The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith - Chapter 66

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈

Chapter 66: Seed

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When I stepped out of my room, two people were waiting in the hallway.

"This way!"

It was Ji-an and the secretary from yesterday.

"Do-hyeon! Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. Huh...? Ji-an?"

Up close, Ji-an looked strangely worn out.

"You look really tired. Are you okay?"

"Ahaha... The meeting ran a little long yesterday."

Well, that made sense.

I might be the president of this venture company, but Ji-an was handling the actual operations.

Setting up the workshop, registrations, paperwork. She must have had a mountain of things to deal with.

"Then I'm counting on you, Do-hyeon! I'll head back to the meeting room!"

Ji-an cheerfully waved and disappeared down the hallway.

'Hmm. I feel a little bad now.'

No, wait.

We both had our own jobs to do.

A craftsman needed to do a craftsman's work.

"Please follow me, Master Do. The CEO asked me to show you around the building first."

I toured the company building with the secretary as my guide.

Every floor had state-of-the-art security systems and lounges that rivaled hotel lobbies. There was an entire floor dedicated to a fitness center, even facilities for managing spirit beasts.

'This is insane...'

Then came the grand finale, the buffet-style employee cafeteria.

I followed the secretary inside.

'Oh.'

Chefs in spotless white hats swarmed the place. It looked like they'd moved an entire hotel kitchen in here.

Lunch preparations were in full swing, and the smell of seafood sizzling in butter washed over me.

Growl.

'Okay. Just wait.'

Once I was done, this was the first place I was hitting.

As we got into the elevator, it finally sank in.

A room like a hotel suite, buffet meals, and every convenience facility imaginable?

What kind of employee benefits were these?

Was this... what a major corporation was like?

Damn. I was getting fired up.

Ah, my loyalty to the company was suddenly...

'I-I'm not that kind of person.'

Ahem. Anyway.

Ding.

"And this is where your workshop will be built."

The doors opened.

...It was huge.

They had cleared out an entire floor just for their craftsman.

It was large enough to fit three or four decent-sized workshops with room to spare.

Sunlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

There was even an indoor garden enclosed in glass on one side, with a small waterwheel turning in the sunlight at its center.

"!!!!"

I had always worked either underground or in some cramped back room.

A workshop with sunlight and a waterwheel?

'Ugh... This is crazy...'

No, I couldn't take it... I was getting way too excited...

I'd hit my limit.

"Give us a list of the equipment you need, and we'll have everything set up as quickly as possible."

'Ahh.'

As I looked around the empty workshop site, overcome with emotion, the secretary added something.

"And... the CEO said there was somewhere else he wanted to show you first."

* * *

The elevator kept going down.

Basement level four, five, six...

'Seriously, how deep does this place go?'

Eventually, the doors opened.

Noh Jin-hyeok was waiting for us.

"You're here, Master Do!"

"Yes. Hello."

Then I suddenly found myself wondering.

'What am I supposed to call this guy?'

CEO? No, technically, I was the president of a venture company now too.

Then was he Chairman Noh?

...Mr. Noh Jin-hyeok?

'...'

Whatever. I'd just live without subjects for a while.

More importantly.

"Whoa..."

How much money did he have to build something like this underground?

The space was as wide as several gymnasiums put together, and the ceiling was ridiculously high.

It was hard to believe this was the sixth basement level.

Every training room lining the walls was layered with Barriers, and people inside were hard at work training.

Talismans flew through the air, Spell Formulas were drawn...

'What is this high-tech facility?'

"How do you like our training facilities?"

"...They're impressive."

"Mm. Of course they are."

Apparently pleased with my answer, Noh Jin-hyeok nodded with a satisfied expression.

But as I looked around, something felt strange.

'...I don't recognize any of these faces.'

Wasn't this supposed to be the headquarters of the non-House alliance?

I'd expected it to be packed with top-ranked Grade 1 monsters from outside the Houses. Instead, everyone here was a stranger.

Some of them even looked pretty young.

"There are more unfamiliar faces than I expected."

"Ah, you mean the non-House ranked sorcerers? Of course, I've contacted them too. But just because someone isn't from a House doesn't mean we can reach out to anyone."

This was the situation, apparently.

Most non-House sorcerers with names on the rankings already belonged to an office somewhere or were quietly receiving support from a House.

If they approached carelessly, word could spread before the organization even officially launched.

"So for now, I've only contacted people we can trust. And Master Do, there's another reason these people are unfamiliar to you."

"...?"

"They haven't officially debuted as sorcerers yet."

Debuted?

Was that a term people used for sorcerers too?

"You know Isolation Zones have been appearing much more frequently over the past few years, right?"

"Well, yeah."

That was the kind of topic that popped up on Goblin Fire whenever people got bored.

"That's when people like them started appearing one by one."

I looked toward the training rooms, following Noh Jin-hyeok's gaze.

"Kids who manifested an Ultimate Art before even reaching a realm."

'...An Ultimate Art?'

An Ultimate Art was a unique Spell Formula that a sorcerer could supposedly obtain only after mastering one field to its absolute limit.

Like what Yu-jin's father had shown at the end last time.

It was like unlocking a high-level skill that normally required you to change classes into a sorcerer, grind to a high level, and clear your Awakening quest, then starting with it right from the tutorial.

"There are people like that?"

"They keep appearing one by one. That's why I'm gathering them all up."

"..."

"Have you heard of sorcerer trainees? I call them Seeds. If we raise them right, they'll become special-grade sorcerers in the next generation... maybe even this generation."

So he was bringing them in before they could be influenced by the Houses, while they were still sprouts.

Then he would raise them into special-grade or Grade 1 sorcerers and make them the pillars of the non-House faction?

Wow...

He hadn't just been buying up Ritual Implements?

"The training is going quite well. Some of them are already at a professional level."

Noh Jin-hyeok continued.

"We plan to reveal them one at a time, in order. It wouldn't look as good if we dumped them all out at once, and it'd dilute the focus, right?"

What was this, an idol debut?

"Hahaha! I suppose you could say that."

Noh Jin-hyeok burst out laughing.

"These days, raw power isn't the only kind of power. Intangible influence matters too."

That was true.

Recognition, fame, and public reputation were becoming important in the Occult World too.

Just having a high rank in either the sorcerer rankings or popularity rankings would send sales of the workshop brand behind the Ritual Implements they carried soaring, along with their market value.

Apparently, a popular ranked sorcerer had once worn a certain workshop's bracelet for an interview, and by the next day, that workshop had six months' worth of orders backed up.

On the other hand, a weaker House had quietly tried to keep a successful non-House sorcerer in check.

Public opinion had turned completely against them, and they had ended up posting an official apology.

Though that was probably only because it was a weaker House.

"Bringing you in, Master Do, is part of that too."

In other words, he wanted to discover talent and turn it into stars.

'Wait. This feels like a method I've seen somewhere before.'

"Well, this was decided in a rush yesterday. Originally, I was thinking of unveiling everyone at once."

"The problem is..."

Noh Jin-hyeok's gaze settled on one of the training rooms.

"Since none of them built their way up step by step, they all have their own issues."

Right then.

Boom!

A deafening blast came from one of the training rooms, making its Barrier tremble.

A boy crawled out of the thick smoke, coughing but otherwise completely unharmed.

"...Like that."

As we walked between the training rooms enclosed by reinforced glass and Barriers, I listened to the rest of his explanation.

"So I've been thinking about the Seeds' debut order. There's one trainee I've picked to go first."

"...What are they like?"

Noh Jin-hyeok stopped in front of a training room.

"It'll be quicker to see than to explain."

* * *

When the glass door opened, a sharp fishy smell hit me.

The place looked more like a swimming pool than a training room.

Water rippled across a space as large as a decent indoor pool.

And someone was swimming through it like they were gliding.

"Su-a. Come out for a moment."

At Noh Jin-hyeok's call, the shadow in the water changed direction.

Swoosh.

The girl cut through the water, reached the pool's edge, and climbed out.

Splash.

She threw her head back, shaking the water from her hair, then stared straight up at me.

Just then.

"CEO, for a moment..."

The secretary came over and whispered something in Noh Jin-hyeok's ear.

"Ah, right. Master Do, talk with her for a bit."

Noh Jin-hyeok left the training room with the secretary.

'He's really just leaving us alone?'

Well, it didn't matter.

I had a younger sister too. I could handle kids.

Big eyes, a small build, chubby cheeks.

She was petite and had a young-looking face.

She looked like a middle schooler at most, maybe a first-year high school student if I was being generous.

'She's already in a place like this at her age.'

Maybe I was getting older, but these days, every middle or high school student looked cute to me.

I bent my knees slightly to meet her eye level.

I'd heard her name earlier, but introducing yourselves was the rule when dealing with kids.

"Hey, kid. What's your name?"

"...Su-a."

"Su-a, huh? How old are you?"

"...."

Su-a stared at me, then let out a quiet snort.

"I'm twenty, you know?"

Then she folded her arms and lifted her chin.

'What?'

She was twenty?

And if she was twenty, she was twenty. Where did she get off casually talking down to me...?

Then again, I probably looked pretty young too.

"And you know, you're the new one. Shouldn't you greet your senior first when you see one?"

She stood there with her arms crossed, tapping one foot.

"...? Hi."

"Yeah. Nice to meet you?"

Su-a accepted my greeting almost absentmindedly, then looked me up and down.

"Ahem. So, newbie, who got you in here? The secretary?"

"No. The CEO."

"...The CEO brought you in personally? You must be pretty good."

'...The CEO?'

That was apparently what the trainees called Noh Jin-hyeok.

"Something like that."

"Hmm~?"

She nodded with her nose in the air.

'She acts exactly like a little kid, though.'

Well, with an eight-year age gap, a high school student and a twenty-year-old were basically the same to me.

Anyway.

There was one thing I was curious about.

What kind of Ultimate Art had this little kid been born with for the Emperor to choose her to debut first?

"So, Senior, what's your specialty?"

"...Senior?"

Su-a's eyebrows twitched.

She didn't seem to dislike it.

'Ah, she's this type?'

Maybe I should play along.

"The CEO said you were the ace here, so I got curious and came to see."

"R-Really? The CEO said that?"

"More or less."

The corners of her mouth kept twitching.

"Ahem... Well, if that's the case, I'll show you."

Su-a casually held out a hand.

Slosh.

The surface of the pool swelled, and a stream of water slowly rose into the air.

Then, following Su-a's gesture, it swam through the air.

"...!"

How did you do that?!

Whoa, that was seriously fascinating.

She was controlling water with her bare hands, without a spell or a Talisman?

I'd never seen anything like that before.

'What's the principle behind it?'

I was dying to know.

"How did you do that just now? Can you show me one more time?"

"Ahem! You're surprised by something this minor?"

Su-a cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders.

"Fine, newbie. I'll show you a little more, just this once. Watch closely."

This time, Su-a spread both hands wide.

Rumble...

The entire pool's water seemed to surge toward one side.

Crash!

A massive wave rose up and slammed against the opposite wall.

"Ooh."

The more impressed I looked, the more visibly smug Su-a became.

And the more excited she got, the larger the waves became.

Boom! Crash!

"Ah, sorry. I got a little excited."

The waves hit the wall harder than necessary, spraying some water all the way over here.

"All right. Your turn now. Show me what you've got."

'Hmm... What should I show her?'

Hammering? Here?

After she'd shown me all that, it would look a little bad if I was the only one who didn't do anything.

'Can't be helped.'

I took a Talisman from inside my clothes.

Crackle.

I quickly inscribed a simple Spell Formula with my fingertips, then flicked it onto the water's surface.

Then I lightly pushed Spiritual Power into the line connected to the Talisman.

Fwoooosh!!

A pillar of water shot up from the center of the pool to the ceiling.

The pure white column of water stopped only after slamming into the ceiling.

Shhhhh...

'That should be enough, right?'

"...."

"Uh... huh?"

Su-a looked back and forth between the pillar of water and me.

'...Hmm. Was it too boring?'

Well, water was her specialty.

Not my problem.

"W-What was that just now? How did you...?"

Then the door opened behind me.

"Oh, you've gotten close already."

It was Noh Jin-hyeok.

"Ah, right. I forgot to mention it. They won't know who you are. We haven't signed them up for Goblin Fire yet."

"Ah..."

"Su-a, remember when I said I'd give you a gift? This is the person who's going to make your personal Ritual Implement."

"This person...?"

* * *

We stepped out into the hallway for a moment.

"Mm, did you take a look?"

Noh Jin-hyeok handed me a document he was holding.

[Chae Su-a. Age 20. Spiritual Power type: water attribute.]

[Ultimate Art: Water Manipulation. always-on type.]

'Always-on type.'

Apparently, it wasn't the sort of Ultimate Art where you gathered energy and unleashed it like a finishing move.

It was a passive Spell Formula she could use whenever she wanted.

In other words, she controlled water through her emotions?

Grin.

This was going to be even more fun.

I was already drooling over it.

I kept reading the document.

[Special notes: Chronic fatigue due to heavy Spiritual Power consumption. Output tends to fluctuate depending on emotions. Cannot be controlled when excited.]

'...Cannot be controlled when excited?'

Boom! Splash! Crash!

'...But what is she doing over there?'

Beyond the glass door, pillars of water kept rising inside the training room.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

'She's working hard?'

But the water pillars she kept launching seemed to be getting a little shorter each time.

Sway.

Su-a's small body suddenly tipped to the side.

"Whoa?!"

The staff member standing by in the corner ran over with practiced ease and caught her.

"See?"