The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 14

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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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Chapter 14
014. That’s Not How You Do It
The Class he’d chosen was admittedly fringe—even among the fringe.
But for Geumson, it was indispensable, and so he walked forward without hesitation.
Geumson made his way to the most remote corner of Neman Village.
A place where few other players ever set foot.
There stood a small building, incongruous with the pastoral landscape around it, its weathered surface bristling with bizarre metal fixtures and decorative elements.
Intermittent crackling sounds and the grinding whir of gears drifted from within—an otherworldly place.
‘The Mado Engineer’s Workshop.’
Geumson’s footsteps came to a halt before it.
A memory from his previous life flickered across his mind.
In his past life, Geumson had pursued the Giant as a combat Class while maintaining Blacksmithing as a secondary profession.
‘Giant’ was a Class obtained through a special advancement from the Hammer Warrior.
A rare case where a racial trait itself became a Class.
The Giant’s formidable physical abilities synergized beautifully with Blacksmithing.
Yet the result was nothing but a mediocre jack-of-all-trades.
Focus on crafting, and his level fell behind; focus on combat, and he had no time to forge equipment.
‘This life will be different. I’ll commit fully to the crafting path while still securing combat capability.’
Geumson’s conclusion was clear.
The limits of his combat talent were obvious enough.
What he needed was a crafting Class that could shore up his fighting ability.
Among them, one ill-fated Class whose true worth only emerged after the Age of Destruction arrived.
‘Mado Engineering! I can’t afford to overlook this!’
Mado Engineering.
A unique system that merged magic and mechanical engineering in Lepion.
In Lepion, this was the very Class that could manufacture Golems.
In the early days after launch, drawn by the romance of Golems, a handful of players pursued Mado Engineering—only to be dismissed as chasing fool’s gold and relegated to obscurity.
The Golems’ performance simply didn’t justify the resources and time expended.
‘They couldn’t even handle a single monster of the same level properly.’
But then came the Age of Destruction, and that assessment flipped entirely on its head.
Tireless soldiers of steel.
Golems became the iron shield guarding humanity’s front lines.
While players rested and regrouped, the Golems stood steadfast, repelling the beasts’ endless assaults.
And when modern drone technology merged with Mado Engineering, its latent potential erupted like a supernova.
Only then did people understand.
Mado Engineering’s true value lay not in individual combat power, but in ‘war’ itself.
The only force capable of enduring a war of attrition.
That was Mado Engineering.
‘A Blacksmith and a Mado Engineer working in tandem—that’s the ultimate synergy. The Blacksmith forges the parts, and the Mado Engineer assembles them with precision, imbuing them with mana… it’s a perfect pairing.’
Without further hesitation, Geumson pushed through the door of the peculiar building.
The moment his foot crossed the threshold—
Bzzt, bzzt—
Whirrr—
—Sniff, sniff, where on earth is that sweat stench coming from? Ugh! A savage like a blacksmith has no business being here! Get out of my sight!
From deeper within the building, behind an enormous mechanical apparatus, a harsh metallic voice poured through a speaker.
Since this was Geumson’s first visit to the Mado Engineer’s Workshop, the voice was unfamiliar to him.
Rather than seeking out the speaker, he calmly stated his purpose.
“I’ve come because I wish to learn Mado Engineering.”
—What? A blacksmith learning Mado Engineering? Bahahahaha! Do you really think someone who crudely beats on metal like a barbarian could comprehend the magnificent realm of Mado Engineering, which tolerates not even 0.1mm of error? Don’t flatter yourself!
The voice came sharp with indignation.
Even so, Geumson said nothing, simply surveying his surroundings.
The workshop’s interior was a chaos of machine parts, blueprints, and flasks filled with unidentifiable liquids—barely a space to set foot.
At the center, atop a massive workbench, sat a complex mechanical device.
His gaze fixed on one part in particular, trembling with visible instability.
‘That’s… an MK-03 Standard Power Circuit, isn’t it? So it really was here.’
A faint smile played at the corner of Geumson’s mouth.
It felt like discovering an old cherished toy in a dusty forgotten shop.
The unmanned Golems of the Age of Destruction, the Iron Hammer series—mainstays of humanity’s defense.
That very power circuit had gone into their earliest models.
Mado Engineers who’d acquired their Class here, now reconstructing it from memory into reality.
‘Near the end, I was locked in constant battles with the Mado Engineers over refinements…….’
Back then, Geumson had taken on the entire responsibility for the Golems’ components on the front lines.
Whenever the Mado Engineers brought new blueprints, he’d craft the optimal alloys and components to match those designs.
Through that process, he’d disassembled countless Mado Engineering schematics and engaged in all-night debates with them, naturally absorbing the core principles of the discipline.
Especially that ‘MK-03 Standard Power Circuit’.
The culprit behind countless Golems failing due to chronic Mana Backflow problems.
The circuit he and the Mado Engineers had refined dozens of times over in their struggle to solve it—a labor of love and frustration combined.
Geumson was lost in nostalgia, but the voice pouring from the speaker continued with unyielding resolve.
– Mado Engineering is an art! An art! A realm of creation born from meticulous calculation and brilliant inspiration. It’s a domain that some brute with nothing but a hammer swinging away could never grasp—not in a thousand years! So stop wasting my time. Leave now while I’m being reasonable!
It wasn’t because he was an outsider that she was being harsh.
Geumson felt slighted specifically because of his Class—Blacksmithing.
Yet despite that barrage, Geumson simply smiled with ease and pointed to his work.
“That Mana Stabilization Circuit over there—that’s not how you’re supposed to assemble it, is it?”
– W-what……?
The voice emerging from behind the machine apparatus faltered for a moment.
“Try reversing the gear on the third axis by half a rotation when you assemble it. The Mana flow will create minute vortices that’ll catch the backflow phenomenon. Do it that way and your efficiency should climb another 1.5% at least.”
“……!”
Silence fell over the workshop.
A moment later, a small silhouette suddenly bounded out from behind a massive pile of scrap metal.
A young girl with a youthful face, her red hair reaching down to her waist haphazardly tied back, grease-stained work clothes, and oversized goggles.
She fixed Geumson with eyes full of suspicion.
“H-how did you know that!”
The girl seemed flustered when Geumson pointed out the flaw.
But it was Geumson who was truly taken aback.
‘This isn’t Clark.’
The person Geumson had expected was Clark.
Clark, Neman Village’s only Mado Engineer.
Someone he’d crossed paths with a few times when working under Tuban back then.
All the other players had received their Classes from Clark.
So the sudden appearance of someone completely unexpected left him no choice but to be rattled.
‘Something’s…… changed?’
For most players, this would be trivial.
Whoever showed up, as long as you received your Class properly, that’s all that mattered.
But for Geumson, who carried memories of his past life, this was critical.
A specific NPC had fundamentally changed.
“Who…… are you?”
Geumson asked, his face suddenly grave.
The girl’s eye twitched.
Just as she was about to snap something back at him—
a man with a familiar face rushed urgently through the workshop entrance.
“Good heavens! Director Rabi! You’re not harassing another promising apprentice here, are you? Not this time! I won’t allow it!”
The man stepped forward as if to shield Geumson from Rabi.
It was Clark, the man Geumson remembered.
He had come into the workshop late.
‘Rabi? A director?’
Seeing Clark’s face, Geumson relaxed.
Yet her attitude left him baffled.
He’d never heard of anyone named Rabi from players who’d chosen Mado Engineering as their Class.
And this Rabi was now speaking down to Clark, venting her frustration as she talked.
“What do you mean I drove them away? I simply advised those unqualified fools who were poking around to consider a different profession!”
“But that’s exactly the problem, isn’t it? Apprentices are already dwindling by the day…… how could you say such a thing?”
“J-just shut up!”
Mado Engineering was an unpopular Class within Lepion, just as it was elsewhere.
Her reasons for driving away players seemed to mirror the same reasons players avoided the discipline in the first place.
Yet Rabi didn’t seem to care about such things—instead, she pressed Clark further.
“Stop complaining and try reassembling that Mana circuit, reversing the gear on the third axis by half a rotation.”
“Yes? Ah! You’ve already found the solution? Of course, it befits our youngest prodigy director…… ”
“Ugh, why do you talk so much! Just do it!”
Despite Rabi’s curt prodding, Clark moved swiftly to obey.
Though he was the Mado Engineer of the remote countryside village of Neman, his skill was remarkably impressive.
Click-click-
Clink-
Clark assembled the power circuit with a speed and precision that surpassed any modern Mado Engineer.
He examined the completed Mana Stabilization Circuit and broke into a satisfied smile.
The trembling instability that had rattled moments before had finally steadied.
“Truly, you are the branch director! I hadn’t even been waiting long before you resolved the issue!”
Clark launched into a barrage of flattery-laced praise.
But Rabi turned to him quietly.
“It wasn’t me.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I didn’t provide the solution.”
Rabi tilted her head toward Clark’s bewildered expression and pointed at me.
“That Blacksmith did.”
“What? That doesn’t make…”
“No, really! That Blacksmith came up with the solution! Aren’t you listening?”
Clark shifted his gaze toward me, his expression caught between confusion and doubt.
He clearly still didn’t believe it.
“Could it be… you? But who are you, exactly?”

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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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