Lord Angel Will Carry You!!
Once I had her firm confirmation that she would join the guild, I went ahead and destroyed every last one of her penalties.
I had wondered, briefly, what would happen if an enhancement actually succeeded — but thankfully, that 3% never hit.
Mimic an opponent's ability and use it as your own.
That was all that remained of Seo-yoon's ability now — a single line.
Seo-yoon kept staring at her status window as if she could not quite believe what she was seeing.
The penalties were gone. Might as well put the ability to actual use while we were at it. Call it an experiment.
"Cornel, can you throw up a barrier for a sec?"
"I told thee not to casually abbreviate this body's esteemed name!"
What am I supposed to do when your name's that long?
Corneline grumbled, but she still raised her Prism Barrier just as I had asked.
"Alright. Try copying this."
If she could copy even an EX-rank skill, didn't that mean she might be able to copy my enhancement ability too?
"I'll give it a try!"
Her confidence restored, Seo-yoon imitated the Prism Barrier. A soft, rainbow-hued field of light began to wrap around her body.
"It is identical to this body's barrier!"
This cannot be! This body has lost its very identity!
Corneline clutched her head with both hands and wailed.
Is that really something to be this upset about?
Just as Corneline's inner voice had declared, Seo-yoon was presenting a perfectly identical barrier. The performance should be the same as the original too, right?
I shot Mitsu a look, and she gave the barrier a light slash.
Kak!
"It is no different from Lady Corneline's barrier."
"Good. You feeling okay?"
"Yes, I'm perfectly fi—"
Thud.
The barrier shattered into pieces, and Seo-yoon, still mid-sentence, suddenly collapsed.
"What the— Are you okay?"
"I-I'm sorry. It feels like all the energy inside my body just emptied out in an instant."
The moment she finished speaking, a status window appeared.
The body has exceeded its limits.
Entering Exhaustion state.
There was nothing wrong with the Copy ability itself. The problem was the user's body. Copying a high-rank ability had overloaded her.
"What a picky ability, even checking the user's physical stats."
"Ugh, let me just lie down for a bit..."
And with that, Seo-yoon passed out cold.
If I'd been a combat class, that would've been me, right?
Thank god I had awakened as a production-class blacksmith.
"Mwahaha, how fortunate! This body's power is not so easily stolen!"
I gave the cheerfully laughing Corneline a solid noogie.
"Gack! Why dost thou strike me?!"
Why? Because you're fanning yourself next to someone whose investment just tanked!
"Hah... How am I supposed to raise her physical stats."
She was definitely a dip-buy. But it looked like I was going to have to pour in a little more investment.
Combat classes, get lost lmao
The great Lady Ha-neul says she needs more blacksmiths
So please just let me in at least
Actually I have no idea, just recommend me something to eat
If you're a combat hunter who came sprinting in after seeing the title, smash that upvote lmao
Wait. I get that you're mad.
But is getting angry here really the right thing to do?
I think the best thing you can do in this situation is hit recommend so as many people as possible see this post.
I'll wait for your good judgment.
I had revised the guild recruitment notice, and sure enough, the gallery's reaction was on fire. For the time being, even pouring every bit of support into Seo-yoon alone still felt like it wouldn't be enough.
After checking the gallery, I leaned back in my chair. I still hadn't come up with a decent way to raise her physical stats.
"When you look at other combat hunters, they zip around like they've become superhuman."
It had been the same in the Tower clear videos on YouTube. Didn't combat hunters have some other method of growth?
Suddenly curious, I searched it up online — and found the answer. If that was how they grew, I could help her plenty.
"Hasn't she woken up yet?"
"I've been watching her, but there's no sign of her getting up yet, sir."
Unddung, who'd been dumped with the grunt work by Corneline and Mitsu, was checking on Seo-yoon's consciousness. Half a day had already passed. If she was still out cold, just how hard had she pushed herself?
Exclusive Weapon crafting is now available.
"Oh. The Exclusive Weapon cooldown's up?"
Well, I had used it at almost the same time as the Fortune Tracker, so yeah — it was about due.
"It's really available! It's my turn this time, sir!"
"Alright, alright."
I gave him a vague answer and turned Unddung's Opportunity into an Exclusive Weapon.
Attack Power +150
Agility +80
"It got a little curved?"
It had been an ordinary dagger, but once it became an Exclusive Weapon it took on the shape of a scythe. The attack power had jumped high, and as Speed converted into Agility, the stats had risen significantly as well.
"The weapon name got cooler too. Want to try enhancing it?"
"Ah, you can't, sir! My weapon will explode, sir!"
I have to protect my Exclusive Weapon, sir!
I had only been poking at lucky Unddung's reaction a little, but he looked that horrified — which meant it would definitely explode. Guess Exclusive Weapons are better off waiting until I've gathered the enhancement materials.
Mitsu had a word for Unddung as he begged me not to do it.
"It is the Princess's choice. Lay down thy weapon, goblin."
"Then shall we try enhancing Mitsu's weapon?"
"This humble one is far too unworthy of the Princess's grace."
The moment I casually asked, Mitsu started reading the room and backing away from me.
Why are you running? I thought it was the Princess's command!
"You're really not curious about the Exclusive Weapon skill?"
"Not curious, sir. I'm fine, sir."
I could have tested whether it granted a separate skill at +1, the way Mitsu's Exclusive Weapon had. Shame.
"Ugh, where is this..."
Maybe it was because I had been making so much noise with my familiars — Seo-yoon came to and sat up, rubbing her eyes as she pushed herself upright.
"You okay?"
"I'm sorry. I feel like I've been nothing but a burden from the start."
She said it with her head bowed low.
"You don't need to apologize."
I had looked it up. Apparently if you killed monsters inside the Tower, your EXP went up.
"Just go hit the Tower once with Corneline."
Mitsu and Unddung had cleared Hard Mode with me, so their entry cooldowns hadn't refreshed yet.
"Which floor are we going to?"
Hmm. What difficulty would be about right? Corneline would be with her, so even Hard Mode should be no problem.
"I think Hard difficulty Floor 7 should be simple enough."
"Sim...ple?"
Seo-yoon echoed it back at me, looking like she had not understood a word.
"This body could accomplish it with ease even alone!"
I was planning to look incredibly cool taking them all down by myself, I'll have you know!
"It's fine, Seo-yoon. You don't have to do anything — just stay inside the barrier."
"Then what should I do?"
"Corneline will take care of everything~"
I looked over at her, and Corneline puffed up with pride.
"Mwahaha! Naturally! This body shall carry thee!"
What's with this kid. Where did she even learn the word "carry"?
"I shall borrow this for a moment!"
Saying that, Corneline turned on a stream with my phone.
"Corneline, return the Princess's phone at once!"
Mitsu tried to stop her, but Corneline blocked her effortlessly with a barrier.
"Thou need only film this body with the phone from within the barrier!"
The moment the stream went live, Corneline warped to the Tower — dragging Lee Seo-yoon along with her.
"This one has no face left to show the Princess."
Because this humble one was negligent in her supervision...
Mitsu blamed herself for failing to keep Corneline from snatching my phone without permission.
"It's fine. Mitsu, can I borrow your phone for a sec?"
I had no intention of scolding Mitsu, and I wasn't even that annoyed at Corneline. If anything, I was curious how she would handle the stream she had wanted to do so badly.
"I shall present it."
I opened the live stream on Mitsu's phone.
The monster on Hard Mode Floor 7 was a nine-headed Hydra. It unleashed all manner of magic — fire, poison, lightning — but...
Just as I had expected — not a single attack was getting through.
"Mwahaha! Behold, mortals! This is this body's divine authority!"
"Watch closely, mortals! This is the punishment that befalls those who defy Lord Angel!"
Corneline pointed a finger at the Hydra. A magic circle opened above its heads, and a moment later...
A violent flash of light — then nothing but ringing silence through the stream.
When the light faded, the Hydra had crumpled lifelessly to the ground.
"Divine Retribution Descends."
"Coolness Confirmed."
Corneline declared it with absolute confidence. The only blemish was that she collapsed limply the instant she finished saying it.
"What in the world is that, sir?"
We were all thinking the same thing as Unddung.
"...So this is the Heavenly Punishment she's been hiding all this time?"
It was an unbelievably powerful ability — but seeing her drop immediately, it had clearly been too much.
Wait. Hold on.
The original purpose I had forgotten, thanks to Heavenly Punishment's sheer impact, came rushing back.
"She got the EXP, right?"
If she doesn't get EXP just because she didn't land the last hit, I'm gonna cry, okay?