Chapter 68 - Blue (1)
[Don’t worry. There’s n□ reason to do too much.]
[Let’s just k□ll that and le□ve.]
[It’s a bit □□?]
[S□ you couldn’t raise the level even a bi□.]
[N□! Peace!]
[What □onsense are you □□ying now. No.]
[Ok□y. Even if I secretly go out, d□□’t even s□y that. And there’s no reason to □o out for a long time anyways.][1]
Red eyes that didn’t have whites quickly read down the text appearing on the window. At intervals in the meantime, other notification windows popped up.
[Awakened Person Nared Pasamuha 10 level skill conditions satisfied]
[I-25 dungeon first attack]
[I-3 dungeon special attack B-2 achievement]
‘Newcomer’ moved the ends of the fin divided into strands and checked Nared Pasamuha’s aptitude information, and at the same time, took care of the first attack and special attack rewards. The rewards didn’t have special details, so immediately after the acceptance, the system moved on its own. But the 10 level skill had to be directly picked among the ones fitting the aptitude and current state, and connected.
While doing so, Han Yoojin’s conversation window disappeared. He had left the dungeon.
After taking care of several other matters, Newcomer waved the long and wide fins and went out to the lounge.
On a white chair that seemed like a moon with the middle scooped out, ‘Water Droplet’, who had been the source of water for a past world, was smoothing down a broken deer antler.
The antler that seemed to be made from translucent crystal was letting out a faint light.
“I was nervous.”
Gathering his fins in front of him and sitting, Newcomer let out a sigh.
“Since we can only see a part of only Honey’s words, I cannot tell exactly what the matter is. The atmosphere is completely serious too. It is a relief that it seemed like it ended well this time, but isn’t Honey’s younger sibling definitely a little dangerous?”
At Newcomer’s words, Water Droplet wore a vague smile.
“There is no precedent for the Perfect Caregiver’s keyword effect, and that being applied overlapped, so it’s hard for even us to predict. Still, he has already offered his life and saved Honey once. I think that as long as he is pacified well, he would become the most reliable guardian.”
Even with Water Droplet’s words, Newcomer’s expression didn’t relax. Instead, the frown became deeper.
“I think something like a typical warrior would be more relieving. And an oracle is more convenient for the system, than a game. Though, of course, the thing that requires the least work is a world that has developed up to virtual reality.”
“If it gets to even virtual reality, isn’t that the precipice?”
“That’s right! That is why the demon king warrior story is the best! Playing a god is also fun. Next time, I want to be a chicken and beer god. That side normally has bland food. Fried, seasoned, soy sauce, green onion chicken, spicy chicken…”
Newcomer, who was reciting types of chicken in a row, looked at Water Droplet as if he had suddenly thought of something.
“But the blacksmith. Doesn’t he also have potential? Truthfully, I am uneasy about Honey and sorry to him too, but can’t we change the target?”
“It’s different than with Shalos-ssi. That ahjussi had already been working as a blacksmith for hundreds of years, but Yoo Myeongwoo hasn’t even made a hoe before. He’d probably grow quickly thanks to Shalos-ssi’s present, but it would probably take 30 years at minimum to make myth rank equipment? There’s not enough time.”
Water Droplet continued speaking, spinning the deer antler they were holding.
“If Honey happens to fail, we’ll steal the blacksmith away to the next world. Since all he needs is time.”
“What about Honey?”
“We would like to take him, but would Honey accept it? With that title.”
“Th…at’s, well. He would probably refuse. And if we forcefully take him out, then it would get too dangerous……”
The ends of Newcomer’s long fluttering ears drooped. It was then.
“I heard this team is a matter of time? Congrats, congrats!”
A woman who was like a translucent ghost suddenly appeared. The ghost smiled cheerfully as she stretched her neck toward Newcomer.
“But why is the youngest so tearful?”
“It is uncomfortable, the skill.”
“I heard. It is pretty unusual. But he’d probably think it’s actually a relief?”
“Is that so?”
“Of course! It’s much better than not having potential. Besides, our youngest, if it’s like this, it won’t be long before you take off the label of newcomer?”
At those words, Newcomer slapped his fins.
“That is true! That is so! Ah, I will decorate Honey’s room. How should I decorate it? I heard that the thing that that world’s people like the most is Christmas! A large tree, reindeer, a red grandfather!”
“That’s right, that’s right. In our position, we should have fun, not be tearful. Should we have a toast ahead of time!”
A glass sloshing with clear alcohol appeared in the ghost’s hand. She lightly lifted the glass and smiled.
“To the imprisoned immoral people!”
———-
“So if the skill is applied once, it’s possible to grow through training on normal days too, huh.”
[Time required for adult transformation(71:01)]
After energetically throwing around a ball for over thirty minutes, about twenty minutes time had decreased. The efficiency fell a lot. Still, even if I paid attention for just two to three hours a day, the growth that should take two months, would end in one month, give or take.
That was so, but.
‘Let’s not increase the work. Let’s not increase the work.’
Except for when it’s urgent, let’s say I don’t know. If this was known, I would be harassed by mental games and requests asking ‘please pay more attention to our kid’. And there would be a ‘token of good will’[2] stuck between the kids’ toys.
Still, did I have to tell Yoohyun? Since it would be bad if he lost control again, because I hid something.
“He wasn’t like this when he was young. As expected, Hunter work doesn’t seem to be good for your emotions. Peace, you can’t change, okay?”
-Kkiang!
“But even so, don’t just not grow at all.”
I didn’t know at all that he had already grown into an adolescent. Wait, did that mean the pen also didn’t actually have any use? It was made to withstand only up to C-Rank, so if he was B-Rank, he could break it and come out. Even so, he quietly stayed shut in.
“Our Peace, you really are good.”
-Gareureung
Now I could also worry less about him attacking Chirpie.
While we had already come to the training room, I played with Peace some more, and then went up. When I opened the door, I heard the TV. Did Myeongwoo return early for once?
But there was nobody in the living room. Other than Chirpie.
“…Chirpie?”
-Chirp!
Chirpie, who was sitting on the sofa with the remote next to it, turned to look at me. Uh, Chirpie couldn’t have been the one who turned on the TV, right? And how did it get on the sofa? When I looked around, I saw the basket that I had left Chirpie in, upside down at the bottom of the sofa.
Could it have turned that over and used that as stairs? Was that possible?
“……To think that our kid was actually a genius.”
On top of that, look at that, it was using the remote by pressing with its feet. Should I send it out on TV? Did animals have anything like gifted people discovery programs?
“Our Chirpie, even watching the TV by yourself. What were you watching? Was it fun?”
-Cheep cheep cheep! Cheep cheep!
It seemed like it was explaining something, but obviously I couldn’t understand. Was there anything like monster language translation items somewhere?
“Right, right. You really are smart.”
I placed Peace on the sofa and took out a magic stone from my inventory.
“This is the D-Rank dungeon boss magic stone that Uncle Yoohyun got.”
As benefiting a high grade D-Rank dungeon, it was pretty big. If it was this much, it would be close to a normal C-Rank magic stone. So I had thought it would definitely like it.
-Chirp
Chirpie didn’t show much of a reaction for once.
“…Chirpie? Could you be hurt anywhere?”
They said that one of the symptoms that appeared first when animals weren’t well, was that they didn’t eat their food. Could you take monsters to vets too?
“Are you really not going to eat-.”
-Chirp!
Oh, it was eating. As if saying ‘when was I unenthusiastic’, the small beak fiercely grabbed the magic stone piece and swallowed it.
-Cheep cheep cheep!
Then it happily flapped and,
-Cheep!
With a bump, it slipped and fell down the sofa. Even with the basket next to it, it jumped around, trying to go straight up the sofa.
…Does it get a little stupider after eating magic stones?
The boat that had three baby monsters that Haeyeon had purchased arrived at Incheon Harbor. It was one highest rank and two high ranks.
Until the monsters were loaded onto the boat, they only had the value of simply extremely rare pets. And they were ones that had food costs that were too expensive compared to their body worth. Even the rich people who collected rare animals usually only bought middle to low rank monsters. It was because high ranks and higher were hard to manage unless there was a mid rank Hunter.
But now, the situation had completely changed. Especially highest rank baby monsters were aimed for by the giant guilds in the entire world, so even before the boat was moored, Haeyeon’s Hunters were spread out at the pier. It seemed like all of them, except for the two teams in the middle of dungeon attacks, had come out.
“Shouldn’t Haeyeon also increase the number of Hunters?”
I said, standing next to the dockside and staring at the ocean. There was a salty smell deeply mixed with the wind. It had been a while since I had seen the ocean outside of a dungeon. There wasn’t exactly any reason to come. My life was too difficult.
“It won’t be long before Yerim will have to attack S-Rank dungeons, so then a new S-Rank team has to be organized.”
And they couldn’t stay a small number of elites forever. The number of dungeons to manage would gradually increase, so it couldn’t be handled with the current number of people. They had to widely recruit, of course A-Rank, but also B-Ranks to even C-Ranks.
“After taking care of MKC, I’ll slowly increase them.”
Yoohyun, who was looking the same way as me, said.
“And Hunter Bak Yerim will make her own team on her own.”
“On her own? The guild isn’t going to set it up for her?”
“S-Rank teams are normally like that. S-Rank Hunters have to find their team members by themselves. I did, too. If the guild needlessly interferes, it becomes harder to make a proper team.”
“It’s not like A-Ranks who aren’t affiliated are common, and it obviously won’t be easy to steal any away from other teams or guilds. It seems like our Yerim will have quite a lot difficulties.”
When I found A-Ranks, should I sneakily tell Yerim first? If they were combat aptitude A-Ranks, Yerim could take them directly into a dungeon and make them Awaken, without them waiting for the Awakening Center opening. For combat skills, it was easy to Awaken fitting their optimization.
“Right, hyung. Take this.”
Yoohyun took out a necklace from his inventory and held it out.
“What is that?”
As soon as I saw the shape and design of the small metal ornament at the end of the chain, I realized, but I pretended not to know. It was still an extremely rare item.
“It’s a translation item. Once the rearing facility opens soon, people will come looking for you from overseas too, so you’ll need it.”
“I heard you were blocking the people who were trying to contact me, but you’re even giving me something like this…”
I was touched. He really did change. It was praiseworthy, too. I should have tried to talk to him earlier.
“Where did you hear that from?”
“The Seseong Guild Leader told me, more or less, before.”
Though I heard it more in detail from Riette.
“Thanks. I’ll use it well.”
At any rate, I was thinking that I had to find one.
“It’s been a while, hyung-nim!”
Just then, I heard a familiar voice. When I turned around, Breaker’s guild leader Moon Hyuna was striding over with long legs. The brightly smiling face seemed like a naughty boy’s.
“Did the kids arrive safely?”
“The boat has just moored now. Seeing how there has not been any particular contact, there is probably nothing wrong.”
Yoohyun answered. Moon Hyuna glanced at Yoohyun and spun around to stand stuck close to my side.
“There wasn’t anything big in the meantime?”
“There was not.”
I just popped in and out of a few dungeons secretly, got a few new titles, killed a few people, and was almost confined by my younger brother. These few days were pretty eventful in their own way, actually. Still, it all ended well, so it was okay.
“If you bring in three at once, wouldn’t about one be left?”
“There are none left.”
Yoohyun said concisely.
“I didn’t ask the younger brother, though.”
“Hyung does not have the authority.”
“That’s cold. Still, isn’t the highest rank going to hyung-nim? That’s what was decided.”
Was it decided in the meantime? Moon Hyuna wrapped hers around my arm and stuck even closer. Even the weather was hot, so why don’t you stop sticking already.
“How’s this, hyung-nim. Sometimes lending it out. It’s a waste if highest rank monsters don’t go into a dungeon a few times. It’ll be good for us both if it gets experience and you let it go into a dungeon with me. Don’t you think?”
That was true. Truthfully, it was waste to keep it stuck to my side.
“That is true, but there is no need to send it to Breaker.”
“Ah, why? At any rate, Han Yoohyun and Bak Yerim and Sung Hyunjae, that guy, are all picky about attributes. But I’m not. It just has to be fast and tough.”
“Do only S-Rank Hunters use familiars? S-Rank attack team members also need familiars to quickly attack.”
It might be different if it was a long time later, but right now, it would be hard for there to be one per person for A-Ranks as well, though.
“And they can also be used, not as familiars, but substitutes for S-Rank Hunters.”
At my words, Moon Hyuna’s expression became sullen as if sulking.
“Don’t act picky and let me borrow it at least once. I’m dying of curiosity over how much of a difference there would be for an attack with a highest rank familiar’s rushing power added. At least let me check!”
It was common for high rank combat Hunters to obsess over increasing their own abilities, but was she curious enough to personally come here and cling?
“I will let you borrow it one or two times. Instead, it will not be free.”
“Of course! I’m not that shameless of a person. Above all, it’s our hyung-nim, so could I be careless? Whatever it is, just say.”
Just then, Yoohyun, who was taking a call, hung up the phone and spoke.
“They said they unloaded the monster cage.”
“Really?”
So I could finally see them, huh. I was curious what kind of kids they were.
[1] since these are all censored, I had to guess some parts, so the tl might be lacking, but I think I figured out most of them
[2] this is money or a small present given to teacher by parents. The dict says it’s a token of good will but it’s basically a bribe, and one that’s specifically only given to teachers, which is why I put it in quotation marks (or whatever those are called… half quotation marks??)