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chapter-74

Underworld Guest (2)

Friday afternoon after class, Kang Shin-hyuk was inspecting his sword and preparing himself to depart for the dimensional quest. He had yet to confirm the upgraded performance of the Godslayer sword because he was so distracted, so he decided to do that before heading off.

[Godslayer]

[A-rank]

[Special Abilities: Blade Predation, Regression, Flesh Control]

[Open Special Ability: Guardian]

[Core: None]

*Guardian: When the owner is in danger, it will create a shield of spiritual power to protect them. The more power stored in the sword, the stronger the shield that will be created.

He couldn’t help but see the irony in it. He was frustrated about creating a sword with a good defensive ability, yet the Godslayer just naturally found one. Of course, that was thanks to absorbing the Heroic Shield, but the timing was just too good.

‘Maybe it’s trying to help me.’ Kang Shin-hyuk had thought of the sword as a treasure that would allow him to grow, but the memories he saw inside of it were changing that point of view. Thinking about it, it was the last masterpiece created by Anvil in addition to being the object that helped awaken him.

“…Thank you. I’ll try my best.” Kang Shin-hyuk stroked the hilt of the sword with a sense of gratitude.

‘The other change is the core, the nucleus that will replace the dragon heart.’ A hole was originally drilled into the center of the crossguard, where the dragon heart was once embedded into it. However, upon regaining A-rank, it began to look less like a wound in the blade. Intermittently, a spark would form in the center of the hole.

“It makes me want to put something in there…”

“Why are you saying such obscene jokes while gazing at your sword in broad daylight? Is your head okay?” Claire, who had been drinking tea in his room, commented. It wasn’t something he wanted to hear from someone who was sneaking into a boy’s dorm in the middle of the day.

“Shouldn’t I worry about your head rather than my own? Here, you’ll understand when you see.”

“Hm? Oh…ohhh?” Kang Shin-hyuk displayed the sword to her, pointing at the guard. Her expression became serious.

“That’ll be crazy. Whatever you put in there will be a big deal, so be careful.”

“Alright.”

“It’ll take more than a few mana stones to fix that.” Kang Shin-hyuk nodded along with the words of this professional craftsman.

“I’m guessing I’ll need a very energy-rich material.”

“It must have a semi-permanent reproduction property. Really high-ranking monsters generate magical power through their mana stones. It would be able to operate stably unless its at least of that quality. So…SS rank? At least S+.”

“An SS rank would be difficult to find.” Kang Shin-hyuk said that, but a thought came to him right away. Wasn’t there something like an SS rank mana stone that he had found recently? Yes, it was the [Shinfeng Orb]. It created spiritual power and had abilities he didn’t know yet, although it had yet to recover the dignity worthy of SS rank. The orb was slowly healing its wounds in his inventory, and Kang Shin-hyuk would put his own spiritual power into it every night to help in that process.

‘For the time being, I should wait. Still, it’s fortunate I have something that could work.’ He hadn’t even learned the proper form for the sword dance, so it would be best if he learned to walk before he tried to fly.

“But Grandpa, why is Claire here?” Shin Eunah had an expression of displeasure on her face as she sat on the sofa. Claire opened her mouth before Shin-hyuk could react.

“Because I also read the post. Do you think you’re the only one worried about him?”

“Well, that…but grandpa is with me.”

“And you, you said you would only use that title when you were alone together?” Claire continued to place pressure on Shin Eunah, who wanted to refuse her.

“But Claire is like family, so it’s okay.”

“Thank you for viewing me that way, but from my point of view the genealogy is too twisted. Please stop.”

“Ugh.” Unlike the other day at the bar, Claire now had the advantage. She had no intention of allowing Shin Eunah to continue to get away with it. Kang Shin-hyuk silently supported her.

“…Okay.”

“Good.” After receiving the declaration of surrender from Shin Eunah, Claire let out a victorious laugh.

“Then what should I call him?”

“Use his name. Or you can call each other senior and junior.”

“Using your name is hard…then, junior.”

“Yes, senior.”

“…Huh.” Shin Eunah blushed, causing Claire to narrow her eyes.

“Eunah, you…no way.”

“What, what?”

“No, let’s start.” Shin Eunah ground her teeth but couldn’t say anything as Claire pushed on. However, there was one thing Shin-hyuk wanted to ask the two before they started. He placed Onyx on his shoulder and looked at the two.

“You’re both high-rankers, so how are you able to be here?”

“I made time for you, my valuable employee.”

“…For my precious junior, I asked for my annual leave without hesitation.” Both of them were firm in their answer. Kang Shin-hyuk was suspicious but didn’t question them further.

“Then, let’s go into My Room.”

-Entrance fees are collected from the other members. You received 200,000 HP!

Kang Shin-hyuk’s heart fluttered at this new information, but the two didn’t seem to mind as they casually paid the fee. Was that really okay? He supposed that to these experienced people, that wasn’t much at all. But they both had a look of exasperation when they saw the desolate situation of his My Room.

“You pay an entrance fee to a place that’s as empty as this?”

“If you do a lot of quests, it changes, but I’ve only done one.”

“Keep it up from now on. I’ll help you.” Claire was smiling bitterly, but Shin Eunah burned with a sense of purpose. The administrator posted the quest right in front of them, dismissing his concerns.

[Jersey’s Shadow]

[A world where life cannot be sustained as the atmosphere is full of toxic gases. Gromas instead contains abundant mana and pure oxygen in the ground. All living things in Gromas have evolved to live underground.]

[However, many years have passed, and a new evil is emerging in the underworld of Gromas. Those living underground are trying to avoid the coming destruction, but unfortunately, their sharp claws have dulled.]

[Your mission is to give them back their sharp claws so that they can break through.]

[Quest deadline: 2 months.]

[Earth to Gromas Time Ratio – 1:24]

“Wow.” Even if he stayed for two months, it would barely be Monday morning back on Earth! Kang Shin-hyuk admired this incredible chance as he asked the administrator for some information.

“How is that possible? I thought that man was in the same time zone as me.”

-The flow of time is twisted in other worlds due to various factors. It is the crises of a world that twist it the most. The more serious a crisis, the more marked the difference will be.

“Are there any penalties I’ll face?”

-The greater the difference, the more HP will be consumed to move you between dimensions. In fact, going to Kieron would cost you 1 million HP per day of Earth time.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard of it!” He thought of going to Kieron to train, but such a money trap had been waiting for him. Still, he could buy that much extra time for 1 million HP, and he wouldn’t age in the other world. It wasn’t a bad deal.

-The world was greatly stabilized thanks to the defeat of Kieron’s greatest threat, so the time ratio has been reduced to 1:5.

“Nothing is free in this world…”

-It’s free only when you first receive the quest. The first dimension was suggested by the Hero Universe, so the HP was paid by the Hero Universe. This dimension quest was paid for by the client.

“So you’re rich!”

“At first I had just expected to be helping out, but this’ll be good business for me. As I thought, Shin-hyuk is lucky.”

“Touching is prohibited.”

“I’ve no intention of doing that.” Claire was blocked from Kang Shin-hyuk by Shin Eunah, who was acting like an idol’s bodyguard. Kang Shin-hyuk couldn’t help but laugh at the display of excessive love.

“No time to hesitate, let’s go right away.”

-Connecting to the world Gromas.

The world became dark. This time, however, it stayed dark.

“What is this?” Kang Shin-hyuk tensed, feeling something hug him from behind. A citrus-fragrance flowed around him, a scent he knew well. It was Shin Eunah.

“Senior?”

“…Yes. I was trying to make sure my junior was safe.” Her voice was also a little tense. He could feel her body trembling slightly, and he wondered if she was scared. Suddenly, he felt bad for her and tried to hold her hand, but another voice cut through the dark. It was from Claire.

“Cut it out. You can see through this darkness.”

“Oh, no. It’s not like that.” Claire was right, but he still felt relieved to know that they were both safe. He focused his spiritual power on his eyes, which made the darkness around him immediately brighten up. No, rather, now it was like his surroundings was in broad daylight.

Only

“Wow, look at his golden eyes. It’s like headlights.”

“It’s a trait. I didn’t know it would help in this way.” They were in a surprisingly large space. Metal pillars and metal walls surrounded them as they stood in a weird temple-like area.

“Well there!” Another voice arrived from under his feet.

“Can you please turn that light off? Our eyes are a little sensitive…!” Kang Shin-hyuk looked down instinctively.

“Ahhh! It’s so dazzling I can’t see!”

“My eyes! My eyes!”

“Which one is Master Anvil? I’m the king…no, please lower the light before that!”

There were a bunch of cute little moles assembled below him.