The Grade Magnifier

Grade 044 brings fresh news. The community has introduced a new conceptual standard for summons—an overhauled grading system. The old method had serious flaws. [If a distinctive change occurs, the grade rises.] Simple, yet flawed. Since everyone had different ideas about what counted as “change,” some users inflated grades recklessly. The indiscriminate race for higher numbers turned into nothing but a numbers game. All of it stemmed from the Stage 4 challenge. After all, it hardly mattered if some user you’d never meet padded their summon’s grade. But once people began seriously competing for superiority, a standardized grading system became essential.

One user seized the opportunity and made a fortune. Keeping their nickname hidden, they created the Grade Magnifier and obtained the right to sell it in the Shop. The price was a reasonable two gold. Two gold could buy a meal for a user who had fallen behind in Stage 4, yet the magnifiers sold like wildfire.

The magnifier’s use was straightforward. You looked at the target through the lens and activated the item, and numbers would appear in the form of [Base Grade / Current Grade]. I bought five of them myself.

Honestly, I’m curious.

I was on break. I had sent Nareun-i off to hunt ghosts while the rest of the zombies dug beneath the auditorium. After some light exercise, I was idly browsing the community when I learned about the magnifier. Spending ten gold on a passing whim? I had already burned five gold on the red hat Baengnae was wearing. In the end, since I had achieved self-sufficiency in food, I had almost nowhere else to spend gold.

“Bangsil, come here.”

“Master called!”

Bangsil had been playing around. I had tried sending her with Nareun-i, but she was refused. While the monkeys were easy to control, Bangsil would wander off chasing butterflies the moment you looked away. She was another attention-seeking zombie who needed her brain fed.

“All right, Bangsil. From now on, we’re going to find out your grade.”

“G-grade?”

“That’s right. So stay still.”

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠raised the magnifier and peered at Bangsil. She leaned in from the other side of the lens.

“G-grade…”

The magnifier’s greatest advantage was that it calculated the grade while taking every skill and Soul Engraving into account. Its drawback was that it ignored intelligence. That was why many complained that only simple, physically large creatures received high grades. Still, it was far superior to the previous system.

“Bangsil, you’re 7th grade.”

“I’m seven!”

Seventh grade was the average for regular troops belonging to top users in Stage 6. Considering how little I had invested in Bangsil, I could feel just how massive the effect of the vampire giant had been. For Stage 4 standards, Bangsil was essentially at the peak.

“You can go now.”

I sent Bangsil off. She would probably wander around bragging that she was 7th grade. I tried the magnifier on a laborer zombie digging nearby. It had a monkey’s face.

Right after becoming a zombie from a corpse it had been 2nd grade, then after eating corpses and training hard it reached 3rd grade.

This must be the norm.

I tried it on the monkey king zombie right beside it.

As expected of a higher entity, its initial grade was higher than the others, but its current grade ended up the same. Unless it was an overwhelmingly strong individual, it might be more efficient to strengthen already-zombified creatures rather than hunting down and infecting new ones.

Checking grades turned out to be surprisingly fun. I could understand why even users who weren’t participating in the challenge bought magnifiers.

I might get addicted.

Then my eyes fell on Boots, leaning against the wall and eating meat. Since it had no limbs, a monkey was feeding it by hand. It looked exactly like a sick old man in a nursing home. I used the magnifier on the limbless patient.

Huh? Its base grade isn’t 1.

Boots had been created by throwing ten dwarf zombies into the well. It seemed special summons adjusted the initial value. Even after feeding it a Soul Engraving, it was still only 5th grade, which confirmed that Grasping Pincers was indeed trash.

Good. Then let’s check the last one.

I looked toward the small zombie in the corner munching on the human-faced bird and rock crocodile I had brought as snacks. I hadn’t been curious about the others. I hadn’t invested much in them, so I hadn’t expected much. But how high is that glutton?

I approached Baengnae and held out the magnifier. She looked up at me while chewing noisily, then thrust the hind leg of the human-faced bird she was holding toward me.

“Chicky nyam-nyam?”

“No thanks, you eat it.”

I activated the magnifier.

Hmm…?

The blurred number wasn’t a bug. The creator had announced that anything above 10th grade required the ten-gold Advanced Magnifier. The seller knew how to rake in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠money. That meant Baengnae’s current grade exceeded 10. I had more or less expected that. The real question was something else.

Wasn’t her base grade 5? Fifth grade was the same as Boots’ current grade. I had clearly seen her struggle against the dwarf prisoners. She had no memory of any special summons after that. So logically, her base grade should have been the dwarfs’ initial grade of 1.

“Chicky madda. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Nyam-nyam.”

Did I get a defective magnifier? Or perhaps eating something had triggered a special evolution. I had no guesses. She grows stronger by eating, so maybe she undergoes special evolution by eating too…? That might be possible…

Rumble—rumble—

While I was pondering, a series of noises came from the hole the zombies had been digging. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠work was finally finished. Since the base grade wasn’t that important, I decided to move on and check the higher-grade artifact instead.

Following the sound, I found a hole in the floor. It was a little too small for me to enter, so a bit more work was needed. From here on, it seemed better to do it myself.

“Everyone, step back.”

I pushed the zombies aside and began widening the hole with the rock gauntlets.

Crash! Crash! Crash!

Rumble—rumble—

Crash! Crash!

Then I must have hit the wrong spot, because cracks spread across the floor and the surrounding area began to collapse. I shouted in a hurry.

“Whoa? Whoa, whoa! Everyone back!”

Rumble—

Thick smoke rose. Coughing sounds came from all around. Finally, as the dust settled, a massive hole five meters in diameter was revealed.

“Oh, this way we don’t even need to light a fire. Actually, this is better.”

No one had complained, but I said it anyway, feeling oddly guilty. Still, it really was fortunate. Thanks to the collapse, the special artifact underground was now fully exposed.

Though buried in dirt and stone, it looked like some kind of altar. Six giant skulls stood back-to-back, guarding a red crystal the size of a small car. I checked the artifact’s information.

An infinite skill duplicator…?!

The effect was certainly tremendous. It supplied unlimited skills every forty-eight hours—the kind that mid-grade artifacts only gave when activated. If I hadn’t had the snake bracelet, I might have made this my camp and stayed in the area for a while.

Taking this apart and carrying it around would be impossible, right?

Countless ways to utilize it flashed through my mind, but I suppressed my greed. There would be other high-grade artifacts besides this one. If I got drunk on the profit right in front of me and missed greater rewards, I would deserve to be called a fool. Leaving my regret behind, I brought the storage device to the crystal and activated it. If I hesitated any longer, I might start thinking about waiting the full forty-eight hours.

The gauge dropped by roughly twenty percent as a large chunk of energy was sucked out.

Whirr—whirr—

The skulls rattled and moved. Slowly turning one hundred and eighty degrees, they raised their arms into the air and struck the crystal simultaneously.

Crack—

The gem shattered into pieces, dyeing the air entirely red. The statues that had struck the crystal crumbled into dust. The red fragments gathered together and formed two small fruits. They looked just like cherries.

Baengnae’s mouth fell open as she pointed at her own lips with a finger.

“Baengnae’s?”

“Wait a second, let me think.”

“‘Kay.”

I fell into thought. Giantification was a skill that suited anyone. In short, it increased body size, which meant a rise in all stats. After careful consideration, I reached a conclusion.

“Let’s give them to the dogs. I’ll have to send them out again, and it would be troublesome if they died somewhere.”

“Mmm, ‘kay.”

I took the fruits and stepped outside. In the distance, Nareun-i was returning after finishing the ghost hunt.

Perfect timing.

I called Bangsil over as well and handed each of them a fruit.

“Fruit from Master!”

“Thank you for the meal.”

Because the fruits were small, both of them swallowed them in one bite without chewing.

“Bangsil, try it first.”

At my words, Bangsil twitched, then began to grow steadily larger.

“Ooh… Bangsil’s getting huge!”

Pop—rip—riiiiip—

Bangsil’s clothes tore completely apart, turning into rags. An unexpected expense had just occurred.

“Ah! The clothes Master gave me…!”

“Ah… I didn’t think of that. I’ll buy you new ones later. First, let’s check the results.”

Setting the clothing issue aside, the outcome was excellent. Her height, once two meters, now exceeded three meters, and her bulk had roughly increased by 1.5 times. Since her speed remained the same while her volume grew, her strength must have risen dramatically as well. Converted into combat power, it was an enormous boost.

An excited Bangsil ran around wildly. Every time she took a step, the ground shook with a heavy thud. At this level, she could single-handedly annihilate a pack of monkeys.

“So this is what a high-grade artifact does…? If I found just two of these, it would be ridiculous.”

Having seen Bangsil’s case, I gave Nareun-i an additional order.

“Nareun, take your clothes off before you do it.”

“Yes, Master.”

At my command, Nareun-i removed her top and bottom and neatly folded them nearby. The items from the Shop weren’t worth much gold, but there was no need to waste them pointlessly. When Nareun-i used Giantification, she achieved the same result as Bangsil. Her overall body size increased by 1.5 times, and her physical stats exploded upward. I smiled in deep satisfaction.

“With this, we’ll be fine no matter what happens.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“Master’s the best!”

I bought a Grade Magnifier and used it.

Just by gaining one skill, her grade had risen by two whole levels. Considering how growth slowed as grades increased, the effect was tremendous.

Sweet… way too sweet.

Then my gaze drifted to Boots, leaning against the wall and being fed meat. Zombies each had their roles. Boots’ role was to be the somewhat dim-witted one in charge of the group’s size. But that position had just been completely stolen. And at that moment, a voice that might save Boots reached my ears.

Eight hours had passed since the cat disappeared. Now it returned, full of excitement, without anyone knowing where it had been or what it had done.