I Transferred to the SSS-rank Crafting Field

Chapter 7

02 – My Master’s Grace Is Like the Heavens (3)

     The hallway flashed bright red, and green arrows were drawn across the red-colored hallway.

     “You can’t see this?” I explained what I saw, but all of the others denied seeing such things.

     Was I the only one who could see it? As an experiment, Seo Young-woon, the sturdiest among all of us, stepped on a red tile; a ball of flame fell from the ceiling. Thanks to our preparations, no one was hurt, but I was a bit dumbfounded. “Red means danger. How intuitive.”

     “Aren’t you using your skill? The color of your eyes has changed.”

     “Although the color of my irises changed due to my skill, there’s no such function in that ski…” Though, now that I thought about it, the system did mention something strange earlier.

     I hurriedly opened the skill window and found the section for the ‘Marksman’s Eye.’

[Marksman’s Eye (C) –> Explorer’s Eye (A) <Temporary Activation>

: Detects the target’s weaknesses with superior observation.
: Gain Insight into the nature of an object.]

     “Temporary Activation?” I had possessed that skill ever since I was first awakened…There’s no way that I’d encounter something unfamiliar about it now…

     ‘Ah! The Trait evolution! Is that why it changed? Anyway, what a relief.’

     “You’re right–it’s my skill. There must have been an effect I haven’t been aware of until now.”

     “Kim-seobang–That’s a great ability!”

     If red meant danger, then green should indicate safety.

     Then, we’d be able to get through this; all of the party members were relieved.

     Thanks to the ‘Explorer’s Eye,’ we now had time to spare, so we should discuss what we should do in the future.

     ‘Oh? But, what’s this?’ I discovered an unfamiliar icon while trying to close the skill window. I moved my hand over the icon as if I were possessed.

     “Nnngh!”

     An elaborately-crafted mana circuit unfolded before me suddenly; the circuit quickly folded in half, again and again, becoming smaller until it suddenly disappeared.

     A system window popped up in its place.

[Will you accept the hidden quest, ‘Carlos’s Assignment’ (F)?]

: A tutorial prepared by Carlos for his deficient apprentice
   – Clear Condition: Follow the guide’s instructions
   – Time limit: None
   – Reward: Learn how to use ‘Enchant (S)’ (Guaranteed to succeed once for the first time)
   – Failure Penalty: None

      “Tutorial?”

     The party looked back at me because I stopped abruptly. I read the quest window, without saying anything.

     Tutorial? Furthermore, I’d be guaranteed success on my first attempt?

     It seems the road to survival had opened; instead of searching for gods, I should have searched for my Master.

     ‘He should have told me in advance!’ I leaped over the red tiles with light footsteps and ran towards the safe zone.

     “You know–is that what happens when someone becomes crazily exhausted?” Cha Taeyang whispered to her dokkaebi. When I looked back at her, Cha Taeyang hummed awkwardly.

[The Monster Wave will begin in 3 minutes.]

     I was no longer afraid of that notification.

     I gathered the other members to discuss future plans.

     “Yoon Gaho Hunter, can’t you use that skill to find another safe zone?” Seo Young-woon asked.

     “I think that will be difficult as the skill is invoked through my eyesight. That’ll only work when the safe zone is in sight.”

     “It’s better than nothing. Should I be relieved?” Muttering, Seo Young-woon’s face fell dark. His appearance had transformed from his pristine appearance within a few hours due to the pressure put upon him to protect everyone.

     Regardless of this and that, defense-oriented hunters all had a strong sense of responsibility.

     “Hunter Cha Taeyang, can you explain more about the skill you mentioned earlier?” I asked.

     “She can’t use it now! Why do you all keep asking?! Do you think Taeyang-ie is doing this on purpose?”

     “I’m not trying to bully her. I think I’ve found a way.”

     Cha Taeyang, after soothing her dokkaebi, reluctantly explained her S-class wide-range skill, ‘Open the Door to the Underworld.’ 1 “This ‘Open the Door to the Underworld’ is an additional skill separate from my attributes and traits.”

      “Hey, you said you were A-class! But you have an S-class additional skill? And what’s your trait?” Cho Sung-hyun asked.

     “I’ve been told you shouldn’t talk about your traits recklessly. Don’t you have any common sense?”

     Cho Sung-hyun blushed and turned his head.

     Rarely, there were those who were gifted with characteristics or skills that were at a higher rank than what their comprehensive evaluation would suggest. This meant that…

     “How lucky of you,” Cho Sung-hyun muttered.

     “Why?”

     “It means that you have a possibility to grow into an S-class Hunter.”

     “Is that so?”

     Cho Sung-hyun clicked his tongue when he saw Cha Taeyang’s puzzled expression.

     As a cadet of Seoul’s training center, Cho Sung-hyun was an elite who would not be considered inferior anywhere. However, S-class was something that could not be achieved without innate talent, and being an S-class Hunter was a more impressive existence than anything else.

     Cha Taeyang, astutely scanning everyone’s faces a bit dubiously, continued to explain. 2

     ‘Open the Door to the Underworld’ was a skill that would summon a door that would return all undead beings back to the realm of the dead.

     Judging from the skill’s explanation, ‘It will swallow all those who go against nature and who are positioned in front of the skill’s owner,’ one could assume that all the undead that appeared before Cha Taeyang’s eyes would be removed from this mortal plane.

     “Great. Let’s give it a try.”

     “How?”

     “I have a skill that will strengthen one’s equipment. Let’s use it to lift Cha Taeyang’s skill’s limit.”

     “I’ve never heard of a skill like that!” Cho Sung-hyun, who was languidly laying on the floor, jumped up and pointed his finger at me.

     “I received this skill from a Hidden Quest not too long ago; you probably haven’t heard anything about this since I have yet to inform any others,” I said.

     Cho Sung-hyun, who had finally begun to calm down, once again became hopping mad; his eyes seemed to say, ‘If you had something like this, why didn’t you tell any of us beforehand!’ Seo Young-woon also stared at me with a reproachful gaze.

     Honestly–how was I supposed to know that we’d be in this situation…?

***

     “From now on, I will divert all my efforts into strengthening Hunter Cha Taeyang’s weapon. In the meantime, the rest of you should discuss the best way to effectively utilize her ‘Open the Door to the Underworld’ ability,” I ordered.

     “That means…”

     “Yes. We’ll raid this floor directly–with our own two hands.”

     Seo Young-woon’s and Cho Sung-hyun’s expressions contorted simultaneously. Only Cha Taeyang, who knew little about the hunter life, nodded.

     A raid that would usually be left to high-ranked senior hunters.

     Originally, a C-class Hunter like me could never dream of being so arrogant. Rather, Cha Taeyang should be the one to wonder ‘who I am’ to suggest going forth with this raid.

     Even though I was the one to suggest this plan, I couldn’t manage to school my facial expressions.

     After a brief silence, Seo Young-woon smirked, “I’ll also brainstorm a back-up plan in case you fail.”

     “Yes, please. I’ll leave that to you.”

     “Hey, Cha Taeyang! Don’t get in the way and also come over here!” Seo Young-woon shouted.

     After receiving Cha Taeyang’s gloves, I flopped on the ground in a corner of the room. The quest window blinked as if it were urging me to accept its quest quickly.

[You accepted the Hidden Quest, ‘Carlos’s Arrangement/Assignment (F).’

※ The quest will be forced to end when the skill ‘Explorer’s Eye (A)’ is deactivated.]

     A forced shutdown?

     I hurriedly took a mana potion out of my inventory and drank it. I had almost deactivated this skill as it was one that ate a lot of mana–thankfully that I avoided that situation.

     “Gaho, what are you looking at so stupidly?” A small guide NPC that resembled Carlos manifested midair. A mini-Carlos, a little larger than the palm of my hand, looked down at me.

     “Master?” I asked.

     “I’ll only help you this once.”

     Since Cha Taeyang, who would definitely have rushed towards me fascinated by this apparition, was calm, it seems that I was the only one who could see the blacksmith.

     Mini-Carlos continued to explain in an aloof voice, “Gaho, your skill ‘Enchant’ is one that gives new powers to items. It would be easier to show you rather than to explain. Now–take out an item.”

      Even though I knew this wasn’t my real Master, I couldn’t help but be wary, so I held out Cha Taeyang’s gloves obediently.

[Stud Gloves (C)]

–Stamina : 5
—Martial Attack: 7
–Agility : 3

     A weapon befitting a close-range damage dealer–it calibrated the SMA (Stamina, Martial Attack, and Agility) stats.

      Since this was her first time, she must be using entry-level equipment provided by the guild. And yet, she had so much power…as expected, A-class Hunters were just different.

     The sound of Mini-Carlos’s tongue clicking lifted my thoughts from my sentimentality. He frowned as if trash had been brought before him. “You brought such a useless… Are you sure you want to proceed with this?”

     “There’s nothing else we can use right now.”

     “Tsk, first read the flow of mana. The more you understand the structure and nature of an item, the higher the success rate will be. You need to improve your comprehension of an item to succeed with your damned manual dexterity.” 3

     Within Carlos’s home, I was told to read the flow of mana until my ears were exhausted. But, I think he’s talking about something different than detecting the magic wafting from the item.

     “Huh–what’s this?”

     I could clearly see the mana circuit engraved on the weapon–was this because of my activated skill?

     I unwittingly let mana flow into the circuit; I vaguely felt how each part of the structure was connected. For what was supposed to be a mere C-rank equipment, there were so many knots and nodes. “In this glove, these studs raise their martial attack levels…”

     Mini-Carlos, looking down at me with a pleased expression, clapped his hands and turned my attention back onto him. Soon enough, he opened my inventory without asking my permission.

     Honestly–is something like that possible?

     “I can’t believe there’s not a single decent mana stone in a player’s inventory…” Carlos muttered.

     “What about a mana stone?”

     “With your skills, you can attach two effects to an item. You can use the innate nature of the item for their ‘nature’ effect, but the ‘nurture’ effect requires additional ingredients.”

     The essence of the item used as sacrificial material determined the properties of the ‘nurture’ effect.  And, depending on how the strengthening reagent is used, the ‘enchant’ efficiency and effect varied widely.

     At first glance, it seemed as if this skill had infinite possibilities.

     “Can’t you use this?” I asked.

     Mini-Carlos shook his head firmly when I took out a D-rank mana stone. Looking at the inventory window, he grumbled, “It’d be better to use nothing than to use such low-rank items.”

     “Then, can’t we just grant only the ‘nature’ effect?”

     “You don’t know anything. Balance is needed in everything.” Mini-Carlos clicked his tongue as if he had heard something utterly absurd. 4

      Since he was being so tight-lipped, I had no choice but to take the initiative, “Then, how about this?”

     “Mm, it’s a bit of a shame to use it here, but that’s something worth using.” After I brought out the ‘Ruby Staff,’ Mini-Carlos unexpectedly gave a positive answer.

     ‘Hm, I suppose other equipment items can be used as sacrificial materials.’

     Just as I had that thought, Mini-Carlos, almost as if he read my mind, added that equipment items weren’t efficient sacrificial items. However, that couldn’t be helped right now.

     Following his instructions, I laid the two items down side by side.

     “The best item to use is a mana stone. Material or Ingredient Items that are compatible with the equipment are also good as well.”

     “Items that are compatible?”

     “I’ll teach you about them later. There’s no time right now. Now, think about how you can naturally connect the structure of these two items. It might be easier to imagine your magic as a binding agent that would connect these two mana circuits.”

     Carlos’s explanations were vague as always; however, I wasn’t in a position to squabble with him over that matter. I had no choice but to make an attempt.

     Mentally drawing the circuity of the glove and staff, I activated my skill.

[Choose an effect to apply to the ‘Studded Gloves’ (C).]

– Nature: One Strike One Kill (B), Steely (C), Sturdy (E)
– Nurture: Sage (A), Blaze (C)

※ The world’s best craftsman is helping you. The Success Rate is fixed at 100%.