WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 101: Jesus Christ.
──────
B7 Lecture Hall.
It was some distance from the central area, where the major main sessions were being held.
With everyone flocking to the main area, the surrounding corridors were deserted.
And yet...
This place was louder than any other lecture hall.
“Starting now, I’ll show you how to engrave a Spell Formula with letters.”
The lecturer had black hair, a youthful face, and a neat suit and tie.
After casually dropping that bombshell, he simply smiled.
Murmur, murmur.
The commotion showed no sign of dying down.
Engraving a Spell Formula with letters?
What did that even...
People throughout the audience turned to whisper to those beside them.
“Did I hear that right? Could the Interpreter Implement be malfunctioning...?”
“I heard it too. Did he say he’ll engrave circuits with letters? Is that truly possible?”
‘I understood him correctly.’
Rashid slowly lowered the hand that had been touching the Interpreter Implement in one ear. So many voices in so many languages were pouring in that Rashid’s ears were ringing.
That young man had truly said he would explain how to engrave Spell Formulas, not merely how to write them down.
Tsk.
A faint tongue click came from the seat beside Rashid.
“Everyone’s making such a fuss.”
A middle-aged man with graying blond hair.
Ian, the chief craftsman of the Eisenberg workshop.
Arms folded, he sank deep into his seat and muttered as though the whole situation displeased him.
“They’re all falling for such obvious bait...”
The audience was in an uproar, but the young man onstage did not seem to care in the slightest.
He resumed his lecture.
“The first time I came up with this engraving method was not long after I released my latest product.”
Do-hyeon swept his gaze across the restless audience, then slowly searched his memories.
The first time I thought of it...
Yeah, it was then.
A Talisman that created a circuit bypass in a Ritual Implement and gave it a new effect.
The Enchant Talisman.
And the follow-up I made using that principle.
Mu-yeong’s Goblin Club.
Right. I had already created a method for engraving Spell Formulas by drawing circuits connected to letters back then.
It used the principles of talisman sorcery.
The principles of talisman sorcery, which used ink as a medium to infuse Spiritual Power with Imprinted Intent and transfer it onto Yellow Talisman Paper.
That was possible using the ink of an Ink Squid, a rare monster capable of absorbing Spiritual Power.
But there was one problem.
Once the Spiritual Power stored in the ink ran out, it had to be drawn again.
Even if I made and sold Ritual Implements like that, customers would have to keep coming back for after-sales service.
And quite often, too.
Well, that would bring in decent money, but I was going to be making countless Ritual Implements from now on.
What if everyone who bought one kept coming back to refill its Spell Formula?
There would be an endless line outside my workshop.
Then when would I have time to develop other Ritual Implements?
What I wanted, then, was a permanent method of engraving Spell Formulas with letters using the principles of talisman sorcery.
In other words, I wanted a way to engrave Spell Formulas with letters without using ink.
So...
“Wait, wait a moment!”
Someone listening to the lecture abruptly raised a hand.
“You developed a Talisman that can be attached to a Ritual Implement to enchant it?”
The Expo’s sessions took the form of workshops.
Unlike an ordinary lecture, where the speaker talked alone and took questions afterward, these sessions had a freer atmosphere. Questions constantly came up during the lecture, ideas were exchanged, and discussions took place.
The man could not help raising his hand.
Do-hyeon had casually mentioned something so absurdly incredible.
“Ah, yes. It’s on display in the Korean pavilion... though my booth is the only one there. Anyway, to continue...”
“Th-then that special dye you said absorbs Spiritual Power...!”
“That’s a trade se-cret.”
“Good grief...”
Do-hyeon continued without concern.
Anyway.
As I was thinking of a way to engrave Spell Formulas without Ink Squid ink, I remembered the Apprentice’s Diary.
It had definitely glowed just after I came up with the Enchant Talisman.
Sure enough, when I opened it, the relevant page was open.
And contrary to my expectations, the method written there was laughably simple.
“You simply draw letters connected to the circuit, just as you would in talisman sorcery, while filling them with deep Imprinted Intent.”
Murmur, murmur.
‘My God, that’s impossible.’
‘There’s no way it could be that simple.’
‘Oh my God.’
‘Jesus Christ.’
Whisper, whisper.
“I have a question.”
A hand rose from one side of the audience after the murmuring continued for some time.
“Yes, go ahead.”
“How could that... Ahem, pardon me, but you aren’t even a talisman sorcerer. Even an Eul-tier talisman sorcerer would struggle to instill that much Imprinted Intent.”
Murmur. Murmur.
‘That’s right.’
‘Well said.’
‘Who does he think he is, the god of everything?’
The lecture hall stirred again.
It was true.
Talisman sorcery was no simple art.
It required a powerful image and desire strong enough to create the intended effect.
Holding onto nothing but that pure, unwavering Imprinted Intent and pressing it into every stroke.
There were sorcerers who devoted their entire lives to that one thing.
Even talisman sorcerers might never reach that level, despite dedicating themselves solely to it.
How could craftsmen who had spent their lives honing Spell Formula engraving possibly achieve it?
And yet, the young man onstage...
Grinned.
“Blacksmiths use a blacksmith’s method.”
“...?”
“Clearly and strongly picturing Imprinted Intent is not easy. That’s why talisman sorcerers train for their entire lives.”
“So instead of Imprinted Intent, I picture the circuit.”
“...”
“The circuit that should have been engraved. Its structure and the position of every branch. Every line that should have been carved to suit this metal’s properties. And even the effects that occur when Spiritual Power flows along those paths.”
“If you picture all of that vividly enough, it becomes Imprinted Intent. Imprinted Intent that contains exactly what that circuit must do within this sword. There couldn’t be anything clearer.”
The young man shrugged as if it were nothing.
“Simple, right?”
See? Easy.
‘What is he even...’
Rashid froze, mouth hanging open.
It made no sense.
Picture the circuit?
A circuit was not that simple.
Even the circuit inside a single elemental sword split and connected into dozens, even hundreds, of branches.
If even one branch was handled incorrectly or shifted by the slightest amount, the entire circuit would twist out of shape.
That was why craftsmen drew blueprints.
They spread out diagrams layered over days and nights beside their workbenches, checking and checking again every time they engraved a line.
Even the meisters of renowned workshops would not pick up an engraving tool without a blueprint.
And that was not all.
Even the same metal had different paths of energy running through its grain.
The circuit had to fit those paths. If it did not, it had to bend around them, and they had to calculate how the flow would warp at every bend.
Where to gather power, and where to release it.
Where it would bend, and where it would transform.
Craftsmen only managed to make it all fit after repeating test engravings and adjustments dozens of times.
But that young man was saying that he could picture all of it at once.
Without a blueprint. Without a test.
‘...Can this man see an entire circuit in his head just by looking at a weapon?’
Hundreds of paths, the metal’s grain, changes in flow, and the strength of the power.
Hold all of that in mind at once, without letting even one line blur, and engrave it?
While filling it with Imprinted Intent?
“...Nonsense. That’s impossible.”
The German craftsman beside Rashid muttered quietly.
It was like being told to hear every note of a symphony played by hundreds of instruments in your head without a sheet of music, while conducting it as well.
‘There’s no way that’s possible...’
There was no way.
“Words alone probably don’t make it easy to understand, do they?”
The young man pressed his pointer.
Click.
The screen changed.
“...?”
Rashid narrowed their eyes.
This was...?
A geometric pattern filled the screen.
Hundreds of lines branched, connected, and overlapped in a dense tangle.
It was so intricate that, at a glance, it resembled a massive spiderweb.
That was right.
The screen was filled with a circuit.
...What was this?
“This is the Ice-Flame circuit.”
“...!”
“A circuit that holds the opposing attributes of flame and ice in a single sword. This is the blueprint for engraving it.”
“What...! Ah, ahem.”
It was Ian beside Rashid.
He had shouted in surprise, then quickly cleared his throat and straightened up again, pretending to be composed.
Ian was not the only one startled.
Murmur, murmur.
‘Is that real...?’
‘Oh my God.’
‘Jesus Christ.’
‘My God, something so precious.’
Two opposing attributes in one sword?
Every craftsman knew the common rule.
If opposing attributes were placed in one sword, they would cancel each other out or run wild.
But how could this...
A flame system and an ice system.
An isolation layer to keep the two separate.
And even a convergence path that determined where the two flows would meet.
He was talking about engraving not one, but essentially three circuits on a single sword. Any one of them, if properly engraved, would earn a craftsman the title of master.
No, more importantly...
‘Can he really show this?’
Every one of these could be a closely guarded secret passed down through generations in some family, something they would not trade even for their lives.
A workshop could perhaps survive for decades just by studying one of them properly.
And yet he was showing something so precious this openly.
Click. Click. Click.
What was more, the young man flipped through them as though they were nothing, quickly explaining each layer of the overlapping Spell Formulas.
“The first and second layers of the flame system. This side is the ice system, and this is the isolation layer...”
“W-Wait...!”
Someone shouted, but the screen did not stop.
‘This is no time to stand around. I need to capture even one page...!’
Rashid reflexively felt inside their clothes.
Nothing.
When they passed through the metal detectors at the entrance, they had surrendered every device that could record anything, including their smartphones and recorders.
It was a measure meant to prevent unauthorized recording of the session’s content.
Rashid had accepted the rule without much thought upon entering, but had never resented it more than now.
Click. Click.
There were dozens of pages.
Scratch scratch scratch scratch.
Pens raced wildly throughout the audience.
Everyone was trying to copy even a fragment of it.
Rashid hurriedly opened their notebook as well.
But by the time Rashid had copied a few lines, the screen had already advanced two pages.
Click.
The final page passed.
All that remained in Rashid’s notebook were crude lines that never connected.
“That concludes the blueprint.”
The young man set down the pointer and untied the strap slung across his back.
Rustle.
The cloth came away, revealing a plain longsword.
“Now then, I’ll engrave this Ice-Flame Spell Formula directly onto this sword.”
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