Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 348

Rumble—!

A small forge appeared before Su-ho’s eyes.

At its center stood a compact, dark-blue furnace meant solely for him. Beneath the furnace, shaped like a pot, branched a small, forked path, and at each end lay a different mold.

‘Four hammer strikes, right?’

Su-ho lifted the Released Hammer and struck the furnace.

Kang! Kang! Kang! Kang!

In that instant—

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

Whoosh!

It had been nothing more than four hammer strikes.

Yet suddenly, without his will, the Flame of the Golden Blacksmith skill activated. Fire ignited within the dark-blue furnace, heating it.

‘So this is how it feels.’

Fascinating.

He’d spent his whole life swinging swords—when had he ever done something like this?

The furnace, using Su-ho’s mana as fuel, grew hotter and hotter, surpassing red heat until it glowed with golden intensity, ready to melt anything.

Su-ho opened his inventory again.

“Mhm.”

Now that the furnace was running, he needed to put something inside.

The description had said the furnace could take non-metal materials, but he decided to start conventionally—with something metal-like.

His first test material: a fragment of the Chain Overseer’s chains.

“Check information.”

[ Chain Overseer’s Chain Fragment ]

Grade: B

# A portion of the chains once used by the Chain Overseer.

Leftover material from when the Chain Overseer’s chains had been made.

Among his possessions, this was the closest thing to metal.

‘But how exactly is it supposed to separate this?’

No idea.

Which is why he was testing it.

Su-ho dropped it into the furnace.

Clank!

When the heated furnace took the fragment, it made the hollow ring of an empty pot.

And moments later—

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

Whoosh!

The golden-blacksmith’s ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) flame flared again, blasting heat.

‘So that’s how it works.’

Like a combination skill—throw something into the pot, and it triggers.

His mana began to drain bit by bit.

‘Hmph.’

From there, Su-ho had little else to do.

The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith drew on his mana automatically, and the furnace diligently raised its temperature to melt the material.

Before long, the pot tilted.

Gurgle—

Molten golden metal poured out, splitting at the end into several streams.

The amount wasn’t much.

But the molten streams divided as if by prior agreement, flowing into separate molds, until the very last drop was split and the furnace shut down.

[ Extraction complete. ]

Ssshh—

A notification of completion.

With the furnace quiet, its hue returned to its signature dark-blue.

The contents in the molds cooled quickly.

From the single piece of material, the extraction had produced three separate outputs.

After confirming they had cooled properly, Su-ho checked the first mold.

[ Nameless Scrap Iron ]

Grade: D

# Scrap iron extracted from cheap weaponry.

His brows knit.

He’d been hopeful, yet here it was—worthless scrap iron.

And only Grade D.

‘Guess that can’t be helped.’

The raw material itself had been cheap, B-grade junk.

Thinking so, he checked the second mold.

[ Mana Crystal ]

Grade: C

# Low-purity mana crystal.

Simple description.

The system called it a mana crystal.

‘True enough—it’s barely a shard compared to a real magic stone.’

About the size of a tiny cubic in cheap street jewelry.

Shaking his head, he moved on to the third mold.

[ Chain Overseer’s Rune Fragment ]

Grade: B

# A crystal of the Chain Overseer’s powerful grudges.

# Gather enough of these crystals and they will gain mysterious power.

“Hm?”

Su-ho’s eyebrows rose.

At first glance, the Rune Fragment looked much like the mana crystal before it.

But the difference was in the hints of potential the item description carried.

The name alone—Rune Fragment—was telling.

‘I see. If I gather enough fragments from the Chain Overseer and extract them, I can get the monster’s rune.’

An impressive discovery.

After all, runes of any kind were notoriously difficult to obtain.

And now he had an idea how best to use the furnace.

‘Rune extraction...’

A harvest he hadn’t expected.

His eyes lit up as his thoughts turned to other items.

But first, a few more tests.

‘Can it only extract one at a time?’

That would be inefficient.

He dumped all remaining chain fragments into the pot.

After a slightly longer process than with one piece, the extraction finished.

He checked the molds immediately—

And was disappointed.

Only the scrap and crystal were larger; the quality and properties were unchanged.

‘Right, increasing quantity alone won’t raise the grade.’

Then what if he mixed different materials?

What about non-metal resources?

Or even complete equipment?

He experimented in order—

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

[ Extraction complete. ]

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

[ Extraction complete. ]

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

[ Extraction complete. ]

...

The pot flared again and again, dividing its contents.

He lost track of time.

By the end, his curiosity was satisfied.

The results:

When mixing different grades and materials, they separated perfectly into their own categories—an impressive sorting ability.

With non-metal materials, those that would burn away—wood, leather—simply didn’t appear in the molds.

Instead, things like mana crystals, rune fragments, and bones remained.

‘No idea why bones survive, but I’ll take it.’

What mattered was that something remained.

Next: equipment items.

He pulled out a random sword from his inventory.

[ Gorlen’s Assault Sword ]

Grade: A

# An assault sword once wielded by Knight Gorlen.

# Inflicts Minor Bleeding upon wounding a target.

Picked up during a past gate run.

Its option: Minor Bleeding.

That effect was one of the curse-type options, causing wounds to keep bleeding for sustained damage—not much of a threat when Recovery could heal it instantly.

He had plenty of such items—mostly forgotten after picking them up out of laziness.

Still, he kept longswords as an old habit for emergencies.

He tossed the assault sword into the pot.

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

[ Extraction complete. ]

The molds cooled.

Scrap iron in one, mana crystal in another—

And the last mold held a small ruby-like shard.

[ Rune of Minor Bleeding ]

Grade: B

# A rune imbued with the power of Minor Bleeding.

# Grants Minor Bleeding effect when crafting an item.

“...!”

His eyes widened.

He’d expected another rune fragment—

Instead, it was a complete rune.

He immediately looked to his other swords.

Perhaps this was just luck.

‘Only one way to know.’

He began feeding in every worthless piece of equipment he had.

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

[ Extraction complete. ]

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

[ Extraction complete. ]

[ The Flame of the Golden Blacksmith has been activated. ]

[ Extraction complete. ]

...

He tried single items, pairs, and batches.

The outcome matched his best hopes.

Clenching a fist, Su-ho grinned.

“Knew better than to underestimate blacksmith gear...!”

The results were ideal.

Iron stayed with iron, crystals with crystals—

But runes were always separated out.

Not every item produced a rune—only those with clear, inherent options, like Gorlen’s sword.

And they were always complete runes, never fragments.

Better yet, items with stat or health-related options yielded full runes of those attributes.

An incredible haul.

He was certain now.

Other extractions were useful, but melting down equipment was the most valuable and meaningful use of the furnace.

His eyes returned to his inventory.

Rows of S-grade items he’d held back from testing—

The First Mumu-Mu, the Talent of Atonement, the Ring of Sacrifice, the Ring of Joy and Sorrow...

But he had no intention of melting these.

Runes were materials, not equipment you could wear.

‘No reason to destroy good gear.’

Only items he couldn’t use but that had desirable options were worth it.

His focus shifted from equipment to materials—

Especially those grouped under the same name.

Molten Dragon’s Heart Fragment (S)

Molten Dragon’s Horn Fragment (S)

Molten Dragon’s Claw Fragment (S)

Molten Dragon’s Tail Fragment (S)

Molten Dragon’s Hide Fragment (S)

...

The so-called Molten Dragon series.

Gathered when he’d slain the Molten Dragon and activated the harvesting slot.

He examined the heart fragment.

[ Molten Dragon’s Heart Fragment ]

Grade: S

# Heart fragment of the Molten Dragon, warden of the Roaring Furnace.

# Born in the furnace’s environment and bearing the blood of dragons, it has exceptional affinity for fire.

# When used, grants ‘Fire Affinity +10%.’

# When used, grants ‘Fire Resistance +10%.’

# When used, grants ‘Health Regeneration +10%.’

# When used, grants ‘Mana Regeneration +10%.’

# When the Molten Dragon’s power is gathered, mysterious power will dwell within.

Astounding options—four of them on a mere fragment.

But what caught his eye was the final line.

# When the Molten Dragon’s power is gathered, mysterious power will dwell within.

Ominous. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The other body parts carried the same final line.

Each with flashy bonuses, yet ending with that same message.

‘Meaning, if I combine them, I’ll get the Molten Dragon’s rune.’

With the answer clear, there was no reason to hesitate.

Su-ho immediately dumped all the Molten Dragon’s remains into the pot and activated the Flame of the Golden Blacksmith.