Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Random Box
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Eun Mi-rae took me to a room much smaller than the previous inspection room.
In the middle of the room sat a small box.
Eun Mi-rae carefully opened the box.
Inside was a single metal fragment.
Its surface was heavily worn, with faint, unknown patterns engraved here and there.
It clearly looked like a piece broken off from something larger.
I approached closely and examined it carefully.
“Is this the relic?”
“Yeah. It was found in the latter half of the 20th floor of the tower. We haven’t figured out its exact purpose yet.”
Eun Mi-rae let out a sigh as she spoke.
“Well, we didn’t even know it might have been made by dwarves at first... but thanks to you, we at least have a guess now.”
“Let me take a look.”
“Sure.”
I activated the ring on my finger.
A thick book materialized before my eyes.
The dwarves’ book, filled with hundreds, even thousands of blueprints.
I flipped through it diligently, searching for anything with similar patterns.
Fortunately, I found it quickly.
[Magic Battery]
[Grade: Epic]
[Emergency! Casting time doesn’t matter!]
[Instantly activate stored magic!]
[No magic talent? No worries! One-touch instant activation!]
[We also sell magic to store!]
[Inquiries: Bihyeong’s Forge]
“There’s even an ad...”
The magic battery’s effect was simple.
An item that could store a single spell of your choice.
It seemed pretty useful.
You could preload a powerful spell and use it as a trump card in a pinch.
‘And especially nice that you can store someone else’s magic too...’
I readily decided to restore it.
“Found it. It’s called a magic battery.”
“Can you restore it?”
“Yeah. But...”
I checked the book’s description again as I spoke.
“My crafting level is exactly 2 short.”
“Hmm...”
Eun Mi-rae pondered my words for a moment before reaching a simple conclusion.
“Then level up here.”
“Huh?”
“All the materials you need are in the warehouse over there. You can level up right here and start the restoration immediately.”
Eun Mi-rae’s words were straightforward and clear.
I hesitated for a second.
To raise my crafting level, I needed to make something.
And conveniently, I had one item I really needed to craft.
“Um... would it be okay if I make this to level up? It takes a bit of materials.”
I recalled one of the blueprints I’d been eyeing.
Flowing Hand.
A magic prosthetic that reshaped itself to fit the user’s body.
It could replace my fingers, which kept trying to run away—a perfect fit for my current needs.
I’d been putting it off because the materials were quite expensive.
Eun Mi-rae readily agreed to my proposal.
“Of course. Use the materials as you like.”
I listed the item’s description and restoration materials from the book.
Eun Mi-rae seemed to memorize them all after hearing it once.
She nodded and said casually,
“Wait a sec.”
She left the room and soon returned carrying a large box.
The box contained every material I needed, neatly sorted by type.
It was like she’d hauled an entire mega-mart warehouse.
“Wow...”
I let out an exclamation.
Buying these on the market would’ve cost tens of billions at least.
This was a national institute’s lab?
The scale was on another level.
“Let’s see...”
I took out the necessary materials and laid them out on the table.
Then I activated the crafting system.
A blue mana anvil and hammer formed.
I placed the materials on the anvil and began hammering.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Rhythmic hammer strikes echoed through the room.
Eun Mi-rae rested her chin on her hand, watching the whole scene with keen interest.
How much time passed?
Finally, a silver prosthetic hand with elegant curves emerged from my hands.
Fingers that moved fluidly like liquid metal. Intricate mana circuits were engraved on the wrist.
[Successfully crafted item ‘Flowing Hand’!]
[Crafting skill proficiency greatly increased!]
[Crafting level increased by 2!]
My crafting level rose by 2 in one go.
Now I could make the magic battery.
I was just about to start the next craft.
Eun Mi-rae, who had been quietly watching, spoke up.
“Leave that as a sample, so make me one more.”
She pointed at the ‘Flowing Hand’ I’d just made.
“Making two will use up all the materials.”
I said, glancing at the scant remnants in the box.
Eun Mi-rae shrugged nonchalantly.
“It’s fine. You’re the only one with skills like this anyway.”
A faint smile played on her lips.
“Meaning, you and I are the only ones in the world who know exactly how much material one takes.”
I didn’t catch her meaning at first.
A few seconds later, realization dawned, and I muttered without thinking,
“...Isn’t that embezzlement?”
Eun Mi-rae let out a small laugh at my words.
She approached and gently stroked my head, as if praising me.
“You even know big words like that. Impressive.”
Pat pat.
It felt like being treated like a kid, a strange sensation, but somehow her touch wasn’t unpleasant.
As she petted my head, Eun Mi-rae whispered like she was sharing a secret.
“Here’s a good tip: securing maximum resources for research is one of the qualities of an excellent researcher.”
I was momentarily speechless at her sophistry.
“Uh... y-yeah, got it.”
In the end, I nodded awkwardly.
“And since we’re securing research resources anyway, we should record the whole process perfectly as data.”
Eun Mi-rae pulled out her phone.
“Uh, are you filming a video?”
“Of course. This is a moment for the history books.”
“...That big a deal?”
“If I say it is, it is. Anyway, even if not, we need to log the experiment process for data. That’s how we get approvals.”
A plausible excuse for preservation purposes.
Since I was leveling up for free with these materials, I had no reason to refuse.
“Alright, first, greetings and self-introduction.”
“Uh, hi.”
I nodded awkwardly toward the camera she held out.
Then came the hammering.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
I repeated the process perfectly.
“Ugh... done.”
When the second ‘Flowing Hand’ was complete, I was utterly exhausted.
My first time making a proper item instead of nails or rings.
Beyond mere mana drain, it demanded intense concentration.
The mental fatigue piled up fast.
Especially my hands and arms throbbed and felt hot.
“Ow, my hands...”
“Good work.”
Eun Mi-rae approached quietly.
She looked at my reddened arms and hands, then naturally grabbed my wrist.
“Cold compress should help. Hold on.”
“Ow...”
Eun Mi-rae began kneading my arms and hands with her cool touch.
An A-rank mage’s expert cold compress massage.
Her cold hands meticulously cooled every knuckle.
The burning pain gradually subsided, replaced by a refreshing sensation that eased the fatigue.
“Oh, right. Mind if I watch the footage?”
“Of course.”
Eun Mi-rae handed over her phone without hesitation.
I hit play.
The screen showed me crafting the item with mana hammer in hand.
“Huh?”
But the framing was weird.
She’d said it was for the crafting process.
Yet the video focused far more on my face than the forming prosthetic.
My slightly furrowed brow from concentration, beads of sweat on my forehead—tons of close-ups.
“Um... is this okay? The item barely shows.”
Eun Mi-rae replied without changing expression at my point.
“Oh, I’ll edit all that out, so don’t worry.”
“Edit it?”
“Yeah. I promise no one else will see your face. So relax.”
“Well... alright.”
I decided to accept it halfway.
As long as my face wasn’t sold, I didn’t care.
We took a short break, chatting idly.
“You live in Daejeon? So Kim Su-ho brought you from there?”
“No, not exactly. I used magic to get halfway.”
“Daejeon, huh... I used to live there too.”
“Really? Is that your hometown?”
I looked up, feeling an odd surge of familiarity.
Eun Mi-rae smiled faintly at my reaction, her face tinged with subtle pride as she spoke.
“No, I went to university there.”
“Oh, you mean that...”
I could somehow tell.
She had immense pride in her alma mater.
And she subtly hoped I’d guess it right.
A mischievous urge struck me.
“Oh! You went to Daejeon University! Wow, alumni!”
“...You little.”
The corner of Eun Mi-rae’s mouth twitched up.
She knew exactly that I’d gotten it wrong on purpose.
“You know better, don’t you?”
Flick!
With a light snap, her finger delivered a knuckle rap to my forehead.
Huh? Seemed like these knuckle flicks were getting more frequent lately.
Of course, it didn’t hurt this time either.
Eun Mi-rae alternated bewildered glances between her finger and my forehead.
“Jeez, what’s this? Why are you so hard?”
“I’m pretty tough.”
“Such a mysterious constitution...”
The short break ended, and I dove back into item restoration.
No playful mood this time.
Reviving a dwarven relic.
Failure meant no second chances, so I concentrated harder than usual.
I formed the mana anvil and hammer again.
I placed the fragment at the anvil’s center, arranging necessary materials around it.
I raised the hammer high.
Clang!
With the first strike, the new materials began melting and glowing.
My role was the guide.
I hammered down, infusing it with data on the original form.
Sparks flew, mana waves rippled.
The fragment connected to the new metal, slowly regaining its original shape.
Clang!
With the final strike, dazzling light burst forth.
As the light faded, a smooth silver belt lay there.
‘Lately, I’ve been handling belts a lot...’
An all-too-familiar shape.
I nearly buckled it on out of habit and shouted the transformation line.
But feeling eyes on me, I held back with superhuman restraint.
“Well done. Perfect success.”
Eun Mi-rae approached, seeing the successfully restored item.
She petted my head again.
“Once research is done, the item’s yours.”
“Really?”
“Promise. Besides, I’m not climbing the tower or anything... I don’t need items much.”
Eun Mi-rae placed the belt on nearby analysis equipment.
Complex data appeared on the monitor.
Her expression hardened instantly upon seeing it.
“This is...”
“What? Something wrong?”
“No, the restoration’s perfect... The issue is this battery isn’t empty.”
“Huh?”
“It already has a spell stored in it. It must’ve revived along with the restoration...”
“What kind of spell?”
“No idea. That’s the problem.”
Her words sobered me up too.
I took the belt and examined it.
It looked like an ordinary item on the surface.
“Random Box. You don’t know what’ll happen if you use it.”
As I stared seriously at the belt, Eun Mi-rae added,
“But the odds of it harming the wearer are low. They wouldn’t make something like this self-destruct.”
“That’s... a relief.”
“Still, don’t use it lightly. Its effects on surroundings are unknown. Unless it’s a desperate gamble, better to seal it away.”
I took the belt.
It felt oddly heavy in my hand.
Eun Mi-rae returned to the monitor, starting to save the data.
“I’ve got all the data now, so I’ll analyze it in time. But don’t expect too much.”
She pondered briefly before continuing.
“Maybe... I’m heading to an overseas conference soon. Might get info there. It’s where magic scholars worldwide gather, so someone might recognize it.”
“Overseas conference?”
“Yeah. Magic scholars from around the world share latest research and network. I go every year.”
A conference of mages from around the world.
The idea piqued my interest a bit.
Reading my expression, Eun Mi-rae tossed out casually,
“Have you ever been abroad?”
“Not even proper domestic trips.”
She thought for a moment at my answer.
Then, as if making a big decision, she said,
“Then maybe I could take you as an observer sometime. What do you think?”
Her offer was quite bold.
But I wasn’t ready to venture out yet.
“Maybe later, if the chance comes.”
Eun Mi-rae didn’t push further, just nodding slightly.
All business wrapped up.
She escorted me to the lab lobby.
Just before parting, Eun Mi-rae said,
“Come again anytime. Contact me when you’re free.”
A faint regret tinged her voice.
I nodded and left the lab.
Soon as no one was around, I summoned the sandworm again.
***
And when I got home.
“What is this?”