Copying Runes to Become the World's Strongest - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2
Hyeonjun’s jaw dropped.
“C-copy?”
Copy an object?
Has an ability like this ever existed in the world?
“No, forget that. How is this even possible? Traits don’t just change!”
The surprise lasted only a moment.
Then a far greater bewilderment came crashing over him, like a wave arriving late.
Ever since he was young, Hyeonjun had been fascinated by Anomaly Spaces and the field of the Awakened.
That was why he knew more than most people in the industry, and he understood at once that what had happened to him was no ordinary matter.
“That’s impossible. Something like this has never happened before.”
In thirty years of Awakening history, something without precedent had happened to him.
He was the first, yet rather than his heart trembling, his curiosity only grew.
“How could this even be possible? Why would it happen exactly when I turned twenty-five? And what was that System message to begin with? Soul? Engraving? Covenant? Why is the name of the trait Primordial Eye? Usually it’s a bit more intuitive than that.”
Question marks kept piling up, and he couldn’t even reason his way toward an answer, let alone find one.
Hyeonjun muttered to himself for a while, then let out a long, heavy sigh.
“This is frustrating. Nothing is clearing up at all.”
Unable to find even a thread of an answer, his curiosity settled.
His interest drifted back to the Copy Skill he had just acquired.
“Copy, huh.”
From the description alone, he couldn’t tell how remarkable it really was.
Still, it seemed far more versatile than something like .
“I’ll have to test it out.”
Hyeonjun glanced around.
Just then, a gurgling sound rose from his stomach.
His gaze drifted naturally to the cake he had left on the desk.
“Should I try it on this?”
One cake wasn’t enough to fill him up anyway.
“Will it actually copy?”
Hyeonjun activated the skill, half-convinced it wouldn’t work.
[Select the target to copy.]
A blue light flickered in his eyes.
At the same moment, a blue outline began to shimmer around the cake.
“Copy.”
The moment he murmured it, a message announced that the chocolate cake had been copied, and a new cake appeared.
“…Good heavens.”
Hyeonjun stared, his mouth hanging open in shock.
It was an exact duplicate, as if someone had copied and pasted it on a computer.
“Sniff, sniff.”
Still unable to shake his doubt, Hyeonjun picked up the cake and sniffed it.
“It smells the same, too.”
Could it possibly taste the same as well?
He took a cautious bite.
The rich chocolate flavor that filled his mouth made his eyes go wide.
“….”
Without a word, he also took a bite of the original cake.
Appearance, texture, taste, scent, feel.
Every single detail was identical.
He couldn’t tell which one was the original and which one was the copy.
“This is seriously unbelievable.”
The world held all sorts of abilities, but he had never heard of one like this.
Like the change to his trait, it was a skill without precedent.
“Does this count as a life-changing windfall?”
Hmm.
If the skill had no limits, maybe. But
there was a twenty-four-hour limit, so he couldn’t say just yet.
For now, he figured he should try using the skill in a few more ways.
Gurgle.
“…But first, let me fill my stomach.”
Hyeonjun devoured two chocolate cakes right there on the spot, in a frantic rush.
“Burp.”
He let out a satisfied belch.
The worst of his hunger had eased.
“Hmm. Not quite enough.”
I should’ve copied two.
Hyeonjun savored the lingering taste of chocolate on his tongue as he turned over how to use his ability.
“Where and how should I put this skill to use?”
His top priority was money.
So he steered his thoughts straight toward ways to earn it.
“The first thing that comes to mind is a rental business for limited periods.”
Copy expensive goods, luxury brands, and lend them out for a fee.
The skill itself has a twenty-four-hour time limit, but that’s easy enough to work around by splitting rental periods into hours.
“The biggest obstacle is that I’d have to track down the originals…”
Did it really have to be the physical item?
Hyeonjun tested it by pulling up a luxury watch online.
[Select the target to copy.]
He activated the skill, but no blue outline appeared around the watch in the photo on screen.
“Doesn’t work, then.”
The original had to be the real thing.
Rental business: on hold.
Next up were tickets.
“If I got hold of a concert or event ticket and copied and sold it… that’s just fraud.”
Scratch that one too.
Is there anything that could be lent or sold without causing trouble?
His thoughts kept spiraling, one leading into the next.
Plenty of ideas surfaced, but none of them stuck.
“If only I could use it to get stronger as a Hunter.”
Strong Hunters attract money.
But building power with the Copy Skill was hard.
“Even if I copy a rune right now, it’ll vanish after twenty-four hours.”
Runes, the source of an Awakened’s power.
There was no reason he couldn’t copy them, but once again the wall of the time limit stood in his way.
“Twenty-four hours as strong as ten runes’ worth… ”
Even so, it wouldn’t dramatically change his income.
Ten runes would still only get him to F-Rank in the end.
“I could at least become a grinding ace.”
Time limit.
That single limitation was an enormous barrier.
“If only that weren’t a factor…”
Just then, the cake he’d eaten a moment ago flashed through Hyeonjun’s mind.
“Come to think of it, what happens to the cake I copied?”
The cake, too, would disappear after twenty-four hours.
But it had already been eaten and was gone.
“Does only the cake vanish from inside my body?”
That seems strange.
Let’s test it.
According to the description, a copy could be removed at will even before its time limit ran out.
‘I’ll just think of it as deleting it.’
Hyeonjun imagined removing the copied cake from his mind.
[There is no copy to remove. Removal failed.]
“…It won’t work?”
Since no copy actually existed to remove, the message said it couldn’t be removed.
In other words, a copy with no physical substance does not vanish with time.
“Wait. Does that mean this works on runes too?”
Runes are absorbed into the body and engraved onto the Soul Circuit.
So, just like the cake, their physical form disappears.
“……”
Silence settled over the damp little basement room.
In the chill air, a rush of excitement slowly began to rise across Hyeonjun’s face.
“Copy a rune, absorb it, then copy it again and absorb it again…”
Once he absorbs enough runes, he can grow his Soul Circuit.
As the Soul Circuit grows, so does his Trait Skill.
“And then the Rank limit would rise too.”
He could go from F-Rank to E-Rank, and from E-Rank to D-Rank.
It wouldn’t be easy, given how many runes it would take, but if Copy Skill applied to runes, the whole picture would change.
“Ten a day. Three hundred in a month. At least three thousand six hundred in a year.”
Hyeonjun’s lips trembled as he muttered.
“S-Grade too… it’s not a dream…?”
Hunters of S-Grade, of whom there were barely any in the country.
Each one a walking corporation, the kind of people called national-level power.
“Could I really stand shoulder to shoulder with them…?”
The first thought that struck him was that it was impossible.
But Copy Skill and what he had just confirmed were sketching that impossible future with startling clarity.
Hyeonjun imagined.
A future where, through endless rune copying, he became an S-Grade Hunter.
He could wear designer clothes instead of threadbare rags.
He wouldn’t have to watch drunks relieving themselves outside his window anymore.
He wouldn’t flinch for no reason every time he walked into the hospital billing office.
He could pay the hospital bill and walk out with his head held high.
“…Why does all of this feel so modest?”
But there was no helping it.
Those were the only things that came to mind right now.
“I could buy Hyeona a laptop for her graduation, and pay for her entire college tuition. I could even give her generous allowance money!”
The flights of fancy he used to indulge in once bedtime came around.
To someone else, it might have been an ordinary day, but for Hyeonjun, it had been no different from delusion.
Just until yesterday, that had been the case.
But now, all of that might actually become reality.
“Ha.”
Hyeonjun clutched his chest with trembling hands.
His heart hammered so painfully it felt like it would burst through his ribs.
‘Not yet. It’s too early to celebrate.’
Hyeonjun slowly steadied his breathing.
Old memories surfaced.
After he Awakened, he had carried on as if his suffering was over, and when he realized it wasn’t, the despair that followed.
He had felt like he was flying for only a few dozen minutes, but the mental shock from it lingered for weeks.
If anything, this time it would be worse, not milder.
‘I have to verify it first.’
A copy whose substance has vanished isn’t removed, but he couldn’t be certain that the same law applied to runes.
For now, he had to let go of his expectations and confirm things for certain.
“I need a rune.”
Since copying has a Rank limit, he needed an F-Grade rune to test the skill.
“Where could I get a rune right now….”
The Exchange surfaced in Hyeonjun’s mind.
Of course the Exchange handled runes too.
There was one problem, though: even after four years working there, he still couldn’t simply get his hands on one.
Ordinary goods could be recovered if stolen, but once a rune was absorbed, it was gone for good, so the management was extremely strict.
That included F-Grade runes as well.
“Sneaking in is practically impossible.”
Having worked there so long, he knew the tight security well.
If he went after the weak spots, it wasn’t impossible, but the odds of failing were high.
One misstep and he’d end up a criminal before he knew it.
‘F-Grade runes aren’t even that expensive, so there’s no need to take on that kind of risk.’
I’ll just buy one.
That much of an investment was within reach.
‘And even if my hypothesis turns out to be wrong, I can just resell it.’
Hyeonjun slipped his hand into his pocket and gripped the 250,000 won he had earned in day wages.
With this money, he could afford at least one.
“Let’s hurry.”
He had to confirm it before midnight.
If it became certain that runes don’t get removed, then using up all of today’s copy attempts would be the most efficient course.
.
.
.
“Oh? Hyeonjun?”
Among the night-shift staff stood the branch manager, her face weary.
“You’re still here? Haven’t gone home yet?”
“Got some work left over. What brings you in? Did you forget something?”
“No. I came to buy a rune.”
“A rune? Oh, that’s right, you’re Awakened too. But didn’t you quit Hunter work altogether?”
“I’m thinking of trying again.”
The branch manager had always taken a special interest in Hyeonjun.
Work alongside someone for four years and you end up sharing deeper conversations.
Her voice dropped, her expression grave.
“Has your mother’s condition taken a turn for the worse all of a sudden?”
The branch manager knew Hyeonjun’s circumstances well.
Hyeonjun smiled faintly and shook his head.
“Nothing like that. Thanks to the government support payment, I’ve got some room in my budget for runes. I’m going to try going back into Hunter work with a beginner setup.”
Of course, there was no such thing as a government support payment.
But he couldn’t tell the branch manager everything, so he came up with a half-truth and left it at that.
“Oh, really? That’s a relief~ What kind of rune are you looking for?”
“Hmm……”
There was a wide variety of runes.
But only five kinds were needed to raise one’s Soul Circuit rank.
Strength, Agility, Stamina, Mana, Willpower.
They were known as the Five Major Runes, or Stat Runes.
“Do you have any Strength Runes in stock?”
“Just a moment~”
She checked the inventory on her smartphone.
She shook her head, looking regretful.
“What do we do? We’re out of Strength.”
“What about Stamina?”
“Stamina… Oh, goodness, the last one sold five minutes ago.”
Hyeonjun clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘Since I’m testing this anyway, I’d meant to go with Strength or Stamina, which are useful for manual labor.’
Mana and Willpower weren’t much use to him.
Given how things had turned out, there was nothing for it but Agility.
“You have Agility, right?”
“Yes, we do. Three left.”
“I’ll just take one.”
“Just one?”
“I’m going to take it slow. How much is it?”
“It’s 270,000 won, but I’ll knock off 20,000 for you as a special favor.”
“You don’t have to do that……”
“Something good’s happened to you, so consider it a congratulations gift~”
“Thank you.”
Hyeonjun handed over the cash.
On the branch manager’s instructions, a staff member brought over a small case.
Hyeonjun received the item still in its box.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes~ Get home safely~”
Hyeonjun stepped out of the Exchange.
Once he’d reached a quiet spot, he glanced around for no real reason and then opened the case.
A small stone carved with unfamiliar characters revealed itself.
“Wow……”
Hyeonjun let out a low whistle of admiration.
“I never thought the day would come when I’d own a rune.”
Of course, whether he could keep it going forward was uncertain.
If the experiment’s results didn’t go as expected, this rune would have to go back to the Exchange’s embrace.
‘I hope we can stay together forever.’
Hyeonjun prayed earnestly and activated the skill.
A rune glowing with a blue-edged light.
I used the skill just as it was.
[You have copied the <F-Grade Agility Rune>.]
Now came the turn to absorb the rune.
The method was simple.
You just swallowed it like a pill.
Hyeonjun pulled out the bottle of spring water he’d brought from home.
It was water he’d collected from a mineral spring.
“Please…!”
Hyeonjun swallowed the rune with the water, praying with all his heart.
A thick, pill-like lump slid down his throat, and the strange sensation faded past his esophagus.
[The copied <F-Grade Agility Rune> has been engraved onto your Soul Circuit.]
For now, the absorption had succeeded.
Now came the final step.
He called to mind the removal of the rune.
[There is no copy to remove. Removal is not possible.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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