The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 4

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Transcendent-Grade Blacksmith’s Regression — Episode 4
In a dimension of the Tower accessible only to its administrators.
Arimire observed everything that transpired within the Tutorial Tower from that vantage.
“Argh! This damnable thing! How am I supposed to break through this?!”
“I give up! I’m giving up! Get me out of here, now!”
“The Management Bureau definitely said to go right from here….”
The challengers’ behavior followed largely predictable patterns.
They moved either in fear or with caution.
Some arrived equipped with prior knowledge of the Tower and advanced strategically; others charged in recklessly on sheer audacity.
Yes, their responses varied in degree, but Awakeners rarely strayed far from this range.
With a single exception.
“What in the world is that boy doing…?”
Though numerous Awakeners cycled through, Arimire’s attention fixed on one alone.
There, as always, Shin Tae-ho labored intently at his hammer, crafting something.
The phrase “as always” seemed odd at first, but it proved disturbingly accurate.
Shin Tae-ho had been repeating the same motions for six months now.
Clang! Clang!
Hisssss—!
Heat the metal in flame, strike it with hammer.
Once shaped, the metal plunged into the Quenching basin beside him, releasing steam into the air.
Arimire was no master blacksmith, granted.
Yet she grasped, at least in broad strokes, how a blacksmith crafted their wares.
Quenching was the process of rapidly cooling metal already shaped by hammer-blows, immersing it in water or oil.
It was the critical heat-treatment phase for increasing a metal’s strength and hardness.
But the Tutorial Tower provided no provisions.
Neither oil nor drinking water could be obtained.
Yet Shin Tae-ho employed a method so innovative that Arimire could scarcely have conceived it.
“Using the Core’s Coolant… his thinking is remarkably flexible.”
Cores contained Coolant to prevent degradation from overheating.
But everything in the Tutorial Tower consisted of standard-Grade items.
Even if Coolant existed, a Core yielded scarcely more than a mouthful.
Shin Tae-ho had substituted that Coolant for water and oil in his Quenching process.
He had painstakingly collected the few drops from a single standard-Grade Core over weeks.
At first, she’d deemed it foolish labor, a waste of effort.
“Yet he’s managed to craft something after all. Whether to call that remarkable or foolish….”
Arimire released a long breath.
His persistence astounded her, but her conviction that it was all for nothing remained unchanged.
This place was the Tutorial Tower, after all.
Only Awakeners who had not yet received a Class could ascend here.
“No matter how hard he labors, without a Class he’ll never craft anything higher than standard Grade. A pity.”
Item grades were determined by a complex interplay of countless factors.
Materials, Skill, technique, even one’s Class—all bore influence.
Yet Shin Tae-ho possessed none of these things.
At best, he had the Blacksmith Technique from before his Awakening.
And on that single foundation alone, he’d wasted six months in futility.
“I’d warn him if I could. The helplessness of it is maddening.”
Arimire exhaled again.
At least there was one mercy: this wouldn’t drag on forever.
Shin Tae-ho believed he felt neither hunger nor thirst within the Tutorial Tower.
But the truth was different.
“Six months here would be roughly six days in reality. If he has no intention of starving to death, the Tutorial must begin soon.”
Arimire studied Shin Tae-ho intently.
His belly had grown hollow from hunger, his arms trembling with weakness.
At the sight of his pitiful condition, Arimire clicked her tongue.
“I only hope your sacrifice amounts to something worthwhile, boy.”
* * *
Growwwwl—
His stomach issued a loud and insistent demand for sustenance.
The hunger that had gnawed at him for weeks surged forth anew.
Yet it was a hunger he’d grown accustomed to, and Shin Tae-ho continued his work without pause.
Shin Tae-ho wetted his throat with the coolant he’d extracted from the Core, his arms moving without pause.
Six months had passed since entering the Tutorial Tower.
Starting around the first month, Shin Tae-ho had been gripped by relentless hunger.
The only thing that could fill his belly was the coolant—a substitute for water.
His body, which had consumed no real food and burned fat for energy, had grown skeletal enough that his ribs jutted prominently.
His ravaged frame seemed to cry out in protest.
Yet Shin Tae-ho’s eyes remained steady as he hammered, reflecting the glow of the forge with an unshakeable light.
‘Almost there. Just a little more. Hold on. You can hold on.’
He swung the hammer with trembling arms.
Though his technique had improved considerably, Shin Tae-ho’s hammering was still clumsy and crude compared to what it once had been.
He had regressed, yet retained the memories of his time as a blacksmith.
But memory alone was not enough.
His body, returned to the past, had shed the muscular strength and mastery accumulated over decades of smithing.
His mind remembered what his flesh refused to obey.
The grueling working conditions meant the project had consumed six months just to complete.
Yet he harbored no regret.
‘If I leave here, I won’t find such abundant materials to work with anywhere else.’
Shin Tae-ho glanced to the side.
Items destroyed in the course of his creation.
There were so many that the wreckage piled up like mountains.
Although the quality of his materials suffered for it, he’d been able to use supplies without limit.
Click.
The material that had undergone quenching to increase hardness and tempering to remove brittleness began to be assembled.
Six months of labor was drawing slowly toward its end.
At last, work complete, Shin Tae-ho stepped back to examine his finished creation.
It was a full-body armor crafted to fit his frame precisely.
Unfortunately, without a Class, he couldn’t view the item’s properties.
But having made it himself, Shin Tae-ho could estimate its grade to some degree.
‘I lack the Blacksmith Technique and the dexterity; the work is rough. The materials were only common grade, so… it’s probably rare grade at best.’
Grades were divided into eight tiers: common, uncommon, rare, unique, and higher.
Shin Tae-ho estimated his work at rare grade—one tier higher than the uncommon grade Arimire had predicted.
It was only a two-grade jump for six months of labor, but Shin Tae-ho understood something crucial.
In the Tower, a two-grade difference was the same as the difference between a twig and a gun in the real world.
Clang.
Moving his famished body, Shin Tae-ho donned the armor.
It fit him perfectly.
Rather than being hammered from a single iron plate, it was constructed like overlapping scales, allowing both rigidity and fluid movement.
‘The joint range is unimpeded. No rubbing or binding anywhere. Breathing feels easy.’
Shin Tae-ho moved and confirmed there were no flaws in the craftsmanship.
This armor would serve him without weakness when he climbed the Tower later.
Shin Tae-ho reached for the hammer resting beside him.
It was a combat hammer he’d forged as a weapon to carry with the armor.
The weight was balanced, the grip secure and non-slip.
Confirming the hammer was sound, Shin Tae-ho nodded.
‘Preparation is complete.’
He lowered the hammer and settled it on his shoulder, ceasing his practice swings.
Now it was truly time to ascend the Tutorial.
Taking a deep breath to steady his exhausted body, Shin Tae-ho called out into the void.
“Beginning the Tutorial.”
The system responded instantly to his declaration.
The pristine white space transformed in an instant, revealing a dark corridor.
[Tutorial initiated.]
[Floor 1 Clear Condition: Navigate the traps and reach the opposite side.]
Bright light glowed at the end of the dark passage.
Knowing that was his destination, Shin Tae-ho took his first steps forward.
Before he’d taken more than a few paces, the sound of metal rang out.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-thunk!
Ten arrows launched from the installed trap shot toward Shin Tae-ho.
A malicious trap that had terrified and cowered every Awakener before him.
But Shin Tae-ho didn’t hesitate for a moment—he didn’t slow, didn’t stop, and kept moving forward.
Ting! Ting!
Clang!
The arrows that flew at the armor bounced off harmlessly, clattering to the floor without leaving a mark.
When he reached the midpoint, over thirty arrows came hailing down at once.
Yet none of them so much as scratched the armor.
As Shin Tae-ho reached the far side, a message window appeared.
[You have successfully cleared Floor 1.]
[Your Clear Grade is SSS.]
[The path to Floor 2 is now open.]
The message dissolved as the corridor sealed by the wall swung open.
Climbing the stairs that stretched within, he entered a vast cavern.
A lone Goblin stood in the center, letting out a menacing cry as it fixed its gaze upon Shin Tae-ho.
[Floor 2 Clear Condition: Defeat the weakened Goblin.]
Shin Tae-ho’s steady stride faltered for just a moment.
He found himself remembering the past.
His younger self, boldly selecting sword and shield, challenging the Tutorial Tower with unbridled confidence.
‘Back then, I couldn’t defeat the Goblin—I failed the tutorial.’
That version of Shin Tae-ho had fought the Goblin with his life on the line.
But even so, he could not overcome it; the creature’s spear had pierced his throat.
Had this not been the tutorial, he would have perished ignominiously in that very moment.
Of course, that belonged to the distant past now.
“Shriek!”
The frenzied Goblin thrust its spear at Shin Tae-ho, eyes wild.
The iron-forged spear aimed at the abdomen of the lost-in-thought Shin Tae-ho.
Clang!
“…Huh?”
The Goblin, losing its grip on the spear, glanced back and forth between the weapon and Shin Tae-ho in bewilderment.
A perfectly timed ambush.
Yet even the Goblin’s most desperate strike could not mar the armor.
Shin Tae-ho, snapping from his reverie, looked down at the creature.
“A good attempt.”
Shin Tae-ho swung the hammer he had been carrying across his shoulder.
Splat!
The sound of a balloon bursting filled the chamber.
The Goblin’s body, now headless, collapsed to the floor a moment too late.
Though he had felled the Goblin in a single blow, Shin Tae-ho’s brow furrowed slightly.
‘Still heavy, as expected.’
The denser the hammer, the greater its weight.
Swinging it even idle was an exhausting task.
And because Shin Tae-ho had gone several days without food, he was weakened, making the effort all the more punishing.
Yet he harbored no complaints.
‘With blunt weapons like hammers, mass equals destructive power.’
Shin Tae-ho’s goal was to ascend the Tutorial Tower to its very end.
To pursue that ambition, he needed to be capable of felling a Goblin in a single strike.
If he could muster that level of force, a weight such as this was no obstacle whatsoever.
[You have successfully cleared Floor 2.]
[Your Clear Grade is SSS.]
[The path to Floor 3 is now open.]
Having earned an SSS Clear Grade two floors in a row, Shin Tae-ho broke into a satisfied smile.
Receiving a grade he had never seen in the past, he felt strength surge through his body.
And here, within the Tutorial Tower where time held no meaning,
it felt as though all those hours enduring hunger and solitude while crafting weapons were finally being repaid.
“Let’s go on.”
As a warrior sheathes a blade, Shin Tae-ho slung the hammer across his shoulder.
There was no hesitation whatsoever in his ascent to Floor 3.
Continued in the next episode ▶
The Transcendent Blacksmith’s Regression
Author
Bong In-haejaehaej
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publisher
Grae Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
※ This e-book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and copying are prohibited. Violations may result in criminal and civil legal liability.
※ Pentagram welcomes your precious manuscripts.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————