Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Item (1)
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I stepped out of the tower and immediately realized something had gone terribly wrong.
The light faded, revealing the familiar cityscape of Daejeon just as always.
Rumble!
But right after that, the ground shook.
The floor trembled as if an earthquake had hit.
I spotted the cause instantly.
“…We’re screwed.”
The ring that should have been snug on my finger was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, my eyes fell on a massive sand worm filling the entire plaza in front of the tower entrance.
The sand worm had been summoned right in the middle of Daejeon at its full size.
Rumble!
Dust and tremors erupted every time its enormous body twitched.
It was a disaster scene straight out of a nightmare.
The city was moments away from turning into utter chaos.
I screamed.
“Why didn’t you shrink your body?!”
Despite my frantic voice, it replied nonchalantly.
[The sand worm says that shrinking its body would digest everything inside its stomach.]
“What?”
[It says it has to maintain this size to preserve its contents.]
“Shrink it somehow!”
I’d thought it was like a convenient sub-space pouch, but apparently not.
It was just a giant stomach.
[The sand worm says it will try.]
Right after that, the sand worm’s size shrank.
Well, precisely, only its tail and head.
“…A boa constrictor that swallowed an elephant?”
Its belly bulged out, clearly showing what it had eaten.
I pressed my forehead.
This solved nothing.
“We need to hide it before anyone sees.”
I moved quickly.
The earthquake had already happened, so people would soon poke their heads out to see what was going on.
If this got caught on camera and posted online, my identity would be the least of our problems—the whole country would flip out.
“First, the mirage…”
I activated the skill without hesitation.
The mirage—the most essential skill for living in modern society.
The image of the giant monster rampaging through the city shimmered like a heat haze and vanished from sight as if by magic.
Of course, this wouldn’t work forever.
Daejeon didn’t have many hunters, but what if someone happened to be out for a stroll?
They could crash into an invisible transparent wall.
I ordered the sand worm.
“For now… bury your head first.”
Rumble!
Following my command, the now-invisible sand worm headed underground from its tail end.
The hard asphalt and concrete crumpled like tofu, forming a massive sinkhole.
It sank into the ground as easily as poking a hole with my finger.
There was another small quake in the process, but no need to worry about casualties.
A few years ago, a tower had suddenly appeared in the middle of the city.
It had unleashed a catastrophe far worse than this.
Buildings collapsed, underground infrastructure was destroyed, and many people died.
After that, building safety standards were raised several times over, and the area underground around the tower was left as an empty lot.
So there was nothing below here now.
A perfect spot to park the sand worm temporarily.
Soon, the loud noises stopped.
The sand worm had hidden its body vertically deep underground like a giant rebar.
I approached the huge hole and peered down.
In the darkness, the sand worm’s massive maw waited for me.
“Haa…”
I let out a deep sigh.
Now the real work began.
“Spit them out one by one from now on.”
I had no confidence in climbing inside to retrieve them.
If it were lying horizontally like usual, it’d be just like a cave, but now it was a vertical pit.
I couldn’t bring myself to dive into that bottomless abyss.
With a gurgling sound, a single white bone popped out from its mouth.
“That’s ridiculously big.”
Even the smallest bone was as tall as me.
Fortunately, combining my strength stat and magic made moving the bone no big deal.
I carried the bone up to the surface and headed straight home.
“Damn, this is insane.”
The dragon bone wouldn’t fit through the front door.
With no choice, I tossed it into the yard.
Then I returned to the tower entrance and repeated the process of extracting one bone at a time.
After dozens of round trips, I finally managed to pull out and stack all the bones.
“…Should I build a dedicated warehouse?”
My front yard now had a mountain of them.
I hid them with the mirage skill for now, but living like this long-term gave me a headache.
“Ugh, hopefully no one saw.”
Moving the bones wouldn’t be visible thanks to the dedicated road I’d built earlier.
The only worry was that initial appearance of the sand worm.
Just in case, I checked the gallery.
“No talk about it in the Hunter Gallery?”
Maybe because Daejeon’s hunter population was so low?
I headed to the earthquake specialist gallery.
[Earthquake Maniac Gallery]
A place I never usually visited, but today was different.
“Ah, there it is…”
As soon as I entered, I saw a few posts.
[Daejeon just shook a bit?]
[Ah, I should’ve quickly dropped my pants and gotten on the floor just now]
[Why’s my Simmons bed shaking?]
[Jjajangmyeon mixed itself—pure bliss lol]
Posts from people who’d felt the recent quake.
Fortunately, no one mentioned directly seeing the sand worm.
Most were just folks startled by the sudden tremor who opened the gallery.
Plus, the quake itself seemed minor, so the overall vibe of the posts was lighthearted.
“Phew, lucky.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
This could pass as a simple fluke.
With my worries settled, I dove straight into crafting preparations.
First, I checked my crafting skill level.
It had stalled since making the prosthetic arm last time.
“At this level, I can make something pretty decent…”
I poured mana into the dwarf’s ring.
I flipped through the thick blueprint book it contained, browsing items.
The highest-grade armor I could make using dragon bone as the main material.
Soon, I found a suitable one.
[Dragonbone Shield]
[Grade: Unique]
[Materials: Ancient Dragon Bone, Orichalcum Alloy, Refined Magic Stone, and 50 other auxiliary materials…]
“Perfect, this is it.”
A shield using dragon bone as the core.
Unique grade—right below Legendary.
Couldn’t ask for better.
Next, I messaged the broker uncle.
For all the auxiliary materials needed to craft the shield.
[SsalDaPam: I’ll make sure you can pick them up today.]
The reply came in under a minute.
Reliable and fast as always.
While killing time on the galleries, the delivery arrived soon after.
I moved all the boxes to the basement.
I fetched a suitably sized flat bone from the yard and took a deep breath.
“Let’s get started.”
I injected mana into the ring again, activating the mana conversion system.
A function that replaced forge equipment and processes with mana.
It consumed a ton of mana and was hard to control, so the dwarves never used it, but it was perfect for me without forge setups or blacksmithing knowledge.
Soon, the mana took shape, creating a virtual forge.
A sturdy anvil and hammer made of blue mana.
I placed the bone on the anvil first.
Clang! Clang!
Each strike of the mana-forged hammer sent sparks flying as it gradually took form.
High-grade gear meant it took more work than just swinging the hammer blindly like before.
Following the blueprint’s guidance, I used magic to carve and assemble the materials.
The process consumed incomparable amounts of mana compared to before.
Sweat poured down my forehead like rain, and my concentration was pushed to the limit.
How many hours passed?
Finally, the last step.
I sprinkled the finishing material over the shield.
Then I engraved my signature motif—a sandglass—onto it.
It absorbed the surrounding mana and began to glow.
[Successfully crafted Dragonbone Shield!]
[Crafting experience gained!]
[Current Level: 11]
The light faded, and the status window announced my success.
My crafting level rose too.
“Ahh, I’m dying…”
Checking the status window, I collapsed onto the floor.
My hands throbbed.
I’d only made one shield, yet I felt drained like after battling a boss monster.
“Still gotta make three at least…”
But I didn’t rest.
Couldn’t sell just a single one.
Plus, there were plenty of materials left.
I gritted my teeth and picked up the hammer again.
The second shield was far harder than the first.
I could feel my mana steadily depleting.
By the third shield, my vision started blurring.
My hammer hand trembled uncontrollably.
I barely managed to sprinkle the final finishing material before sprawling out on the floor in a big X.
“No more… I can’t…”
My entire body’s mana felt completely drained.
I couldn’t even twitch a finger.
Panting, I stared blankly at the ceiling. My vision spun.
Hot steam rose from my body.
“…Super recovery?”
A cold sensation touched my forehead. It was Super Recovery.
It huffed and puffed, dragging an ice block its own size over and placed it on my feverish forehead.
“Why didn’t you just make one yourself?”
At my words, Super Recovery averted its eyes.
It didn’t want to go through that ordeal, apparently.
“Sheesh.”
A laugh bubbled up unbidden. My mood wasn’t bad at all.
I turned my gaze sideways.
There lay the three shields I’d made, lined up neatly.
Undeniably luxury items, no question.
Pride swelled, but I couldn’t just bask in it.
“Is this even productive?”
Pouring half a day’s worth of all my mana and stamina for just three?
Maybe I needed to rethink my sales approach.
“I’ll discuss it with uncle.”
With that thought, I closed my eyes.
Right now, I just wanted to sleep.
“…?”
Poke, poke.
But the moment I shut my eyes, someone prodded my cheek.
No need to check who.
It had to be Super Recovery.
I cracked my eyes open narrowly.
It looked at me and pointed upstairs with a finger.
It mimed lying in bed.
Since we were mentally linked, I easily understood its clumsy gestures.
“Don’t sleep here—go to bed?”
I let out a disbelieving chuckle. It was nagging me?
But I was too exhausted. I ignored it and closed my eyes again.
It kept poking my cheek and tickling my soles, refusing to let me sleep.
In the end, I surrendered.
“Fine, fine.”
We climbed the stairs together and headed to the bedroom.
I flopped onto the bed.
The soft blanket enveloped my body.
In the distance, I saw it burrow into its flowerpot.
Fatigue crashed over me.
Without another thought, I plunged into deep sleep.
***
A few days passed.
I holed up in the basement cranking out shields.
Two a day when not too tired, or one.
Soon, ten shields piled up in one corner of the basement.
I wiped my sweat and gazed at them contentedly.
What to do with them was already decided long ago.
I called the broker uncle.
“Time to get these appraised.”
I was fully confident in their quality.