Chapter 41

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 41

Chapter Title: Special Gift

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The moment I laid eyes on the double-edged axe and felt destiny calling me, I declared that I'd take it.

Hyun-gyu bro readily agreed, then whipped up a custom case to make it easy to carry and handed it over.

"A summoner taking a double-edged axe like this, and you're not asking a single question?"

"Because you said you want it, I trust you enough to just hand it over. If it was anyone else, Ga-ram here would've found some way to squeeze them dry."

"Hyun-gyu, come on~ Even if we tried, it'd just be sharing the method to meet the binding conditions or hyping up the rarity of it being ego gear to jack up the price~!"

"See?"

"Uh… thanks?"

"No need to thank us. That was the deal from the start anyway. Honestly, it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠felt kinda lame handing over what amounts to dead stock as 'repayment'."

"We wanted to give you some gear we'd actually crafted ourselves, so that's a bit disappointing."

Ah, come to think of it, they said this double-edged axe was just gathering dust in the corner of their warehouse?

Depending on how you look at it, passing off toxic inventory as a gracious favor could come across as pretty shameless.

But my take was a little different.

"Don't worry about it. The real main event today isn't for me—it's making gear for our little Arin. Right, girls?"

"This is Lulu, Daddy-nya's firstborn daughter! Thanks for making my cape-nya!"

"I'm Arin, Daddy's second daughter! We're here to make gear for me today! Please make something cool for me too, just like my big sis Lulu!"

"…Daughters?"

"Roon's…?"

At my call, my two daughters shot up their hands like they'd rehearsed it and launched into their introductions.

Hyun-gyu bro and Ga-ram watched in stunned silence for a moment…

Then they lost it, spouting complete nonsense.

"Roon, just to make sure… you and the teacher aren't…?"

"No way, hyung. I'm only 23."

"Ha-rin said dating was a hassle and she'd never do it… but behind our backs, she must've been at it nonstop to have two little angels like these…?"

"No, it's not like that! Lulu and Arin are like daughters I birthed in my heart… spirits, basically…"

"It's okay, Roon. I get it. We're the same kind of people. Teacher must've pounced on you first, right…? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠You couldn't say no, so every day…! Urk…!"

"That cheater Ha-rin! Always whining about how nauseous it made her to see me and Hyun-gyu together! Turns out she was sneaking around having fun the whole time?!"

"Please… both of you, rein in the delusions…"

To rein in their meltdown,

I spun a plausible excuse blending truth and fiction…

"You found an egg born between a monster and a spirit in the Tower?"

"Yeah. I cherished and nurtured it, and out came these two."

"That's why one has a shark tail and the other a tiger tail? They're both so adorable~!"

"That's right-nya! Lulu is cute-nya! I'll let you pet my head as a special thank-you for the cape-nya!"

"I'll let you touch my tail too once you make my gear!"

"Oh my god. How can there be such angelic kids in this world?!"

"Roon… I suddenly want a daughter…"

"You can do it, hyung. Hang in there."

Maybe because neither of them could ever have kids of their own,

they gazed at Lulu and Arin with eyes dripping honey.

Soon enough, they promised to pour their all into crafting the best gear possible and asked Arin what she wanted.

And Arin replied,

"I want magical girl gear that shoots out tons of water!"

"Magical girl gear?"

"The kind that lets you transform like the magical girls on TV!"

"Lulu wants that too-nya! Make me hero gear that turns me into Puss in Boots-nya!"

With eyes sparkling, she begged for magical girl transformation gear.

Lulu jumped in, pleading for hero gear too.

I was about to gently talk my daughters down—"Even so, that's a bit much, girls…"—

But just then,

"If we shape it like a wand…"

"For the water function, we can enchant a sea gem into it~!"

"Then for the wand materials, water-aligned stuff mixed with a bit of mithril sounds good."

"Yeah, yeah. That'll give the best efficiency."

"What about Lulu's transformation gear?"

"Just add an enchant to her cape~ Shouldn't take more than a day, even if it's tricky?"

"Then… roughly three days to get everything done."

Surprisingly, the two dove right into seriously brainstorming it.

Including mods to Lulu's cape, they gave a firm yes—they could finish in three days.

"Hyung, you can really make this?"

"More than enough. It's not our first time making transformation gear, so we know the tricks. Just need the materials, and it'll be quick."

"You know the tricks?"

"More climbers than you'd think have a fantasy about transforming~ And it's surprisingly practical, so it's pretty popular."

"…Really?"

…Honestly,

I'd thought about getting a cool transformation belt or something myself.

Guess the saying "everyone's the same" holds true.

I wasn't the only one.

'Maybe I should ask him to make one for me later…?'

Of course, not in front of my daughters and Ga-ram—that'd be embarrassing history.

I'd sneakily ask Hyun-gyu bro alone later.

With promises to pick up the transformation gear once it was ready, we exchanged goodbyes.

Then we left the workshop, hopped in a taxi, and headed home.

"Going out was fun-nya!"

"It was so much fun!"

Once home, it was lunchtime, so we pulled out the pre-made rice, ate up, and finished our meal.

While my two daughters succumbed to food comas, snoring "Gororong~", I decided to check out the axe from Hyun-gyu bro.

Hmm… Infuse your own fighting spirit and succeed in validation?

I get the infusing part,

but what the heck does "succeed in validation" even mean? No clue.

"Guess the best way is to just try it myself…"

Problem is, using fighting spirit right now might make my heart explode.

So first things first, I need to brew and chug a heart-strengthening potion.

Which brings us to this:

"…I'm too damn curious to wait."

Today's original plan was climb the Tower, brew something for Karin, then make the heart potion.

But with the girls napping and time on my hands, I figured I'd peek at this axe's secrets and brew the heart potion early.

"Time to grab materials."

Logging into the gallery exchange,

[Intact Ogre Heart] - 1,100,000,000 won

"1.1 billion?!"

I searched for the ogre heart Dr. Park mentioned yesterday to buy it,

but reeled back at the absurd 1.1 billion price tag. A quick gallery search explained why:

Rumor had it eating an ogre heart raw boosts male virility, and the price had nearly doubled.

"Rich bastards and their money-burning…"

Who the hell torches over a billion on an aphrodisiac?

No wonder they say the rich get up to even crazier shit.

Anyway,

Wiping away bloody tears, I shelled out for the now twice-as-expensive ogre heart,

Skipping the familiar steps, the recipe that popped up was…

"What? Why's the recipe like this?"

No need to buy extra materials.

It was a simple recipe using stuff I already had registered.

For reference, Lulu and Arin's blood got registered because they're such vigorous girls—they play rough a lot.

Scraped knees, loose teeth, shed fur or scales now and then.

I always felt bad just tossing them, thinking "Might come in handy someday," so I registered them as materials. And now was that day.

But still,

"Now that I'm actually gonna use them… feels kinda iffy…?"

A recipe using my daughters' blood…

Last ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time with Arin, I could blame it on the '[Censored]'s Scale Fragment.'

But this was purely my choice, so it felt like I was committing a sin.

I agonized over it for a while—"Should I? Shouldn't I?"—

Finally settling on "They're just gonna get tossed anyway, so whatever~!!" to ease my guilt.

I lit up the Emerald Cauldron and got brewing.

Bubble bubble bubble-!

……■■…■■■….

"SS+ grade?"

…Why?

I didn't even amp up the potency.

The materials were pretty standard… Wait.

Right, now that I think about it…

[Traits]: [[Censored]'s Body (Sealed)] [Radiant Transformation (B)] [Cute Shark (A+)]

…I'd forgotten because she's such a pure soul, but

Arin is a homunculus born from [Censored]'s scale fragment.

A potion using her blood… Is it really safe to drink this?