Ranker’s Return

Hyeonu entered Edchan’s workshop and saw Edchan devoting himself to hammering. Just the sight of that gave Hyeonu goosebumps.

‘He isn’t making anything.’

This wasn’t the act of making something. Rather, it was more like breaking something. The sight of Edchan’s muscles bulging and veins protruding as his left hand held tongs and his right hand gripped a hammer was terrifying. Realizing that Edchan hadn’t noticed his presence, Hyeonu yelled out, “Edchan! I’m here!”

Hyeonu’s voice broke through the sound of iron being struck and shook Edchan’s eardrums.

“Human?” Edchan stopped hammering. Simultaneously, he turned his head toward Hyeonu.

“It isn’t like I’m coming to a place I shouldn’t enter. You are staring too hard at me. Your gaze is too burdensome,” Hyeonu said with a smile. Since he wasn’t wearing the mask, his face could clearly be seen by Edchan.  

“What brings you here? You acted like you weren’t coming.” Edchan felt disappointed that Hyeonu hadn’t visited in a while. He thought Hyeonu would come with alcohol from time to time, but Hyeonu never came.

“When did I do that? In the meantime, I've been running around the East Continent to find the metals that you have requested,” Hyeonu protested with an aggrieved expression. Of course, he wasn’t telling the truth, but this didn’t mean that Edchan’s words were true.

‘When did I act like I wasn’t coming?’

After hearing Hyeonu’s words, curiosity appeared on Edchan’s face.

“You’ve brought me minerals from the East Continent? Take them out quickly.” Edchan approached Hyeonu while still holding the hammer and tongs. He looked very intimidating.

“Why don’t you put those things down first?” Hyeonu pointed at Edchan’s hands. Edchan looked down at his hands before putting down the tongs and hammer with a smile. Then he said, “Now, come.”

Hyeonu moved slowly despite Edchan’s urging. He placed his hand in the inventory and pulled out colorful chunks of metal.

“This is called ‘star luck’. It is a metal made from meteorites that fall in the same area every few hundred years,” Hyeonu spoke while pointing to a piece of metal that emitted a subtle green light.

He continued, “This is called ‘busk’, and it’s extracted from the corpse of a monster. However, the monsters are so rare that it is difficult to get them.”

This time, it was a purely white metal. Then the last one he took out was dark brown.

“This is the most unusual thing. It’s a tree with properties similar to iron. It is a very strange guy that doesn’t burn or melt. The name is ‘simera’,” Hyeonu added an explanation like he had dug up the metals himself.

In fact, he did nothing but repeat what was written in the item description. Nevertheless, Edchan’s eyes started to shine upon hearing Hyeonu’s description. New metals always stimulated his interest. Edchan reached out and picked up a metal.

[-Give Edchan a rare metal from the East Continent 3/1.]

[You have cleared Edchan’s Request.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[Edchan’s battle gear has been acquired.]

The moment the metal touched Edchan’s hand, there was a message that the quest was successful.

“Wait a minute. I’ll hit it a few times.” Edchan picked up the metal and headed back to the furnace. He placed the star luck into the blue fire of the furnace, and it started to melt slowly. After the time it took to make a cup of coffee passed, it was liquified perfectly.

Edchan pulled out the liquid star luck and poured it into a sword-shaped frame, where it quickly took form. Once he felt it was sufficiently cooled, Edchan picked up the star luck with his tongs and started to hit it with a hammer. After hitting it a few times, Edchan placed the green metal aside and walked in front of the furnace with the busk. He repeated this process exactly twice before returning to Hyeonu.

“What do you want me to make with this? Or do you want to choose from what you saw last time?” Edchan wondered with a serious expression.

Hyeonu had already thought about it and asked, “Is it possible to modify instead of make something?”

He wanted to repair and upgrade an existing item, not get a new one. It was because there was no guarantee that the items Edchan had or could make would have the same effects as his present items.

“Take it out first,” Edchan said.

Hyeonu took out the red gloves he had been wearing on his hands.

“They are the gloves I received before. I want to modify them without losing the original feeling.” 

In other words, he wanted to keep its effects.

“Hmm...” Edchan was lost in thought as he contemplated Memories of Murder, the red gloves—gauntlets, to be exact. A moment later, Edchan spoke with a serious look, “I will try it, but it will take a bit of time. Can you wait?”

“How long will it take?”

“Around three or four hours?”

“I understand. I’ll be waiting outside until then.” Hyeonu nodded easily. There were many ways for him to spend his time. It wasn’t like he had nothing to do.

‘Feed Tang-E the essence... I also need to eat.’

After Hyeonu agreed, Edchan started to explain his plan: “It isn’t an item I made, so I can’t make a big transformation. I’m just going to use what you obtained to enhance it a bit.”

“I understand. I believe you will do well. Once the work is finished... why don’t we do this again?” Hyeonu made a gesture of drinking something. Edchan’s eyes widened when he saw it, and he nodded.

***

Hyeonu only remembered the drake’s leather after coming out of Edchan’s workshop.

‘I should’ve told him Tresha’s words as well.’

Still, these thoughts were very brief. Hyeonu shook his head and summoned Tang-E. To him, Tang-E was 10,000 times more precious than Tresha.

“Tang-E, let’s eat.”

“Ohh! A meal, a meal!” Tang-E appeared with empty eyes for some reason, but he soon jumped into Hyeonu’s arms.

“Why are you so thin?” Hyeonu asked as he held Tang-E. Tang-E wasn’t thin at all when seen objectively, but he looked like this in Hyeonu’s eyes.

Tang-E hung his head and replied, “I ran out of food...”

Hyeonu saw this and stroked Tang-E’s head while saying, “You should’ve told me. Then I would’ve done a barbecue...”

“You have been busy lately. There was no time to say it.”

When Hyeonu heard Tang-E’s words, he placed the latter down on the ground. Then he pulled out a small box from his inventory. It was a box containing the essence meant for Tang-E.

“Eat this first. I will cook you some meat later.”

“What is this, Master dude?” Tang-E blinked when he saw the small box.

“Your favorite.” Hyeonu got down on one knee and opened the box like he was proposing.

“Uwahhhh!” Tang-E screamed when he saw the contents in the box. Hyeonu placed the dark blue lump into Tang-E’s open mouth.

“Eek!” A shocked cry burst from Tang-E’s mouth, but it didn’t last as the dark blue lump blocked his voice.

[Your pet ‘Tang-E’ has taken the ‘Corrupted Dragon’s Wish Bead Fragment’.]

A blue light poured from Tang-E’s eyes. It was only temporary, and the blue eyes quickly disappeared. The thing that replaced it was a gorgeous gold like the color of Tang-E’s fur.

[The strength stat has increased by 139 points.]

[The agility stat has increased by 122 points.]

[The physique stat has increased by 81 points.]

[The magic power stat has increased by 174 points.]

These message windows appeared in Hyeonu’s eyes.

‘The stats rose really well.’

He got annoyed by how high the stats rose. It was a good thing, but there was still envy in a corner of his heart.  

‘No skills?’

The comforting thing was that a skill hadn’t been created.

‘I also got a stat...’

Hyeonu was smiling triumphantly when a message appeared that erased the smile.

[Your pet ‘Tang-E’ has taken the Corrupted Dragon’s Wish Bead Fragment, and a new skill has been created.]

[Wish Bead Transmutation]

[Can make a wish bead which is necessary for an imoogi. [1] 

Type: Continuous

Rating: Unique

Skill Proficiency: F

If a wish bead is created, all magic power related effects are increased by 30%.]

[The Wish Bead Transmutation has absorbed Heart Creation.]

[Heart Creation has disappeared.]

[The rating of Wish Bead Transmutation has risen to epic.]

[The magic related effects are increased by 50%.]

It was a storm of messages that kept disappearing and then emerging. Each message contained shocking content.

‘Skill absorption?’

It was similar to the message he had seen when he strengthened the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art. The same thing was happening to Tang-E now.

‘The effect is ridiculous.’

All effects associated with magic power were increased by 50%, not 30%. This meant magic power consumption was reduced and the power increased. There was no need to mention the amount of magic power.

‘It’s crazy, crazy.’ Hyeonu stared at Tang-E with astonishment.

Just then, Tang-E opened his eyes and said, “Master dude, let’s eat meat.” 

Tang-E watched Hyeonu with bright eyes. It was a gaze full of longing for meat.

“Yes, let’s eat.” Hyeonu burst out laughing. Tang-E was just Tang-E.

Hyeonu started preparing to cook meat in a corner of the Red Anvil Tribe. He set up a stand for the meat and skewered some pork with a stick.

“Tang-E, light a fire,” Hyeonu instructed once the preparations for the barbecue were over. Tang-E heard Hyeonu speak and pointed to the pile of wood with his paws. Blue flames soared, and the wood quickly caught on fire. The blue fire started to slowly cook the meat.

“Tang-E, make a wish bead.”

“Wish bead? Are you talking about the heart? I understand.” Tang-E cocked his head slightly and smiled at Hyeonu. Then he gathered his paws together and pushed them toward the sky with them facing upward, bringing about a huge storm of magic power. Tang-E’s surroundings became a strange mixture of dark blue and brilliant gold magic power that gathered around his paws.

“Now, this is a heart. I ate Master’s elixir and was able to take it out.” A bead slightly larger than Tang-E’s paws appeared on them. The bead had an attractive color like Tang-E’s magic power.

“Is it pretty?”

“It’s pretty. Tang-E’s heart is pretty. Hihi...” Tang-E laughed at the bead on his paws.

Hyeonu turned the meat and glanced at it before saying, “Look at it a bit later. The meat will be ready soon.”

“Uwaaah... Meat, it is meat.” Tang-E immediately made the bead disappear and approached the meat. He walked like a zombie and had no focus in his eyes like he was possessed by meat.

“No, be patient.

“Eh... Just one bite... give me a bite...”

Hyeonu was firm despite Tang-E’s begging.

“No, eat when it is done.”

[1] Imoogi are a type of Korean dragon. According to mythology, imoogis resemble giant serpents. It was said that an imoogi could become a true dragon if it caught a yeouijiu (wish bead) that fell from heaven. It is said that whoever could wield the yeouijiu was blessed with the abilities of omnipotence and creation at will.