Chapter 12
Chapter 12
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Sealed Memory
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[You have cleared the quest.]
*Step, step—.*
‘It’s still glowing.’
*Swoosh—.*
Do-jae picked up the shattered mana stone.
Even though it was broken into dozens of pieces, each one still held a glimmer of light.
Normally, the moment a mana stone shatters, it loses its stability and rapidly disperses its stored mana into the air.
Mana wasn't like an element or an electron; it couldn't be contained once it started to scatter.
However, whether it was the nature of this particular mana stone or for some other reason, these fragmented pieces still held their mana.
‘Huh?’
*Vmmmm—.*
Just then, the pieces of the mana stone he had scooped up began to vibrate among the dirt.
*Scrape— scrape—.*
The fragments shifted slightly.
Like wriggling earthworms, the pieces of the mana stone slowly moved in a specific direction.
And then.
*Fwoosh—!*
"Ugh!"
The mana stone settled on the back of Do-jae's hand.
The pieces had reassembled into their original form and were now emitting a brilliant light from his skin.
"My hand… the back of my hand…"
Do-jae clutched his hand and collapsed.
It felt like his skin was on fire.
No, it felt like it was being shredded by a knife.
Was this what it would feel like to have chili powder and salt rubbed into an open wound?
The pain was so intense that he tried to scratch the mana stone off with his fingers, but it wouldn't budge.
*Flash—!*
The mana stone unleashed a blinding light that seemed to swallow its surroundings.
When Do-jae, who had squeezed his eyes shut, opened them again, the pain was completely gone.
"What in the world… Is this the quest reward?"
A jade-colored mana stone was now visible on top of his Golem Armor.
While the Heart of the Golem was hidden when the armor was equipped, this stone was embedded as if it had always been a part of it.
"Deactivate."
*Crumble—.*
He cut off the flow of mana to the Golem Armor.
The mana stone on the back of his hand gradually faded, then scattered like dust.
The dust traveled up Do-jae's arm, over his shoulder, across his chest, and disappeared near his heart.
"Ha. This is like a magic trick."
Sensing a change, Do-jae immediately opened his skill information to check the description.
[Skill]
Skill Name: Golem Armor
Level: 4
Classification: Active
Description: Forms the Golem Armor with the Heart of the Golem as its core. The Golem Armor is influenced by the user's stats and skill level.
Mana Cost: 4+α
Resistance: Sonic Waves (50%)
Orb: Sealed Memory of the Right Hand
"Sealed Memory of the Right Hand?"
The level of his Golem Armor had increased.
And just like when the skill gained a resistance, another line had been added.
But this time, the information was harder to understand.
‘Does a right hand even have memories? And what's this about it being sealed? Is the right hand sealed, or is the memory sealed?’
The ambiguous phrasing only made it more confusing.
One thing was certain, though: the amount of mana he could feel inside his body.
He could sense a much richer pool of mana than when he had been fighting the King Greydon.
To get a proper look, Do-jae brought up his information window.
[Information]
Name: Lee Do-jae
Level: 35
Title: Golemancer
Health: 5,500 / Mana: 17,780
[Stats]
Strength: 40 / Stamina: 40 / Agility: 70 / Spirit: 10 / Resistance: 40
(Points: 25)
[Skills]
Passive: Heart of the Golem Lv. Max / Subspace Lv. Max
Active: Golem Summon Lv. 2 / Golem Armor Lv. 4
"It went up by five. Whoa. That mana pool…"
Startled by the massive jump in his mana, Do-jae gasped.
It had increased to more than three times his health.
With the Golem Armor's level up, the mana required just to maintain it had already been becoming a burden. With this much mana, he would hardly need to worry about managing it anymore.
‘Time to collect some loot.’
Unfortunately, since the King Greydon wasn't a beast-type monster, its loot wasn't automatically collected.
And since he hadn't received a new title after Cerberus, it seemed that titles required specific conditions to be met.
And those conditions were probably quests.
"Heh, this is going to be a nice haul."
*Whistle—!*
Claiming all the boss loot for himself, Do-jae began to whistle as he started dismantling it.
***
Outside the dungeon.
Several cars were parked.
"Welcome!"
A young man bowed his head toward a man who was about to get out of a car.
The man squinted against the glaring sun, one leg already out of the car, and spoke.
"Who are you?"
The young man, flustered by the sudden question, stammered.
"Sir?"
"I said, who are you?"
After a moment of blank confusion, the young man snapped to attention and answered, his body tense.
"I'm Kim Jeong-tae, a new hunter who just joined! It's an honor to be working with you, Team Leader!"
"Is that all?"
"Sir?"
"Is that all you have to say?"
"Yes… Is there anything you need, sir?"
*Snap—.*
The man opened a black umbrella as he stepped out of the car.
Despite the clear and sunny weather, he stood there holding the large umbrella.
"You, why are you here?"
"Ah, I was told to wait for you, Team Leader…"
*Poke—.*
*Poke—.*
The man poked the young man in the chest with a hand clad in a black glove.
Long sleeves and gloves.
It was clear he was determined not to let a single ray of sunlight touch his skin.
"Then, if, I've, arrived, shouldn't, you, be, briefing, me, on the, situation?"
"Well… I was about to tell you…"
"If you, were about, to say it, then you, should have, said it?"
Poked with every word, the young man stumbled backward.
"I'm sorry, sir!"
Only after he shouted an apology did the man's poking stop.
With one final remark, the man turned his back on the youth and headed toward the dungeon.
"I'll look around myself, so you can do whatever."
The young man stood there dumbfounded, watching until the man had entered the dungeon before letting out a deep sigh.
"Haaa… Man, I really want to quit."
***
The man who entered the dungeon was Jin Hee-soo.
He was one of the team leaders of the Yujin Guild, one of Seoul's five major guilds.
Having just returned to the 35-story guild building in Cheongnyangni, he hadn't even been back for thirty minutes before being sent out for support like this.
‘I think it's about time I stopped being the Association's dog.’
The Yujin Guild was famous for being pro-Association.
The reason Yujin was even counted among the five major guilds was because of the considerable help they received for diligently doing the Association's dirty work.
That was why Yujin was still stuck handling these clean-up jobs.
To waste the precious time of an A-rank hunter, a pillar of the guild, by dispatching him to a dungeon like this…
Jin Hee-soo thought the Guild Master had to be completely out of his mind.
‘Shit, should I just quit while I'm at it?’
In truth, Jin Hee-soo had been thinking about changing guilds for quite some time.
But it wasn't an easy task.
That was because he was a notorious troublemaker.
‘The US is a no-go, and Europe is the same. I did get a call from France, though.’
Was it because he had acquired too much power from a young age?
He had been kicked out of one prominent Korean guild after another before finally landing a spot at Yujin.
At the time, Yujin was desperately gathering hunters to expand its influence, and Jin Hee-soo was lucky enough to get in.
But even within Yujin, he caused all sorts of trouble, which was why he had been sent to this dead-end post.
He had continuously reached out to overseas guilds, but with his reputation having spread, things were no different abroad.
France was the only one to call him, but that was because they were so desperate they would take even a D-rank hunter. He himself had no desire to go.
‘How could I go to a place like that? Forget decent treatment, their basic infrastructure has completely collapsed.’
*Step, step—.*
Having arrived late anyway, Jin Hee-soo had no intention of joining his team and instead wandered through the dungeon.
This was actually a good situation for both him and his team members.
Jin Hee-soo was a lone wolf who liked to do things his way, but his team?
It was an ordeal for them, constantly having to cater to his whims and prevent him from causing trouble.
"Hm? Didn't they say this was a D-rank dungeon?"
As Jin Hee-soo looked around, he noticed something interesting.
As they say, it takes one to know one. Seeing the monster corpses, Jin Hee-soo found it amusing.
"Goblins are one thing. But even the Greydons were taken down in one shot?"
There were no signs of resistance on the monsters.
For a D-rank hunter, it would take at least four of them to stand a chance against a Greydon.
But there was only one set of footprints.
What also caught his eye was that the tracks were not human, but rather a jumble of crude, unfamiliar prints.
‘Who cares.’
But he quickly lost interest.
Whoever it was, they were several leagues below him.
Besides, any hunter clearing a D-rank dungeon like this was bound to be mediocre.
Of course, his personality of not caring about anything that wasn't his problem also played a part.
‘Some weirdo got mixed in.’
Following the tracks led him in a circle, right to the front of the boss room.
He figured the raid must have been pretty easy thanks to the owner of these footprints as he met up with his team members.
"The boss?"
"Yes, sir! The dungeon was already completely cleared by the time we arrived."
"Dammit, we came all this way for nothing."
"I'm sorry, sir! I told the rookie to let you know you didn't have to come…"
"What? Who hired that punk?"
Everyone remained silent, not offering an answer.
Just then, someone walked out from inside the boss room, breaking the silence.
"Team Leader, I have something to report."
"Yeah, what is it?"
He was the team's vice leader, the one who effectively led the team in Jin Hee-soo's stead.
The other team members trusted and followed him more than Jin Hee-soo.
"As you may have seen on your way here, everything of value has been stripped clean. The boss is no exception. The corpse is here, but all that's left is trash."
"What? So what about our pocket money?"
"Ahem. About that… However, according to the report, the raid captain halted the raid and ordered a full retreat immediately after taking damage from the boss. That part is a bit strange."
"Ah, whatever. That's not our problem. What a waste of time. I'm leaving."
Looting was one of Jin Hee-soo's few simple pleasures.
When even that was taken away, his mood soured, and he left.
The remaining team members watched him go, each with their own thoughts.
‘Ugh, and that's our Team Leader.’
‘He keeps it all for himself, so why's he taking it out on us?’
‘The Vice Leader is a saint. A true saint.’
The remaining team members began preparing to leave the dungeon, while only the vice leader remained, staring into the boss room with a look of doubt.
***
[Balance: 1,630,000 Won]
"Wow… Is this all I have left already?"
Do-jae stared at his bank account balance.
After splurging with his first big sum of money, his balance was starting to hit rock bottom.
Buying a quick-sale dungeon, prepaying his sister's hospital bills, signing a lease, and buying all sorts of appliances, furniture, and daily necessities.
There was no way any money would be left.
Not that Do-jae had been completely irresponsible with his spending.
Everything he bought was a necessity, and he still had some funds left.
Just not in cash.
"Heh heh, with this much, it'll be a whole different story."
Do-jae chuckled as he looked at his subspace inventory.
The spoils he had been steadily accumulating.
Some might say you couldn't buy a house by collecting stuff like this, but he already had a house.
Besides, unlike before, the quality of the monsters he was hunting had improved, so his income had increased dramatically.
Selling even a fraction of his inventory would be more than enough to cover his living expenses.
‘I should pay the boss a visit. It's been a while.’
Do-jae opened the contacts on his smartphone.
When he typed in a search term, dozens of numbers appeared.
He tapped the number of the business that was closest and which he used most often.
"Yes, is this the delivery service?"