WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 87: Ah, I’ve Realized It.
──────
Ding.
[Notification] ‘No Corp Master Do’ has listed a new product.
└ Here we gooooo!!!
└ Something big is coming, something big is coming!
└ What is it this time? What is it?
└ Sword sword sword sword, please let it be another sword.
└ It’s a key ring, right? It has to be a key ring, right?
└ Please, give us some Grade 2 key ring stock T_T
But contrary to everyone’s expectations, the announcement was for something completely different.
[Notice] Three types of Enchant Talismans to be auctioned.
Seller: No Corp Master Do ✔
─ Karmafire Talisman
─ Swift Talisman
─ Efficiency Talisman
100 of each available. The top 100 bidders win.
[Product Description]
· Attach to a Ritual Implement before use.
· Grants the attached Ritual Implement the corresponding function for five minutes.
· Usable three times.
· No additional Spiritual Power consumption.
─ Karmafire Talisman: Imbues the Ritual Implement’s striking surface with Fire Energy.
─ Swift Talisman: Increases the Ritual Implement’s response and deployment speed.
─ Efficiency Talisman: Reduces the Spiritual Power consumed when operating the Ritual Implement.
※ Does not function without a Ritual Implement.
Auction date: One week from now, 6:00 PM to midnight. (6 hours)
└ ??
└ ???
└ What is this?
└ Talismans? Taaalismans?
[HOT] Did you all see Do Emperor’s new product announcement??? Enchant Talismans????
(Announcement screenshot.)
They’re Talismans you attach to Ritual Implements. What even is this?
└ Finally T_T
└ Damn... What is this, seriously? The names alone have me hyped as hell.
└ Wait, Talismans can enhance Ritual Implements? Enchant them?
└ So you stick one on a sword, go hyah!, swing it, and fire comes out?
└ Holy shit, I can’t take this anymore~~~
[HOT] Holy shit, does attaching one of those instantly turn it into a Karmafire Dagger?
Can I stick one on a kitchen knife from the supermarket?
└ It says right in the description that it can only be used on Ritual Implements;;
└ Oh, right. Sorry.
└ Swift Talisman? You could stick that on armor, then.
└ You should put it on a sword.
└ It’s not like you’re carving new engravings. Does sticking a single Talisman on the outside really make that possible?? Does that make any sense?
└ How the hell does this work?
└ Any Talisman practitioners know the principle behind this?
[HOT] I’m a Grade 2 Talisman practitioner, and honestly, this one’s hard to believe.
I mean, Do Emperor’s a blacksmith to begin with. Shouldn’t Spell Formula engraving be his specialty? How is he making Talismans too?
And three uses? How does that even work?
I’ve never heard of using a Talisman in multiple installments.
└ You know Talisman Noona. Didn’t they collaborate?
└ Is that why you’re Eul-tier?
└ LOL That hit hard.
[Daily Life] Already putting together builds with a huge grin LOL
Stick a Karmafire Talisman on a flute Ritual Implement, then plaster it with Efficiency Talismans.
Boom. A flamethrower with Spiritual Power consumption approaching zero.
Damn. Isn’t that perfect?
└ Holy shit, this is it.
└ You don’t even know if you can buy one, but you’re already sitting there planning combinations LOL
└ Approved for having style.
└ How are you supposed to resist a flamethrower~
[Question] 100 of each. Top 100 bidders win. How high do you think the cutoff will go?
└ They’re consumables with three uses. How high could they possibly go LOL
└ LOL So innocent. It’s Do Emperor’s first edition. Half the buyers will put them on display without using them.
└ Ah... I can already hear the cutoff climbing.
└ I don’t care how it works. I’m joining the auction. It’s Do Emperor.
* * *
“Let’s do business together.”
“...”
Kang Ha-na’s hand stopped in midair as she raised her teacup to her lips.
Then she gave me a once-over and snorted.
“Why?”
“No, it’s just that things usually didn’t end well with the people in Hong Kong who opened with that line.”
Her teacup slowly came down.
“So I guess I decided I’d never do it again.”
“Well, even so.”
Kang Ha-na set down her cup and propped her chin on her hand.
“You’re my little brother, so I’ll at least hear you out. Go on, try to sell me on it.”
Grin.
I reached across the table.
“Mind if I borrow this?”
“Hey. That gun’s loaded-”
Click. Click.
I twisted off the suppressor.
“...What are you doing right now?”
“Look.”
A gun in one hand.
A suppressor in the other.
“Big sis, why don’t guns come with suppressors attached from the start?”
“...Out of nowhere?”
Kang Ha-na asked as though I had lost my mind, but she answered anyway.
“Because they make the gun heavier and longer. They ruin the balance too. So you only attach one when you need it.”
“Can you put one on any gun?”
“Of course not. The caliber has to match. So do the threads on the barrel.”
“Exactly.”
Tap, tap.
I tapped the yellow Talisman secured to the grip.
“You attach and remove Talismans like this too.”
“I haven’t understood a single word you’ve said so far.”
Ahem.
Fair enough. Put that way, it did sound like I was talking nonsense.
“In short, I want to sell Talismans that can be attached to and removed from Ritual Implements.”
“...What?”
“Attach one, and it gets stronger. Remove it, and it goes back to normal. Enchant Talismans exclusively for Ritual Implements, which you can swap out like consumables.”
* * *
“Little brother.”
Kang Ha-na laughed in disbelief.
“Attaching Talismans to objects is already a thing. Protective Talismans, Evil-Warding Talismans, all of it.”
“Come on. Those are separate from the Ritual Implement.”
An Evil-Warding Talisman that repelled evil energy, a Protective Talisman that blocked one fatal blow.
In the end, they only worked through the Talisman itself.
Attaching an Evil-Warding Talisman to a sword did not turn that sword into an evil-warding sword.
It was just a sword with a Talisman stuck to it.
“...?”
“What I’m talking about is connecting the Talisman to the Ritual Implement itself, so it becomes a new Ritual Implement.”
“...”
“Ritual Implements contain circuits called Spell Formulas. When the practitioner channels Spiritual Power into them, it travels through those circuits and produces an effect.”
“...I know that.”
“You add a side path to it. With a Talisman.”
The hand propping up her chin slowly lowered.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“How...?”
“I’m going to figure that out now.”
* * *
Coming up with the idea of attaching Talismans to Ritual Implements to add functions was all well and good.
Like attaching a stock, suppressor, or scope to a gun!
You add parts to a Ritual Implement to give it more functions!!!
Damn!
Just thinking of it gave me such a dopamine rush.
The problem was how.
How was I supposed to make that possible?
First, I thought I could borrow the method I had used to make Talismans so far.
In other words, engraving Spell Formulas onto Talismans.
“...Wait.”
Kang Ha-na raised a hand.
“Yes, Student Ha-na.”
Somehow, our positions had switched.
I was standing in front of the blackboard.
Big sis Ha-na was sitting cross-legged at a student desk.
You could say the teacher and student had traded places.
“You engraved Spell Formulas onto Talismans?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been doing it that way all this time?”
“That’s right.”
“...”
Well, that was not how Talisman craft was normally done.
No wonder she did not understand.
“I’ll show you first. You’ll understand once you see it.”
We moved to another room.
It was a special training room used for practicing fire Spell Formulas. Fireproof barriers layered the room on all sides.
“Could I have one sheet of Yellow Talisman Paper?”
Swish.
Kang Ha-na pulled a sheet of Yellow Talisman Paper from her clothes and handed it to me.
Hmm.
Still nice and warm.
She held out a brush pen next, but I shook my head.
“I won’t need that.”
Then, as usual, I focused Spiritual Power on the tips of my index and middle fingers.
Crackle.
Blue sparks flew as a geometric Spell Formula was rapidly carved into the blank Yellow Talisman Paper.
Shhhhh.
Before long, dense Spell Formula circuits covered the paper.
“This is how I’ve been making Talismans until now.”
* * *
Kang Ha-na could not understand what had just happened in front of her.
Spell Formula engraving involved holding an engraving tool that condensed Spiritual Power as thin as a needle, then carving one stroke at a time.
It required immense concentration and patience. Engraving a single line could take half a day.
Yet this man had merely touched the Talisman with his fingers and brushed over it once.
And strange patterns had appeared on the Yellow Talisman Paper.
‘That’s Spell Formula engraving?’
Without an engraving tool or even a magnifying glass, on a Talisman that would burn up after one use?
“...”
Kang Ha-na stood there blankly for a while before finally pulling herself together.
‘An Ultimate Art?’
If it was something like that, it made sense.
An extraordinary technique obtained through endless training.
An ability that surpassed human limits, or an unusual constitution.
It seemed there were Ultimate Arts like that in the world.
‘He said he drew a Karmafire Talisman, right?’
Still, with a method like that, the power would probably be weak.
A Talisman was an object that produced an effect by holding Spiritual Power and Imprinted Intent within Yellow Talisman Paper.
Since it was engraved with a Spell Formula, it would not need Imprinted Intent. But how much Spiritual Power could he possibly store with his bare hands and without Mirror Cinnabar?
‘...At best, maybe a campfire.’
“Now, step back.”
Do-hyeon lightly tossed the completed Talisman into the center of the room.
Then he focused Spiritual Power on his outstretched fingertip and flicked out a pulse.
Whoosh!
Boom!
The spacious room filled with flames in an instant.
Overwhelming firepower that nearly blinded her.
Tremendous heat that made the fireproof barriers hum.
“What in the world...?”
“Now, this is how I’ve been making Talismans until now.”
* * *
So, let’s say I applied this to create a Talisman that served as a detour for a Ritual Implement.
There was one major problem.
‘There’s a high risk of it conflicting with the existing Spell Formula inside the Ritual Implement.’
A Ritual Implement’s internal structure differed completely depending on its form and function.
The space where Spiritual Power was injected was generally fixed, so I could tell people to attach it to the input point.
But that still left one problem.
When multiple Spell Formulas were engraved onto a single Ritual Implement, you normally redesigned the circuits as a whole and integrated them before drawing them, so they would not interfere with each other.
That prevented interference and greatly reduced Spiritual Power consumption.
But Talismans that could be attached and removed could not be optimized that way.
They would be like adding a side road beside the circuit, which meant greater Spiritual Power consumption.
So here...
‘I use the ink.’
What if I attached a circuit already loaded with a huge amount of Spiritual Power?
Then it would not require extra Spiritual Power, even without attaching a Spirit Stone!
“Hmm... I think I sort of get what you mean.”
Kang Ha-na folded her arms.
“So you’re saying you’ll draw the Spell Formula engraving with ink instead?”
“That’s right.”
“How are you going to do that? Have you tried?”
“...”
That was the problem.
The circuits had to be thinner than a strand of hair.
Until now, I only needed to gather Spiritual Power at my fingertips.
But drawing with ink smeared on my fingers?
Impossible.
No matter how thin my fingertips were, there was a limit.
“...”
Then I spotted the brush pen Kang Ha-na had placed on the desk.
Its nib let ink flow out from a cartridge.
“...Ah.”
Right. That would work.
* * *
That was how I made the Ink Thimble.
A pitch-black thimble worn on the index finger.
At its tip was a nib no larger than the eye of a needle.
It was a special tool designed with a finely connected ink cartridge, so that focusing Spiritual Power at my fingertip would release ink lines thinner than a syringe needle.
Tap.
When I tested it on a sheet of paper, an ink line thinner than thread flowed out in a smooth stroke.
Damn.
Yes, this was it.
* * *
I sat at the desk and spread out a blank sheet of Yellow Talisman Paper.
With the thimble on my fingertip, I began drawing lines while carefully controlling my Spiritual Power.
Swish. Swoosh.
Thin ink lines flowed from the thimble’s tip.
Drawing, turning, connecting.
I traced out each path of the circuit one by one.
How long had I been concentrating?
I had crumpled and thrown away several failed sheets of Yellow Talisman Paper, and was drawing a fresh one when a strange feeling suddenly came over me.
‘...Wait.’
What was I doing right now?
I could not tell whether I was engraving a circuit or drawing a Talisman.
Scratch. Scrape.
I infused it with Imprinted Intent.
I drew a Spell Formula.
One stroke. Another stroke.
Then I infused it with Imprinted Intent again.
I drew a Spell Formula.
Wait.
Did I have to distinguish them?
Until now, they had been two separate worlds.
One method carved paths with Spiritual Power to engrave Spell Formulas.
The other filled ink and writing with Imprinted Intent to make Talismans.
One created pathways.
The other stored Spiritual Power and gave it meaning.
Talisman craft and Spell Formula engraving.
They had been separate worlds because their tools and materials were different.
But had I not just torn down the boundary between those two things?
‘...They both use the same ink, don’t they?’
The same ink lines on the same paper.
Then...
What if I continued the line into a character?
What if I drew a circuit, let it flow into a character, then brought it back out into another line?
“...”
My hand moved first.
Swish.
I drew up the final stroke of the circuit I had been drawing.
Karma.
Fire.
I passed through those two characters, then came back down.
The final stroke connected with the circuit’s entrance in a soft tap.
Hummm.
“...!”
Every ink line on the paper lit up.
The paths of the complex circuits and the characters filled with Imprinted Intent. There was no distinction between them.
As though a single Talisman had been completed.
“...”
That was when the book on the other side of the workbench began glowing, and its pages started turning on their own.
Apprentice’s Diary.
Grin.
Too late.
I had already realized it.
The essence of Sorcery Engraving.
* * *
“So you combined Spell Formula engraving with Talisman craft?”
“Something like that.”
I was so excited I could barely stand it.
See, no matter how thinly you drew them, designing circuits still took up physical space.
The smaller the available area, the harder they became to engrave.
But in exchange, you could make fine adjustments and detailed modifications.
The smaller they became, however, the more unstable they also became.
But by using Talisman craft, you could compress complex Spell Formulas and represent them with characters.
Thump. Thump.
The possibilities became endless.
A realm that conventional circuit design could never reach.
A hybrid design that mixed circuits and characters.
It was possible!!!!
* * *
‘This is insane...’
Kang Ha-na got chills as she watched the craftsman, overflowing with excitement, explain his theory.
It was certainly creepy to see someone who was normally so composed speaking with madness in his eyes, but more than that...
‘...What am I listening to right now?’
A theoretical framework that integrated Spell Formula engraving and Talisman craft?
And he had...
‘Just come up with it?’
If this was really possible, it would be a discovery that turned the Occult World upside down.
Could something like that really be possible?
If so, there would no longer be any point in separating Talisman practitioners from craftsmen.
You could use Talisman craft on swords.
You could engrave Spell Formulas onto Talismans.
‘...No, no. Wait.’
Was this really possible?
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
