WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈

Chapter 68: You Could Call It Pre-Release Buzz

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After putting the exhausted, sleeping Su-a to bed, I returned to the suite.

'She's really got it rough.'

She keeled over without warning all the time. Seriously.

At this rate, wasn't someone going to carry her off one day?

There'd already be plenty of attention on her since she was the first one set to debut.

'Can't have that.'

After showering, I threw myself straight onto the sofa.

You think I was going to sleep already?

No way. It was time to start planning.

Planning is supposed to be done lying down with your eyes closed.

What's this, you ask? CEO lounging.

'Ahh, a CEO's life is exhausting. I can't even rest after getting home~'

Though I was doing this because I enjoyed it.

'All right, let's sort things out first.'

Our first customer, little Su-a's Ultimate Art, was none other than Water Manipulation!

With a wave of her hand, she could control water any way she wanted. You could call it telekinesis limited to water.

No Spell Formula, no chanting, no preparation needed!

She could even control it with her thoughts alone, so the possibilities were endless. Her potential was incredible. Seriously.

And putting all that aside!

Controlling water was just insanely cool, wasn't it?

She had star power.

She wasn't the first one set to debut for nothing.

But...

Nobody was perfect.

Our customer's problems came down to two major things.

First, her Ultimate Art was always active, so her Spiritual Power ran dry and made her collapse at random.

Second, the water moved by reading Su-a's thoughts, so she couldn't control it the way she wanted.

In game terms, it was like controlling an always-on passive skill with brainwaves.

On top of that, it was an ultimate-level ability with a huge mana drain. That was the real problem.

'She was an OP character, sure... but she had a screw loose, so she wasn't balanced enough to launch like this.'

The question was, how was I going to patch her balance?

'I should stop the Spiritual Power drain first.'

Meow.

Pitter-patter. Hop.

Just as my thoughts started up, something soft and warm settled on my stomach.

'A way to stop the drain...'

Purr...

The soft, warm thing even started vibrating.

'Meow, your big brother needs to work, and you're getting in the way.'

I reached out and petted Meow.

'A way, huh...'

Yawn.

After playing in the water, I was feeling all sluggish...

I should get some sleep first.

* * *

'Hmm... a way to stop the drain.'

With my eyes closed, I continued the train of thought I'd left unfinished.

'The drain happens because her Ultimate Art is active twenty-four hours a day.'

Even when she did nothing, her Spiritual Power leaked away like water from a bottomless bucket.

The simplest solution would be to plug the leak. Couldn't we just block it with something like a Suppression Talisman?

'...If that worked, they would've tried it ages ago, right?'

There had to be a reason.

Then everything beyond my closed eyelids darkened.

Drip. Drip.

Cold drops of water fell onto my forehead.

'...Water droplets?'

When I opened my eyes, Su-a was right in front of my nose, her wet hair hanging down as she looked down at me.

"...Hey. What are you doing in someone else's training room?"

Slosh, slosh.

I was floating along with the ripples.

On an inner tube I'd borrowed from the management office. It actually felt pretty nice.

"Thinking."

"...Thinking about what?"

"Thinking about you, Senior."

"What the hell? Are you crazy?!"

Splash!

The tube spun around in circles.

She was prickly as always.

Who did she think I was racking my brain for?

Anyway.

Her timing was perfect. There was something I wanted to ask.

"Senior, have you tried using a Suppression Talisman? Couldn't you just block it with one? Oh, a Suppression Talisman is..."

"Of course I have."

Su-a rested her chin on the edge of the tube and answered gloomily.

From what I heard, she'd already tried everything.

A Suppression Talisman was a consumable. Its durability gradually wore down until it burned away.

According to Su-a, the standard ones didn't even last a minute before turning black and crumbling to ash.

Even most high-end ones couldn't last ten minutes.

"And you know what?"

The real problem came after that.

The instant the Suppression Talisman burned out and lost its effect, Su-a collapsed from exhaustion on the spot.

It was much worse than usual, too. She'd been bedridden for an entire day.

"Ah, what a shame. Now go back and train."

"Damn it."

'A Suppression Talisman doesn't work... Why?'

Well, it had to be that way, didn't it?

A Suppression Talisman didn't erase Spiritual Power. It stopped it from leaking out, like a dam.

Its internal materials reacted to the sorcerer's Spiritual Power and were gradually consumed.

Ordinarily, people wearing a Suppression Talisman wouldn't try to use a Spell Formula, so there wasn't much strain on it.

But Su-a's Ultimate Art was an always-on type.

Her Spiritual Power was constantly trying to pour out, twenty-four hours a day.

The Suppression Talisman couldn't withstand all that pressure head-on.

The Spiritual Power that had nowhere to go built up while it was blocked, then poured out all at once when the dam burst. That was probably why she crashed from exhaustion.

'So blocking it isn't the answer.'

If I couldn't stop it, I had to let it flow.

Instead, I needed a vessel that could receive what flowed out.

A blueprint began taking shape in my head.

First, an input section. I'd engrave a circuit that continuously absorbed the Spiritual Power leaking from Su-a's body.

Then connect it to a vessel that could hold it.

'For a vessel that can receive Spiritual Power, there's nothing better than...'

A Spirit Stone.

Oh, come on, Mr. Spirit Stone again~?

What could I do? It was too useful.

Anyway.

The Spirit Stone would hold the absorbed Spiritual Power, then send it back to Su-a by reversing its path.

I'd make the input section bidirectional. Like breathing out through the same nose you breathed in through.

That way, nothing went to waste. It would circulate around and around, then be absorbed by Su-a again.

She wouldn't collapse from exhaustion just because her Spiritual Power leaked out while she stood still.

'Good. One problem solved.'

Now for the second.

The control problem.

I'd already decided on the answer.

A controller.

I'd make her control it with her hands instead of her mind.

But first, there was something I had to solve.

Su-a's Ultimate Art worked by having water read the flow of Spiritual Power leaking from her body and move accordingly.

So I had to take away that command priority first.

There'd be no point handing her a controller if the water kept listening to her body instead.

'To take command priority...'

I needed a Spiritual Power signal stronger and clearer than her body's.

Strong enough that the water would read it first. That meant its Spiritual Power density had to be far greater than the energy leaking from her body.

'...Wait.'

Hold on.

I'd already decided to absorb and condense all of Su-a's Spiritual Power into a Spirit Stone, hadn't I?

Then it would naturally be much denser than the faint waves leaking from her body.

The water's response would naturally be drawn to it.

'?'

What a steal. Two functions from one Spirit Stone?

Man, that was killing two birds with one stone.

If I used a material with high water attribute affinity for the body, that signal would reach the water farther and more clearly.

Command priority stolen, complete.

After that, all I had to do was engrave Spell Formulas into the controls.

Like a game controller.

No matter how she felt, the water would move only as her hands commanded.

'Hmm. Too many buttons would be inconvenient, though.'

Then again, arcade machines only had one stick and a few buttons.

Controls were better when they were simple.

One dial, a few buttons. The rest could be grip strength.

And maybe motion sensing?

Tilt it, spin it, swing it.

You know, like the Dintendo everyone tried at least once as a kid.

That should be enough.

'And the appearance...'

There was nothing to think about. I'd already decided.

'Good. Design complete.'

I was telling you, planning was best done lying down~

Now I just needed to take some measurements.

And the person who'd use it was right there.

"Hey! Senior! Take a break for a second!"

* * *

"All right, your hand."

"...Why my hand?"

"To measure it. How am I supposed to make a custom Ritual Implement without measuring your hand?"

I sat Su-a down after she came out of the water and took out a tape measure.

The width of her palm, the length of her fingers.

Her grip strength and even the angle her wrist could rotate.

"Wow... Your hands are tiny. They're total baby hands."

"My hands being small might be because of the Dragon King's curse."

"Huh?"

"My height not growing either. And... puberty and stuff. All of it."

"Why? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't know either. Maybe the Dragon King likes this type."

"...?"

"I-I'm serious!"

"R-Right."

Well, if thinking that made her feel better.

'Though her mental age doesn't seem to have grown much either.'

No, I couldn't know that for sure.

Maybe her growth had been stunted because she used so much energy?

You know, like how people said you wouldn't grow if you didn't eat enough as a kid, or if you did strength training.

Once I finished measuring, it was time for an interview.

"What have you done with water?"

"Hmm... Floating things, shooting it, blocking things, cutting things. Oh! I can make whirlpools too."

"Can you move multiple masses at once?"

"Up to two. It doesn't work well from three onward."

"Okay."

As I wrote everything down in my notebook, Su-a craned her neck and peeked over.

"But what are you making, anyway?"

"Ahem!"

I snapped the notebook shut.

"A stick? Is it some kind of magic wand?"

"Secret."

"What? Tell me!"

"Gifts are supposed to be a surprise."

"Damn it..."

* * *

I began making it that very day.

The workshop setup had just been completed, so it was the first project in the new workshop, with sunlight streaming in.

I got the materials from Noh Jin-hyeok's collection.

He'd told me to use whatever I needed, and he really had everything.

For the outer material, I used titanium alloy.

It had the strength of steel at half the weight.

Light and sturdy. Most importantly, it wouldn't rust in seawater.

I hollowed it out and shaped it into a long tube.

Clang! Clang!

I hammered the heated alloy into a shaft, then forged the tip into three prongs.

The center prong was straight, while the two on either side curved gently upward.

Yeah. What else could it be? A trident!

'Man, it already looks cool.'

I filled the hollow shaft with Dragon Scale Coral as the core.

Deep-sea coral that resembled dragon scales.

It grew for centuries while absorbing the spiritual energy of water, making it the perfect channel for Spiritual Power.

Su-a's Spiritual Power would travel through that coral core to the Spirit Stone at the trident's tip.

At the base where the prongs split, I set a Deep Sea Stone.

A blue Spirit Stone found only in the depths of the ocean.

It would be the vessel receiving Su-a's Spiritual Power and the heart that carried her voice to the water.

Finally, the handle.

Using the measurements I'd taken, I carved the grip to fit Su-a's hand perfectly.

I gave its surface a textured, matte finish so it wouldn't slip when wet.

I set one dial and two buttons where her thumb would rest.

Then came the main engraving.

Screeeech...

First, I engraved absorption and circulation circuits across the entire trident.

Around the grip, I densely laid out sensing circuits that could read grip strength.

Output, shape, fixation.

One by one, I built the control circuits so it could produce as many types of water movement as possible.

Turning the dial changed the water's form, pressing it fixed the shape in place, and the harder she gripped it, the stronger the output became.

The point was that one button didn't equal one function.

Like fighting-game commands, different combinations would produce different techniques.

The same button could create a wave or a wall depending on where the dial was set.

And based on grip strength?

A light grip and a press would fix it in place. A hard grip and a press would fire it.

I even added motion sensing for swings and full rotations.

With just a few buttons and minimal movement, it could produce dozens of techniques.

This was something she'd use in real combat.

Rather than making her memorize complicated commands, I made it as simple as possible so she could rapidly tap the buttons and operate it within a second.

'The problem is that every added function changes the entire internal circuit I have to engrave.'

It felt like my head was going to explode.

Besides, this was the first Ritual Implement with a control system that I'd ever made.

But wasn't that what made it fun?

'This is my first piece after changing jobs too. I should put this much care into it.'

Three full days passed like that.

'Whew... Finished.'

The silver-white shaft gleamed in the light, while the blue Spirit Stone at the base of the prongs shimmered softly.

'Man, even I think this looks cool.'

Heh heh.

I couldn't wait!

I had to go right away!

* * *

"H-Huh?"

"Here, a gift. Try holding it."

Su-a carefully reached out and gripped the trident.

Hummm...

The trident's Spirit Stone received Su-a's Spiritual Power and glowed blue.

"Oh. You finished it already?"

Noh Jin-hyeok entered the training room with his secretary.

It seemed he had been at the company that day. He canceled a meeting midway and came straight down.

'He skipped a meeting. Then again, I'd probably want to see this too.'

"Much faster than I expected, Master Do."

'What are you talking about? It took forever.'

"..."

Noh Jin-hyeok grinned and turned to his secretary.

"Is the test setup ready?"

"It's complete."

"Good."

He crossed his arms and turned toward Su-a.

"Then shall we see what it can do? Are you ready, Su-a?"

"Y-Yes... Sir!"

.

.

.

Thirty minutes later.

The training room was completely flooded.

Water dripped from the ceiling, and all the training targets had been smashed to pieces and floated around.

At the center of it all, Su-a stood blankly with the trident in hand.

Clap clap clap clap!

"Man, that's insane, Master Do!"

Noh Jin-hyeok clapped as he strode toward me.

"I don't usually say this, but you're a real genius. A genius!"

'Over something like this...'

Ahem.

From the look of things, it had performed exactly as intended.

Even though it was the first time she'd held it, Su-a had quickly gotten a feel for it.

"Hey, Senior. How is it? Do you like it?"

"..."

"Su-a?"

"..."

What was this? Why wasn't she answering?

She froze in place, staring straight at my face.

Her lips only opened and closed.

'...What's wrong with her?'

"Good. Then shall we get started?"

"...Am I debuting already?"

Noh Jin-hyeok smiled meaningfully.

"Rather than a debut..."

"You could call it pre-release buzz."

* * *

A few days later.

Bzzzzz... Bzzzzz...

Ding... Ding...

———————————

[Safety Alert]

At 4:02 PM today, a gas explosion of unknown cause occurred in the Dowon District area. Nearby residents, please evacuate immediately.

———————————

Boom!

At that moment, a blazing red column of fire shot up from the heart of the city.

Goblin Fire.

[Emergency Broadcast] Dowon District Fire Scene, 1,204 viewers

└ What? When did this tab get added?

└ Holy shit, what happened?

└ Wait, didn't something just pass through the smoke?

└ I saw it too. Was that a Hellfire Ghost??

└ Fuck, then regular firefighters can't even get near it, can they??

└ When is the Occult Fire Brigade getting here??

└ They left already, but it'll take at least fifteen minutes?

└ Fifteen minutes?? There are still people inside???

Just as the flames swallowed the second floor of the commercial building.

Boom!

└ Fuck, we're screwed. The fire hydrant burst.

└ How are they supposed to put it out now?

└ Wait, what the hell? Someone's walking toward the fire right now??

└ ??? What's with that girl?

└ ?????????????????????

└ Holy fuck, what was that just now?????

Footnotes:

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