The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 8

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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 8
008. If Determination Matters So Much
Around the time Geumsohn was beginning his Refining work in the Smithy.
Lepinet, the official community for Lepion, was ablaze with an unexpected bug issue.
It all began with a single video posted to the free discussion board.
[Title: Guys There’s a Crazy Guy Hanging Around Neman Village ㅋㅋㅋ Video]
Author: NemaGrabber
Content:
Wow…… guys I just saw something absolutely insane.
A level-one newbie thrusting at a scarecrow a thousand times without a single mistake—is that even physically possible?
Plus I watched in real-time as an NPC gave him a Hidden Skill.
Is this a bug? Or a macro? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Video link: Basically_doing_spear_thrust_1000_times.mp4]
The moment the post went up, comments exploded.
– [FactBomber]: Looks like AI footage? 100% fake. You can tell the video’s been spliced together.
– [LepionVeteran]: Nah nah look at the stance. That’s the real deal. That’s not the work of someone who just started. What do you think someone like that does in real life?
– [CouchYeopoAlly]: Wow…… that’s insane. That’s actually possible? I couldn’t even do ten.
– [Anonymous123]: I watched that and tried to copy it, failed at ninety-nine, and straight-up rage-quit. That NPC has a nasty personality.
– [FakeDetector]: Obvious fake ㅋㅋ
– [SpearLife]: That Bark old geezer has such a nasty personality I wouldn’t even talk to him…… but this guy just demolishes him a thousand times ㄷㄷ
– [BarkComplainer]: That’s the person who rage-quit and broke their capsule…… hey, can I get compensation for my capsule? ㅠㅠ
– [Analyst]: Broke down the video frame by frame—it’s not that mechanical, robotic macro movement. The rhythm’s slightly different, which means it’s pure manual control. This is genuinely real skill ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
└ [ㅇㅇ]: Time-mastery has arrived ㅋㅋ But who the hell is this person?
While the community was debating the identity of “the Thousand-Thrust guy,” before the fervor even cooled, another post went up.
This one was also footage from near Neman Village.
[Title: Hacker at Neman Village Mine. Report Attached. (Video)]
Author: MinerLife
Content:
I’m writing this because I’m genuinely dumbfounded. I went to the mine for a Blacksmith quest, and there’s someone doing something that makes absolutely no sense.
This person’s holding what looks like the crappiest pickaxe they could find, and they’re shattering ore veins in one strike. One strike!
And they’re cherry-picking only the highest-grade ore. This has to be a hack—there’s no other explanation.
Admin, please check this out ASAP and ban this hacker.
[Video link: is_this_mining_or_demolition.mp4]
The second video caused an even bigger stir than the first.
– [ㅇㅇ]: Definitely hacking ㅋㅋㅋㅋ blatantly using it ㅋㅋ See you never, hacker ㅋㅋ
– [TubanComplainer]: I gave up on that quest…… it was that easy?
└ [MinerLife]: Nah nah only this person’s like that. We all get low-grade ore even after thirty hits ㅠㅠ
[EyeWizard]: Wait wait wait…… doesn’t this person have the same outfit as the Spear Thrust guy from earlier?
└ [Sherlock]: Seriously, yeah. The character looks identical too. Same person?
[ㅇㅇ]: A spear master AND a mining master on day one? What a veteran…
Once it became clear that both videos were the work of the same person, the community descended into chaos.
He’s a hacker. No he’s not.
He’s a hidden Ranker. No he’s not.
All manner of speculation flew—Beta Tester, official test player, and so on.
Then one decisive comment appeared that ended all the debate.
[GeumsohnFan]: Wait wait wait…… that face…… isn’t that Geumsohn?
In an instant, every comment on the board zeroed in on that single reply.
[Anonymous12]: Geumsohn? That rice-eating streamer Geumsohn?
[WatchAndKnow]: Yep, that’s it. Character customized to look exactly like his real face ㅋㅋㅋ Total attention-grab!
[ㅇㅇ]: A broadcaster? Then why isn’t he streaming? How could he hoard content this good and not broadcast it? It’s not even sponsored content—what even is this, hidden gameplay?
[Drifter]: This is why broadcasters are losers, can’t spot good content right in front of them. Turn on the stream NOW! This is pure gold!
[DonationReady]: Hyung turn it on right now! I’ve got donations loaded! Just press start and they’ll go through!
[GeumsohnHurryUp]: Hyung! If you don’t turn on the broadcast, I’m finding your address and pulling the power on your capsule!
In moments, community opinion unified around a single demand: “Turn on the broadcast.”
Geumsohn’s name shot up the real-time trending charts, and his personal broadcast channel—which hadn’t even gone live—was flooded with viewers, its bulletin board drowning in spam posts.
But Geumsohn, at the very center of all this chaos.
Remained completely oblivious to the uproar outside, focused solely and quietly on his work.
* * *
‘Refining Skill.’
[Refining Lv.1]
Description: This skill removes impurities from ore and extracts pure metal. The quality of the final material is determined by the perfection of the refining process.
The skill description was simple enough.
But any blacksmith knew without explanation how crucial this step truly was.
Good materials made good equipment.
Refining was where it all began.
Geumsohn opened his skill window and activated the Refining skill.
A translucent gauge bar materialized before his eyes.
It was the System’s auxiliary function—showing optimal temperature and timing.
But Geumsohn consulted it without relying on it.
‘The System provides convenience, but it also creates limits.’
In his last life, Geumsohn had crafted items exactly as the System directed.
Of course, everything he’d made had been exceptional.
Every Ranker sought out Geumsohn’s work first.
But in that final moment.
At the most crucial instant, the message waiting for him was one of item destruction.
‘I should never have ignored that instinct.’
Geumsohn had sensed it dimly even then.
That whatever he created would ultimately be unable to transcend the System’s boundaries.
No matter how fine the materials or how high his skill level, the results would always fall within the framework the System had established.
But he’d dismissed it.
He hadn’t felt the need to overcome the System.
Crafting through the System alone had been more than sufficient to create exceptional items; there was no reason to seek another path.
Besides, in the latter days of the world’s collapse, he’d barely had time to breathe.
Creating new items was challenge enough, but the endless repairs of equipment shattered in fierce battles never ceased.
Opening a new path would have been a luxury in such circumstances.
He’d known somewhere deep down that he’d have to do it eventually, but he’d kept postponing it, using the situation as an excuse.
The result was watching the world perish helplessly.
This time, it had to be different.
He had to transcend everything he’d created in his last life.
To do that, relying solely on the System’s power was impossible.
‘This time it’s different. No—it has to be different!’
Geumsohn relied only on his own senses and experience.
The color of the flames, the subtle sound the metal made, the scent spreading through the air.
All of it was feeding him information.
Hisss—
At the perfect moment, he pulled the heated metal from the furnace and laid it on the anvil.
Then he lifted the hammer.
Clang!
The first strike.
Impurities burst away in a shower of sparks.
Clang!
Clang-clang!
His hammer strikes were mechanical in their precision, rhythmic and measured.
Tuban, watching from the side, stood slack-jawed.
‘That’s… that’s…!’
Tuban himself was a veteran who’d wielded a hammer for decades.
He didn’t need to see to understand.
The sound of the hammer striking metal alone was enough.
Geumsohn’s technique was in a different class from any blacksmith Tuban had ever witnessed.
Perfect posture with no wasted force.
The insight to read the grain of the steel and strike precisely at its weakest point.
It was as if he were in conversation with the glowing metal itself.
[Your Refining Proficiency has increased.]
[Refining Skill has reached Level 2.]
[Refining Skill has reached Level 3.]
[Your Refining Proficiency has increased.]
.
.
.
From refining a single piece of Iron Ore, Geumsohn’s Refining skill soared upward like a storm.
For Geumsohn, this message held a special significance.
‘I’ve only refined a single piece of Iron Ore, and yet…?’
The Refining skill’s Proficiency was rising at a staggering rate.
No matter how the combined effects of ‘Narcissist’ and ‘One Who Astounded the Blacksmith’ accelerated his Proficiency gain beyond that of ordinary players, this defied all reason.
The messages that followed were enough to fill Geumsohn with a vague but undeniable certainty.
.
.
.
[You possess an extraordinary blacksmithing technique that transcends common knowledge.]
[Player Geumsohn is employing an advanced technique the System has never proposed.]
[Your Refining skill Proficiency is being adjusted.]
Rather than relying solely on the System, he had drawn upon the sensations of his former life, wielding the skill and executing the Refining work with that memory as his guide.
And so the response came at once.
‘That’s right… I can’t depend on the System alone.’
Of course, even if he had practiced the Refining skill by relying solely on the System, there would have been progress.
As he had calculated before, a speed 2.5 times faster than others—a different dimension entirely.
2.5 times was already a remarkable pace.
But that was all it would have been.
Now Geumsohn’s Proficiency gain was soaring far beyond those projected numbers.
“Hah… hah…”
Tuban, who had been watching Geumsohn’s Refining work.
Tuban could say nothing; he could only let out hollow laughs.
A mastery that he had spent a lifetime achieving—this foreigner was catching up to it in mere minutes.
Yet Geumsohn paid no attention to Tuban’s reaction.
He kept his focus solely on the pure refined metal before him.
He lifted the completed Iron Ingot with tongs.
It gleamed with a clarity and radiance that seemed impossible to believe had come from low-grade ore.
[You have refined a Superior-Grade Iron Ingot.]
A message appeared before Geumsohn.
At last, his first Refining process was complete.
Tuban, seeing the finished product.
Tuban asked Geumsohn with a hollow heart.
“A superior-grade result from low-grade materials… does this even make sense?”
It wasn’t truly a question expecting an answer from Geumsohn.
With the finished product right before his eyes, Tuban had no choice but to believe.
But Geumsohn was not satisfied.
The minerals piled high in the center of the Smithy.
There was still much material left to work with.
“You’re planning to process all of that?”
“You said Determination was what mattered, didn’t you? I’ve only just begun—I should see it through to the end.”
“Huh, this is something…”
Clang!
Clang-clang!
Clang-clang-clang! Clang!
The sound of hammering never ceased from Tuban’s Smithy, nor did the messages in Geumsohn’s window.
[You have refined a Superior-Grade Iron Ingot.]
[You have refined a Superior-Grade Silver Ingot.]
[Your Refining skill Proficiency increases.]
[You have refined Superior-Grade Brass.]
[Your Refining skill has reached Level 4.]
[You have obtained an Inferior-Grade Sapphire.]
.
.
.
[Your Refining skill has reached Level 10 [MAX].]
The moment he delivered the final hammer strike.
Right on cue, the message he had been waiting for appeared.
‘Finally!’
The Refining skill had reached its maximum Level.
And Tuban too seemed to have noticed that Geumsohn’s Refining mastery had reached its pinnacle.
Tuban seemed to hesitate for a moment.
But the hesitation didn’t last long.
He’d already made up his mind while watching Geumsohn work.
“Wait here a moment!”
Without a second thought, Tuban strode into the back of the Smithy and emerged carrying an old, dust-covered book.

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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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