The Five Great Guilds 3

Choi Taesu had vanished, but it wasn't a problem.

Everyone gathered here could lightly sense the flow of mana, living up to their reputations. Naturally, they could tell that what had just happened was done through a magic pattern.

Though they couldn't test the defense, that had already been pushed aside. Just confirming that magic patterns could be engraved on leather armor had their eyes rolling back in their heads.

Even Kim Minsung, who had been furious with me moments ago, had completely forgotten his actions and was staring at me with the same expression as the other hunters.

"So, what are the new contract terms?"

In the midst of it all, Park Chan-yeol was the first to regain his composure and ask again.

At first, I'd thought Park Chan-yeol was no different from the others. But upon closer inspection, there was a subtle difference. While the other hunters' eyes burned with desire, Park Chan-yeol looked at me with curiosity.

The conference room heated up in a whole new way as ten pairs of eyes bored into me. Satisfied that things had unfolded as I wanted, I stated the new ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠contract terms.

"I'll exchange the magic pattern book and an SS-rank leather armor set. Of course, I'll engrave whatever magic pattern you want as a service. However, the number of books depends on the pattern. It could be one, or it could be ten. The judgment is entirely up to us."

No one raised any objections to my one-sided terms. They only exchanged hand signals within their guilds to share opinions.

And amid it all, only one person kept glancing at me—Park Chan-yeol.

Why does he keep staring like that?

"You can inquire about exchanges anytime at the Support Guild's Enchanter Workshop. Well then."

I hurriedly escaped the conference room, avoiding Park Chan-yeol's intense(?) gaze.

After wrapping things up with the Five Great Guilds, Park Chan-yeol showed up the very next day.

His gaze was just as unusual today as it had been yesterday.

"Nice to see you again, Guild Master Kim Suho."

I took a step back from the feigning-pleasant Park Chan-yeol and accepted his greeting.

"Yeah. So, what brings you here? If it's about exchanging for the magic pattern book, head to the Enchanter Workshop."

If it was about the SS-rank leather armor exchange, he should go to the fourth floor's Enchanter Workshop. I couldn't understand why he'd come to the third floor's leather workshop.

"I wanted to see you separately, Guild Master."

An inexplicable glint shone in Park Chan-yeol's eyes once more.

What's with this guy since yesterday? N-No way, it can't be that, right?

I took another step away from Park Chan-yeol and asked why.

"What exactly do you need from me?"

Park Chan-yeol stared piercingly at me for 3 or 4 seconds without a word before opening his mouth again.

"Is it possible to purchase an SS-rank leather armor set separately?"

What?

The tension drained from me at Park Chan-yeol's anticlimactic response.

He was staring at me like that just to ask this?

It wasn't exactly a trivial matter, come to think of it. Being the highest-grade armor in existence, he was probably curious if it could be bought without the magic pattern book.

Still, the ordinary question deflated my tension and left me feeling absurd.

"No. For now, I have no plans to sell it separately outside of magic pattern exchanges."

"Understood."

Park Chan-yeol accepted the single refusal without protest and left the leather workshop without lingering.

He came all this way just for that?

I watched his retreating back in disbelief, but more important matters awaited me, so I quickly pushed thoughts of Park Chan-yeol aside.

After Park Chan-yeol left, I headed straight underground.

Taeju was waiting there.

"Taeju hyung, sorry. Am I a bit late?"

"Nah, you arrived right on time. Actually, I was prepping this guy while waiting for you. It's been so long that my memory's fuzzy."

Taeju held up a herb and pointed—it was Ohiarrehua.

The Ohiarrehua that Lee Musin had procured for me had finally arrived today. That's why I'd come to learn herb processing, but Park Chan-yeol's visit had delayed it briefly.

Now, the work was about to resume.

"Alright, let's start. Watch closely. First off, Ohiarrehua is one of the rare herbs that uses its leaves too. Grab the stem tip like this and slowly infuse mana."

As Taeju gripped the stem tip and infused mana, the leaves of the Ohiarrehua gradually turned red.

"Never infuse mana quickly or forcefully. It has to be slow and gentle. See, it turns red like this, but look here. This part doesn't change color? It's dead, so discard it."

He snipped off the still-green leaf with scissors from his other hand.

"Once you've sorted the leaves like this, next is the flower... "

Taeju went on to explain in detail how to process Ohiarrehua. Among all the herbs I'd learned so far, this one ranked in the top three for difficulty.

"That's the end. It's more hands-on than most, so pay close attention. Especially with Ohiarrehua—it's super sensitive to a hunter's mana, so always slow and gentle. Don't forget that. Give it a try."

With Taeju's demonstration over, I began processing the Ohiarrehua just as he'd shown.

Since it was my first time, Taeju offered advice midway.

"Slower. Good, stop. Once the color change reaches the topmost leaf, don't push more mana. If you do in this state, it'll turn purple, and the Ohiarrehua's ruined. Useless."

I finished processing the herb following Taeju's advice.

"Suho, you're a natural herb master."

Taeju marveled as I flawlessly processed it after just one explanation.

I gave him a light smile and began seriously processing Ohiarrehua in earnest.

Not long after starting, I naturally entered a flow state.

How much time passed? A notification appeared, snapping me out of the flow.

Gasp! The mana recovery potion's done too.

I'd expected the mana ink, so it wasn't a surprise. Just that it had arrived, and curiosity about whether this mana ink matched the high-grade stuff.

But then another notification popped up, startling me.

Its full name was , but commonly shortened to mana recovery potion. I hadn't anticipated completing it all at once.

"Taeju hyung, thanks. I gotta check something real quick."

I rushed off to my seventh-floor workshop.

This was a new space I'd set up for enchanting work. Originally, I'd had a corner in the third-floor leather workshop, but with all the users there, I needed somewhere quieter, so I claimed a spot on the seventh floor.

Once upstairs, I immediately purchased the potions.

Learning the herb had boosted my mana by 5, bringing it to 569. Both mana ink and mana recovery potion cost 50 mana each, but thanks to the potion maker's staff, consumption halved to 25.

To test mana consumption, I bought 11 mana inks and 11 mana recovery speed potions, draining my mana completely.

Then I downed a mana recovery speed potion and started timing.

How much will it reduce? Even cutting it from 2 hours to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠1 would be huge.

I calmly observed my body, feeling the mana refill.

But something was off. It felt exactly the same as before drinking the potion.

W-What's this? No difference at all?

Panicking, I drank another mana recovery speed potion and anxiously felt the mana rising.

Still no change.

Finally, after the full 2 hours—just like without the potion—my mana fully recovered.

"Damn. It's useless for me?"

There was no way an NPC potion was defective.

So there was only one reason: it didn't work on me.

Whether it applied ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only in dungeons or only to other hunters needed testing, but clearly, it was useless for me.

I'd verify the mana recovery speed potion once dungeon-goers returned. Now, time to check the mana ink.

Unlike white ink, mana ink came in 500ml bottles.

I filled my engraving pen with mana ink and placed my worn leather armor on the desk.

Activating the Copy Drawing skill brought up the list of magic patterns I'd acquired. I selected Leap.

I minimized its size as much as possible.

Right. This is the difference between an NPC enchanter and regular ones.

At first, seeing mana ink and white ink pop up, I'd thought those were the full extent of an NPC enchanter's abilities.

But strictly speaking, those two were potion effects, not pure enchanter skills.

If NPC potions outperformed other potion makers' and NPC leather armor beat other leatherworkers', then my engravings had to differ too.

I'd been too distracted by white ink early on and overlooked it—only realizing now.

Regular enchanters' patterns weren't small. Skilled ones could make them smaller, but there were limits.

The geometric shapes, intersecting curves and lines made precise miniaturization tough.

For plate armor, a beginner enchanter could fit one on the front and one on the back—total two.

With skill, front two, back two—total four.

Choi Deokhui said no one exceeded that, and from there, pattern grade depended on enchanter ability.

Choi Deokhui could fill one side with two 16-division patterns but hadn't tried higher grades since they didn't exist.

Kim Seungmin hinted that the spare space after engraving allowed up to 20-division patterns—world-class skill.

Testing with the 10-division Leap pattern, I could fit eight per side.

Even assuming 20-division and scaling up, at least four. Maybe even six.

When other enchanters fit four patterns on armor, I could do at least eight, up to twelve.

As expected, NPC enchanter powers went beyond potions.

But not everything ended happily.

I need to learn at least eight—no, twelve magic patterns?

With Intelligence 200 wasted on leather armor, my spare was only 142.

I realized once more that I needed to process more herbs to raise Intelligence.

To be continued in the next chapter... The Hunter Who Awakened as an NPC