WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈

Chapter 7: Hellfire Sword

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"That sword. May I take a look?"

"Y-you! And who the hell are you?! I told you not to come any closer!!"

The man's eyes widened as he stumbled backward.

The Talismans dangling all over him began to flutter ominously, as if they could explode at any moment.

Everyone in the store froze.

Unable to escape with the man blocking the entrance, the customers cowered beneath the display cases, clutching their heads.

The Cheonhwa Hall employees, who had been waiting for an opening to subdue him, couldn't move carelessly either.

One wrong move, and everyone in this cramped store would be roasted alive together.

But the bundle of Talismans hanging from the man bothered me far less than the item resting atop the glass display case, called the Karmafire Sword.

Ignoring his threats, I walked toward the counter.

"You can't... Do-hyeon!"

Seo Ji-an stomped her feet behind me, her face drained of color, but I didn't stop.

An iron sword lay diagonally across the display case.

I grabbed its hilt.

Bzzzzng!

The instant my fingertips touched the cold metal, something within me naturally seeped into the sword, just as it had when I held the jade flute earlier.

[Mana Wave]

The inside of the sword unfolded in my mind as though I could see straight through it.

'...Just as I thought.'

I'd already suspected it.

Earlier, when that manager opened his mouth, the air in the store suddenly grew heavy. At that very moment, the sword on the display case gave off a faint tremor.

For a brief second, I could vaguely see inside it.

That lingering image in my mind became clear the moment I held it.

'...Hmm.'

An intricate circuit had been carved into the sword's interior.

Energy entered through the hilt and ran straight up the center of the blade. Small branches split from that main line on either side, spiraling outward.

The circuits grew thinner toward the ends of the branches, and their inner walls were packed with tiny protrusions.

The more energy passed through narrowing channels, the more violently it flowed.

That violent flow struck the protrusions, creating minute vibrations.

Vibration became friction, and friction became heat.

The moment it reached the ignition point, flames bloomed at the ends of the branches.

Once ignited, the fire used the energy circulating through the circuit as fuel, spreading across the entire surface of the blade.

In other words, the circuit itself served as both fuel line and ignition device.

'...The structure itself is incredibly clean.'

It was an intuitive design with no wasted elements.

Narrow, rough sections had been deliberately placed along the energy's path, turning the resistance that obstructed its flow into power.

It reminded me of the design inside the jade flute I had held earlier.

The circuit's main lines ran smoothly, and even the branch points aligned perfectly with the blade's center of balance.

The problem came after that.

The entry circuit leading from the hilt into the blade.

From that point onward, it was filled with something that shouldn't have been there.

This feeling was...

Damp, somehow wet... energy.

'Is this... water?'

The circuit had been designed for a fire attribute, but it was full of energy with the exact opposite nature.

Like water and oil refusing to mix.

Energy of a different nature had become trapped inside the circuit, unable to escape.

Of course, this was all analysis based on what I used to do in the game.

Still, the principles of reality couldn't be all that different.

"Refund me right now! And I won't take a single step out of here until you pay my medical bills and compensation for emotional distress!"

The man shouted at the manager again, his neck veins bulging.

The employees behind him watched for an opportunity, unsure whether they could close the distance.

I raised my eyes from the sword's internal structure and looked directly at the troublesome customer.

"...Hey."

"...What?"

"Before you swung this sword, did you do anything else?"

"Huh?! What the hell are you talking about...?"

The man frowned.

He looked as though he had no idea what I meant.

Then his expression changed slightly, as if something had occurred to him.

"...!"

"Didn't you do something else before using this sword?"

"W-well! I control a Water Ghost, so of course I summoned it before the fight! What does that have to do with...?"

His voice trailed off.

A Water Ghost.

Apparently, there were people in this world who controlled things like that.

Just from the name alone, it was bound to possess cold, gloomy energy.

To summon a spirit beast like that, he would naturally have to draw on his own Spiritual Power.

And if he had been holding this sword at the time?

The cold, damp Spiritual Power he used for the summoning would have leaked through the hilt and into the Mana Circuit without him realizing.

He had poured the water-aspected energy used to control the Water Ghost straight into a fire-aspected sword.

"You were holding the sword then, weren't you?"

"...!"

The man's shoulders twitched.

The look of having been struck at the heart of the matter crossed his face, only for anger to flare up again.

"Fuck! So what if I was?! You're just trying to find some excuse to kick me out, aren't you?!"

"...You're someone who handles swords. Are you saying you don't even know what kind of sword you're holding before you start swinging it around?"

"Cut the bullshit! I let the other guys in my group try it too! But no matter how much Spiritual Power they poured into it, they couldn't make it ignite either! If that doesn't make it defective, then what does?!"

There was nothing more to ask.

The Mana Circuit was already clogged with the damp Spiritual Power he had poured into it himself.

No matter how much normal, pure energy someone else sent in afterward, it would be soaked and cooled at the circuit entrance. There was no way it could reach the ignition point.

In short, he had wrecked the Mana Circuit through his own carelessness, then stormed into a perfectly fine store with a bomb and caused a scene because he claimed the sword was broken.

I let out a short, incredulous sigh.

Then I lightly raised the sword in my hand toward the man with one hand.

Everyone in the store turned to look at me.

"Y-you bastard...! Just try coming any closer! I'll set these Talismans off and drag every last one of us to the afterlife!"

The man took another step back and clenched the bundle of Talismans.

He tried to sound vicious, but his voice shook pathetically.

I didn't move closer.

I simply stood there and let a little more of my energy flow into the sword.

My energy slowly seeped through the black sediment hardened at the circuit entrance.

Like ink dissolving in water.

It was a process I had performed countless times in the game.

When purifying contaminated Mana Circuits, energy was sent through the gaps between the impurities, forcing them out from the inside.

It wasn't especially difficult.

All I had to do was send in energy stronger than the sedimented energy, with greater precision.

I sent a finely honed stream of energy into the sword by hand.

The damp energy pooled inside began to be slowly forced by my energy toward the ends of the circuit.

* * *

Everyone in the store watched in breathless silence.

A young man in an old tracksuit stood casually beside the display case, holding a sword in one hand.

He hadn't even taken a proper stance.

He didn't shout to draw up Spiritual Power, nor did he chant the incantations typical of sorcerers.

He simply held the hilt as though tired, his gaze lowered.

He didn't even steady his breathing.

And yet.

Hummm.

The ceiling lights shining over the young man's shoulders flickered strangely.

A heavy pressure spread from him, as if everything around him had suddenly sunk.

The Talismans hanging from the troublesome customer trembled as if crushed by an invisible force.

Seo Ji-an stood there with her mouth hanging open.

The customers who had been cowering on the floor raised their heads one by one, as if spellbound.

At the very instant the manager narrowed his eyes slightly, blue flames surged over the blade.

Whoosh!

From the hilt to the tip, flowers of fire burst across the entire sword at once.

It was an icy blue light that could only be glimpsed at the deepest heart of a forge furnace.

Overwhelming heat, enough to distort the surrounding air, swept through the store.

The Karmafire Sword.

The sword that had lain dormant after being treated as defective finally proved the weight of its true name for all to see.

"No... H-how can this be...?"

The troublesome customer's face turned white.

The hand clutching the Talismans shook violently before falling limply to his side.

Not a trace remained of the fierce momentum with which the man had held everyone in the store hostage and rampaged moments ago.

Through the wavering blue flames, Do-hyeon stared directly at the man with an indifferent gaze.

"...Someone who can't even handle a single sword properly storms in here, blames the sword, and starts making threats. Aren't you ashamed?"

"T-this can't be..."

Thud.

The man's knees gave out.

Whether he had been completely overwhelmed by the heat of the blazing sword before him, or whether, after realizing his own foolishness, the furious anger had finally ebbed away, he sank to the floor in a daze.

The Talismans hanging from his body fluttered helplessly, no longer giving off any threatening energy.

"Subdue him!"

Not missing the opening, the Cheonhwa Hall employees rushed in.

The man couldn't put up any real resistance. In an instant, he was forced face-down onto the floor and his limbs were bound.

Footnotes:

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