The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 77

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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 77
077. The Scent of the Desert
Geumson had resigned himself to his fate.
In that moment when death seemed certain.
An unexpected message flashed into his mind.
[The Desert Solver effect activates.]
[Effect 2. You gain significant favor with all NPCs in the desert.]
[The Archmage Astrid feels a faint sense of favor toward you.]
Astrid’s hand froze just before Geumson’s forehead.
Her eyebrows trembled ever so slightly.
“……How strange. There’s a familiar scent of the desert about you.”
Astrid’s expression shifted for the first time.
A faint, fleeting longing passed through her eyes.
After a moment’s hesitation, she reluctantly accepted the Introduction Letter that Geumson offered.
* * *
“Master! I’m so sorry! I failed because of that strange Foreigner. I’m truly sorry!”
The Echo Library, where the boundaries of time and space grew thin and blurred.
Tens of thousands of ancient texts lined the walls, and the glow from the fireplace illuminated the chamber with a gentle warmth.
A small creature with tiny horns on her forehead—Mel—bowed her head, tears threatening to spill over at any moment.
Before her sat a figure in a rocking chair, knitting.
A figure that seemed masculine yet also strangely feminine.
Someone of androgynous, enigmatic charm.
As the figure listened to Mel’s story, the needles in their hands never ceased their rhythm, and they spoke.
“It’s all right, Mel. If you failed, then that too must be part of the greater flow.”
Mel had expected severe punishment for her failure.
But the figure’s voice was warm and gentle, contrary to her fears.
The figure reached out and stroked Mel’s head softly.
At that tender touch, her tears finally broke free.
“Waaah! B-but! That terrible Foreigner tore up the book you gave me!”
Mel sniffled and pulled an old book from her embrace.
One of its pages had been ripped out violently.
In that instant, the soft aura that surrounded the figure wavered for the first time.
“Tore…… the book? How…… could they?”
Astonishment colored the figure’s voice for the first time.
Mel held up the Book of Forgotten Records to the figure, speaking as though deeply wronged.
“They just tore it, simple as that.”
“Just tore it? This? That shouldn’t…… be possible?”
The figure fell silent, lost in thought.
The Book of Forgotten Records was no ordinary volume.
An ancient relic that recorded all forgetting and absence in the world.
It could never be destroyed by physical force.
Of course, there was a single exception.
The Forgotten.
Only those who stood outside the world’s flow and inscribed a new record could lay hands upon that book.
Mel, watching the figure’s reaction carefully.
She added more details about what had happened, as if to further establish her innocence.
“Really! And then—and then the Foreigner fed the torn page to Elementia!”
“Did you just say…… Elementia?”
The figure’s knitting needles came to a sudden halt.
Their gaze fixed upon a single point in empty space.
Their expression grew grave.
It was not the existence of Elementia that had shocked them.
Rather, the fact that this legendary being was serving someone as their master.
And that this master was none other than one who could tear apart the Book of Forgotten Records.
“An encounter between an entity that consumes even the world’s flow and one who defies that very flow…… How fascinating. Perhaps…… a true variable has emerged.”
The figure smiled brilliantly, as if deeply intrigued.
They stroked Mel’s head once more and spoke.
“It’s settled then, Mel. It would be best to keep your distance from that Foreigner.”
“Really? You’re not going to scold me? Even though that wicked Foreigner tore up the book you gave me!”
“It’s all right. Look—the book is perfectly intact, isn’t it?”
The book the Man offered.
A torn page from the Book of Forgotten Records.
By then it had already been restored in the Man’s hands.
As if it had never been torn at all.
Returned to its original state.
“Oh! Master! The book is moving!”
The Book of Forgotten Records, perfectly restored.
It began to move of its own accord, turning its pages once more.
Flip—flip—
Rustle—rustle—rustle—
The book turned its own pages, then came to a stop.
The Man read what lay before him.
As the Man read the records displayed in the Book of Forgotten Records, he spoke to Mel.
“Mel, go seek out another child now. The one who’s likely wandering lost in the Northern Ice Forest.”
“The Northern Ice Forest? What sort of child?”
“One who carves—a child who will carve even the hardest ice.”
“Yes! I’ll succeed this time for sure! Master!”
Mel answered with vigor and turned to leave.
As Mel departed, the Man’s soft voice reached her ears.
“By the way…… what did you say this Foreigner’s name was?”
“Geumson! Geumson! A hammer warrior and blacksmith. That’s what was written!”
“Geumson, is it…….”
The Man repeated the name to himself.
The smile at the corner of his lips was one he did not show Mel—deep and tinged with a loneliness that cut to the bone.
* * *
While Astrid read the Introduction Letter, Geumson swallowed hard and watched her reaction.
Astrid’s expression betrayed no change.
Geumson, unable to read her thoughts, felt only a gnawing unease.
Astrid gazed silently at the Introduction Letter in her hands for a long time.
The script written on parchment held no meaning for her.
But that penmanship.
That script stirred something in her memory.
“This handwriting…… ah, yes. That child, of course. The cute little greedy thing. I remember now.”
Astrid murmured softly and folded the Introduction Letter.
She did not remember Kalis’s name, but she remembered his distinctive hand.
A bold little prince who had snuck into her laboratory more than a decade ago, caught red-handed trying to steal an ancient magical artifact.
She released the magical bonds that had held Geumson in place.
“It’s rare for that greedy brat to introduce anyone…… how curious. And I hear he resolved the crisis in Krathum?”
The Introduction Letter seemed to contain a brief account of Geumson’s deeds in Krathum.
Thanks to that, Astrid’s expression seemed to soften.
“I’ve misunderstood you. I’m truly sorry.”
Astrid lowered her head.
Despite her overwhelming strength, she bowed deeply to Geumson.
Geumson exhaled a sigh of relief at last.
In that moment, he suddenly thought of Moyran.
‘So Moyran failed because of Astrid.’
If Geumson had not been there, by now Moyran would have been captured by Astrid and reduced to dust.
That’s why nothing happened in Aerthos in the previous life.
‘Damn, I ended up suffering in her place. Should I count that as repaying a debt from the previous life?’
Geumson’s own peculiar arithmetic, where the accounts never quite balanced.
As Geumson fumed internally, Astrid seemed to be pondering something.
Dawn was already breaking.
Beyond the alley, the murmur of people began to echo.
Aerthos was stirring to life.
“You there—this is not a place suitable for conversation. Since the little Kalis asked a favor of me…… close your eyes for a moment.”
A vague sense of unease settled over Geumson.
Yet he could not refuse her words.
The moment Geumson closed his eyes, he felt a strange sensation—as if the space around him were twisting.
‘What in the world is this……’
Before Geumson could even react—
A new message appeared.
[The Archmage Astrid uses Mass Teleport.]
‘Mass Teleport? She can actually use that?’
A supreme spatial spell that transported not just oneself but others to desired coordinates as well.
In his past life, there hadn’t been a single player mage capable of wielding it.
‘If such a spell had existed then… so many lives could have been saved.’
The Age of Ruin.
Evacuating civilians and the wounded had been the most dangerous and difficult task.
If even a single mage like this had existed back then, everything would have changed.
No—it was a spell of such strategic value that it could have reversed the entire tide of war.
While Geumson was lost in regret, his feet touched solid ground.
When he opened his eyes, the landscape spread before him bore little resemblance to the splendor of Aerthos.
The countless floating islands of Aerthos.
Among them, a small island situated in the most remote corner.
What stood out was how easily one spotted figures here and there who had lost parts of their bodies or bore the unmistakable pallor of sickness.
It seemed those without hope of living had gathered on this island, eking out a difficult existence.
A shabby floating island, removed from the glittering atmosphere that Aerthos otherwise presented.
At the center of the island stood a single weathered yet tidy cottage, surrounded by herb gardens.
This was Astrid’s dwelling.
‘Why on earth would she stay in a place like this…’
Geumson found Astrid incomprehensible.
The skill she’d demonstrated so far was overwhelming.
Across all his past lives, he’d never encountered a mage of such caliber.
With abilities like hers, she could easily claim a place among the lofty mages of Aerthos.
Even seizing the summit of the Mage Tower would seem within reach.
And yet here she was.
On a shabby floating island that no one would ever seek out.
‘So that’s why the players never found Astrid…’
It became clear why, in the past, Astrid had taken only Jung Ha-rin as her student.
But that thought didn’t linger long.
Astrid, having led him to the cottage, offered him a cup of tea and posed a question.
“You said you wanted to learn magic?”
Geumson nodded.
But Astrid let out a quiet sigh and shook her head.
It seemed she had no intention of taking him as a student.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that will be possible.”
“Excuse me? Why not?”
“Aren’t you also a Foreigner?”
Foreigner again.
He’d never expected discrimination against Foreigners—so prevalent among the NPCs of Lepion—to come from Astrid’s mouth.
But listening to her further, it seemed it wasn’t mere discrimination against Foreigners alone.

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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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