The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 221
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 221
Chapter 221
After receiving my reward from the Emperor.
I had expected to rest immediately, exhausted from this rare outing, but the Emperor proved far more energetic than anticipated, thoroughly touring the Kalbera Territory.
“What a beautiful coastline.”
“Ah, is this the very Breakwater where you held back that tide of monsters?”
“I was informed that many buildings suffered damage from the monster assault, yet the reconstruction has been remarkably swift. The bridges as well—it seems you’ve found an excellent architect. Might I meet them?”
He strolled casually along the coastline.
He marveled at my exploits by the Breakwater.
He examined the structures and summoned Lee Chul-geun to offer his praise.
I’ll spare the details of how badly Lee Chul-geun’s legs trembled at this sudden imperial audience.
But what truly captured the Emperor’s interest was, unsurprisingly.
“This is the Shipyard of the Kalbera Territory!”
“Indeed, Your Majesty.”
“Your ship was built here, was it not? Where is that vessel? No need to answer—that must be the Black Dragon Ship!”
The Shipyard.
“It appears far more formidable than any Imperial warship.”
“It is thanks to the exceptional skill of the Kalbera Territory’s shipwrights.”
“Those magical formations—you installed them yourself?”
“I handled the design and activation, but the shipwrights carved most of the formations themselves.”
“Remarkable indeed. Shipwrights capable of inscribing magical formations are rare even in the Empire’s own shipyards.”
The Emperor expressed his admiration.
In truth, the caliber of the Kalbera Territory’s shipwrights exceeded even my expectations.
Had their skills been inferior, the Black Dragon Ship would never have come to fruition.
As the Emperor continued his praise, Ena, who had been quietly following behind me, carefully spoke up.
“Your Imperial Majesty.”
“Hmm? Marquis Mir, and who is this?”
“The administrator of our Territory, Ena.”
“An administrator, I see. No wonder I heard that all administrative issues in the Kalbera Territory have been resolved. You’ve certainly secured a capable one.”
The moment I introduced her on his behalf.
Ena, reading the Emperor’s mood carefully to avoid causing offense, continued.
“Our Marquis Mir wishes to place this magnificent Shipyard of the Kalbera Territory in service to the Empire.”
“Oh? What do you mean by that?”
“The Empire is striving to expand into the Southern Continent, and now that pirates and monsters have been eliminated, this is an opportune moment for Imperial expansion.”
“Indeed it is.”
“To this end, our Territory intends to construct warships for the Imperial Army and contribute to the Empire’s cause.”
This was entirely Ena’s plan.
Upon hearing of the Emperor’s visit, she had reviewed the Territory’s circumstances from every angle and presented this proposal to me.
I entrusted it entirely to her.
My role was singular.
All I needed to do was create an opportunity for her to converse with the Emperor.
And then.
“Your devotion to the Empire is truly admirable.”
A smile graced the Emperor’s face as he listened to Ena’s explanation.
“Furthermore, the Kalbera Territory and Pirate Island appear more than sufficient to serve as excellent strategic strongholds in the Southern Region.”
“Indeed.”
“With that in mind, I would like to propose establishing the Kalbera Territory as the Empire’s second major bastion in the South, following the Southern Fortress Belgrade.”
“Hmm….”
“Unlike Belgrade, the Kalbera Territory enables movement not only across the sea but also inland through the Swampland’s bridges, making its utility considerably greater.”
“True enough—Belgrade is designed purely as a maritime fortress. However, to accommodate our entire Imperial Army, we would require an extraordinarily expansive dock.”
“There is no need for concern. As you can see from the Swampland’s bridges and the reconstructed buildings, our architects are exceptionally skilled and can construct a magnificent dock in remarkably short order.”
Ena’s explanation flowed without hesitation.
Through thorough investigation, she had ascertained the Imperial Army’s circumstances and logically presented the advantages of the Kalbera Territory accordingly.
Her reasoning was so compelling that even I, listening from beside her, found myself captivated.
And so.
“An excellent proposal. Using the Kalbera Territory as the South’s second bastion and Pirate Island as an auxiliary outpost would make expanding the Southern Region far more feasible.”
“An astute decision, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor nodded in approval.
Ena seemed to believe her explanation had landed well, but my assessment differed slightly.
‘He appears to have already arrived at this conclusion.’
That satisfied smile on the Emperor’s face.
Perhaps, even without her elaborate explanation, wouldn’t he have subtly proposed something similar to me?
Of course, even if that were the case, he would surely prefer this present arrangement to receiving the proposal directly from me.
In any case, after personally showing the Emperor the Black Dragon Ship.
“I must take my leave now.”
“We’ve prepared lodgings with an excellent view of the sea. Would you not consider spending the night?”
“Ha, I appreciate the sentiment, but I barely managed to spare the time to come here today. If I think of the mountain of documents awaiting my return, I’m almost afraid to leave.”
The Emperor began preparing for his departure.
However, we were still aboard the Black Dragon Ship.
Since I had intended to tour Pirate Island before returning, the journey back to the Kalbera Territory would take considerable time, and with the sun already setting, I thought it would be dangerous to traverse the Swampland now.
“Kyieeeeeeee-.”
A familiar roar echoed from the northern sky.
Pure white wyverns.
Knights mounted upon White Wyverns.
It was the White Wyvern Knights.
“On the way here, I traveled by carriage to survey the route, but now time is of the essence.”
Whoosh.
“Your Majesty.”
“Antonius, I apologize for the trouble amid your busy schedule.”
“What are you saying? This is merely our duty.”
“Then, Mir. I shall take my leave now. Next time, should you achieve an even greater feat… I would be pleased to bestow upon you the rank of Marquis.”
The Emperor spoke thus.
A flutter of wings.
“Kieeeeeeeee—!”
He took flight toward the Empire alongside the White Wyvern Knights.
* * *
After the Emperor’s departure.
While returning to my Territory aboard the Black Dragon Ship, I entered the private quarters that had been created solely for me.
And the first thing I checked, naturally, was.
[ Special Enhancement Token ]
[ Black Flame Dragon’s Bone ]
These were the rewards I had received from the Emperor.
Since there was no need to delay using these two items—both of which could strengthen my power without any adverse effects—I decided to use them immediately.
I had intended to use the Special Enhancement Token first.
A crackling sound.
Ever since I entered the private quarters, Black Flame had been burning continuously around me.
The burning Black Flame formed a small silhouette of Luke, and his gaze was fixed entirely upon his own bone.
His intention was obvious.
“I understand. Absorb this first.”
– Thank you, Master!
He simply wanted to reclaim his bone as soon as possible.
Since the order didn’t truly matter, I retrieved the ‘Black Flame Dragon’s Bone’ from the black box and tossed it lightly.
Black flames erupted and consumed the bone.
And at that moment.
[ ‘Black Flame Dragon, Luknir Desperato Ignockton’ absorbs the ‘Black Flame Dragon’s Bone’. ]
[ ‘Luke’ reclaims his skeletal structure and partially recovers his former power. ]
[ The synchronization rate achievable through Black Flame Transformation with ‘Luke’ increases. ]
[ As ‘Luke’ recovers his original physical abilities, the contractor’s physical abilities also increase slightly. ]
[ Physical abilities become further enhanced in the Black Flame Transformation state with ‘Luke’. ]
A System Message appeared—now familiar in its content.
Similar yet different from the messages when he had absorbed fangs or horns.
The dragon fang had enhanced Luke’s predatory ability, and the dragon horn had restored the dragon’s authority known as Dragon Fear.
The dragon bone, however, returned Luke’s physical capabilities to him.
‘I can feel it.’
I could tell simply by clenching my fists while standing still.
Strength, agility, and vitality.
Three physical attributes—excluding intelligence and wisdom—had increased.
Once I used Black Flame Transformation, the elevated physical abilities would undoubtedly feel even more pronounced.
“Are you pleased?”
– Of course, Master. Without you, I would never have recovered my strength.
Luke was equally satisfied.
Before using the special enhancement voucher.
A sudden curiosity prompted me to ask Luke a question.
“By the way, Luke, how many of these are left?”
The body fragments that Luke had scattered across the world before losing his power.
Of those, I had found three.
The dragon fang, dragon horn, and dragon bone.
So how many remained now?
I asked the question while hoping I’d found at least half of them.
– There are ten fragments in total, Master. Thanks to you, three have been recovered, leaving seven remaining.
“…Why did you scatter them into so many pieces?”
– Because you were so powerful, Master, it was an instinctive act for survival….
Seven pieces still remained.
An item with no way to locate without drawing near to its vicinity.
Still, looking at it from another angle.
“That means I can grow seven stages stronger from here on?”
– It’s all thanks to you, Master.
It meant I could grow that much stronger.
For someone like me who needed to continue growing, it was welcome news indeed.
As for searching, well, I’d be traveling across the Second Continent from now on anyway, so I decided to trust Luke’s detection ability.
‘I should also submit a request to the Information Guild.’
Just as the Emperor had used the Empire’s intelligence network to locate the dragon bone.
I too should employ a similar method to search for Luke’s body parts.
Back in First, I would have had access to Silver Shade, the continent’s greatest information guild that I had directly overseen.
But regarding the Information Guild of Second, which existed long after First’s world, I had no knowledge of it.
Anyway, that was something to handle later.
Next was.
[ Special Enhancement Voucher ]
It was time to use this.
Truth be told, the answer should have been obvious.
Since I had enhanced All Mastery skill, strength, and agility so far.
The most effective use would be to apply it to Intelligence, which affects magical attack power.
After all, Intelligence, which directly increases magical attack power, would be far more efficient for my combat style than health or wisdom.
However, I had recently conceived of a different idea.
‘Could this be used in other ways as well?’
Until now, I had been trapped in preconceptions due to my memories from First.
The item description for the special enhancement voucher was as follows.
– As a reward given to the champion of Second Crown, you can ‘enhance’ all elements including skills, abilities, stats, and items.
Upon reading this description, I had thought only skills and stats could be enhanced, and had only enhanced those.
But upon closer examination, it states that not just skills and stats, but ‘all elements including skills, stats, and more’ can be enhanced.
Doesn’t this mean I can enhance something beyond skills, stats, and items?
In other words.
‘Elements other than stats, which means….’
The non-stat elements that exist in my status window.
[ Status Window ]
Name: Mir
Level: 315
Class: All Master
Name, level, and class.
I wondered if these three could be enhanced as well.
Just to be sure, I held the special enhancement token and tapped on my name, and sure enough.
[ You have selected the ‘Name’ category with the special enhancement token. ]
[ Do you truly wish to enhance the ‘Name’ category? ]
Just as I suspected, my name—not a stat—became a valid target for the special enhancement token, and a system message appeared.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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