The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 69

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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 69
After meeting the President in Maralago.
Shin Tae-ho, who had boarded the helicopter that the President himself ordered prepared, arrived at the Management Bureau in Washington D.C.
A Management Bureau employee who had already anticipated Mystery’s arrival after receiving the President’s call welcomed the three of them.
“Victor. Marcus. It’s been a long time. And Mystery—it’s an honor to meet you like this.”
The Management Bureau employee greeted them and extended his hand for a handshake.
But Mystery ignored the gesture and walked past him.
“Let me be clear from the start. I despise such tedious formalities.”
“Ah, haha. My apologies for that.”
The employee, who had secretly begun drawing up his energy in preparation for his Tracking Skill, laughed awkwardly.
But despite his words, his eyes—sharp with surprise—followed Mystery’s retreating figure.
‘His ability to sense energy is extraordinary. Not a single person has ever noticed me using this skill before.’
Emily, the Deputy Director masquerading as a Management Bureau employee sent to greet them.
Unlike a Ranger, Emily possessed a Chaser Class that was specialized entirely in pursuit.
Because of that, her skill usage was far more covert than most.
Yet in less than a second—a mere glance—Mystery had detected it.
‘Indeed, Mystery. His reputation is no mere rumor.’
Emily nodded at Victor’s signal and followed him down the corridor.
Since she had concealed her identity to test Mystery, she had to hide the fact that she was the Deputy Director.
When they entered the reception room, Hamilton, the Director of the United States Management Bureau, was waiting.
“Welcome. I’m Hamilton, Director of the United States Management Bureau—”
“Skip the tedious introductions. Show me the information you’ve prepared.”
Mystery cut him off with a low growl.
It was an expression of his displeasure at the time already wasted.
‘Just as I heard. Arrogant, impatient, and speaks directly without filter.’
Hamilton thought to himself, having already received advance notice from South Korea’s Management Bureau, Victor, and the President.
But since urgency was on their side, such impatience was actually welcome.
Hamilton displayed a screen showing a map of the United States.
“All other Gates have been assigned American Challengers and Challengers sent to provide support. However.”
When Hamilton pressed a button on the remote, the dots marked on the map rapidly decreased.
Only seven dots remained.
“The locations still marked are too dangerous for us to handle.”
‘Far fewer than expected.’
Shin Tae-ho thought to himself as he studied the map.
He had even steeled himself to run until his feet gave out, yet seven Gates was less than a tenth of what he’d anticipated.
Since Hamilton himself had called them dangerous, he could certainly request sufficient support.
“Understood. I’ll charge up my energy and depart immediately.”
Shin Tae-ho naturally made his request for energy.
With the Tower gone, acquiring an Accumulator Core from the nation’s reserves was essential to charge his energy.
This fact was so obvious that Hamilton found nothing unusual about the request.
“I’ll guide you to where you can charge your energy. However, since this is classified information, Mr. Marcus will need to remain here.”
No matter that Marcus held the position of Secretary-General of ITRO, he was still a Ranker from Britain.
They could not reveal the location of the Accumulator Core storage facility, which was classified American intelligence.
“I understand. I’ll wait here.”
Marcus, understanding the situation, raised no objection and took a seat.
Victor also knew the location but could not freely access it, so he remained in place.
Mystery followed Hamilton down the corridor.
The security was so thorough that guards stationed themselves every fifty paces—a space of extreme vigilance.
Even that was not enough; only after passing through dozens of card authentications and descending underground could they reach the space where the Accumulator Core was stored.
Showing him this path directly was possible not only because the route was complicated,
but also stemmed from their confidence that it was an impregnable fortress, with such stringent security measures in place that entry would be impossible for outsiders.
“We’ve arrived. You can charge your energy here.”
Hamilton pointed to an enormous core containing energy.
Both the size of the core and the amount of energy it contained were so vast they defied comparison with South Korea’s reserves.
In case of any unexpected situation, Shin Tae-ho gave Hamilton a warning.
“I’m telling you now—I’ll take as much as I need.”
“Haha. Of course. Take as much as you can carry.”
Hamilton chuckled in response.
There was a clear limit to how much energy a human body could contain, no matter how much one tried.
But showing greed and issuing a warning at the same time—it was amusing.
‘Fair enough. Back in South Korea, there’s no opportunity to witness Qi of this caliber. Can’t blame myself for wanting more.’
Hamilton chuckled, recalling South Korea—a nation barely a hundredth the size of the United States.
Meanwhile, Shin Tae-ho, who had walked forward, was reaching his hand toward the core.
Whoooosh—!!
The Qi contained within the core flowed into Shin Tae-ho’s hand.
As the absorption stretched past nine seconds and crossed ten, Hamilton’s expression shifted to something approaching respect.
‘So this is what Mystery truly is. Victor’s eight seconds was the record, yet he surpasses it so effortlessly. Remarkable.’
Yet even as the thought formed, Hamilton expected the absorption would soon hit its limit.
But Mystery’s Qi absorption continued unbroken past thirty seconds.
Only then did Hamilton sense something profoundly wrong, his eyes widening.
“Wait—hold on! Mystery! Please stop for a moment!”
Mystery’s head turned from the core.
Locking eyes with Hamilton, Mystery’s Qi absorption intensified further.
Feeling the Accumulator Core’s reserves dwindle in real time, Hamilton rushed forward in shock.
“For God’s sake! Stop! You’ll rupture your own body!”
“Didn’t I say I’d take as much as I wanted?”
“Do you think what you’re doing now is normal?! Your circuits will collapse!”
In Hamilton’s view, Mystery had seen the magnificent Qi of America for the first time and lost all reason, greedily swallowing it down like a fool about to burst.
At this rate, all the Qi they’d so carefully accumulated would be wasted.
And Mystery would either destroy his circuits or rupture his body from the excess.
Hamilton rushed forward desperately, stretching his hand toward Mystery’s wrist to forcibly tear him away.
But that hand was repelled by the Qi radiating outward from Mystery.
‘What?! He just used Qi…?!’
Accepting Qi while simultaneously channeling it elsewhere was impossible without ample circuit capacity.
In other words, Mystery was absorbing this much Qi and still had plenty of room to spare.
‘How is this possible?! It makes no sense. It’s not logical!’
What Mystery was doing now was like a fifty-cubic-centimeter motorcycle consuming aviation fuel meant for a jumbo jet.
While Hamilton floundered in panic, unable even to approach Mystery’s Qi,
Mystery withdrew his hand from the core and ceased the absorption.
“That’s enough. Let’s go.”
Mystery walked forward without waiting for a response.
Hamilton, his expression dazed, hurriedly checked the core’s Accumulator reserves, glancing between Mystery and the core.
‘That’s… that’s impossible! He took half of everything we’d accumulated?!’
Hamilton’s jaw dropped.
That amount was theoretically enough to perform nuclear-level bombardment strikes five times over.
And a single person had just carried it all away?!
‘Mystery. Just who is this man…?!’
Hamilton swallowed hard, regarding Mystery—who was now staring at him expectantly—as if he were a monster.
* * *
Immediately after absorbing Qi from the United States Management Bureau, Mystery headed without hesitation toward a Gate to fulfill his promise.
He boarded a helicopter, reached the nearest Gate, and began subjugation—Shin Tae-ho as Mystery.
Hamilton had intended to press the issue about taking so much of the Accumulator Core,
but witnessing Mystery’s combat with his own eyes left him too stunned to remember it at all.
‘What kind of combat method is this? Using Qi to adjust the hammer’s trajectory and speed in real time?!’
Shin Tae-ho, now as Mystery, had begun subjugating the Gate.
But having passed through the seventy-floor ordeal, his combat hammer had been destroyed.
Beyond that, he had no intention of revealing all his combat methods anyway.
So Shin Tae-ho used only two of his three Throwing Hammers—the lowest-grade ones inscribed with fire and ice runes.
As he swept through the monsters inside the Gate with both hammers, Shin Tae-ho assessed the Qi he’d absorbed from the United States Management Bureau.
‘Excellent quality and quantity. I almost wish I could have taken it all.’
He’d stored Qi not only in his own circuits but also in a core he’d secretly removed.
He could have taken every bit of the core’s Qi if he’d wanted, but he’d held back to avoid international conflict.
‘No matter how well I handle the Gates, if I take everything, the United States Management Bureau will lodge a formal protest. But taking only this much will leave them uncertain whether to complain.’
Of course, Shin Tae-ho intended to do enough work that they wouldn’t feel robbed at all.
[Frost Release.]
As his hammer plunged among the monsters, using Frost Release froze them solid in an instant.
The moment he activated Frost Release, Victor, Marcus, and Hamilton—who had entered the Gate together to observe Mystery’s combat—widened their eyes.
‘A skill? He’s clearly a warrior-class Awakener, yet he’s using large-scale magic-like attack skills. So that’s how he managed to climb the Tower to the end.’
‘Indeed. Perhaps his class is specialized for fighting multiple opponents rather than one-on-one combat.’
‘I wondered how he could absorb so much Qi… but his combat method requires circuits of an impossible scale…!’
Watching Mystery’s battle, the three of them resolved the doubts each had been harboring.
In the meantime, the flying Throwing Hammers brought down the burning and frozen monsters until every last one fell, and a message window appeared.
[All monsters maintaining the Gate have been eliminated.]
[The Gate is beginning to disappear.]
[Gate conquest rewards will be transferred to your Inventory based on contribution.]
[As the Gate disappears, you will automatically be moved outside.]
As the Gate vanished, the four people inside returned to reality.
The people waiting outside let out cheers as they watched the Gate dissolve.
“W-we really stopped the Gate Break! They brought down all the monsters!”
“As expected of America’s Ranker, Victor! The best!”
“ITRO’s Secretary-General Marcus! Magnificent!”
The crowd chanted the names of Victor and Marcus, showering them with praise.
But the cheers for Mystery far eclipsed those for the others.
“Mystery! Mystery! Mystery!”
“Tower Breaker! Humanity’s hope! The one and only World Ranker standing at the apex of all Awakeners!”
“Ahhhhh! Mystery! Look at me! See me with your own eyes!!”
“H-hey, that person’s an Awakener! Stop them before they do something rash!!”
Even among the cheering crowd, a few who acted impulsively expressed their feelings for Mystery in excessive ways.
Watching bodyguards composed of Awakeners subdue an overzealous fan, Mystery spoke quietly.
“Enough noise. Let’s move.”
“Ah, understood. Victor, Marcus—this way, please.”
Having witnessed Mystery’s combat prowess, Hamilton complied readily with the request, a stark contrast to before.
As the group moved under the bodyguards’ escort, the cheering throng refused to disperse, following in their wake.
Continued in the next episode ▶
The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith
Author
Seal Release
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
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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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