Chapter 122: The Blacksmith’s Legacy and the Path to the Dragon’s Forge

“Seris…?”

I turned my head at the sound of a voice from behind me.

Wendy, who had approached with Nightmare, was staring at me with a surprised expression.

“You’re surprised, right?”

“Uh, yeah. A little… Don’t tell me, this is your hometown?”

I awkwardly smiled and touched the horn sprouting above my head.

Since I had exhausted all the mana in my body, I couldn’t maintain my dragon transformation.

The horn was slowly shrinking.

I neither confirmed nor denied Wendy’s question.

“Oh, the Ice Crystal! What about our Ice Crystal?”

“Hmm…”

In response to Wendy’s question, I looked up at the sky.

There wasn’t a single cloud in the wide-open blue sky.

The cold mana scattering and dissipating above was so faint that it couldn’t even be called dragon mana anymore.

Kalvain’s flames burn everything that exists in the world. Dragon mana was no exception.

The mana of the nameless dragon once called the Ice Crystal had simply been wiped away by my overwhelming power.

Instead of trying to reclaim the Ice Crystal’s power that the Master of the Second Dragon Gate had absorbed, I had chosen to crush it with overwhelming force.

At the time, I thought it was only natural. The arrogance of the dragon, which had touched my mind, influenced my decision.

The real problem was the martial art technique I had stitched together as I pleased, forcibly weaving two different disciplines to suit my taste.

Even though I had abandoned the incantations containing the dragon’s arrogance, the taint still lingered.

I would have to reconstruct it from the ground up.

“It’s gone. Looks like it disappeared.”

“Ah…”

Wendy’s face fell, looking disappointed at my reply.

It had been a fruitless battle. Worse, I had lost much.

I lost the sword I had been using, and I lost the Ice Crystal that could have been mine.

I didn’t believe every adventure needed a material reward at the end.

Experience and memories left behind after an adventure were treasures in their own right.

But losing something was different from simply not gaining anything.

The sense of emptiness from losing something precious that had already been within my grasp was indescribable.

“Ran…!”

At that moment, Jeokpung and Cheongbin approached me.

The two, battered and bloodstained, looked miserable.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere—”

Jeokpung couldn’t finish his sentence and closed his mouth.

Seeing me unharmed, he gave a sheepish smile.

Cheongbin, too, seemed to have a lot to say, but when he noticed Wendy standing close to me, he fell silent.

It seemed they couldn’t speak about family matters in front of an outsider.

“Shall we move to another place first…?”

I looked around as I spoke.

The two Dragonbloods were covered in wounds, and I had exhausted all my mana.

Although Wendy and Nightmare were still fine, we couldn’t possibly handle all the numerous presences gathering around us alone.

We needed somewhere to rest. Fortunately, I knew of a suitable place.

Neither Jeokpung nor Cheongbin refused when I suggested we leave.

It seemed they prioritized survival over Dragonblood pride.

Together, we left the giant ice temple.

The ice wall that had been covering the ceiling was blown open, so we exited without needing to use the stairs.

“But… is there any place we can stay…?”

It was Wendy’s question.

I frowned and turned to look down the mountain.

Half of the massive Mount Taebaek had been blown away.

Where had all the perpetual snow that had covered the mountain gone?

It had buried the city at the foot of the mountain.

There wasn’t a single undamaged area.

For the people living there, it must have been a disaster—a double disaster, given that two avalanches had struck in such a short time.

They say the name Taebaek (meaning “great white”) comes from using the character for “great” and the character for “white.”

Even though half of the perpetual snow had been blown away, it was still more than worthy of the name.

The sight of the city buried in white snow proved it.

“Finding an inn won’t be easy… It’d be better to just camp out.”

“There’s a place we can stay.”

“Really…?”

“I don’t know if it’s still intact, though…”

Trailing off, I thought of Baekyaseong, the clan village.

Since it was located outside the avalanche zone, it might still be relatively untouched.

Holding onto a small sliver of hope, I set out for Baekyaseong.

“Eungong…?”

When we arrived, Baekyaseong was intact.

The village had lit lanterns outside and ropes with golden charms tied around them, suggesting they were properly holding memorial rites for the dead.

Just then, the village gate opened, and a white-robed mountain goat beastkin stepped out.

“Eungong…?”

“Ah, sorry to trouble you, but would it be possible for us to stay in the village for a few more days…?”

“Hoo…”

The mountain goat beastkin opened his mouth in surprise at my question.

But his hesitation didn’t last long.

He nodded and led us into the village.

Faint incense smoke rose throughout the village.

Between the lanterns, the golden strings fluttered, tied with the belongings of the deceased.

Through the white, whispering wind, the villagers’ figures came into view.

As I looked around, I asked the mountain goat beastkin walking ahead:

“Is everyone in the village out here?”

“Yes. Everyone’s here.”

“What about that kid? The one who gave me the horn.”

“He’s dead.”

“He’s… dead?”

“He quietly closed his eyes. Whether he followed his parents or his life simply reached its end, I don’t know. But he was smiling at the end. You needn’t dwell on it too much.”

“Hmm…”

Wendy collapsed into sleep as soon as she entered her room.

Cheongbin and Jeokpung, both severely wounded, were the same.

Only I, who had no visible injuries, sat on the wide main hall floor and let out a deep sigh.

The sound of footsteps rustling closer.

Then a familiar man poked his head in—it was the mountain goat beastkin.

“Eungong, did you find the Ice Crystal?”

“I found it… but it slipped from my grasp.”

“So it truly existed…?”

“Yes.”

“Hoo…”

At my answer, the mountain goat beastkin let out a dumbfounded sigh.

It seemed he hadn’t truly believed the Ice Crystal even existed.

He was moving busily.

Now that most of the village’s people were dead, it was solely his responsibility to manage the village’s affairs.

It happened then.

The mountain goat beastkin, who had gone into an empty house, came out carrying a heavy-looking wooden box.

“What’s that?”

“Belongings of the deceased. We’re checking to see if there’s anything usable to share among the villagers.”

The mountain goat beastkin stopped in front of the wide wooden floor and set the box down, opening its lid.

“This is…?”

Inside the box were a rusty hammer, a pair of iron tongs, and a worn book.

Even without any professional skills, I could tell at a glance.

These were tools related to blacksmithing.

The strange patterns etched onto the hammer exuded an eerie aura.

“I thought you said there were no blacksmiths in the village?”

“Apparently, there used to be in the past…”

The mountain goat beastkin sat down right there and began skimming through the book.

It didn’t take long for his attitude to change.

After quickly flipping through the pages, he soon returned to the first chapter and started reading it carefully.

“What does it say?”

“It’s a diary. The diary of the owner of this hammer.”

“May I take a look too?”

“Hmm… I don’t see why not.”

[The craft passed down through generations deteriorates day by day. As the relentless years flow by, all senses grow dull. Iron does not harden unless struck. So it is with a person’s skills.]

[Though I held the hammer, I never once stood before the fire. I waited and waited for the moment when the spiritual energy within my body would awaken. Just as my ancestors once hammered the breath of a dragon.]

[To a dragon that lives for thousands of years, a decade is but a fleeting moment. Ten years pass, then twenty. The lives of those who devoted themselves to the dragon fade into emptiness. If I cannot achieve it in my lifetime, this pain shall be passed down to the next, and the next after that.]

[As time drifted meaninglessly, I often found myself lost in thought. As the separation between body and mind grew longer, a strange transformation occurred. I became two.]

[I left the Dragon’s Forge. What remained was a soul imbued with spiritual power. I regained my freedom from everything.]

The diary continued on.

The serious tone of the first few pages gradually faded. Later entries contained trivial remarks about the food he ate or notes about women he fancied.

I skipped over all of it and turned to the final page.

[This is the last ember. My body stiffens. Just as cold iron hardens, so too does my body freeze. As I witnessed my stiffening flesh, I felt the end approach.

At the brink of death, the image that flashed before my eyes was the Dragon’s Forge that I had resented so bitterly.

What pains me most is dying without ever once unleashing the skills I spent a lifetime cultivating.]

That was the final page.

I closed the book and asked the mountain goat beastkin,

“Where is the Dragon’s Forge?”

“Hmm… Sorry. I don’t know either.”

The villagers didn’t know where the Dragon’s Forge was.

Maybe the deceased did, but the dozens of tombstones erected at the edge of the village remained silent.

The Dragon’s Forge.

The ones who reacted to that name were unexpected.

“The Dragon’s Forge…? Isn’t that…?”

“You mean that place in Hyeongho?”

It was Jeokpung and Cheongbin who spoke.

Pretending not to be interested, I kept the conversation going with them.

“I read about it once when I was young. It said that it was where the dragon’s servants lived.”

“What book was it?”

“A history book about dragons. Looks like you haven’t studied that part yet.”

“No, not yet.”

“Alright. When we get back home, I’ll read it to you.”

That dawn, I slipped out of the room, holding my breath and moving as quietly as possible.

Even though it was the dead of night and everyone was asleep, I couldn’t let my guard down to fool the senses of Cheongbin and Jeokpung.

Was this how the Gate Master of Irongate used to move?

Recalling yesterday’s memories, I started moving cautiously.

My breath came out in long, thin streams.

Such breathing kept my sounds as quiet as possible.

Each step I took slid along the ground like a snake slithering through the grass.

I entered the mountain goat beastkin’s room and borrowed the book and the hammer.

Without looking back, I escaped the village with Nightmare.

No one caught me.

It wasn’t until nearly lunchtime that they discovered I was missing.

“Hmm…”

“Huh… That child actually…”

Jeokpung and Cheongbin sighed in disappointment as they looked around the empty room.

They had already sensed something ominous from the fact that the small girl was nowhere to be seen even at lunchtime.

Jeokpung and Cheongbin recalled the small letter left behind at the house.

“Jeokpung, do you have any idea where Ran went?”

“No clue.”

“What about that sorceress girl she was with?”

“She’s still here. Seems she got left behind.”

“Hmm…

The blood of the dragon must always stand proudly alone.

She naturally understands that truth.”

“You’re insane.”

“Jeokpung, aren’t you worried at all?”

“She carries the dragon’s blood more strongly than anyone. Who could possibly harm her?”

“Well…”

“Besides, Ran’s already fourteen.

Or was it fifteen…?

Anyway, she wouldn’t appreciate us chasing after her.”

“Hmph… Is that so…”

Cheongbin remembered his own youth at Jeokpung’s words.

He too had left home and wandered the outside world around that age, for no particular reason other than wanting to.

And so had Jeokpung.

After their bodies had sufficiently recovered, Jeokpung and Cheongbin left the village.

Their destination was Jincheon, the place where the dragonblood’s power reigned.

“Should I head back too…”

Left alone, Wendy decided to return to the Magic Tower.

Just as she said her farewells to the mountain goat beastkin and wrapped herself in the wind as usual—

Whooosh—!

“Eek!”

The wind, stronger than usual, swept Wendy high into the sky.