Episode 52
052. He Who Temps the Void
As Cha Yoo-kyung had analyzed, the auction proceeded in a similar pattern.
Whenever rare crafting recipes or unique-grade accessories appeared, Yeorcheon and Asura waged a war of attrition, gnawing away at each other’s financial resources.
Meanwhile, as time passed, the atmosphere in the auction hall grew increasingly heated. But at the same time, puzzled voices began to erupt here and there.
“But… why isn’t he here?”
“Who? Oh, you mean the blacksmith golden hands?”
“His own work is up for auction, and he’s nowhere to be seen. You’d think he’d at least show up out of curiosity.”
“Right? I heard he’s a real mystery man. Must be a mystery all the way to his bones.”
“Wait, did golden hands really quit streaming? He’s not even broadcasting this?”
Players looked around for golden hands, but his figure was nowhere to be seen.
His absence, if anything, stimulated the players’ curiosity and made them anticipate his appearance.
Inadvertently adopting a mysterious persona, golden hands was simply busy with other matters. The awaited auction had been wiped from his mind to that extent.
Whoosh!
The Ancient Void Iron Ore entered the furnace.
Within the fierce flames that would have instantly melted ordinary metal, the Void Iron Ore maintained its form, seemingly even absorbing the surrounding heat.
golden hands watched it intently. He silently observed the timing as the color of the Void Iron Ore changed, then activated his skill.
‘The Sun’s Right Hand!’
golden hands condensed the Sun’s Flame into his right hand. He didn’t rely solely on the furnace’s fire. He knew from the start that the heat from a furnace without special materials would be insufficient. So, he added the heat from the Sun’s Right Hand to the furnace.
Kuhwoooooo—
The furnace’s savage heat intensified, threatening to engulf the entire smithy. A message appeared simultaneously.
[40% Fire Resistance is applied.]
Heat so intense that fire resistance needed to apply. Within that heat…
Screeeech—!
Finally, the Void Iron Ore began to flow out as a dark red molten metal.
Instead of pouring it into a mold, golden hands carefully poured it over his disassembled hammer, placed on the anvil.
When the two metals met, a violent resistance occurred, enough to shake the entire smithy.
Weeeeeng—!
The hammer vibrated madly, trying to bounce away, and the Void Iron Ore thrashed like a wild horse, refusing to hold its form.
“Walker, the alloy mold! Hold it down! Don’t let it bounce away!”
“Wooorker!”
Iron Walker placed the two rampaging materials into a specially crafted alloy mold and pressed down. Even under tremendous pressure, the two materials refused to become one. Instead, fine cracks began to appear on the alloy mold.
At that moment, golden hands scattered the molten metal he had prepared—melted starlight sand and Abyssal Steel Ingots—over it.
Paaaaaaat—!
Pshhhhhhh—
A dazzling light and steam. The two wildly thrashing energies settled down as if lying and began to seep into the ‘Abyssal Steel Ingots.’ It seemed the two energies had been subdued. But golden hands knew well they were not.
It was merely an uneasy silence, like the calm before the storm. golden hands could feel it too.
‘This won’t do. If left like this, they’ll separate again.’
Geumson picked up the ‘Fire Drake’s Giant Hammer’ borrowed from Dussar. And he closed his eyes. All his senses focused on the collision of the materials.
golden hands read the flow of the two forces and drove a wedge between them.
He swung the hammer, precisely striking the point where the two forces clashed to disperse the energy, then guided it back into a stable flow.
Thud!
The first strike.
The anvil rang out as if screaming. Impurities burst into starlight-like sparks and scattered.
Thud!
Clang!
Clang-clang! Thud!
His hammering was far more powerful and precise than before. As if his ‘Godly Handiwork’ and ‘Soul Forging’ skills had reached their peak, every movement was without waste.
[The item being crafted begins to control unstable magic.]
[Proficiency in the ‘Soul Forging’ skill has increased.]
[The ‘Soul Forging’ skill has reached Lv.4.]
[The ‘Godly Handiwork’ skill has reached Lv.7.]
No time to read the rising system messages.
Sweat beaded on golden hands forehead. At first, he felt his stamina draining, but now he wasn’t sure. Only the successive messages told him he was doing well.
[The item being crafted fully accepts the power of the ‘Ancient Void Iron Ore.’]
[The growth ability of the ‘Forgotten Artisan’s First Hammer’ is inherited.]
[The creator’s will imbues, causing the item’s potential to explode.]
Screeeeeeeech—!
The moment golden hands submerged the reassembled hammer into the quenching tank, the entire smithy was engulfed in pitch-black darkness. An absolute silence, as if all light and sound were being sucked into a void. And from the center of that silence, a system message echoed, announcing the birth of a complete entity.
[Achieved Great Success!]
[Due to the effect of the ‘Luck’ stat, ‘Transcendent Great Success’ occurs, surpassing ‘Great Success’!]
[The grade of the crafted item is raised by ‘two tiers’!][Title: He Who Temps the Void]
[You have perfectly controlled an Ancient-grade material to craft an item for the first time!]
[The system trembles at your wondrous achievement!]
[Effect 1. Permanently increases the ability to draw out the base stats of materials by 10% during crafting.]
[Effect 2. [Void’s Imprint]: 50% chance to open one additional magic enchantment slot on crafted items.]
[Effect 3. All stats permanently increased by 5.]
[Effect 4. The Concentration stat is unlocked, receiving a +35 bonus.]
[Forgotten Void Hammer]
Grade: Ancient (Lv.100 Limit)
Creator: golden hands
Status: bound
Attack Power: 380-450
Effects:
[Void Absorption]: On hit, absorbs 10% of the target’s magic and converts it to your own.
[Flow Distortion]: On hit, 30% chance to interrupt the target’s skill casting and inflict the ‘magic Confusion’ status ailment for 3 seconds.
[Land of Silence]: Strikes the ground with the hammer, creating an ‘Anti-Magic Field’ within a 50m radius for 60 seconds. (Excludes the user.)
[Soul’s Inheritance]: During crafting and repair, increases crafting success rate by 30%, great success chance by 20%, item base stats by 30%, and work speed by 30%.
[Companion Growth]: Grows alongside the wielder, blossoming with new abilities.
Description: A masterpiece forged by the forgotten blacksmith Geumson, fusing his soul with ancient power. It will become the nightmare of all magic users and inherits the abilities of the ‘Forgotten Artisan’s First Hammer.’
golden hand quickly scanned the details of the ‘Forgotten Void Hammer.’ He saw that the abilities of the original ‘Forgotten Artisan’s First Hammer’ had been inherited under the name ‘Soul’s Inheritance.’ No, they had been inherited in an upgraded state. Moreover, he confirmed the characteristics of the Ancient Void Iron Ore had properly melded in. Not only that…
‘Void’s Imprint… Now this is a jackpot.’
An outrageous effect that creates one slot for enchanting items with magic. And it’s ‘additional.’ Being able to grant something that didn’t exist before meant its versatility was beyond words.
“…I did it.”
After confirming the message contents, the tension drained away, leaving him feeling spent.
With trembling hands, Geumson picked up his new hammer. The touch was cold and smooth, but he could feel a massive power writhing within it. With a satisfied smile, he turned his gaze to the precarious egg reverently placed in a corner of the smithy.
“Alright, now it’s your turn.”
Golden hands with his new hammer. Hammer in hand, he walked toward the ‘Egg of the Fantastical Elementia.’ As if time to rest was a luxury, Golden hands moved busily.
Holding the newly born ‘Forgotten Void Hammer,’ Golden hands faced his last remaining task.
[Egg of the Fantastical Elementia (Damaged)]
‘Somehow, its condition seems even worse…’
The Egg of the Fantastical Elementia seemed to be growing increasingly turbid.
Golden hands brow furrowed. While working on the Ancient Void Iron Ore, the egg’s life force had continued to wane. It seemed there wasn’t much time left now.
“Intuition of Cracks, Insight of Veins.”
Golden hands vision changed. Over the egg’s surface, which looked like an ordinary stone, red dots and blue dots, red and blue threads and dots, appeared intricately intertwined.
One was the red ‘Crack’ indicating physical fissures and structural weaknesses. The other was the blue ‘Vein’ indicating the flow of magic inside the egg and blocked parts. Seeing the Elementia Egg through this, Golden hands assessment was simple.
‘It’s a disaster.’
Golden hands let out a hollow laugh. The egg’s condition was far more serious than he thought. Red threads covered the entire egg like a spiderweb, and blue threads were severed or clogged black in many places.
‘The situation seems worse than what Calliss described… Will this even work?’
Kalliss had said simply infusing it with the power of pure flame might revive it. But to Geumson, that alone seemed insufficient.
‘Simply infusing flame energy won’t do. We need to unclog the blocked magic flow.’
To save the egg, it seemed two tasks needed to be performed simultaneously.
First, infusing flame energy from the outside to stop the petrification and rekindle the spark of life.
Second, straightening out and stabilizing the tangled internal magic flow.
It seemed both needed to happen at once.
“Sun’s Flame…”
Geumson raised his right hand.
