The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 13

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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 13
013. This Works?
The dazzling light erupting from the scroll brought someone to mind.
Those days when everything came crashing down.
She, bleeding hot blood before a dying campfire, wearing a bitter smile.
The sacred light she had emitted, noble even in her final moments, resembled this light.
– Geumsohn, when I think about it, we were so foolish. Always saving, saving, always saving for the best moment. Cough… In the end, the best moment never came. Or maybe… maybe every moment was the best moment all along….
– Stop that! You’ll die if you keep talking!
– You’re worried about me? It’s all right. I can’t stop here, can I? If I stop… it all ends. Cough… That scroll—what if I’d used it on myself instead of my holy sword? A holy knight blessed by the divine—doesn’t that sound splendid? Then… if that had been the case… maybe things would have been different….
Baek Jinju. The last of the holy knights.
That was the last conversation Geumsohn had shared with her.
A jest she had thrown out for the sake of those who would remain behind, facing death.
Geumsohn had not forgotten those words.
‘Items are consumables in the end. And the best moment… never comes.’
Geumsohn, who had experienced annihilation.
He understood now that she was right.
Items are consumables in the end.
Someday they break, replaced by better ones.
But the player himself?
A character is the one and only being who will walk alongside you for life, until this world ends—and even after synchronization with reality.
Baek Jinju had left those words as a jest for the comfort of those she’d leave behind, but Geumsohn’s thoughts were different.
The moment he saw the description of the ‘Divine Whistle Scroll,’ he was certain.
[Upon use, you may grant a powerful divine blessing to one chosen target. (Single use)]
It was not an item.
It was a ‘target.’
Which meant it could be used on things other than items.
So he decided to use the scroll he’d gained again, just as she had suggested.
A message appeared before his eyes at that very moment.
[Designate a target for use.]
To that message.
“Geumsohn.”
He answered, brief and clear.
In that instant.
The radiance streaming from the scroll consumed him entirely.
Crash—!
A warm and mighty force enveloped his entire body.
It felt as though he had stepped into the heart of the sun itself.
Within a radiance so brilliant he could not open his eyes, an endless cascade of system messages flooded his vision.
[You have achieved an unprecedented feat!]
[You are the first to grant the ‘Divine Whistle Scroll’ to yourself.]
[The system is astounded by your extraordinary ingenuity and audacity.]
[Your choice has opened a new horizon of possibility.]
[You have acquired the title, ‘Sun’s Right Hand’!]
[Title: Sun’s Right Hand]
– Description: A hand blessed by the divine, bearing the power of the sun. The origin of all creation, the pinnacle of destruction.
– Effects:
1. [Solar Flame]: All items you craft have a low chance to be imbued with ‘Solar Power.’ (Grants fire and Holiness attributes)
2. [Solar Authority]: In combat, you may condense the power of the sun in your right hand to deliver a devastating blow. (Acquire skill ‘Solar Strike’)
[The Holiness Stat has been unlocked, and you receive a +25 bonus.]
[You have acquired the Hidden skill ‘Solar Strike’!]
[Solar Strike Lv.1]
[Active Skill]
– Description: Condense the power of the sun in your right hand and deliver explosive damage to enemies ahead.
– Effect: Inflict fire and Holiness damage equal to 300% of your attack power. Afflict the target with ‘Burn’ status for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 10 minutes)
Messages flooded in endlessly.
He could barely keep up reading them.
The rewards were extraordinary.
But it seemed the messages had not yet concluded.
Something unexpected happened once more.
[The designated target possesses a Hidden skill, ‘Inspired Craftsmanship.’]
[The Hidden Skill ‘Inspired Craftsmanship’ and the Title ‘Sun’s Right Hand’ create a synergy.]
[An additional effect is granted to the Title ‘Sun’s Right Hand’.]
[Additional Effect]
1. [Sun’s Blacksmith]: During crafting, you may smelt and forge materials using only the heat of your right hand, without requiring furnace fire. Craftsmanship-related work speed increases by 50%, and critical success rate rises by 10%.
The light faded as Geumsohn finished reading all the messages.
When the glow finally vanished, Geumsohn realized at last that he had succeeded.
“It… it actually worked!”
In the past, someone might have questioned that word—”target.”
But no one had actually tested it.
Each scroll was so valuable that it couldn’t simply be squandered on experimentation.
Especially not when Ryushin, the Sword Ghost, had already demonstrated such overwhelming “results.”
Yet Geumsohn had dared to try.
And in the end, he had succeeded.
The reward for that success was staggering.
It was so far beyond what he’d expected that he could scarcely believe it.
‘A new stat… Holiness? But I don’t even have a holy-related class. How is the Holiness Stat unlocked?’
Holiness Stat.
This was a stat that could only be unlocked by acquiring a class tied to the divine—a Priest or a Paladin.
Yet Geumsohn had unlocked it without ever obtaining such a class.
And then there was Solar Strike.
A full 300% of his attack power in damage.
In other words, he could drive three times the damage home in a single blow.
And on top of that, the target would suffer a status effect for five seconds.
It was an overwhelmingly powerful skill.
A typical player would have fixated on that part.
But Geumsohn’s attention was drawn elsewhere entirely.
‘Setting everything else aside… a synergy with Inspired Craftsmanship? Sun’s Blacksmith! This means I don’t need a separate forge anymore, doesn’t it?’
In Lepion, there was one fatal limitation that had always plagued the Blacksmith class.
And that was the necessity of a forge.
Because a blacksmith needed a furnace, you always needed a base of operations.
That was why Geumsohn had never ventured far, restricted to activity within specific regions.
Now that constraint had been completely shattered.
And there was more.
‘During the Age of Ruin, bases were raided constantly… but now I won’t have to worry about that.’
When Lepion had materialized into reality.
Even then, he’d needed a crafting workshop for his labor.
But collapsing defense lines, monsters pouring in without end.
And on top of that, occasional attacks from humans as well.
He’d never been able to maintain a proper workshop.
Every time he managed to build one, it would be destroyed.
But now that danger had diminished significantly.
With an ability like this, he could even accomplish simple work on the fly during combat.
That was why the effect of Sun’s Blacksmith resonated so powerfully within Geumsohn—more than anything else.
‘If this… if I had this power…!’
Hope bloomed.
It was like a faint light kindling in a future that had seemed only bleak and empty.
Perhaps he could overcome it after all.
The helplessness he had felt on the day the sky fell.
Perhaps he had found a needle’s eye.
A pinhole through which to escape a collapsing sky.
And what was more, he had only used one Divine Whistle Scroll so far.
If, just if.
If Geumsohn used another scroll, or even two more, just as Ryushin the Sword Ghost had used two scrolls.
Then that needle’s eye might grow wider still.
* * *
[Player Information]
– Name: Geumsohn
– Level: 10
– Class: Blacksmith
– Title:
1. Narcissist
2. The First Heretic
3. Sun’s Right Hand
– Achievements:
1. Unwavering Conviction
2. Head Hunter
3. He Who Astounded the Blacksmith
4. Troll Slayer
– Skills Acquired:
1. Resolute Intuition [Hidden]
2. Mining
3. Smelting [MAX]
4. Soul Forging [Hidden]
5. Inspired Craftsmanship [Hidden]
6. Lesser Regeneration
7. Solar Strike [Hidden]
– Renown: 50
The central square of Neman Village.
Players and NPCs alike moved about in purposeful haste.
Yet there stood one player alone, smiling strangely to himself.
It was Geumsohn.
“Isn’t that a player? Why’s he grinning like an idiot in the middle of the square? What a waste of time. Must be one of those casual players.”
“Has Lepion made him lose his mind? I mean, you know those people—they say reality was fake or some nonsense like that.”
“Maybe? But his face looks familiar… wait, isn’t that Geumsohn?”
“Geumsohn?”
“That guy everyone’s going crazy about on Lepinet!”
A few players recognized Geumsohn and began murmuring amongst themselves.
But Geumsohn seemed entirely indifferent to their stares.
He was simply marveling at his own player information—statistics that seemed impossible for someone at level ten.
‘Wow, did I really do all this?’
The titles, the achievements, the skills he possessed—
At level ten in the past, such privileges were beyond dreaming.
And yet in the detailed information:
[Player Detailed Information]
[Base Stats]
– Strength: 36 (+20)
– Agility: 16
– Stamina: 16 (+20)
– Mana: 16
[Unlocked Stats]
– Luck: 21
– Precision: 25
– Holiness Stat: 25
[Remaining Stat Points: 30]
Numbers that seemed impossible for level ten.
More than that, thirty remaining stat points.
Since level six, he had gained six points of remaining stats with each level—unlike other players.
And now that he’d unlocked the Holiness Stat, he would gain seven points per level going forward.
‘For now… I should distribute these stats into Agility, Stamina, and Mana.’
There was no need yet to invest in the unlocked stats.
So he chose to raise his base stats evenly.
Geumsohn’s other goal.
For the All-Master path, balanced growth was essential.
A perfectly filled hexagon of stats.
That was Geumsohn’s ideal.
[Agility: 16 → 26]
[Stamina: 16 → 26]
[Mana: 16 → 26]
With his remaining stat points allocated, Geumsohn felt a shift.
His weary body seemed to recover, and his mind grew sharper.
Geumsohn gazed at Neman Village with satisfaction.
In his past life, he would have left by now.
He’d already acquired a class, and his level had reached ten—the experience cap for beginner villages.
To grow quickly, he should have escaped Neman Village as soon as possible.
Only then would the experience cap lift, allowing him to accumulate experience toward level eleven.
But.
‘I can’t leave just yet.’
Most players were desperate to escape beginner villages immediately.
That was the only way to level up.
Yet there was something most players didn’t know—or chose to overlook.
Beginner villages made acquiring classes remarkably easy.
‘There’s nowhere better than a beginner village to gain a sub-class.’
Once you left and sought a new class elsewhere, the difficulty spiked dramatically.
The quests required for a class became far more demanding.
But this place was different. This was a beginner village.
A place designed from the ground up for classes.
Even a sub-class, ordinarily challenging, could be obtained here with relative ease.
Among countless villages scattered across the starting zones, there was one final reason Geumsohn had chosen Neman Village in the Airok Kingdom.
That reason was simple: a unique class existed here and nowhere else.

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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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