Chapter 194
Chapter 194
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: 42. Seoul's Flute-Playing Strong Man (3)
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“Tax-free……!”
Hearing the welcome word midway through, Young-woo spread his eyes and arms wide, and right on cue, the green guide line flashed.
Flash!
And then.
Screeech!
The heart in question shot down rapidly from the end of the sky.
The Reset System's reward for defeating Seoul's first dragon, the Poison Dragon Im Gwang-ho.
‘A dragon's heart... it can't be a real heart, right? Probably a talisman or something like that.’
Even as he thought this, Young-woo was suddenly overcome by an ominous premonition.
Whoosh!
The dragon's heart that finally appeared before his eyes looked exactly like a ‘heart’.
Thump, thump!
The new heart, descending along the green guide line and stopping at eye level, was disrupting the surrounding air with its tremendous pulsing force.
Its size was enormous, as if it had just been freshly extracted from the dragon's body.
Thump……!
“W-what is this? You don't mean they actually brought a real heart, do you?”
Young-woo stared at the heart larger than himself and asked Kubu, who rolled his eyeball around.
―That is correct. The dragon's heart is preserved in its original form, and if desired, it can be processed into a talisman.
Talisman.
Just as Young-woo had expected.
But……
“…What if it's not processed?”
Unable to hold back his curiosity, Young-woo asked, and Kubu blinked his eye.
―An unprocessed dragon's heart becomes body equipment and can be installed via transplant surgery.
“Eek…….”
In other words, like the spine he had equipped through that horrific process last time, the dragon's heart could also be implanted into a human body.
Thump, thump!
“…….”
Young-woo stared blankly at the still-pulsing dragon's heart.
The bulging heart muscle inside was encased in a greenish metal shell, making it look almost like a car engine at a glance.
‘...Putting that thing in my body?’
As a fundamentally human being, Young-woo felt a vague fear rising, but at the same time, curiosity welled up.
What on earth would happen if he put that in his body?
“The equipment effects... would be better unprocessed, right?”
―Correct. The dragon's heart is most powerful in its unprocessed original form, and converting it to a talisman disables its unique function.
“Unique function? What's that?”
Young-woo tilted his head and asked, and Kubu rolled his eyeball upward toward the sky.
―A function that generates special weather based on the heart type.
“What?”
Young-woo’s mouth fell open upon hearing the answer.
In short, implanting that green heart in his chest would allow him to unleash a virulent poison storm.
“No, then original form it is. Let's go unprocessed.”
Young-woo pointed at the massive heart and said, and Kubu requested confirmation once more.
―It can only be equipped via surgery. Will you receive it unprocessed?
“Yes. Pain passes if you endure it, but if you process the heart, you can't undo it, right?”
―Understood. Processing for original form receipt.
With Young-woo's final approval, Kubu's pupil flashed.
Flash!
Immediately, a new tooltip appeared in Young-woo's vision, and the massive heart began shrinking to fit the wearer's body size.
「Poison Dragon's Heart」 - Legendary Heart
【Virulent Fangs】
【Corrosive Blood】
【Heart Fusion】
“…The makeup alone is extraordinary.”
The heart's tooltip already looked ominous.
As Young-woo focused on the unique effects listed, the details lined up below.
Flash!
【Virulent Fangs】
|Adds 10% of total attack power as poison attribute damage.
【Corrosive Blood】
|Blood mutates to become corrosive.
【Heart Fusion】
|Fuses with hearts from other dragonkin.
“Whoa…….”
Young-woo carefully reviewed the impressive effects of the new heart.
‘This is practically alien-level……?’
Adds 10% of total attack power as poison attribute damage.
And blood mutates to corrosive.
Impressive on their own, but Young-woo was already looking beyond.
‘Does that mean if I hunt another dragon and fuse its heart, I get another 10% attribute damage?’
Of course, a fire dragon would be fire attribute, thunder dragon lightning.
Either way, if it really stacked like that, 10% damage boost per dragon type.
In the extreme, ripping out hearts from ten types would double his attack power.
And above all, this.
‘10% of total attack power... so it applies to everything, whether doping or conditional buffs.’
With varied attributes, it would counter enemy resistances less often too.
‘In the end, it means keep hunting dragons to upgrade the heart.’
Dragons were something only he could handle anyway, so Young-woo couldn't be more satisfied.
The only drawback—if it could be called one.
‘...Surgery takes time. Better do it during a big surgery for safety.’
Young-woo unwittingly recalled Kim Jeong-gu's twisted expression.
The guy would flip if he volunteered for heart transplant after the spine.
“This can just go with me now, right?”
Young-woo pointed at the heart still floating in midair, and before Kubu could answer, the golden goblin reached out.
-Kit!
It grabbed the heart with both hands and tossed it into the subspace pouch.
“…….”
Young-woo felt strange watching the heart he’d implant tonight get chucked around, but he stayed quiet for now.
‘It’s a dragon heart; it won’t dent from a little tossing.’
With the heart sorted, next was the main task: acquiring the coordinate scanner.
“Merchant ready? Open the trade.”
At Young-woo's order, Kubu rolled his eyeball once more.
―This trade's brokerage fee is 10%, included in the item price. Total of 6 merchant groups have bid.
―Would you like to see the bidding merchant list and proposals?
“…Huh?”
Surprised by Kubu's words, Young-woo blinked, and Kubu widened his eyelids in tandem.
―...Is there a problem?
“No, not a problem... but the merchants haven't started trading yet?”
―Correct. No trade history exists, so merchant selection is available.
‘What? Whoever came here first didn't touch the merchants.’
Of course, they might have moved to the next area before the merchant appeared.
Merchants didn't spawn right after killing mutants, after all.
Either way, with two wanted items available, Young-woo was thrilled.
“Six merchant groups, though? Today's been weird from the start.”
―As Jeong Young-woo's legal rating rises rapidly, the range of accessible merchant types has expanded.
“Ahh…….”
Meaning those six groups came specifically for Jeong Young-woo, not to trade with other Earthlings.
“Then you can prioritize my convenience in the selection process, right? I won't even ask to cut the fee again.”
Young-woo hinted at a threat-not-threat, and Kubu blinked rapidly.
―State your desired convenience, and I'll do my utmost within possible limits.
“Good. Nothing major.”
Young-woo said this, then gazed somewhere beyond the sky where the merchants were probably waiting.
“Only keep the ones with coordinate scanners or martial arts.”
In other words, Kubu, go filter and bring the merchants yourself.
―…….
Kubu stared at Young-woo for a moment, then his eyeball flashed.
―As you command.
He couldn't refuse the man who’d recommended him for the tax accountant spot.
This was the price of the personnel favor.
Following Young-woo's order, Kubu blinked rapidly for a while, then summoned someone into the black light pillar behind with apparent success.
Rumble!
Pink light streams began pouring down from the far sky.
The light instantly dyed the pitch-black merchant mark.
“Wh-who's this flashy entrance?”
Young-woo unwittingly stepped back and asked, and Kubu replied in a strangely proud tone.
―Couldn't find a coordinate scanner, but secured a martial arts merchant group instead.
―This trade partner is the Pilgrim Caravan of Sadun.
“Pilgrim Caravan...? So they're religious folk?”
But selling martial arts......
While Young-woo looked puzzled, three massive merchants in long hoods appeared from the top of the pink-filled light pillar.
Each seemed five or six meters tall, their full-body robes unable to hide the bulging muscles beneath.
‘Those are... pilgrims? For religious pilgrimage?’
―Will you proceed with the trade? Item list is ready.
“Y-yeah... let's see it first.”
Young-woo nodded hesitantly, and Kubu blinked wide to display the item list.
Sshhh!
As usual, the list started from blue blotches and quickly formatted into human language.
1 ― 「Harsh Punishment」 - Relic Spear Technique
【Denies distance to sinners.】
◇ 310,500 Karma
2 ― 「Faithless Loathing」 - Unique Sword Technique
【Boldly wield the rod to awaken faith.】
◇ 776,000 Karma
3 ― 「Divine Call」 - Narrative Archery
【If faith is sufficient, even arrows can reach the gods.】
◇ 3,940,000 Karma
“……?”
Item descriptions as unhinged as Rom's prisoners.
‘...Is this right? Burn 3.94 million on tooltips like that?’
Of course, judging by the ‘Floor of Rom’ the prisoners sold, the martial arts were worth it.
And above all.
‘Archery could be useful long-term. Even against dragons, first task was knocking them from the sky.’
* Available Karma: 5,214,500
Current holdings: 5.2145 million karma.
Just as Young-woo finally decided to buy ‘Divine Call’ after agonizing.
Clank!
A metallic footstep sounded from behind, followed by a young man's voice.
“Freeze! Don't touch the goods. That merchant's mine.”
“Huh……?”
Young-woo turned at the unexpected provocation, and a never-before-seen title entered his view.
『Gyeonggi First Sword』
Gyeonggi First Sword.
“Ah.”
Seeing the opponent's title, Young-woo realized many things at once.
So that was the guy who’d completely wiped out the Justice Bureau on his way.
‘Not some average joe, huh?’
Young-woo inwardly admired the opponent's two-meter height.
Meeting a fully invested First Sword at this stage was rare.
But that was that.
“Why the informal speech?”
“……?”
“Who do you think you're talking to like that on first meet?”
Young-woo said this, habitually leaping down from the four-eared deer.
Fwoosh!
And then.
“Gasp?”
His ankle, not fully regenerated, buckled on landing, and he faceplanted.
Thud!
Seeing this, the Gyeonggi First Sword finally let out a confident chuckle and drew his sword.
Shing!
“Thought it was something with ‘Joseon First Sword’ written there... turns out it's a retard?”
The Gyeonggi First Sword dared to raise his blade, pointing alternately at Young-woo's two slaves.