Chapter 692

Jack's explanation of Shadow Duplication.

The moment Su-ho heard it.

"This is it."

At the same time Jack smiled, the corners of Su-ho's mouth rose as well.

He completely understood the concept behind Shadow Duplication.

Thanks to that, his problem was solved.

- This is it.

"This is the one."

- Satisfied?

"It's perfect."

- But if there's one thing we need to be careful about now, it's the durability of the duplicated hammers. I guess we don't have to worry about that, right?

"Oh, of course not. This is a hammer made in Ten Thousand Gold City. Forget ten thousand strikes, I bet it'd still be perfectly fine after a hundred thousand or even a million."

- Nice. Then let's get started right away.

"You can duplicate the furnace too, right?"

- Of course. How many do you want?

"Let's go big. A thousand hammers and a thousand furnaces. I think we can finish this in one shot like that."

- That's about two thousand. But you know, right? Even though this technique only creates temporary duplicates, the replication is extremely complete, so it consumes a huge amount of mana.

"Haha, you're actually worrying about my mana? With you here and me here, why would we worry about something like that?"

- True. Then let's begin right away.

Jack snapped his fingers.

Black shadows burst from Jack's body, swallowed the hammer and furnace, then rapidly spread across the nearby ground and took over the entire area.

WHOOOOSH!

Mana drained away in massive chunks.

At the same time, one thousand hammers and one thousand furnaces rose from the ground, each positioned at regular intervals like pieces on a Go board.

- If I had my way, I'd attach Shadow Soldiers too, but no matter what, I think you need to be the one taking the lead on this.

"You mean the duplicate soldiers, right? I think so too."

[ Army Tactics is activated. ]

Army Tactics, which he hadn't used in quite some time.

At the same time, countless duplicate soldiers identical to Su-ho were summoned.

One thousand duplicate soldiers.

The summoned duplicate soldiers didn't even need Su-ho to give them verbal commands.

Immediately understanding their master's intentions, they moved toward the mountain of equipment, each picked up a piece, then headed toward the hammers and furnaces and took their positions.

"Let's begin."

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

They began hammering.

And just like that, ten strikes were completed.

Would this really work?

[ The release condition has been fulfilled. ]

[ The Liberated Hammer of the Great Smith responds to your efforts and releases its fourth seal. ]

It worked.

Su-ho could only laugh in disbelief.

[ Item information has changed. ]

[ Due to the influence of the Liberated Hammer of the Great Smith, the information for Smith's Eye has changed. ]

[ For achieving a great accomplishment, the System grants you 10 bonus stats. ]

However, there were fewer System notifications than during the previous release.

Putting that aside for now, he activated the furnaces as well.

[ Flame of the Golden Blacksmith is activated. ]

[ Extraction is complete. ]

And then.

[ The release condition has been fulfilled. ]

[ The Liberated Necklace of the Great Smith responds to your efforts and releases its third seal. ]

[ Item information has changed. ]

[ For achieving a great accomplishment, the System grants you 10 bonus stats. ]

When he activated one thousand furnaces at once, sure enough, he was able to immediately release the third seal this time as well.

Having triggered all those releases in an instant, Su-ho laughed hollowly.

"So it was this easy."

- At least you figured it out before suffering any more, right?

"That's true."

- So, what's next?

"Hold on a second."

Just in case, he immediately checked the options.

[ Liberated Hammer of the Great Smith ]

- Grade : S++

# A brilliant legacy bestowed by the Great Smith only upon the successor he cherishes most.

# To release the hammer's final seal, one million strikes are required.

# The first seal has been released, activating the ability 'Square Extraction,' which harvests part of a target in a precise shape, and the 'Socket' function, which allows harvested fragments to be equipped.

# The second seal has been released, activating the ability 'Square Forge-Welding,' which creates materials by overlapping one material with another.

# The third seal has been released, activating the ability 'Precision Dismantling,' which dismantles a material one additional time.

# The fourth seal has been released, activating the ability to create a 'Socket' in a target.

# Socket 1 - Fragment of Obsession from the Suppressing Chain Coffin(S).

# Socket 2 - Fragment of Obsession from the Suppressing Chain Coffin(S).

# Socket 3 - Empty.

# Socket 4 - Empty.

[ Liberated Necklace of the Great Smith ]

- Grade : S++

# A brilliant legacy bestowed by the Great Smith only upon the successor he cherishes most.

# To release the necklace's final seal, the furnace must be used ten thousand times.

# The first seal has been released, activating Flame of the Golden Blacksmith(S++) and Smith's Furnace(S++).

# The second seal has been released.

# The third seal has been released.

# Once all seals are released, a hidden power will be unlocked.

[ Smith's Eye ]

- Grade : S+

# An eye possessed only by successors of the Blacksmith Style.

# Also known as Smith's Eye, and when used, it allows the user to observe the target from a smith's perspective.

# The target's central point becomes visible.

# The effect of Smith's Eye applies to all targets.

There had been changes.

But there was no change in grade.

That was why there had been fewer notifications.

'Looks like it'll only give me SS grade once I reach the ultimate level.'

That made sense.

After all, SS was the highest grade among everything he had obtained so far.

'Still, one million and ten thousand, huh.'

He had expected it, but he hadn't really thought it would come out exactly like this.

Even so, it was fine.

As the item descriptions stated, this was the final seal.

He immediately relayed the information.

"One million hammer strikes, and ten thousand uses of the furnace. This is the last one."

- That's fast. Want to do it right away?

"Of course."

- Then since the options changed, let's dismiss the existing ones first.

Jack snapped his fingers.

With a sound like candles being blown out, the existing duplicates disappeared.

Before using his magic again, Jack asked.

- How many should I make this time?

"Ten thousand of each. Let's go all out."

- Nice. That's why you're my partner.

Jack grinned from ear to ear as he cast his shadow magic.

Then, as though it were nothing special, he produced twenty thousand duplicated items.

Just like before, they were each arranged into position in a grid pattern.

Su-ho increased the number of duplicate soldiers as well.

Mana drained away in enormous chunks.

No fewer than ten thousand duplicate soldiers.

It drained away in such enormous amounts that he felt slightly dizzy.

A massive scale.

When an army of ten thousand took their positions at regular intervals, Su-ho let out a hollow laugh at the overwhelming sight.

"Never thought I'd command this many duplicate soldiers in my life."

- Live long enough and you get to see all kinds of things.

He didn't feel the slightest regret over the mana expenditure.

Whether it was the duplicate soldiers or the duplicated items, the mana would return once they were recalled.

With ten times as much manpower, the entire area had expanded to the size of a small village, yet surprisingly, it was as quiet as a reading room.

There was only one reason.

They were duplicate soldiers directly controlled by Su-ho.

The duplicate soldiers gathered equipment on their own, picked up their hammers, and stood beside the furnaces.

Before long, all ten thousand duplicate soldiers had completely taken their positions.

Su-ho nodded.

At that, all ten thousand duplicate soldiers began hammering simultaneously.

CLAAANG!!

The sound of ten thousand hammers striking at once was more than enough to shake all of Ten Thousand Gold City.

CLAAANG! CLAAANG! CLAAANG!

Ten thousand duplicate soldiers, controlled by Su-ho's consciousness and moving as though they were a single body.

Even ten thousand soldiers shouting at once would be enough to make the whole world tremble, much less the sound of hammers even louder than that.

"Thunder?"

"What's that sound?"

"W-what is that?"

"What in the world is that noise?"

Naturally, the smiths of Ten Thousand Gold City heard it as well.

At the continuing roar, rather than mere noise, they all put down what they were doing and headed toward the direction the sound was coming from.

"Hohoho."

Only one person.

Everyone except the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City.

The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City was still sitting in the pavilion playing Go.

He smiled happily.

That brat.

Looks like he's already found the answer.

Around then, the smiths of Ten Thousand Gold City passed in front of the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City as they followed the sound.

The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City gestured with his head for them to go on, and soon the smiths could only stare blankly with their mouths hanging open at the absurd sight unfolding before them.

[ Flame of the Golden Blacksmith is activated. ]

Around then, the dismantling of the first piece of equipment had finished, and the furnaces were heating up.

Ten thousand furnaces.

The heat they produced was comparable to that of a volcano.

At that moment, Su-ho, who had been standing near the entrance with his hands clasped behind his back as he watched them work, glanced at the smiths who had gathered.

Right.

It was noisy.

But so what? It wasn't anything else, it was just noise from working, wasn't it?

So he paid them no mind and continued with what he had been doing.

Extraction was completed in no time.

And then.

[ The release condition has been fulfilled. ]

[ The Liberated Necklace of the Great Smith responds to your efforts and releases its final seal. ]

[ Item information has changed. ]

[ Skill information has changed. ]

[ For achieving a great accomplishment, the System grants you 10 bonus stats. ]

The moment all ten thousand furnaces fulfilled their purpose, Su-ho finally managed to trigger the necklace's final release.

But he didn't check it yet.

There was still one more thing left to release.

Su-ho jerked his chin again, and the duplicate soldiers brought out the next pieces of equipment and began hammering.

CLAAANG! CLAAANG! CLAAANG!

The thunderous sounds continued without pause.

Unable to believe the sight even as they watched it with their own eyes, the smiths could only stand there with their mouths open.

And before long.

[ The release condition has been fulfilled. ]

[ The Liberated Hammer of the Great Smith responds to your efforts and releases its final seal. ]

[ Item information has changed. ]

[ Due to the influence of the Liberated Hammer of the Great Smith, the information for Smith's Eye has changed. ]

[ For achieving a great accomplishment, the System grants you 10 bonus stats. ]

Su-ho had finally succeeded in releasing every seal on both legacies.