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vizardious · 5 years ago

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“The S-Ranks that I Raised” Translation Ch. 64

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< Sunbae-nim? >

“It’s a skill, but the way you’re talking makes it seem like there’s an actual thing?”

“There is.”

“……There is?”

It wasn’t like fire or ice bursting out, so what, a forge comes out? This was also the first time I’ve heard of such a skill.

“Specifically, it’s written that you can go into the subspace that the Gold Forge is in.”

“Wow……”

Wow. What was that. That was too different from the style of skills I knew.

‘Instead of a skill, it seems closer to an item.’

Like the S-Rank trap item Gingerbread House[1] or SS-Rank defense item Darkroom of Silence. They were special items that came out a long time later. But I hadn’t heard of or seen a skill that could make something like a building. Skills were fundamentally intangible abilities. It pulled in and gathered energy or elements to make simple forms, but to think it was a forge. Did it have everything like a brazier and an anvil? Did that make any sense?

“How do you go in?”

I asked, rising from my seat.

“Just.”

Myeongwoo held his hand out towards me. To go in, did you just go in? First, I put Peace in his pen, and lowered Chirpie to the sofa.

I was a little suspicious about the safety, but that was why I wanted more and more to follow in at least once. There was still a little left in the application time for the Last Repayment.

“You can take anybody inside?”

“If I want.”

“Then you could use it as a hiding place. Could you store something like emergency food supplies?”

I said, grabbing the held out hand. If the subspace that the Forge was in was safe, it would become an excellent refuge in possible scenarios.

The feeling of going through a dungeon gate suddenly came over me, and in front of my eyes, the scenery changed.

It was indoors where sunlight was shining through a large window. The very first thing I saw was a wavering fire inside of a large kiln. The fire with a tint of gold was, far from burning on firewood, burning by itself without a single straw.

Unsuited to its name, the walls were entangled with tree trunks and roots. The thick smell of wood and fire hung in the air. I saw a place where a hammer, large tongs, and other tools I didn’t know the names of, were hung.

It was an old, old-style forge. In the middle, on top of a large anvil, there was a bouquet of flowers and one memo sheet. Out of the blue.

“…Exactly what could that bouquet be.”

“I wonder.”

Myeongwoo went toward the anvil and picked up the memo. I wondered what it said, but it wasn’t Korean letters, and it wasn’t hanja[2] or the roman alphabet[3] either. They were letters I had never seen before in my life.

“I think this was sent to me.”

“To you, Myeongwoo? You can read it?”

“Yeah… Welcome, successor. May there be the blessing of molten iron and flames in your future. Is what is says.”

As expected, it was an item, not a skill. Seeing how it said successor or whatever, it seemed like some unknown sunbae-nim had prepared it for him.

“It seems like it’s saying I’m the successor, but then does that mean there was someone who had gotten the Gold Forge’s Owner skill before me?”

Myeongwoo asked, tilting his head.

“Maybe. It’s only been barely 3 years since Awakened People appeared, so instead of simple sunbae-hoobae, saying successor and such should be hard. And there hasn’t been any produced equipment in the meantime. At the least, you should be the first in the world we live in.”

As I spoke, the system administrators came to mind. Would the person who had the past Gold Forge’s Owner skill be among them? And they had prepared various items for the next generation skill holder, like this? Was something like that possible?

‘Who exactly are those people? The things to ask keep on increasing.’

Just then, Myeongwoo turned the memo over to the backside.

“There’s something written here too… Ismual[4]?”

Whoosh!

“Step back!”

The kiln’s fire abruptly shot up. I quickly tried to stand in front of Myeongwoo, but that Myeongwoo, far from stepping back, stood in front instead.

“Yoojin, you stand back! Right now your stat rank is lower.”

…Well, it was still in the middle of the Last Repayment application. But I couldn’t say that.

“……I have a shielding skill item. The one the Seseong Guild Leader gave me.”

Though I was thinking of using it for Myeongwoo-.

“You were going to use that on me anyways.”

…When did he get so sharp. But right now, my stats were over B-Rank and I didn’t exactly need B-Rank shielding……

“No, it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t not like that either… Before that, look at that!”

I changed the subject and pointed to the towering fire. While we weren’t looking, it had formed into a shape similar to a person. It shifted between a round child’s and a tall adult’s height several times, before settling in a middle appearance.

Then it completely turned into an appearance like a human.

It was an appearance produced by fire, so it wasn’t a real human no matter how you looked at it. Was that also an item?

“I greet you, owner.”[5]

…It talked?!

“It talks?!”

Myeongwoo was also surprised. It was my first time seeing a different species? that talked. Excluding the system people. Since I hadn’t personally seen those people.

“I am the elemental[6] born from the creator’s last breath, Ismual.”

“……There are things like elementals?”

“……I don’t know either.”

At Myeongwoo’s question, I shook my head from side to side. Did elementals really exist? Elementals like salamanders and sylphs appeared in things like games and novels, and I had never heard of them existing in reality. And of course, there weren’t Awakened People who had things like elemental summoning skills.

But suddenly, an elemental. What was that.

While we were taken aback, the self-styled elemental Ismual looked down at us with emotionless gold eyes. Was it a living being?

‘Would the Seed-Leaf skill work?’

In order to check, I used the skill. But… the status window didn’t appear. Instead, the information popped up in my mind.

‘…Fire elemental, super strong, and handles flames. It’s in a state where it’s done growing. The contractor is the person next to me. What is this?’

The words weren’t written on a rectangular window, and I directly felt the information. And compared to the written ones, it was ambiguous. If it was this strong of a feeling, then what was the rank? It seemed like it would be A at least. The sensitivity for the skills wasn’t good. I couldn’t tell, outside of that it could freely handle fire. And, force didn’t seem to work on it.

What was it? Did a system error occur?

Taken aback, I tried to open my status window. But nothing appeared this time too. On top of that, I couldn’t feel what my state was, and the information didn’t come to mind. Neither the rank, level, skill, or title. I didn’t know anything.

It felt like I had suddenly been thrown into a closed room with the lights off.

“……Myeongwoo, can you open your status window?”

“Status window?”

Myeongwoo stopped for a moment, before his eyes widened shortly.

“I-it’s not popping up? Awakening cancellation can happen too?!”

“No, it doesn’t work for me either. But it seems like skills work. And the stats are probably the same. Just… the system windows don’t pop up, I think. The inventory…… checking the contents is impossible, but I can take out and put things back in.”

I took out the magic stone powder bottle and then put it back in. Originally, you could also see the contents list, but right now, that didn’t pop up either.

“If it’s not that our skills disappeared, it’s a relief. Is it that this space weird?”

“It seems so.”

Was it free of the system’s influence because it was a subspace? …But wasn’t Awakening itself a part of the system? If things like the window didn’t come up but abilities were the same, then, did that mean it was different from a game-like system and Awakening?

……My thoughts were getting complicated.

“Please tell me your name, owner.”

Ismual, who was quietly floating in the air, opened its mouth. No, its mouth was shut and just the voice came out.

“Is it talking about my name? Yoo Myeongwoo.”

“Yoo Myeongwoo-nim. Will you receive the basics training prepared by the creator?”

“Basics training?”

“Yes. If you have already prepared enough proficiency as a blacksmith through basic practice, then it is not necessary. But if you have just entered the road of production, fast growth is possible.”

I didn’t know who it was, but they seemed like a kind person who considered a lot about their successor. Did I not have a sunbae like that?

“Then I’ll definitely receive it.”

At Myeongwoo’s reply, Ismual’s gaze moved to me.

“My flames are safe only for the contractor. If your resistance to heat is not high, there is the danger of burns or death.”

Was the workroom okay? It was made of wood.

“I’ll go out.”

“Okay. Ah, take this too.”

Myeonwoo lifted the bouquet and held it out. If it was left here, it would probably get burned. Shortly after, I returned to my original location, the living room.

-Chirp!

Chirpie, who was quietly sitting on the sofa, flapped and stood up, noticing me[7]. Across the glass wall, Peace also waved his tail. Seeing the kids’ reaction, it seemed like time in the subspace and here flowed similarly.

‘…I want to go into a dungeon right away and interrogate them.’

If I went now, an emoticon saying that they couldn’t talk would probably be sent. Still, there weren’t a lot of days left.

‘Before that, I have to make Yoohyun stop sulking.’

After yesterday, he didn’t even pick up the phone. It could’ve been because he was busy, but it was probably because he was mad at me. Should I give him flowers or something?

“What flowers are these?”

I looked down at the bouquet I was holding in my hands. It consisted of five big flowers, more than ten mid-sized flowers, and small flowers too. They were all flowers I had never seen before.

I didn’t know flower kinds well, but they didn’t seem to be flowers from this world. Especially the big flowers were faintly sparkling. Among the small flowers, the gold ones felt hard and cold like metal. When I tore off a petal, it wasn’t real metal either. From time to time, the flowers, which were similar to orchids[8], on their own… moved.

They were clearly not normal flowers, but an explanation window didn’t pop up like with dungeon byproducts.

They were really pretty, though.

“Is it okay to mix it with ice?”

After getting some frappe and coming over, Yerim looked at the cup in front of me and asked. The cup with ice had a mana potion poured into it.

“Wouldn’t it not matter?”

“Looking at the color, it looks like orange flavor. Isn’t it about time you got sick of it?”

“I am sick of it.”

Was there any way I could not be sick of it? Originally it was okay enough to eat, not tasty, and since I was trying to drink it like water, it was slowly getting harder.

I held back a sigh and looked around the surroundings.

In order to look for B-Rank and higher special initial skill holders, I had borrowed an entire 1-story cafe by a street that had a lot of people coming and going. Besides Yerim, there were one A-Rank Hunter and three B-Rank Hunters. One of the B-Rank Hunters said they had had a part-time job at a cafe before, and was making all sorts of beverages.

“……Should I try mixing a mana potion into coffee?”

“It seems like it would taste super bad. Instead, pour real orange juice into it. To make it thick.”

“I’m sick of the flavor of orange… Apple, too.”

“Then what about asking for a custom mana potion?”

“That’s a good idea.”

It would be expensive, but like this, even if I drank only two to three days more, past being sick of it, I felt like I would throw it up.

“Should I plaster on equipment prioritizing Mana[9]? I have too little mana itself, so I have to drink it too often.”

But doing something like that was also annoying. On top of that, it was summer. Grumbling, I turned my gaze back to the window. I saw passersby coming and going, passing the street. The goal was B-Rank and higher special skill holders. Of course, I couldn’t miss A-Rank and higher stat holders either.

But I couldn’t discover even one yet.

“C-Rank again. Nice to Hear Eloquence.”

“Ah, it’s that person, right? They’re a teacher at EVS Middle; they’re famous. Their lectures are definitely easy to listen to. Apparently a ton of cram schools sought after them.”

It seemed like they had found their aptitude.

“Surprisingly, there’s quite a lot of people up to C-Rank. Aren’t there more D-Ranks?”

“Yeah. E-Rank and higher is almost half the people.”

At my words, Yerim tilted her head.

“If the skills are E-Rank and higher, they would get Hunter licenses, but it’s said that the ratio of Hunters among Awakened People is about 1%.”

“That’s…… because the Awakened People until now mostly have combat related skills?”

I couldn’t be sure with what I briefly looked around at in the morning, but people’s aptitudes were mostly not combat. All this while, I had just passed by lower than C-Ranks without much thought, so I hadn’t purposely calculated the ratio, but when I thought about it, it was actually a reasonable result.

It might have been different if it was about a hundred years ago, but currently, how many people would there be with a talent for fighting? And it wasn’t like our country was still continuing the civil war, and was on the peaceful side for over fifty years. And there was no reason to handle a proper weapon outside of the army. Unless they were athletes that did archery, kendo, shooting, etc., it ended with hobbies. And they weren’t common hobbies either.

“If more than half of people had talents that were higher than normal, how much would the ratio for talents related to combat be among them? I think it wouldn’t be a lot.”

“Then again, just looking at jobs, it’s the minority.”

Yerim nodded her head.

“Since they were forcefully Awakened as combat-related, there was no choice for most to be FF. For stat F, it’s well known that modern people’s exercise is lacking.”

If F-Ranks were subdivided into plus/minus, there would have been numerous F minuses.

“I’m realizing it anew, but there really were a lot of people in the world who totally didn’t know their own worth and buried it.”

If the C-Rank initial skill holder who just passed, had just gone to the Awakening Center, something like an F~E-Rank combat assistance skill probably would have come out.

“That office worker over there, it seems like a skill related to singing, but it’s C-Rank. Last time when we went to the broadcasting station, I saw a few singers who are said to have good singing abilities, and one of them had an initial skill that was the same as that one.”

“Really?”

Yerim excitedly looked at the man I was pointing to.

“Shouldn’t we go over there and tell him? To debut!”

“Isn’t it hard for celebrities with just being good at singing?”

“Still, it would be better than living without knowing.”

Yerim gulped down the frappe and stared at me with a suddenly worried gleam in her eyes.

“But. If there are this many E-Ranks and higher, wouldn’t it be harder for ahjussi? You’ll have to help 50 out of a hundred people.”

“Ah… That’s true.”

I also hadn’t thought of that.

[1] lit. ‘snack/cookie’s house’ or ‘house of cookies/snacks’ but I think this is what it’s referencing

[2] he says ‘hanja’ instead of ‘Chinese’. Hanja is chn characters, but specifically those borrowed from chn and incorporated into krn with krn pronunciation, though they are p much exactly the same as trad chn, unlike jpn kanji. It’s probably to contrast the fact that he said it wasn’t 한글 (hangul, aka krn alphabet), which wasn’t created until the 15th c and widespread until after that, so before that, hanja was used for writing. I think the nuance here is that the note might have been in ‘krn’ (speech-wise) but if it was, it wasn’t written in either hangul, hanja, or ‘alphabet’ (see footnote [3]). Either that, or he simply meant that it wasn’t written in chn characters, not that it wasn’t in the chn language itself.

[3] here he says the eng word ‘alphabet’ transliterated into krn, so I’m assuming he means roman letters

[4] idk, it’s ‘ee-seu-moo-ah-reu’

[5] speaking w extremely respectful honorifics (obviously, since it’s talking to its owner-nim, but I took out the -nim), and it’s more ‘[this is] the first time meeting you’ but I thought this sounded more respectful(?)/formal in eng

[6] this word literally means ‘spirit’. According to namu wiki, it’s rarely used normally, and is used when tl-ing from other languages; it’s the word for ‘elemental’ in 4-elements media (air, fire, earth, water), and spirits in animism, and things like jinn and fairies, and in modern krn, the first two def mixed are generally what comes to mind to readers. I didn’t know which to tl it as, ‘elemental’ or ‘spirit’, bc idk anything abt ‘elementals’, but I googled it and wiki mentioned sylphs and salamanders so I guess it’s ‘elemental’.

[7] he actually says ‘pretending to notice me’ but in this context, that’s a cute/cheeky way of saying chirpie ‘noticed’ bc chirpie is a chick and a baby besides so who knows if it knows anything at all, but it’s acting like it noticed yj

[8] the krn dict and the krn-eng dict gave me different def? All the krn-eng dict said was that it’s a Phaelenopsis, but the krn dict said it was a dialect word for ‘the perennials of orchids’ but then listed just Oberonia japonica, but the pic in the dict looked completely different to the pics of Oberonia japonica on google. And then when I googled the name, one of the sites said it was Galearis cyclochila. So I’m confused. Anyways!! It’s a flower. It’s a type of orchid.

[9] fyi the word for the stat is actually ‘magic power/strength’, and the ‘mana’ in the next sent is the eng(?) word transliterated into krn. When it’s talking abt the stat, I usually capitalize it to differentiate

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vizardious · 5 years ago

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“The S-Ranks that I Raised” Translation Ch. 63

Prev ch.

< Preparations Done (3) >

We went right back home. There were too many people with one door between us and them, for us to speak in detail in the workroom.

-Chiiirp!

Lowered onto a table, Chirpie stared right at Myeongwoo. I didn’t know the reason, but it seemed like it had received an immense impression. What was it thinking in that tiny head?

“It’s pretty late – what do you want for dinner?”

Myeongwoo asked normally. It was an attitude as if he hadn’t even seen the SS-Rank skill. But he wasn’t exactly the same as before.

The uneasy look that showed up at the drop of a hat, had completely disappeared. Of course his expression had brightened, and even his attitude, voice seemed leisurely.

It was like only the outward appearance was the same and the person had completely changed. That was reasonable, but still.

“Is dinner the problem right now?”

I spit out sulkily, sitting on the sofa while holding Peace. Why didn’t you explain the skill? I only saw the skill name so I was curious. I had thought he would have been so excited he would babble on about it as soon as we came home, but wasn’t he too nonchalant?

“Sit down and explain it to me a bit.”

At my urging, that Myeongwoo smiled proudly. That guy, he couldn’t have been taking his time on purpose, right?

“Sorry. You must’ve been really curious.”

It really was an apology that didn’t feel like it had a speck[1] of honesty. That guy sat next to me on the sofa.

“The skill’s name is Gold Forge’s Owner. Like I said, it’s an SS-Rank skill.”

“Forge? Just looking a the name, it seems like a production related special skill; is that right?”

“Yeah.”

That Myeongwoo nodded his head proudly. So it really was a production skill. Looking at the name, it was hundred percent that, but I had worried a little that something weird would come out.

“Exactly like the name, it’s a skill where you can make items. Of course weapons and defense tools, and if even a little bit of metal goes into it, even types of accessories are possible.”

To think that he could make anything as long as it had metal. It really was more impressive than expected.

Maybe he had turned on the skill’s explanation window, because Myeongwoo moved his gaze toward the air.

“There’s no restriction on the rank of the items I can make.”

“There’s no restriction?!”

Wasn’t that too much of a scam? It was SS-Rank, so I had thought you had to do well to make up to SS-Rank.

“There’s no restriction, but with my current level, only low rank ones will come out. There’s something called ‘proficiency’ here.”

“Proficiency?”

“Yeah. It says that the higher the proficiency level is, the higher the probability of a high rank item coming out. And the materials’ rank is also important. There’s something called a beginner blacksmith’s production encyclopedia, but here… only up to A-Rank items come up. It says ‘Please use as reference to a certain extent, and demonstrate your own strength for genuine item production’?”

It seemed like instead of a restriction on the produced item’s rank, it was affected significantly by the Awakened Person’s competency. Acquiring it also made him do physical labor, and was it saying to keep on doing physical labor even afterwards?

But.

“……The skill explanation window seems quite detailed?”

Just listening to it roughly, the explanation was long and what was with that production encyclopedia? Wasn’t it too kind?

“You’re right. Unlike Whetstone, it’s detailed. Is it because it’s an SS-Rank skill?”

…I wanted to show him my L-Rank skills that only came with one little line of explanation. Look here, system people? Wasn’t this too discriminatory?

Putting aside the resistance skills, wasn’t the My Brat skill explanation too lacking?

“The way I know it, rank and skill explanation length doesn’t really have a relationship.”

It was so just looking at Yoohyun. The Green Willow Leaves skill had just one line of explanation as ‘make many willow leaves to disturb the enemy’.

“Then because it’s a special skill? Even just the basic explanation page is 5 pages. And the production encyclopedia is over three hundred pages.”

Wow, really, it was really too much. I really was made to tear out my hair[2] because of the skill explanation, and then you gave even a book to Myeongwoo?

The system guys pretended to be interested in me, but was it actually that their real target was Myeongwoo? Did they just need me for acquiring the SS-Rank production skill? After uselessly pretending to be friendly. I felt a sense of betrayal.

“…Well, it’s good if the explanation is detailed.”

“And a pack of materials also appeared in my inventory.”

Hey, you system guys! That was too openly discriminatory! They really gave him a lot. Myeongwoo took out a pouch from his inventory. It was small enough to be used as a handbag. So they didn’t give him that much, in the end.

“It’s called a subspace pouch.”

“……Subspace?”

“Apparently up to 1 ton can go inside here? It’s fascinating.”

Myeongwoo admired. 1 ton in that small thing… was it an assistant inventory? It wasn’t that there weren’t space-related items, but it was my first time hearing of it.

“Look at this. It’s an S-Rank material, a Thousand-Year Unicorn Horn. This here is called a Piece of a Hidden Star, and it’s an SS-Rank ore. They’re too much of a waste to use now. All of them seem like they’re S-Rank and higher?”

“Really… that’s impressive……”

It was good that high rank materials were rolling in like a ball, it really was good. ……I mean, it’s a great thing to happen. It was better than not giving anything. If you had 1 ton of S-Rank and higher materials, you could build up your proficiency and quickly churn out S-Rank and higher items. It was great.

-Chirp chirp!

On the table, Chirpie ran toward Myeongwoo and then tumbled to the floor. No, it also seemed like it was aiming for the pouch instead of Myeongwoo.

“Could there be magic stones in there?”

“Magic stones? Maybe…”

After rummaging around in the pouch, Myeongwoo took out something like a transparent crystal. It was a gem that was slightly bigger than a young child’s head.

-Cheep cheep cheep! Chirp! Cheep chirp!!!

“Put it back, quickly!”

“Uh, okay.”

When the gem disappeared, Chirpie became blank and collapsed to the floor. It was an expression that was past dispiritedness and like it had lost its country[3]. That complex feelings could dwell in those tiny eyes like that; it was surprising.

-Chee…eep…

“Chirpie, come here.”

-Cheeep… cheep…

Geez, this kid. When I lifted it up, it drooped like a wet plushie.

“Exactly what was that?”

“Just an SS-Rank magic stone.”

SS-Rank magic stones were definitely white, though. Did people just say that the transparent things were white? I had never seen one for real, so I didn’t know.

“Chirpie. Throw away your greed. Anyways, I gave you a D-Rank magic stone today.”

-Cheeeep…

“When you get a little bigger, I’ll raise the rank for the magic stones too.”

Though I didn’t know if it would grow properly.

Maybe because of the error, even the taming failed on Chirpie. Applying the keyword was possible, but the status window was still expressed in just □□. Of course, I couldn’t see the growth conditions either, and the My Brat skill also didn’t work, like the taming.

Well, there wasn’t much of a problem if it stayed F-Rank. And it wasn’t like I couldn’t afford its food costs. Of course, if it tried to eat an SS-Rank magic stone like just a while ago, even the richest person in the world would go bankrupt.

“Right, my stats also rose.”

Myeongwoo said, putting the pouch back into his inventory.

“Your stats? Even though your level didn’t go up too? Without an increase effect from a skill or a title?”

“Yeah. Without any of that, they just went up as I got the skill.”

A stat rank was decided by levels versus number. If the the stats increased without the levels going up, that meant the rank went up.

“…Let’s calculate it. How much is your stats average? Taking out Mana.”

“The average is… about 21?”

If it was 21, compared to level……

“It’s E-Rank. And on the higher side among E-Ranks.”

It would be closer to D-Rank. To the point that, depending on the growth, the possibility of going up to D-Rank was high. It was my first time hearing that your stat rank grew because you earned a skill.

“Then am I E-Rank now?”

Myeongwoo said, smiling brightly. Why did he have so many exceptions?

“Only your stats are E-Rank, and your Hunter rank would probably be B at minimum. When the proficiency goes up, you’ll be recognized as up to A. For S-Rank, a basic condition is having the ability to participate in an S-Rank dungeon attack, so it would be hard.”

It was an unreasonable condition. It was the same as meaning that only combat aptitudes could become S-Rank.

Anyways, now.

“Myeongwoo, what do you want to do?”

It was time to think about the future.

“For now, there are no item production skill holders except for you. And at that, it’s a skill rank SS and unrestricted produced item rank, so you could be called an existence that is unrivaled in the Hunter community.”

“It’s a bit embarrassing hearing that from you.”

Myeongwoo had a bashful expression.

“It’s just the simple truth. S-Rank and higher items are rare. Even if you attack S-Rank dungeons, usually S-Rank byproducts including magic stones come out, and things you could call items don’t come out that much. Especially things like weapons and defense tools are precious, so you would get them as a first attack bonus, and otherwise, it’s at a level where they’re hard to even see.”

“They only come out in the one first attack?”

“There are times when they do come out in normal attacks, but usually it’s like that. Up to now, the S-Rank weapons that have come out in the country are just fifteen, and there are no SS-Rank weapons at all.”

5 year later, they did increase a lot. Since the number of S-Rank dungeons and their level of difficulty went up. Even so, the number of well-known SS-Rank weapons couldn’t reach thirty. The last was the news that the twenty-eighth SS-Rank weapon had come out. There were more defense tools, and minor equipment types were in the hundreds, though.

“If you just stably make S-Rank weapons, it would be easy to establish yourself. It’s not that it’s impossible for you to be replaced, but the scarcity is plenty high. If you make even SS-Rank weapons, you would receive more interest than me? Familiars are an assistance to a certain extent, but weapons raise a Hunter’s ability itself.”

Unless it was an unusual case like Kang Soyoung, if you had to choose between a familiar and a weapon, a hundred out of hundred would choose the latter. It was a choice that made dungeon attack times shorter and made you stronger so that it was safer, so would there be any need to think long about it?

“And in the rare possibility that you make an SSS-Rank or higher weapon. Yoo Myeongwoo, you would become the sole existence that could raise an S-Rank Hunter’s rank.”

On average, if you were fully equipped with equipment that were two ranks higher, you could see it as the Hunter rank practically going up by one rank. But there was a limit to the rank supplementation caused by equipment, so even if an F-Rank plastered on S-Rank equipment, about high grade D-Rank was the limit. The other ranks were similar.

A B-Rank could plaster on S-Rank equipment and become about A-Rank. If an A-Rank plastered on SS-Rank equipment, in theory, they could have an S-Rank’s ability.

It was up to exactly that. Since SSS-Rank equipment had never come out before.

“There is nobody in the world who would look down on your status. All the S-Rank Hunters would probably depend on you. Since, if you’re chosen by Yoo Myeongwoo, you could become the world’s strongest Hunter. The first ever Hunter with SS-Rank abilities! It’s cool, it’s impressive. Isn’t it the best?”

Thinking of it while I was speaking, it was worth specially giving a lot to Myeongwoo. Since there wasn’t a restriction on produced item rank, couldn’t L-Rank come out, too? And there was the wish stone, myth rank items, too.

Myth rank equipment. Instead of being about SSS-Rank, you could become a Hunter with L-Rank abilities. Since the equipment rank versus Hunter rank growth was all theory starting from S-Rank.

“Aren’t you inflating it too much?”

“It’s an objective truth. But I think it’s impossible for you to immediately stand alone. For the very first thing, there’s the problem of safety, and after that, there’s the problem of materials’ supply and demand. Since you need to practice a lot to build up the proficiency.”

He could buy materials and then make and sell items. But the time spent on buying and selling was a waste. In the beginning, only low rank items would appear, and low ranks sold worse than you would think. It was because the purchasing power of low rank Hunters was relatively low. And there weren’t that many Hunters because it was before the Awakening Centers were made.

So it was a lot more effective to get support and get a ton of materials and make a ton of items.

“The most comfortable road would really be entering a giant guild. Once they check the skill, they wouldn’t skimp on support, and it would be possible to grow quickly. Outside of that, they would take care of everything for you. You don’t have to pay attention to miscellaneous things and just produce items.”

And it could be that that would be better for Myeongwoo. Since it was comfortable for both his mind and body.

“But if you don’t want to be affiliated to a guild, and don’t want to get interference and want to set up something like an independent workshop, I can help you. No, I want to make an investment.”

Now, it wasn’t helping, like before. Since Yoo Myeongwoo could go anywhere and be welcomed.

“Investment?”

“Yeah. You also know that I’m going to leave Haeyeon soon. So… I’m suggesting we go together. It’s just a suggestion and you don’t have to feel burdened. Being affiliated to a guild definitely is comfortable.”

If it was possible, I didn’t want Myeongwoo to be affiliated to a particular guild. Since, if he entered a particular guild, there was no reason that guild wouldn’t try to monopolize the items, especially the S-Rank and higher equipment. It might’ve been different if the increase of the dungeons’ level of difficulty and number went up slowly over the span of 5 years, like before, but a monopoly in the current situation wasn’t good. And above all, it was highly likely they would try to control the number of equipment made. Since it would be easier to maintain a premium if the amount didn’t cross a suitable limit.

“If you’re going to enter a guild, enter Haeyeon. For my sake.”

Still, if it was Haeyeon Guild, I would be able to interfere somehow. And I could put a prohibition on excessive monopoly or on amount restriction in the contract conditions.

“If I become self-reliant, even if I get your help, Yoojin, there’d probably be a lot of things I’d have to handle on my own.”

Myeongwoo said calmly.

“No matter how I look at it, it seems so. All I can do for you is supplying a safe place, as well as materials and funds, and connecting you with Hunters coming to find me. Still, if you make a few high rank items, and show them, the rumor would spread pretty fast. If an S-Rank or higher comes out, you would have the power, so you could act however you want… or even so, that in itself could be tiring too.”

Famous Hunters lining up, and wielding items as hostages, needed to fit your aptitude too. If you were timid, that situation in and of itself would be stressful. And there would definitely be empty-headed guys who would look down on him and act haughty if he seemed even the slightest bit easygoing.

As expected, should I just tell him to enter Haeyeon Guild?

“Just choose whatever makes you comfortable.”

He had already suffered a lot. I couldn’t tell him to suffer more.

“Truthfully, I didn’t even think a skill this good would come out.”

Myeongwoo scratched the back of his head.

“But, by your words, as long as I try, I can become bigger than a giant guild. Right?”

“Of course.”

“Then I don’t have to think for long. Being stupidly shut up at home was enough with just once.”

At him saying that while raising his body, my heart pointlessly stung. I completely didn’t let him outside, but it wouldn’t be my fault, right? He was probably talking about the time when I was kidnapped.

“If something like that happens again. Then……”

He didn’t continue his words and smiled.

“Do you want to explore my forge?”

“…What?”

It was something you could explore?

[1] lit. ‘as much as an ant’s eye gunk’ where ‘as much as/like eye gunk’ is a way of saying sth is small, but he put in ‘ant’ which makes it even tinier

[2] lit. ‘grab the back of my head and thump my chest’ which is a way of expressing (mental) distress/agony, but the only thing similar to that I could think of in eng was ‘tear one’s hair out’

[3] according to my dad, since kr has a history of losing its independence at times, the biggest and most recent being to jp in wwii, this is a common expression used to express losing sth v important, i guess similar to the more gen eng ‘losing one’s world’

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