The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 32

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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 32
032. I’ll Give It a Try
Even the staff officers seemed to grimace at the suggestion of impersonation.
But Choi Jin-ung’s instructions weren’t finished yet.
“Last thing—Intelligence Division, I want everything on Geum-son. Weaknesses, desires, whatever. If he’s human, there has to be a crack somewhere.”
Choi Jin-ung rose from his seat and gazed out the window.
“Kang Mu-jin’s had it easy up till now. Time he learned what real struggle feels like.”
It seemed Choi Jin-ung harbored personal animosity toward Kang Mu-jin.
But regardless, Asura began to move with perfect synchronization.
* * *
Once the commotion at the Auction House settled, Dusar invited Geum-son and Calis to his private Smithy.
Unlike the opulence of the auction hall, his workshop was purely a craftsman’s space—stripped of everything but utility.
There, Dusar smiled and offered them drink.
“Come now, try this. Ingol Flame Liquor, brewed by us dwarves ourselves.”
The horn cup Dusar handed over brimmed with a thick, crimson liquid like molten lava.
After a single sip, Geum-son’s throat felt like it was burning.
But he had no choice but to offer praise.
“Ah, that’s fine spirits indeed.”
“Haha! A connoisseur! To share a cup with a young master craftsman like you—tonight will be too good to sleep through, I think.”
Calis too drained his cup, smiling warmly.
“Dusar, I feel a bit sorry for the trouble we stirred up.”
“What are you saying? If anything, cutting away that vermin was a real gain for us.”
The two seemed to have a deep rapport.
In formal settings they maintained courtesy, but in private they spoke freely and comfortably.
Several rounds of toasts passed in that genial atmosphere.
Then, suddenly, a shadow fell across Dusar’s face.
He exhaled a heavy sigh and stared blankly into the flames of the furnace.
“Is something troubling you?” Geum-son asked carefully.
Dusar filled his horn cup to the brim and emptied it in one draught.
Then he spoke, his voice bitter.
“Lately, the quality of ore coming from our mines in Kratom has been dropping noticeably. The purity’s down, the impurities are up. If this keeps going, our name as the ‘City of Fire and Stone’ will become meaningless.”
“That’s strange. Have you identified the cause?” Calis asked.
Dusar’s expression hardened further.
He sighed again before speaking.
“We’ve found the culprit. The Corrupted Earthworm. That defiled behemoth is the problem.”
According to Dusar’s account, the Corrupted Earthworm was originally a monster that dwelled in the deepest lava regions of the mines.
But recently, for reasons unknown, it had expanded its territory and now devoured mineral veins indiscriminately, flooding the depths with contaminated excrement.
“The mucus from its body is powerfully acidic—ordinary weapons dissolve the moment they touch it. And since it moves freely underground, even tracking it is difficult. We’ve already sent our city’s finest warriors in extermination squads multiple times, but each attempt failed, and we’ve taken staggering losses.”
The entire city already had the relevant quest posted.
[City Quest: Purify the Corrupted Mines!]
– Objective: Slay the Corrupted Earthworm that poisons Kratom’s lifeblood, and restore the mines’ vitality.
– Success Condition: Corrupted Earthworm Slain (0/1)
– Reward: Honorary Citizenship of Kratom, 500,000 Gold, Random Legendary Ore Box
The legendary-grade reward was extraordinarily generous.
Let alone the half-million gold.
The equivalent of fifty million won in currency.
A quest that would send players scrambling like dogs after a scent.
But if it had been resolved by such rewards alone, Dusar would have no reason to worry as he did now.
The difficulty seemed to match the reward—and it remained unsolved.
“If this continues, the reputation of Kratom itself will be stained. A city of smiths with no quality ore—what could be more calamitous?”
Despair rang deep in Dusar’s voice.
Calis too fell into serious thought, his expression grave.
But in Geum-son’s mind, a memory from his past life was becoming crystalline.
‘The Corrupted Earthworm… there was a strategy for that thing.’
In his past life, this quest had been left unsolved for quite some time, abandoned by all.
Countless players had challenged it, only to be wiped out repeatedly—helpless before the worm’s hardened carapace, its acidic mucus, and its pattern of burrowing underground.
Worse, whenever a particularly strong opponent appeared, the creature simply fled.
Then, by chance, an alchemist player had found the key to the solution.
‘The mucus is powerfully acidic, but when it meets the sap of a certain plant, it undergoes a Neutralization Reaction and hardens rapidly. And that plant was….’
The fragmented pieces of memory in Geum-son’s mind began to fall into place.
He asked the question as if it were nothing, directing it toward Dusar.
“This Earthworm monster—is it particularly sensitive to certain sounds or vibrations, by any chance?”
“Vibrations?”
“Yes, for instance… the sort of sound that comes from a dwarf’s mining hammer.”
Calis tilted his head at Geum-son’s question.
But Dusar’s eyes widened.
“How did you know? That creature appears only where mining sounds are heard, attacking miners and devouring ore veins. We even had to suspend all mining operations for a time because of it.”
“I see.”
Geum-son quietly rejoiced to himself.
His memory had been exact.
He pressed forward with the crucial question.
“Is there, by any chance, a cave near this city where moss grows that glows blue when it receives moonlight? It would likely be a damp, cool place.”
“Moonlight Moss? I wonder if such a thing exists…”
As Dusar searched his memory, Calis clapped his hands and spoke.
“Ah! The Blue Cave to the west of the city, that’s what you mean. When night falls, the entire cave glows with blue light—it’s a sight to behold.”
With Calis’s words, all the pieces fell into place.
Geum-son hesitated no longer.
He rose from his seat and spoke to Dusar.
“Dusar. That quest. I’ll take it on.”
“What, what did you say? You?”
Dusar doubted his own ears.
A blacksmith who had just arrived in the city was stepping forward to tackle a quest that the city’s greatest warriors had failed.
“Your courage is admirable, but this is reckless. You could lose your precious equipment… and that steel giant as well.”
Dusar, ever eager to speak of equipment before life itself.
Though he pleaded earnestly, Geum-son’s resolve was unwavering.
“How could I stand idle when the city of blacksmiths is in danger?”
In that moment, a system message appeared before Geum-son’s eyes.
[Will you accept the City Quest: Purify the Corrupted Mine?]
Without hesitation, Geum-son nodded.
And then—
[Quest accepted.]
[Your selfless choice has raised Dusar’s Affinity to maximum.]
“Good, let’s go. Iron Walker.”
“Worker! Going walker!”
Geum-son and Iron Walker departed from the Smithy together.
Behind him, Dusar and Calis’s gazes lingered with peculiar intensity.
“That young man… what exactly is his true nature?”
“Did you not see? A young master craftsman, and a foreigner.”
Calis drained the remaining Ingol Flame Liquor from his glass in a single gulp as he spoke.
“I’m watching too. If he resolves this problem… then I’ll know. What manner of man he truly is.”
Calis’s gaze, fixed upon Geum-son’s receding figure, only deepened.
Geum-son quickened his pace, leaving Calis and Dusar behind.
His destination was the Blue Cave, located to the west of the city.
His first objective was to harvest the Moonlight Moss that grew naturally only in that place.
‘To neutralize the Corrupted Earthworm’s acidic slime, I absolutely need the Moonlight Moss.’
The Moonlight Moss was indeed highly effective against the Corrupted Earthworm’s acidic secretion.
But the Moonlight Moss could not be harvested simply by bare hand.
Because it grew while absorbing moonlight, the moss itself carried a faint magical toxicity.
Touching it with bare hands would cause numbness to spread from the fingertips throughout the entire body—a dreadful side effect.
‘I’ll need materials to neutralize the toxicity. For that…’
A list of necessary materials swiftly took shape in Geum-son’s mind.
‘The Flame Salamander Fang to cool the cold heat, Mithril Powder to neutralize the toxicity, and a Special-treated Glass Bottle to hold the moss.’
Having to gather even these minor materials was tedious.
Still, with Iron Walker at his side, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
“Walker, I’ll need to wander around the city a bit… carry me, would you?”
“Worker! Carry walker? Workerr!”
Iron Walker, delighted beyond measure, quickly offered his broad back.
Geum-son climbed up onto it with familiar ease.
Though forged of steel, the back felt strangely comfortable.
Thump, thump, thump, thump—
Iron Walker’s heavy footsteps resumed their trek through Kratom.
And the bizarre sight immediately captured the attention of every player passing by.
“Hey, look at that. What is that?”
“A golem carrying a person around? There’s a pet like that?”
“Pet or whatever…… it’s a bit much, isn’t it? A grown man being carried around like that feels off.”
“But the one riding on top—I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere…… wait. That’s Geum-son!”
“Geum-son? Oh! That Walker Golem? Is that the one?”
The murmur among the players grew louder.
The protagonist from the video that had set Repinet ablaze.
His distinctive conduct seemed to have already impressed itself upon many players’ minds.
More than that, it seemed they could now recognize Iron Walker itself.

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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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