Making Equipment

The girl he'd spent so long hunting down.

Kang Jia — barely registered at rank 71,903. He'd found her.

Ninety-one points, and a virgin on top of it. With numbers like these, what was she even doing with her life, not climbing the Tower?

As if possessed, he registered her on the spot. The moment he did, her figure bloomed into existence before his eyes like a three-dimensional avatar.

"Huh."

Minwoo immediately regretted the impulse — registering a complete stranger the second he saw a good stat line — but the sight of her hanging in the air in front of him had him grinning anyway. It felt like a reward for all those days of staring until his eyes went dry, registering and checking, registering and checking.

The model that had appeared was detailed to an almost uncanny degree. He could scale it at will just by thinking — blow it up, shrink it down.

"Wow. She's actually gorgeous."

The admiration slipped out before he could stop it. Scaled up to life size, the girl in front of him was, without exaggeration, stunning. That Appearance score of 22 hadn't come from nowhere.

And an Automatic Virginity Protection Function, no less. He wouldn't even have to worry about some guy jumping her and taking her first time. This was a Virgin Bitch Shitty Gyaru ability — if she stopped being a virgin, the whole thing would be over.

Of course, the odds of him ever actually sleeping with her looked even slimmer, but the fact that she'd stay a virgin anyway was, ridiculously enough, a relief. You never knew. Maybe an opportunity would come along someday.

It was a little strange that remote registration had even worked when he barely knew who she was, but he decided to just be happy it had gone through.

Her model reflected the clothes she was wearing right now. She had on a surprisingly cute pair of pink pajamas. Late night — she'd been getting ready for bed, apparently.

There were two ways to view her: Reality Reflection Mode and Precision Inspection Mode. Reality Reflection showed whatever she was doing at that moment; Precision Inspection froze her in place like a character customization screen in a game.

Even her sleeping form was proper — lying straight on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her back, both hands folded over her stomach. Neat, finely cut features, and a sleep posture as well-behaved as that pretty face deserved. Everything about her looked beautiful, maybe because the face itself was so pretty.

He found himself wanting to see her naked. The pajamas melted away, and her nude form appeared in front of him.

"Wow."

Shapely, pretty breasts and hips with just a hint of bone. Her chest and ass ran small, but even the dainty nipples and the modest little patch of pubic hair were lovely.

"Heh heh."

He had no idea what kind of person she was, where she lived — he'd never even heard her voice — and looking at her naked body sent a deep, dirty thrill through him. At least he knew she was real. She was registered in the rankings. He wasn't just staring at a hallucination.

Even the way she breathed, slow and even in her sleep, was rendered in perfect detail. The whole thing felt deeply strange. He couldn't see her surroundings or where she lived, but he could examine every last pore on her skin. It was as if the entire focus of the world had narrowed to her alone.

A quick search turned up that she was just a college student. Honestly, only hunters who'd cleared the hundredth floor and beyond were famous at a near-celebrity level; anyone below that barely registered. Even so, she was pretty enough that someone had put up a fan site — for a rank-70,000 hunter who'd barely cleared the thirteenth floor. He was reminded, once again, how much social standing a pretty face could buy. The site didn't look particularly well maintained. More like someone had thrown it up and left it.

And he could look at a woman like that in complete, intimate detail.

He grinned like a pervert, stared for a long while, and then finally remembered to check his own ability. Now that he'd registered a person for the first time, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a list of craftable equipment unspooled beneath her name.

"Uhh..."

Every single equipment name was bizarre.

So that was Unique Equipment for you. You didn't wear it — it transformed the body.

Equipment that rewrites someone's body? Does that even count as equipment?

He'd expected something crude, but this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was viler than he'd imagined. He had no idea if it could be put on and taken off, or how any of it even worked. He'd never heard of remotely equipping gear from a distance, so he wasn't even sure if he'd have to physically deliver it.

He selected the pubic-hair piece at the top of the list.

"Whoa."

It doubled her current total Stamina — and the materials were a goblin fingernail from the first floor that went for three copper, and a lowest-grade mana stone that went for ten.

Gear like this... for that kind of chump change?

Not real cash — you used the gold, silver, and copper coins you earned in the Tower. One copper coin was worth about a hundred won. A thousand copper made one silver. A thousand silver made one gold. Roughly speaking, one gold coin was a hundred million won.

And right now, he was looking at equipment he could make with materials that cost three copper and ten copper. For any hunter who was serious about climbing the Tower, this was the kind of performance that would make their eyes roll back in their head.

He had no idea what the girl who'd have to wear it would think, but the performance-to-cost ratio was undeniable. The price was turning a beautiful woman's body into something perverted. A shame, but what could you do.

But why do I even have to use this ability? Doesn't this just end with one woman's body getting wrecked?

He hesitated for a moment — and then, on the other side of that hesitation, it felt like he'd been handed the most entertaining toy in the world. If she ever tracked him down and asked why he'd done this to her, the only answer he could give would be that he'd just... done it.

Besides, equipment didn't have to be bought and sold between people. There was a system marketplace for it. People just didn't use it because it was expensive and inefficient.

He figured he'd craft some gear, sell it off, and spend the rest of his time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠watching her. To his own surprise, it felt as though he'd found something he'd never once considered — a joy in living. A reason to live at all.

I should at least try making one piece. Should I just do it now?

The hesitation didn't last. He sat up from where he'd been lying down and headed out. He started walking, then impatience got the better of him and he broke into a run toward the Material Shop.

"What the...?"

Her model wouldn't disappear. It just hung there in the air around him. He had to shrink it down to about the size of an eight-inch figurine before he could move. Having it float in his field of vision the whole time was annoying, but he had no idea how to turn it off. If the manual didn't mention it, maybe it couldn't be turned off at all.

He gave up on the spot, did his best to ignore it, and slipped out of the goshiwon — creeping along, then breaking into a jog, careful not to let anyone see.

He didn't bother going all the way to the player-run Exchange. He just needed to reach a zone where the Material Shop was accessible. Luckily, there was a Material Shop zone not far away<|eos|>