Level Up Machine

Chapter 116 My **Luck** Isn’t Like That! (3)

?Ding.

[“Luck” stat effect has been applied.]

[The extraction effect is maximized.]

[Overwhelming success! You have acquired materials of an unusual grade.]

[You have acquired 50 A-grade metal cores, 5 S-grade metal cores, and 1 SS-grade metal core.]

“What is this?”

Yeong-sik stared at the message window floating before him with a surprised expression.

He knew about the effects up to a major success as mentioned in the skill description, but he hadn’t expected a level beyond that to exist.

“A Luck stat?”

Yeong-sik tilted his head in confusion over the effect of the stat he had paid the least attention to until now.

The Luck stat was considered the most useless among the eight stats available to summoners.

It hardly increased with leveling up, and even if it did, there were no noticeable effects.

In Yeong-sik’s case, after unlocking the security level and drinking ‘Dragon’s Blood,’ all his stats increased together, making his Luck stat significantly higher than that of typical summoners.

The only situation where the Luck stat proved useful was in the drop rate of rare items.

However, the rare items Yeong-sik needed were at least A-grade, so he rarely saw any meaningful effect. A 1% chance increasing to 2% was still a dismal probability.

Yeong-sik had almost forgotten about the stat, but its effect had suddenly activated.

“An SS-grade metal core…”

Yeong-sik wore a perplexed expression as he looked at the metal core of an unexpected grade.

It was certainly something to be happy about.

Considering the powerful items that Tiria and Yu-na obtained in the last dungeon raid, the strength of SS-grade items was already proven.

The problem was that its grade was too high, making it unusable with his current crafting skills.

‘I’ll find a use for it later.’

With that thought, Yeong-sik placed the SS-grade metal core into his inventory. It was of a grade so high that even the term ‘legendary’ felt insufficient.

It would undoubtedly become a great asset.

‘Maybe I’ll get another one?’

Seeing the effect of the Luck stat once made him a bit greedy. Yeong-sik reached for the remaining adamantite ore.

?Ding.

[You have acquired 8 A-grade metal cores.]

[You have acquired 5 A-grade metal cores.]

[You have acquired 3 A-grade metal cores and 1 S-grade metal core.]

“Things don’t always go as planned.”

Yeong-sik murmured with a disappointed expression. The “overwhelming success” effect did not appear again, as if to prove that such a phenomenon was rare.

However, with the frequent activation of the major success effect, Yeong-sik managed to gather all the S-grade metal cores he had aimed for.

“851 A-grade metal cores and 13 S-grade ones.”

A satisfied smile spread across Yeong-sik’s face. It had cost a tremendous amount of gold, but he had gathered everything he needed.

“Is the extraction done now?” Yu-na, who had been watching from behind, asked. Yeong-sik stood up and nodded.

“Yes. Now I’ll start making it.”

“Wow, finally! Just hearing the term ‘humanoid mechanical weapon’ sounds incredibly powerful. I’m really curious about how it will turn out.”

Yu-na spoke with an interested expression. She looked at the neatly vanished ores and continued.

“It was piled up like a mountain, and now that it’s gone,

the warehouse suddenly feels so empty. Oh, by the way, how much did those mana stones we just used cost?”

“Altogether, it cost about 1.3 million gold.”

Han-seong answered Yu-na’s question. Her eyes widened in shock.

“W-what?! One, one hundred and thirty thousand?!”

“Yes. Since we didn’t have rights to the adamantite mine, we had no choice but to buy everything from the market.”

“Is our guild okay after spending that much money?!”

Yu-na’s mouth fell open at a sum she had never heard of, even during the Salvator Guild’s heyday.

Han-seong chuckled and nodded.

“We still have plenty of funds left for guild operations.”

“I didn’t know our guild had that much money…”

“The things Yeong-sik made were such huge hits.”

Yu-na looked at Yeong-sik with a disbelieving expression.

“Still, no matter how much…”

“Anyway, please don’t worry about the finances.”

“Wait a minute. If we’re making so much money, why hasn’t my salary gone up at all?”

Ever since they began their life in hiding, Yu-na and the guild members had been receiving money monthly, more as an allowance than a salary.

Han-seong gave them only 5 gold per month. It was enough to live on but not enough to splurge.

“Ha ha. That’s just how the world works.

Have you ever seen a company give its employees generous raises just because it’s doing well?”

“You piece of trash…!”

Yu-na glared at Han-seong with eyes full of indignation.

“Ahem. Let’s see what Yeong-sik is making instead.”

Han-seong quickly changed the subject. Yu-na shot him a displeased look before turning her attention back to Yeong-sik.

Her curiosity about the ‘humanoid mechanical weapon’ he was making was stronger than her irritation at the moment.

“Crafting.”

Yeong-sik glanced at the murmuring guild members but soon shifted his attention back to the manufacturing recipe.

With his crafting level reaching level 7, new recipes had been added.

[C-grade Humanoid Mechanical Weapon]

[Required materials: 1000 metal parts, 500 metal screws, 120 metal plates, 100 C-grade metal cores.]

Seeing the materials needed to make a humanoid mechanical weapon, he felt a bit overwhelmed. It was amusing to compare it to a drone, but it was true that it required a lot of materials.

“Let’s get started.”

Yeong-sik shook off the regret lingering in his mind. He had tried making one when the recipe was first added as a test.

These were items worth using such materials for.

?Ding.

[You have crafted a C-grade Android.]

With a blue light, an android with silver-gray skin was created. It wasn’t a type of machine that could be completely indistinguishable from a human like Yeong-sik.

It had a solid steel skin, red light emitting from its hollow eyes, wires stretching like veins throughout its body, and visible complex mechanical joints.

“…I see why Yeong-sik called it a T-1000.”

Ara looked at the ‘humanoid mechanical weapon’ he had created with an incredulous expression. It resembled the appearance of the skinless mechanical soldier she had seen in movies.

“Analyze structure.”

Yeong-sik placed his hand on the shoulder of the C-grade Android and used a skill.

?Ding.

[Structure analysis of the C-grade Android was successful.]

[The user of this weapon is set to ‘Yeong-sik.’]

[The maximum number of C-grade Androids that the current user ‘Yeong-sik’ can operate is 1000 units.]

As soon as the analysis was complete, information about the mechanical weapon flowed into his mind.

[After a full charge, operational time is 72 hours. The primary weapon is a gun, but blades can also be used as an option.]

[It is equipped with three powerful explosive bombs. For a self-destruct attack, a direct command from the user is required.]

[Remote control is possible, but it primarily moves autonomously according to given commands.]

This was information he had already heard before. Yeong-sik issued commands to the mechanical weapon in his mind.

-Clack. Clack.

“Wow! It’s moving!”

The android moved according to Yeong-sik’s commands.

Yeong-sik tested various movements, making it run at high speed or jump, to ensure the weapon moved properly.

“Looks like there’s no problem.”

Yeong-sik smiled with satisfaction as he watched the smoothly moving mechanical weapon.

“It moves much better than I thought.”

Yu-na, who had approached Yeong-sik, said with an amazed expression.

“If it didn’t move well, it wouldn’t be valuable as a combat force.”

“Heh. So, this is the android you wanted to make?”

≪Ugh ≪

≪Huh? ≪

“Hmm. Can I check how strong it is?”

Yeong-sik readily nodded at her suggestion. He also wanted to test the android’s strength.

“Alright, then!”

“Take it easy. It’ll be troublesome if it breaks.”

“Got it!”

Yu-na answered energetically and approached the mechanical weapon. Yeong-sik issued a command to the machine to ‘fight’ in his mind.

-Buzzing.

[Executing user ‘Yeong-sik’s command. Subduing the target.]

The android responded in a mechanical voice and began shooting at Yu-na.

-Ratatatatatata!

The rifle in its hand roared to life. Yu-na looked at the machine with an interested expression.

“Wow, it even shoots guns?”

She said as she leisurely snapped her fingers. A curtain of dark red flames appeared in front of her.

-Fwoosh!

The bullets fired by the android were blocked by the curtain of flames.

[Identified target is immune to gunfire. Switching to blade weapon.]

The android spoke and drew a blade from the back of its left hand. It pushed off the ground and lunged forward, swinging the blade.

-Clang.

Yu-na pulled out a sword from her waist and blocked the attack. It was Il-sik, the black-bladed sword of the twin swords.

“Oh, isn’t this the weapon Yeong-sik uses?”

She looked at the android with a surprised expression. A heavy impact was transmitted through her hand.

“Hiyah!”

Yu-na continued to fight the android using only one sword.

“Hah!”

-Bang!

Her slender leg struck the android’s thigh. The android fell backward with a thud.

“I think that’s enough.”

Yeong-sik, who had been quietly observing the fight, stopped the android and spoke in a low voice.

“So, what do you think?”

“Well… Its movements are so good that it’s hard to believe it’s a machine. The attacks are heavy too.”

Yu-na recalled the battle with the android and continued speaking.

“It felt like fighting a summoner around level 40.”

“That’s good.”

Yeong-sik nodded with a satisfied expression at her words.

“But… Honestly, I don’t think this will be useful as a combat force.”

Yu-na spoke to him cautiously.

A level 40 summoner was an exceedingly average level among summoners.

But considering the current strength of the Salvator Guild, a level 40 summoner wasn’t even worth considering as part of their combat force.

Yeong-sik looked at her, who seemed to be thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be better to just hire mercenaries?’ and spoke.

“I’m not planning to make just one.”

“Uh… Even if you make dozens of these, I don’t think it will make much of a difference.”

“It’s fine. I can operate up to a thousand.”

“?What?”

Yu-na’s eyes widened at Yeong-sik’s calm words. Other guild members were also shocked by the number ‘a thousand.’

“A-a thousand?”

“I can roughly make that many C-grade androids. As for the others… let’s see. I can operate about 200 B-grade and 30 A-grade.”

“…There are other grades?”

Yu-na looked at him with a stunned expression.

The fact that he could make a thousand androids with the strength of a level 40 summoner was already astonishing, but to be able to make androids of ‘other grades’ as well?

“How strong are the other grades?”

“Well, I’d like you to test them too, Yu-na. My rough estimate is that B-grade will be around level 60-70, and A-grade will be over level 85.”

Yu-na’s jaw dropped. The guild members listening alongside her also looked at Yeong-sik with bewildered expressions.

“Why are you creating a mechanical division in a fantasy world… In a world where swords and magic are commonplace, where fairies and orcs exist, and legendary dragons are real, an android army was being created out of nowhere.”