The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 3

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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 3
003. Breathing Practice
Thump-thump.
His heart was racing.
Geumsон’s heart had started beating wildly of its own accord.
It was perhaps only natural, having acquired such an absurd title.
But there was no time to revel in a single title.
If anything, his shoulders only grew heavier.
Now he had to move.
If he didn’t want to despair again beneath that ashen sky seven years from now.
“Let me start by checking things out.”
Geumsон forced his racing mind to settle.
The reason he had chosen Neman Village.
He needed to verify that “possibility” his dying comrade had mentioned in passing.
“Everyone else has already left.”
Surveying the Town Square, the Players who had just moments ago been marveling at Lepion’s astounding realism had already scattered in all directions.
They all seemed to be rushing about, eager to accept quests and slay monsters to raise their levels as quickly as possible.
In most games, that’s what matters.
Getting ahead faster than anyone else.
Securing hunting grounds before others claim them—such things could pass for strategy if one was generous.
But.
‘Lepion is different. You can’t just beat up monsters and expect to succeed, the way you would in other games.’
In other games, rapid level-ups from monster hunting are paramount. Lepion is not like that.
You must recognize this place as another “world” where people actually live.
Not merely programmed game logic, but a genuinely separate world.
Geumsон smiled bitterly.
His past self had been just like them—obsessed with slaying monsters and raising levels.
But this world was far more complex than that.
This was a living, breathing alternate “world,” and relationships with the people who dwelled here mattered above all else.
Kill the same monster, but the experience points you received differed depending on whose request you accepted it for, and why you knew you were accepting it.
Of course, Lepion never explains this.
‘Frustratingly unhelpful game.’
Lepion doesn’t even reveal such basic mechanics.
Everything is left to the Player’s own discretion—a system of laissez-faire management.
A game decided entirely by the Player’s choices.
True, basic tutorials are provided, but following them alone would never produce a master.
Too many secrets and hidden elements lurked beneath the surface.
Geumsон knew those secrets.
And one of them.
He was about to verify it right now.
‘The opposite direction from the village—the Forest Path.’
Rather than follow the other Players into the heart of the village, Geumsон turned and walked in the opposite direction.
To the most remote corner of the village, where no Player’s gaze ever fell.
There, an old man sat before a dilapidated hut, gazing endlessly into the distance.
In his past life, countless Players had spoken to him, but he’d shown no response—so they’d dismissed him as a mere background NPC.
But Geumsон knew better.
That old man was the starting point of a Hidden Quest obtainable in Neman Village.
‘There he is! Just like Yeom Tae-hun said—he’s still here.’
Geumsон smiled the moment he saw the old man.
In truth, he hadn’t been certain.
But seeing the old man still keeping his vigil eased his mind.
The words of Yeom Tae-hun, the spear master who had stood at the final defense line, came back to him.
– Damn it, I didn’t meet that old codger until I was over level 200. The quest rewards weren’t bad, but…… that’s not what that old man’s real worth is. If—if only I’d met him when I first started Lepion, my spear would have walked an entirely different path. For me and for him too…… that would’ve been better. Well, that’s all in the past now.
Yeom Tae-hun the Spear Master.
Level 442 at the brink of the apocalypse.
One of mankind’s greatest spear artists.
For someone of Ranker-tier caliber to lament missing this old man’s acquaintance spoke volumes.
Of course, meeting this old man wouldn’t solve everything, but it would certainly prove invaluable for Geumsон.
Moreover.
‘The Spear Master said it didn’t help him much because his level was already so high when he completed the old man’s quest.’
There’s no need to feel any debt toward Yeom Tae-hun, the Spear Ghost who held the final line of defense.
So he could proceed with the old man’s quest with an easy conscience.
‘Only… not right now.’
But there was no point in approaching the old man immediately.
A special ‘key’ was needed to open his tightly sealed heart.
Geumson fixed the old man’s image in his mind one more time, then turned his feet away without hesitation.
His objective was clear.
The Greatest Blacksmith.
And beyond that, the All Master.
To fit the first piece of that grand design into place, he headed toward the shabby Training Grounds of the village.
Toward another arrangement that the Spear Ghost Yeom Tae-hun had mentioned.
* * *
The Training Grounds bustled with novice Players fumbling about, wooden swords and wooden spears in hand, pummeling practice dummies clumsily.
Geumson passed through them and approached a middle-aged NPC standing in one corner of the grounds with arms crossed, his expression deeply displeased.
‘Spear Arts Instructor, Barck.’
In the past, just one among countless NPCs he’d passed by without a second glance.
But now, to Geumson’s eyes, his information appeared in a different light.
A former member of the Kingdom Knights.
After losing one leg in combat and retiring, he’d returned to his hometown of Neman Village to teach new recruits as a way to pass the time.
Pride ran deep in him, but he tended to treat the ‘Foreigners’ who logged into the game as nothing more than foolish children playing for a day or two.
“Hmph, another greenhorn added to the lot. What’re you gawking at? You here to learn how to grip a spear or something?”
Barck scanned Geumson from head to toe, his tone gruff and dismissive.
His eyes held plain disdain and irritation.
Already, several Players scattered around were grumbling after being rebuffed by Barck.
“Seriously, can’t we skip dialogue or something? He’s telling us to leave because we ‘ignored’ what he said? Is this how it works? Shouldn’t we file a complaint with the game company?”
“What kind of NPC refuses to teach a skill? This doesn’t make sense. How are we supposed to hunt? He should at least tell us something!”
“This sucks. Is the spear wrong? Should I find another place that teaches different skills?”
“Hey! There’s no point wasting time here. Let’s find somewhere else. Come on!”
The sound of Players complaining filled the air.
They were those who’d been treated as if Barck were a common NPC from an ordinary game and had been refused skill transmission.
Of course, Geumson wouldn’t be rejected like the other Players.
“I came here hoping to learn Spear Arts.”
At the polite reply, Barck’s eyes twitched slightly.
A courteous Foreigner was apparently unexpected.
But that was all.
Barck’s manner toward Players remained gruff.
“Learn Spear Arts, you say? I’ve watched brats like you swing spears around like toys and give up a hundred times over. But if you really want to learn, let’s see if you’ve got the focus for it.”
Barck looked Geumson up and down, then let out a derisive snort and kicked an old wooden spear leaning against the corner with his foot.
“You see that dummy over there? The red mark drawn on its solar plexus. Thrust that mark dead center, continuously, one thousand times without a single mistake. If you miss even 1mm or hesitate for even a moment, you start over from the beginning. Think you can manage it?”
The instant Barck finished speaking, a system message appeared before Geumson’s eyes.
A welcome message.
[Normal Quest: Barck’s Trial]
– Description: Barck, the Spear Arts Instructor of Neman Village, wishes to test the half-hearted resolve of greenhorns. Prove your worth by passing his exacting trial.
– Success Condition: 100 accurate hits on the dummy target
– Reward: Basic Spear Arts Skill Set
Contrary to Barck’s words, it seemed that succeeding with just 100 hits would count as completion.
Apparently even Barck didn’t expect a Foreigner to actually accomplish a thousand successful thrusts.
His expectations of Foreigners were that low.
Other Players who’d overheard the conversation murmured among themselves.
“Insane. A thousand times straight? You’re joking.”
“It sounds like a thousand, but when you actually take the quest, you only need a hundred successful hits. The problem is, a hundred isn’t easy either. I made it to seventeen before I failed. It’s ridiculously picky.”
“Hey, couldn’t they give you a break if you fail at ninety-nine? When am I supposed to start that over from scratch?”
“Spear Arts is garbage, I’m telling you! Total waste of time? I heard other villages teach archery way better…….”
The Players’ complaints weren’t entirely wrong.
Even in virtual reality, human concentration had its limits.
Performing repetitive actions without error was nearly impossible for anyone who wasn’t a machine.
Yet a faint smile played at the corner of Geumson’s mouth.
He had no intention of stopping at merely a hundred.
He would do exactly as Barck had said.
A perfect thousand thrusts.
Only then could he obtain what he truly desired.
He hadn’t come here merely to acquire some Basic Spear Arts Skill Set.
‘Compared to the process of forging equipment… a thousand repetitions is nothing.’
Geumson—a man who had witnessed humanity’s final age, the era before its extinction.
When he carved the bones of a god-slayer and tempered the heart of the last ancient dragon before its extinction, he had needed to land more than ten thousand hammer strikes with perfect precision—not a millimeter of error, not a gram of wasted force—in exactly the right spot each time.
With every swing of the hammer, he’d had to endure the crushing weight of all humanity’s fate pressing down on his shoulders, the suffocating pressure as his heart contracted in his chest.
A single mistake.
It never ended in mere material loss.
His failure meant a breach in humanity’s final line of defense.
It was a shortcut to accelerating his comrades’ deaths, humanity’s defeat, and the world’s annihilation by one step.
Compared to that, a thousand spear thrusts now?
Absurdly easy.
Incomprehensibly merciful.
If he failed?
He simply started over.
This worn wooden spear wouldn’t shatter, and the scarecrow wouldn’t vanish.
The world wouldn’t end, and beloved comrades wouldn’t cough blood and die before his eyes.
This wasn’t training—it was closer to rest.
For Geumson, this mission was far too simple.
Compared to those hellish days of the past, it was a light warmup.
No—it was merely a breathing exercise.
“Can’t do it? If you can’t, then stop whining like the others and get out——.”
“Shall I begin?”
“You’ll do it? Well, yes. All right.”
Geumson lightly adjusted the wooden spear that Barck had tossed him.
The rough, unrefined texture of wood against his palm.
It was as if that sensation—one he’d grown weary of feeling during the age of extinction—was awakening once more.
Barck, who’d been about to say something, found himself speechless as he watched Geumson.
The atmosphere surrounding Geumson after accepting the quest was utterly transformed—like a different person entirely.
‘What’s with that look in his eyes…….’
Watching Geumson’s gaze, Barck felt a chill run down his spine.
There emanated an aura like that of a seasoned veteran who had rolled across countless battlefields.
But Geumson paid no attention to what Barck might be thinking.
He simply.
Stood before the scarecrow.
He drew a deep breath and released it slowly.
The ambient noise faded into the distance, and in his vision, only the red dot painted on the scarecrow’s chest came into sharp focus.
Thrust—!
The first strike.
The tip of the spear pierced cleanly through the center of the red mark.
Barck’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly as he watched.

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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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