Chapter 52
Heavenly Lake Workshop (1)
The calm and still waters of Heaven Lake.
Click, click—!
‘Well, maybe not that calm.’
Tourists were noisily snapping pictures of the scenery atop Mount Baekdu.
“Everyone, we’ll descend in 30 minutes. And as you know, you must not go down to the lake.”
“Why not~? I saw on TV that people filled bottles with the water!”
“That’s exactly the problem. TV’s ruined everything. I said no means no.”
The guide clicked his tongue and began counting heads.
“One, two… ten, eleven… huh?”
Three people were missing.
“Ugh… there’s always someone like this.”
With an annoyed expression, he turned his head and began to walk.
Rustle—
A gust of wind carrying fine snowflakes swept past.
As it descended the slope and touched the lake, faint human figures appeared.
“Whew! I thought I was gonna die from the tension! They didn’t notice us, right?”
“Not if you stayed focused.”
Tamers could synchronize their starlight force with their bonded creatures and share skills.
By borrowing the unicorn’s Ethereal Form skill, Kang Jia had hidden herself, Sehyun, and even Sasha.
“Suka, do we really have to come all the way out here like this?”
Behind Sehyun, the silver-haired woman in a white coat grumbled.
Sehyun chuckled.
“Our first route didn’t work. We had no choice.”
“Not my fault those stubborn bastards wouldn’t listen. It’s because you’re Korean.”
They had expected the first route to be difficult—
after all, it was through North Korea.
Randolph’s influence extended through China, but North Korea was far too closed-off to manage.
“So, what exactly is up here on this mountain?”
“I think I know!”
Kang Jia spoke with confidence.
“Since you left Inha unnie at the workshop and brought me, I figured I had an important role!”
She pointed dramatically toward the lake.
“The Heaven Lake monster! We’re here to find that thing, right?”
“…Huh?”
While Sehyun stared, speechless, she pulled out her phone and showed him a photo.
A blurry picture of a long-necked creature emerging from the fog over the lake.
“…What’s this?”
“The monster that lives under the lake on clear days but surfaces when it’s foggy! I knew it was real!!”
Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Look, I even have more!”
Her gallery was full of similar photos — not just of monsters, but aliens and cryptids too.
‘So she’s… that kind of geek, huh.’
“Jia.”
Sehyun sighed deeply.
“There’s no such thing.”
“…What?”
He was certain.
He had seen Heaven Lake completely drained in his past life.
“There’s… no monster?”
He didn’t like crushing her dreams, but there were more important things right now.
What Sehyun was really after lay deep beneath the lake — a hidden emergency exit.
To descend almost 300 meters to the bottom, they needed the unicorn’s Ethereal Form to avoid water pressure.
“We’ll use Ethereal Form to reach the bottom. There’s a stone gate there…”
Still sulking, Kang Jia lit up her sigil.
The skill transferred, and Sehyun and Sasha’s bodies became translucent again.
Their feet passed through the surface of the water and touched the unseen ground below.
But Kang Jia tilted her head, sensing something odd.
“Oppa? What is this feeling…”
“The entire mountain’s being controlled by an artifact. The lake’s filled with starlight force too. Tell me if it’s too much.”
“It’s fine. I can handle it for at least an hour.”
“Good. Then let’s move quickly.”
The trio slid down the slope beneath the surface.
After about ten minutes, a rough basalt stone gate came into view.
“Sasha. Please.”
“This? Easy.”
She summoned an ice pillar and pried open the gate.
Rumble—!!
Whoooosh—!!
As the gate opened, the lake’s water surged into the gap.
They quickly slipped inside and closed the stone door behind them.
Only after the torrent subsided could they release the Ethereal Form.
Sasha’s face stiffened slightly.
“Are you sure it’s safe to go in here?”
“Nothing to worry about. We didn’t break anything — just used an existing passage.”
It wasn’t the main entrance, but it was one Sehyun had used many times in his past life.
Well… only to exit, not enter.
‘Still, what could go wrong?’
Step, step—
After descending for a while, a vast open cavern came into view.
Sasha gasped softly.
“…A workshop, hidden all the way down here?”
The Heavenly Lake Workshop.
A forge beneath Heaven Lake, at the heart of Mount Baekdu’s molten core.
In Sehyun’s past life, it had been Ha Ilhwan’s base—
and the place where Sehyun himself spent endless hours crafting artifacts.
‘He did say he’d made weapons here before.’
Even before artifacts existed, there had been “player-exclusive weapons.”
Weapons infused with starlight force, arrows empowered with abilities—
primitive, but precursors to artifacts.
Though they lacked self-activating powers, they were far beyond ordinary equipment.
And the only place capable of forging such weapons… was this workshop.
‘Because the material only existed here.’
That was exactly why Sehyun had come.
As the view opened up, Kang Jia tugged on Sehyun’s sleeve, wide-eyed.
“…You call this a normal path?”
It was her first time here; the secretive setting unsettled her.
Sehyun, however, walked forward calmly.
The smiths stopped working and turned to stare at the intruders.
“Ah, don’t mind us. Keep working.”
“…”
An awkward silence fell.
Then, one by one, the blacksmiths grabbed their weapons and surrounded the trio.
“Invaders!”
“How did they get in?!”
“Get the old lady—now!!”
Kang Jia glanced at Sehyun, tugging his sleeve again, her tone flat.
“…A normal path, huh?”
“…”
No, really, it was supposed to be!
Caught off guard by the aggressive “welcome,” Sehyun could only sigh.
While they stood at an impasse—
An elderly woman, hunched and leaning on a cane, approached.
“Ma’am, it’s them!”
“Clicking your tongues again… Go on, back to work!”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
The blacksmiths scattered at once.
With narrowed eyes, the old woman looked Sehyun up and down.
“Barging in through the ceiling, and you’ve got the nerve to look so proud?”
Technically, they hadn’t broken anything…
But as her eyes met his, Sehyun instinctively bowed.
“I’m sorry!”
Old habits die hard.
Back when he’d been a clueless apprentice, she had scolded him countless times—
and “I’m sorry” had become reflex.
“I didn’t mean to cause trouble. We just had no other way to enter.”
“…”
Her silence meant go on.
“I came to propose something. Please take a look at this first.”
He respectfully offered her a short dagger with a blue-tinted blade.
“Hm. A bronze blade.”
She examined it closely.
“You made this yourself?”
“Yes.”
Running her fingers over the blade, she lifted her senses.
The wave-like curve of the bronze shimmered with a soft green patina.
The hilt, wrapped with carved bone and vines, fit perfectly in the hand.
“…!”
And from the blade—an aura of starlight.
Though not alive, the weapon emanated energy on its own.
It was something far beyond any weapon she had ever seen.
There was only one other thing she could compare it to.
But—
‘Impossible… no human could replicate that.’
Even if one could mimic the shape, the essence could not be reproduced.
The limit of artificial craft.
Still, the dagger’s craftsmanship was undeniably superb.
“For someone so young, your skill isn’t bad.”
“I appreciate it.”
Even such a sparse compliment made Sehyun smile.
He could tell she was actually impressed.
And of course she was—
he’d trained under her for years.
The dagger had even been made to match her taste exactly.
“So, what brings you here?”
When she finally asked, Sehyun met her eyes.
“I heard that this workshop holds the material to make this blade complete.”
If the dagger had caught her attention, this line would hold it.
“Please. I need your help.”
He bowed deeply.
“…”
The old woman said nothing for a long while.
‘Figures. Asking for that might’ve been too much.’
She was a woman of strict boundaries—he knew that well.
He had come prepared, but her reaction suggested it wasn’t enough.
Just as he was scrambling for another plan—
“What are you waiting for, young man?”
When he looked up, she was already walking away.
At the cavern’s center, molten magma roared upward like a pillar.
From the central core furnace, seven streams of lava branched off into smelting pits, heating the forges.
“Having trouble breathing?” she asked.
Sehyun couldn’t answer.
It wasn’t the heat or smoke that stole his breath—
it was the sound.
Clang! Clang!
Whoosh, whoosh—!
The hammering of metal.
The roaring of bellows.
The fiery chorus of the forges.
“Pump the bellows! The fire’s dying!”
“…”
“Can’t swing straight? Then get out—I’ll replace you with a press!”
The master smith’s scolding rang through the chamber.
The familiar scene made Sehyun’s heart race with nostalgia.
“Hoho.”
The old woman let out a soft chuckle.
“As I thought, a blade of that level isn’t made by chance.”
As if drawn by magnetism, Sehyun’s steps carried him to the anvil.
The smiths continued their work unfazed—
hammering glowing steel, folding it, and hammering again.
Ssshh—
Between each fold, they sprinkled a pale gray powder.
Sehyun scooped a handful.
‘…This is it.’
Ash made by burning monster corpses in Mount Baekdu’s lava.
Steel forged with it could conduct starlight force.
In other words, it became a weapon capable of storing energy.
‘But that’s not all it can do…’
Used as-is, the powder’s full potential couldn’t be drawn out.
‘Later I found out—this was only the first stage of processing.’
But there was a problem.
“Hoho, so that’s what you’re after. You’ve got a good eye.”
She was right. That material existed only here.
And Sehyun knew how big a request it was.
He was essentially asking to take away the workshop’s greatest secret.
He had little to offer in return.
The old woman’s wrinkled lips curved into a grin.
“If you want that…”
At that moment—
Rumble—!
The ground trembled violently.
The magma pillar dimmed, and the forges’ heat began to fade.
A young apprentice ran up, shouting.
“Ma’am! The central core’s acting up again! The crack beast—!”
“…Damn it.”
The old woman pulled something from her robes and rushed toward the core.
Sehyun’s eyes widened.
“That’s…!”
A jade-green talisman, shaped like a half-moon.
Clutching it in both hands, she closed her eyes and chanted—
“O spirits of Heaven and Earth…”
Rumble—!!
The talisman shone with a blinding light,
and the entire Mount Baekdu shuddered in response.
