The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 61

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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 61
Shin Tae-ho’s mind, which had frozen in shock, began to work again, piecing together the situation before him.
This was the peak of the tower.
There could be no one here besides himself and Yong-ryong-i.
And Yong-ryong-i, who had been with him until moments ago, had vanished without a trace.
When he called for Yong-ryong-i, this small child had answered.
Which meant…?
“You… are you Yong-ryong-i?”
“Ryong? Of course I’m Ryong! Why are you suddenly—Whoa?!”
Yong-ryong-i, who had been answering with confusion, caught sight of his own body and flinched violently.
The long, slender frame he’d had before had vanished, replaced by arms stretched unnaturally long.
And looking over himself now clad in armor that seemed to be the same as what Shin Tae-ho had worn, Yong-ryong-i’s mouth fell open.
“Ryong! My body’s changed!”
“What happened? Why did you eat that lump of energy earlier?”
“It was told to me as a reward, so I ate it… I don’t know why it changed me…”
Yong-ryong-i answered, sweat dripping profusely.
While both Shin Tae-ho and Yong-ryong-i stood bewildered, unable to make sense of the situation.
A sound from Yong-ryong-i broke the awkward silence.
Growl—
“…You’re hungry?”
“Ryong… I just woke up and haven’t eaten anything yet.”
Yong-ryong-i nodded.
Shin Tae-ho let out a soft sigh and nodded back.
“All right. Let’s head out. There’s nothing more to do here anyway.”
The reward had already been claimed, and Tower Peak, unlike the interior of the tower, held no ambient energy.
With nothing left to accomplish, it made more sense to leave and assess the situation slowly.
The moment Shin Tae-ho thought of stepping outside the tower, both their bodies lifted into the air.
The two, who had climbed from the first floor all the way to the peak, vanished from Tower Peak in an instant.
* * *
After Mystery entered the tower.
The entire world burned with anticipation over whether Mystery would succeed or fail in climbing the final 70th floor.
Most people naturally hoped that Mystery would succeed in the tower climb and bring peace to the world.
But a few, unwilling to reveal their identities, voiced negative opinions and appealed to how much the tower actually helped the world.
And two days after Mystery entered the tower.
A notification from the tower appeared before the eyes of every Awakener.
[A Challenger from South Korea has passed the trial of the tower’s highest floor, the 70th.]
[The tower, with all trials complete, begins to collapse.]
Boom—!
Thunder roared across the cloudless sky.
The crowds gathered outside cheered and raised their smartphones to record the trembling heavens on video.
Among them were numerous reporters with professional cameras, narrating the events as they unfolded.
“South Korea’s Ranker, and the world’s only Ranker, Mystery has succeeded in climbing the final floor!”
“After the notification that the tower is collapsing, thunder has begun striking across the unseen sky!”
“Since the notification, Challengers can no longer enter the tower!”
Invisible to the eye, yet bound by a time limit—
The tower that had tested humanity by creating Gates if the highest floor was not updated within that time.
The tower’s disappearance was like salvation to people who had lived with the terror of not knowing when they might die.
But it was not welcome news to everyone.
“The American President, who had proposed negotiations with Mystery before climbing the tower, has expressed great fury.”
“Not only the American President, but leaders of various nations who had warned Mystery have announced they will hold South Korea accountable for this incident.”
Nor was this a matter limited only to those leading nations.
-Damn it, why are you getting rid of the tower now!
-What about the item inventory my guild was making? The contracts? The loans…?
-I just awakened! I didn’t prepare for anything—not even a job—because I was planning to make a living off climbing the tower!!
-That bastard Mystery!! Sucked up all the honey yourself, didn’t you?!
-I’ll kill him!! I’ll find him and kill him for sure!!
-I’ll go and kill him too!!
Tower.com, the community where Awakeners were the majority, was filled almost entirely with posts cursing Mystery.
Challengers who had ascended the tower, receiving Fragments of Energy and items as rewards, selling them and enjoying wealth and fame.
For them, the tower’s disappearance was like losing both their special status and their livelihood.
The anger of having to surrender in a single day everything he’d enjoyed until now.
The fear felt by those who’d staked their lives on climbing the Tower, who’d never imagined doing anything else.
Their lives had come to move in sync with the Tower.
The moment the Tower disappeared, all that foundation crumbled.
Naturally, every arrow of resentment pointed toward the Mystery who’d climbed to the very end.
And they were awakening to the dark depths of their own hearts—truths they’d never known themselves to possess.
“Now I can only fight inside the Tower….”
“Without the Tower, we’re nothing…!”
“The Tower can’t… it can’t disappear…!”
Countless Awakeners across the globe harbored similar thoughts in the privacy of their minds.
Even those who’d been too fearful to climb, putting it off day after day.
Even Awakeners who’d never ascended a single floor, those not yet worthy of the title Challenger.
But none of it mattered anymore.
With the Tower gone, stocks tied to resources from within it plummeted.
All the new technologies that had flourished on the foundation of Energy would certainly collapse.
Those rejoicing at the Tower’s disappearance, and those drowning in sorrow and hatred.
As emotions split in stark opposition, boiling over in the streets.
At last, the thunder that had echoed across the entire world at once fell silent.
[The Tower’s annihilation is complete.]
⌜The Tower’s annihilation has just been confirmed through official notice!⌟
“Yeeeeah-!!”
Those who’d heard the Tower was gone burst into cheers of jubilation.
An Awakener journalist, eager to rejoice along with the crowds, faltered mid-sentence.
“Huh…?”
“What’s wrong with you? We’re live. Get it together.”
“Wait. Something’s….”
As the journalist struggled to find words.
A rumbling began again, breaking the silence above.
What had just thundered was a sound like the Tower collapsing.
But what came now was the sound of something being formed—stone upon stone, layering upward.
The cheers died. Everyone held their breath, caught off guard.
The journalist, staring into empty sky, trembled violently, eyes wide.
“A, a new notice has just… arrived.”
At those unexpected words, the cameraman and the non-Awakeners nearby turned their gaze toward the journalist.
Despite all eyes upon him, the shock was so profound the journalist barely registered it.
Now even the journalist’s voice began to quiver as he continued.
“I will now relay, word for word and without alteration, the new notice that has appeared before my eyes.”
Hyperventilating, the journalist gasped and read aloud the notice hovering in his vision.
“Congratulations on conquering the first Tower. The creation of the second Tower has now been completed. A Grace Period of one year is granted before the new Tower’s highest floor update. We wish you fortune….”
“What…?”
“Hold on. What does that mean? A second Tower? There was more than one Tower?!”
“Wishes us fortune?! Is this some kind of joke?! You’re telling me the notice actually says that?!”
“Please, just a moment! Calm down! You can’t—”
“How am I supposed to calm down right now?!”
Those holding cameras desperately tried to stop the people who’d grabbed the journalist by the collar.
But the heated emotions escalated into a scuffle, and a camera slipped from someone’s hands, crashing to the ground.
Crash!
The screen, now toppled and inverted, showed the world upside down.
Within it lay the images of people clutching collars and shouting, and others cradling children in despair.
* * *
Shin Tae-ho switched off the TV, which was broadcasting the chaos, as he ate his meal.
He’d witnessed worse situations, yet the sight still unsettled him each time he saw it.
‘Still, we’ve bought a year. All I need to do is prepare to climb the Tower again in that time.’
The Combat Hammer and Armor he’d used while climbing the Elf’s Tower were Weapons he’d crafted over six months in the crude tutorial.
But now that he could use a proper Blacksmith Workshop and had even obtained Abysstal.
With a full year to prepare, he was confident he’d be incomparably stronger than before.
‘The problem is Yong-ryong-i, though….’
Shin Tae-ho sighed and glanced toward where Yong-ryong-i was.
Yong-ryong-i had switched the TV back on and was intently watching and mimicking a children’s program.
Save for the small horns perched on her head and the long tail extending from her, she was no different from any ordinary child.
‘So small.’
When she was in dragon form, Shin Tae-ho hadn’t really noticed, but seeing Yong-ryong-i in human shape made it suddenly real—she wasn’t even a year old yet.
Shin Tae-ho approached as Yong-ryong-i swayed her tail side to side, dancing along to the song on screen: “Follow me, Poro-rong.”
“Yong-ryong-i, are you having fun?”
“Fun-ryong! Those clothes are pretty too-ryong!”
What Yong-ryong-i was wearing was Shin Tae-ho’s oversized t-shirt.
The children on TV, by contrast, wore beautifully tailored hanbok and looked far more radiant.
Shin Tae-ho switched his gaze between the two and scratched his head.
“Right, we should get you proper clothes that fit. Do you like those kinds?”
“Ryong! I like them-ryong!”
“Okay then. Let’s pick some up when we go out.”
“Pick up? Why pick up-ryong?”
Yong-ryong-i tilted her head.
At her question, Shin Tae-ho hesitated.
“Well, because we don’t have clothes like those? Besides, we need to get them to fit your body. Mine’s too big.”
“It’s fine-ryong. I can do this-ryong!”
Energy flowed from Yong-ryong-i’s body.
Combined with the energy from the World Tree and what she’d absorbed at Tower Peak, a power that made his skin prickle flowed forth unbidden.
“Yong-ryong-i? What are you trying to—”
Shin Tae-ho, who had started to call out in surprise, fell silent.
The energy flowing from Yong-ryong-i’s body took shape like a painting, mirroring the clothes on screen.
When the garment was finally complete, her energy withdrew as if nothing had happened.
“Done-ryong!”
“Yong-ryong-i, you…!”
Shin Tae-ho’s eyes went wide as he took in the sight of Yong-ryong-i dressed in hanbok.
The fact that she could craft clothes from pure energy was shocking enough.
But the sight of her in hanbok meant something entirely different.
“…You’re a girl?”
“Ryong?”
At Shin Tae-ho’s question, Yong-ryong-i tilted her head.
Seeing that she didn’t understand, Shin Tae-ho closed his mouth and shook his head.
“Never mind. It suits you well.”
“Ryong-ryong! I feel good-ryong!”
Delighted by his praise, Yong-ryong-i bounced around happily.
Meanwhile, witnessing Yong-ryong-i’s ability, Shin Tae-ho felt he’d grasped the nature of the power she’d gained.
‘A Transformation Ability? Though it seems limited to her own body. And she can’t create matter infinitely, it seems.’
The moment Yong-ryong-i changed her clothes.
The Armor she’d been wearing when they first arrived at Tower Peak vanished in an instant.
Moreover, the energy that composed the Armor didn’t simply disappear—it crumbled like sand and returned to Yong-ryong-i.
‘I’ll need to test the limits of her transformation, but used well, she could become a far more formidable asset than before.’
What if Yong-ryong-i could transform into something like the Apostles she’d faced in the Tower and fight in that form?
No, she didn’t even need to go that far—if she could shift into an Ogre and wield their tremendous strength?
‘Her combat versatility would expand dramatically beyond just her dragon form.’
Of course, the possibility didn’t mean he’d rely on Yong-ryong-i for combat.
Any help he accepted would be limited to situations where her safety was absolutely guaranteed.
Beyond that, his approach remained unchanged—to face the fight himself.
‘I should start preparing.’
As Shin Tae-ho contemplated combat tactics, he remembered he needed to forge a Weapon and opened his smartphone.
There was a contact displayed—Kim Jong-soo, whom he hadn’t reached out to in some time.
To be continued ▶
The Transcendent Blacksmith’s Return
Author
Seal Release
Publisher
Kim Suk-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publishing House
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 duplication are prohibited, and violation of these restrictions may result in criminal and civil legal liability.
※ Pentagram awaits your precious manuscript.

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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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