Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 90

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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 (90)

Pajesis

…There had been something he’d been continuously thinking about since before departing from Eterion. Ever since hearing from Isaac before the seminar started that he would have to leave soon.

‘I need an artifact to protect myself.’

Until now, there had been no problem because Isaac was there. Whenever a dangerous moment came, that guy would always step forward first.

But even that ultimately had its limits.

What if several S-rank Hunters ambushed him? Even in such a moment, could Isaac guarantee his life?

What happened at the end in Orbes?

When countless Infected came pouring into the Underground Treasury?

‘…It was dangerous.’

He had been able to survive because he believed Isaac would come, but ultimately it wasn’t one hundred percent certain. If that guy had been even slightly late, Lee Si-hyeok might not have been able to reach this bunker now.

So, Lee Si-hyeok had no intention of hiring separate bodyguards even after Isaac left.

‘Well, it’s a bit regrettable about Termion Security though.’

That company was growing well in its own way, so there would come a day when it would help Lee Si-hyeok again.

From now on, he had to practice surviving alone.

However, if there was one problem…

He was a non-combat type awakened.

No matter how powerful an artifact he made, he would inevitably be overwhelmed by Hunters. Whether it was Legacy or even Origin beyond that, it was the same. Such a stark difference existed.

After narrowing it down again and again, he came up with two criteria.

‘First, it shouldn’t require Combat Skills.’

Most combat-type artifacts are made with ‘skills’ in mind.

High-grade artifacts that are made by taking individual commissions are naturally like this, but of course there are no exceptions even for popularized ones.

Even the 〈Termion Hex-9〉.

Even that seemingly simple artifact was designed considering 29 types of Combat Skills like 「Combat Calculation」 and 「Acceleration」, so the importance of skills would be at a tremendous level.

‘I did manage to eliminate those predator ants back then… but that should be seen as the absolute limit. It would have been dangerous if I had gone further.’

So this alone was quite a demanding criterion.

If others had heard it, they would have laughed and told him not to talk nonsense.

However, there was still one more finicky criterion remaining.

‘…It has to match well with me. Absolutely.’

This might sound strange, but it’s surprisingly simple.

In short, it should go in a direction that can make good use of the existing skills he possessed.

It was like settling for a chicken instead of a pheasant. Instead of having Combat Skills, he had to be able to properly utilize the characteristics of the various Crafting Skills he possessed.

Only then could he preserve his unique characteristics while skillfully dealing with any situation.

“Hmm.”

Lee Si-hyeok pushed aside the notebook he had been scribbling in and opened his Status Window. On the notebook, his thoughts up to now were neatly organized.

―Paat.

 

[Name: Lee Si-hyeok]

[Gender: Male / Age: 28]

[Would you like to check your possessed skills?]

 

“Check.”

 

[〈General Skills〉

「Mana Sensitivity」 – B Rank

「Mana Control」 – A Rank

「Mana Conduction」 – B Rank

「Mana Amplification」 – B Rank]

 

Lee Si-hyeok’s eyes calmly settled.

It wasn’t a very large number. Four in total.

However, wasn’t there a saying that if you know yourself and your enemy, you need not fear a hundred battles?

Reading through slowly, he envisioned what kind of artifact would be good. Instantly, hundreds of ideas flashed through his mind and were compared.

After a moment.

“It’s harder than I thought…”

He sighed after taking a sip of coffee. Since the difficulty was what it was, it wasn’t something to approach easily.

But he had no intention of giving up.

Judging that the General Skills were a bit difficult. Soon he brought up the Special Skills window.

 

[〈Special Skills〉

『Mimicry』 – EX Rank (Currently Lv.1 / Limit Lv. 3)

+ 《Clear Mirror Still Water》 – Passive

※Growth is currently hinted at due to the discovery of an ‘Origin Artifact’. You will be able to grow the rank before long.

『Eyes that Pierce the Essence』 – EX Rank (Grown once)

『Blooming』 – EX Rank

『Subspace』 – EX Rank]

 

What here could be utilized?

『Eyes that Pierce the Essence』 was always being used even in non-special situations, so excluding that, and 『Blooming』 was about skill growth so it probably wouldn’t fit…

‘Then 『Subspace』 and 『Mimicry』 remain.’

Lee Si-hyeok pursed his lips and set his thoughts in motion.

Then, suddenly, he felt a flash of insight in one corner of his mind.

“…This is it!”

Lee Si-hyeok’s expression brightened considerably.

The idea of tentacles and ether discovered from Necrosis.

And the Special Skills 『Subspace』 and the passive 《Clear Mirror Still Water》 from 『Mimicry』.

A brilliant way to combine all of that had occurred to him!

Swish, thud!

He immediately pushed the tentacle on the table to the side.

Though he had said he would utilize this tentacle earlier, he didn’t mean he would use it exactly as it was. He meant to use the ‘absorption structure’ discovered during the research process.

After roughly wiping the desk that had become soaked due to the slime from the tentacle, he brought the necessary materials.

“Nemesium alloy, and abyssal bio-glass panels, also…”

One by one.

He checked and double-checked whether everything was prepared without omission.

“Okay. Preparation is complete.”

Lee Si-hyeok nodded and picked up the Nemesium alloy.

It was an alloy plate with countless minute Mana Circuits engraved on it, characterized by sampling and amplifying the power of artifacts.

With this, he could create the basic framework, that is, the external frame.

Whirr.

Clank!

After melting the alloy in the heating furnace, he cast it to an appropriate size.

Larger than he had thought.

It was different from the original concept, but his rapidly rotating brain searched for a better path.

Soon he installed bio-glass panels inside the alloy and engraved subsidiary circuits that would allow the artifact to resonate effectively. Silent sounds, vibration sounds, crushing sounds.

Rupture sounds.

His hearing, sharpened to the extreme, didn’t let even small resonances slip by.

“The basic parts are good enough like this.”

Now that he had laid the foundation, it was time to unfold what he had planned.

The combination of tentacles, ether, 《Clear Mirror Still Water》, and 『Subspace』.

《Clear Mirror Still Water》 was a Passive Skill that could resist all mental interference, truly almost invincible in the mental category.

Then what about ether?

‘It’s the complete opposite.’

A substance with such powerful ‘destructive’ properties that it could completely destroy even the mind and cognition.

What would happen if these two collided?

Would Clear Mirror Still Water’s mental resistance prevail, or would ether destroy everything first?

The answer is simple.

‘Clear Mirror Still Water wins.’

Hadn’t he experienced it firsthand during the seminar period?

Inside the mana fracture he entered at Special Experiment Building No. 2.

Even though the surroundings were filled with ether at that time, only Lee Si-hyeok remained unaffected. Of course, there was throbbing pain and various suffering, but ultimately there were no problems with his mind.

In other words, even when handling ether, Lee Si-hyeok was an exception when it came to mental issues.

“I’m going to use this.”

He had already heard that there was a guild in China that manipulated others’ minds to commit heinous acts.

However, just as that awakener was classified as combat-type, cognitive manipulation using ether was essentially no different from ‘combat’ in a way.

Lee Si-hyeok intended to protect his body in such a manner.

Creak.

He carefully sealed the Aqualoid into the framework he had prepared.

This was a crystal that converted mana into other substances, and this time it would serve to transform mana into ether.

Next, he placed transparent glass tubes and resonance fiber near the Aqualoid.

‘These will handle the tentacles.’

This was an idea he got from Necrosis’s tentacles.

The resonance fiber embedded in the transparent glass tubes would fly out without any presence and connect to the target, naturally allowing him to inject ether into that opponent.

However, that wasn’t the end.

It needed to possess not just injection, but also absorption, the original characteristic of tentacles.

He slightly twisted the mana circuit, creating a structure that injected ether while simultaneously stealing mana in reverse.

“This should be enough…”

Is it complete?

Lee Si-hyeok, who had been crouching, stood up.

The artifact had grown larger than expected, so he had to work on the floor.

Roughly half the size of a person.

However, to use it properly, it needed to be easily portable.

For that purpose, the final stage was prepared: 『Subspace』.

 

[Special skill 『Subspace』 is activated!]

 

Whooom!

A crack appeared in the air and a small entrance emerged.

“Heave.”

As Lee Si-hyeok put the artifact into the subspace, a message window appeared.

 

[You can set the artifact’s name.]

[Would you like to set it?]

 

He pondered for a moment. Simply calling it an artifact would be inconvenient since it wouldn’t be distinguishable from others. What name would be good…

“Phagethesis. I’ll go with Phagethesis.”

 

[〈Phagethesis〉. The name has been set.]

 

It was a combination of ‘Phage’ meaning absorption and ‘Thesis’ meaning injection in ancient Greek.

This artifact would both absorb mana and inject ether.

When studying magical engineering, there were so many artifacts named with ancient Greek words that he had learned them separately, and now they were proving useful again.

He was glad he had studied them.

“Well then, shall I go?”

Lee Si-hyeok tidied up the laboratory and left through the door.

It was only natural to immediately test a newly created artifact.

Necrosis would serve as the test subject.

 

* * *

 

―Roooar! Human! Did you eat well!

As soon as he went underground, Necrosis welcomed him.

Before he could translate the language, it had been nothing but terrifying, but after understanding what it was saying, it was just like the neighborhood fool.

Lee Si-hyeok approached the experiment chamber and answered.

“I ate well. Well, it was decent enough.”

―Decent! That’s too harsh!

“It’s a compliment. By the way, aren’t you hungry? I heard you can’t help but be hungry no matter how much you eat.”

―Of course I’m…

Suddenly.

The flow of time felt slow.

Necrosis’s moving mouth slowed down, and the incomplete sentence lingered in the air.

『Eyes that Pierce the Essence』, which activated immediately after Lee Si-hyeok asked the question, was replaying the surrounding situation in slow motion.

He stared intently at Necrosis’s mouth, which was about to say something like “of course I’m hungry.”

And then…

 

[Activating 『Subspace』.]

 

In about 0.01 seconds or less.

During that moment closer to stillness than time, Lee Si-hyeok briefly opened the subspace.

Through the crack that opened momentarily, 〈Phagethesis〉 operated.

Swoooosh!

The artificial tentacles Lee Si-hyeok had added shot out from beyond the subspace. The speed was immeasurable. So fast that even in this slowly flowing time, it couldn’t be properly seen.

The extending tentacle passed through the experiment chamber’s wall and ‘touched’ Necrosis’s body.

Simultaneously, the ether that Blackie possessed began moving through Lee Si-hyeok’s body to the tentacle.

Chest, shoulder, arm, tentacle.

It gradually connected and moved through the tentacle into Necrosis’s body.

 

[《Clear Mirror Still Water》 resists powerful mental interference!]

[《Clear Mirror Still Water》 resists powerful cognitive manipulation!]

 

A throbbing headache.

That was the end.

After confirming the ether was fully injected, Lee Si-hyeok ended 『Eyes that Pierce the Essence』.

Whooooosh!

Then time returned at tremendous speed.

The connected tentacle returned to the subspace, and the subspace crack disappeared as if it had never existed.

And what came into view was.

―…of course I’m not hungry! I’m full, human! I don’t even want to think about food!

“…”

Only Necrosis in a brainwashed state.

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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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