The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 113

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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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Transcendent Blacksmith’s Return, Episode 113
Zetaum’s body suddenly blazed with ascending spirit.
The moment he wrapped his body in spirit, the three who couldn’t comprehend its meaning started in alarm, hastily circulating their own energy in response.
But Shin Tae-ho stood motionless, his aura perfectly still, regarding Zetaum with an unruffled expression.
“Is the reward too much for you to bear?”
“That’s not the issue. How do you know of such a thing?”
“Well, as I mentioned, I’m a dwarf from another place.”
‘No. How can he answer like that in such a grave situation…?’
Han Ji-hyun was stunned by Shin Tae-ho’s audacity.
But Zetaum, peering into Shin Tae-ho’s spirit, was interpreting those words in an entirely different light.
‘I thought only the culture would be similar. Could he truly be a dwarf like us…?!’
A spirit burning steady and unwavering, quiet and unyielding.
It meant Shin Tae-ho was neither lying nor tensing himself in preparation for combat.
Rather, confronted with a spirit far closer to confidence and integrity, Zetaum’s own blazing spirit cooled.
“…This isn’t the place for such discussion. We’ll speak of it privately, you and I.”
“Understood.”
Having secured the promise, Shin Tae-ho stepped back.
Zetaum’s gaze shifted to Han Ji-hyun, who stood behind Shin Tae-ho.
“What reward would you have?”
“Ah… I…”
Han Ji-hyun faltered at the question, then found herself surveying her own appearance.
The three of them were outfitted in full plate or at least solid protective gear.
But she, who disliked any impediment to her movement, wore only a thick cloth robe.
Having thought that far, Han Ji-hyun made her choice.
“I’d like comfortable armor with good flexibility.”
“Armor? Hmm. I see. In your current state, a stray arrow would fell you outright.”
Zetaum grasped her meaning at once upon seeing her attire.
“Very well. I’ll craft you comfortable armor as you’ve described.”
With a nod from Zetaum, a dwarf behind him moved to escort Han Ji-hyun away.
The moment the dwarf moved to take her, Han Ji-hyun startled and turned back to Shin Tae-ho.
‘Why are you looking at me?’
Shin Tae-ho was caught off guard by her gaze.
They’d only met on Floor 11 and passed through a single Trial together.
But seeing those anxious eyes fixed on him, he couldn’t bring himself to be as coldly indifferent as he wished.
“It’s custom-made armor, so they’ll need to take your measurements. They’ll surely craft you something excellent, so cooperate with them.”
“…Yes. Alright.”
Reassured, Han Ji-hyun nodded and obediently followed the dwarf.
As Shin Tae-ho watched Han Ji-hyun disappear, finding the whole exchange odd,
Zetaum rose from his chair and gestured with his chin toward a distant door.
“Let’s go.”
“Pardon me. Might we possibly listen in as well?”
Amaterasu asked innocently, raising one hand high with the question.
Zetaum’s expression turned incredulous.
“Of course not. If you were meant to hear it, why would I move locations?”
“I see. I was just hoping, perhaps…”
Amaterasu lowered her arm, pouting like a child.
‘Miss. Please.’
Tsukuyomi, face flushing with embarrassment, desperately shielded himself behind an unfurled fan.
Zetaum looked as though he’d seen it all, and turned to leave first.
As Shin Tae-ho made to follow Zetaum,
Amaterasu seized his sleeve—the armor now removed from his arm.
“Shin Tae-ho. Thank you so much for your help this time. From Floor 12 onward, we will do our utmost to support you in turn.”
“I’m sorry? What do you mean?”
He’d only taken a Trial with Han Ji-hyun by chance,
and Shin Tae-ho, who’d planned to walk alone from Floor 12 onward, started at Amaterasu’s words and asked for clarification.
“What are you doing? If you want an answer, come quickly.”
Before Amaterasu could respond, Zetaum, ahead of them, hurried Shin Tae-ho along.
Though thoroughly unsettled, Zetaum’s business took priority, so Shin Tae-ho moved on.
The place Zetaum led him to was the office of the Dwarf chief.
“Bring some beer.”
“Understood, Master.”
As the dwarf left to fetch beer, Zetaum settled into his chair and fixed his gaze on Shin Tae-ho.
“So. You wanted to know about the Sacred Hammer?”
“Yes, but if it’s difficult to share, I’m willing to accept a different reward in its place.”
Shin Tae-ho had deliberately offered him an exit.
To be honest, this was his real objective all along.
‘I can’t ask to learn dwarf techniques right in front of everyone else.’
What Shin Tae-ho truly wanted from Zetaum was to learn the Enhancement technique he’d heard about from Orum.
But just moments ago, with Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Han Ji-hyun all present, he hadn’t dared broach the subject.
If he’d mentioned it then, his Class would surely have come under suspicion.
“A different reward? What would you change it to?”
“I’d like to learn Enhancement.”
At Shin Tae-ho’s bombshell declaration, Zetaum’s eyes widened once more.
From the very start until now, everything Shin Tae-ho said had defied Zetaum’s expectations and common sense.
“The direction of your request has shifted quite drastically. Could it be you wanted to learn Enhancement from the beginning?”
“To be honest, I want both.”
Shin Tae-ho spoke with candid sincerity.
At such brazen honesty, Zetaum’s mouth fell open, visible between his whiskers.
But that lasted only a moment.
Zetaum, who had been rigid, suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Hah, ha-ha-ha! Wahahaha! You—you’re truly straightforward! Not a moment’s hesitation in what you desire!”
Shin Tae-ho offered no reply, merely smiling faintly.
Only after the dwarf returned with the beer, set it down in bewilderment, and departed did Zetaum finally compose himself and stop laughing.
“Keh-heh-heh! Honesty is a most excellent virtue. All the more so when it concerns learning and knowledge!”
[Zetaum’s Affinity has increased.]
A message window appeared confirming that his Affinity had risen—Shin Tae-ho’s answer had clearly pleased Zetaum.
Zetaum drained the beer in one long gulp, as though he hadn’t had a drop in days, then wiped the foam from his whiskers.
“Good. Since you’ve taken my fancy, I’ll tell you about the Sacred Hammer as well. And teach you the Enhancement technique too.”
“Truly?”
Shin Tae-ho was taken aback.
To gain a technique for free and information he’d wanted as well?
‘So this is why Affinity matters.’
Shin Tae-ho straightened in his seat, struck once again by the importance of Affinity—something he’d felt keenly even in the Elf’s Tower.
Zetaum, regarding him with satisfaction, took up the next cup and began to speak.
“The Sacred Hammer of which you speak—it was crafted directly by Vulcastos, the god of all blacksmiths, as a wondrous instrument of his divine craft.”
‘Vulcastos…?’
The name was unfamiliar, yet something about it stirred a faint sense of recognition.
Zetaum’s explanation continued.
“That hammer was originally bestowed upon Vulcastos’s Champion as both weapon and extension of his will. But when the last Champion among our dwarves arose, it became instead a treasure of our people.”
‘Champion. Vulcastos… Could it be…?’
Shin Tae-ho’s eyes widened as hazy memories began to surface and crystallize.
And at that very moment, as though waiting for this instant, a message window appeared.
[Information on the War Smith Class’s exclusive weapon has been discovered.]
Even as Shin Tae-ho’s eyes trembled with surprise, Zetaum’s explanation pressed on.
“But that was many generations past. After that, no Champion of Vulcastos ever emerged. And the hammer, bereft of its master, has slumbered in the deep keeping of our people for a very long time.”
“Where is that hammer currently kept?”
Shin Tae-ho asked urgently.
At the unexpected intensity of his response, Zetaum was startled, but having taken a pull from his beer, he smiled ruefully.
“I don’t know.”
“Has the record been lost?”
“Hmm. You could say that, or you could say otherwise. I’m not sure myself.”
Faced with such a riddling answer, Shin Tae-ho felt frustration rising.
But Zetaum was not toying with him in jest.
“To be precise: when our dwarves split into north and south, the traitors took that record with them.”
“The Sacred Hammer’s location is… with the Northern Dwarf Faction…?”
“Indeed. And it’s been centuries now. We’ve only managed to preserve a Replica of the Sacred Hammer, which our leaders have used in succession.”
Zetaum gestured toward a hammer displayed in one corner of the room.
It was the weapon Orum had retrieved from the treasury and wielded—the Replica of the Sacred Hammer.
“So that’s why I say I don’t know: whether those bastards still possess information on the Sacred Hammer or whether they’ve let it be forgotten.”
As Zetaum posed the question and raised his beer to drink, he suddenly sputtered and sprayed it out in shock.
Until now, Shin Tae-ho’s spirit had remained unshaken, steadfast and resolute.
But now, having heard everything, Shin Tae-ho’s spirit was—
‘Burning… Is it burning?’
It was neither a gentle smoldering ember nor a wildfire consuming an entire mountain in savage fury.
Hotter than wildfire and solid, yet deeper and more steadfast than dying embers—a mass of flame flickering with fierce intensity.
When Zetaum beheld Shin Tae-ho’s spirit, what came to mind was precisely such a banked fire.
“Thank you for sharing that. It’s been truly helpful.”
Contrary to the turbulent appearance reflected in his spirit, Shin Tae-ho expressed his gratitude with courtesy and grace.
But that restrained composure—the very opposite of his burning soul—only sent a deeper chill through Zetaum.
“W-well, if it helped… I’m glad of that.”
“Yes. Next, I’d like to learn the techniques of Enhancement. Would now be convenient for you?”
“E-Enhancement? Ah. Yes. Enhancement isn’t something I can teach you. But instead, I’ll arrange a far more capable master for you.”
“I appreciate the consideration. Then I’ll go to the Blacksmith Workshop to prepare myself.”
Shin Tae-ho left, draping the drowsy Yong-ryong-i around his neck.
Zetaum, who had watched Shin Tae-ho’s departing figure in hushed anticipation until the door closed, finally let out a breath and released his tension.
“Hah… Hah… Just what… who is that person?”
The quiet yet scorching spirit that Shin Tae-ho had revealed.
It was something one could not easily witness.
No—it wasn’t a matter of easy or difficult.
‘Is it even possible for the soul of a living being to burn so steadily and fiercely at once?’
Even a dwarf who had lost family to the traitors of the Northern Dwarf Faction could not be assured his soul would burn with such ferocity.
Yet merely at the mention that the Sacred Hammer might exist, his passion alone set his spirit ablaze like that.
‘If it’s him… perhaps…’
Might he not recover the hammer they themselves regarded as legend?
In ordinary times, Zetaum would have dismissed such a fancy with a scoff and a laugh.
But this time, strangely, no smile crossed his face.
* * *
‘J-just what is this foreigner?’
Following Zetaum’s instructions, Orum had come to the Blacksmith Workshop and now swallowed hard as he beheld Shin Tae-ho standing before him.
A spirit burning hot enough to make the furnace that melted metal seem like a candle flame.
Yet even as it burned so fiercely, Orum felt a chill run through him in the sweltering Blacksmith Workshop when he saw Shin Tae-ho regarding him with such composure.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Orum. Shall we begin right away?”
“H-huh? Y-yes. Y-yes, of course.”
At Shin Tae-ho’s words, Orum—who had come to teach—answered haltingly.
Beside him, Yong-ryong-i lay coiled up on a soft, ultra-fine velvet cushion that Shin Tae-ho had prepared, tongue lolled out, snoring peacefully.
Continued in the next episode ▶
The Return of the Transcendent Master Blacksmith
Author
Seal Unsealer
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Inquiry Email
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
※ This e-book is protected by copyright law. Any unauthorized reproduction or copying is prohibited, and violations may result in criminal or civil liability.
※ Pentagram awaits 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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