The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 100
100. The Archmage
‘Was this even possible……?’
The calamities that had led the Age of Destruction.
Humanity could only despair when facing them.
They merely hoped to delay the hour of reckoning by even a single day.
That was all.
But Astrid.
The moment Geumson saw her, his thoughts expanded.
He discovered himself trapped within fixed conviction.
The calamity before his eyes.
It was not a calamity for humanity.
A calamity for monsters.
Astrid stood perilously at the edge of the rampart, a calamity turned against her enemies, standing there with utter certainty.
Watching her, he understood.
One becomes a calamity.
One can become a calamity.
Not a calamity for humans, but for monsters.
As they had plunged humanity into despair.
We too could plunge them into despair.
Not merely enduring, delaying the hour of destruction.
We could become their calamity and inflict despair upon them.
‘If I could aid a being like Astrid with the equipment I’ve made…….’
Astrid had said it.
Don’t bear it alone.
He had thought it was merely a sympathetic word of comfort.
Only he knew the future, after all.
Only he knew the calamity to come.
He had thought it unavoidable.
A burden only he could bear.
But that was not what Astrid meant to say.
‘You cannot endure it alone…….’
This was what she was showing him.
At the cost of losing her memory, to Geumson.
To his only lamentable student, who would shoulder everything alone.
She was showing him this.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
As Geumson stood entranced by the sight of Astrid, lost in thought.
A familiar voice reached his ear from beside him.
The Master of the Magic Tower, Roentes, had appeared at his side.
“I never thought I would witness Astrid’s miracle with these eyes again……. Forgive my regret.”
Even Roentes could only gaze upon Astrid in hushed awe.
And it made sense—the image of Astrid in Geumson’s vision.
Through Vein’s Insight and Resolute Intuition, she did not appear human.
Mana.
She seemed like mana given human shape, moving before him.
The mana of the entire region focused upon Astrid alone.
And Archmage Astrid.
She adjusted her staff and slowly closed her eyes.
And from her lips poured forth a song of the stars—a melody unlike any language known to the world.
It was not a common incantation.
A melody ancient and grand as an epic, soft as a lullaby.
The moment the melody spread outward.
Time froze on the battlefield that had been chaos.
The players stood as if entranced, watching Astrid.
And the monsters.
The beasts that had been charging forward in a frenzy, drawn by the siren call of their kind.
They stopped.
Or rather, they were forced to stop, their faces filled with dread as they looked up at the wall.
And when they faced Astrid.
When she confronted him with her Mana.
He could see a familiar expression.
The Age of Destruction.
The face of a human confronted with despair.
An expression that should never appear on the grotesque faces of monsters.
No—that emotion, Geumson felt it.
Even in such a moment, only her song filled the world.
And a message arose in Geumson’s mind.
[Archmage Astrid casts Star’s Requiem.]
It was not the end.
Messages followed.
[The Star Successor title resonates with Star’s Requiem.]
[The Ancient Seeker achievement decodes Star’s Requiem.]
[You partially understand the essence of Archmage Astrid’s magic.]
[You break through your limits.]
[Mana Control Skill surpasses Lv.10 [MAX].]
[Elemental Affinity Skill surpasses Lv.10 [MAX].]
[Mana Control Skill and Elemental Affinity Skill fuse.]
[Fusion Skill, Mana Dominion Lv.1, has been created.]
[Mana Dominion Lv.1]
[Passive Skill]
– Effect: Perfect mastery of Mana and elemental flow allows you to transform and amplify them according to your will.
– Ability: 10% chance to fuse opposing properties and create a new property.
He had not simply acquired a Skill.
By surpassing the limit of Level 10, the Skills had fused and been “created.”
Even Geumson, who had seen it all through Lepion and the Age of Destruction, had never glimpsed such a message.
Mana howled like a tempest through Geumson’s body.
Merely standing witness to Astrid’s magic had elevated Geumson’s magical prowess to a new and extraordinary height.
Yet he had no time to dwell on such changes.
His eyes held only the image of his master singing amid starlight.
And Astrid, faster than anyone, had noticed Geumson’s transformation.
She smiled as she spoke.
“You are my miracle, Geumson.”
At her gesture, the night sky unfolds.
A heavy curtain of darkness called the “sky” draws open.
The curtain draws wide.
As if it had always been so.
The night sky’s curtain parts.
From the open heavens.
Stars fall.
For allies, a miracle.
For enemies, a nightmare.
A bombardment of stars piercing through the tidal wave of monsters.
It began to embroider the Aerthos Desert.
Crash—!
Beginning with a single star.
A carpet of fire spreads.
Upon the carpet of fire stitched by Astrid’s stars, the desert sand glows crimson, beginning to form a river of lava.
Unlike the phantom conjured by Geumson’s Giant’s Forge, this was real molten earth.
The river of lava quickly became a sea, and no monster could exist upon it.
“Geumson, paint your own miracle.”
This is a mage.
This is an Archmage.
As if to prove it, Astrid unfurled her magic.
A single miracle placed a full stop upon the battlefield.
“This… what in the……”
Geumson was left without words.
This lay far beyond the bounds of magic he had known—it was truly the realm of “miracle.”
A single mage.
With a single spell.
A miracle had been drawn.
But Astrid had pushed herself too hard for Geumson’s sake.
Her form looked precarious.
Her hair, which had gleamed like a silver river of stars, had grown dull once more.
The fine lines at her fingertips had begun to deepen again.
As if her magic had run its course.
Astrid returned with a peaceful expression on her face.
Watching her, the Magic Tower’s master Roentes rushed forward, about to fall to his knees.
“Star, I behold you…….”
Astrid placed a hand on Roentes’ shoulder as he began to kneel.
She smiled at him with the same warmth she had shown Geumson, and spoke.
“The master of the Magic Tower does not kneel. Aren’t the other children watching?”
Astrid took in the sight of the Magic Tower’s master Roentes and the countless mages of Aerthos.
When she descended from the rampart of the wall.
A message appeared before the eyes of all the players.
[The Monster Wave has been completely eradicated.]
[The ‘City Defense Alliance Quest: Aerthos Defense’ has been successfully completed.]
[Contribution Points settlement will now commence.]
.
.
.
The crimson tide of monsters that had engulfed Aerthos vanished without a trace.
Beneath the wall, a cooling sea of lava was merely forming solid ground.
– Waaaaaaaaa!
The surviving players and residents of Aerthos erupted in cheers all at once.
But Geumson could not rejoice.
The way Astrid looked at Geumson.
It was the gaze one turns upon a stranger.
“Roentes, it seems you have taken on a new disciple? But your eyes are strangely familiar……. Tell me, do you know me?”
Astrid did not remember Geumson.
A side effect.
A consequence of expending Mana beyond measure.
The Mana she had spent for Geumson had, with bitter irony, erased the memories she held of him.
“Star, I am the outsider Geumson, the Star Successor.”
Roentes spoke on Geumson’s behalf.
At his words, Astrid’s expression became troubled and sorrowful.
As though she had made another mistake.
“Oh dear, I am sorry. Again…… I, hah, it was so.”
Astrid reproached herself.
She then pointed to the Brooch fastened on Geumson’s chest and spoke.
“Geumson, could you give me that Brooch for a moment?”
The Brooch on Geumson’s chest.
Astrid was asking him to hand it over.
He knew the reason.
Surely Astrid’s Brooch held memories of him.
She was trying to read those memories once more.
But for some reason, Geumson hesitated.
He gripped the Brooch on his chest tightly.
In that moment, a message appeared.
[Final Ranking of Contribution Points for ‘Aerthos Defense’]
1st Place: Geumson – 9,874,500P
2nd Place: Gang Mu-jin (Yeokcheon) – 4,125,800P
3rd Place: Choi Jin-ung (Asura) – 3,512,100P
.
.
.
An overwhelming first place in Contribution Points.
Thanks to Astrid’s Contribution Points being automatically distributed to Geumson, he had claimed the overwhelming lead.
But seeing that ranking, Geumson seemed to have become certain of something.
He simply gripped the Brooch on his chest tightly with his fist and spoke.
“This Brooch… I cannot give it to you now.”
Geumson did not hand the Brooch to Astrid.
He knew she would read its memories.
And for that very reason, he could not give it to her.
Not now, at least.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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