The Skill Maker
chapter-4

– Awakened while Threading Beads (4)

I was so happy thinking I had hit the jackpot but in reality what I earned wasn’t gold but just gold bronze.[1]

“Sigh, I thought it was too good to be true.”

From the outset, if I was destined to be well off, our house wouldn’t have gone to the dogs.

“Still better than nothing I suppose.”

Sighing deeply Hyun Soo pressed the next skill.

Having just seen a SS-Rank, he was indifferent to the D-rank he was looking at.

———————————-

[Skill Make] [D] [Unique] [Sole]

Creates skills. The ranks of the skills made are based on the rank of this skill.

Creatable ranks: F, E

Cannot be replicated as it is a Unique, Sole skill

———————————-

However, as soon as he read this skill description Hyun Soo calmed down.

“Skill make……”

Now that he had cooled off he was finally able to think straight.

Skill.

One of the many proofs that showed you were a Hunter.

The majority have similar skills. To the point that they are easily categorised.

But once in awhile, there are Hunters who gain extremely rare skills that are distinguished from the others.

“Like Mikhail’s Phoenix.”

A skill of abnormal strength.

Normally skills are naturally acquired depending on one’s own abilities or the training they received thus far.

It was commonly known that occurred whether one underwent Secondary awakening through the Training Institute or natural awakening.

As well as the fact that it was impossible to get them after that.

But it definitely said Skill Make.

Meaning, by definition, that one could make skills.

In that sense, it made sense for the making of the “Bead Thread” skill albeit abrupt.

“There might be hope for this yet….”

He didn’t completely comprehend what had happened to him.

He didn’t know the exact mechanism either especially regarding Skill Make; he had no clue what situation a skill was made in.

But there was one thing he was sure of.

That used effectively, it could reinstate the bankrupt household.

No longer did he have to see the sorrowful faces of his parents every time they looked at him.

No longer did he have to see the sister who felt remorseful every time she saw him.

As long as he had money, he could send his beloved sister to a respectable university.

Because they had no money, it was obvious Hyun Ah would say she wouldn’t go to university and that his parents would be sorry but only be able to feel unfortunate with no power to actually do anything.

However, they didn’t have to go through that now. Whatever the case Hyun Soo had become a Hunter.

The old dream he had to give up on.

He was able to aim for that dream once again.

+++

From that day on, everyday became busier for Hyun Soo.

It wasn’t that he had participated in monster hunting, it was that he was busy from doing his part-time jobs as usual.

For the moment he decided to keep the fact that he had awakened a secret to his parents and sister.

It wasn’t the time to reveal to them yet.

It was because he wanted to tell them proudly with a tangible result.

“It doesn’t seem like they’ll be able to really understand even if told them now.”

He was careful not to just in case he told them and they were disappointed or given false hope.

When it came to telling them would do it when the time came.

As a result, Hyun Soo returned to his position as an employee and worked his part-time job like usual.

Only his thoughts were solely focused on Skill Make.

“Just how was it created?”

No matter how hard I think I can’t seem to get the mechanism to making a skill.

Bringing out Interface and closely reading the description gave no hints,

Thinking there might be some other thing that was hidden, Hyun Soo muttered out words that seemed like they would activate a different function on Interface.

Others would have looked at him like he was crazy.

“What was I doing when Bead Thread was created……?”

He thought carefully but the only thing he could remember was rubbing his tired eyes while threading beads like crazy.

There was a reason Hyun Soo was so desperate for this.

It turned out that just because he became a Hunter, didn’t mean he could work right away.

While Hyun Soo’s E-rank stood out between the mostly F-rank handymen/women and porters, in the case of doing odd jobs here and there, they were pretty much the same.

Out of the Hunter in the world, F and E-ranks made up the majority.

If F-ranks were grains of sand, D-ranks were pieces of gravel.

You had to be at least a D-rank before you could say you were “a real Hunter”.

Hyun Soo was higher rank than F but still more or less the same E-rank.

And an unregistered Hunter.

In other words, it means Hyun Soo carries a certain handicap.

A flawless F-rank and an E-rank whose handling becomes a chore if found out.

The latter had a merit of being able to take taxes and any spare money for one person.

Depending on the decision of the party that wanted to take Hyun Soo along, it also meant that he had work that day or not.

“In any case, right now I’m unemployed.”[2]

He had become a Hunter but everything was the same as before.

“Let’s just make a skill. I have to be able to get something if I want to get ahead and survive.”

While he was planning to work as a handyman or doing odd jobs he had no desire to live like that forever.

Acting as a proper Hunter after raising his rank was better in more ways than one.

Except that I don’t know how to raise my rank.

Even when he was cleaning the store, handling the cash register or greeting the customer, Hyun Soo thoughts were on one thing only.

“How do you make a skill?”

It would have been nice to have awakened as a tanker, dealer[3] or healer having awakened anyway but Hyun Soo’s skill didn’t belong in any of those.

That was why he had had to create useful skills to fill those holes in his abilities.

Those of the healer type have the best employment rate.

Hyun Soo dreamed of making a healing skill and joining a formal guild.

Money was a different thing but because it was a job near the back of the party without having to directly attack monsters, it’s a comparably safer job as well.

“But is it possible to make a healing skill?”

It would have been perfect if he could but he had no idea how.

The actual applicability was in question but he could at least try if he made one.

“Maybe it’ll create if I say the skill name?”

With that thought in mind, Hyun Soo raised his arm and shouted,

“Create healing skill!”

……

……

……and nothing happened.

Having done it thinking it wouldn’t do any harm, Hyun Soo felt extremely embarrassed.

It was fortunate there was no one in the shop, just imagining that someone saw him raise his arms and chant like a magical princess made him want to hide in a hole somewhere.

It was nearly time for the shift change when Hyun Soo finally stopped thinking about skill making.

“………Huh?”

After having done the cleaning, taken out the rubbish and counting the money Hyun Soo froze.

“Why is their money missing?”

While it should have been the right amount there was cash missing.

There had been a fair number of customers despite the late hour as Hunters had cleared up the Grey Dimension Gate yesterday.

As a result, there was more to calculate than normal.

At first Hyun Soo thought that he had miscalculated because of that and counted the money again.

Never a fan of studying during his schooling years, it followed suit that he was bad at maths. Calculating money was closer to doing sums than maths but either way he was still weak at maths calculations.

Thinking there was a mistake he punched the numbers into a calculator but there was still money missing.

Suddenly all thoughts about the skill disappeared. Hyun Soo’s face was etched with tiredness as he counted the money.

“This is a first……”

Not once had he made a mistake regarding money in all of his part-time jobs.

This was because financial errors were ultimately responsible for them himself.

Making a money error when every cent mattered?

That was insane.

If he had to make up for the mistake given that he didn’t even receive minimum wage meant trouble.

Hyun Soo desperately took out and counted the money in the register and frantically checked the receipts.

“Why is it wrong? Why is it incorrect?”

Even if there were more customers than usual that wasn’t an excuse.

“I had too many useless thoughts.”

Almost like the girl who tried to buy eggs by selling milk but ended up spilling all the milk.

In this situation, Hyun Soo had lost money.

He was lost in his thoughts having become a Hunter.

It was a devastating miss on his part.

Hyun Soo checked the receipts almost as if to remember their contents and counted the money countless times.

Later on the answers formed in his head faster than the calculator did.

He did the calculations repeatedly over and over again.

The money he would have to make up the missing amount with seemed so wasteful.

Despite knowing the result would be the same, Hyun Soo was counting the money again out of spite when a clear sound rang in his head.

– Ding!

[Skill ‘Fast Calculations’ [F] was created.]

“……?”

Hyun Soo was dumbfounded at the abrupt noise.

[Fast Calculations] [F]

Calculates rapidly.

Arithmetic speed increases slightly.