The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith - Chapter 61

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈

Chapter 61: What’s More Important, Donations or Me?

──────

'Should I contact the VIP now?'

...Before that.

There was one last thing to finish.

I sat at the workbench and drew a gold-tinged alloy into a long, thin strip.

'For the sorcerer's side, I can keep it in bracelet form.'

For Wukong's side... Ahem. This was the only choice.

I left a slight opening at the front, then curled both ends inward into neat circles.

It had a distinctive shape that looked oddly familiar.

A golden headband. Once I attached the newly made Heart-to-Heart at the exact center of the back...

“Done.”

Finished in the form of a Golden Headband!

Oh, and Heart-to-Heart was the name of this Ritual Implement.

A heart conveying itself to another heart.

Damn, I've got a real knack for names.

Maybe I was naturally gifted at this too.

“Hmm... Is it really that impressive?”

“What did you say, punk?”

“Nothing, boss. I was simply overcome with admiration for your outstanding talent for naming, boss.”

Anyway, even the testing was complete.

With this, they should be able to exchange senses and Imprinted Intent without any delay during a match.

Just in case, I had looked through the competition rulebook beforehand.

I wanted to make sure there was no restriction on the number of Ritual Implements they could bring in.

[Chapter 7, Article 3: Weapon-type Ritual Implements used by spirit beasts are limited to one preregistered item.]

[No separate restrictions apply to armor and accessories.

(However, accessories inscribed with offensive Spell Formulas shall be considered combat Ritual Implements.)]

'The rulebook is practically an insurance policy.'

My eyes nearly fell out reading it.

Still, accessories seemed fine as long as they did not have offensive Spell Formulas.

'Come to think of it.'

I had heard that plenty of spirit beast handlers fought alongside their spirit beasts.

Two against one Cursed spirit.

And with their senses shared, like a single body?

That meant a fight with no blind spots.

Damn. It sounded cool just imagining it.

I was already eager to see my Ritual Implement in action.

At first, I had considered putting it up for auction.

'Still, I should sell it to Yu-jin.'

It was only convenient, that was all.

...It definitely was not because I could not forget the dopamine rush of watching from the stands.

The right buyer would pay the right price, after all. I had made it with those two in mind from the start.

I took out my phone.

Tap tap tap.

[Me: Yu-jin, I made a Ritual Implement that links a familiar's senses with its handler's. Would you be interested?]

Sent.

'Well, Yu-jin is busy, so the reply will probably take a whi-'

Bzzz.

[Choi Yu-jin: ?????????]

[Choi Yu-jin: OMG]

[Choi Yu-jin: OMG OMG OMG I’m super, super interested!!!!]

'...'

The reply came in 0.1 seconds.

[Me: Do you have any plans today?]

[Choi Yu-jin: No, no!! Even if I do, I’ll clear them no matter what!! Where should we meet?!]

[Me: There are a few things I want to check, so I’ll come to the training center.]

[Choi Yu-jin: Okay T_T I’ll be waiting!!!]

* * *

Vroooom.

Ji-an's bright red sports car came to a smooth stop in the front yard of the Geumgang Spirit Beast Training Center.

“By the way, Do-hyeon, are you really going to sell it as soon as you make it?”

“Yeah. I need to make money fast if I’m going to feed our kitty.”

Pfft. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ji-an burst out laughing.

“Do-hyeon, you seem a lot more relaxed lately. You were so blunt at first.”

Hmm. Was that so?

Maybe it was.

Back then, everything about the Occult World had been unfamiliar.

Still, some time had passed since I met Ji-an and entered this line of work. Without noticing, I seemed to have started saying more pointless things.

Anyway,

'I should get my driver's license soon.'

It was one thing when I was working.

But Mu-yeong had driven us to the Octagon last time, too.

I had money now. Maybe it was time to buy myself a car.

That was when I got out.

Thump.

“...?”

The ground trembled beneath my feet.

Rattle, rattle.

The training center's windows were shaking in their frames.

What was that?

Were they doing something inside?

Just in case, I slightly loosened the Suppression Talisman's control. If anything happened, I wanted to be ready to move at once.

Then I opened the training center door.

Crack!

The instant I opened it, blue lightning exploded before my eyes.

In the center of the training hall, on a wide ring.

Yu-jin and Wukong were charging at a bald middle-aged man.

Whoosh! Crack crack crack!

Wukong's Three-Section Staff carved through the air, scattering lightning and leaving afterimages behind it.

From the opposite side, Yu-jin swung a baton, aiming for his blind spot.

A pincer attack from both directions.

Yet.

Tap. Tap tap.

The man blocked all of it with a single staff.

He moved it only half a step, half a handspan at a time, deflecting, slipping past, and batting away every attack that came at him.

'...Who is that person?'

He was overwhelming both of them with the bare minimum of movement.

“...Ugh.”

A low groan came from beside me.

When I turned, Ji-an's complexion was awful.

'...?'

Now that I thought about it, the air had felt heavy for a while.

The General Manager I had met at Cheonhwa Hall came to mind.

Cheonghyeon, was it?

Ji-an had said that person's presence had made their legs give out, nearly sending them to the floor.

'...But this feels more than twice as intense as that.'

The fight continued in the meantime.

“Haaah!”

[Screee!]

Yu-jin and Wukong squeezed out the last of their strength and charged together.

Whoosh.

For the first time, the man's staff drew a wide circle.

Clang! Clang!

“Aah!”

[Ook?!]

Both weapons flew into the air.

Yu-jin and Wukong rolled across the floor side by side.

It was two against one.

Yet he had won perfectly without shedding a drop of sweat. The man planted his staff on the floor.

Then he turned toward us.

“...We have guests.”

* * *

“Master Do!!”

Yu-jin, who had been sprawled on the floor, sprang up like a coiled spring.

[Ook!]

Wukong had already wandered over to greet me too.

“When did you get here? Sorry. I was tag sparring with my dad!”

“Tag sparring?”

“Yep. Coordination is everything in spirit beast taming. He’s the director here, and he’s my dad.”

A head shaved clean and gleaming.

Shoulders like carved stone, and a neck like a log.

'...He looks like he walked out of Shaolin Temple.'

The director slowly looked me over from head to toe. He seemed a little displeased for some reason.

“...I am Choi Mu-chan, the man in charge of the Geumgang Spirit Beast Training Center.”

'Oh, he even talks like someone from a martial arts novel.'

“I’m Master Do of the Tianshan Sect.”

After hearing my introduction, Mu-chan turned his gaze to Yu-jin.

“Yu-jin.”

“Yeah?”

“Come speak with your father for a moment.”

“Huh? Now? We have a guest...”

“It’ll only take a moment.”

The director strode toward the office in the corner of the training hall.

“J-Just a moment, Master Do! I’ll be right back!”

Yu-jin trotted after their father.

'...'

That left only Ji-an, Wukong, and me in the middle of the hall.

“Do you know who that man is?”

“I’ve been trying to remember where I’ve seen him too...”

Ji-an searched through her phone, then suddenly widened her eyes.

“D-Don’t tell me... Geumgang Arhat?!”

“Is he famous?”

“He’s a martial Grade-1 sorcerer who used to beat Cursed spirits to death with his bare hands! They say he was famous for a long time, then suddenly retired and disappeared one day... I never imagined he was running a training center here.”

'...Grade 1.'

Ah. No wonder even a two-on-one fight had been so one-sided.

But then.

“I told you no, Yu-jin.”

Ah, it must have been because I had loosened the Suppression Talisman earlier.

My heightened senses carried their conversation over to me.

“What do you mean, no?! Wukong and I bought it with the money we earned. Why do we need anyone’s permission?”

“Even if it wasn’t in the contract, there are matters of propriety and loyalty. Would you be fine watching an athlete who competes under your workshop’s name perform with someone else’s weapon?”

“Tch, what do you mean, fine?! They can’t even make one proper Three-Section Staff! And everything Cheongsong Workshop gives us these days is terrible! Wukong breaks them all with one full-power swing! Will they take responsibility if we lose because one breaks during a match?”

“Cheongsong contacted us this morning.”

“...W-What did they say?”

“They said they would cut off their sponsorship if something like this happened one more time.”

“...”

“Yu-jin. Half of this training center’s expenses come from that sponsorship. Your armor, travel expenses for away matches, everything. And today, you invited that master to the center without saying a word again?”

“I don’t care, I don’t care. Tell them to cut us off. We can find another sponsor.”

“Do you think another workshop would sponsor an athlete wearing Ritual Implements made by a different master?”

“Argh. I don’t need that stupid sponsorship! If I win, sponsors will be begging me to let them advertise! Keep pushing me, and Wukong and I will pack up and leave!”

“No, Yu-jin. Wait. Listen to your father-”

Creak...

The office door opened.

“Sorry, Master Do! You’ve been waiting a while, right?”

Yu-jin hurried out.

“It’s fine.”

Mu-chan walked out slowly behind Yu-jin. The director stopped in front of me and bowed politely.

“...I heard my daughter has been in your debt.”

“In your debt? I only sold her an item after receiving payment.”

“Ho ho.”

Mu-chan smiled warmly.

His eyes did not smile at all.

“I’m sorry to say this after making you come all this way.”

After a brief pause, Mu-chan cast his gaze toward the weapons lying on the ring.

“...I won’t beat around the bush. I saw your skill clearly with my own eyes. That Three-Section Staff Wukong carries is a rather frightening item.”

“But I’m sorry. Our training center has a sponsoring workshop with whom we’ve had a long relationship. It wouldn’t be proper to bring in another master’s item while we have them. So, let us forget this discussion about the item.”

'He really doesn't mince words.'

'So he can't do anything about it because of the sponsorship, not because the item is bad?'

“Dad...!”

Yu-jin snapped, but Mu-chan did not even look their way.

'Well, if that's the reason.'

I had no intention of clinging to someone who did not want to buy it.

The moment I listed this at an auction, people would be falling over themselves to buy it.

“Understood. If fate brings us together again, we’ll meet then.”

I gave a light nod and turned away.

“Master Do...!”

I took maybe two steps.

'...'

Then I stopped.

'Hmm. That's a little disappointing.'

When I thought about it, I had made this Ritual Implement while thinking of those two from the beginning.

Yu-jin and Wukong.

A spirit beast handler and spirit beast who shared their senses and moved as one.

I had rushed here because I wanted to watch a fight without blind spots firsthand.

...Fine. I admitted it.

It really was because of the dopamine rush of watching it firsthand.

More than that, though.

Propriety this, loyalty that.

Sponsorship this, expenses that.

'...In the end, isn't it all just weighing the options?'

The director’s concern was obvious.

If he accepted my item, Cheongsong's sponsorship would end.

Half the training center's income came from it, so it made sense that he would worry.

But that was only true if Yu-jin and Wukong stayed at their current level.

The Octagon ran on workshop sponsorships in the first place.

A successful athlete was a walking billboard.

Put another way, the higher an athlete's level rose, the more the workshops would regret losing them.

What if those two linked their senses with this Ritual Implement and fought their way all the way up to the Grade-1 league?

Their sponsorship would not be cut off. Workshops would line up just to get their own logo on them.

Their fight money would be in a completely different range, too.

'The problem is that man hasn't seen that potential with his own eyes yet.'

The answer was simple, then.

I just had to show him.

I had come here because there was something I wanted to confirm anyway.

“Director.”

“...Speak.”

“Isn’t it too soon to know which is worth more, the sponsorship or this item?”

“D-Do-hyeon...?”

“...What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. I needed a live test for this item anyway. That tag sparring from before. How about one more match against your daughter and Wukong, this time with them wearing this?”

“If the item is nothing special, I’ll leave without complaint. I’ll never cross this training center’s threshold again.”

“...”

“But if it’s an item worth betting everything you have on...”

I shrugged.

“It won’t be too late to think it over then. Either way, wouldn’t it be better to see it for yourself before deciding?”

At last.

“Ahahaha... You say interesting things.”

Mu-chan slowly adjusted his grip on the staff he had planted beside him.

“I was curious too. What kind of item could cause my child to make such a fuss?”

Thump.

He heavily struck the floor with the tip of his staff.

“Fine. Let’s do it.”