Chapter 693

Once all the seals on the two legacies had been released, Su-ho finally gave a light wave of his hand.

POP! POP! POP!

Not only the ten thousand duplicate soldiers, but also the ten thousand duplicated hammers and ten thousand duplicated furnaces all disappeared.

The only things left behind were the fragments extracted through the furnaces.

"Good work. Go finish up what you were doing."

- Okay.

Jack left as well.

When Su-ho waved his hand once more, the equipment and various fragments scattered across the ground floated into the air and piled up like a mountain in front of him.

"What in the......."

"Huh......."

The smiths couldn't understand what had just happened.

What on earth was all this?

Their gazes naturally poured toward Su-ho, but Su-ho paid them no attention and simply went about his business.

It wasn't as though this was the first or second time he'd received looks like these.

With that in mind, the first thing he did was look for the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City.

But the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn't because there were too many people.

If the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City, the master of this place, had appeared, the crowd would have split apart like the Red Sea the moment he arrived.

'Is there still something missing?'

Spear Venerable came on his own last time.

Thinking that, Su-ho decided to first check the things that needed checking.

For example, the hammer, the necklace, and Smith's Eye.

Information windows appeared before his eyes.

[ Liberated Hammer of the Great Smith ]

- Grade : S++

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

# All seals have been released, but final acknowledgment is 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.

# All seals have been released, but final acknowledgment is required.

# 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.

# All seals have been released, but final acknowledgment is required.

Su-ho slowly examined the information.

Everything had become S++ grade.

And all the conditions had been fulfilled, yet nothing had been fully released.

It said final acknowledgment was required.

The acknowledgment mentioned here had to be the acknowledgment of the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City.

Su-ho naturally nodded.

There was nothing more he needed to do here.

Now he only needed to speak with the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City.

Then he would tell him the answer.

After closing the information windows, Su-ho examined the Liberated Hammer of the Great Smith, which had been released up to the stage just before completion.

The hammer gave off a strange golden glow.

Its handle had grown quite a bit longer as well.

But it was still a little awkward to call it a two-handed hammer.

At most, it was about the size of a claw hammer with an unusually long handle.

Once it was fully released, it would probably take the form the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City had shown him.

Just as he was thinking that.

"You......! How did you......!"

"Hm?"

A trembling voice.

Su-ho turned his head toward the direction of the sound and saw the child he'd met when he first arrived at Ten Thousand Gold City.

The child who had guided him to the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City.

The boy was pointing at him with an index finger.

And with an extremely angry expression at that.

Why was he angry?

Su-ho approached and asked.

"What's wrong?"

At first, not knowing who the boy was, Su-ho had spoken politely to him.

But not anymore.

After all, the boy didn't seem to have any respect for him either.

At that, the child exploded.

"How did you manage to reach that level?!"

"Hm?"

Su-ho tilted his head.

What was he talking about?

The boy pointed at the hammer.

"That! I'm talking about that! Your hammer is glowing gold right now!"

"This? So?"

"You're not even a smith, so how could you possibly reach that level?! Do you even know what that means?! To us, that's practically everything!"

The child spoke as though venting all his pent-up resentment.

He genuinely seemed furious.

And there was a reason for that.

All the smiths of Ten Thousand Gold City received hammers directly from the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City, just as Su-ho had.

Those hammers served as proof that they belonged to Ten Thousand Gold City.

They would use those hammers for years, tempering both the tools and themselves, and the more they trained, the closer they ultimately came to the level of the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City.

The level of the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City.

The place every single one of them longed to reach.

That was why, from the boy's perspective, none of this made sense.

The person he had clearly brought here on the elder's errand.

Even more, the hammer that had been at a miserable level when he'd first seen it.

How had it now reached the level everyone here desperately wanted to attain?

What made even less sense was the man's behavior just moments ago.

Countless duplicates of the man, so many that there was no telling how many there were.

They had all used identical hammers and identical furnaces.

That was probably the trick he'd used.

The boy couldn't stand it.

I work so hard!

If only I could use magic like that too!

Aaaaargh!

That frustration had finally burst out.

And the other smiths nearby shared the boy's feelings.

Emotions spread quickly.

The atmosphere heated up.

As the child grew more agitated, the surrounding smiths began boiling over as well.

Some started nodding in agreement, while others held themselves back until their faces turned red.

It was a situation that could explode at any moment.

And then.

"That's enough, all of you."

A kindly voice.

At the same time, the smiths parted.

Through the opening appeared the master of Ten Thousand Gold City, the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City.

Everyone stepped aside, held their breath, and lowered their heads.

Now that the highest elder had appeared, they naturally suppressed their anger and showed proper respect.

The child was no exception.

The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City slowly walked forward with his hands clasped behind his back and spoke to Su-ho.

"You finished quickly."

"It was thanks to the advice you gave me, Elder."

"Yes. I knew you'd manage it."

After saying that, the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City turned his head toward the child.

The kindly smile remained on his face.

The child still had his head lowered.

But even with his head bowed, the trembling frustration in him was obvious.

The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City gave a small chuckle and called the child's name.

"Paro."

The child's name was Paro.

At the sound of his name, Paro raised his head.

His gaze was still directed toward the ground.

"Yes, Elder."

"Introduce yourself. This is An Su-ho, the successor I have acknowledged."

"S-successor......?"

Successor.

At that word, Paro's eyes flew wide and his head snapped up.

And it wasn't only Paro.

The other smiths who had been bowing their heads reacted the same way.

A successor?

The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City had a successor?

It was a shocking revelation.

The smiths stirred.

But the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City paid them no attention and gestured toward Su-ho with his chin.

At that gesture, Su-ho respectfully introduced himself.

"My name is An Su-ho. As the Elder said, I am currently inheriting his power."

"H-how......! Elder, what do you mean by this? An outsider is your successor?"

"Yes. Su-ho is an outsider. One from very, very far away. But is that somehow unacceptable?"

"That's not what I mean, but......!"

Was he overwhelmed by the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City's authority?

Paro couldn't say what he really wanted to say and merely trembled pitifully.

Watching him, Su-ho found the boy strangely cute, like a nephew he'd never actually had.

The other smiths were much the same.

Their faces gradually reddened.

They clearly had plenty they wanted to say, but under the pressure of the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City's presence, not one of them could bring themselves to speak.

Su-ho said,

"Elder, perhaps that's enough teasing."

"Should I stop?"

"Yes. They're all genuinely devoted to Ten Thousand Gold City. I understand why you'd want to tease them, but I'm especially worried Paro might start crying."

"Hahaha!"

At Su-ho's concern, the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City burst into laughter.

Then he nodded and said,

"Did you hear that, Paro?"

"......Yes?"

"I know why all of you are angry. An outsider used a shortcut to build up his level, and now I'm suddenly calling him my successor, so naturally you don't like it. But when did I ever say this child was my heir?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. I called this child my successor. I never said he was the heir to Ten Thousand Gold City."

"......Ah?"

Paro's mouth slowly fell open.

The other smiths reacted the same way.

"This child came all the way here because I needed him. He proved his ability more legitimately than anyone else, and because of that, I was the one who first offered him the inheritance. But what I acknowledged was this child's strength. I did not acknowledge the blacksmithing skills that all of you hone every day before iron and flame."

"Then......?"

"I already told you. What I acknowledged was this child's strength. I summoned this child here with the sword, not the hammer. And so what I intend to pass on to him is not blacksmithing either. What I intend to pass on is a secret art I created so that one day, it can be fed to the sword I intend to forge. Now, let me ask you again. This child came here by way of the sword, not the hammer, and he came as a successor, not as my heir. Even then, do you have any reason to envy or resent him?"

He wasn't scolding them.

He was simply explaining the truth so there would be no misunderstanding.

But to Paro and the other smiths, those words sounded like a rebuke, and their faces reddened with embarrassment.

Among all the red-faced smiths, Paro's face turned the reddest of all.

He lowered his head and answered.

"No."

"Then what should you do?"

At those words, Paro turned toward Su-ho and bowed deeply at the waist.

"I'm sorry, Successor. I jumped to the wrong conclusion."

At Paro's apology, both the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold City and Su-ho smiled.