The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 27

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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 – Episode 27
“Arrgh!”
A scream cuts through the air.
I turn to see an elf warrior, his lower body severed against the rocks, let out a final death rattle before going still.
Grit.
I clench my teeth and stare ahead.
The tide of battle had already shifted beyond any hope of recovery.
Forest Goblins hurl explosives and spears down like rain.
Even when I move to strike them, countless massive venomous centipedes—and the special variant, the giant King Centipede—ravage the elf warriors.
Whenever I try to attack those creatures, the heavily armored Forest Hopgoblins overhead block my path.
‘This won’t do! I have to move the warriors and break through one point!’
“Your Lordship! Please direct the elf warriors to attack that position!”
I cry out desperately, and Eldein—drenched in blood, struggling to maintain the battle—turns to look at me.
But his gaze is utterly cold.
“How dare you give me orders?”
“It’s not an order—it’s a plea! At this rate, all the warriors will—”
My desperate voice cuts off abruptly.
I look down and see a long spear piercing through my abdomen.
Blood floods my mouth as I glance back to find a Forest Hopgoblin standing where it wasn’t before.
“Kekerruk.”
The creature’s face twists into a smile.
A bitter, blood-tinged sneer of certain victory.
And then, from behind, Eldein’s emotionless voice reaches me.
“A pity. I shall remember your devotion, short-eared alien.”
‘…It’s over.’
There is no hope left that I can overcome this crisis.
The moment that thought takes hold.
A message window materializes, reflecting my will.
[Remaining forfeit opportunities: 1]
[Do you wish to forfeit the Trial and be moved outside the tower?]
“I forfeit.”
I watch as an axe is drawn from the Forest Hopgoblin’s belt, hurtling toward my neck.
In moments, my head will be cleaved clean off.
But before the axe can bite into my neck, my body has already been transported outside the tower.
Cough!
“Medical team! Come in immediately!”
“Bring an Awakener with healing abilities as well!”
Orders ring out and people rush about in chaos.
The tower only heals all wounds when a challenger exits after passing a Trial.
If they forfeit or fail, they are ejected outside the tower with their injuries intact.
“Challenger Park Je-hyuk! Are you alright?! Please hold on! The medical team standing by will arrive any moment!”
“I… Lim A-yeong… Chief….”
Park Je-hyuk, calling out Lim A-yeong’s name, struggles to speak as his consciousness begins to slip away.
“I’m sorry… Again… I failed….”
“Don’t speak, Park Je-hyuk! Your bleeding is getting worse!”
“Medical team has arrived!”
After sterilization procedures, the medical team enters and places the unconscious Park Je-hyuk on a gurney, carrying him away.
Left alone, Lim A-yeong trembles, staring at the ground.
There, a pool of blood spreads from Park Je-hyuk’s wound.
With a trembling hand barely moving, Lim A-yeong pulls out her smartphone.
The moment the dial tone sounds, the voice of Oh Jin-hyuk, the Management Bureau Director, comes through.
-Chief Lim. What happened?
“…He… he failed.”
Lim A-yeong’s trembling voice reports.
But no response comes back from Oh Jin-hyuk.
Park Je-hyuk is a top ranker who was challenging the 66th floor—the highest level in South Korea’s tower.
Simultaneously, he had secured the cooperation of Pure Elves, who are arrogant but comparatively more cooperative than Dark Elves,
and by maintaining high favorability, he had been obtaining their cooperation well—a challenger who had properly absorbed the Management Bureau’s strategy.
Yet this Park Je-hyuk had just failed to conquer the 66th floor.
The meaning of that was crystal clear.
I see. I’ll need to prepare for this.
The failure to clear South Korea’s highest floor.
Unless a miracle happened and someone conquered the 66th floor within days.
It was only a matter of time before the calamity of a Gate opened in South Korea.
* * *
“Ryooooong—.”
Yong-ryong-i drew in its mouth wide, absorbing all the essence around it.
Shin Tae-ho, who had been organizing his inventory while sitting on a branch, stroked Yong-ryong-i’s head.
He was spending time peacefully when—
A message window appeared shortly after.
[You have cleared the 55th Floor Trial.]
[Your clear rank is S-rank.]
[The elves’ Loyalty toward you has increased.]
[Your Loyalty rating with the elves is already at maximum!]
[The excess Loyalty will be reflected in your rewards!]
[Reward details: 20 High-Grade Essence Fragments, 3,800 Intermediate-Grade Essence Fragments, Fragment of Broken Box Key (1/5)]
[You have collected all fragments of the Broken Box Key!]
[The fragments have merged into a complete key.]
“Finally, I have them all.”
After reading the message window, Shin Tae-ho opened his inventory to check the key.
He saw a single bronze key, the size of a tumbler, lying there clearly.
‘Now I just need to find the treasure chest.’
As Shin Tae-ho smiled contentedly—
Eldein and Kider, who had finished their battle as usual, came rushing toward where Shin Tae-ho was like the wind.
“Hero! We have finished everything!”
“I saw. You both worked hard, Kider.”
“That one did nothing.”
“What?!”
“No. I saw both of you commanding the elf warriors and fighting valiantly. You worked hard, Eldein.”
“We are grateful for your praise, Hero.”
Eldein answered respectfully.
By the time they reached the 55th floor, the trust between Shin Tae-ho and the elves had grown deeper and more solid than before.
Thanks to this, Shin Tae-ho no longer felt any hesitation in speaking more casually.
“Do you feel the difference in the newly inscribed Blessing?”
“Of course! The arrows’ penetrating power has become much stronger than before!”
“The speed has also become noticeably faster than it was. It is all thanks to your Blessing, Hero.”
‘In truth, it’s thanks to you gaining Engraving experience through your items and obtaining a lower-rank Engraving Pattern.’
Shin Tae-ho smiled.
He practiced Engraving on the elves’ items and obtained higher-ranked Patterns himself.
The elves, in turn, grew steadily stronger using the Engraved items.
This mutually beneficial cycle continued up to the 55th floor.
And Shin Tae-ho had managed to grow his Engraving Pattern to the lower rank.
“But Hero, won’t you stop by Sinterhon this time either?”
“…Eldein. You’re really not going to change that city’s name?”
Shin Tae-ho asked with exasperation.
Yet as Eldein had grown older climbing to the 55th floor, his personality had become just as stubborn.
“You did not permit me to use your name, Hero Shin Tae-ho. That is why I named it Sinterhon, and you must allow me this.”
“That’s right!”
Kider, for once, stepped in to support Eldein.
Shin Tae-ho felt a throb in his head and waved his hand dismissively.
“Enough. Just gather the warriors.”
“Will you bestow your Blessing again this time?”
“Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to, Kider.”
“I wasn’t asking you, so keep quiet, Eldein.”
“If you’re not calling us, we might as well go.”
As the two were about to bicker, Shin Tae-ho stood up from his seat.
The two jumped back, startled.
“We shall fetch them at once!”
“Please wait just a moment!”
Eldein and Kider rushed off to bring the elf warriors.
Watching him, Shin Tae-ho sighed softly.
“Age means nothing when you act like a child. Isn’t that right, Yong-ryong-i?”
“Purrrr~.”
As Shin Tae-ho scratched his chin, Yong-ryong-i flipped over contentedly and answered with a lazy purr.
* * *
Ding!
“What is it?”
Shin Tae-ho, who had stepped out of the tower to eat with Yong-ryong-i, checked his smartphone at the notification sound.
There were messages piled up that he hadn’t managed to check while focusing on climbing the tower.
“Oh no.”
Shin Tae-ho frowned as he read through the messages.
Back when he’d visited the blacksmith.
Shin Tae-ho had spent all the money he’d saved in his account buying Literium.
As a result, with insufficient funds in the account, utility bills like water and electricity had piled up, and he’d been receiving payment reminder notices.
‘Have I been too focused on the tower?’
There were also photos of Pping-pping that had come to Choi Yu-hwa, as well as messages checking in on Yong-ryong-i from Kim Han-seok.
On top of that, all the food in the refrigerator was gone, so he needed to go shopping.
“I should head to the Management Bureau.”
Shin Tae-ho checked his inventory.
Items had piled up so much that he didn’t even have the heart to try sorting through them.
* * *
‘What is this guy, anyway?’
The employee working at the Awakener shop stared at Shin Tae-ho with bewildered eyes.
The items Shin Tae-ho had pulled out were far too numerous to be attributed to a single challenger.
Seeing the sheer number of Intermediate-Grade Essence Fragments, it was clear he’d brought items that some guild had accumulated for sale.
‘I’ve heard guilds nowadays skip their commission fees and have individuals gather items to sell instead.’
Moving items so numerous his limbs trembled, the employee cursed silently.
But in truth, Shin Tae-ho hadn’t even taken out half of what was in his inventory yet.
‘If I sell this much at once, it shouldn’t look suspicious.’
If he sold all his items at one time, it could raise suspicion.
Shin Tae-ho, who knew how troublesome public attention could be, had no intention of burdening himself with such concerns.
After barely managing to move the items, the employee finished the calculation and transferred the payment.
“Three billion, seven hundred thirty million won has been transferred. Please check your account.”
“Confirmed.”
The exact amount the employee had stated was deposited in the account.
With the item sales completed, Shin Tae-ho went straight to meet Kim Han-seok.
Kim Han-seok, who had received a message from Shin Tae-ho, was already waiting in the Tamer Classroom.
“Awakener Shin Tae-ho! Hello.”
“It’s been a while.”
After exchanging brief greetings, Kim Han-seok examined Yong-ryong-i’s condition.
Kim Han-seok looked amazed as he examined Yong-ryong-i.
‘No stress, and completely healthy. Plus, the bond with Shin Tae-ho has grown even deeper.’
As a Tamer Inspector, Kim Han-seok had seen countless Tamers and summoned creatures.
Among them all, the bond between Shin Tae-ho and Yong-ryong-i was overwhelmingly the strongest among every Tamer he’d ever seen.
To say with certainty, even if he examined every Tamer in the world, such a bond would be extraordinarily rare.
“The examination is complete. Your body and mind are both perfectly healthy.”
“Purr~.”
Yong-ryong-i puffed out his chest as if it were obvious.
Kim Han-seok unconsciously reached out to pet the cute creature, but stopped short when he saw Yong-ryong-i’s eyes flash.
“Ah, ahem. Yong-ryong-i has grown quite a lot. Has there been any sign of awakening abilities or anything like that?”
“I haven’t noticed anything yet.”
Reading the mood, Shin Tae-ho firmly pressed down Yong-ryong-i, who was about to leap into the air, as he answered.
While it was fine to cooperate with the mandatory duties required of an Awakener registered as a Tamer, he had no intention of revealing all of Yong-ryong-i’s information.
Kim Han-seok nodded.
“There’s no need to rush. Since Yong-ryong-i is such a unique case, I asked out of curiosity, but usually it takes about half a year to awaken an ability.”
“Purr! Purr-purr! Purrrrr!”
As Yong-ryong-i struggled to show that he could fly, Shin Tae-ho quickly pulled something out of his bag.
It was a Homemade Meat Meatball that Yong-ryong-i especially loved and that Shin Tae-ho had bought before coming.
“Here, Yong-ryong-i. Eat this and calm down.”
“Purr? Purrr! Purr-purr-purr.”
When Shin Tae-ho placed the Homemade Meat Meatball in Yong-ryong-i’s mouth, the creature calmed immediately.
The moment Yong-ryong-i became docile, Kim Han-seok’s eyes widened in amazement.
‘What on earth is that meatball?’
“Mr. Kim Han-seok, would it be possible to ask you again about reserving the public smithy?”
“The smithy? Hmm, one moment. I’m not sure if there’s availability right now… no, there isn’t. In that case…”
Kim Han-seok checked his smartphone to confirm the lack of availability, then made a phone call to someone.
“Hello, Master Kim Jong-su. I’m calling to ask if there’s an opening at the public smithy. Yes, that Tamer from back then… What? No, surely you wouldn’t… Hello? Master?”
Kim Han-seok called out to Kim Jong-su in confusion, but the line had already gone dead.
Kim Han-seok lowered his phone, his expression bewildered.
“Is there no availability?”
“Well, there wasn’t… but it seems he made space by having one of the blacksmiths working there leave.”
‘Can you even do that?’
Witnessing something he himself—having once worked at a smithy—couldn’t comprehend, Shin Tae-ho tilted his head in confusion.
In any case, being able to use the smithy right away was a good thing.
“Thank you very much. Then I’ll be on my way.”
“Ah, Shin Tae-ho! Before you go, could I ask you one more thing?”
“What would that be?”
Kim Han-seok scratched his head, too embarrassed to speak easily at first.
“That meat meatball Yong-ryong-i is eating so happily. Where does it come from?”
“Ryong?”
Yong-ryong-i, munching contentedly on the meatball, tilted its head.
Continued in the next episode ▶
The Return of the Transcendent-Grade Blacksmith
Author
Seal Breaker
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Contact Email
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
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※ 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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