Chapter 8

You Can’t See Me (5)

“30%……No, I willl give you 40%”

At the H*lk mask’s generous declaration, he unhesitatingly disassembled her worth. H*lk mask watched him while exclaiming at his high level disassembly technique that moved as if he became one with the mantis’ scythe. Of course, the others weren’t like that.

“That woman! She’s definitely Empress. She became a lot weaker but its 100% her with that lightning bolt!”

“She came to school today. She’s a student, right? Look at that body figure.”

“Quiet. If you get close, then you’ll get struck by lightning.”

“That’s what I want!”

“……But who in the end is that Ir*nm*n?”

As the citizens that they should protect had killed the monsters, the soldiers also stood there dumbfoundedly watching them. The second lieutenant-looking leader was also giving a report while deeply sighing, and the soldiers were all busy sneaking at the H*lk mask’s body figure, while calling her Empress and worshiping her.

He pitied the soldiers, who became soldiers in less than 1 day after 10 years of being in other worlds, but honestly, it wasn’t something that Yu IlHan could care about.

“And so, who’s that Ir*nm*n?”

“Oh yeah, now that I think about it, what was that attack technique? Did he shoot a beam from his palm?”

“Wasn’t it an axe?”

“He just swung the monsters around, though?”

Yu IlHan’s concealment skill was at a point where it half-distorted reality. He became very willing to tackle every one of those humans speaking nonsense, but he suppressed it and swung the scythe. From the fly’s ass, a magic stone emitting faint light flew into the air.

“Finished.”

Yu IlHan, who splendidly caught that in mid air clicked it towards the Empress and passed it. She received it before politely nodding her head.

“Thank you.”

The 40% worth was already taken by him under the negotiation with the Empress. Their greetings ended and transaction had ended so what was left was just the parting. The Empress put her spoils of were inside a bag she prepared beforehand and started walking after turning back.

“W, wai……Kek!”

Perhaps having received an order from the higher-ups, the second lieutenant approached her, but he solidified after getting struck by a weak lightning before he even approached 3 metres close to her.

He lightning, which could delicately stop movement to make someone stay away without injury, was running at the peak in regards to not only power, but control. If God looked at this scene now, then he would probably shout ‘Yes, I sent humans other worlds to see this!’

The gallery, who saw this, whispered to each other.

“Amazing.”

“Looks painful.”

“He must feel good.”

“He got a struck by lightning from the Empress, he must feel good……”

“I want to try getting struck too……”

“Are there only perverts here!?”

Immediately after the Empress left while attracting the gazes of the people, Yu IlHan, who organized his spoils of war, also stood up. He peeled the pillbug’s carapace to use it as a make-shift tray and piled the carapaces on top of it. The 4 desk legs were disposed of a long time ago.

People should start running at him soon, too. It would become a pain to carry his spoils of war out amidst that chaos. But it wasn’t like he could throw away the monster by-products. so what could he do?

Yu IlHan fell into panic like the time he was asked ‘do you like mother, or father?’ from his aunt when he was 5 years old.

However, his agony was meaningless. It was because when the gazes that focused on the Empress turned back to the original position, they couldn’t see Yu IlHan’s figure.

“Whoa, where did he go?”

“Amazing, he must have run at a speed we can’t see.”

“SungDaein Bolt……!” (T/N: Sung – Sungkyunkwan, Dae – uni, in – can mean ‘person’, and also a part of Usa’in’)

“SungDaein Bolt!”

Yeah, I knew this would happen.

Even though the situation went as he wanted, Yu IlHan couldn’t hide his complicated emotions. Especially, the fact that the second lieutenant was looking for Yu IlHan with a serious face but couldn’t find him, was heart-aching.

He left through the crowd of people while pouting. It was because he wanted to eat his mother’s food.

The time he recognized that he left his bag in the lecture room, was after he came down to the bottom of the hill.

That day, when he came back home (of course, he went back to get his bag), after Yu IlHan ate dinner with his mother, who greeted him overly delightedly due to the monster incident at the campus which was broadcasted to the whole country, and his father, who came home with a scared face due to some incident, Yu IlHan left his house quietly after locking the door while pretending to sleep inside his room. (T/N: Super long sentence… so hard to TL)

In his hands was a bag which contained the carapaces of the insects he hunted that day and some tools.

[Where are you heading?]

“Anywhere secluded.”

In truth, nights nowadays were all without human figures. It was because the nervousness of Korea, especially Seoul, reached the extreme due to the monsters that brazenly invaded the college campus in the afternoon.

He placed himself inside a random neighborhood playground and spread the carapaces out on the floor.

Yes. He came out to make some defensive equipment himself befitting of Yu IlHan, who couldn’t stay still without doing anything.

“As expected, it it a bit insufficient to make an armor? Moreover, it’s non-metal too…… It should be possible to make if it’s just the wrist and knee protectors.”

He wanted to make an armor by whatever means possible but insect carapaces were too hard to handle. As it wasn’t like he could melt it and process it like metal, so he had to go with a making a DIY furniture feel rather than a blacksmith feel.

But, Erta became worried even at that simple process.

[Monsters’ byproduct’s characteristics are very hard to handle. It’s better to not touch it rashly as there is no proper craftsman on Earth yet.]

“What are you saying?”

Yu IlHan retorted while wearing the work gloves.

[Oh…… Ritaaaaaaaaa!]

Erta seems like to like Rita a lot – Yu IlHan uninterestedly muttered before taking out a saw from the bag and started working. But Erta, who was watching him cutting the carapace with resignation, spoke.

[Even so, you were in a world without mana so you don’t know about mana crafting, right?]

“What is that, that awesomely strong sounding name!?”

[It refers to to putting a special power inside a defensive equipment or armor using mana crystals, including magic stones. In other words crafting artifacts.]

“Teach me!”

Yu IlHan’s eyes burned with passion for new knowledge and technique He lifted Erta up before placing her in front of his eyes and shouted as if to hypnotize her.

“Teach me!”

[You’re close, too close! I will teach you so put me back on top of your head!]

He obediently placed her back on hish head. Erta was taking deep breaths to forget Yu IlHan’s face, which came close to the point that she was about to get swallowed up (physically), and spoke.

[As the generalization of the process of making defensive equipment and armors using mana, which is not only on the physical body, strictly speaking, mana crafting is a concept that developed from blacksmithing.]

“I can’t do blacksmithing even if I want to right now. First, tell me the method to create an artifact.”

[Do I owe you something?]

“Teach m……”

[I said I will teach you!]

She would preach a grand sermon to Rita to manage her man properly when she goes back to heaven!

[The ingredients are the materials to create the armor and magic stones, or some other mana crystals of similar characteristics. For example, there would be a dragon heart.]

“Don’t use something so grand as an example. It makes my heart pound.”

Yu IlHan took out the magic stone while complaining. Erta continued speaking.

[First the basic form. You create the gear while putting the magic stone near you. After this process, called ‘synchronization’, and finish creating the gear, you then grind the magic stone into powder to apply it on the gear’s surface and wait for it to absorb.

“Then?”

[That’s it. Artifact masters call this ‘finish’.]

“What finish when it hasn’t even begun! I cannot acknowledge that as work!”

Erta’s words continued as if she predicted that Yu IlHan would complain loudly.

[Of course, there is an applied form. It’s a method used to bestow a special ability and not stopping with just raising the defensive equipment, or the weapon’s capacity.]

“Yes, you should have taught me that!”

[However, this method is not only very difficult for you, it also requires quite a lot of magic stones. Also important is the will of the craftsman.]

“Tell me first.”

Was he really a human who lived for 1000 years? With Yu IlHaan, who was stubborn like a short fused kid, in front of her, Erta spoke while carefully selecting her words.

[It’s the same until the synchronization part, but it goes through a process to bestow a directional nature onto the magic stone. This process is called the ‘bestowal’.]

“And to bestow a directional nature?’

[The easiest is for the craftsman to use mana, but even without, you use another magic stone to bestow a will to the magic stone.]

Will. Yu IlHan softly muttered.

[If you want the wielder to become stronger, then you wish for that, and if you want the person to become faster, then you wish for that, and if you want the person to have the ability to defend against fire, then you wish for that, and if you want the person to have the ability to emit fire, then you wish for that. The level of that ability will drastically differ according to the quality of the magic stone, the mana of the craftsman, and the craftsman’s will.]

And so, it was hard for the current Yu IlHan, Erta spoke as if she deemed as such.

It was because whether it was the quality of the magic stone, or Yu IlHan’s mana, or Yu IlHan’s will, in her eyes, it wasn’t above the lowest level.

As Yu IlHan also knew that he didn’t ask her back. Instead, he spilled out the magic stones inside the bag and silently entered work.

Knee guard to protect both of his knees, and wrist guards. He randomly cut, sanded, holed, sanded, connected with a strong leather rope, and sanded.

It was easy to think that it was crude due to being a product of a simple work, but the protectors that Yu IlHan made were created to fit him, so it looked quite, considerably good.

It wasn’t satisfying in an angel’s eyes, but Erta had no choice but to acknowledge the fact that the equipment he made transformed splendidly to the point that it would be hard to recognize it was once a part of a monster.

After creating defensive equipments, Yu IlHan neatly powdered the rough magic stones, which went through synchronization, and applied it on each of the protectors.

Despite being a process that he had never done since he was born, all of his movements were extremely efficient and neat. It was to the point that the angel, Erta, thought ‘elegant’ while looking at it.

[Is it a familiar process?]

“It’s not that, but I realized after doing a lot of things until now…… the fact that labor is just finding the trick.”

[If you didn’t say that at the end, it might have sounded cool.]

He spoke as if it was a joke, but that was a huge realization for Yu IlHan. He acquired the ability to see through the most efficient process and apply it in real work no matter what he worked on. It was a power that was applied to not only just simple labor, but smithing, disassembly, and martial arts.]

Erta was laughing at it, but if she knew the meaning behind the words Yu IlHan said, then she would be shocked. This was an absolute power which cannot be materialized even as a skill.

[You’ve learned mana crafting!]

The ‘basic form’ knee guards and wrist guards were completed. Erta was dumbfounded while looking at it and muttered.

[You’ve really made an equipment like this even with those shabby materials……With this level 27, no, you may even be alright in confronting level 30 monsters. Considering your fighting ability, then it should be sufficient.]

“It’s not over yet. There’s still magic stones left.”

Magic stones were definitely left. And it was the biggest one of them, the soybean sized one, and about 4 millet sized ones which paled in comparison.

Erta instantly realized after looking at components. He was challenging ‘applied form’ right now.

[It’s impossible.]

“I’ll try it as experience.”

Yu IlHan also didn’t assure himself that it was possible currently. He was assured that he would be successful some time, if he kept trying.

Yu IlHan achieved success until now like that. Alone, he did all of them.

This was Yu IlHan’s life.

Erta, who realized that Yu IlHan didn’t have any thoughts to stop, shrugged her shoulders and didn’t interfere any further. It was because that the equipments that were already finished were products that surpassed her imagination, and that throwing away some magic stones like that wasn’t that important in regards to safety.

At that moment, Yu IlHan took out something from the bag. The only part which was not carapace from the spoils of war. It was the Big Mantis’ scythe.

[……What are you trying to do?]

“Just watch.”

On one hand, he held all the millet sized magic stones, and on the other, he held the left wrist protector, Big Mantis’ blade, and the soybean sized magic stone.

While looking at Yu IlHan’s incomprehensible actions, Erta questioned if he understood what she spoke or not.

Regardless of whether the angel thought that or not, Yu IlHan focused with closed eyes.

‘By using the mana of the magic stone……will……!’

The millet sized magic stones started lost their light and crumbled apart one by one. Yu IlHan didn’t understand well about mana yet, but this process helped him feel mana more clearly.

He concentrated more, fearing that he would lose the faint feeling that he caught onto.

‘Scythe…..like the mantis……!’

The millet sized magic stones eventually all disappeared. However, the soybean sized one, which was on the brink of failing, seemed to emit light before the scythe started emitting blue light as if to respond to it.

[……Ah, perhaps?]

Erta, who knew what was happening by then, ended up thinking that it was disappointing for his attempt to fail just like this.

‘Eii. I don’t know anymore.’

She flowed a tiny amount, a really tiny amount which was unnoticeable by Yu IlHan, in to the protector. At that moment, the soybean sized one flashed brightly before it disappeared with the scythe.

What was left was only the left wrist protector.

[Mana crafting increases to Lv2!]

[Did it fail?]

“No.”

Yu IlHan confidently replied before equipping the wrist protector and tightening it.

After confirming that he equipped it properly, he exhaled shortly and rushed towards one of the swings which was swinging near him.

He brushed past it without coming into contact.

However, the moment he brushed past the swing, the two chains that connected the swing were severed and the swing was buried into the sand.

Yu IlHan posed himself immediately and raised his left arm.

[Oh.]

“You see it, right?”

From the middle of the protector which completely covered the wrist, sharp scythe protruded out at a 90 degree angle to his arm. A sharp scythe which would stay hidden normally and would pop out when he wanted. This was his intention.

“I’ll get busy.”

[Although I did provide some mana, I didn’t know that you would be successful in crafting an artifact for real. You’ve realized its possibility so you will indeed get busy.]

“No, not that.”

Yu IlHan quickly organized his belongings and put his bag over his shoulders. Then started running hard.

“I broke the swing so I gotta run!”

[I will use a recovery magic so get over here right now!]

Yu IlHan still haven’t let go of his habits to treat things roughly, which he acquired during his dropout days.

Author’s notes

The reason I’ve mentioned the university name is for the Sungdaein Bolt pun! (Really)

Mana crafting is in fact a type of a similar magic.

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The staff…Erta fixed the broken swing later.

I have something to say to the readers.

It’s about the question I asked you in the last chapter! It’s not about the length of the chapter T^T. No, honestly, you’re saying that the last chapter and the one before that became pointlessly long due to the lack of ability from the author? The chapter may get longer or shorter from normal according to the story’s development. Of course, it’s a problem because it keeps getting longer nowadays…T^T

What I can promise you is enough ‘volume of the story’ which wouldn’t be cut absurdly in the middle of the story! Everyone, please trust in me and follow me!!

Although I may not be able to reply to every one of the replies, I am reading all the comments 2 or 3 times! The reader’s precious opinion, I won’t ignore it! Then I will come back tomorrow at 6 PM!