The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 76

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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 76
076. The Worst Misunderstanding
Moiran let out a soft chuckle and pushed Geumson from her mind.
Geumson, whose stock had been steadily rising on the Lepion Net.
Even for someone like him, there was no way he could have sensed the Mana anomaly the moment he arrived in the city.
And even if he had noticed, he couldn’t possibly have fixed it this quickly.
Just as she was thinking this, the small Spider-shaped Brooch hanging from Moiran’s waist trembled faintly.
She clicked her tongue softly and brought her finger to the brooch.
[Communication request from Arachne Guild.]
“…… The timing, I swear.”
Moiran murmured under her breath and accepted the communication.
A cold, viscous voice flowed into her ear.
— Moiran, what’s the status?
“Nothing noteworthy to report, Master. Everything is proceeding according to plan.”
— According to plan? Then why is Airthos so quiet?
Airthos, peaceful contrary to Moiran’s assurances.
At this observation, Moiran’s voice sharpened in indignation.
“Are you questioning my work? The incubation period is a maximum of seventy-two hours. The reaction is simply slower than anticipated!”
Moiran wasn’t lying.
But at the same time, she was suppressing an anxiety that her calculations might have gone awry.
A brief silence stretched across the line.
— …… Account for variables, Moiran. The external operatives are proceeding on schedule. Produce visible results before then. Failure will not be tolerated.
“Yes, yes, I understand—”
She answered curtly and ended the communication first.
“Always complaining about something or other.”
The moment she cut the line, Moiran began muttering irritably.
Even as she retrieved the Black Bag she’d hidden beneath her bed.
She murmured while extracting it.
“That’s right…… the effect simply hasn’t manifested yet. My calculations were flawless.”
She stubbornly denied the fact that her perfect plan had encountered a variable, and began preparing a contingency—a second operation to account for failure.
The materials inside the bag were radiating an ominous light.
* * *
At that moment, Geumson was repairing the power mechanism of the Central Clock Tower, the point where the city’s Mana Circuit had been damaged.
“Whew…… That should contain the immediate crisis for now.”
There were still many damaged points remaining.
But fixing this much seemed sufficient.
The instant Geumson tightened the final screw and closed the control panel cover.
— Tiiiiit! Tiiat!
Tia, who had been keeping watch on Geumson’s shoulder, cried out urgently and flapped her wings toward the top of the clock tower.
“What is it, Tia?”
Geumson looked up.
At the highest point of the clock tower, silhouetted against the moonlight, stood a figure.
The silhouette wore a white robe and held a staff suffused with starlight in one hand.
Geumson’s heart seemed to drop with a heavy thud.
‘That person is……!’
Just watching.
But Geumson found himself frozen, unable to move a muscle.
Simultaneously, a message appeared.
[Archmage Astrid Lv. 420]
She gazed down at Geumson with an austere expression and spoke.
“For a long time…… I have been watching over the quiet breaths of this city. Yet…… you are one I have never seen before. Why do you disturb this beautiful garden so?”
Her voice carried the clarity and deep resonance of stars in the night sky.
Yet around her, the entire city’s Mana gathered gently, forming an immense current that could not be resisted.
It began to envelop and compress Geumson with a soft but irresistible force.
“Child, will you tell me why?”
A gentle compression.
But under that gentle pressure, Geumson could not move a single finger.
All he could do was read the message that appeared before him.
[Archmage Astrid has detected your presence.]
[She has mistaken you for an intruder threatening the city.]
Geumson swallowed hard.
He’d found Astrid at last.
Though it seemed she’d gotten the wrong idea about something.
The worst possible misunderstanding, in fact.
‘Damn it, this is… beyond my reach.’
Mana gathered around Astrid, pressing down on Geumson from all sides.
That overwhelming pressure was on a level he’d never experienced before.
Geumson’s mind raced.
He couldn’t simply submit to this helplessness.
He ran through every ability, every item he possessed, and their possible combinations.
‘If I maximized my physical capabilities with the Giant’s Strength to break free from the pressure, then activated Silence of the Earth with the Forgotten Void Hammer to disrupt the flow of Mana, and simultaneously used Disarm to destroy her equipment balance….’
A scenario played out in his mind.
But he stopped himself almost at once.
He considered another scenario.
It hit a wall.
Yet another scenario….
‘Damn it….’
Geumson clenched his teeth.
He couldn’t resist.
Every scenario he imagined led to a dead end.
None of his attacks could ever reach Astrid.
The gap between them wasn’t something he could bridge with skill matchups or item effects.
The Infinite Chain Strike was useless anyway—he couldn’t even build a chain in conditions like these.
His other damage amplification effects were specialized for giant monsters, nothing more.
Against someone wielding Mana with such precision and power, they fell woefully short.
Frustrated to the point of anger, Geumson raised his voice.
He spoke sharply.
“I didn’t tear this city apart! I was actually repairing the broken Mana Circuits!”
“You repaired them?”
Astrid’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
She made a small gesture with the hand holding her staff.
The interior of the Central Clock Tower’s power mechanism that Geumson had worked on materialized in the air like a hologram.
Mana flowed through it now far more stably and efficiently than before.
A flicker of confusion crossed her eyes for the first time.
“It certainly is better than I remember it, child.”
Geumson felt a small measure of relief at Astrid’s words.
Yet it seemed her thoughts diverged from his hopes.
“Your craftsmanship is impressive, but…… only the one who broke a circuit can repair it, don’t you think?”
“That’s not it…… I came here solely to study magic under you.”
“Study magic? Under me?”
Curiosity flickered across Astrid’s face.
Geumson seized the moment and mentioned Kalis.
“Prince Kalis of the Arcadia Kingdom brought me here. He said I should meet you….”
Geumson spoke Kalis’s name.
But Astrid’s reaction was not what he’d expected.
“Kalis, Kalis….”
Astrid frowned.
She seemed confused for a moment, as if her head ached.
But the words that came from her lips were not the answer Geumson had hoped for.
“Kalis…… I don’t recall that name at all. It’s one I’ve never heard before. Child, making up stories to escape trouble is not a good habit.”
Geumson opened his mouth to object to Astrid’s response.
But.
“Shh.”
Astrid brought her index finger to her lips.
Sound died in Geumson’s throat.
Her eyes had gone cold again.
“I’ve no wish to hear further excuses. Since you’ve laid hands on this city’s Mana Circuits, you must pay the price.”
There was no reasoning with her.
Cold sweat rolled down Geumson’s spine.
Further conversation was pointless.
A sense of injustice washed over him, but it was the last choice remaining to Geumson.
He recalled it.
‘Damn it. If things come to this… do I have to give up learning magic from Astrid?’
The last option left to Geumson.
There was nothing for it but escape.
Yet if he fled while she misunderstood him like this, he could never learn magic from Astrid.
But the connection between them had already been severed.
That was what made him regret it so deeply.
‘There’s no choice.’
There was no sign the misunderstanding would be cleared up.
Things were genuinely dangerous as they stood.
He had no choice but to exercise his last option.
‘City Return—destination Airthos!’
Geumson triggered the skill without hesitation.
An ability that, once per day, allowed him to instantly teleport to the coordinates of a designated city.
He hadn’t designated any other city.
The coordinates he’d set were in the outer regions, far removed from the center of this city.
That much seemed sufficient.
[‘City Return’ skill activated.]
[Instant transfer to designated coordinates ‘Airthos Outer Residential District’.]
Whoosh—!
In the same moment as the message, Geumson’s body was engulfed in a faint light and vanished from sight.
A forced teleportation that broke through Astrid’s mana restraint.
When he opened his eyes again, he stood in a quiet alley on the city’s outskirts, several kilometers away from the clock tower.
“Hah… I’m alive, at least.”
Geumson caught his breath heavily, surveying his surroundings.
For now, he seemed to have slipped out of Astrid’s sight.
He immediately turned to flee the city.
But his feet would not move, as if rooted to the ground.
A voice reached him from behind.
“Did you really think that would work? You should have run much farther—far enough for me to forget you.”
Geumson’s body went rigid as stone.
Slowly, very slowly, he turned his head.
There stood Astrid, silhouetted against the moonlight.
Exactly as she had appeared when they first met.
Not a single bead of sweat upon her, looking down at him.
The City Return—an absolute escape skill.
Astrid had simply followed the mana trace it left behind.
Even escape was useless.
“Wait, please! I’m telling the truth! I wasn’t destroying the city—I was fixing it! And this is a Letter of Introduction from Kalis!”
Like a drowning man grasping at straw, Geumson thrust the letter forward.
But Astrid didn’t so much as glance at such a letter.
She simply, slowly, raised her hand.
Mana gathered at her fingertips.
Beautiful mana, terrible for one whose life hung in the balance.
‘Damn it. Everything’s falling apart.’

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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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