The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 128

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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 Grade Blacksmith’s Return — Chapter 128
“Yong-ryong-i! Your expression wasn’t great during our talk. Are you sure everything really went well?”
“Yeah. It went better than I expected—and dirt cheap, too.”
Shin Tae-ho explained while keeping Yong-ryong-i, who had shifted into human form, seated beside him.
As Yong-ryong-i grew cheerful at the news and pulled a chocolate bar from the bag she’d brought along to eat, Shin Tae-ho kept his gaze fixed on the message window waiting for his attention.
The moment the thought to check the message crossed his mind, a notification window opened.
A message appeared.
[Class-Exclusive Hidden Quest acceptance conditions have been met.]
[War Smith’s Exclusive Weapon]
Description: Vulchastos, the god of all blacksmiths, personally forged a weapon for his champion, the War Smith.
The hammer crafted by a god became the War Smith’s greatest weapon and finest tool—a figure unmatched in skill and craftsmanship of that age.
Across the vast reaches of time, it still waits for its master. Go meet the hammer that has been calling for you.
Reward: War Smith’s Exclusive Weapon
‘The greatest weapon and finest tool,’ he thought.
Shin Tae-ho smiled with satisfaction after reading the quest description.
Before the second tower emerged, he’d had the luxury of vast time in Synterhorn to dedicate himself to crafting.
But Abystheel was an extraordinarily difficult material to work with.
He’d poured every technique at his disposal into it, spending that entire span of time completing just a single suit.
Yet here, in this situation, an exclusive weapon had materialized.
‘I’d been hesitant about using National Points. But this was the answer.’
Kogarum had to propose the deal, and Shin Tae-ho had to possess the ability to reshape that deal into something he wanted.
Only by paying the National Points that Kogarum demanded in return could he receive this quest.
‘If even one of these conditions had been missing, I couldn’t have accepted it. As always, preparation is everything.’
Satisfied, Shin Tae-ho closed the quest window.
When Shin Tae-ho lifted her into his arms, Yong-ryong-i, happily munching on her chocolate, tilted her head.
“Yong-ryong-i? Where are we going?”
“The others are waiting. Just enjoy your chocolate like this. I’ll carry you there.”
“Got it! This is so comfortable!”
Yong-ryong-i smiled and leaned against Shin Tae-ho’s chest.
Running while holding Yong-ryong-i, Shin Tae-ho organized his thoughts.
‘First, I need to properly greet the party. After that, I should head to the place Kogarum mentioned.’
The collapsed mountain in the northeast.
The name wasn’t certain, but the features were distinctive enough that finding it wouldn’t be difficult.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but one puzzling detail clung to the back of Shin Tae-ho’s mind.
‘But why does it say I need to go and meet the hammer, not retrieve it?’
He swallowed the question he couldn’t answer for now.
Shin Tae-ho quickened his pace toward the party waiting for him in the distance.
* * *
Exodus.
The basic meaning was mass departure, collective flight.
The reasons for exodus varied.
When war sent masses of people seeking immigration or refugee status.
Even within the same country, when regional populations migrated to cities for infrastructure and employment.
And when people or enterprises departed en masse—that too could be described as exodus.
And now.
The entire world was reeling from an Awakener exodus.
“I hear the U.S. is raising its immigration standards for Awakeners. Judging by the shift in their tone, they probably already have sufficient personnel.”
“It’s counted among the most desirable immigration destinations. Of course they would.”
Oh Jin-hyuk, the Korean Management Bureau director, responded flatly to the report.
He’d heard it so many times already that he could recite it in his sleep.
“What matters is how we’re going to handle this problem that exodus is creating.”
Oh Jin-hyuk frowned, staring at the screen displaying a world map.
Red dots appeared scattered across the globe.
With the map resembling a planet ravaged by plague, everyone gathered in the conference room fell silent.
Oh Jin-hyuk wetted his throat with cold water and released a deep sigh.
“Each of those dots is a Gate. It’s almost unbelievable.”
Gates that appeared when the tower’s allocated National Points went unfulfilled—a rule that had changed from the original one of climbing the highest tier within the allotted period.
Since the tower was still in lower-tier sections, Gates were sparse below the fifteenth floor—only three to five worldwide.
But recently, the rate of Gate occurrence had skyrocketed.
The reason was clear.
“Section Chief Lim. How are our National Points trending?”
“The pace of decline has accelerated as item hoarding increases. Even if we have some margin before the next Gate emerges, we’re losing ground dangerously fast.”
Lim Ah-young delivered the report with a grave expression.
Then another person who had been listening quietly raised a hand.
“Beyond that, requests from ITRO and other nations’ Management Bureaus for assistance with Gate processing are increasing in severity and frequency.”
“How severe, roughly speaking?”
“Already, calls are coming through to ministerial-level officials. If this continues, the President himself may take direct interest before long.”
Gates destabilized nations—but typically only the weaker ones, those lacking the power to contain them.
Yet developed nations were hardly immune; Gates remained a threat regardless of advancement.
The real problem was that even countries with sufficient ability to handle Gates on their own were now requesting Korea’s help.
No one voiced it directly, but everyone could easily guess the reason.
‘They’re trying to draw out Mystery.’
Right now, with group climbing, the true identity of the World Ranker remained obscured.
Yet no one doubted that the World Ranker was Mystery.
Of course, it was good to regard Mystery highly.
But Oh Jin-hyuk, and everyone else in the Management Bureau,
knew they weren’t merely seeking assistance.
‘They want Mystery. And circumstances like these—they’re the perfect moment to shake Mystery’s resolve.’
Most Awakeners were selling National Points to strengthen themselves, applying for Awakener-privilege immigration visas.
If Mystery was human like the rest, they couldn’t possibly escape this mass psychology.
‘But I can’t keep dodging the question indefinitely. And I can’t flatly refuse either…’
As Oh Jin-hyuk sat drumming his fingers on the table, lost in thought,
Lim Ah-young glanced at her phone and approached him.
“Director. May I step out for a moment? It looks like Ranker Han Ji-hyun just came down from the tower.”
“Of course. You should go—take him out for a meal and have a proper talk.”
“Understood.”
Stepping out of the conference room, Lim Ah-young exhaled with relief.
Being trapped in discussions with no clear answers was suffocating, no matter how many times she experienced it.
Grateful that he’d released her from it, Lim Ah-young rushed straight to the lodging where Han Ji-hyun was staying.
She knocked on the automatic door fashioned like a shelter entrance, and a moment later she heard the lock disengage.
“Welcome back, Han Ji-hyun! You must have worked incredibly hard!”
“Thank you.”
The moment Lim Ah-young entered the room, she blurted out congratulations, but Han Ji-hyun showed no surprise.
Lim Ah-young herself preferred how Han Ji-hyun got straight to business, which was partly why she’d greeted him this way.
After asking permission, she sat on the sofa and made small talk.
“Climbing seventeen floors without a single failure—that’s truly remarkable!”
“Thank you.”
“I never imagined you’d be on the same team as two World Rankers from Japan! As someone from the Management Bureau, I’m so proud I could burst!”
Lim Ah-young threw her head back and squared her shoulders with exaggerated joy, expressing her delight theatrically through her whole body.
But for some reason, instead of thanking her, Han Ji-hyun simply stared at her blankly.
Wondering if she’d overplayed it, Lim Ah-young felt a prick of embarrassment.
“Why—why are you looking at me like that, Han Ji-hyun? Did I say something wrong…?”
“No, that’s not it. There’s someone else in our group who’s far more impressive than those two.”
“More impressive? You don’t mean—another World Ranker?!”
“No. They’re not a Ranker.”
Someone more remarkable than two World Rankers on the same team?
Lim Ah-young, accustomed to tracking only National Rankers or World Ranker-class talents, found herself genuinely intrigued.
“You rarely speak of others that way. Now I’m curious. What country are they from?”
“They’re from our country.”
“What? Korean?! Someone other than Park Su-hyuk?”
She knew Park Su-hyuk, a fellow Korean Ranker, had been assigned to the same tower as Han Ji-hyun.
But learning there was another Korean person there, traveling with them, genuinely shocked her.
“Could you tell me who? If you’d just give me their name and class—”
Lim Ah-young’s eager question cut short as her phone vibrated.
Seeing the message was from Director Oh Jin-hyuk, she excused herself and checked it.
The message contained the conclusion they’d reached in the meeting she’d left midway.
—Decided to begin transmitting Mystery Signal starting tomorrow evening. Section Chief Lim will oversee it as before.
“…Wh-what?!”
In her shock, the conversation she’d just been having with Han Ji-hyun vanished from her mind as though erased by an invisible hand.
* * *
Three days had passed since the question mark Signal calling for Mystery illuminated the night sky.
For the first time since the second tower appeared, people were buzzing with excitement at the Signal calling for Mystery, regardless of who they were.
⌜The Signal has been shining for three days now. Will Mystery truly come?⌟
⌜A Signal identical to the Management Bureau’s appeared in the Incheon sky… Investigation revealed it belonged to an overseas scout⌟
⌜Once word spread that the Signal was a summons for Mystery, people projecting Signals began appearing all over the world⌟
⌜Korean Management Bureau strongly recommends restraint in indiscriminate Signal use⌟
“What a mess.”
Oh Jin-hyuk’s brow furrowed as he finished reading the article.
Lim Ah-young, the Signal coordinator, exhaled deeply in agreement.
“I anticipated this kind of problem would arise, but… this has gotten completely out of hand.”
“It just means that many people want to see Mystery. Well, it’s not entirely a bad thing either.”
Mystery’s popularity meant the public’s interest.
That, in turn, connected to Mystery’s influence and reach.
Before communication improved, the more attention Mystery garnered, the more stress it would have caused.
But now, the Management Bureau actually benefited as Mystery’s influence grew.
‘Of course, whether that’s good for Mystery himself is another matter.’
Oh Jin-hyuk swept his gaze around the room with cold eyes.
The ministers who had sought him out right after he decided to project the Signal.
Faced with their sharp pressure backed by political power, Oh Jin-hyuk had ultimately been forced to reveal everything about his meeting with Mystery.
And immediately after that, the Management Bureau was outfitted with CCTV cameras so densely installed that there wasn’t a single blind spot.
Moreover, there were even Awakeners hidden within the Management Bureau itself, their presence completely concealed.
Only Oh Jin-hyuk knew about this, so Lim Ah-young had no idea what was actually happening here.
‘Whether Mystery comes or doesn’t come, either way I’m worried.’
Oh Jin-hyuk furrowed his brow and looked up at the sky.
A crescent moon shone brightly against the dark sky, more luminous than usual.
In that moment, as Oh Jin-hyuk gazed at the night sky to clear his mind, he felt something strange enter his field of vision.
‘What is that?’
Oh Jin-hyuk, blessed with exceptional eyesight and Energy Sensing befitting a Ranger, focused his energy into his eyes.
Peering at the sky again in this heightened state, Oh Jin-hyuk suddenly jumped to his feet in shock.
“Director Lim. Look.”
“Yes? Where?”
Oh Jin-hyuk pointed silently toward the sky.
Following his gesture, Lim Ah-young’s eyes widened as saucers.
Across the middle of the sky bathed in the moon’s faint glow,
A single figure clad in armor unlike anything she had ever seen descended, draped in a flowing cape that rippled softly.
To be continued ▶
The Transcendent Grade Blacksmith’s Return
Author
Bong In-haejae
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Gerae Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
※ This e-book is protected by copyright law and is prohibited from unauthorized reproduction or duplication. Violations may result in criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram welcomes 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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