READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 299: New Equipment (2)
A few hours later.
In Gu Seo-hyeong’s workshop.
“Ugh…”
A weary voice slipped out in the brightly-lit spacious room.
“It’s done.”
That was a remark from the worker, Gu Seo-hyeong.
The D-Class Enchanter had pushed through a grueling five-hour session after a request from a friend.
Before processing the Midnight Fragment, Gi-ryeo had two requests.
First, the soft black fabric I brought should be the main material for gloves, but second, please ensure that the outer surface of that fabric remains concealed.
So, Gu Seo-hyeong decided to use the Midnight Fragment as the lining and cover it with the leather of the A-Class Monster One-Horned, which has recently been praised in the Hunter fashion industry.
“This sucks… I can’t believe I’m sourcing dyed leather and calling in people…”
There were quite a few obstacles in the process.
“Crazy. I spent the whole day just making one pair of gloves…”
Seo-hyeong took a breath while cleaning up the messy workshop.
But the reason it was tough for them wasn’t just that they had produced an item.
It was the moment when he felt he hadn’t received recognition from his middle school classmate – more accurately, the one who had the shell – that hit him hard.
Of course, at one point, out of frustration, he did consider making the gloves himself.
However, if a top S-Class Hunter from South Korea came to him specifically to make a request, the materials wouldn’t be cheap.
But the only gloves he had ever made were the Christmas yarn gloves he knitted to pass time while waiting for a photoshoot.
Seo-hyeong made a realistic decision faster than anyone else.
‘Oh, no way. I definitely need to call someone for this.’
So he was able to process the expensive raw materials without wasting a strand.
Anyway, due to the professional item maker she hired, the entire process went smoothly.
“Gi-ryeo. You know the person who just came in, right? The one who appears on TV a lot? Anyway, he’s one of the top Awakening Artisans competing for the number one or two spot in the country, and since you asked, I was able to find someone like that—”
Seo-hyeong was subtly bragging.
He wanted to convey how respected he had become in the industry. He also somehow wanted to show off just how many amazing people’s contacts he had gained through this work.
“Hey, I once had an interest in running a workshop. So when that person came to the Association, I got friendly after asking a few questions.”
However, contrary to Seo-hyeong’s intentions, the listener, the alien, was only focused on a different aspect of the situation.
“I’m glad to see you satisfied with your job.”
Though the partner’s reaction seemed to suggest that receiving recognition through labor was joy itself, there was a slight emotional distance forming.
‘No matter how much they pay, how can a living being find vitality in labor?’
In any case, the Earthling, who had even jumped off a rooftop, seemed to be living well and smiling daily now.
What a good outcome.
His rambling thoughts didn’t last long.
Gi-ryeo’s gaze fell on the gloves placed on the workbench, which had been crafted with passion by two artisans.
Made from the skin of the One-Horned Monster, these leather accessories shone just slightly.
“Wow.”
They had accurately measured Gi-ryeo’s hand size before crafting these.
Moreover, they had even tried them on for size before sewing, so there wasn’t much to worry about.
“How do they feel?”
Gi-ryeo slipped his hand into the completed gloves.
He opened and closed his fist encased in the leather gloves, evaluating them.
“Good.”
Customer satisfaction was at a perfect level, with not a single modification needed.
Finally, the Great Mage’s new equipment was complete.
If the inner lining is caught in the PIXY-type analyzer, it might look something like this:
【Earth Gloves】
[Grade: ???]
An artifact so profound that even any appraiser couldn’t grasp a bit of its essence.
A genuine feast of miracles placed atop an Earthling’s knowledge.
As the sturdy, mammalian accessory settled onto the leather of his hand, the wearer thought,
‘Not bad!’
The black fabric he purchased in Japan was a fantastic canvas, perfectly compatible with a certain spell, as described by an Alphauri.
Just properly manifesting its form, even brushing the completed magic spell’s edge would absorb it like a sponge.
So, what would the companion spell that pairs with this fabric be?
‘The tactile feel is quite okay!’
Midnight Fragment.
It was actually a rather rare non-volatile information storage device even among the Alphauri.
In other words, the incredible miracles especially suited to that fabric…
‘Magic Memory!’
Finally, the item’s application was revealed.
The true power of the Midnight Fragment would only be apparent when wielding such abilities.
When embroidering the spell in Alphauri style, this fabric, resembling the hem of a night sky, would surprisingly allow anyone, even the most disadvantaged, to easily cast magic.
‘Speaking of which, there were similar spells on Earth, but the little issue is that those techniques only exist in games…’
The functionality of that technique was none other than magic storage and output!
Now Gi-ryeo could completely nullify anyone’s skill that touched these gloves.
Moreover, he could even spit back the absorbed power within 20 hours.
‘Mission accomplished!’
What he stored would vanish after a certain period.
Only one magic could be held at a time.
If the process was repeated too quickly, the small—quite literally small—magic circle on the fabric would alter, so he had to maintain intervals similar to 20 hours, and so on.
‘Could it be too small…?’
Due to the fabric found on Earth being quite limited, there were several constraints, but this was still a huge windfall.
Gi-ryeo, for the first time, opened and closed his gloved hands again.
Though the intricate memory-embedding spell he inscribed would be completely incomprehensible to Earthlings, the Midnight Fragment material itself might be recognizable.
However, the functionality appeared to be usable enough, so that was fine.
‘Oh right, they’ve been trying to cover the original equipment names with wrapping for items since this year on Earth. Maybe a new substance that an appraiser would find challenging to see has been discovered…’
Gi-ryeo headed to a nearby window to check how the completed gloves appeared on his hands.
Just as he was inspecting his hands using the window as a mirror, Gu Seo-hyeong’s familiar comment came from behind.
“Hey. You know, seeing you like that… you really look like the actors people talk about on the internet.”
Actors.
Such a sentence seemed vaguely familiar…
“Huh?”
More than that, it struck him that he was indeed a former child actor, saying this to someone else?
Gi-ryeo suddenly became curious and asked what that was all about.
To which Gu Seo-hyeong casually adjusted his round glasses and replied.
“What do you mean by looking like an actor? That’s a compliment.”
“A compliment?”
So it wasn’t a sophisticated insult implying that he looked like he could act well?
“Exactly which actor do I look like?”
“Ah, you seem like one of those actors that nobody searches for their name on the internet, huh?”
But the alien’s relieved feeling got all complicated again with Seo-hyeong’s following explanation.
“You kinda have that vibe, you know? Like the actor Wu○○ who recently played a Chinese human trafficker on Netflix…”
“Wu○○? Who’s that?”
“Y-You don’t know? What about Park○○? He won an award last year for playing a loan shark in a drama…”
“Park○○? Who’s that?”
“What? You don’t know them!? Well, do you know the character named Lee Chang? He was a member of an organized crime ring and that movie with him made millions at the box office…”
“Right, Lee Chang. Luckily, that’s one name I remember. But sorry, why do all those characters sound the same?”
What does that even mean?
The foreign magic scholar was bewildered by Earth expressions and wandered in confusion for a while.
“Ah~ don’t get me wrong. That doesn’t mean you look bad at all… how do I put it? It’s just the way the conversation went.”
“Huh? I wasn’t even thinking about it, but you just said my impression is bad first?”
“Huh.”
But there was no time to be dazed.
The appraiser in front of him quickly switched subjects.
“Ah, anyway! Now that the gloves are done, let’s go out.”
“Do I really look scary?”
“You keep nagging me after making the finishing enchantments and processing the One-Horned leather for free. I’m hungry, let’s hurry and grab something to eat!”
Kim Gi-ryeo, pushed along by Seo-hyeong’s urgency, started to walk without much thought.
In this process, he again checked if the gloves fit him well.
The wrist part was buttoned on these male leather gloves.
Wrapping something around a limb could be uncomfortable, but as long as he could exert strength…
“Huh?”
Just then.
Swish.
Before exiting the workshop, Gu Seo-hyeong turned around while controlling the security device.
He intended to ask Gi-ryeo about the meal menu but abruptly changed the subject upon seeing the scene before him.
“Wait a minute. You’re bleeding from your nose.”
Drip.
Some hunter was currently experiencing a small nosebleed.
Yet, the one being called simply went to the nearby restroom to quietly wash it off.
“It’s okay. I guess I’ve just been a bit tired this week.”
After all, just a few hours ago, his insides had suffered a counterattack from a coral’s revenge.
Is it worth panicking over a drop of blood now?
*
A serene atmosphere.
Beige-toned wallpaper.
And an Epic-grade air-purifying creature by the window.
Finally, he had arrived home.
To be precise, this phrase did not refer to the sophisticated luxury apartment where Jeong Ha-seong lived.
“Phew!”
This was a newly built studio, about 8 pyeong in size, similar to the old place.
‘Managing my health like this is no ordinary task.’
At present, I was far from the temporary residence set up by the top-ranking individual due to some circumstances.
What good would it do to inform the Earthlings how perilous the Divine Tree Sapling is?
‘Naturally, I need to be cautious when the latent period of the protective magic ends.’
Moreover, even if such reasons didn’t exist.
There were many restrictions on conduct in certain apartments where Jeong Ha-seong’s gaze landed.
The fundamental duty of a magic scholar.
To continue my studies, I needed to create a discreet personal space.
So, right after returning from Japan, I made various excuses to break free from that place.
‘I also needed to experience the housing market on Earth before buying a rental.’
The rent here is just over 500,000 won.
Besides, in this place, I could simply fantasize to erase traces no matter the situation.
‘As long as I don’t embed something like the Infinite Power Core, the maintenance cost here is honestly negligible…’
Perfect.
This was more than enough for a temporary hideout.
Thus, I looked over my newly acquired private space with satisfaction.
‘The movable bathtub is set up nicely.’
However, looking into the things I had to achieve in this studio, many familiar tasks among them popped up…
[To-Do List]
●Collect materials for solid-type appearance modification agents.
●Repay the price for the borrowed books from the city library.
In an instant, my lips turned downward.
As the schedule laid out shows…
That’s right. The items that couldn’t fit inside someone’s fallen studio contained all the research materials an academic could never retrieve from an item box.
But since those items had sunk within a barrier without even seeing Gu Chang-ho’s face once…
I found myself in a situation where I had to gather all the ingredients anew from square one.
“Gu Chang-ho, you jerk…!”
I instinctively cursed, but quickly collected my emotions.
“Ah, this isn’t the time for that.”
Time is money.
Thus, instead of reminiscing about the past, it was better to prepare for the future.
“Let’s see, I’m pretty sure it’s around this item box…”
Right now, I had new equipment made from fabric worth 100 billion won, and most importantly, I had now escaped the enhancement contract, which had been the biggest obstacle in my retirement plan.
However, even in this situation, it was still too early to run away to the countryside.
The arrival of the Ki-simche was too imminent.
To survive in this bizarre world, I had to finish the research on that main subject quickly.
●Find a means to stimulate Kim Gi-ryeo’s magic growth talent.
At this moment, there was one good piece of news.
In order to study the awakening attribute related to the possessed body, it was necessary to measure the daily amount of changing magic within.
‘Need to draw a few graphs too.’
Just a few hours ago, I got my hands on a great tool for this measurement in Japan!
I mean, they were selling a reagent that could accurately measure magic levels without the aid of PIXY machines at the expo in Tokyo!
Priced at about 800,000 won per session, it was still twice as expensive as a normal measuring device.
It requires drawing blood every time you measure.
Though organizations like the Hunter Association find it too easily influenced by the surrounding items.
‘What a long list I’m stacking up here!’
Most importantly, ordinary Awakened individuals hardly experience fluctuations in their magic.
‘They even gave me test tubes for gratitude after I bought a lot. Phew. I really struggled to get this here without breaking it.’
But however inefficient this trash reagent seemed to be, it was a true savior for me.
So, let’s test it right away!
‘I couldn’t even try it out for fear of revealing my F-Class status in Japan…’
Haha.
If the results differ when compared to machines later, I’ll just hire a lawyer and sue the seller.
With thoughts like that, I placed the preparation materials into the thin glass tube.
Colorful semi-transparent crystals.
Pure water.
And 2ml of the mage’s blood.
After putting everything in, I lightly shook the tube, turning the liquid a blue color.
Upon seeing this, without thinking much, I dropped a few drops of the completed liquid into the hole of the portable measuring device, following the Korean manual Japan provided.
[ Measuring . . . ]
But a few seconds later…
Beep.
“Huh?”
The display of the magic meter purchased in Japan unexpectedly showed numbers far from what I anticipated.