The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 97

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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 97
097. Pleased to Make Your Acquaintance
“……!”
The man fell silent the moment he examined the result.
Not only had the curse been lifted, but the item’s latent potential had been elevated another tier and returned to him.
A low chuckle escaped from within his robes.
“Ah…… truly, she was worth recommending.”
Satisfied, the man fastened the Bracelet around his wrist and turned to Geumson. “Players have the freedom to ‘broadcast,’ I’ve heard…… are you doing so now?”
Geumson regarded him with caution.
An NPC who referred to outsiders as ‘Players’ and understood the broadcast system.
He was clearly no ordinary NPC.
“That is the case, but…….”
“Then fortune smiles on us. What better opportunity to offer greetings to the other Players?”
“Pardon?”
Before Geumson could respond, the man pulled back his hood.
Black formal robes, hair swept back with meticulous precision, and eyes of profound depth.
He bowed respectfully and spoke. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. I trust you’re all still enjoying yourselves? I am Bellian, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Airock.”
It was an odd greeting, but that wasn’t the time to dwell on such details.
Not some middling nobleman of the sort occasionally glimpsed in Lepion.
Royalty.
The Crown Prince himself—first in the line of succession to the Kingdom of Airock—had revealed himself.
The sudden appearance of the Crown Prince sent shockwaves through the broadcast chat and the surrounding Players.
‘The Crown Prince of Airock…’
Geumson had met Kalis, the Third Prince of the Acadia Kingdom, before.
But the emergence of Crown Prince Bellian was no less astonishing to him.
This was an NPC who had never appeared once in his previous life.
‘Then again…… there was no crisis like Airthos last time.’
The situation had plainly shifted from how Lepion had unfolded in his former life.
The crisis engulfing Airthos seemed to have drawn Crown Prince Bellian to this place.
Yet Bellian’s attention appeared focused entirely on Geumson.
“You said the Player Geumson would accept no payment…… but I cannot simply walk away from receiving such an item. The pride of the royal house forbids it. Would you not agree?”
His words carried the playful tone of a seasoned broadcaster.
He flashed Geumson a suspicious smile and then extended his hand toward empty air.
“I rushed here upon hearing of Airthos’s peril and brought nothing suitable at hand. But I shall arrange for any Contribution Points I acquire to be transferred to the Player Geumson.”
The Players watching the broadcast merely scoffed at the Crown Prince.
Some didn’t even believe he was a Crown Prince at all.
└ What’s one guy gonna help with? Gonna make a dent?
└ Lmao you’d think he brought an army. These nobles never learn, huh……
└ You falling for it again? Haven’t we established you can’t trust Lepion nobles? Even this “Crown Prince”? Is he even actually a Crown Prince?
└ LOLOL nice lip service. The whole area around Airthos is already packed with Monsters—how’s he supposed to help?
└ He gonna call in an airship for reinforcements or something? He’s royalty, so maybe he’s got something?
.
.
.
The Players’ skepticism flooded the chat.
Their reaction was warranted.
One Crown Prince’s addition didn’t seem likely to meaningfully impact Geumson’s Contribution Points.
But independent of that, a message materialized before Geumson’s eyes.
[Crown Prince Bellian of the Kingdom of Airock pledges to transfer all Contribution Points he acquires to you.]
The moment the message concluded, Crown Prince Bellian spoke as though he’d been waiting. “Well then…… shall we begin?”
Bellian curled his extended hand and snapped his fingers lightly.
Snap!
In that instant.
The air behind Geumson’s back split open as if rent asunder, and a deep crimson fissure tore through the void.
The rift expanded rapidly and soon took on a stable form.
A Gate born from empty space.
At the sight of this magnificent display—as if wrought by sorcery—the Players erupted in fervent excitement.

Whatever the reason, it was a sight the Players had never witnessed before.
But only one person broke into a cold sweat watching it.
Only Geumson.
Creak—
The Hammer in Geumson’s grip tightened of its own accord.
His gaze could not tear away from the Monster Gate that Crown Prince Bellian had opened.
‘A Monster Gate!’
Geumson had not forgotten even now.
The gate that had ushered in the age of ruin.
That hateful gate had been opened by the Crown Prince’s hand.
And in the very center of the battlefield in Airthos, no less.
For a moment, Geumson’s thoughts seemed to freeze entirely.
He had never expected to see a Monster Gate in Lepion.
Memories overlapped.
The hellish memories of the past layered over each other, and nausea rose unbidden in his throat.
The stench of blood rose up.
From where Geumson had bitten his own lip.
But gritting his teeth and swallowing hard, Geumson shouted urgently:
“Everyone, combat prep—”
He had tried to shout.
To warn them of the monsters that would pour from that place.
But a familiar voice cut him short.
“Kyahahat! Of course I can’t miss out on a battlefield like this! Our super ace Geumson! Long time no see!”
The first to burst from the gate was a woman in grease-stained work clothes.
It was not a monster.
It was Rabi, the head of the Magitech Division.
Behind her, dozens of massive Combat Golems advanced with ponderous steps.
Boom—
Boom—
Boooom—
A steel regiment marching in time through the gate.
The very ground trembled faintly with each movement of the Combat Golem unit.
└ Wow, what is that? A Golem unit?
└ The Crown Prince killed it! Absolutely destroyed it!
└ Wait! That’s… that’s not a Player, is it? Huh? It’s Choi Jin-ung!
└ What? The Asura Guild? Why is the Asura Guild coming out of there!
.
.
.
Behind the Combat Golems’ advance, hundreds of Players surged out with a roar.
Their chests bore a crimson serpent emblem, stark and unmistakable.
Choi Jin-ung, Master of the Asura Guild, had remained silent even through Kang Mu-jin’s exploits.
Now he had made his appearance at Crown Prince Bellian’s spectacle.
“I won’t let upstarts like the Yeokcheon Guild run wild. Asura Guild! All of you, join the fight! Sweep them all away!”
Under Choi Jin-ung’s command, the Asura Guild members descended on the monsters with ferocious momentum.
Their arrival shifted the entire balance of the battlefield in an instant—overwhelming.
Finally, dozens of heavily armored knights marched out from within the gate in perfect formation.
At their head fluttered a banner bearing the emblem of the Airock Kingdom.
“By command of His Highness the Crown Prince, we have come to rescue Airthos! All forces, charge!”
Knights of the realm.
Among them, the face of Yeom Tae-hun was also visible.
It seemed he had properly entered the royal service.
Geumson stood dazed in the chaos.
Allies had poured from a gate where monsters should have emerged.
To that bewildered Geumson, Crown Prince Bellian spoke.
As if he had anticipated the reactions flooding the Broadcast chat.
“This should prove helpful, wouldn’t you say?”
The Crown Prince’s words were spoken with casual ease.
And with those words, hope kindled in the Players’ hearts.
Monsters that had not diminished even after frenzied slaughter.
Players who had felt the overwhelming numbers and begun to sense defeat.
The reinforcements the Crown Prince had summoned were enough to lift the morale of every Player on the field.
Combat resumed anew.
“Raaaaaaagh!”
“Reinforcements! Real reinforcements have arrived!”
“Wait… isn’t that the Asura Guild? That’s insane! Why is the second-ranked guild showing up here?”
“Look at the Golem units! How many of those things are there! So Combat Golems actually exist. I’ve never seen one before!”
“And the Royal Knight Order too…! We can win this! We can actually win! Let’s go! Top hundred, no question!”
The light of hope rekindled in the eyes of players who had been drowning in despair.
Into the battlefield, where the shadow of defeat had hung thick and heavy, came a flood of overwhelming reinforcements like a single shaft of radiance.
Their arrival was enough to lift the flagging morale of the entire defense in one breath.
[The morale of the Airthos Defense War has risen to ‘Apex’.]
[For twelve hours, all Players’ Attack and Defense will increase by 10%.]
With the system message, Players tightened their grip on their weapons and roared as if they’d coordinated it beforehand.
“Let’s go! Let’s smash every last one of those damned monsters’ heads in!”
“If Yeokcheon is holding the east gate, then we Asura will seal off the west!”
“Wait, the knights and Golem regiment are heading north, so… we’re covering the south? Geumson! Just trust us!”
The layout of the battlefield was reorganized in an instant.
Yeokcheon Guild at the east gate.
Asura Guild at the west gate.
Royal Knight Order and Combat Golem regiment at the north gate.
And Geumson, the remaining Players, and the mages of Airthos covering the south gate.
Four battle lines formed naturally, each holding back the crimson tide of the Monster Wave in their own way.
‘Choi Jin-ung connected to the royal family… and coming through a Monster Gate, no less?’
The situation was absurd.
While Kang Mu-jin of Yeokcheon was distinguishing himself, Choi Jin-ung of Asura seemed strangely quiet.
Looking closer, he was secretly forging ties with the royal house.
That hadn’t happened in the previous life.
Just as Kang Mu-jin had pioneered a different path by slaying the Nightmare King, Choi Jin-ung too was growing by carving his own route—without Geumson’s help, relying solely on his own strength.
Truly, the name “Demon’s Strategist” suited him well.
The epithet was not wasted.
“The atmosphere is quite heated, I see. Indeed, the strength of Players is unpredictable—which makes it entertaining. Though they’re easily swayed as well, it seems.”

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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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