Three Years of Blacksmithing, Achieving Divine Martial Arts - Chapter 9

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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 9. What the Direct Disciple Badge Held
Even after leaving the Iron Storehouse, So Cheol

did not let the Direct Disciple Badge slip from his grasp.
Gold patterns gleamed faintly against the black metal. An identity token granting free passage through the Inner Gate. That alone was enough for what he’d gained in a single day.
But the Bronze Cauldron had other ideas.
Once he slipped out of the alleyway and reached the deserted riverbank, a low hum resonated through his mind.

Hummmmm—

So Cheol’s footsteps ceased.

‘As expected.’

Since catching the river crocodile, he’d touched countless objects. But the Cauldron didn’t react to just anything. There was a clear standard for what it recognized as treasure.
He sank his consciousness inward.
Five-colored light wavered at the edge of the Selection Slot.
【Name: Jang Sim Dang Direct Disciple Badge】
【Grade: Treasure Grade 2】
【Materials: Forged from Black Iron with Gold mixed in】
【Equip Condition: Yeol Seok Choo Method Mastery】
【Equip Effect: Bone-Body Correction, Forging Sense Correction, Grip Force Amplification】
【Special Acquisition: Treasure Grade Material Knowledge, Advanced Yeol Seok Choo Method Operation Memory】
So Cheol read the last two lines again.

“An identity badge that’s Treasure Grade 2?”

He’d heard that Son Cheol Sim made it himself. Still, he never expected that a badge meant to be swung at people would qualify as Treasure Grade 2.
But that wasn’t the most important part.
The equip condition was already met.
So Cheol withdrew the Old Eight-jin Hammer from his first Selection Slot. The five-colored light flickered once, and the familiar weight faded from his body.
He placed the Direct Disciple Badge in its place.
His vision darkened in an instant.

Bang!

It wasn’t a sound he actually heard.
In the memory, glowing metal sparked from the furnace, burning red.
Dozens of unfamiliar ores passed before his eyes in sequence. Black Iron was far heavier and harder than ordinary refined iron. Even the temperature needed to feed it fire differed, and if mixed incorrectly, it consumed other metals.
Gold wasn’t merely money. It was used to bridge the gap between metals of different natures and to suppress the raw qualities of materials.
Copper and tin, refined iron—all the same principle applied.
For three years at the Outer Gate, So Cheol had worked primarily with household tools and materials. What now flooded his mind was the knowledge of someone who forged weapons.
And at the center of it all stood Son Cheol Sim.
The Son Cheol Sim in the memory neither smiled nor spoke.
He stood before the furnace, a massive hammer in his grip.
His feet pressed into the earth.
His waist twisted.
The hammer fell.

Crash!

The metal flattened in one blow.
So Cheol’s breathing slowed without his knowing it.
This ran deeper than the Yeol Seok Choo Method he’d seen in the trial ground. It didn’t end with simply chaining force together. At some point, all that chained power gathered into a single point before falling.
Each hammer strike descended while embracing dozens of prior movements within itself.

‘Is this the next level?’

His current Yeol Seok Choo Method was at mastery level.
What appeared in Son Cheol Sim’s memory was the realm beyond it—perfection.
His body couldn’t follow through yet. But at least he could see the path.
That alone was enough.
When the memory ended, So Cheol slowly opened his eyes.
The sound of the river returned to his ears.
He clenched his right hand, then opened it.
The strength had changed.
It felt far heavier than when he’d wielded the old hammer. Without even tensing his arm, the air inside his palm seemed to press down.
So Cheol picked up a fist-sized stone rolling nearby.
He applied pressure with his fingers.
Crack.
A fissure split the stone.
He released the pressure at once.

“I can’t test this outside.”

A laugh escaped him.
Son Cheol Sim had given him an identification badge.
The Bronze Cauldron had extracted forging knowledge, the memory of the higher Yeol Seok Choo Method, and strength from it.
Until this morning, he’d been curious about what a Direct Disciple could learn and how much. Now, before even the first day had ended, he’d received one answer.
So Cheol reached toward his chest to stow the Direct Disciple Badge, then stopped.
The first Selection Slot could only hold one item at a time.
He couldn’t equip the old hammer and the Direct Disciple Badge simultaneously.
The conditions for the second Selection Slot, which he’d checked days ago, came back to him.
Four taels of refined gold.
Four ounces of refined silver.
Forty jin of refined iron.
Sixty jin of refined copper.
Eighty jin of refined tin.
Back then, the money itself had been a problem, and he had no idea where to source all the materials. Particularly, if an Outer Gate apprentice purchased that much refined iron and refined copper at once, he’d face all manner of suspicious stares.
Now it was different.
In his possession was fifty ounces of refined silver from the Admission Congratulatory Gift.
And he had the Direct Disciple Badge.
So Cheol turned toward the Iron Storehouse.

‘The Inner Affairs Hall.’

It was where he’d just received the Direct Disciple Badge and the Admission Congratulatory Gift. They also managed supplies used by the Inner Gate and each hall. He’d heard that a Direct Disciple could officially purchase materials needed for personal training.
He could go home and return tomorrow.
Thinking that, he took two steps before stopping.
The sun hadn’t completely set yet.
So Cheol turned back.

“Why wait until tomorrow?”
* * *
The staff member at the Inner Affairs Hall didn’t seem surprised to see So Cheol return.
The shock came only after he saw the list So Cheol handed over.

“You’re buying all of this right now?”
“Is that possible?”
“It’s possible. Refined iron, refined copper, and refined tin are used heavily in Outer Gate supplies too.”

The staff member tapped the list with his finger.

“But between the refined gold and refined silver, the quantity is considerable. What’s it for?”

So Cheol delivered the answer he’d already prepared.

“Forging practice.”
“On your first day?”

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll be entering Jang Sim Dang. It would be embarrassing if I didn’t even know the names of the materials properly.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie.
He also wanted to verify with his own hands the knowledge he’d gained from the Direct Disciple Badge.
The clerk chuckled briefly, then opened the ledger.

“You certainly sound like a Jang Sim Dang disciple.”

The cost of materials was steeper than he’d expected.
Still, having just received fifty taels, it was manageable. So Cheol counted out silver coins and left his name on the receipt.
A small cart emerged shortly after.
The gold and silver fit in his chest, but the refined iron, brass, and tin were another matter entirely in terms of volume.
The clerk asked,

“Want me to send someone to help?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“It’s quite heavy.”
“I have the cart, after all.”

So Cheol grasped the handle without hesitation.
He could have carried it all by himself if needed. But there was no reason to display himself casually hoisting nearly several hundred jin worth of cargo in the middle of the Inner Gate.
When he emerged from the Iron Storehouse, the sun was already sinking beyond the mountains.
He didn’t head straight home.
He pulled the cart deeper into the Wild Mountain, past his usual training grounds. After setting the load down in a rocky crevice where few people ventured, he surveyed the area.
No one was around.
So Cheol summoned the Bronze Cauldron.
A piece of refined iron was engulfed in five-colored light.
It vanished in an instant.
Brass and tin followed in succession.
Four taels of silver coins.
Finally, four measures of gold.
The moment all five metals entered, the dark space beside the first Selection Slot blazed with light.

A deep hum resonated outward.

This sound was different from when he’d touched the Direct Disciple Badge.
His entire mind trembled.
The patterns on the Bronze Cauldron’s surface brightened one by one, and a circular glow formed beside the first Selection Slot.
So Cheol watched without drawing breath.
The five-colored light swirled.
Moments later, the second slot opened completely.
The second Selection Slot.

“Done.”

The words escaped him unbidden.
So Cheol immediately placed the Old Eight-jin Hammer and the Direct Disciple Badge into their respective slots.
The moment the two corrections overlapped, his body shook violently.
It felt as if something old was being expelled from between his bones, and the skin beneath his surface burned with fierce heat.

‘My Bone Grade….’

New characters appeared above the Bronze Cauldron.
【Original Bone Grade: Grade B Lower】
【Bone Grade After Equipment: Grade B Upper】
So Cheol stared at those two lines for a long while.
Grade B Lower—what Yang Jeong Cheon had pointed out during the Bone Grade assessment.
That was now his body itself, without the equipment.
He still couldn’t determine where his body had stood before opening the first Selection Slot.
But one thing was certain.
Every time So Cheol opened a Selection Slot, the Bronze Cauldron wasn’t just furnishing him with new equipment.
It was transforming his body as well.
Soon a new condition materialized before him.
【Third Selection Slot Opening Condition】
【Refined Gold two mace / Black Iron twenty jin / Refined Silver two tael / Refined Copper thirty jin / Refined Tin forty jin】
So Cheol’s lips curved upward, then fell again.
The materials themselves were different from the second slot.
Refined Gold. Black Iron. Refined Silver. Refined Copper. Refined Tin.
Plucking through the memories spilled from the Direct Disciple Badge, he grasped their rough properties. Refined Gold and Refined Silver were materials stripped of far more impurities than common gold and silver. Black Iron was heavier and tougher than refined steel. Refined Copper and Refined Tin likewise could not be substituted with ordinary copper and tin.
Beyond mere cost, the very places that stocked them differed.
In his time working at the Outer Gate, these were things he would never have laid hands on in a lifetime, even by name.

‘Lucky I’m entering Jang Sim Dang tomorrow.’

In a place like that, at least he could ask what such materials were.
So Cheol pushed his consciousness deeper into the Bronze Cauldron.
Only then did another change catch his eye.
The interior had expanded.
When he had only the first Selection Slot, the space had felt cramped once he’d packed a few items in it. Now the walls stretched several times farther in every direction. Simply opening the second slot had enlarged the vessel itself.
So Cheol picked up a lump of brass left on the floor.

‘Go in.’

Five-colored light flickered past.
The metal vanished from his hand.
Turning his consciousness inward, he found the brass lump sitting obediently at the bottom of the Bronze Cauldron.
He thought to take it back out.

Thunk.

The brass fell into his palm.

“This is…”

So Cheol surveyed the area once more.
Scattered across the cart were sacks and packing material he’d left behind while opening the second slot. He tried inserting an empty sack, a small hammer, and a water bucket in sequence.
All of it went in.
Large items fared the same.
So Cheol fell silent for a moment.
A treasure that taught martial arts and elevated bone grade would have been strange enough on its own. But now it had also become a space in which to hide and transport goods.
Recalling the incident where Hwang Tae Gon had stolen five tael of silver from him, its utility became all the more apparent.
From now on, when carrying valuable materials or money, he wouldn’t need to keep everything tucked in his clothes. No one, even if they searched his person, could find what lay within the cauldron.

‘I’ll have to be more careful in front of others.’

With convenience came secrets that, if exposed, he could never explain away.
So Cheol drew out the Direct Disciple Badge and traced its edges with his fingertip.
Son Cheol Sim had given him this token to prove his apprentice status.
Since it had come into his hands, it had elevated his bone grade, added his strength, unlocked his forging memories, and ultimately led him to open a second Selection Slot.
What expression would his master wear if he learned the truth?
He banished the thought immediately.
No one must know yet.
Not what the Bronze Cauldron was, not how many Selection Slots had opened, not that he gained memories from the equipment he carried.
So Cheol looked at the empty cart and smiled.
He no longer needed to haul heavy metal all the way home.
He only had to return the sack and cart.
It was then that he noticed an odd smell rising from his arms and the nape of his neck.
A thin film of blackish grime had seeped through his skin—the opening of the Selection Slot had apparently forced out old impurities from deep within his body.

“…I’ll need to wash before heading home.”
​
He went down to the river, undressed, and waded into the water. Late-summer waters grew cold as evening approached, yet his body burned from within. Each time he washed his arms, black grime streamed away.
After diving down several times and surfacing, his skin felt lighter than before.
So Cheol braced his feet against the riverbed and pushed off gently.
​
Splash!
​
He glided far farther than expected. It wasn’t merely that his strength had increased. The very sensation of how his body received force had transformed.
​
‘Grade B Lower.’
​
When he’d heard it at the Bone Grade testing ground, the words had stung with disappointment.
Now was different.
He understood that today’s Grade B Lower was not the end. When the next Selection Slot opened, he could change again. If there were those after, he could go even further still.
So Cheol shook the water from his clothes and dressed.
He left the cart at the Inner Affairs Hall and hid the metals and remaining silver coins inside the Bronze Cauldron. In his robe he carried only the Direct Disciple Badge.
Now it was time to go home and tell So Won and Im Ha that he had become a Direct Disciple.
Thinking of their faces made his steps quicken.
By the time he entered the village, dusk had already fallen.
In the distance, the familiar earthen wall of home came into view.
So Cheol’s smile faded slightly.
At this hour, lamplight should have been seeping from the courtyard. But tonight the gate was shut, and the house lay in an unnatural quiet.
​
“Uncle?”
​
No answer came.
So Cheol pushed open the door.
Creak.
From the inner room, the sound of something being hastily covered.
He crossed the threshold.
So Won, sprawled at the table, jerked upright.
One side of his face was badly swollen.
Across the shoulders and back visible through his torn collar, bruises layered upon bruises in deep purple welts.
Im Ha stood frozen, a medicinal cloth still clutched in her hand.
So Cheol said nothing.
The joy that had filled him moments before — that he’d opened a second Selection Slot — guttered out in perfect silence.

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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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