The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 88

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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 88
Episode 88.
Mirae blinked at the equipment that had been created.
She already knew that Jin-woo’s craftsmanship and manufacturing skill were exceptional.
But she hadn’t realized he could make other types of equipment so well.
“Jin-woo, do you have more fields you can work with now?”
Mirae examined the Wooden Longbow Jin-woo had made in detail.
“Yes. I work with minerals and bone as well.”
“……Even bone?”
At this point, it would be faster to find what he couldn’t do.
“I tried working with wood for the first time this occasion, and it’s quite good.”
“…….”
On top of that, wood was a material he’d never worked with before.
“For a first attempt with this material, you’ve done remarkably well. You’re truly my disciple.”
Mirae smiled. This was Jin-woo—the same man who had learned her Flawless Seamstress Art in a heartbeat.
“It’s still astonishing. There are very few crafters who can handle diverse materials and create varied equipment!”
This would do. With this equipment, they could succeed.
“This should be enough. It’s sufficient!”
We can really win this.
Mirae produced her own equipment as well.
“My equipment and the equipment you made……we should be able to stand against the Ghost King with this!”
The preparations were complete.
“There’s no need to simply wait.”
“Then…….”
“We need to strike first. We can’t just sit here and take it.”
Mirae’s heart raced.
The Elven City with Jin-woo’s arrival was no longer weak.
“Please gather the elf warriors right away.”
“Are we going now?”
“The Ghost King must have already noticed. We need to catch him off guard.”
“I’ll share this with the elf elders and gather the warriors at once!”
Mirae hurried to leave the residence.
‘Now I’m curious about something.’
She hadn’t asked the most important question yet.
“Mirae, why exactly is the Ghost King looking for you?”
At those words, Mirae fell silent for a moment.
Then she spoke.
“He made a request of me. He said it was something only I could do, and he asked me desperately to do it.”
“A request?”
“Yes. He asked me to stitch his soul together.”
As she said this, Mirae pulled out a length of cloth and began to tear it into pieces.
“He’s an incomplete being.”
Mirae continued.
“His soul is fragmented. Fragmented souls can no longer be sewn together. He wants his soul stitched whole so he can finally rest eternally. Immortality is a curse to him.”
She called it a truly agonizing curse.
“He suffers both mentally and physically.”
Mirae clicked her tongue.
“But I cannot do it. I have no way to touch a spirit.”
Mirae shook her head slowly.
“He offered treasures, but I cannot say I can do something I cannot.”
“I see.”
‘I think I might be able to solve this.’
Then perhaps he could receive a treasure from the Ghost King after all.
‘Good.’
Jin-woo broached the subject carefully.
“Mirae, if I can definitely eliminate the Ghost King alongside you all this time,”
Jin-woo pointed toward the great treasure of the Elven City standing in the distance. It was the largest and most precious treasure.
The World Tree.
‘I’ve wanted it all along.’
“Could I receive a Branch of the World Tree?”
* * *
The grand council of the Elven City convened.
“We are ready. Jin-woo has crafted equipment that will never decay.”
“!”
“Equipment that will never decay?”
Mirae showed them the Wooden Longbow.
“……That power is…….”
“Yes. Jin-woo also possesses Dark Energy. So he used that Dark Energy to create the equipment.”
Elves generally harbored an aversion to Dark Energy, but their Affinity for Jin-woo was high enough that it was easily offset.
“Dark Energy must be countered with Dark Energy, after all!”
“Now we can mount a proper defense!”
“How many pieces of such equipment did you make?”
Mirae, speaking for Jin-woo, opened both her hands.
“Ten?”
“Ten in such a short time!”
“If we equip our ten strongest warriors with those longbows, we might even be able to drive the Ghost King back!”
The elf elders harbored hope. But Mirae shook her head.
“It is not ten.”
“Ah! That’s right. There’s no way he could make ten in so short a time. So then, if not ten, perhaps——”
“One hundred.”
At Mirae’s words, the elf elders wore bewildered expressions.
“?”
“One hundred?”
“Our hands have but ten fingers—how can there be one hundred?”
“Ha ha ha, Elder Mirae! The Forest of Glory has been purified, and you seem to be in such fine spirits! For you to make such a joke——”
“I am not joking.”
Mirae spoke with a grave expression.
“And Jin-woo does not intend merely to drive back the Ghost King and his legion.”
“……Not drive them back……?”
One hundred pieces was already astounding, but he had no intention of fighting the Ghost King?
“He intends to annihilate them.”
“……!”
A string of shocks.
“That……that cannot be. Such a thing is impossible.”
The purification of the Forest of Glory had only just happened.
So he could not have made them beforehand. He could only have used the wood after the purification was complete.
Yet one hundred pieces.
And with those hundred pieces, he would engage the Ghost King in direct warfare.
Only then did the elf elders recall.
What Jin-woo had said when he came to learn the Flawless Seamstress Art.
—You said you would solve the problem?
—What problem are you talking about!
“He’ll solve it all……”
“He really meant it when he said he’d solve it all……”
The elf elders trembled.
“So this Jin-woo is on our side?”
A pillar was erected in the hearts of the elders.
“Good. Elder Mirae, let us do this.”
“Let us restore the pride of the elves together with Jin-woo!”
Then Mirae raised her hand.
“Which brings me to this matter.”
She conveyed Jin-woo’s request to them.
“A Branch of the World Tree……?”
“He said that simply aiding us would be disrespecting us.”
“That’s not so at all.”
“We could see it that way. This is entirely our battle—we cannot merely receive aid.”
“But the World Tree is……”
The World Tree was a great tree that watched over the Elven City.
For the elves, it held profound symbolism, and the prosperity of the Elven City was possible because of this World Tree.
Even now, the elves could receive blessings because of this World Tree.
For that reason, even the elves could not handle a Branch of the World Tree carelessly.
To grant a branch of the World Tree to another race?
It was a deeply sacrilegious act.
But.
“If Jin-woo says it, then of course we can do it. Jin-woo is as good as an honorary elf!”
“You learned the Flawless Seamstress Art from Elder Mirae and even woodcraft from Katri. So we can consider you one of our elf race. You are no different from us!”
Jin-woo was an exception. He was already as good as an honorary elf.
Moreover, the elf elders had already begun to address him as Jin-woo—with the honorific of respect.
It was only natural.
He had restored the Forest of Glory and created one hundred pieces of equipment, allowing them to fight the Ghost King.
In essence, he had saved the Elven City from destruction.
Given such circumstances, they were quite positive about granting him a Branch of the World Tree.
“While this has no precedent, if he removes the threat to the Elven City,”
“And if it is Jin-woo, we would willingly give him any treasure we possess!”
“Even now, in this state, we can give him a Branch of the World Tree. But if he promises to eliminate the Ghost King, I would not hesitate to grant it.”
The council passed with unanimous consent.
Mirae sought out Jin-woo at once.
“I will grant you the Branch of the World Tree, Jin-woo.”
Mirae spoke with a joyful expression.
—Your Quest has been updated!
—The reward has been greatly enhanced!
—The God of Nature and Harmony grants you a Quest!
“I will gather the warriors in one place. Once preparations are complete, please come to the Roots of the World Tree!”
After Mirae departed.
Jin-woo checked the Quest immediately.
* Quest: Legacy of the God of Nature and Harmony
Grade: SSS
Content: The God of Nature and Harmony applauds your virtuous deeds. He declares you more than worthy to claim his legacy. Find the sacred place and obtain the legacy left behind by the God of Nature and Harmony!
Reward: Fragment of Elf’s Power, Rune of Harmony
Both a Fragment of Elf’s Power and a Rune of Harmony.
‘My image has become quite favorable.’
Dark Energy flowed through Jin-woo. There was no way the God of Nature and Harmony didn’t know this.
Yet to grant rewards of this magnitude meant they truly favored him.
“You really do seem to want to make me an elf.”
—The God of Nature and Harmony now calls you a great elf!
—An elf infused with Dark Energy is called a Dark Elf!
“Then so be it.”
‘There’s no harm in gaining the power of elves.’
Jin-woo already possessed the racial traits of Int Orc.
‘Just being able to handle spirits better is a gain.’
Jin-woo headed directly toward the Roots of the World Tree.
* * *
The Roots of the World Tree.
This was a massive structure before the World Tree. Because it served multiple purposes, its interior was quite spacious.
In the Roots of the World Tree, elf warriors had gathered in one place.
About a third of the elf warriors were still in injured condition.
Of course, they were not incapacitated, but they carried psychological trauma.
The confrontation with the Ghost King. In that fight, they had fled without accomplishing anything—a trauma that had taken root in them.
Moreover, they had lost all the equipment they had carried with them for so long.
They had literally fled with nothing but their lives.
“……”
“Why…… were we called to gather?”
The elf warriors were thoroughly dejected.
Fear of the Ghost King and self-reproach for their own flight weighed heavily upon them.
“Warriors.”
At that moment, Mirae stepped forward onto the platform.
“The Forest of Glory has been purified.”
The purification of the Forest of Glory was a fact known only to the elf elders and Katri.
For that reason, all were taken aback.
“The Forest of Glory……purified……!”
“How……!”
The Ghost King’s power was formidable. Corrupted by a portion of that immense power, the Forest of Glory had begun to decay since their defeat that day.
Multiple elf priests had attempted to purify it using the power of the World Tree, but they had failed.
“Jin-woo purified the Forest of Glory.”
“Jin-woo?”
“That human who learned the Flawless Seamstress Art from Elder Mirae?”
None of them had seen Jin-woo directly, but through the elders, they well knew he was the human who had learned the Flawless Seamstress Art from Mirae.
“Along with this great accomplishment, Jin-woo has committed to aiding us to the end.”
As she said this, Mirae gave Katri a signal. Katri brought forth a chest containing equipment and opened it.
“!”
“Bows and armor……and even cloth equipment.”
The elf warriors’ eyes gleamed.
“Inside are equipment I made, equipment Katri made, and equipment Jin-woo made.”
Currently, the elf warriors lacked proper equipment.
Thus, these new pieces were literally hope.
The hope that they could fight the Ghost King again, properly this time.
But the elf warriors’ reaction was lukewarm.
“They must be fine pieces of equipment.”
“But it’s not enough. We need equipment that fits us perfectly.”
Since fleeing from the Ghost King, the elf warriors had been seized by a sense of defeat. Thus, despite being told new equipment would be distributed, their response was tepid.
Could they really stand against the Ghost King with that equipment? It was surely just new equipment, not something tailored to them.
“Everyone, take what you need.”
Mirae smiled confidently as she regarded them. Once they put on the distributed equipment, they would understand.
The nature of what this equipment truly was.
“Can we just take any of them?”
“No.”
Mirae looked at Brighton.
“Brighton, this is your equipment.”
“……Yes? My equipment?”
Brighton turned back to Mirae in question.
Did this mean they weren’t being distributed randomly from the pile?
The elves behind him turned their gaze to Mirae.
Their eyes widened in surprise.
“Elder, could it be……”
“For all one hundred warriors gathered here, Jin-woo has created custom equipment tailored to each of you.”
That could not be.
No, it could not possibly be.
“But he’s never seen us—how could he……”
Brighton immediately took the equipment that had been given to him.
“……Ah……?”
And he was deeply shocked.
“This is……mine……”
The grip fit perfectly.
This was his equipment. No doubt about it—it was his.
For one hundred people.
“These are custom-made pieces tailored for each of you.”
Mirae smiled broadly as she spoke.

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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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