The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 89

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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 89
089. When That Time Comes
Her face had grown distant.
Even more withdrawn than when she’d first given him the quest.
Geumson summarized the situation and relayed it to her.
“A Monster Wave, then. Sigh… I do worry whether the city can weather it. I should go myself…”
Astrid exhaled deeply as she absorbed the news from Geumson.
Just as Geumson was about to say something in response to her strange demeanor,
Astrid cut him off before he could speak.
Instead, she simply withdrew a book from her robes and held it out to him.
“This is the Mana Engraving I promised you. It will be of great use to you.”
[You have obtained Astrid’s Special Skill Book: Mana Engraving.]
[Will you use it now?]
The reward from the Twisted Causality quest.
Astrid offered it to him.
The moment he accepted it, a message appeared.
An explanation of the Mana Engraving.
[Mana Engraving Lv. 1]
[Active Skill]
– Description: An ancient magical technique that engraves one’s mana into a specific form upon a target, either drawing out latent power or bestowing new effects.
[Effects]
1. [Attribute Bestowal]: Engrave upon a target to grant permanent attribute effects.
3. [Magical Engraving]: With a 10% chance, imbue an item with Astrid’s magic, manifesting a unique special ability.

4. [Life Engraving]: Engrave upon a living being to grant temporary buffs or induce specific actions.
As Geumson read the message, one item vaguely came to mind.
The Whistle Contention that had caused players to hasten the Age of Ruin.
That object—the Divine Whistle Scroll—which had been the root of it all.
‘Not on an item, but granted to a target… like the Divine Whistle Scroll?’
Of course, the effects themselves were incomparable to the Divine Whistle Scroll.
Geumson had used the Divine Whistle Scroll on himself and obtained the Right Hand of the Sun, a skill of unparalleled power.
But versatility.
In sheer versatility, the Mana Engraving seemed overwhelmingly superior.
‘If I could perhaps develop this to its limit… I might even be able to craft the Divine Whistle Scroll.’
Geumson had merely wanted a bestowal magic to use on items.
But Astrid’s Mana Engraving—
It truly possessed the depth one would expect from a great mage’s spell.
Normally, Geumson’s fingers would be itching to test it at once.
But not this time.
Though he had learned a skill brimming with possibility, he buried it in his memory and turned to face Astrid.
“Master, a moment ago…”
Geumson had meant to ask Astrid about that strange situation from before.
The odd circumstances he couldn’t remember, even after she’d given him the Twisted Causality quest.
But Astrid dodged his words and spoke to him instead.
“Oh! Now that I think of it… there was one more thing I promised you, wasn’t there? Hmm, what would be best? What might help you most…”
Astrid deliberately ignored Geumson’s attempt to speak.
After a moment of apparent deliberation, she gestured toward the Hermitage across the way—
The Hermitage where Astrid herself lived.
“That Hermitage there. Everything inside it shall be yours. Would that not be of great help in the trials you must bear?”
Geumson fell silent at her words.
This was not a normal situation.
The Twisted Causality quest had certainly been difficult.
Had Geumson not encountered that member of the Arachne guild, he would never have discovered the cause of the Monster Wave.
But even so, this was excessive.
‘Everything inside that Hermitage? This is far too much…’
Astrid the great mage.
Her research materials, the various herbs and grimoires—
Her legacy, everything that held her life within it, was not too much to say.
To offer all of that as a reward for a single quest made no sense.
Now that he thought about it, this had been true from the beginning.
He gave away skills far too readily, and even potion recipes at that.
The rewards were excessive for a mere apprenticeship.
‘Surely not……’
Just as Geumson was reaching some conclusion,
Astrid spoke to him.
“Geumson, my disciple. If you achieve results worthy of satisfying yourself with everything in that Hermitage…… will you grant me one request then?”
“A request…… madam?”
“Yes, when that time comes……”
Astrid hesitated for a moment.
But soon, warmth settling into her smile, she spoke softly.
“Will you…… kill me?”
Geumson’s words caught in his throat at Astrid’s unexpected request.
He had thought she was facing death from some illness.
The way she tended to the patients on Buyu Island had always been different.
But this request—that she kill herself.
He had never foreseen this.
And in that moment, a quest surfaced in his mind.
[Sudden Hidden Chain Quest: Reversed Hourglass]
– Contents: The hourglass of the Grand Mage Astrid flows backward. Through the side effects of ancient magic, Astrid loses her memories.
Her extraordinarily advanced sorcery will not even permit her own death.
Grant Astrid the noble death she desires.
– Advance and Success Reward:
1. Astrid’s Legacy
– System Reward
1. Job Change: Grand Mage
2. [Title] Mage Slayer
.
.
.
Rewards cascaded into view.
In Lepion, Grand Mage Astrid seemed to hold tremendous significance.
Enough that the system would reward him merely for taking her life.
But Geumson did not read further into the rewards.
There was no need to.
His decision was already made.
“I refuse, Master.”
The moment Geumson declined, a message flashed into being.
[You have refused the Sudden Hidden Chain Quest: Reversed Hourglass.]
It was a quest with substantial rewards promised.
Nor would it be difficult.
Simply grant the Grand Mage Astrid her request, and it would be done.
Doing so alone would secure him immense rewards.
The legacy of a Grand Mage—something he could never have dreamed of in the past, or even known existed.
An extraordinary opportunity to acquire it in full.
Intangible and material worth beyond calculation.
It would surely aid him in preparing for the Age of Ruin, as Astrid had said.
That much was certain.
But Geumson refused nonetheless.
‘I am no mage.’
Though he had acquired the mage’s profession, Geumson knew himself well.
He had felt it keenly, having lived through the Age of Ruin.
Geumson was no mage.
The Grand Mage who had endured the Age of Ruin.
That was not his role.
‘Jung Ha-rin. If I kill Astrid, Jung Ha-rin can never become the Grand Mage!’
The legendary Grand Mage Jung Ha-rin.
The countless battlefields where she had distinguished herself.
And the countless lives that had endured and found hope because of her.
He could not take Jung Ha-rin’s place.
That role belonged to Jung Ha-rin alone.
Only she could do it.
‘Jung Ha-rin hadn’t even met Astrid, yet here was such a request…… The threads of causality were hopelessly tangled.’
For the first time, Geumson found himself facing a situation where Twisted Causality had wrapped around everything completely.
Perhaps all of this was something Geumson had brought upon himself.
In a time that should never have existed.
In a place where nothing should be, he had met Astrid.
That was the beginning.
“Geumson, my disciple. It’s all right.”
Geumson’s eyes wavered.
His thoughts had grown heavy.
Yet Astrid stroked his head and spoke softly.
“My hourglass has already been reversed. I forget the things I wish to remember, and remember too vividly the things I wish to forget. Perhaps…… I was hoping to draw a miracle that should never have been drawn.”
Astrid was trying to persuade Geumson instead.
Her voice wrapped around him gently.
As though his transgression were not his fault.
She seemed to be soothing the turmoil in his heart.
“One by one, my memories scatter like sand. I had hoped to endure a little longer…… but still, at the end, I drew the miracle of meeting you, and for that I am content.”
Before she forgot everything.
Astrid wished to end things before her happy memories faded away.
She spoke to Geumson once more.
“So that I might hold onto this moment—the memory that I existed—will you kill me?”
Astrid’s plea, desperate and sincere.
In that instant, his first meeting with her came back to him.
Astrid, who couldn’t remember Kalis.
She who had urged him forward, saying there was no time.
She who couldn’t even find the potions she’d made for the patients on Buyu Island.
Geumson clenched his fist.
His nails dug into his palm until blood came.
What did Jung Ha-rin matter? What did the quest matter?
What did the future matter? What did the legacy matter?
All these excuses swirled in his mind.
Geumson knew it.
They were merely excuses—nothing important.
He simply hated it.
Even now, Astrid thought of him first, soothing his heart.
He didn’t want to lose her.
And so Geumson shook his head firmly.
“Master, I cannot accept this.”
“But——”
“Not yet.”
It wasn’t time.
He couldn’t let Astrid go like this.
Much less——
“Master, you have not yet seen the miracle I draw, the miracle I wish for.”
The words Astrid had spoken so often, like a habit.
Magic must draw miracles.
Astrid had not yet witnessed the miracle Geumson would draw.
“I want to show you the miracle I draw!”
Astrid smiled faintly at his words.
He looked like a child throwing a tantrum.
Yet Astrid nodded.
“Very well. Will you show me your miracle?”
As Astrid finished speaking, a message appeared.
Though Geumson had played Lepion for a long time, this was a message he had never seen before.

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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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