Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 20

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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 (20)

Good Job, Boss

―Isaac, when you enter the simulation, swing the dagger at empty air.

―Don’t swing it at the monster, absolutely swing it at empty air. That’s the only way to pierce through the opponent’s defense. Remember that.

Following Lee Si-hyeok’s instructions before entering the Testing Chamber, Isaac swung his dagger at empty air.

However, even in this moment, the Remnant was extending its fist toward him.

Kuuung! With a rough sound, the surroundings shook. Even if the attack power itself was weak, the weight behind it was tremendous.

Isaac clicked his tongue and skillfully twisted his body to dodge the attack.

‘What?’

Suddenly, he felt a sense of weakness in his body.

To be precise, near his heart. Specifically, at the location where his ‘Mana Core’ was situated. He felt mana draining out from that spot.

The dagger he was swinging came to an abrupt stop.

Due to this sudden change, Isaac stopped his actions and looked down at 〈Hollow Trace〉.

‘…The dagger is absorbing mana.’

That was the cause of the weakness.

But why?

He had used many dagger-type artifacts before, but this was the first time experiencing such a phenomenon. Of course, daggers that absorbed the user’s mana to enhance their power were quite common…

But that also depended on the opponent. Wasn’t Isaac someone who stood at the pinnacle of assassination-type hunters?

Even that dagger crafted by the Reynolds Family’s engineer had never made him feel this sense of weakness.

“…?!”

However, the anomaly didn’t end there.

The dagger that had been steadily absorbing Isaac’s mana eventually stopped its absorption and began to tremble slowly.

It was a movement as if it were not metal but living flesh breathing.

Simultaneously, the surrounding noise and air currents drastically diminished. A stuffy state of silence continued as if his ears had been blocked.

‘…What the hell is this.’

I’ve never heard such an explanation before? Isaac’s eyes widened. He wanted to glare at Boss right away and say something.

But this wasn’t the situation for that.

“…!”

Isaac barely managed to dodge the Remnant’s incoming fist.

The disappearance of noise and air currents meant that the enemy’s presence had also vanished. Accordingly, he could no longer predict the Remnant’s attack timing.

Moreover, even the mana flow in the area had become strangely disturbed, making the situation even more complex.

He couldn’t let his guard down.

Of course, even if he took that punch from the simulation head-on, he wouldn’t feel any pain, but Isaac’s pride wouldn’t allow that.

Ttiring!

While he was continuously dodging the Remnant’s attacks, a notification sound inappropriate for the situation rang out, and a message window appeared before his eyes.

[Starting the Resonance Procedure for 〈Hollow Trace〉.]

[Detecting location signal of 〔Belmark’s Remnant (Virtual)〕.]

[Analyzing target’s spatial vibration pattern…]

[Waveform synchronization rate ▶ 42% ▶ 67% ▶ 89%]

[Entering synchronization range. Attempting connection stabilization.]

‘What is this now… No.’

Now he didn’t even have the luxury to feel confused. Question after question after question. With continuous frustration, Isaac shook his head and focused on the current situation. His wavering eyes found their place again.

Woong, woong, wooong!

The vibration from the dagger in his hand was becoming more intense. The blade that had felt like flesh was now showing signs as if it might burst.

Hollow Trace was a Legacy Artifact designed to show maximum efficiency under Boss’s hands. It wasn’t something like a simulation like the Remnant.

But what if it actually burst in his hand?

A tremendous explosion would surely follow. It wouldn’t be strange if an entire arm was blown away. The vibration he was feeling now was beyond what even Isaac could easily gauge.

That was the moment.

[Connection stabilization successful. Spatial Vibration Connection complete.]

Blue flames rose from the tip of the dagger.

Rather than flames, it was more like fire. Rather than fire, it was more like rapids.

Eventually, the waves that had grown beyond rapids to approach a gale refracted the air around the dagger.

From that point on, what he held in his hand no longer felt like a ‘dagger’. Something more strange and mysterious. Something that had transcended the limits of weapons and ascended to a distant place…

―Paat.

[Connected with 〔Belmark’s Remnant (Virtual)〕.]

[Please swing your sword.]

There was no hesitation. For some reason, upon seeing the message, he felt certain that he had to do it.

Isaac swung the dagger once more, the one he had stopped earlier.

The dagger crossed through empty air, leaving a blue trajectory. Tremendous vibration was felt in the Testing Chamber where not even breathing could be heard.

Thus, the dagger that had been moving at tremendous speed came to a stop at the end.

“…”

However, contrary to expectations, no reaction occurred.

The Remnant’s head tilted. It seemed as if it couldn’t understand what the human before it had done.

Tuk.

Then, a small sound was heard. A sound that couldn’t be heard without listening carefully. A minute cracking sound as if something was breaking.

Clearly, the place where he had swung the sword was here, but the sound came from the Remnant’s direction.

Isaac, who had heightened his Ki Sense, counted. He grasped the flow of time that ordinary people couldn’t even feel in seconds.

…0.118, 0.154, 0.185.

0.211, 0.237, 0.274, 0.299…

‘0.300.’

―Kukwakwakwa-kwang! The legs of the Remnant standing far away collapsed powerlessly. As its center crumbled, the massive body sat down as if collapsing.

Isaac narrowed his eyes and quietly observed the scene.

With the tuk sound, the armor around the neck area fell off. The nape of the Remnant that was revealed had a smoothly drawn cut line.

‘…Exactly along the trajectory where I swung the sword.’

The attack had successfully leaped across space and inflicted physical damage on the target.

He doubted his own eyes. This… is this really possible? Is this absurd scene truly reality?

But the scene before his eyes was impossible to doubt. This wasn’t a dream. Hadn’t he felt it directly while swinging the sword? Everything had really flowed exactly as Boss had said.

Boss had solved the frustration and limitations he had felt countless times while living as a hunter so simply.

And in just a few days at that.

Kung.

The Remnant’s head crashed down.

* * *

“This level isn’t too bad.”

Lee Si-hyeok, who had been watching the Testing Chamber, muttered with satisfaction.

Then he recalled what had just happened and logically traced through it step by step.

First, when Isaac initially swung the dagger. The ‘Vibration Resonance Circuit’ built into the dagger began madly absorbing Isaac’s mana.

Next, the resonance circuit used the absorbed mana as raw material and began analyzing the frequency of the space where Belmark’s Remnant was located, that is, the wave information.

‘Mana has its own unique frequency for each individual.’

And at this time, it temporarily put the surrounding area into a silent state. This was to create the optimal environment to identify the frequency as quickly as possible.

Once it identified the Remnant’s frequency.

The resonance circuit made the dagger’s blade tremble, synchronizing the frequency around the dagger with the Remnant’s frequency.

It was like tuning two radios to the same frequency, harmonizing the frequencies of two spaces.

After that, the two spaces that came to share the same frequency ‘overlap’ with each other for a very brief moment.

The precise term is [Overlap Phenomenon].

Right, if I compare this to a radio as well…

‘When radios share the same frequency, the sound spoken into one radio is transmitted identically to the other side – that’s the principle.’

As a result, Isaac had merely swung his dagger through empty air.

But due to the mana structure, the same striking effect was reproduced inside the Remnant’s armor in the overlapping space – namely, at the creature’s nape.

The creature probably couldn’t even comprehend its own death until the very moment its head fell off.

―Ending simulation.

Hollow Trace. That dagger in Isaac’s hand had created all this spectacle, yet now lay quiet as if nothing had happened.

It was completely different from when it had blazed with tremendous flames just moments before.

Watching the Remnant’s corpse fade away, Lee Si-hyeok called out to Isaac, who was still standing there in a daze.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming out?”

Quite some time had passed since the test ended. Yet Isaac showed no intention of coming out.

Why is he acting like that? When Isaac didn’t even pretend to listen, Lee Si-hyeok was about to enter the Testing Chamber.

[Can’t I do it just one more time?]

“…More? What?”

[The simulation. Let me do it just once more. Summon just one more monster for me, Boss.]

Lee Si-hyeok tilted his head. Originally, he had planned to end the test after just once. And that was why he had chosen Belmark’s Remnant as the summoned monster.

Since they were facing a creature like Belmark’s Remnant that possessed superior defensive capabilities from the start, there was no need to go through multiple tests.

But wanting to do it one more time? This was unexpected.

[…Please.]

A tone that seemed genuinely earnest.

When he put it like that, summoning one more creature seemed reasonable enough, but…

“I’d like to let you, but there’s a problem.”

[Problem?]

“The Vibration Resonance Circuit in that dagger. It consumes an enormous amount of mana. You must have felt it too, right? How much mana it drains.”

[…]

Isaac couldn’t deny it. He had indeed felt quite a significant sense of exhaustion when swinging the dagger.

“That’s the circuit’s own overheating prevention mechanism. Since the resonance circuit generates so much heat, it maintains cooling circulation using mana absorbed from the user.”

This was a part Lee Si-hyeok had personally modified.

The original didn’t have this problem solved, so there was a risk of the artifact exploding from overheating, which is why he had directly improved it using existing knowledge.

But it wasn’t a perfect solution. While he prevented explosions, overheating remained an unavoidable issue. It was Hollow Trace’s only weakness.

Well, for an artifact of this caliber, such a minor flaw was hardly worth noticing.

“Anyway, what that means is, the more you use the dagger, the more your mana consumption will multiply.”

[…]

“Even so, is there really a need to push yourself now? This isn’t even a real situation. The test is done, so just come out.”

…Hmm, actually.

Using it dozens of times consecutively would probably be manageable to some degree.

After all, this was an artifact Lee Si-hyeok had crafted himself. It was much sturdier than one might think. Moreover, since the user was Isaac, his original mana capacity would be tremendous too.

But…

‘…I need some rest too.’

He was just too tired. Having not slept for days, his mouth had a bitter taste, and his eyelids were so heavy they kept drooping shut.

[No.]

However, Isaac’s voice coming through the speaker was extremely resolute.

[I absolutely must test this dagger more. I want to swing it. I want to stab with it. I want to cut with it. I can’t contain my desire.]

“Wait, what.”

Isn’t that a bit too scary?

[If you’re tired, just summon about 10 in a row and rest. There’s a cot in the Research Lab anyway, so you can lie down there.]

“Didn’t you say just one earlier?”

[…I don’t remember.]

No, more importantly, when did you bring in a cot? Looking at the corner of the Research Lab, there really was a pink cot sitting there just as Isaac had said.

At least in Lee Si-hyeok’s memory, he had never brought such an eyesore into the sacred Research Lab.

That meant Isaac had brought it. He probably snuck it in while Lee Si-hyeok was focused on crafting and had been resting on it.

Well, Isaac couldn’t go without sleep forever either. Of course, he would have kept his guard up even while sleeping.

“Ugh…”

In the end, Lee Si-hyeok surrendered and reactivated the simulation.

What choice did he have? When someone wanted to do it that badly, he had to let them.

Besides, seeing such enthusiasm to test the artifact he had created felt surprisingly good.

Feeling a sense of satisfaction in one corner of his heart, Lee Si-hyeok shuffled toward the cot.

“Wake me up when you’re done.”

[…Be-before you lie down, could you reserve just five more…]

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep!

[Good job, Boss.]

“Don’t talk to me!”

In the end, he had exploded after all.

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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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