Engraving
I let out a long breath.
After stepping out of the shower, Cheon Ma-ru stood there getting ready to head out, lost in thought.
“So… you don’t like me.”
That had been her answer when he asked if she liked him. She didn’t hate him, but she didn’t like him either. Considering how hostile their relationship had been at the start, it was still a massive step forward.
“Looks like I’ve gotten pretty good at lying too.”
He had deliberately given her a slightly roundabout response. He’d said they hadn’t known each other for very long. He never once uttered the words “I don’t like you.”
For him, it was a first. No one had ever looked at him with such sincerity before. His ex-girlfriend had always compared him to someone else and torn him down. Looking back, there had been subtle signs even before he awakened. He’d just been too blinded by love to notice.
“Ah, so that’s why my sister hated her.”
Now that he thought about it, his older sister had never liked his ex. She never gave a clear reason, so he’d assumed she was just picking a fight. But now he realized she possessed incredible insight.
“Still… this is probably for the best.”
Even if he confessed his feelings right now, she wouldn’t accept them. That intuition hit him strongly. If she really had gotten pregnant, they might have ended up married somehow, but he would never have won her heart. He didn’t want a relationship like that either.
It felt a bit like he’d become a pushover, but the heart was honest. Even if they never became lovers, he still wanted to grow closer to her.
“Hey! Are you making clothes or what?!”
“I’m coming right now!”
He would take it slow. Rushing things would never lead to a good outcome. He’d take it easy. Let things melt into place naturally.
“Haa… it’s already starting to get hot.”
The weather had grown increasingly warmer after midterms. It felt like the planet was losing its mind.
“Should I buy some ice cream on the way?”
“Who’s supposed to store it?”
“Your house, obviously. My fridge is always packed.”
Even after what happened yesterday, our relationship hadn’t changed. We had gone from blackmailer and victim to next-door neighbors, and now we shared this strange bond where we’d slept together once.
On top of that, today’s academy was genuinely dangerous.
‘You two have something going on, don’t you?’
‘…No?’
‘Liar! The vibe between you is totally different now?! Right, sis?’
‘Well… I’m not sure…’
His older sister might not have noticed, but Kim Chae-eun was throwing out incredibly strong suspicion. She might have already been convinced in her heart. Still, at least we hadn’t been caught yet.
…That’s what I wanted to believe.
“So, have you decided what elective you’re taking?”
“Hmm… not yet. I’ve settled on the production path, but there are too many options I like.”
Even within the production class, there were subdivisions. Production workers were usually called artisans. There were weapon artisans, armor artisans, and accessory artisans. And within those, there were countless choices—swords, spears, blades, bows, shields, maces, gauntlets, and so on. The options were overwhelming.
In truth, a huge number of awakened eventually ended up in production roles. It required less raw talent than combat, and above all, magic power capacity wasn’t that important. It only affected maximum output and speed; magic power had no bearing on quality.
And the most important point was safety. No matter how superhuman your strength became, you only had one life. Not many people could endure a battlefield where weapons and spells flew back and forth and blood sprayed everywhere. There were countless hunters suffering from PTSD.
“But can’t you just learn everything? Wouldn’t it be better if you could make it all?”
“Are there any combat hunters who can handle every single weapon by themselves? It’s the same idea.”
“There is, though?”
“…There is?”
“The guild master of Mirinae Guild is a Weapon Master. That person can use every weapon.”
That person used a gauntlet that could temporarily create any weapon they wanted. I think it was called Black Galaxy. Due to its nature, you had to be able to handle every weapon to use it properly, and that person had actually pulled it off.
“They can’t match me when it comes to swords, but their skill with other weapons is probably better than mine. I only know the basics of the other weapon types.”
“Whoa…”
Ma-ru let out an impressed sound, clearly surprised. That person really was something else. Their fighting style had a certain cool factor to it.
“But that’s not what’s important right now.”
“Huh?”
“Instead of choosing a weapon, I need to decide whether I’ll become a blacksmith or an engraver.”
“Oh, right.”
When you broadly divided the production class into two types, they split into blacksmiths and engravers. Blacksmiths were artisans who performed primary processing—using magic stones, monster byproducts, or special dungeon loot to shape the base form. Engravers were artisans who performed secondary processing, granting special effects to already-formed equipment.
“I don’t even know which one I have more talent for, and I like both.”
“Hmm…”
It was a common dilemma, but that made it all the more difficult. A situation where every option appealed to you so much that you couldn’t choose. The kind of worry no one could answer because everyone faced it.
“I did consider learning both, but I’m not sure if that’s the right choice.”
“I think learning both would be good. I’ve heard that when a blacksmith and an engraver have conflicting opinions, the equipment can turn out weird.”
If you could do both by yourself, that problem would disappear.
“That’s how the owner of Hephaestus Workshop in Europe does it.”
“Exactly. That person can make every weapon, armor, and accessory.”
“Want me to introduce you sometime?”
“…Huh?”
“My sword was made by that person. I have a personal contact.”
My sword was a Korean ring-pommel sword. It followed the traditional form of Korean blades. Of course, it wasn’t one hundred percent historically accurate—the shape was based on tradition, but the finer details had been customized for me. Because of the various things connected to my sword, I stayed in occasional contact with that person.
“…You scare me sometimes. Moments like this make me feel like we live in completely different worlds.”
“Hehe. How does it feel walking beside someone like that?”
“Feels awesome.”
“Well, if you want, I can arrange a meeting. I was going to have to meet them about weapons anyway. That said…”
I looked at him with a slightly more serious expression.
“In the end, career decisions are something you have to worry about and decide for yourself. You know that, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good. I’m proud of you.”
For some reason, it felt like I was looking at a grown child. Even though he was older than me.
“By the way, is there something wrong with your sword? Why do you need to meet them all of a sudden?”
“It’s not sudden. We meet regularly. My sword is a bit special.”
“Special?”
“Do you know what material my sword is made from?”
“No.”
“The Heart-bone of the Apocalypse.”
“…”
The boss monster from the X-rank gate didn’t have a fixed form. It wasn’t like a slime with fluid, changeable shapes. It was more like it had every possible form. To be precise, its appearance changed every time you looked at it. A giant dragon, an angel with eight wings, a tidal wave with eyes, a pitch-black child—there was no single form you could pin it down to, so it was simply named Apocalypse.
And from the heart of that Apocalypse, along with the bones that surrounded and protected it, a portion had come to me. My sword, Baek Wol, was forged from those bones.
Incidentally, my alias came from this very sword. Since I hid my name, people started calling me by my sword’s name, and it eventually stuck as my title.
“The reason we meet regularly is to try engraving runes onto this sword.”
“Wait, your sword doesn’t have an engraving yet?”
“To be precise, we couldn’t engrave it.”
High-ranking hunters all used items with engravings. They weren’t short on money, after all.
“The interesting thing about this sword is that its wave pattern is almost identical to that of a living being. You know, right? Engravings can’t be applied to living creatures.”
“…”
“They say the sword isn’t technically a living being, but either way, it doesn’t have an engraving. That artisan hates leaving their work unfinished, so they’ve been trying desperately to engrave it and complete the piece.”
“So you’re using an unfinished work?”
“Yeah. But even as an unfinished piece, it’s already top-tier S-rank equipment.”
The reason was simple. It was incredibly sharp and incredibly hard. In terms of pure edge and durability, it couldn’t be compared to any other equipment. Its magic conductivity was also top class.
“That’s why I meet with that artisan about once every three months. We try to engrave it. We’ve only failed so far, though.”
“I see…”
It looked like Ma-ru’s mind had wandered off somewhere. Not liking that, I asked him directly.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Huh? Nothing…”
“Don’t give me that obvious lie. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but if I’m asking, at least pay attention, yeah?”
“Sorry… It’s not anything major.”
He didn’t seem to want to hide it and answered obediently.
“Can I ask you one thing?”
“What?”
“You said engravings don’t work on living beings.”
“Yeah. Didn’t you know that? What were you doing in elective class?”
I thought he was focused in class. Was he actually spacing out?
“No, that’s not it… Look at this.”
“What the… huh?”
Ma-ru rubbed his arm and then showed it to me. An unbelievable phenomenon was occurring there.
“Why… is there an engraving on a human body?”
Unique Talent: Living Engraving
Status: Active
A permanent runic effect has been engraved directly onto living flesh.
Violation of World Rules Detected.
