Regression of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 13

========== REGRESSION OF THE TRANSCENDENT BLACKSMITH CHAPTER 13 ==========

Inside the Korea Awakened Management Bureau.

People who changed their disguises every single day without fail and loitered around gathered in a secluded spot.

They turned their heads as if they were strangers to each other and conversed only through words.

“How is it? Has he appeared?”

“No. It was a waste of time again today. Damn it.”

A person with heightened emotions spat out a low curse.

Unusually, the language they were speaking was not Korean.

Their identities were Awakened from other countries.

However, they were not challengers climbing the tower, but scouts specialized in persuading specific Awakened to immigrate.

Since strong Awakened were the cornerstone of national security, scouts were no longer an unfamiliar existence.

They also knew that the Korea Awakened Management Bureau was slowly catching on to their presence.

“Don’t tell me those guys have already found that Awakened and are just acting? To screw us over?”

“No. That wouldn’t be it.”

One scout pointed inside the registration office with his finger.

There was Section Chief Im, who was on the verge of pulling her hair out due to the stress of constant impersonators of the conqueror.

The scouts, who had felt their stress keenly for as long as they had been infiltrating this place, let out a deep sigh.

It wasn’t just them; those people must be under an incredible amount of stress too!

“Maybe it would be better to pull out even now. Too much time has already passed.”

A scout spoke tentatively while looking to one side.

There were people there who, like them, had been changing their appearances and loitering around the registration office for days.

It was obvious they were also scouts from other countries or guilds.

When this many scouts gathered, what would happen if the target appeared was clear.

The strongest scout would suppress the others in the name of the organization that hired them!

The scouts currently talking were also hired by large guilds, so their backing wasn’t weak.

However, there were countless guilds and countries in the world more powerful than the guilds that hired them.

Another scout bit his lip at the clear retreat situation.

“Damn it. If I could just take that Awakened, my life would be set.”

The Awakened who succeeded in conquering the Tutorial for the first time.

Its value was higher than simply gaining honor.

The first value is information monopoly.

What if they could monopolize information on the higher floors of the Tutorial while hiding the Tutorial conqueror?

They could prevent other Awakened from conquering the Tutorial while churning out conquerors only for themselves.

The second value is the growth potential of the Awakened.

Until now, no country or guild had succeeded in conquering the entire Tutorial.

But if it’s an Awakened who conquered such a Tutorial, how strong would they become in the future?

The last value was connected to this second value.

‘Securing national safety, national interest gained from supporting the Awakened, even personal advertising activities. Literally becoming a one-person mega-corporation.’

The scout who was thinking of that value let out a hollow laugh.

It was so huge that it didn’t even feel like something to be envious of.

The scout who was agonizing over his colleague’s suggestion shook his head.

“Let’s just wait until today. Who knows? We might get lucky and meet him.”

As soon as the scout finished speaking, a message window popped up in front of their eyes.

It was a notice sent by the Tower to the Awakened.

[The 11th 14th-floor S-rank conquest has been successful in the Tower of South Korea.]

The scouts who checked the Tower’s notice shut their mouths.

One could feel the sense of panic as the other scouts also checked the notice.

Just then, a commotion broke out inside the registration office.

“What did you just say? You’re the Tutorial conqueror?! Then what is this notice! How did you enter the Tower while talking to me?!!”

“Ke, kehehek…!!”

“I, Section Chief Im! Calm down! Use your words, use your words! Loosen your grip!”

“Everyone, stop Section Chief Im! She’s going to kill someone at this rate!”

The Management Bureau staff who came to support the registration office clung to Section Chief Im, who was strangling the conqueror impersonator.

A scout who watched the commotion with a look of understanding turned his back.

“Let’s go. It’s over.”

Perhaps the other scouts felt the same way, as the people in the registration office scattered in twos and threes.

Only the screams of the enraged Section Chief Im echoed through the management office where people had disappeared as if fleeing.

Gwadudeuk!

Shin Tae-ho lifted the hammer buried in the giant centipede’s body.

“This is the first time my armor has been scratched.”

Shin Tae-ho, having lifted the hammer, looked down at his chest area.

The armor, attacked by the sharp centipede claws, had scratches here and there.

Of course, it was literally just a scratch, so he wasn’t hurt.

However, Shin Tae-ho did not take this signal lightly.

‘It’s not a problem yet, but I need to collect materials in advance so I can use new armor when I need it.’

What he is wearing now is armor made by dismantling Normal-grade items in the Tutorial.

Although it is Elite-grade, Shin Tae-ho had no intention of being satisfied with this armor.

‘Back then, I didn’t have a class, so I couldn’t use any abilities. But now that I’ve become a War-smith, I should be able to get skills.’

Each class had skills that represented it.

The skill that Shin Tae-ho, who was a blacksmith in the past, used best was Ability Imbuement.

It wasn’t about randomly gaining unique effects like the items used now.

It was about setting a clear intention and direction to imbue a specific ability.

There are two ways to obtain skills.

One is to accumulate class experience through activities that fit the class.

The other is to obtain them while climbing the tower.

‘Getting the first skill was on the 20th floor. I can get a skill if I climb 6 more floors.’

There was one thing that made him anxious.

His current class is War-smith.

In other words, it was a special class that mixed crafting and combat.

Even if he reached the 20th floor and obtained a skill, he couldn’t be sure if that skill would be crafting-related.

But Shin Tae-ho didn’t care.

‘If I get a combat skill, I’ll just use that ability to climb the tower faster.’

Shin Tae-ho’s goal was clear.

In the future that became the past, to climb the Tower that collapsed and destroyed Earth, humanity’s home, and change the future.

Whether it was a crafting skill or a combat skill, as long as he obtained it, it would help him climb the tower one way or another.

Shin Tae-ho, who remained in the tower even after passing the trial, filled his circuit with Qi.

As the floors got higher, the Qi became denser and richer, so Qi several times that of the 1st floor accumulated in the circuit.

However, even so, it was impossible to fill the massive 7-level Qi Circuit.

[Remaining time has ended.]

[Moving outside the Tower.]

Before he could even read the message and prepare, Shin Tae-ho had moved to his room.

Shin Tae-ho, who gauged the Qi filled in his circuit, felt regretful.

‘I gathered Qi as soon as I passed the trial. I couldn’t even fill 10% this time either.’

The Qi Circuit level is the size, durability, and output of the circuit.

Shin Tae-ho’s circuit, which started at level 7 from the beginning, was incomparably larger than that of Awakened on the same floor.

However, Shin Tae-ho was not very worried.

The Qi used to clear the 14th floor this time was roughly a little over 20%.

With the Qi he currently had, he could clear it at least 4 more times.

Kkoreureuk-

As he came out of the tower, his stomach made a hungry sound.

Shin Tae-ho, confirming it was mealtime, opened the refrigerator.

Unlike a few days ago, it was full of high-quality and delicious ingredients.

‘Koreans run on rice power.’

A monotonous daily life where he focuses on climbing the tower, excluding time for eating, sleeping, and washing.

The more that was the case, the more necessary it was to eat a hearty meal.

Shin Tae-ho, who prepared a meal with various meats and vegetables, sat at the dining table.

Next to the table was the egg he had kept by his side ever since he went to the registration office.

‘When on earth is this little guy going to hatch?’

Shin Tae-ho ate with one hand while stroking the egg with the other.

He had been stroking the egg whenever he had time, just as he had learned since being educated at the management office.

Just then, a question suddenly popped into Shin Tae-ho’s head while he was eating.

‘According to what I heard during the training, it said that communication is possible even when it’s an egg.’

‘Then wouldn’t it be better if I stroked it with my Qi coated on my hand, rather than just stroking it?’

Curious, Shin Tae-ho drew Qi from his circuit and wrapped it around his hand.

He had wrapped it very thinly and weakly just in case there might be a problem.

Sseuk-

He could feel the smooth surface of the egg with his touch, which had become sensitive from being wrapped in Qi.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like wrapping it in Qi was having a negative effect on the egg.

Rather, the egg was absorbing Shin Tae-ho’s Qi little by little, like dry ground absorbing water.

‘Is it eating Qi?’

At the fascinating phenomenon, Shin Tae-ho drew more Qi from his circuit.

His hand, wrapped more densely than before, stroked the egg.

Seureureuk-

This time, too, the egg absorbed Shin Tae-ho’s Qi.

At the same time, a very subtle movement was felt by Shin Tae-ho’s sensitized touch.

“What is this? No way?”

Does the egg need Qi?

As the hypothesis came to mind, the Qi wrapped around Shin Tae-ho’s hand became even denser.

Before he knew it, Shin Tae-ho was focused on stroking the egg, forgetting even to eat.

Once, twice, three times.

As he fed it Qi while stroking it, the egg’s subtle movements gradually grew larger.

Then, at one moment.

Hairline cracks instantly appeared on the smooth surface, and the egg began to crack apart.

‘Is it hatching?’

Feeling his heart pounding, Shin Tae-ho stared at the egg.

The egg was now wobbling left and right like a pendulum.

As the movement became intense, Shin Tae-ho stopped stroking.

Even so, the egg did not stop shaking and was breaking the shell little by little.

Eventually, when the crack on the surface circled the diameter.

Ppo-gak!!

With one last powerful movement, a small foot broke through the shell and came out.

Ppajijijik-!!

As soon as the foot succeeded in coming out, the shell shattered completely, and the summoned creature revealed itself.

Shin Tae-ho, who had been waiting in anticipation for the hatching to finish, was startled.

“…What?”

Shin Tae-ho’s eyes widened as he looked at the newborn life.

A long body about the length of a forearm with large eyes.

Scales that tightly covered its body like a fish, not skin or fur.

And horns that were positioned long like a deer’s antlers, and the large eyes beneath them.

Shin Tae-ho had never seen that creature before, but he could immediately think of an animal that looked exactly like it.

“Dragon…?”

Unaware of Shin Tae-ho’s gaze, the newborn dragon was rolling on the table to remove the egg membrane attached to its body.

The dragon, which finally succeeded in removing the egg membrane, shook its body like a drill.

The dragon, having shaken its body clean, looked satisfied as if it had finished its job, and then discovered Shin Tae-ho.

Its eyes, large for its body, twinkled.

“Ryong~!”

As if greeting him, the newborn dragon roared vigorously.

To be continued in the next chapter ▶