The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 2

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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 2
002. Game Start!
[Logging into Lepion.]
With the familiar system chime, Geum Son’s consciousness was drawn into Lepion.
The familiar interface greeted him.
‘Here we go again.’
After the Gate manifested, Lepion had never been accessible.
Because reality itself became Lepion.
But now was before the Gate.
The Lepion interface he’d dreamed of spread before his eyes.
‘Character creation, then…’
The first hurdle was character creation.
Geum Son wasn’t about to rush through it carelessly.
Some players would pour their hearts into crafting beautiful avatars.
Others would create ridiculous characters.
Like someone trying to ape a veteran player.
But he couldn’t afford that here.
Not under any circumstances.
‘Synchronization Rate changes everything.’
Synchronization Rate—the hidden stat that emerged when Lepion overlapped with reality.
The more closely his character matched his real self, the greater the power and efficiency when manifesting abilities in reality later.
This was something Geum Son had discovered by accident before.
‘My name was the key.’
Family name: Geum. Given name: Son.
Not Kim.
Geum.
A real name that read like a nickname.
When he’d started the game in his previous life, he’d used his actual legal name as his nickname without thinking twice.
Since his real name was already nickname-like.
Later, he realized that small choice had granted him a higher Synchronization Rate bonus than other players.
And that marginal difference had eventually helped create something exceptional.
‘So this time…’
Geum Son entered his real-world information without hesitation.
The nickname was naturally ‘Geum Son’.
But this time it wasn’t just the name.
For appearance customization, he meticulously replicated his own face and build as if looking in a mirror.
While others chased fantasies, he embedded reality with absolute precision.
It was the most critical first move for what lay ahead.
[Please select your starting location.]
A message appeared once character creation finished.
The world of Lepion comprised 48 kingdoms, each with dozens of starter villages.
But Geum Son chose without hesitation.
‘Airock Kingdom. Neman Village.’
The same place he’d started in his previous life.
A humble rural village centered on farming, with only a small forest and a low-level Mining Dungeon nearby.
It was designated a starter village precisely because the Mining Dungeon and low-level monsters were scattered enough throughout the area.
An ordinary village—thoroughly ordinary.
‘But this is where the answer lies.’
With a flash of light, Geum Son’s character materialized in the center of Neman Village plaza.
“Whoa! This is insane!”
“It’s in a completely different league from those capsule games!”
“Hey, what’s that smell…… Wait? You can actually smell things? That’s crazy!”
“Hold on, that manure reek is coming from—wait, suddenly there’s manure? Is this—is this real? The smell is actually rendered? How does this even work?”
The blinding light faded, and a pungent stench assailed his nostrils.
The familiar, homely smell of a quiet countryside village greeted him.
Along with wide-eyed newcomers marveling at Lepion’s staggering fidelity.
A peaceful sight he hadn’t witnessed in ages—and one that stirred a deep longing.
‘I was the same way when I started.’
Still, watching them, Geum Son could only offer a rueful smile.
Lepion, with its rendering fidelity barely distinguishable from reality itself.
No, Lepion is more real than reality itself.
Sight, touch, hearing—and even scent and taste rendered perfectly.
That’s the technological mastery of Lepion, expressing nearly every element flawlessly.
In the past, Geum Son had been amazed and thrilled by that incredible craftsmanship too.
Just like the other players visible all around.
But he should have realized it then.
Where such impossible technology had come from, and what purpose it served.
‘What’s the use of regretting now? Is it too late?’
The moment he logged into Lepion to actually play, his mind felt clouded.
The echoes of annihilation still lingered in his thoughts.
And now, logging back in to play again, he found himself drifting into reverie.
“Exhale—”
Geum Son drew a deep breath and shook the tangled thoughts from his head.
Right now, staying focused on play was what mattered.
“Player information.”
Unlike others, Geum Son summoned his information with practiced ease.
A simple profile of his character materialized before his eyes.
[Player Information]
– Name: Geum Son
– Level: 1
– Class: Wanderer
– Titles:
1. Narcissist
Simple information should have been displayed.
Since he’d only just begun Lepion, there should have been nothing remarkable.
Until level ten, players operated as Wanderers, a period to acquire a true class.
But an unexpected title had been attached.
“Nar—Narcissist?”
A title obtained the moment he started Lepion.
Geum Son quickly checked the message’s contents.
In his past life, he’d never obtained a title like this.
And he’d never even heard of someone acquiring a title before reaching their first job—such a bizarre occurrence.
[You have acquired the title ‘Narcissist’.]
[Your physical appearance and character form match 100%.]
[The system is astounded by your remarkable degree of narcissistic temperament.]
[Effect 1: Skill proficiency acquisition increases by 100%.]
[Effect 2: Luck Stat unlocked, granting a bonus of +15.]
Geum Son read the message once more.
A title born from matching his real-world appearance perfectly.
An investment in his future that had paid off spectacularly.
Far faster than expected.
And in Lepion, no less.
‘Skill proficiency increases by 100 percent? Luck Stat unlocked? This is insane.’
Geum Son understood better than anyone the weight those words carried: “skill proficiency increases by 100%.”
In Lepion, skills.
Broadly divided into two categories.
Common Skills that anyone could learn.
And Class Skills that required a specific job to master.
Common Skills were accessible to all and boasted versatility, but their power was weak and their secondary effects negligible.
Class Skills, by contrast, boasted formidable performance—but without the corresponding job, even possessing the skill book meant nothing.
Of course, in Lepion, priding itself on freedom, choosing one’s job was entirely your own choice.
There was, however, one brutal caveat: each additional job beyond your primary class came with a penalty.
Each Sub-Job added increased the experience required for the next level-up by fifty percent—a horrifying tax, assuming you could bear it.
So most players settled on one primary job paired with one or two complementary Sub-Jobs at best.
Dabble carelessly in too many classes and you’d become a “jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none”—and swiftly obsolete.
But Geum Son was different.
The ‘Narcissist’ title changed everything.
‘This means I can level skills at twice everyone else’s pace.’
If he could accelerate all skill proficiency by a factor of two, the game transformed entirely.
Where others needed a lifetime to master one skill, he could master two; where they abandoned inefficient skill trees, he could master them all.
It was the moment when the path of the All Master—one who transcends a mere genius blacksmith to master all things—crystallized vividly before his eyes.
“All Master, then…….”
All Master.
The All Master, one who masters every class, had been treated as theoretically possible at best—relegated to the realm of fantasy.
But this Narcissist title had overturned all those calculations.
Raising the skills of countless classes to their highest levels, one by one.
It was a path demanding far more time than leveling itself—nothing short of endless, grinding labor.
But Geum Son could halve that time.
This was no mere advantage.
It was the key that transforms the impossible into the possible.
A faint smile played at the corner of Geum Son’s mouth.
A genius blacksmith reborn through regression.
No—now it seemed he could aim even higher.
“All Master wouldn’t be so bad either.”
And then there was the opening of a new stat.
Which stat had been opened wasn’t the important thing.
The very fact that a stat had been “opened” was what mattered.
“A stat opening already……. Then that means other stats can open too?”
Geum Son quickly pulled up his basic stat window.
When he checked the character details, he saw the Luck Stat reflected there.
[Player Details]
[Basic Stats]
– Strength: 10
– Agility: 10
– Stamina: 10
– Magic: 10
[Opened Stats]
– Luck: 15
[Remaining Stats: 0]
Geum Son stared at his status window in astonishment.
Most players begin at level 1 with only four basic stats: Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Magic.
With each level gained, they earn four additional stat points to invest in these basic stats and grow from there.
But Geum Son’s status window displayed a new category called “Opened Stats” alongside a Luck Stat sitting squarely in place.
‘Insane…… this at level 1?’
The meaning was unmistakable.
Now, with each level, Geum Son would earn not four but five additional stat points.
He would gain one point per level on everyone else.
It was impossible to dismiss as mere difference of a single point.
As levels accumulated, this gap would compound into an exponential advantage.
Most crucially, opening that first stat was brutally difficult.
In his past life, the existence of Opened Stats had first become known to users when the highest-level player broke through level 200.
Only the rarest top-rankers, those meeting specific conditions, barely managed to open their first stat—and it had become an enormous sensation.
Yet Geum Son had achieved that grueling first step at the very start of the game, at level 1.
He was effectively beginning with at least 200 additional stat points beyond what others would have by level 200.
Small as it seemed now, the gap would widen catastrophically with time.
And stat opening, while brutally difficult for the first, becomes comparatively easier once that threshold is breached.
Meeting certain conditions allows other stats to open in a chain reaction.
‘Double skill proficiency growth and bonus stat points on top of that…….’
The faint smile at the corner of Geum Son’s mouth transformed into one burning with certainty.
The All Master—discussed only in theory.
It seemed worth attempting.
No—he felt convinced he could do it.

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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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