Chapter 125: Hwang Do-Hyun’s Unreasonable Request

Kei froze instantly, goosebumps breaking out across his skin as the stranger’s strange, warm breath brushed against the side of his neck.

Sora was completely stunned.

Lucas, meanwhile, hurriedly took a step back, not forgetting to yank Sora along with him to put a safe distance between them and this absolute lunatic.

The white-haired man raised an eyebrow. The lazy demeanor he wore moments ago gave way to a flicker of genuine intrigue toward the fair-featured youth before him.

"Hey," he spoke up, his tone brimming with sudden excitement. "Why does your body smell so weirdly good? Just catching a whiff of it is making me hungry!"

Kei stared back in silent bewilderment at the man spouting such bizarre nonsense.

His thoughts instantly darted back to the heap of herbs left sitting in his workshop.

"Could their scent have clung to me?" Kei thought.

Yet, this man felt nothing like an ordinary hunter. Those sharp, ice-blue eyes gave Kei the unsettling sensation that his very soul was being laid bare.

"It’s... just the scent of the herbs I’m researching," Kei replied weakly.

Gulping nervously, Lucas grabbed hold of Hwang Do-Hyun, attempting to pull him away from Kei before the situation made the young Craftsman any more uncomfortable.

"Guild Leader, please refrain from randomly sniffing people’s necks like that."

"Guild Leader?" Sora echoed under her breath.

Kei took another long look at the white-haired man, the puzzle pieces regarding his identity finally clicking into place.

Lucas offered a strained, awkward smile as he introduced him. "This is Hwang Do-Hyun, the Guild Leader of our Zootopia Guild."

The white-haired man didn’t even bother offering a greeting. His gaze remained locked onto Kei. Stooping down once more, he took another deep breath, his nose twitching like a hound on a trail before speaking in a low, raspy voice.

"This smell..."

Hwang Do-Hyun narrowed his eyes. "It’s not the smell of any ordinary herb."

Kei’s guard immediately went up.

He had no idea why Lucas had brought the Zootopia Guild Leader here. But judging by the look in Hwang Do-Hyun’s eyes, the man seemed to have sensed something peculiar hidden within him.

*Kai once mentioned that I carry a distinct scent too... Could that have been more than just a passing joke?*

Kei’s single greatest secret in this world was his magic power.

Could the ’scents’ both Kai and Hwang Do-Hyun refer to actually be pointing to the mana residing inside my body? But I’ve never heard of a mage’s magic having an actual fragrance!

Sora quietly stepped in front of Kei, shielding him as she glared cautiously at Hwang Do-Hyun.

"What do you think you’re doing to Kei-nim? Don’t even think about causing trouble in our shop. We are acquainted with plenty of powerful hunters!"

Faced with Kim Sora’s overt threat, Hwang Do-Hyun spared her a brief glance before replying in a completely nonchalant tone:

"I just want to know what he ate. Why does he carry a scent that makes me want to transform?"

Hwang Do-Hyun licked his lips.

There was one line he held back out of fear of getting kicked out of the shop entirely: Catching a whiff of this scent makes him feel like going into heat!

Hearing his leader’s unfiltered commentary, Lucas closed his eyes and buried his face in his hand in sheer helplessness. "Didn’t I specifically ask you not to say weird things like that?"

Hwang Do-Hyun paid Lucas’s scolding no mind. He scanned Kei from head to toe, his expression gradually shifting into something far more serious.

"You’re the Craftsman who made the Purification Ring, aren’t you?"

"That’s right," Kei nodded. There was no reason to conceal that fact.

"Then can you make equipment suited for beast-transformation hunters?"

Standing off to the side, Lucas breathed a sigh of relief as the conversation finally veered toward its main objective. He quickly stepped in to clarify for Kei:

"Most of the hunters in Zootopia possess full-beast or half-beast shift abilities. Once transformed, almost none of us can utilize standard hunter gear."

In most cases, beast-form hunters transformed before entering a Dungeon, relying on custom armor crafted specifically for their animal forms. Dimensional rings couldn’t be worn post-transformation either, meaning they had to hand them off to teammates for safekeeping.

It was precisely why Zootopia was renowned for employing the largest team of Craftsmen among all guilds, their equipment almost exclusively requiring bespoke, specialized tailoring.

Kei finally understood the purpose of their visit. He looked at Hwang Do-Hyun, taking in his imposing stature. He’s already this tall before transforming; his beast form must be massive.

"You want a piece of equipment that can be used while transformed?"

"Precisely." Hwang Do-Hyun crossed his arms, letting out a heavy sigh of complaint. "Rings are useless to me. When I turn into a Lycan, my claws end up bigger than your entire body."

Kei’s eyebrows twitched in surprise.

As expected of Zootopia’s Guild Leader. His beast form must be a colossal monster. A standard Purification Ring would indeed be laughably inadequate for someone like him.

Hwang Do-Hyun asked directly, "So, can you make something else? Something I can actually wear when I turn into a beast, preferably an item that can auto-adjust to the size of my beast form."

Hwang Do-Hyun’s request was beyond unreasonable.

Kim Sora, who had been listening the entire time, let out a disdainful huff. Placing her hands on her hips, she immediately stepped up in Kei’s defense:

"Hey, Hunter Hwang Do-Hyun, isn’t that request a bit much? Kei-nim has already been working himself to the bone filling order after order for Purification Rings lately! And now you want him to pull a fantastical creation out of thin air just for you?"

An equipment piece that can expand and shrink along with a hunter’s transformation?

Sora wondered if she should just lay into one of South Korea’s strongest hunters right then and there. Does he even realize how absurd his demand sounds?!

"Keep calm Sora... Hunter Hwang Do-Hyun is just sharing his idea," Kei gently intervened, attempting to soothe Kim Sora’s rising temper.

In truth, Hwang Do-Hyun wasn’t wrong. For beast-type hunters, equipment capable of freely altering its dimensions was indeed the ideal solution. Beast forms didn’t always remain at a fixed size; the stronger a beast-type hunter grew, the more versatile their shift forms became.

An item capable of auto-adjusting its scale would undoubtedly be the ultimate choice for them.