Humanity's Greatest Invention

A white lab coat, and dry, messy black hair.

Deep dark circles were carved beneath her eyes.

In stark contrast, however, her eyes were shining with intense brilliance.

Was this what Archimedes looked like when he shouted "Eureka"?

She grabbed my hand tightly and asked,

"What on earth is that thing?!"

"Huh?"

"This is a technique that modern magic engineering couldn't even dream of!"

I glanced at her nametag.

Yep, researchers are definitely a different breed.

"Chief! The owner is Hunter Sera's friend! You can't just run up to her like that..."

"Ah, oops. My apologies. I am Kim Hana, the Chief Researcher of the Baekho Guild's Artifact Research Department. It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"Yeah, hi. So, what's the problem?"

"There is no problem. In fact, it's so outstanding that that's the problem. Of course, it is slightly damaged, but..."

This was pretty interesting. It was surprising enough that they could appraise a wand here, but...

"This wand is a revolution for the magic world. The circuits, the craftsmanship, and even the size."

"Is it really that good?" Sera said, lifting my wand to inspect it. "It doesn't look like much..."

"Did you say your name was Yumia? Would you happen to be willing to sell this wand? This will revolutionize the magic world!"

At her words, the surrounding researchers all stared at me with eyes full of anticipation. But I had to use that wand. If I were to give it up, it would only be after I squeezed every last drop of value out of it by using Dragon Mana three times. Besides, there was a fundamental issue.

"That's an SSR-grade, though. Can you guys even afford it?"

"W-What?!"

"An SSR-grade?!"

Shocked screams erupted from the surrounding researchers at my words. An SSR-grade. Lately, with all the talk about UR-grades and whatnot, I had lost my sense of scale. But in reality, even R-grade artifacts were incredibly expensive. SR-grades were primarily used by A- to S-rank hunters, and even lower-tier S-rank hunters couldn't easily get their hands on an SSR-grade.

Only Kim Hana managed to keep her composure, falling deep into thought. "Hmm... Still, with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠our budget, we might be able to purchase it... How much are you thinking?"

"One hundred billion won."

I threw it out as a joke, but...

"Deal! Let's buy it right now!"

"You can't do that, Researcher Kim Hana! The government has been cutting budgets left and right lately, so we aren't even getting our funding!"

"We barely have any magic-type hunters! Hunter Sera and the Guildmaster are both melee-types, so what on earth are you thinking?!"

"Shut up! This is a revolution! I'm approving this payment right now—!"

"Grab her! Who the hell made her the chief?!"

"Who else?! The Guildmaster!"

"Whoa, they're actually fighting."

As expected, there's no entertainment quite like watching a good fight. A chaotic tangle of white lab coats was desperately trying to hold her back from executing the budget.

Sera slipped over to my side and whispered, "Are you really going to sell it?"

"No way."

Aside from the fact that it was an SSR-grade artifact, modern money didn't mean much to me right now. And fundamentally, wands were insanely expensive even in the other world. If I wanted to buy one officially, the money I made from selling spices wouldn't even come close.

"Then why did you say you'd sell it?"

"Because it's fun."

How could I possibly resist stirring the pot?

"Sigh..."

Still, seeing that kind of reaction... Maybe once I had plenty of gold later on, I could buy another one for a few dozen gold coins and bring it over. I slipped the wand—which someone had quietly handed back to me—into my Inventory and turned around to leave.

"Ah! Yumia! Wait a minute!" Kim Hana came running after me.

"What is it?"

Honestly, I had already gotten everything I wanted. Since the appraisal was done under Sera's name, it didn't even cost me a single cent.

"Could you... could you show us your ability just once?"

"Huh?"

"We do research magic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to some extent! We can analyze abilities too!"

"I thought you guys mainly focused on melee-types?"

When I asked, another researcher spoke up with a wry smile. "Researcher Kim Hana is a bit of an anomaly. She's a genius who has produced results in research using mana analyzers, regardless of the field."

"If you show us, we'll show you our other artifacts! They're all custom-made, and if there's anything useful, we can let you have it cheap!"

"Really?!"

This was a much better offer than I expected. I was actually curious about what other kinds of artifacts existed. When I had visited the artifact shop before, I had only looked at swords and wands.

"Let's go!" Kim Hana led the way.

"Wow. Money really is the best."

The place we arrived at was a training room reserved exclusively for A- to S-rank hunters. It was about half the size of Reinhardt's central outdoor auditorium, but the facilities were on a completely different level.

Kim Hana spoke into a walkie-talkie. "Please prepare one B-rank durability target."

At her command, the floor slid open, and a robot-shaped target made of green ore rose up.

"The target automatically retracts and repairs itself, so feel free to fire away without holding back," Kim Hana said with a smile. She looked perfectly at home in a facility like this, but I was gaping like a fantasy villager visiting a modern city.

Wow, allocating a training room of this size to just one person...

Just then, Sera picked up a remote control and pressed a button. Within seconds, a white, pillar-like device rose from the floor. Sera reached in and grabbed something from it. Looking closely, it was a blue drink in a disposable clear plastic cup.

"What's that?"

"This? A hydration drink delivery unit. It delivers pretty much anything, so I just use it like a vending machine whenever I come here."

...What? Just how far had human technology advanced?! The slight regret I had felt earlier began to swell.

Maybe I really should have registered as a hunter.

I thought back to the place where I used to practice. Compared to that, this place was heaven. But my pride was a little too bruised to bring it up now. I wondered if they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would offer again.

"By the way, Yumia, do you have any interest in joining our guild? Anyone who owns an artifact of this caliber is more than qualified," Kim Hana asked right on cue.

Nice! Now all I have to do is play hard to get and then join—

"Don't even bother. She's incredibly stubborn about playing solo," Sera chimed in.

Wait, what?

"Even as her friend, I barely see ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her face once a month. She'll probably never join a guild."

"Ah, my apologies. It would be rude of me to push any further, then."

Ah.

Now it's going to be super awkward if I say I want to join!

Sigh... I had no idea guilds had it this good. I'd have to bring it up subtly later. With that thought, I chanted my spell.

"Casting, Bullet."

In less than half a second, my Basic Attack Magic fired at maximum output. A small explosion echoed. As expected. Even though I had significantly lowered its stability, it only managed to partially damage the B-rank target.

"Sigh, I guess I really need to learn Beginner Magic."

With a better wand, the casting time for firing at maximum output had decreased dramatically. However, without adding extra commands, destroying a B-rank or higher target in a single shot was difficult. When I looked over at Kim Hana, she had an incredibly intrigued expression on her face.

"...You said you were a magic-type hunter, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There's no delay when you cast your magic?"

"Is there supposed to be?"

"Usually, even the fastest takes a few seconds. That's why tanks are essential."

High instantaneous firepower, but slow activation speed. ...But if someone at our school used magic like that at this power level...

"They'd get cursed out and kicked out of school."

"...Pardon?"

"Don't worry about it."

Just imagine telling Karnaroff that it takes a few seconds to cast an attack spell. You'd be guaranteed a harsh lecture along with a mountain of homework.

"And the projectile speed is so high... No, but then the flexibility should be lower..." Kim Hana muttered to herself before asking, "Is this your maximum output?"

"Yep."

If I fired using Dragon Mana, the firepower would be incomparable to this. But that was a crazy technique that traded my bank account's survival for raw power. It wasn't something I could just use whenever.

Just then, a commotion broke out in the data room.

"Hana! Come over here, quick!"

"A mana loss rate of only one percent?! This makes no sense!"

"Just what grade of ability is this to achieve something like that?!"

...?

I opened my status window.

My Basic Attack Magic, which had quietly climbed up to SSR-grade, greeted me. I closed the status window.

There was a saying Karnaroff repeated until his throat went dry: Basic Attack Magic is the most magnificent magic among all existing offensive spells. Honestly, I thought he was just gaslighting us to make us do our homework. I guess he wasn't.

"Yumia! I... I really want to analyze this magic! Would you be willing to come here just once a month and cast it for us?" Kim Hana said, rushing out after checking the data.

"What are you even going to do with the analysis..."

"We analyze first and think later! Starting with the mana injection pattern!"

Surprisingly, her approach was correct. If they could research the mana injection pattern of Basic Attack Magic, they could apply it to other offensive spells. But it sounded like a hassle.

"I'm asking as a favor too. Our guild is a bit lacking when it comes to skilled magic-type hunters," Sera said, walking over. Hearing her explanation, it seemed like the ratio of melee-types here was much higher than healers or mages.

"Hmm... What can you give me?"

"You said you needed a training manual for healers, right? I can get you that, plus honorary guild membership."

"Oh?"

That was tempting. But that alone wasn't enough to move me.

"I'll give you any of the prototype artifacts I've developed that I'm allowed to hand out!"

Oh? Now that caught my interest.

"Let's go look at them right now."

"This way, please!"

The artifact testing room seemed to be right next to the training room. We moved there immediately.

I scanned them with my Observation Eye as we walked. This was the great thing about Observation Eye—I could get a rough estimate of what they did just by looking at their names. ...But what on earth was that first one? I decided to ask Sera first.

"Do you happen to have any cooling devices?"

Honestly, part of the reason I came here was to kill time, but a bigger part was to prepare for the summer heat. Honestly, with Aris's mana and mine, we could easily power a cooling device. I didn't need an air conditioner; even an artifact similar to a fan would do.

Kim Hana seemed to have overheard me. "A cooling device? We don't have anything like that... Ah! But this might be a decent substitute!"

The item she brought out was:

"I'll do it."

"Pardon?"

"I said I'll do it. Let's sign the contract."

It was a far more incredible item than I could have ever imagined.