Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 343

BOOM!!

All of a sudden, the Iron Horse, released from its seal, raised its front hooves and stomped down with immense force.

The impact was so powerful that the tremor that followed almost knocked Su-ho off his feet.

"Neighhiiiiiiiiiihhh!!"

Then it spread its wings and suddenly shot up into the sky.

All Su-ho could do was stare blankly at the creature as it soared away.

And then—

[ A quest has been generated. ]

[ The Liberated Iron Horse ]

The Iron Horse, sealed away for a long time, has finally been set free.

The Iron Horse has, since ancient times, served only a single master. Break the horn on its forehead to subjugate it.

If the Iron Horse dies, the quest will automatically fail.

Faced with the sudden quest notification, Su-ho couldn’t hide his disbelief.

'Subjugate the Iron Horse?'

Wait—did it even have a horn?

But the system claimed it did—and that he had to break it.

'Unbelievable.'

It was ridiculous, but there were no other options.

Everything he’d done, running all over the northern rail stations, was for this moment.

'Looks like it's a type of Hidden quest, just as I thought... but man, this is troublesome.'

That was no exaggeration.

It was troublesome indeed.

Because the conditions were extremely restrictive.

'I mean, breaking the horn is one thing—but the prerequisite is to capture it alive...'

If all he had to do was break the horn, he could just kill it and rip it off.

But if the Iron Horse died, the quest would end in failure.

And that was a serious problem.

If the Iron Horse died, all the effort he had put into traveling across North Korea would be wasted.

He couldn’t let that happen.

Su-ho looked up at the sky.

The Iron Horse was soaring freely like cattle released from a livestock farm.

Well, fair enough.

It had every right to go wild.

In the setting, it had been shackled and buried in this godforsaken place for who knows how long.

Still, while he could feel bad for it, watching it flit about like a runaway colt was only giving him a headache.

He had no idea how to capture the thing.

'Come to think of it, do I even have any binding or restraint skills?'

Probably not.

He opened his skill window and searched—but no luck.

Of course he didn’t.

Su-ho’s combat style was all about one-hit kills or eliminating threats before things escalated.

He was stuck.

But giving up wasn’t an option. He didn’t want to lose the Iron Horse, not after all this.

'I’ve got a feeling the reward for completing this quest is going to be massive.'

At that moment, some pieces of information surfaced in Su-ho’s mind.

“Oh right. I had those, didn’t I?”

Su-ho opened his inventory and dumped out the items he was thinking of.

He picked one up and checked its information.

[ Fragment of the Chain Overseer's Chain ]

A piece of the chain once used by the Chain Overseer.

First was the Fragment of the Chain Overseer’s Chain.

Su-ho smirked as he read the item description.

'Right. I had this.'

It was one of the rare drops from the Iron Horse Gates.

Its purpose was to serve as a material for chain-type equipment.

He’d seen chain weapons before.

Back in his past life, he saw people crafting them from these fragments.

But Su-ho had something even better than this.

The Fragment of Obsession from the Chain Overseer.

He checked its information immediately.

[ Fragment of Obsession from the Chain Overseer ]

The crystallized obsession of the Chain Overseer.

The Overseer, bound by orders to restrain his target, carried out that mission for so long that it evolved beyond duty into a terrifying form of obsession.

When used, it inflicts a low chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.

He’d extracted it using the [Eye of the Blacksmith] and [Precision Collection] from the Chain Overseer.

But what really mattered was the last line of the item description:

When used, it inflicts a low chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.

A low chance to trigger a binding effect.

Yes.

He had this.

The only restraint effect in his entire arsenal.

His inventory contained a whole pile of both chain fragments and obsession fragments.

All thanks to his meticulous farming through countless Iron Horse Gates.

Su-ho dropped them all on the ground.

The Iron Horse was still flying in the sky.

But he didn’t even look at it.

There was no point—he couldn’t do anything to catch it right now.

He couldn’t kill it either, so what was he supposed to do?

Especially given its sheer size.

So for now, it was time to focus on the chain fragments and obsession fragments.

After all, the system must have given him these materials for exactly this kind of situation.

Su-ho picked up another Fragment of Obsession—other than the one he had just checked—and read its final line.

When used, it inflicts a very low chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.

Same item.

But a different probability line.

Specifically, the chance was now “very low” instead of just “low.”

That made sense—it was a fusion product created by combining multiple standard fragments via [Precision Fusion].

So naturally, the next stage would be “moderate.”

That’s why he’d spent so long hoarding obsession fragments like a madman.

Su-ho grabbed the pile of fragments and picked up the Liberated Blacksmith’s Hammer to begin crafting.

He had some chain fragments too, but the obsession fragments were the priority.

Only he could make and extract those.

With a clear objective in mind, Su-ho started hammering away.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!

[ Precision Fusion activated. ]

[ Material synthesis successful. ]

[ You have acquired: Fragment of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (A) ]

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!

[ Precision Fusion activated. ]

[ Material synthesis successful. ]

[ You have acquired: Fragment of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (A) ]

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!

[ Precision Fusion activated. ]

[ Material synthesis successful. ]

[ You have acquired: Fragment of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (A) ]

...

He repeated the process over and over.

First, he fused all the base-level fragments.

Then, once those were gone, he moved on to the “very low chance” fragments.

Once those were used up too, he finally began working with the “low chance” ones.

After quite a while, he finally reached a probability descriptor of “moderate.”

'Finally, moderate.'

Next should be “high.”

Or maybe “slightly high.”

Su-ho looked at how many refined fragments he had left.

With each fusion, the material cost doubled, so he didn’t have that many remaining.

Still, it was enough to push the modifier to “high.”

He resumed hammering.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!

[ Precision Fusion activated. ]

[ Material synthesis successful. ]

[ You have acquired: Fragment of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (A) ]

Success.

Su-ho immediately checked the description.

And his eyes widened.

'As expected.'

The last line now read:

When used, it inflicts a slightly high chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.

Slightly high chance.

So even now, he couldn’t get “high” on the first try.

Fine.

At least he had finally exited the “moderate” tier.

Su-ho used up the rest of his fragments, continuing the synthesis.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!

[ Precision Fusion activated. ]

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!

[ Precision Fusion activated. ]

...

Success and failure came in waves.

But he didn’t lose everything.

Now down to single digits, Su-ho looked at his remaining fragments.

'Gotta keep going.'

Two sockets.

No reason to hesitate.

He swallowed dryly and resumed work.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang!!

[ Precision Fusion activated. ]

[ Material synthesis successful. ]

Success.

At that moment—

FWOOOSH!

A flash of light erupted with the success message.

The light faded, and then—

[ You have acquired: Fragment of Obsession from the Chain Overseer (S) ]

[ Congratulations! You are the first to successfully craft an S-grade material. ]

[ You have accomplished a great feat! The system grants you 10 bonus stat points. ]

After the light dimmed, the message appeared.

It was a notification that he had become the first to craft an S-grade material.

Thanks to this achievement, Su-ho received 10 bonus stat points as a reward.

But that wasn’t the important part right now.

He immediately checked the item info.

[ Fragment of Obsession from the Chain Overseer ]

The crystallized obsession of the Chain Overseer.

The Overseer, bound by orders to restrain his target, carried out that mission for so long that it evolved beyond duty into a terrifying form of obsession.

When used, it inflicts a high chance to trigger a binding effect with each attack.

"Finally!"

Su-ho ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) couldn’t help but shout aloud from joy.

It was done.

At last, he had obtained an Obsession Fragment that triggered binding at a high rate.

He used up the rest of his fragments as well.

And fortunately, he managed to craft one more with the high chance modifier.

"Yes, that’s what I’m talking about."

With a satisfied grin, Su-ho socketed the high-chance fragments into Slot 1 and Slot 2.

"Alright. Now all that’s left is..."

Creating the chain he originally planned to make from the chain fragments.

Not that he needed a recipe.

He could just use the Combine function.

But Su-ho had something better than a recipe.

He gathered the chain fragments and used Intermediate Synthesis.

[ Intermediate Synthesis activated. ]

[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Fragments. ]

FWOOOSH!

As the trait activated, a glow emerged, and the item began transforming.

[ Synthesis successful. ]

[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (B) ]

He obtained the chain easily.

Su-ho immediately checked the item description.

[ Chain Overseer’s Chain ]

A chain once wielded by the Chain Overseer.

Can be used as a whip, but when used to bind, it applies a low-tier binding effect.

'Low-tier, huh.'

Su-ho smirked.

He still had plenty of chain fragments.

So he might as well upgrade this too.

He resumed his work.

[ Intermediate Synthesis activated. ]

[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Fragments. ]

[ Synthesis successful. ]

[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (B) ]

[ Intermediate Synthesis activated. ]

[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Fragments. ]

[ Synthesis successful. ]

[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (B) ]

...

After going through a long process, all the chain fragments were used up.

Su-ho began combining the B-grade chains next.

[ Intermediate Synthesis activated. ]

[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Chains. ]

[ Synthesis failed. ]

Of course, success didn’t come immediately.

He calmly increased the batch size to discover the conditions for higher-tier synthesis.

It didn’t take long to figure out the pattern.

[ Intermediate Synthesis activated. ]

[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Chains. ]

[ Synthesis successful. ]

[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (A) ]

...

He successfully crafted an A-grade chain.

And he didn’t stop there.

Su-ho continued the process again.

[ Intermediate Synthesis activated. ]

[ Combining Chain Overseer’s Chains. ]

[ Synthesis successful. ]

[ You have obtained: Chain Overseer’s Chain (S) ]

At last, he obtained an S-grade chain.

'That was close.'

He had no chain fragments left.

If he’d failed one or two more times, he might never have crafted the S-grade chain.

Unfortunately, no bonus stat points this time.

He wasn’t the first to create an S-grade item through synthesis.

Su-ho checked the item info right away.

[ Chain Overseer’s Chain ]

A chain once wielded by the Chain Overseer.

Can be used as a whip, but when used for binding, it applies a top-tier binding effect.

Top-tier binding effect.

That was more than enough.

With his preparations complete, Su-ho finally looked up at the sky.

The Iron Horse was still flying.

'Time to begin.'

Now, it was time to hunt the Iron Horse.