Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 89

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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 (89)

This Is Doable

Lee Si-hyeok looked up at the upper part of the test tube with an expression of disbelief.

At the end that stretched up long and touched the ceiling, there was a small tube designed to allow objects to be inserted into the test tube.

And through there, several completed artifacts went in one after another.

Plop.

After a moment, the artifacts fell into the water making bubble sounds.

Below them, Necrosis’s tentacles waited as if expecting this, swiftly grabbing them up, then bringing them to its mouth and chewing them with crunching sounds.

It was a sight that was not just voracious but vulgar.

“What taste preferences…”

The first thing he had discussed with the creature was about ‘hunger’. Originally, it had been starved to the extreme. To extract proper information, he had to feed it something first.

‘Even so, to think it eats magic stones and gate cores.’

Its eating habits were so peculiar that he was at a loss for what to give it.

Then he suddenly thought of artifacts. Weren’t artifacts the culmination of gate byproducts like magic stones and cores? They would be perfect nutritious snacks.

So he had crafted simple artifacts in the laboratory on the second floor and served them.

―Gooo. How can something be this delicious!

It was nice to see it eating well, but he couldn’t feel entirely proud.

Maybe because it was a sight too far removed from common sense…

‘Come to think of it, didn’t Blackie also like mana?’

Though the nature was somewhat different, there was a strange commonality.

Anyway, as he was watching Necrosis enjoying its pleasant mealtime, soon the creature finished eating all the artifacts and spoke.

―Euhuk. That was delicious, human. Your cooking skills are amazing!

“I’m glad if that’s the case. Are you feeling better about being hungry?”

―Actually, I’m still hungry! But it’s better than before! This is an unavoidable hunger, you see!

“Unavoidable hunger?”

―That’s right! Unless I absorb my main body! I’ll be hungry forever!

Lee Si-hyeok’s eyes flashed at the words that were suddenly blurted out.

“Wait. What did you say?”

―Goo? What’s wrong, human?

“No, just now. Didn’t you say main body?”

―Yes, main body! That’s right, so what’s the matter!

Lee Si-hyeok’s pupils gradually filled with confusion.

That there was a separate main body meant…

“…Then what is that body?”

Could it possibly be a clone or something?

That made even less sense. Even though it looked like this now, Necrosis was undeniably an S-rank boss monster. It possessed tremendous power, enough that countless hunters had sacrificed themselves to defeat it at Gyeokryeolbiyeoldo.

It was still mentioned and compared whenever high-grade gates appeared, so was there any need to elaborate further?

‘But that body is merely a clone?’

Though it was just a passing remark, he couldn’t believe it.

Usually, the main body possessed far greater power than its clones. Two times, or perhaps even three times more.

Then according to that creature’s words, the power it had shown back then was only a tiny fraction.

When Lee Si-hyeok looked with questioning eyes, Necrosis waved its tentacles around.

―This body is just a clone! My main body exists separately!

“Huh, separately…?”

―If I absorb that, I’ll become tremendously tremendously tremendously tremendously tremendously stronger than now! The current me has only absorbed the main body’s consciousness and memories!

“…!”

Tremendously tremendously tremendously tremendously tremendously.

A sentence with the word ‘tremendous’ appearing a total of 5 times.

From Lee Si-hyeok’s conversations with the creature so far, he had figured out that each ‘tremendous’ the creature expressed meant about 2 times.

That meant.

‘Roughly 10 times.’

His mouth fell open. Ten times stronger than now?

Usually, about 10 S-rank hunters needed to gather to defeat an S-rank boss monster. But even with simple calculations, 10 times that.

In other words, even if 100 S-rank hunters gathered, it would be questionable whether they could handle it.

“That main body… where is it?”

Lee Si-hyeok asked haltingly. His voice trembled from the shock that hit his head.

Necrosis placed a tentacle on its chin and seemed to think for a moment before answering.

―I don’t know exactly either! The space where I lived was separated at some point when it connected to this place called Earth! So my main body should be in that separated half-space!

“…”

The space where I lived.

Though it was a simple statement, it implied quite a lot.

Gates only served the role of connecting existing spaces to Earth.

And that space was probably, most likely another dimension.

Like the other dimension Aila had mentioned recently.

―Human! What’s wrong! Are you hungry too!

Seeing Lee Si-hyeok’s expression turn serious, Necrosis banged on the glass with its tentacles.

A gigantic humanoid body. In contrast, its entire emaciated form with flesh bursting everywhere looked extremely bizarre, but Lee Si-hyeok continued his thoughts.

‘…This is tremendous gain.’

Far surpassing any artifacts or top-grade materials he had discovered so far.

Originally, ‘gate byproducts’ were mostly byproducts from monster corpses.

But if Lee Si-hyeok discovered that main body?

It would truly be striking it rich. Materials that had never appeared in the world even once might be born. And what about artifacts crafted from those?

It was unbelievable information.

―Human! Why aren’t you saying anything! Don’t tell me you fainted standing up from hunger!

Meanwhile, as Lee Si-hyeok stood still for a long time, Necrosis felt puzzled.

Could it be that the human who gave me food collapsed from hunger!

The thought suddenly frightened it.

It couldn’t be helped, as it was quite grateful having been trapped for such a long time. Also, if it continued to be trapped, there would be no one else to feed it besides that human.

‘That won’t do! That absolutely won’t do!’

Necrosis immediately moved its ghost-like body. It struggled to move its arms in the narrow glass test tube, bringing them to its back.

The target was one of the tentacles hanging from its back.

Actually, in the place where it used to live, these tentacles were considered a great delicacy. Because of this, it was common for its kind to be hunted by hunter species.

Of course, it was the strongest among them, so it could protect its tentacles…

―Human! I’ll give you a gift for your sake!

For this grateful human, it could gladly give one up.

One of the tentacles. It grabbed the one at the very center of its back. Then without a moment’s hesitation, it tore it off.

Rip, riiiiip!

―Gooooo! Ah, it hurts…!

It regretted it for a moment. But if that human starved to death, it would go hungry for life. It had to keep him fed.

Craaaack!

Soon the tentacle that was being pulled gradually tore away, and the root hidden deep in its back plate revealed itself to the world.

―H-human… it’s a gift…

Its already corpse-like face became even paler. Necrosis sent its own tentacle back out through the tube where the human had fed it.

Thud!

“…?”

Not knowing this was happening, Lee Si-hyeok, who had been deeply lost in thought, raised his head.

A disgusting tentacle that had fallen with the sound of something dropping.

With its long appearance, it was still twitching as if it still had life in it.

“What, what is this?”

―I prepared it for you, humaaaan…

For a while, Necrosis continued its explanation.

It had mistaken Lee Si-hyeok for fainting from hunger.

Upon hearing this explanation, Lee Si-hyeok’s face rapidly turned sour.

“…You want me to eat this?”

He thought it would be better to eat the pasta that the Snow Flame Empress had cooked for him.

However, after thinking for a moment, he realized one fact.

‘Come to think of it, this is research material itself.’

Looking back, hadn’t he attempted to communicate with monsters all for the sake of research? He had momentarily forgotten due to the continuous stream of unimaginable information.

Thinking about it this way, it was no different from a blessing that had rolled right to his feet.

“But… if this was possible, why did you kill people in the past?”

―I had no choice! I was hungry! And those humans came to me first!

“Hmm.”

That’s true.

He didn’t sympathize, but he could at least understand.

Its living space had suddenly been separated, causing it to lose its main body, which led to endless hunger.

Moreover, humanity was extremely sensitive about Gate Breaks at that time, so they rushed in as soon as a Gate appeared on Gyeokryeolbiyeoldo.

From the creature’s perspective, prey had come running to it on their own.

Gulp.

Lee Si-hyeok swallowed his saliva and picked up the tentacle.

The slimy texture felt unpleasant to the touch, but it was more valuable research material than anything else.

Seeing this, Necrosis asked happily.

―Where are you going, human! Eat it in front of me!

“…I can’t swallow food well when someone’s watching. I’ll eat alone.”

―Goooo. That’s too much!

Without looking back, he went up to the first floor.

* * *

That dawn.

Lee Si-hyeok concentrated on research all night, forgetting that morning was approaching.

“I’ll organize this like this, and then this….”

He quickly typed new knowledge into his laptop. Not only that, but he also made handwritten backup data.

Next, he conducted various experiments, such as supplying and withdrawing mana from the gray tentacle.

After a moment, Lee Si-hyeok clapped his hands and stretched.

“This is more fascinating than I thought.”

In the past, when conquering the Gyeokryeolbiyeoldo Gate, the Awakener Association, which had struggled against the boss monster called Necrosis, had once released information about the creature to the public.

Necrosis.

To overcome the creature’s abilities and nature, they utilized collective intelligence. No matter how much they fought, only casualties increased, so they borrowed the power of countless people.

That’s why this Gyeokryeolbiyeoldo Gate became more famous worldwide.

It was the first time all information about a Gate had been made public.

‘Necrosis, necrosis indeed.’

Lee Si-hyeok was the same.

Although he was much younger compared to now, he had spread out a notebook in front of the TV and pondered all day. How could there be a more efficient method?

Well, no matter how many emails he sent, there was no reply, and the read receipt never even disappeared.

Anyway….

Necrosis refers to the phenomenon where tissues or cells of a living organism partially die.

Necrosis’s case had the same meaning.

It would insert numerous tentacles from its back into living beings and absorb the very ‘source’ of life, such as mana and blood. As a result, necrosis would occur.

‘Back then, I think it was also called by the nickname ‘source withholding.”

Dismissing idle thoughts, Lee Si-hyeok picked up the tweezers placed on the work table.

Holding them, he gently poked around inside the tentacle that had been dissected in half.

An incredible variety of mana circuits.

All these circuits were optimized for draining human life force. It was truly a wondrous design.

Even though it had been extracted quite a while ago, the gray energy still twitched, making him wonder just how strong a power it had possessed.

Suddenly, this thought occurred to him.

‘If it sucks something in through the tentacle… couldn’t I also put something into it in reverse?’

For example, something like ether.

Actually, although he had discovered ether and fed plenty of it to Blackie, the methods for utilizing it were still unclear.

Destruction, mental manipulation, cognitive interference.

If he carelessly handled these properties, it might become dangerous in reverse. At best, utilizing it to create dimensional gates was the safest option.

But what if the medium was a tentacle like this?

‘At least there’s no possibility of ether being exposed to the outside.’

He could control it exactly as he wanted.

He just needed to inject it into the target and push ether through that passage.

It was doable. That conviction circled in his mind.

“Let’s see, what time is it….”

6 AM.

Dawn had passed and morning had brightened, but there was no problem for Lee Si-hyeok.

His mind was actually much clearer and his eyes sparkled with vitality. It was due to the drive for improvement that came from acquiring new knowledge, and anticipation for the situation that would soon follow.

“Let’s do this.”

A plan began to form in Lee Si-hyeok’s mind.

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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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