opinions. Interestingly, all three of their Spirits were different.
Fire, ice, wind.
Naturally, first place was fire, second place was ice, and third place was wind.
Below that were various Spiritmasters ranking with water Spirits, forest Spirits, and so on.
Spiritmaster Raven.
He was a Spiritmaster who commanded Silfiore, an S-rank wind Spirit.
-Hall of Fame rankings have changed!
He was currently a top-ranked Spiritmaster with a high position in the Hall of Fame—a user of considerable skill.
“What?”
In the middle of hunting in the tower, an alert appeared notifying him that the Hall of Fame rankings had changed.
“Legendary Spiritmaster Achievement?”
He had already accomplished several Spiritmaster Achievements, and a few of them had him in the top three.
Among them, the one he was most proud of was this [Legendary Spiritmaster] Achievement.
This Legendary Spiritmaster Achievement was, quite literally, an Achievement that updated once based on the grade of the Spirit contracted, and even if he contracted with a better Spirit afterward, it would never update again.
The condition to achieve [Legendary Spiritmaster] was to contract with two or more S-rank or higher Spirits.
The ranking was determined by the grades of these two Spirits.
Raven had been able to reach third place with Silfiore, who was among the highest-tier S-rank Spirits.
“Huh?”
He hurriedly checked the rankings.
“Fourth place……?”
His ranking had dropped by one position.
“No way, who is it? Who knocked me down?”
He had heard rumors of a promising new Spiritmaster recently.
But it was said there was no need to be wary yet.
“……Jin-woo?”
Yet the user who had taken his place was quite a shocking one.
“Isn’t this the crafter user?”
That user whose name had been mentioned frequently in the Shark Net community and on Mytube lately.
“But he’s not even a Spiritmaster!”
He never would have imagined it.
To be outranked by a crafter user.
“What on earth is this!”
Raven cried out in frustration, abandoning his hunt.
“Why is he like that?”
“He kept synchronizing with his Spirit, so maybe he became the Spirit himself?”
His guild members clicked their tongues as they watched Raven.
“Kyyyyaaahhhhh—!”
Raven let out a scream filled with anguish.
“Ha. The tank pulling aggro like that is perfect too.”
The guild’s tank laughed cheerfully at the sight of Raven.
* * *
Crackle—
Rodin’s Spirit was Azur, who breathed blue flame.
“Thanks to Azur, I’m able to use blue flame.”
Rodin immediately showed Jin-woo how to imbue the power of gems into flame.
Rodin no longer said this was difficult.
“Look, like this.”
Now he simply explained how to do it plainly.
“Mm.”
“Oh! Jin-woo, could it be…….”
Jin-woo followed along exactly as instructed, wrapping a gem in dark flame before crushing it.
“……It’s easy?”
“It’s quite manageable! I can only do it thanks to your excellent explanation. I never thought it would be this easy to learn.”
“…….”
He had already learned everything so easily—what was Jin-woo talking about?
Still, being praised for his explanation made him feel good.
Jin-woo held the power of the gem that the flame had absorbed in his hand.
“Now polish it. Just like you practiced before!”
Rodin instructed.
“That power won’t last long. There’s a time limit. The longer the power stays in your hand, the more the energy you’ve absorbed will dissipate. So,”
You had to polish as quickly as possible to craft the power you’d absorbed from the gem into the item.
Jin-woo immediately picked up a Polishing Stone.
Then he began crafting without hesitation.
He imbued the power of the Ruby into flame, then imparted it into the Ruby.
‘If I do the same crafting,’
the Ruby’s power would be imbued twice over, so even identical-looking accessories would have significantly different effects.
Scrape—. Scrape—.
Jin-woo polished at a steady pace.
And in a moment, he moved the Polishing Stone rapidly before completing the crafting.
“Whew.”
Jin-woo looked at the finished Ring. A flame pattern was engraved on the Ruby.
“That right there is Flame Crafting.”
Rodin looked at Jin-woo with satisfaction.
-You have learned Flame Crafting!

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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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