The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 80

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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 80
080. The Seasoned Negotiator
The Eye of Direct Gaze no longer slept.
It only fixed itself upon the present enemy before her eyes.
She read the opponent’s strategy, calculated the optimal path that might raise her allies’ survival odds by even a single percent, and conjured miracle after miracle—striking at the enemy’s weakness to turn the tide of battle.
She kept her failing allies alive.
And saved them again.
Thanks to Megan, the battlefield had found a fragile balance.
Though she took no direct part in combat, she fought with a ferocity that surpassed any warrior.
While all others slept, she alone stood like a lighthouse, fixing her gaze upon the battlefield.
Until both her eyes failed her.
『”Seeing a ruined future… this darkness, this moment feels better. Geumson, could I… rest now? No—I want to rest. I’m sorry. Forgive me for being the only one who gets to sleep…”』
The price of overextending her ability.
Her sight dimmed gradually, and in that final battle, it plunged into complete darkness.
And Megan never opened her eyes again, falling into a deep sleep from which she would not wake.
Her peaceful expression—as though she were finally catching up on all the rest she had deferred.
That was how he remembered her ending.
‘If I’d only spoken to her with warmth back then… would things have been different?’
Geumson still regretted it.
Because of her sacrifice, humanity had found hope.
They had endured a little longer.
Yet that ending was, as she had said, a defeat written in the stars.
Still, had he been more mature then, perhaps her final moments would not have been so lonely.
The weight of such pointless regret pressed down on his chest.
“It’s good to see you, Geumson.”
Megan extended her hand first in greeting.
Her voice was utterly transformed from the one in his memory—no trace of despair remained. Instead, it carried confidence and grace.
Geumson pushed aside the tangle of his thoughts and took her hand.
“Likewise, Megan.”
In that brief handshake, their eyes met in the space between them.
Just as they had in the Command Control Center that day.
But this Megan’s gaze was sharp and brilliant, not yet acquainted with despair.
Geumson wanted to protect that light from ever being extinguished.
Unlike what had happened before.

“I believe I already understand why you’ve come,” Geumson said, settling into his chair and cutting straight to business.
Awkward preliminaries would only waste time.
With her abilities, Megan would have seen through his deception about the Void Iron Ore long ago.
The fact that she had come here in person could mean only one thing.
‘The Ancient Giant’s Heart Stone and the Seal Chain Fragment.’
Two ancient-grade materials surfaced in Geumson’s mind.
And with them came the image of the Lich King—that which served as a ceiling, preventing the US Server from growing beyond its limits.
‘The key to breaking through the Lich King’s Absolute Magical Defense Barrier. With her ability, she would have grasped the true potential hidden in those two materials.’
The material names had been broadcast through World Messages.
With Megan’s power within Lepion, she would have already analyzed the materials’ properties.
Even without Geumson having revealed the data himself.
True to prediction, Megan showed no surprise.
Instead, she smiled at Geumson with evident interest.
“You’re more perceptive than I expected. It’s been a while since I’ve met someone I could actually have a real conversation with.”
She placed a Tablet PC on the table and deftly manipulated it, bringing up information on both materials.
The data she had compiled far exceeded what circulated on Lepion Net—it approached system-level internal records.
Likely information she had extracted through her Lepion ability and organized.
“We believe these materials are the only key that can break through the wall that is the Lich King. What’s your assessment?”
Her gaze shifted to Geumson.
Geumson nodded back.
Since the moment he acquired the materials, he had reached the same conclusion as she had.
“Name your price. Pantheria is prepared to offer you compensation you’ll find satisfactory.”
Serious negotiations had begun.
Sitting quietly beside them, Cha Yu-gyeong felt her tension spike.

To Cha Yu-gyeong’s eye, Geumson was nothing more than a naive young man who’d spent his entire life operating within the game—someone hopelessly ignorant of how the real world worked.
Megan, by contrast, was the strategic mastermind behind the colossal Pantheria guild, a seasoned veteran who’d steered countless business negotiations to success.
An unequal fight seemed imminent—or rather, something that hardly deserved to be called a negotiation at all, a one-sided affair.
Megan was someone who could bend Geumson to her will as easily as a child, molding him to suit her needs.
That’s why Cha Yu-gyeong had prepared herself.
If Geumson found himself cornered by unreasonable terms, she was ready to step in and mediate.
But her concern proved to be nothing but needless worry.
“The price, you say… That’s acceptable. However, I’m not interested in simply selling raw materials.”
Geumson’s voice was measured and calm.
Yet it carried a weight that completely overwhelmed Megan’s momentum.
He began laying out his conditions in fluent English, without the slightest hesitation.
“There will be a transaction. With the Pantheria guild.”
For a moment, Megan’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly.
Watching Geumson answer so straightforwardly only made her more uneasy.
Dozens of scenarios flashed rapidly through her mind.
But Geumson didn’t give her time to collect her thoughts, pressing forward.
“However, there are conditions.”
He held up one finger.
“First, any items crafted from these materials must pass through my hands. Pantheria isn’t purchasing raw materials—you’re purchasing the final ‘product’ created through my technique. Extracting one hundred percent of the potential requires the right understanding and skill. That skill belongs to… well, you know. Me, Geumson.”
Megan’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
He was saying he’d transfer ownership of the materials, but maintain complete secrecy over the crafting process itself.
This was less a material transaction than a technical service contract.
Geumson extended his second finger.
“Second, I’ll set the material cost and my crafting fee separately. Three million gold for the materials, and you know how much the Moonlight Viper Sword I crafted recently sold for, don’t you?”
Five million gold.
The broadcasts had reported it daily—there was no way she’d missed it.
Geumson continued, reminding her of the figure.
“This time I have two types of materials, so I’d need double. Ten million gold. What do you think? Incidentally, it’s all upfront payment.”
Cha Yu-gyeong, listening quietly from the side, found herself swallowing hard.
A total of thirteen million gold.
In hard currency, that was 1.3 billion won.
She was bewildered by the vast disconnect between Geumson’s shabby appearance and the staggering sum emerging from his mouth.
Did Geumson even know what he was saying right now?
Yet what was truly astonishing was that his conditions didn’t end there, despite the audacity of what he’d already demanded.
Geumson extended his third and final finger, his gaze locking directly onto Megan’s eyes.
“Third, I won’t answer any questions regarding the final product. Regardless of what form it takes or what abilities it possesses, Pantheria must accept and use the finished product I provide as-is. So long as the result is sound, you won’t inquire into or dispute the process. Of course, I can guarantee it will be of definite assistance in defeating the Lich King.”
Geumson’s demands were uniformly outrageous—ruthlessly self-serving conditions one after another.
Even Cha Yu-gyeong, standing beside them, was left speechless.
This wasn’t negotiation. It was a unilateral ultimatum.
No—it bordered on extortion.
‘Is he planning this to be more than a one-off transaction?’
Though the demands seemed coercive, the substance told a different story upon closer examination.
Beyond material sales, this was a solution-provision contract built on exclusive technical expertise.
That’s what Geumson was demanding.
In other words, he knew his own worth precisely, and was leveraging the other party’s weaknesses to structure the deal entirely in his favor—a display of shrewd strategic thinking.
He was playing a larger game.
This wasn’t a strategy someone locked away at home playing games could employ.
He looked like a seasoned negotiator who’d conducted countless deals of this caliber.
Cha Yu-gyeong began to see Geumson in a different light.
‘I didn’t think he looked it, but does he keep himself in shape? Surprisingly, his body…’
Geumson’s physique was uncommonly well-balanced.
Glimpsed between his oversized clothes were the defined contours of solid muscle, and his complexion was clear and unburdened by fatigue.
It bore no resemblance whatsoever to the gaming addicts she knew.
Within Cha Yu-gyeong’s mind, the data file on the person called Geumson began to be reconstructed.
Megan fell silent for a long moment.
Her blue eyes moved rapidly, analyzing Geumson’s proposal.
Then she spoke just one line.
“1.3 billion won… That’s quite reasonable. And the terms are clean.”
Indeed, the American sense of money seemed to operate differently from Korea.
She entered the contract terms quickly into her Tablet PC as she spoke.
“But if you’re that confident, you wouldn’t mind putting up collateral, would you? What do you say to ten times the penalty if the item crafting fails?”
Megan smiled as she laid out terms that could bankrupt a man.
Failure meant coughing up thirteen hundred million times ten—one point three billion.
And slipped in almost casually, Megan added another condition: if the craft failed, she’d get back half of the remaining ancient materials.
But Geumson let out a soft laugh.
Truth be told, there was no need for tedious haggling like this.
What Geumson really wanted was for Pantheria to take down the Lich King.
Because then Kang Moo-jin’s Yeokcheon guild and Pantheria would lock into an Infinite Competition.
Still, he had no intention of giving anything away for free.
Anything gained without effort felt hollow by its own weight.
“I’ll prove it with results.”
Geumson’s final word.
Megan said nothing more.
She transmitted the finalized contract to Cha Yu-gyeong, then rose from her seat.
“I look forward to seeing what you produce, Geumson.”
In her voice lay both anticipation and something else—a peculiar curiosity about Geumson himself.
After Megan left, only Geumson and Cha Yu-gyeong remained in the cafe.
Cha Yu-gyeong stared at Geumson with a dumbfounded expression.

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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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