Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 165

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even Hastily Made Ones Keep Stacking Up as EX-Rank (165)

 

Liberal Arts Exam

 

“I prepared this in advance knowing this would happen. The place where the outsider worked hardest to organize happens to be where the artifacts are.”

 

Aurelie del Lumiere smiled warmly as she led the way.

 

I narrowed my eyes slightly and looked at her.

 

“How did you know we’d go straight to see the artifacts?”

 

“Oh, mother. Wait a moment.”

 

“When our daughter talks about you so much, how could I not know? The few times she contacts us while living in Korea, she only talks about our student lately. Hohoho.”

 

“Why would you say that…!”

 

“…”

 

The place Aurelie del Lumiere guided us to was a building in the center of the village.

 

A place that was in relatively better condition than the other buildings.

 

It felt like the village chief’s house, so to speak.

 

“We’re going underground.”

 

Deep inside the building, in a room that looked like a warehouse, Aurelie del Lumiere pressed down on the wooden planks on the floor. Lee Si-hyeok watched her quickly moving shoe tips without missing a beat.

 

Click.

 

The floor opened.

 

“Good. Did you memorize the sequence?”

 

“Mm.”

 

“You don’t need to hide it. I did it in front of you on purpose so you could see. From now on, you can freely go in and out of the underground whenever you want.”

 

She’s definitely a good person.

 

Lee Si-hyeok nodded his head in gratitude and followed her down below.

 

Going down the creaking stairs and down again, the underground area was revealed.

 

“…”

 

His eyes widened slightly.

 

“How is it? This is the core of our Muksi Guild.”

 

It was a different sight from what I expected.

 

I had already been surprised once when I saw the shabby appearance of the headquarters, but now it was a completely different kind of surprise.

 

‘This is supposed to be a storage facility?’

 

Usually, places that store artifacts have clean and refined facilities as their foundation. Based on mana circuits, they manage humidity, temperature, and even dust concentration.

 

Because it’s a space that must be thoroughly managed.

 

So typically they have blue-tinted lighting with calm and modern designs…

 

“Pretty rough, isn’t it?”

 

“…”

 

It was like a temple.

 

Not a well-maintained Greek or Roman-style temple.

 

An old, sand-colored temple you’d see in desert ruins.

 

“Hoho. You look quite surprised. Take a look around slowly as we walk.”

 

“Do you need this lady’s guidance? If so, this lady will personally… Oh, oh my.”

 

Before the Snow Flame Empress could finish showing off, Lee Si-hyeok’s feet moved first.

 

He walked calmly along the path made of mud bricks. With each step he took, vines hanging from the ceiling tickled his face.

 

On the neatly arranged walkway, low tables were lined up in rows. And on top of them, artifacts with rough appearances were displayed.

 

‘…They’re all Legacy Artifacts.’

 

Without stopping his steps, he only activated his skill to examine them.

 

There were too many to pick up and look at one by one.

 

He planned to understand this space first, then examine them in detail.

 

And above all, there was one thing that bothered him.

 

“…”

 

Lee Si-hyeok’s feet stopped at the end of the walkway.

 

After taking a short deep breath, he raised his gaze that had been looking down.

 

Then he could see a massive door blocking one side of the underground area.

 

‘What is this…?’

 

It was literally a door.

 

Large enough that even a giant could pass through without issue.

 

He asked Aurelie del Lumiere, who had stopped behind him.

 

“Did the Muksi Guild make this directly?”

 

“Mm. What do you think?”

 

A question returned to him. There was no hint in it.

 

However, Lee Si-hyeok quickly turned his mind.

 

The width between the door’s ends. The height, the flow of mana circuits composing its interior, and… a device powered by a ‘Gate Core’.

 

The answer was simple.

 

“From the beginning. This existed here from the very beginning.”

 

“Oh my. You got it right in one try? What my daughter said was really true? How uncanny.”

 

Aurelie del Lumiere covered her mouth in surprise. Next to her, the Snow Flame Empress could be seen shrugging her shoulders as if she was even more proud.

 

“You’re right. This space existed even before we settled here. To be precise, we discovered these ruins and settled here. And if I had to guess, the identity of these ruins is probably…”

 

“Formed by a Gate Break, right?”

 

“Oh my my my?”

 

Correct. Lee Si-hyeok looked at the door that reached up to the ceiling.

 

Not only that, but these entire ruins.

 

‘Familiar. Yet strange at the same time.’

 

I had seen a similar production method somewhere before.

 

It was at the Nari Basin Gate, when I discovered traces of the ‘Great Creator’.

 

Every creator has their own unique ‘habits’.

 

This can also be expressed as know-how, and it’s a characteristic that only that creator can possess.

 

However, when such habits accumulate and pile up, the framework of thinking inevitably becomes rigid, so creators including Lee Si-hyeok consciously try to fix this…

 

‘It’s not easy.’

 

That’s why it’s called a habit.

 

And I could find similar traces in the Great Creator as well.

 

―’It was deliberately twisted. So that others couldn’t tamper with it.’

 

―If someone else discovered this artifact and tried to modify it, it could be seen that measures were taken in advance to make it absolutely impossible.

 

―The confidence of that person was remarkable. Nevertheless, I had no intention of giving up.

 

When analyzing the interior to modify the Great Creator’s creation, the 〈Soul Pursuit Harpoon〉.

 

The distinctive arrogance and confidence I felt then was being felt throughout these entire ruins.

 

“A gate must have appeared in this area long ago.”

 

I reasoned through the clues that came to mind one by one.

 

“Judging by the mana density, it was probably at least A-rank. Maybe even S-rank.”

 

“Oh ho?”

 

“But this is a desert zone.”

 

“Yes yes. That’s right?”

 

“Yes. Especially a place you can only reach by going deep into the desert. Normally satellites or drones would check for gate occurrences, but… that would have been impossible.”

 

“The reason?”

 

“There’s a huge industrial complex nearby. I saw it before arriving – they said it was Ray Wen’s Industrial Complex. Then enormous amounts of mana would be spewing from those factories, making accurate satellite identification impossible.”

 

“…!”

 

“Of course, there’s more to consider. Another S-rank gate that occurred near this region a few years ago.”

 

If a gate had manifested here simultaneously during that time, with attention focused on one side, they probably failed to discover the gate here.

 

“Eventually the unconquered gate exploded as is. In other words, a ‘Gate Break’ phenomenon occurred, and these ruins that were inside also got ejected to Earth together.”

 

“But you know what. Wouldn’t that naturally raise one question?”

 

“A question?”

 

What?

 

“They said a gate break occurred. Then the monsters that were inside would have come out together, right? Where did they go?”

 

“Ah.”

So that’s what she was asking about.

Of course, he had a prepared answer ready.

“I’m not sure.”

 

“…What?”

When he answered without hesitation, Aurelie del Lumiere looked flustered.

“No. You’ve been right about everything so far. But now you don’t know?”

 

“I can’t help but not know. I’m not a ghost, so how would I know those people’s whereabouts?”

 

“Still, at least make a guess… W-wait. Those people? Did you just say those people?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“N-no. How do you know that what came out of there were people, not monsters…”

 

“Well. I’m not really sure about that either.”

Lee Si-hyeok shrugged innocently toward the confused Aurelie del Lumiere.

He was sincere when he said he didn’t know.

How could he know where those who came out of the gate went or what they were doing?

That would be impossible to know unless he tracked their mana one by one like Hansel and Gretel.

However, he could roughly guess who they were.

‘The Great Creator’s creations. They must be the ‘hunters’ that Lumibra mentioned.’

It was a natural assumption since he knew this ancient ruins came from the Great Creator.

Given the circumstances, it had to be that way.

The hidden stage discovered at the Nari Basin Gate.

City of the Hunters.

That place seemed to have already fallen and was completely empty.

But judging from his conversation with Lumibra, the hunters didn’t die and disappear. They just vanished somewhere.

A gate connected to Earth happened to appear before them, and when they couldn’t clear it, they arrived here through a gate break.

Along with the ruins left by the Great Creator.

“It’s uncanny, really. How can you get everything right just from seeing it briefly?”

 

“Hehe. Didn’t I tell you, Mother!”

 

“That’s right. Amazing, amazing.”

Lee Si-hyeok, having finished organizing his thoughts, looked at the mother and daughter.

There was one thing he was curious about.

“So. What’s beyond this door?”

But when he asked that, Aurelie del Lumiere’s eyes changed strangely.

She gripped her skirt once and let go, then smiled ominously.

“We don’t know that either.”

 

“What? You don’t know?”

 

“Yeah. Beyond this door is another door, and if you pass that door, another door appears. Then if you pass that door once more?”

 

“Don’t tell me another door appears?”

 

“Correct. We don’t know where it ends either. We haven’t been there yet.”

Before the question ‘Why haven’t you been there?’ could arise, she continued speaking first.

“You have to pass a test to go through each door. One test per door.”

 

“A test…?”

 

“We don’t know who prepared such tests either. But what we’ve figured out is that multiple doors open each time you pass a test. That might be the only way to reach the end of this ruins.”

What kind of test could it be?

“Magical engineering. It’s related to that.”

 

“…!”

 

“Strangely, there’s nothing about combat. Create this artifact, arrange mana circuits properly… it’s all things like that. Isn’t that peculiar?”

Lee Si-hyeok couldn’t answer.

At this moment, he felt like puzzle pieces were fitting together.

‘The hidden stage at the Nari Basin Gate was testing ‘force’. I survived the monsters using that golem and reached the end.’

Now it was the complete opposite.

Tests prepared solely for crafting, excluding force.

Perhaps it was the opposite part of the world created by the Great Creator, taken as is.

“Our Muksi Guild hasn’t seen the end yet. We don’t know how many tests we need to pass to finish, but we probably haven’t even reached halfway.”

 

“Isn’t the Muksi Guild a crafting-specialized guild? Of course, you do archaeology together too…”

 

“You won’t say that once you see the test difficulty.”

 

“…”

Just how difficult could it be for them to say that?

Lee Si-hyeok had questioning eyes but couldn’t control his twitching lips.

Curiosity began surging madly from one corner of his heart. The Great Creator. Perhaps the person who could be Lee Si-hyeok’s goal to reach.

What would the tests he arranged be like?

The sound of his pounding heart seemed to leak outside.

* * *

That evening.

The mother and daughter, reunited after a long time, were chatting warmly in the bedroom.

There would be many things for the close mother and daughter to talk about, but naturally the topic was about Lee Si-hyeok. The daughter’s pride and the whole family’s benefactor.

“Daughter. What do you think? Will that child really stay put?”

 

“Don’t slander him, Mother. He’s not someone who acts rashly…”

 

“No, still. I’m curious. From his eyes, they didn’t look like eyes that would stay quiet, right?”

 

“…”

That was true.

Even the Snow Flame Empress thought Lee Si-hyeok was completely obsessed with the field of magical engineering.

He moves before thinking. He’s the type whose actions are faster than thoughts.

How could that be possible in the crafting field that requires using your head… but she had seen it all along.

“I think he’ll take the test tonight.”

They parted with Lee Si-hyeok after dinner.

He was assigned the most cozy and clean room in this village.

It would be shabby compared to when they lived together in the grand mansion, but what could she do when her father and master emphasized such frugality?

The Snow Flame Empress recalled Lee Si-hyeok drowsily falling asleep in his lodging…

“He’s probably already departed. Isn’t that right, daughter?”

 

“…”

…Actually, the Snow Flame Empress thought so too.

Would he really stay put?

When he heard the explanation about the door right before his eyes and directly?

“Mother. Let’s go.”

 

“Huh? Where?”

 

“Let’s go watch. Right now!”

 

“Oh my. This girl?”

At the Snow Flame Empress suddenly getting up, Aurelie del Lumiere laughed as if bewildered.

That was brief.

“Alright, let’s go! I was curious too!”

A desert night with the moon dimly settling down.

The mother and daughter ran across the village.

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