The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 53

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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-level Blacksmith’s Return — Episode 53
A crushing pressure washes over her entire body, leaving her breathless.
She’d wondered if Mystery was pressing her with his energy, but—
Surprisingly, Mystery stood motionless without wielding even a thread of power.
“H-how… is this even…?”
Just as Im A-yeong tried to speak,
Mystery shook his head.
“There are still people here. We’re moving. Inside the Management Bureau.”
“Ah…! Y-yes, understood.”
Im A-yeong snapped to attention.
They’d summoned him, and now here they stood speechless—what kind of welcome was that?
Im A-yeong moved toward the Management Bureau entrance with tense steps.
As she led Mystery inside, Im A-yeong noticed something strange.
‘How is this possible? He’s wearing armor, but… there’s no sound at all.’
The armor Mystery wore was full plate, covering his entire body.
There should have been the ring of metal with each step, yet his movements made no sound whatsoever.
‘I really don’t understand. Even before meeting him, he was incomprehensible—and now that I have, it’s only gotten worse.’
There was no one inside the Management Bureau.
There had been an employee waiting for Mystery with uncertainty in their heart, following Im A-yeong’s lead.
But as dawn approached without Mystery’s arrival, they’d assumed he wasn’t coming and gone home.
Im A-yeong understood—they had to be back at the same time tomorrow regardless, whether Mystery showed up today or not.
Yet in the Bureau that she’d expected to be empty, a single person had held their post to the very end.
“Welcome. I’m Oh Jin-hyuk, Director of the Management Bureau.”
Oh Jin-hyuk, bloodshot eyes etched from a sleepless night, extended his right hand.
But Mystery simply stared at it without extending his own.
Im A-yeong was about to ask him why when—
From inside the helmet came a voice thick with barely restrained fury.
“I came to your invitation, and you dare toy with me like this?”
“M-Mystery? What do you me—!!”
“It’s all right, Section Chief Im A-yeong. Mystery, my apologies for troubling your mood with something pointless.”
Oh Jin-hyuk swiftly released the energy he’d subtly drawn into his hand.
Oh Jin-hyuk’s Awakener class was one of the rare classes: Ranger.
True to its meaning as “watcher,” the Ranger’s skill was to imbue energy into the hand and leave a specific mark on a target.
Not knowing that Oh Jin-hyuk had tried to mark him with his skill, Im A-yeong found the situation merely bewildering—
But Mystery, drawing a Hammer from his Inventory, made no effort to hide his displeasure.
“Try that trick one more time, and I’ll flatten this entire district. Furthermore, this will be the last time I cooperate with the Management Bureau’s requests.”
“M-Mystery! I don’t know why you’re angry, but please calm down! I’ll apologize!”
“There’s someone else who should be apologizing. What apology will you offer?”
“I apologize once more, Mystery. I give you my word—I won’t let this happen again.”
Oh Jin-hyuk bent his waist at a ninety-degree angle.
Im A-yeong gasped in surprise.
Her superior, Korea’s Director of the Management Bureau, bowing—it was not a sight one saw easily.
The anger seeming to cool somewhat, Mystery, who had been staring at Oh Jin-hyuk, returned the Hammer to his Inventory.
Mystery, settled on the reception room sofa, looked toward Oh Jin-hyuk.
“Why did you call me here?”
“Thanks to your efforts, Korea and the world have taken a great stride forward. And we’ve called you to help you take the next one.”
“While assigning me work whenever you need something?”
“A misunderstanding. How could I possibly assign you work?”
Oh Jin-hyuk quickly denied it.
On the surface he seemed as calm as always, but Oh Jin-hyuk was tenser than he’d ever been.
‘He’s exacting and direct. Keep it brief. Dragging out the conversation will only irritate him.’
Oh Jin-hyuk swallowed and glanced toward Im A-yeong.
Understanding that look, Im A-yeong hastily gathered documents and began reciting the requests that had come to Mystery recently.
Mystery listened to the report without moving.
As Im A-yeong’s report concluded, Mystery fixed his gaze on Oh Jin-hyuk.
“Everyone everywhere is watching me with sharp eyes, eager to trouble me.”
“That’s correct. The Management Bureau is doing its best to block them, but with the President himself pressing the issue, we can’t hold them back any longer.”
“If I grant their demands, what compensation will I receive for that labor?”
“We’ve prepared rewards satisfactory to both the requestors and the nation that has benefited from your deeds.”
“Hmph. There’s nothing more meaningless than future compensation spoken only in words.”
Mystery rose from his seat.
Seeing that he was about to leave as is, Oh Jin-hyuk scrambled to his feet.
“There’s no need to decide right now. Instead, I’ll provide you with items that will help in your next ascent. Is there anything you’d like?”
“I don’t know what you have. And you don’t know what I want, either.”
“If you tell us, we’ll prepare whatever comes closest to meeting your needs.”
“When? Tomorrow? A month from now?”
The eyes inside the helmet gleamed.
It was pressure—a demand that unless he could provide something immediately, he shouldn’t open his mouth at all.
Oh Jin-hyuk’s face twisted with distress.
Even as director of the Management Bureau, he had no right to freely transfer the Bureau’s assets.
But Oh Jin-hyuk could sense it instinctively.
If he let Mystery leave like this, he might never have another chance to meet with him again.
“Please, give me just a moment.”
Having made his decision, Oh Jin-hyuk rushed to his office with grim resolve written across his face.
When he returned, a classified Management Bureau item inventory file rested in his hands.
“This is classified material at the highest level under national security protocol. If there’s anything in here you need, I’ll provide it immediately.”
“D-Director?! You can’t! If you do that, you’ll—”
“I can’t let personal ambition put the country at risk.”
Oh Jin-hyuk shook his head.
Right now, even if it meant his own dismissal and punishment, securing Mystery’s cooperation took priority.
Mystery took the file from Oh Jin-hyuk.
Shin Tae-ho flipped through the pages quickly, scanning the item list.
‘Nothing special.’
Shin Tae-ho felt unmoved.
If he were to dismantle items for materials, there were a few tempting options.
But they were only materials he could obtain easily enough later.
What actually caught Shin Tae-ho’s eye was something else entirely.
‘Large quantities of Energy reserved for emergency support to Ranker-Grade Challengers.’
Challengers currently served a dual purpose—maintaining national security while clearing the Tower, and serving the nation’s strategic interests.
Just as a country maintained oil reserves in preparation for war,
the Management Bureau maintained reserves of Energy to provide to Challengers.
And this wasn’t reserves at the individual or Guild level—this was national-level reserves.
‘At this stage, even a conservative estimate would be enough to fill my Circuits five times over.’
Snap!
Shin Tae-ho closed the file.
Oh Jin-hyuk watched Mystery with a tense expression.
“Which items would you like?”
“None.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“From this item list, I said there’s nothing I need.”
“B-but what do you—”
Oh Jin-hyuk’s eyes went wide.
He’d offered his final card, resigned to dismissal and punishment, only to have it refused.
‘What kind of items does he already have? No, that’s impossible. Realistically speaking, that can’t be it.’
The items on the list were at minimum Special Grade and higher, with Elite-Grade items included even.
Heroic-Grade items could command hundreds of billions won just as a loan fee to another nation.
And he was saying he didn’t need even these?
As Oh Jin-hyuk stood bewildered, uncertain how to respond,
Mystery, having set the file on the desk, gave him his answer.
“But I will need Energy. I’ll accept Energy as support. Take me to where you keep your Energy reserves.”
“…Energy, you mean?”
“Yes. Giving me Energy will be less burdensome for you than handing over items you’re keeping secret.”
“That’s true, but… why do you need Energy? The higher you climb the Tower, the denser and more abundant the Energy becomes, doesn’t it?”
“If you’re curious, try climbing to the 60th floor. Then you’ll understand just how wrong that statement is.”
At Mystery’s words, Oh Jin-hyuk fell silent, stunned.
Oh Jin-hyuk only knew what he’d been told in reports.
He had no direct experience of what happened beyond the 49th floor, which he himself had climbed.
Oh Jin-hyuk, who had been worrying until now about how to negotiate with Mystery, felt shame at his words.
“I apologize, Mystery.”
“I’ll accept your apology in the form of Energy. Fair warning—I’m taking a considerable amount.”
“Of course. In fact, I’m grateful for your consideration.”
Oh Jin-hyuk understood well enough.
Yes, he needed Energy, but right now Mystery was yielding to spare him from an awkward position.
There was a world of difference in responsibility between giving up part of a Qi Reserve and handing over a national treasure-grade item.
Of course, Shin Tae-ho, who spoke only from the heart, was inwardly bewildered.
‘What consideration is he talking about?’
Shin Tae-ho fully intended to drain every last drop of that Qi Reserve.
No matter how much Energy flowed from the World Tree Branch, it was never enough for Yong-ryong-i’s appetite.
And Shin Tae-ho himself absolutely needed Energy to climb the tower.
“Here we are.”
Following Im A-yeong’s guidance deep underground, a colossal chamber opened before them.
Within it sat only a single massive Core.
‘Crudely enormous.’
A sphere-shaped Core that had swollen to its present size simply from a lack of technique—crude as it was.
It was one of the five largest-capacity Cores in the world, and the one managing Korea’s Qi Reserve.
“You can take the Energy from here. The method of use is—”
Before Im A-yeong could even finish explaining, Shin Tae-ho moved.
He stepped before the Core and placed his hand upon it.
Im A-yeong gave a startled cry.
“Wait, please wait, Mystery! It’s dangerous! Direct contact like that will overload the circuit!”
“Dangerous, you say. That would be true for any other Challenger.”
Shin Tae-ho replied curtly, then absorbed the Energy inside the Core through Energy Sensing.
As the Energy poured forth like a waterfall and flooded his reserves in an instant, a smile naturally spread across his face.
‘Just as expected. Energy gathered at the national level. Quality is excellent, and quantity is abundant.’
Shin Tae-ho opened his Inventory from an angle no one could see and withdrew a Core.
Compared to the Core he was touching, it felt as small as an ant before an elephant.
But this was no ordinary Core—it was one crafted by a Transcendent-level Blacksmith.
Im A-yeong’s eyes, which had been watching Mystery in panic, widened in shock, her mouth falling open.
‘How…how is this possible?! At this rate, the circuit should have blown apart long ago?!’
Energy from the tower—there was no way to gather it outside the tower.
Which was why, since its establishment, the Management Bureau had
relied on the cooperation of Awakeners, painstakingly collecting Energy drop by drop, like ants at their labor.
That span of time: roughly seven years.
And now, Mystery had absorbed it all without the slightest strain.
When Mystery withdrew his hand, Im A-yeong hurried down and checked the Core with Energy Sensing.
‘Empty…completely empty…’
Im A-yeong’s face went deathly pale, and she collapsed where she stood.
There were no surveillance cameras. She had no idea what to report to Oh Jin-hyuk, who was waiting above.
“Good. Now I’m in the mood to talk. Let’s head back up and finish our deal.”
Mystery turned and made his way back up the path, as if his business was concluded.
Left alone, Im A-yeong remained slumped on the ground, her expression hollow, staring endlessly at the colossal Core.
Continued in next chapter ▶
The Return of the Transcendent-level Blacksmith
Author
Bong Eun-haejae
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 under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited, and violation may result in criminal and civil legal 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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