Chapter 4
A month ago
The moment Gamma Team nearly suffered a total party wipe at the hands of the B-Rank variant Arachne.
The members of Gamma Team had survived by the skin of their teeth thanks to Rune Turtle Rodin's barrier.
Naturally, they all took a keen interest in the magic beast Rune Turtle that had saved their lives.
“……Hunter Yoo, we didn't get a chance to ask back then because everything was so hectic, but where did you buy your Rune Turtle? Its barrier was sturdier than most mages' defensive spells…?”
Of course, the team members had assumed Hunter Yoo had been forced to buy a cheap pet because Team Leader Kim kept giving him hell…
But the pet they had thought was cheap had saved the team with its tremendous defensive power.
“That's right! We almost all died without that turtle… Isn't a Rune Turtle E-Rank? Why is its barrier so sturdy? How long did it hold out against the Arachne…?”
“Team Leader Kim's bastard tiger that he bought for 400 million won was sliced in half with one hit, so how much did you pay for yours, Hunter Yoo?”
Unable to comprehend its overwhelmingly powerful performance, they all continued bombarding him with questions, their eyes shining.
Even Yoo Dusik, the pet's owner, hadn't known Rodin's defense would be that incredible.
‘Boss… just how did you enhance him?’
He was almost curious enough to wonder what the boss's true identity was, but regardless… thanks to Rodin, Yoo Dusik felt his shoulders naturally rising with pride.
“Ahem… First of all, Rodin is an E-Rank Rune Turtle, so he is definitely quite cheap… but he is a somewhat special specimen.”
“Oh, I knew it… He looks unusual, so is he an enhanced specimen? What brand is he from? Don't tell me it's that place whose stock has been rising lately?”
Brand…?
At the word ‘brand,’ the first thing that came to Yoo Dusik's mind was the pet shop owner's hole-in-the-wall store.
“Um… It's not a brand. I suppose you could call it a hidden gem that only I know about?”
He had no other way to explain it, but the team members took it as Yoo Dusik trying to hide the Rune Turtle's source.
So one after another, they offered Yoo Dusik subtle incentives as they asked where he had gotten it.
“Come on, don't be like that! Tell us! I'll buy you a meal next time! I'll treat you to enough beef to burst!”
“Ahem… I'll recommend Hunter Yoo as our next team leader, so just tell me….”
“Are you allowed to say that? I think everyone wants the team leader position….”
“…Honestly, Hunter Yoo practically saved all of us. He's C-Rank, but his maximum firepower is almost B-Rank level, so I think he could serve as interim team leader for the time being. Once his Hunter rank goes up, he could just become the team leader outright.”
Thanks to Rune Turtle Rodin making up for Yoo Dusik's weakness, his own abilities had also come to light.
“I suppose so… I didn't know your firepower was that impressive, Hunter Yoo. You always had your casting interrupted….”
……Until now, I had mostly used spells that could be cast quickly. Team Leader Kim's tanking was so pathetic, after all…
But during the battle against the Arachne, Rodin had allowed him to display his true combat abilities. As a result, his standing within the team had risen dramatically.
Speaking of which…
‘Interim team leader…?’
There would be more work to do, but he would also benefit from a better settlement ratio with the guild.
In other words… a promotion…!!
More money…!!!
“Hahaha!! All right! I'll make an exception and give you the shop's address!”
He had already been planning to promote the boss's shop anyway, so what a windfall!
*
For that reason…
Hunter Lee Yujin, the archer on Yoo Dusik's team, became the first to visit Yoo Hyun's shop.
“Your budget really is 50 million won… right?”
Yoo Hyun asked again, unable to hide the tremor in his voice.
“Ah, yes! I haven't been a Hunter for long, so I haven't saved much money… I searched online, and it said 50 million should be enough to buy a D-Rank magic beast or so….”
“You've come to exactly the right place!!!”
D-Rank pets were so expensive that I didn't have any in my shop at the moment.
After all, if they cost tens of millions of won, how expensive would their materials be?
I hadn't cultivated any in the first place because the loss would be enormous if they failed to sell.
‘And no one is looking for an unbranded pet….’
Regardless, since my shop had no D-Rank pets, I needed to change my approach slightly.
Rather than selling the ones in my cages, I would take commissions to cultivate new pets.
“Customer? Our shop doesn't have any D-Rank pets right now… We take commissions for custom-made pets starting at D-Rank. It will take some time, though. Would that be all right?”
“Ah, yes! That's fine!”
“Then please look over these documents.”
I handed her a sheet explaining the terms of commissioning a custom-made pet.
While Hunter Lee Yujin looked over the documents, I planned to check her information.
‘Customer Window’
[ Name 》 Lee Yujin ]
[ Race 》 Human ]
[ Awakened Rank 》 C-Rank ]
[ Position 》 Precision-Shot Archer ]
[ Combat Tendency 》 Prefers carefully targeting weak points one shot at a time to land critical hits. Prefers constantly changing her firing position. ]
[ Points for Improvement 》 Inexperienced at imbuing arrows with magic. Her frequent movement leaves her exposed to unexpected danger. Her abilities may improve when she works with an excellent support. ]
‘Hmm, so the main problem is probably a lack of firepower. Her tendency to target weak points seems to stem from that problem.’
Since the monsters were constantly moving, she probably kept repositioning herself to find the right angle….
She was on the same team as Hunter Yoo, so she had probably suffered because of the same tank who couldn't properly draw the monsters' aggro.
In any case, a lack of firepower could be called an archer's chronic problem…
‘Since monsters are generally so large, it's not easy to deal damage with small arrows.’
That's why mages were the mainstream choice for main damage dealers.
That didn't mean archers were bad… They were simply a class that required more technique. They could use specially made arrows or create variables by striking vital points such as the eyes.
Alternatively, there were rapid-fire archers who could turn a monster into a pincushion.
On top of that, they were generally quite good at taking down minor mobs.
‘At any rate, I have a rough idea of her problems.’
Now I naturally needed to use this information to create a custom-made pet, but…
It would be extremely suspicious if I suddenly acted as though I knew everything about her, wouldn't it?
So what I came up with was…
“Shall we start with a consultation?”
“A consultation?”
“Yes, a consultation about the magic beast pet we're going to create. As I said earlier, I'll be making a custom-made pet. That's one of my specialties.”
“Ah… So that's how Hunter Yoo…!”
Well, in that man's case, it had just been a lucky coincidence.
Anyway, I proceeded with Hunter Lee Yujin's consultation.
Since I already knew a great deal through the Customer Window, I guided the conversation as though I were a gifted fortune-teller.
“Oh dear… You've recently had a disagreement with a team member… particularly with the tank….”
“Gasp…!! How did you know? Did Hunter Yoo tell you?”
“No. Anyway… From what I've heard about you, Hunter Lee, it seems you're still inexperienced and not very adept at imbuing your arrows with magic.”
“Gasp…!! How did you know that…!!!”
That was more or less how it went. I used information I already knew to steer the conversation.
It was similar to how fake shamans secretly combed through their clients' social media and then pretended they had divined everything themselves…!
“I can see it… I can see it… A magic beast perfectly suited to Hunter Lee Yujin…!! What you need most right now is an excellent support. You can feel it yourself, can't you? You often find yourself in danger because you have to keep moving around when you can't find a proper firing angle…!!”
“Whaaa…!!! That's incredible! Boss, you're not some kind of shaman, are you?”
“I merely made a rough deduction based on the information I gathered during our consultation.”
“Whaaaaat…!!!! Amazing!!!”
Before Hunter Lee Yujin could gasp herself breathless, I brought the consultation to an end.
“Since it's a small magic beast, ten days should be enough to complete it.”
“That quickly…? I heard the design alone usually takes several weeks….”
“Heh heh… Since you came through Hunter Yoo's introduction, I'll take special care with it. Don't worry; I'm skilled not only in enhancement, but also in design and cultivation.”
“Whaaaaa…!!! As expected…!!!”
After receiving the down payment, I got to work.
*
Inside Yoo Hyun's shop
The cultivation room, enhancement room, warehouse, and workshop all in one.
I stood in front of the workbench.
“Phew… At last, I'm making the long-awaited D-Rank magic beast.”
“Pant, pant….”
Beside me, the spotted slime puppy Happy looked up at me, panting. I picked him up and kneaded him.
Squish-squish—Squish-squish—
“Pant, pant….”
As I kneaded the jelly dog and activated my ability, the work window appeared.
I selected the design option.
【 Design 】
The most basic ability of a Magic Beast Alchemist—and one that could hardly be called anything less than the most important process in creating magic beasts.
‘Normally, this would require countless trials and errors.’
There were countless points where one could get stuck during the design stage. Like writing a complex program, touching one thing would create two or three problems elsewhere.
That was why Lee Yujin hadn't been wrong to say the design alone took several weeks.
But who was I? I was an EX-Rank Magic Beast Alchemist.
I had experienced a fragment of that ability during the previous enhancement treatment.
A sensation and intuition that seemed to lie far beyond the realm of humanity.
Surely that ability would manifest during 【 Design 】 as well.
And my prediction was not wrong.
[ Select the direction of the design. ]
[ The user's database information is of the highest quality. ]
[ The sub-trait ‘Evolution Lord's Intuition’ is activated. ]
[ Designing a new magic beast based on the collected information. ]
Along with an overwhelming sense of omnipotence, I felt as though my brain were cooking, while information surged through my mind.
Information about the basic magic beasts I already knew and creatures I had never seen before became jumbled together, and through the gaps, a single line that seemed to shine gold guided the way.
I collapsed right where I had been kneading Happy.
“Huff… huff… I found it….”
A complete blueprint formed in an instant, accompanied by inspiration that felt as though my head were exploding.
Drip—
“Ah, a nosebleed….”
“Pant, pant….”
Stagger—
I was so dizzy that I couldn't keep myself upright.
Using this ability clearly still placed a burden on my body, but…
I stared at the status window that appeared before me and couldn't help but chuckle.
“This is seriously fucking broken….”
[ A new blueprint has been completed. ]
[ Model Name 》 Silphid ]
[ Magic Core Rank 》 D ]
[ Lifespan 》 3 years ]
[ Traits 》 Storm's Blessing (C+) Lesser Spirit (C) ]
[ The magic beast blueprint has an exceptionally high level of completion. ]
[ Cultivation success rate increases dramatically. ]
[ Cultivation Success Rate 》 Extremely High ]
“Haha… It's amazing enough that a C+ trait appeared, but two traits instead of just one? This is insane….”
Two traits, even though one was normally the standard?
And the magic core was only D-Rank?
Cases like this were extremely rare even on a global scale.
No, this might even be the first one.
“Other Magic Beast Alchemists might faint if they saw this…?”
“Pant, pant…!”
I suddenly wanted to see the completed version of this blueprint as soon as possible.