Three Years of Blacksmithing, Achieving Divine Martial Arts - Chapter 1

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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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Episode 1. An Old Hammer Opens a Path
Inside the Blacksmith Workshop, the air had been thick and stifling since morning.
Heat from the forge pressed down beneath the ceiling, and sparks scattered with each stroke of the bellows. Seven bare-chested apprentices stood drenched in sweat, bent over their work.

“You’re hitting that spot again!”

Master Jin’s shout cut through the ring of metal.

“How many times must I tell you to watch the steel? If strength were all that mattered, why would we need blacksmiths? You might as well be hammering stone!”

The boy across the workshop flinched. When Master Jin approached and kicked his rear, the youth straightened his stance without protest.
So Cheol

glanced toward them for a moment, then returned his attention to the iron before him. He had no luxury to worry about others.
The scrap iron glowed red-hot, its center thick and right edge slightly raised. Strike the center again, and the edge would spread first.
So Cheol shifted the hammer’s landing point by the width of a finger.

Bang!

The recoil traveled up through his palm. Once more. This time he eased off the force.
The displaced steel filled the raised edge.
So Cheol set down the large hammer and switched to a smaller one. The rough shape was done; now he only needed to smooth the protruding spots.
Tap, tap-tap.
After swinging the hammer for nearly half an hour, his right arm had gone numb. His shoulders and wrists ached, and his entire arm felt heavy as lead.

‘Surely my muscles aren’t actually melting.’

A month ago, he would have stopped exercising immediately and searched for hospitals.
So Cheol shook out his wrist a few times and lifted the hammer again.
Four days from now.
Starting that day, they would begin teaching Martial Arts to the apprentices.
Since that announcement, the boys had taken every opportunity to compare their arms and gauge who could hold the hammer longest. So Cheol waited for it just as eagerly.
* * *
One month ago.
He had been an ordinary modern man. While touring the Museum, he noticed a Bronze Cauldron that caught his eye unusually, and the moment he drew near, light streaming from the vessel engulfed him.
When his eyes opened, he inhabited the body of a sixteen-year-old boy.
Specifically, the body of an Iron Crafts Gang

apprentice who had died of overwork.
For the first few days, he tried to find explanations—hidden cameras, kidnapping, anything. After being beaten, starving, and even burning his hand, he abandoned that line of thinking.
Then by chance, he witnessed Master Jin training in the back courtyard.
A stone boulder the size of a man’s torso was held in Master Jin’s single hand.
Master Jin threw it overhead, then caught it with one hand, repeating the motion endlessly.
This was not strength that exercise alone could explain.
Martial Arts existed.
From that day forward, the search for an escape route took a back seat.
In four days, he too could stand at that threshold.
* * *
After that, So Cheol devoted himself to the blacksmith work with renewed focus. Instead of swinging the hammer carelessly hard, he chose to strike more precisely. He watched the direction the steel moved, adjusting his impact point accordingly, and reduced the angle at which his wrist bent.
After a month of repetition, now he could sense from the shape of the heated steel alone where to strike first.
The small hammer pressed down the final protrusion.
So Cheol lifted the iron chunk with tongs. As the rough surface smoothed to evenness, a silvery-gray sheen emerged.
Refined Iron. His third piece today.
One of the other apprentices glanced sideways at him.
So Cheol pretended not to notice, placing the three pieces of Refined Iron onto a tray.

“Master.”

Master Jin turned his head.

“I’ve finished today’s work.”

So Cheol held out the tray, and Master Jin picked up the Refined Iron pieces one by one, examining their surfaces and edges.

“Your hands have gotten quite a bit faster lately.”
“That’s only because you teach so well, Master.”
“If everyone I taught worked like this, I’d have had an easier time of it long ago.”

Master Jin scraped at one of the Refined Iron pieces with his fingernail.

“Three of these melted down should yield a decent chunk of iron.”

So Cheol smiled faintly.

“Still, students can’t improve unless their teacher is good.”

Master Jin stopped mid-motion.

“You’ve become quite the smooth talker lately.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It’s not.”

A smile lingered at the corners of Master Jin’s mouth. But the moment his gaze fell on the other workbenches, his expression darkened.

“The rest of you—stop grinning! Same fire, same metal, and yet look at the results!”

The sound of hammers quickened throughout the workshop.
Then Master Jin began to cough.
The first one or two were brief, but soon they deepened into a rough, scraping sound from deep in his throat—the same cough So Cheol had heard frequently over the past month.
So Cheol pulled a worn cloth bundle from his waist.

“Master.”
“What.”
“Try steeping these in tea. They’re good for the throat.”

As he unfolded the cloth, dried Brown Fruit emerged, shriveled and dark.
Master Jin picked up one of the fruits.

“Did you buy this yourself?”
“Yes.”
“There’s nearly half a pound here. Must have cost you about ten cash.”

The price was roughly correct.

“So?”
“Sir?”
“What favor are you asking for in return for this?”

Faster than expected. Master Jin had already cut straight to the heart of it.

“Don’t tell me you bought this with no expectations—that would only make it seem more suspicious.”
“I had no such intention.”
“Good, at least that pleases me.”

Master Jin drew the fruit toward himself.

“But no Martial Arts instruction. In four days, learn with the other apprentices like the rest of them. I can’t teach you first just because you’ve done good work.”

So Cheol hadn’t been expecting that either.
His gaze drifted toward the wall below. A worn Hammer rested there, its head split on one side.

“Then give me that hammer, please.”
“That one?”

Jin’s gaze followed So Cheol’s toward the wall.

“What good’s a cracked hammer?”
“It’s heavier than what I’m using now. I thought I’d practice swinging it a little after work.”

Jin’s eyes traveled across So Cheol’s arms.

“You look like you’re already straining with the one you’ve got.”
“If I get used to something heavier, won’t the one I’m using now feel that much easier?”
“What if you wreck your arm?”
“I won’t let that happen.”

Jin laughed as if the boy were hopeless.

“Easy to say.”

Jin picked up the hammer.

“This one weighs eight catties.”
“I know.”
“Did I tell you that?”
“I heard the other apprentices talking about it.”

Jin rubbed the crack along the hammer’s head with his thumb.

“When I was an apprentice, I had this specially made because I wanted to build strength fast. While everyone else was using six-catty hammers, I was showing off with an eight-catty one.”

Jin turned the handle and held it out to him.

“Take it.”

So Cheol accepted it with both hands.
He’d expected it, but it was indeed heavy. Only two catties more than what he usually wielded, yet the force pulling at his wrists felt far greater than the numbers suggested.

“Iron Crafts Gang property can’t be given out just because it’s broken. We recover everything, even scrap metal.”
“But this one’s mine. I bought it myself with my own money as an apprentice, so I can do as I please with it.”
“Thank you, Master.”
“Enough gratitude. Don’t overdo it. If you damage your Vital Energy, it costs several times as much to restore it.”

Jin waved his hand dismissively.

“Your share’s done for today, so get going. I’ll send Han Yeol along with you.”

Han Yeol’s eyes flew open.

“Me too?”
“So Cheol’s finished. You want to stay here pumping the bellows by yourself?”
“No, sir!”

Han Yeol set down his tools as if he’d been waiting for this.
* * *
The moment they stepped out of the Blacksmith Workshop, the boy’s pace lightened.

“So Cheol, we really did finish early today.”
“You’re pleased?”
“Of course I am. It’s Mother’s birthday today. I wanted to stop by the market and buy something, but I was worried we’d be late.”

Now that he thought about it, he’d borrowed the money for the fruit from Han Yeol too.

“I’ll pay back the ten coins soon.”

Han Yeol waved his hand dismissively.

“Take your time.”
“But you said you needed it.”
“It’s fine. If I’m short, my mother will give me more.”

So Cheol let out a small laugh.

“You’ve got it good at home.”
“What do you mean?”
“Never mind.”

The two of them parted ways at the fork in the road toward the marketplace.
So Cheol took a few steps toward his house before stopping.
Looking down at the hammer, he changed direction.
For a month, the Bronze Cauldron had yielded nothing, but now he had something new to test.
He’d already tried a spoon, a whetstone, tongs, even the workshop hammer on the bench—nothing.
But this hammer was different.
It was the one Jin had given him directly, the very hammer Jin had used as an apprentice.
* * *
So Cheol ventured beyond the Village into a sparse forest before coming to a halt.
After checking his surroundings, he closed his eyes.
As his mind settled, the Bronze Cauldron from the Museum came to him.
So Cheol grasped the hammer’s handle.
In that instant, a faint light flickered across the cauldron’s surface.
So Cheol’s eyes flew open.

‘It worked.’

Focusing his mind again, text appeared.

[Name: Worn Apprentice Hammer]
[Item Grade: None]
[Condition: Damaged]
[Equip Condition: Apprentice Forging Technique Mastery]
[Equip Effect]
Bone Correction
Forging Talent Correction
[Additional Properties: 2 types]
[Upon Equip: Obtain Jin’s Memory Fragment]

So Cheol read it again from the beginning.
The hammer’s name and damaged condition barely registered.
Bone Correction.
Forging Talent Correction.
And the Memory Fragment.
One side of the Bronze Cauldron sank inward, revealing a groove that hadn’t been there before.
The groove and the hammer’s size didn’t match at all, yet somehow he knew what he needed to do.
His grip tightened on the hammer.
Light erupted from the Bronze Cauldron.
Countless threads of brilliance wound around the worn hammer.

“I did it.”

The hammer vanished from his hand.
At the same moment, the small hammer struck and lodged itself in the groove of the Bronze Cauldron.
His head rang.

Crash!

So Cheol staggered and gripped the wooden post to steady himself.
* * *
An unfamiliar scene flooded his vision.
It was Master Jin, younger then.
Young Master Jin held an eight-pound hammer in his hands. With his feet spread wide and knees bent, he twisted his waist and shoulders as he drove it down.

Thud!

Power flowed from his feet through his waist and shoulders, conducting all the way to the hammer head. It was not merely an arm’s motion.
This time he planted both feet firmly on the ground and held the same stance.
Knees low, back straight.
With each exhale, his soles pressed deeper into the earth.
Though the memory was brief, the sensation of how to use his body remained vivid.
Which points to tense and release, the order in which the waist and shoulders followed the strike—all of it lingered in his mind.

[You have acquired a Memory Fragment from Master Jin.]

[You have learned the Basic Training Method from Master Jin.]

[You have learned a portion of the Hammer Technique from Master Jin.]

[Bone Correction has been applied.]

[Forging Talent Correction has been applied.]

The moment the text vanished, So Cheol’s body convulsed.
A tingling sensation ran through his bones. His stiff shoulders loosened, and strength returned to arms that had grown heavy from swinging the hammer all day.
So Cheol clenched his fists, then opened them.
Just moments ago he’d had no desire to even lift his arms, but now beneath the fatigue, he could clearly sense a reserve of strength.

‘So this is what correction feels like.’

So Cheol looked around, then spread his feet apart.
He brought his toes together and lowered his knees. He straightened his back and released tension from his shoulders.
His thighs trembled. When he drew his left foot back a half-span, the point of force shifted. This time he could hold it.
Though his hands were empty, Master Jin’s trajectory remained etched in his mind.
So Cheol moved his arms without a weapon.
His feet pressed against the ground.
His waist rotated.
His shoulders followed.
Wind burst from the tips of his fists.

Snap!

So Cheol’s eyes widened.
Once more.
This time the motion was slightly faster.

Snap!

It was not simply that his arm had grown stronger.
The very way he used his body had changed.
So Cheol released the stance.
After just a few movements, his breathing had turned ragged and heat rose in his thighs. Yet his lips would not stop curving upward.
There was no need to wait four more days.
So Cheol forced strength into his trembling legs and reset his stance.
The first few attempts were clumsy—his footwork and hip rotation didn’t sync, and each time tension crept into his shoulders, his fist’s trajectory wavered.
But he could identify his mistakes immediately. The Memory Fragment he’d just absorbed kept pointing out where his body’s movements diverged from the pattern.
So Cheol corrected himself and moved again.
Once. Twice. Ten times.
Gradually, his feet, hips, and shoulders began to move as one.
How long had it been? His breath came ragged, climbing to his throat, and his back was soaked through with sweat. His thighs trembled; his arms had grown heavy once more.
So Cheol braced his hand against a tree and drew in rough, gasping breaths.
Gaining a memory didn’t mean the body would follow at once. To truly make it his own, he had to repeat it relentlessly.
But his current frame wouldn’t hold out for long.
So Cheol swallowed hard, feeling the hollow gnaw of hunger rising from his belly.

‘Before I train, I need to feed this body first.’

Four days later, when others were taking their first steps, he was already staring at the next obstacle.

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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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