The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 84

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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, Chapter 84
“Exhale.”
Shin Tae-ho let out a long breath as he returned home through the World Tree Leaf.
He’d stored his armor in his Inventory without bothering to remove it, and now he took a look around his cramped single room.
Ordinarily he stayed at the Blacksmith Workshop with Kim Jong-soo.
The floor of his neglected home had accumulated a pale layer of dust from his trips to the United States and Japan.
Shin Tae-ho threw open the window and pulled his hammer from his Inventory.
As the hammer filled with Qi and stirred the air, the dust gathered in the room was drawn upward and swept out through the window.
He finished cleaning with ease, then opened the refrigerator and grimaced.
The acrid smell of old side dishes filled the entire appliance.
“Maybe I should sell this place.”
He muttered the thought aloud before shaking his head.
‘No. Now that I have the World Tree Leaf, there’s no difference whether I buy another place or not—I won’t be staying anywhere.’
Besides, it wasn’t a bad thing to have at least one place to come back to whenever he wanted.
All things considered, keeping this place with its minimal maintenance costs made far more sense.
Shin Tae-ho rose from where he sat, the tension in his shoulders easing as he rested.
“Let me get going.”
Everything he’d done until now had been work he had to complete as Mystery.
As Shin Tae-ho himself, his real work was only just beginning.
Yong-ryong-i’s wish list of snacks, and food with a long shelf life.
Recalling the items he needed to buy before heading to Synterhorn, Shin Tae-ho headed out toward a warehouse-style discount supermarket.
* * *
“Ryeo-ryeo-ryong-ryeo-ryong~! So happy-ryong~!”
Yong-ryong-i rolled across the Grassland.
The taste of chocolate melting on the tongue after so long was happiness itself.
Even better—it wasn’t ordinary chocolate, but Pave Chocolate, which was far smoother.
“Truly… this food is exactly worthy of Yong-ryong-i’s refined taste…!”
Epiel, chewing chocolate, felt his fists tremble with emotion.
Yong-ryong-i had been unsatisfied even when Epiel prepared all manner of dishes based on taste descriptions.
At the time it had been frustrating—he truly couldn’t understand what food Yong-ryong-i longed for so deeply.
But tasting it himself now, Epiel realized that everything he’d ever made fell vastly short of Pave Chocolate.
‘And yet he ate my cooking without complaint… Yong-ryong-i is far too kind…!’
‘This one’s gotten strange ideas again.’
As Epiel’s eyes glistened with tears of admiration while watching Yong-ryong-i, Shin Tae-ho shook his head.
Kider swallowed what remained of the chocolate and sighed with delight.
“This is truly delicious! I’ve never experienced a taste like this before!”
“I’ve brought plenty, so enjoy it slowly. I’ll buy more next time I head out and share some with the other elves too.”
“We’re grateful for your generosity, hero. But will you be staying longer this time?”
Eldein asked while watching the elves move boxes.
The cashier had dropped her jaw in shock.
The boxes were filled with items he’d purchased in such quantities that the delivery truck was packed tight.
“Yes. But by elf standards, I won’t be here long.”
Shin Tae-ho had worried about the narrowing Time Differential between the real world and Synterhorn.
Upon checking, that narrowing was still ongoing.
At first, ten hours in reality had equaled one year in Synterhorn.
But now that time had shrunk dramatically to eleven months.
‘I don’t understand why.’
He’d given the situation serious thought, troubled by the question.
But the message window that always delivered information about the tower never appeared.
That meant he had no way of knowing how much further the Time Differential would shrink, or when it would stop.
‘Fortunately, the weapon is complete. And I placed the Abysteel, which requires absolute time, relatively early on.’
Though the Time Differential continued to narrow,
all that passed time had accumulated steadily in the Abysteel.
Shin Tae-ho himself wasn’t certain how much time Abysteel required to mature.
But it was certain that an amount of time beyond imagination in the real world had accumulated.
‘If the Time Differential ever shrinks to nothing, then I’ll immediately use the Abysteel to craft armor.’
Abysteel was a metal whose next acquisition was unknowable.
Since what he had came from the tower’s summit, there was even a possibility he couldn’t obtain it again without a second summit.
‘I must create the masterwork.’
Because he had to keep monitoring the Time Differential, he would need to go out to the real world periodically.
If he became absorbed in crafting and a Tower suddenly appeared in reality, only to crumble, it could reduce everything to nothing.
‘From now on, I’ll dedicate every moment and ounce of strength to Abysteel—except when resting with Yong-ryong-i.’
Before his regression, the Tower had collapsed, the world burned, and screams filled a hellish landscape.
‘I will never repeat that failure.’
Shin Tae-ho, recalling his past defeat, opened his eyes wide and steeled his resolve like the strike of a hammer.
* * *
After Mystery vanished in a whirlwind.
The world convulsed in frantic pursuit of the hidden figure.
Scouts and Guild officials flocked to recruit Mystery.
Government agents from foreign nations streamed in, broadcasting searches for Mystery around the clock and pursuing him directly.
Yet through all this chaos, Mystery remained concealed.
Only after six months had passed did most people chasing him give up, and South Korea gradually returned to its ordinary rhythm.
“Phew. It feels good to be back to normal life.”
Im A-yeong exhaled in relief at the sharply diminished complaints, bringing a cup of coffee to her lips.
Oh Jin-hyuk, seated across from her, smiled wryly.
“True. Those days were so chaotic I wondered if we were on the brink of war.”
“Really. I didn’t show it, but I was genuinely terrified.”
Im A-yeong trembled slightly, as if even the thought of it now gave her chills.
Most nations had merely requested information about Mystery’s whereabouts or asked for his personal details.
But a few countries had demanded him with such force that it felt like an actual war threat.
Especially China had shown such military pressure that at one point, everyone truly feared a conflict might erupt.
Oh Jin-hyuk let out a soft laugh.
“It was probably just words spoken in anger. But given the circumstances…”
Unlike other Rankers, Wang Xiaomei had made no effort to hide her animosity when she met Mystery.
She had even rushed to fight him, only to suffer a humiliating defeat before the other Rankers.
Of course, had Wang Xiaomei attacked with genuine killing intent, the outcome might have differed.
But as it stood, Wang Xiaomei had dealt Mystery no real harm.
China had nonetheless punished Wang Xiaomei, claiming she had damaged the nation’s prestige abroad.
“In the end, it was fortunate Mystery never went to China. I never imagined they’d plot something like that.”
Like other nations, China placed great importance on face and honor.
So within Chinese circles, there had been quiet talk of dealing with Mystery for making their Ranker, Wang Xiaomei, look foolish.
Of course, it seemed unlikely that Mystery would fall to anything of that level.
But escalating this into a national dispute could have caused serious trouble.
“By the way, Director. Is it really true you can’t track Mystery? You’re a Ranger, after all.”
Im A-yeong, who had grown much closer to Oh Jin-hyuk through the Mystery incident, asked what had been puzzling her.
As a Ranger specialized in Tracking, Oh Jin-hyuk could pursue any target he made contact with.
She asked with a small suspicion that he might be keeping it secret even from her, but Oh Jin-hyuk shook his head.
“At the time, Mystery had Qi wrapped around his body. My skill couldn’t penetrate it.”
“Qi could block it? I didn’t know that.”
“Neither did I.”
Usually Oh Jin-hyuk used his skill so discreetly that he himself hadn’t known it could be blocked this way.
But thinking about it now, he felt almost grateful it had been blocked.
‘If I’d actually known where Mystery was, I would’ve been caught.’
The world contained many different Classes.
Among them were Awakeners with the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood in others.
Oh Jin-hyuk had to face one such Awakener from China and submit to interrogation about whether he was lying.
Only after proving he had been telling nothing but the truth could he dispel their suspicion.
“But are the domestic Rankers being cared for properly? I heard there’s someone with problems.”
“All the other Rankers are fine. However, Ranker Han Ji-hyun’s situation is still somewhat unstable.”
In South Korea, “Rankers” meant six people: Mystery, Park Je-hyuk, Park Su-hyuk, Cha I-hyun, Lee Ye-seul, and Han Ji-hyun.
Han Ji-hyun, the only Magic-class Ranker among them, was not in good condition like the others.
“Since Magic-class users absorb Qi, process it into Mana, and that Mana has addictive properties, he’s in poor shape these days.”
“The stronger he becomes, the denser his Mana concentration grows proportionally—he must be suffering even more.”
Oh Jin-hyuk sighed.
Not just Han Ji-hyun, but all the world’s Magic-class users were currently suffering from Mana addiction.
Other nations’ Rankers received Accumulated Qi to ease their pain somewhat.
‘But we’ve exhausted our Accumulated Qi reserves, so we can’t even provide that.’
Of course, it was necessary because that Qi had allowed them to move Mystery.
Besides, even apart from that, South Korea’s policy wasn’t generous enough to readily supply Accumulated Qi to Magic users.
‘I’ve asked several times if we could purchase Qi from other nations to provide it… but there’s never been an answer.’
Qi had always been rare, but since the Tower vanished and Mystery rose to prominence, it had become even more precious.
The higher-ups’ position was that they couldn’t purchase expensive Qi with taxpayer money to help a single Ranker when no crisis had even occurred yet.
“Han Ji-hyun seems particularly desperate to find Mystery compared to other Rankers. Is that the reason?”
“Yes. My guess is that he wants to purchase Qi from Mystery. The size of Mystery’s Circuit was like a spacecraft fuel tank.”
Oh Jin-hyuk, who had felt this truth more keenly than anyone, nodded with a bitter smile.
As the two of them continued their conversation, Oh Jin-hyuk’s smartphone rang.
After a brief call, Oh Jin-hyuk rose from his seat.
“It’s been officially approved. We need to make preparations right away.”
“Has it come?”
Im A-yeong, intuiting the content of Oh Jin-hyuk’s call, looked startled.
Oh Jin-hyuk nodded in confirmation and explained.
“Yes. ITRO has made the official announcement.”
Oh Jin-hyuk picked up the documents and drained the remaining coffee in one gulp, then continued.
“Regardless of whether one has climbed the Tower or not, ITRO will henceforth establish a ranking system for all Awakeners for the purpose of cultivating talent that contributes to humanity and preventing potential threats.”
Continued in the next chapter ▶
The Transcendent-level Blacksmith’s Return
Author
Sealing Unbound
Publisher
Kim Suk-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publishing House
Grae Publishing
Inquiry 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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