The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 11

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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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The Transcendent Blacksmith’s Return – Episode 11
The future that had been real was now merely the past, courtesy of regression.
Shin Tae-ho had been naive back then.
Having obtained the Blacksmith Class, he’d believed his duty was simple: craft items with dedication, and that would be the sum total of his purpose.
If he did that, the challengers would conquer the Tower, and peace would come to the world.
But that pure zeal had sharpened into a dagger and pierced him deeply.
The Human Traitors, overwhelmed by the Tower and the formidable alien races within it.
They had armed themselves with Suits he’d forged, gaining strength and security.
And they had wielded Weapons of his making as they turned those arms against humanity.
Each item Shin Tae-ho had created was extraordinary.
Of course it was.
These were masterworks, tempered through desperate struggle and unwavering commitment, crafted specifically for the challengers.
And so their betrayal could wound not merely his mind, but his very soul, and wound it deeply.
That scar had never closed, remaining raw and open in his heart.
“It’s been a while.”
Shin Tae-ho stepped out of the taxi and gazed at the Awakener Registration Center.
A Registration Center that occupied an entire building.
For some reason, it was crowded like a theme park.
Shin Tae-ho tilted his head in confusion.
‘Was the Registration Center always this busy?’
According to statistics, Awakeners comprised roughly one in every thousand people.
Being so rare, the Registration Center was ordinarily quite deserted.
Shin Tae-ho adjusted his bag and stepped inside.
It would have been easier to come alone, but he’d been anxious about leaving the egg at home.
Since he couldn’t store it in his Inventory either, he’d wrapped it carefully in cloth and packed it in his bag.
It was loud outside, but inside the Registration Center was bedlam.
“But I’m telling you, the Management Bureau is looking for me! The first Tutorial conqueror! That’s me!”
“Ah yes, what keen insight you lack. That’s precisely why you exhaust yourself so. Come now—the Tutorial conqueror himself has arrived. Won’t you show him in?”
“What is this…?”
Listening to the conversations flowing around him, Shin Tae-ho grasped the situation and recoiled in shock.
All manner of people were claiming to be the Tutorial conqueror and attempting to register as Awakeners.
Some were plainly joking, or filming for their online channels.
But most remarkably, some genuinely believed themselves to be the Tutorial conqueror.
Shin Tae-ho let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity.
‘If they were Mages with loose screws from Mana addiction, I could understand. But seeing seemingly normal people do this is downright grotesque.’
Mages, the Class that wielded Mana.
They converted their own Qi through their meridian circuits into Mana, which they then used.
Somehow in that process they became dependent on Mana, and the rate of mental illness resulting from it was remarkably high.
But looking at the people here, most of them clearly weren’t Mages.
‘Already exhausted.’
Shin Tae-ho pressed both eyes with one hand, squeezing gently.
He had a strong premonition that registering as an Awakener would be far more tiring than he’d anticipated.
* * *
‘I must endure. I must endure.’
Im A-yeong smiled while desperately holding back the vein threatening to bulge from her forehead.
She’d been smiling so long that her mouth corners were beginning to twitch.
“So you’re certain you’ve conquered the entire Tutorial?”
“Of course! I’ve been saying that the whole time!”
The figure in the deep-pulled hat grew irritated at Im A-yeong’s question.
Im A-yeong ground her teeth quietly, fighting to maintain her smile.
“I see. Then, Awakener, what were the conditions to pass the 28th floor of the Tutorial?”
“The… 28th floor?”
The Awakener’s indignant voice faltered.
Naturally it did.
This Awakener had failed the Tutorial at the 13th floor.
There was no way he could know what lay on the 28th.
As the Awakener stammered without answering, Im A-yeong’s smile turned icily cold.
“How unfortunate. And here others at least had the sense to memorize something first. Coming completely unprepared like this—head that way, please.”
“Tch!”
The Awakener, clicking his tongue in frustration, meekly followed the Management Bureau staff member’s guidance out the door.
Besides, it had been done on a whim following the current trend, so she harbored no regret.
Im A-yeong exhaled deeply.
‘Ugh, seriously. Don’t they have any shame? What’s the point of playing these pranks, anyway?’
From some point onward, Awakeners had begun gathering at the Awakener Registration Center.
At first, even the Management Bureau had been delighted by the crowds.
Their goal was to find the Tutorial Conqueror, and there was hope that among so many people, the real Awakener might actually appear.
It was a misunderstanding.
Most of them were people hoping to deceive others into thinking they were the Tutorial Conqueror and receive preferential treatment.
It was only natural.
If they could deceive others into thinking they were the Tutorial Conqueror and sign a contract directly with the Management Bureau?
It was obvious they’d receive treatment incomparable to the standard benefits known to ordinary Awakeners.
Word of such Awakeners’ behavior soon reached Tower.com.
After that, the situation had escalated into what it was now—all sorts of Awakeners pouring in, from content creators to pranksters.
‘If I had my way, I’d warn them that they’d face legal punishment for pranks…’
Only Awakeners could climb the Tower.
And since they were the kinds who always risked their lives ascending the Tower, the law was lenient toward Awakeners.
If they simply threw what few Awakeners existed into prison?
It was certain as seeing fire that they’d fail to update the Tower’s highest floor within the time limit, and catastrophic damage would befall South Korea.
This stress alone gave her a headache, but there was an even more serious problem.
Im A-yeong glanced to one side, as if sighing.
There, maintaining an ambiguous distance apart, were people looking at their smartphones.
Or rather, pretending to look—their sharp eyes swept across the crowd methodically.
People who hadn’t come to register as Awakeners, nor to film videos or prank around.
‘Foreign Scouts.’
It was not a guess but a certainty.
The National Intelligence Service and the Management Bureau had already uncovered their identities.
The problem was that even knowing they were Scouts, they couldn’t just throw them out arbitrarily.
Fundamentally, Scouts were organizations composed of Awakeners themselves in order to assess the Qi of other Awakeners.
And above all, one wrong move could create friction between nations.
‘Besides, will the real Conqueror even show up?’
It had already been two weeks since the Tutorial Conqueror appeared.
Moreover, judging by circumstances, it was highly likely that the one continuously achieving S-Rank clears and climbing the Tower according to public announcements was that Conqueror.
That would mean there was an organization backing the Conqueror.
There might be no reason for them to bother registering as an Awakener.
“Deputy Chief Im. Not working?”
“Yes? Oh, oh my! I’m sorry!”
When her superior sitting beside her spoke in a half-dead voice, Im A-yeong snapped back to attention.
While lost in thought, she’d unconsciously been foisting her work onto her superior.
Im A-yeong bowed her head apologetically and called the next person.
When Shin Tae-ho entered for his turn, Im A-yeong’s eyes flickered with interest.
‘His physique is remarkably solid. Is he a Warrior-class Awakener?’
Then Im A-yeong’s eyes lit up as she noticed something.
The object was the bag slung across Shin Tae-ho’s shoulder.
“One moment, please. You cannot bring personal items like bags in here.”
“Not even a bag?”
“Of course not. Especially not a bag.”
Im A-yeong spoke firmly.
Given that there had been a suicide bombing terrorist attack at a registration center in another country years ago, such matters had to be handled carefully.
Watching Shin Tae-ho hesitate as he removed the bag, Im A-yeong narrowed her eyes.
His manner was overly cautious and anxious—something about it seemed suspicious.
“What’s inside the bag? Would you mind taking it out?”
The staff members on either side, reading the subtle shift in atmosphere, fixed their gaze on Shin Tae-ho.
They had already begun drawing Qi into their channels, ready to restrain him at a moment’s notice.
Sensing the Qi, Shin Tae-ho’s brow furrowed slightly.
‘There seems to be some misunderstanding. I need to be careful here.’
Reading the tense atmosphere, Shin Tae-ho carefully opened the bag and withdrew what was inside.
Seeing the egg tenderly wrapped in cloth, Im A-yeong jumped in surprise.
“Ah! My apologies! You’re a Tamer, then. I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
Im A-yeong immediately apologized.
Receiving an egg after the Tutorial was customary for the Tamer Class.
For a Tamer, a summoned creature was family—a being that protected their life within the Tower.
With that understanding, Shin Tae-ho’s careful handling of the egg seemed only natural.
Those standing beside Im A-yeong, braced for trouble, relaxed their guard with deflated expressions.
Bewildered at being mistaken for a Tamer out of nowhere, Shin Tae-ho started to protest.
“I’m sorry—wait. I’m actually a—”
“Wow, a Tamer! That’s such a rare Class! Congratulations! Honestly, I thought you might be a Warrior with that impressive physique.”
Meeting what seemed like her first normal registrant, Im A-yeong’s expression brightened.
Since the egg hadn’t even hatched yet, there was no way Shin Tae-ho could be a Tutorial conqueror.
Shin Tae-ho, taken aback by how she’d already decided his Class on her own, hesitated.
‘Wait. Do I even need to clarify?’
Before coming to register as an Awakener,
Shin Tae-ho had spent a long time agonizing over whether to reveal his true Class.
War Smith was a Unique-grade Class even among Special Classes.
As rare as Special Classes were, his would certainly attract considerable attention.
And if he also revealed that he was a Tutorial conqueror?
‘The thought alone exhausts me.’
Shin Tae-ho shook his head at the unwelcome prospect.
Besides, thinking about it, what she’d said wasn’t entirely wrong either.
Even if he wasn’t a Tamer Class, didn’t having a summoned creature make him technically a Tamer by definition?
Watching Im A-yeong’s eyes sparkle as if he’d confirmed her guess, Shin Tae-ho nodded.
“Yes, thank you.”
“Think nothing of it. I’ll just fill out some paperwork and process you through. One moment.”
Im A-yeong typed with practiced ease.
After a brief wait, she handed him the printed documents and pointed to a section.
“There you are! Head inside with those forms, and you can receive your orientation!”
“Thank you.”
Having said thank you twice, Shin Tae-ho was able to pass registration.
The speed and ease of the process left him feeling oddly disconcerted.
‘Is this… good luck?’
Newly registered as a Tamer, Shin Tae-ho proceeded inside to complete his registration, feeling strangely uneasy.
Watching his departing figure, Im A-yeong felt a pang of envy.
‘I wish I’d gotten the Tamer Class. How much easier everything would be.’
Among the few Awakeners in the world, only a minority could obtain a Special Class.
While Tamer wasn’t itself a Special Class, it belonged to the rarest tier just below it.
Though Tamers themselves provided little direct combat assistance,
through their summoned creatures they avoided the vulnerability all Awakeners faced when their Mana depleted outside the Tower—a weakness that didn’t apply to them.
With evident longing, Im A-yeong watched Shin Tae-ho disappear from sight, then called up the next registrant with a sigh.
Before the newcomer had even sat down, they spoke up.
“I’m the Tutorial conqueror the Management Bureau has been looking for.”
‘…Should I just beat this person senseless and write an apology letter?’
Having savored a brief moment of peace through Shin Tae-ho, Im A-yeong clenched her fist against the cold, suffocating reality that had returned.
To be continued ▶
The Return of a Transcendent-Grade Blacksmith
Author
Seal Unseal
Publisher
Kim Suk-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Contact Email
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
※ This e-book is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited, and violations may result in criminal or civil legal liability.
※ Pentagram is awaiting your precious manuscripts.

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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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