WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 103: Korean Is So Hard
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Sssss.
A thin trail of smoke rose from the sword in the young man's hand.
Silence.
No one could speak.
Everyone simply stared blankly between his fingertips and the sword.
Their minds had gone completely blank.
They had seen it clearly with their own eyes.
Those thousands of impossibly complex circuits, suspended in the air in red sand.
And he had engraved that entire massive Spell Formula in an instant?
This was how you engraved a Spell Formula with letters?
'...What on earth did I just see?'
Everyone in the audience was thinking the same thing.
The sight was so absurd that their brains were refusing to accept reality.
Completely unaware of what his audience was going through, Do-hyeon glanced at the clock on the wall.
'Oh, crap...!'
He'd meant to finish quickly and go look around.
But once he got started, he'd gotten carried away and gone well past his allotted time.
He'd heard the lecture hall had a device like this.
But this Red Sand Projection Implement...
It was so much fun!!!
That was right.
Playing with the Red Sand Projection Implement had been way more freaking fun than he'd expected.
He'd enjoyed explaining things with it so much that he'd completely lost track of time.
This thing was pretty useful, huh?
With this, when several people worked together, there'd be no need to draw up a bunch of blueprints and explain the three-dimensional structure in words!
'You can show it just by reaching out...'
Even the facilities at this expo were on another level.
Well...
'Not that I'd need it, since I work alone.'
Hmm. Or would he?
He thought he more or less understood how it worked.
Maybe he could find a use for it with a few adjustments.
'Well, I ran a little over time. But I showed them every single thing I engraved as I went. They must've understood it all.'
That would save a lot of time during the questions.
Even better!
He grinned.
What a satisfying feeling.
"What do you think? Easier than you expected, right?"
"..."
As expected, no one answered.
Man, had they really understood everything on the first try?
Of course. He'd shown them every little step, so how could they not?
Maybe I had more talent for explaining things than I'd thought.
Lee Do-hyeon, star instructor.
Ha. Listen to me. Hehe.
Just as Do-hyeon decided it might not be a bad idea to skip the questions altogether, the quiet audience grew noisy again.
Murmur, murmur.
'H-he asked if it was easy. Was that easy for you?'
'Easy, my ass.'
'C-calm down. Maybe "easy" means "difficult" in Korea?'
'Damn it... Another idiom.'
'Oh my God.'
'Jesus Christ.'
'Korean is sooo hard.'
Somehow, Korean was a very difficult language to understand, even with an Interpreter Implement.
While everyone argued over the meaning of "easy," Rashid still sat with their mouth hanging open.
He'd finished all the Spell Formula engraving in that brief moment?
No, never mind engraving with letters.
Was it even possible to engrave like that?
It would have been easier to believe they were trapped in an illusion Spell Formula.
Or that they'd simply witnessed a convincing trick.
"Um, excuse me..."
Someone finally raised a hand.
"Forgive me, but has a Spell Formula really been engraved on that?!"
Yes. That was what everyone wanted to ask.
But the young man at the front gave no answer to his question.
He just looked oddly confused.
And kept fiddling with his perfectly innocent Interpreter Implement.
Murmur, murmur.
'What? What's with him this time?'
'I don't think he can hear us.'
'See? I told you his Interpreter Implement must be broken.'
'Oh my Gaaad...'
Then.
"It's only natural that they don't believe it when they can't see it."
A familiar voice came from the front row.
...Huh? That voice.
Rashid instinctively turned toward the seat beside them.
It was empty.
'What? When did he get all the way over there?'
The man from Eisenberg, who had been sitting beside them just a little while ago, was now seated right at the front.
"Aha, I guess you couldn't see it well from that far away."
The young man nodded as though he finally understood.
"This is a pretty big lecture hall."
'...No, that's not the problem.'
"Then I should give you a demonstration. Seeing it for yourselves will be the quickest way."
The young man turned toward an attendant.
"Could you put up the Barrier?"
The attendant, who had been watching in a daze, hurried over and operated a Control Implement.
Hummm.
A translucent Barrier rose in a dome.
The young man lifted the sword.
"First, the Flame Spell Formula."
Spiritual Power flowed in through the hilt and across the sword's surface.
Soon, the character for "flame" glowed red.
At that moment.
Whoosh!
Deep crimson flames rose along the blade.
The young man gave the sword a light swing.
The flames followed its path.
They swayed gently like petals in full bloom, scattering through the air.
Whuff.
A wave of heat swept past the stage and warmed the lecture hall.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
Red firelight flickered in the eyes of the audience as they stared, spellbound.
"Ah..."
"O-oh my God..."
A weak voice escaped from the front row.
The artisan who had said he was from Germany no longer seemed interested in hiding his shock.
"Second."
The young man flipped the switch in his Imprinted Intent.
"The Freezing Spell Formula."
The flames that had been dancing a moment ago vanished as though they'd never existed.
Then.
Cr-cr-crack.
Crackle.
The sound of moisture rapidly freezing in the air began to ring out.
Pure white frost crept over the blade.
Soon, snow crystals spread around the sword and floated into the air.
The air in the lecture hall changed again in an instant.
Rashid had lived here all their life.
A chill unlike anything they'd ever felt here in Egypt filled the hall.
The bluish sword glittered beneath the stage lights.
Beautiful.
There was no other way to describe it.
"And third."
The young man before them smiled again.
A broad grin.
'Third?'
The characters for "flame" and "ice" on the blade began to shine at the same time.
Opposing properties.
The instant he released those two energies, which could never mix, together...
Sssssss.
As the young man activated the sword, red and blue light began to clash violently inside the blade.
Hissssssss!
An enormous amount of smoke poured from the sword.
White smoke.
And it was cold.
'What is this smoke...?'
But then.
The smoke spreading in every direction suddenly began to flow backward, drawn into the sword's tip.
And it wasn't just the smoke.
Whoosh.
Rashid's bangs swept toward the stage.
The air in the lecture hall was being sucked into the sword's tip.
Hummmmmm.
An overwhelming force condensed within the blade.
'What's about to happen... right in front of me?'
Rrrrrr.
The chairs, the floor, the entire lecture hall began to shake.
Alternating thermal expansion and rapid cooling heralded an explosive burst that would shatter everything.
Just as that power was about to reach its critical point!
Click, click, click!
The urgent clatter of high heels rang out as someone ran down the steps at the back of the audience.
"Eeeek! M-Master!! Wait!!"
A woman wearing an event staff badge was rushing toward them, her face white.
"...? Nadia?"
The young man calmly turned his head, sword still in hand.
Smoke was still being drawn into its tip.
"This is a museum!! A museum!! Demonstrations of Grade 2 or higher require advance permission and preparation...!"
"It's fine. I'm not going to set it off..."
"It's not fine!! This could cost me my head!!"
"..."
The young man watched Nadia for a moment as she begged desperately, tears welling in her eyes.
Hiss.
Then he obediently withdrew his Spiritual Power.
The air being sucked toward the sword rushed back into place with a whoosh.
"That's a shame. This is the most fun part."
"Aaah...!"
Cries of disappointment burst out across the audience.
"Aw, come on...!"
"Good heavens."
"You're stopping here?"
"Jesus, Burgess."
"..."
The young man scratched the back of his head as though he didn't understand, exchanging a few words with the staff member.
Rashid stared at him blankly.
'Is that... what they call a genius?'
They'd thought they'd seen plenty of geniuses.
But not one of them had been able to put a Spell Formula into letters.
Rashid had been born and raised in this land.
They'd grown up seeing the hieroglyphs packed across temple walls wherever they went.
It was said that their ancestors had engraved the power of gods into each individual character.
That there had been a time when letters alone could work miracles.
But that had long since become nothing more than a legend.
Just like the rune script of the distant northern lands.
Geniuses had devoted their entire lives to reviving it, but none had ever succeeded.
So Rashid had half given up too.
A dream was only a dream.
And yet.
Just now, right before their eyes, letters had breathed fire and brought forth ice.
Only then did Rashid understand.
That man was something beyond a genius.
With him, reviving the lost letters of their ancestors might no longer be just a dream.
While everyone was still staring in a daze...
"And that was how to engrave a Spell Formula with letters. This concludes my session."
The young man lowered the sword and smiled.
"Any questions?"
At once.
"Me!"
"Here! Over here!"
"This side first!"
Among the scattered audience members, not a single person failed to raise a hand.
* * *
Huh...?
Hadn't they all understood it on the first try?
Hmm...
I got it.
They must've all fallen for this baby's deadly charm.
Hehehe.
It worked beautifully, just as expected.
The Ice-Flame Sword.
This was one of the legendary grade weapons, the highest weapon grade in [Kingdom of Fire].
According to legend, there were 101 legendary weapons...
Once, my dream had been to learn how to make every one of them.
A dream I'd put off for a while so I could reach max level.
Right. Now that the game had shut down, it was a dream I'd never fulfilled.
Ah...
I missed it.
There had still been so many techniques left to learn...
And they'd all disappeared along with the game.
I hope you're doing well, wherever you are.
"..."
Hmm.
Well, there was nothing I could do.
The living had to go on.
And I was about to go meet some new buddies at the expo.
Let's see...
Whoa, was it that late already...?!
"Everyone! I'll take questions another time. I have something very urgent to do."
'What? You can't be serious!'
'Wait a moment!'
'Oh my God.'
'How can you just leave like this?!'
'Jesus Christ.'
* * *
In a corner beside the exit, at the very back of the lecture hall, a woman sat with her presence carefully concealed.
Rin, the granddisciple of Wei Ja-gang of the Tianshan Sect.
The very same woman who had done nothing but glare sullenly in the VIP lounge.
Before her eyes, the young artisan turned his back without hesitation and walked out of the lecture hall.
Behind him, cries poured out, begging him to take their questions.
"Opposing properties in a single sword..."
Found him.
"I won't let you slip away again."
Footnotes:
“Jesus, Burgess” turns the audience's repeated “Jesus Christ” into a reference to Jesus Burgess, a character from One Piece.
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