The Automatic Rooting Range Is Too Wide - Chapter 14

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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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Auto Looting Range Too Wide Episode 14

Episode 14: No Big Deal

* * *

‘Why am I here?’

Kim Dae-seong, Iron Fang’s new awakener, couldn’t even breathe properly due to the tension.

Sweat continuously flowed from his shiny bald head, but he didn’t even dare think about wiping it.

It was because of the middle-aged man in front of him.

He looked to be around 60 years old.

Unlike his wrinkled face, his entire body was packed with muscle. He looked so menacing it was frightening.

“Hmm.”

The middle-aged man.

Park Go-seok, Iron Fang’s guild master, stopped reading the documents and looked at Kim Dae-seong.

Kim Dae-seong flinched at those fierce eyes.

“Kim Dae-seong, is it?”

“Yes! Th-that’s right!”

“You’re too tense. Don’t be afraid. I didn’t call you here to punish you.”

Park Go-seok put down the documents.

Park Go-seok’s particularly thick fingers had hard calluses embedded at every joint.

“I called you because I wanted to hear directly about the Masked Man you met on the 5th Floor.”

So it was about that incident after all.

He had expected it to some degree. There was no other reason for someone like Park Go-seok to call him.

Park Go-seok wasn’t particularly famous among ordinary people. This was because he hadn’t achieved any notable accomplishments.

However, no one in the industry dared to ignore Park Go-seok. He was an awakener who had climbed the Tower in the early days.

Park Go-seok was a living witness to South Korea’s awakener history.

“I read the report you wrote, but writing and speaking are different things after all.”

“Yes, yes!”

Kim Dae-seong explained everything he had experienced that day.

He didn’t need to make an effort to recall his memories. It was still vivid.

* * *

‘Hmm.’

Park Go-seok was lost in thought throughout Kim Dae-seong’s recollection.

‘He doesn’t look like he’s lying.’

Park Go-seok initially suspected that Kim Dae-seong and awakeners from other guilds had coordinated their stories to steal the rewards.

The rewards from the 5th Floor were valuable enough for that. Why else would the Guild Alliance join hands to take turns acquiring them?

That’s why he wanted to hear it directly from him. While text could lie, a person’s eyes couldn’t.

But seeing Kim Dae-seong in person, he wasn’t the type to have the guts for such a scheme.

‘But it’s hard to believe. An unaffiliated awakener fought one against many against guild awakeners and won? Overwhelmingly at that?’

Kim Dae-seong wasn’t a promising prospect that Iron Fang Guild was seriously pushing.

But he was someone who had joined Iron Fang after breaking through quite high competition.

That meant he was different from the riffraff. On top of that, he was receiving various support from the guild.

‘Is he someone a Large Guild is secretly training?’

But he had never heard rumors of such a rookie.

Iron Fang was small, but the Guild Alliance that Iron Fang belonged to was quite large.

If such information existed, he couldn’t have been unaware of it. Training awakeners inevitably involved a lot of capital movement.

‘Then he really is an unaffiliated awakener…’

No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible.

However, Park Go-seok had seen it before. A monster who made the impossible possible.

South Korea’s number one guild.

Lee Dong-hwi, Seol-aeng’s first guild master, was like that.

The terrifying 45th Floor.

To stop Lee Dong-hwi, awakeners from various countries formed temporary alliances with each other.

But Lee Dong-hwi defeated them all after a bloody battle and claimed the reward.

Of course, the performance shown by the Masked Man wasn’t comparable to Seol-aeng’s first guild master.

‘But it’s impressive nonetheless. Even this much is worthy of being called a genius.’

It was talent impressive enough for a Large Guild to seriously nurture.

Suddenly, Park Go-seok had this thought.

“There’s someone called the Zero-second Swordsman who’s famous these days. Is there a possibility the Masked Man is him?”

“I’m not sure about that… but I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?”

“The Zero-second Swordsman is presumed to have a unique skill specialized in detection and search. The Masked Man didn’t use such skills when fighting us, and we were the ones who found him. I think it was more likely a combat-related unique skill.”

Park Go-seok nodded. Kim Dae-seong’s point was correct.

In the first place, it would be impossible to meet such a famous person so easily.

“Let me ask one more thing. Do you remember what he looked like?”

“Th-that’s… well…”

“Even trivial details are fine. Tell me anything.”

Kim Dae-seong hesitated for a long time before barely managing to speak.

“…I can’t remember.”

“You can’t remember?”

“How tall he was. What his voice was like. It’s all blurry…”

Park Go-seok looked at Kim Dae-seong as if he found it absurd.

He could describe the battle process so vividly but didn’t know what he looked like?

‘Could he have had an item that interferes with recognition?’

He became even more curious about the man’s identity.

“You may go now.”

There was no more information to be gained anyway. Park Go-seok sent Kim Dae-seong outside.

As soon as Kim Dae-seong left, a secretary with a sturdy build approached. The secretary set down freshly brewed coffee and asked.

“Master, what should we do?”

“Hmm.”

Park Go-seok stroked his chin, lost in thought.

If this incident became known to the public, Iron Fang’s reputation would hit rock bottom.

It was already a world where new guilds were being created almost daily. Losing prestige and reputation was fatal.

“If you give the order, I’ll search for him.”

Aliases could be used in the Tower.

But even when hiding their names, people inevitably left quite a few traces.

Height, weight, habits, physical characteristics, and so on.

“He said he can’t remember the guy’s face. How would you find him?”

But that was only when eyewitness accounts remained.

There was no way to find someone who had recognition-interfering items.

“And if Kim Dae-seong’s words are true… he’s too valuable to deal with harshly. It would be better to bring him into our guild.”

Making awakeners stronger was easy. You just had to pour skills, items, and such into them.

But talent couldn’t be cultivated no matter what methods were used.

That’s why Large Guilds desperately tried to recruit awakeners who showed promise.

“It’s about time party play becomes mandatory anyway. We’ll definitely be able to meet him.”

“Understood.”

“Tell the guild awakeners. If they see the Masked Man, they must bring him into the guild.”

“What if they refuse to accept our offer?”

“Then, well… we’ll have to handle it our way.”

Park Go-seok said while sipping his coffee.

“Tower or reality, doesn’t matter – we’ll crush them completely.”

If they weren’t allies, they were just competitors.

And Park Go-seok wasn’t the type of good person to sit back and watch competitors grow.

* * *

While suspicious discussions were taking place inside Iron Fang.

Mincheol was researching the additional function of his auto looting skill.

He needed to determine whether he could face the 6th Floor golems with this additional function.

“But how do I use this?”

Originally, auto looting activated immediately just by thinking of an item in his head.

But the added function had the condition of acquiring cube-shaped objects.

“Oh?”

Fortunately, Mincheol’s worry was quickly resolved.

As soon as he thought of the additional function, a cube-shaped box appeared before his eyes.

Since it was made only of lines, it didn’t obstruct his vision.

He could shrink or enlarge its size at will.

Mincheol used the additional function on the dirt ground.

【Acquiring all objects within the cube range.】

The dirt ground was hollowed out in a cube shape.

When he opened his inventory, he could see the dirt formed into a square frame had become an item taking up space.

“I roughly understand how it works.”

Next, Mincheol used the additional function on various objects.

He needed to know in advance what kinds of objects he could acquire.

Sand, water, fallen leaves, and so on.

He could acquire most objects. Among them, what greatly surprised Mincheol was rock.

‘The brick… got cut out?’

There was a flat paving block lying around, so he tried using it as a test.

Then a cube-shaped hole was drilled in the center of the paving block.

Mincheol checked the cross-section of the paving block. It was very smooth, as if it had been cut with tools.

‘This is… insane.’

Mincheol had thought of the additional function as a kind of shovel. But in reality, it wasn’t a shovel but a cutting tool.

It didn’t even require time to cut. As long as conditions were met, it could cut in the blink of an eye.

‘But it can’t cut all objects.’

Strangely, the additional function didn’t activate on living trees.

But it could cut wooden blocks.

‘Why? Is it because they’re living things?’

If Mincheol’s reasoning was correct, it shouldn’t activate on weeds either.

But when he used it on dirt ground, the additional function activated even though weeds were mixed in.

‘Cannot be used on living trees. But it activates on dead trees or weeds.’

That wasn’t the only peculiar point.

He tried it on a flying pigeon, but the additional function didn’t activate.

However, it activated on a large chunk of meat purchased from a butcher shop.

‘Maybe activation depends on life force?’

A living tree would contain greater life force than weeds.

So it activated on weeds but failed on trees?

The reason it activated on dead trees seemed similar. Dead trees wouldn’t contain life force.

‘That’s probably why it can’t be used on pigeons but activates on chunks of meat.’

Discovering that objects acquirable through auto looting had conditions was a great harvest.

‘Maybe there’s also a limit to the grade of items that can be acquired through auto looting.’

He hadn’t failed yet, but the possibility was high.

Even to Mincheol, being able to acquire items of all grades through auto looting didn’t make sense.

‘Can I face golems with the additional function?’

According to scholars’ research, golems were monsters somewhere between living beings and objects.

They had intelligence but no self-awareness. They were a kind of machine that only followed commands.

Moreover, the ‘Failed Golems’ Mincheol had to face had bodies composed of dirt and minerals.

Then it should be possible to eliminate their bodies using the additional function.

Maybe he could even directly acquire the golem’s core.

‘I’m convinced.’

Having reached a conclusion, Mincheol began preparing to challenge the 6th Floor, Area 2.

* * *

After that, Mincheol investigated the 6th Floor, Area 2 in more detail.

And he began purchasing items to face golems.

He also prepared expensive potions in case he got injured.

Since he was challenging a truly dangerous area, he made complete preparations.

“I’ll challenge the 6th Floor.”

【From the 6th Floor onward, there are branching paths.】

【Which area would you like to challenge: Area A or Area B?】

【Once you make a choice, the decision cannot be reversed.】

Even Mincheol couldn’t help but feel nervous at this moment.

Once you chose a branching path, it couldn’t be undone. Because of this, he heard that even awakeners from large guilds often safely chose Area 1.

If they chose Area B and died or their climbing stagnated, it would be a disaster.

“I’ll challenge Area B.”

Knowing this fact well, Mincheol still chose Area B.

‘The money’s good!’

Even golem cores alone were materials that sold for very high prices.

On top of that, exploring Area B could yield various rare minerals. Some rare minerals could command any price.

【Area B is a region with high awakener mortality rates.】

【Do you really want to select Area B?】

When the system warned him again, he reconsidered, but Mincheol didn’t change his decision.

【Entering 6th Floor, Area B.】

With a flash of light, Mincheol moved to the 6th Floor.

The first thing he saw was a low ceiling. Everywhere he looked, there was only dirt and rock.

The feeling was completely different from the forest. Being an enclosed space, just standing there made him feel suffocated.

That wasn’t all. Unlike the forest where vision was relatively open, this place was blocked on all sides.

Not knowing what might be hiding where made him naturally tense.

If Area A was easy mode, then Area B truly felt like hell difficulty.

‘Fighting golems in a place like this would be several times harder.’

One of the characteristics of Failed Golems was mimicry.

They would disguise themselves as ceilings, floors, and walls, then ambush enemies who passed by.

‘I came prepared for everything.’

Of course, Mincheol had studied not only the habits of Failed Golems but also all the countermeasures through the Hunter Community.

Mincheol took out a torch from his inventory. When he pulled the string attached to the torch, it lit up.

Strangely, the torch glowed blue instead of red.

【Baekje Workshop’s Warning Torch】

-Grade: Special.

-Description: A torch crafted by Baekje Workshop. Has the effect of highlighting living beings touched by its light.

It was an item he had specially purchased to find golems.

Although the description said it highlighted living beings, it worked on golems too.

As effective as it was, it was extremely expensive. Even as a consumable item, one cost over 5 million won.

Originally, this was an item used on higher floors, not these lower levels.

In the first place, there was no way Awakened on the lower floors could afford an amount exceeding 5 million won.

‘If I think of it as the price of my life, it’s cheap.’

But for Mincheol, who had Auto Looting, around 5 million won was an affordable amount. Especially if he thought of it as the price of his life.

‘Now let me move…’

Mincheol was about to take a step forward but stopped.

When he looked up, he could see something glinting on the ceiling.

When he raised the torch upward, the glinting became even brighter.

The detection torch had revealed the golem’s core.

“Wow… I almost died if I had taken just one more step.”

Mincheol patted his startled chest. To think he would see the torch’s benefits this quickly. Purchasing the torch was truly an excellent choice.

‘Shall I test it out?’

Mincheol took out a hand axe from his inventory. Then he drew an imaginary box targeting the very center of the golem.

‘Bring it here.’

As the very center of the golem was cut out in a cube shape, a fist-sized core became visible through the gap.

The surrounding dirt rushed in trying to cover the core. But Mincheol threw his hand axe faster than that.

-Graaahhh.

As soon as the core shattered, the golem screamed and scattered.

The golem’s body that had been attached to the ceiling fell to the floor with a thudding sound.

Something glinted in the dirt. Mincheol bent down and picked them up.

【Shattered Core of ‘Failed Golem’】

-Grade: Rare.

-Description: The core that forms a Failed Golem. Made of very unusual components.

【Black Sulfur Iron】

-Grade: Special.

-Description: A metal that can be found in the Tower. Heavy and hard.

Failed Golem cores were key materials for alchemy and traded at prices close to 2 million won each.

Black Sulfur Iron was the most commonly used metal in the Tower. It traded at 1 million won per kilogram.

In other words, in just a moment, Mincheol had earned over 1 million won.

“Making money is really easy.”

Mincheol laughed cheerfully and put the items into his inventory.

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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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