Chapter 147
“Here it is. It was our first time using this material too, so it was an interesting experience.”
The Dwarf King handed me a staff.
A white staff with a sleek, no-frills design.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be the trigger-pulling staff I’d seen before.
“It’s a staff. The design is sleek too.”
“It’s a spear.”
“Pardon?”
“I said it’s a spear, not a staff.”
The king said firmly.
I looked over the stick again.
Its tip was so blunt it was practically decorative.
No matter how you looked at it, it was clearly a staff.
“No, it looks like a staff no matter how you look at it. With a tip this blunt, I couldn’t even stab anyone with it...”
“It’s a spear.”
“It doesn’t even have a blade, so as a spear...”
“Ahem! I said it’s a spear!”
The king barked.
“We don’t make things like staffs that knife-ears would like! Dwarven weapons are axes, hammers, spears, and cannons only!”
“Ah, yes...”
A kind of pride I could not understand at all.
Well, the name didn’t really matter.
I nodded vaguely and accepted the staff that insisted it was a spear.
“What is this made of?”
“We used the rarest, one-of-a-kind material you brought: the whale’s spine and skull.”
“This is that? It looks much smaller.”
Compared to the roots of the World Tree, it was much thinner and longer, giving it a modern feel.
It was longer than I was tall.
But considering how absurdly huge the whale had been, it was far too short.
A length a whale could only use as a toothpick.
Could these dwarves have done some sort of Silver Future-style resource transfer?
“It’s something that can be resized.”
“Ah.”
I immediately covered myself with sand and bulked up.
In an instant, I became a three-meter giant.
The spear expanded along with my height.
It felt like looking at the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
“If you want, you can use it at nearly its original length too. The thickness and weight will increase as well, so it won’t be easy unless you’re quite strong.”
“I’m sorry for doubting you...”
I lowered my head in apology.
The Dwarf King waved it off as if he didn’t care about such things.
“Anyway, that’s only an added feature. The real ability is something else.”
When the king turned around and gestured, his subordinates promptly brought over an iron cage.
“Ugh, gross!”
“A rat, I say. It lives by digging underground.”
I yelped in shock before I knew it.
Inside the iron cage was an ugly-looking mole.
It was about the size of a small dog, had no eyes, and looked far more ferocious.
No matter how you looked at it, it was much more of a mole than a rat.
“You’re not supposed to touch it carelessly. It grabs people in an instant and drags them underground. Even sturdy dwarves get caught sometimes.”
After hearing more, it did seem to be a mole, not a rat.
“Then why is this here?”
“Try stabbing it.”
“With a staff? Ugh... I don’t want to because it looks like I’ll catch something...”
I hesitantly approached the mole.
Stab this thing to death with my precious staff?
I was reluctant, but I followed the Dwarf King’s instructions for now.
Holding the spear in one hand, I carefully pushed it through the cage bars.
Because the tip was blunt, it didn’t feel like stabbing at all. It just felt like I was lightly touching it.
Tap.
The tip of the staff lightly touched the mole’s head.
The spear gleamed white.
“Screeeek!”
The creature’s body stiffened rigidly.
The next moment, I doubted my own eyes.
The plump mole shriveled up in an instant, then withered away.
“This is...”
Carefully, I cast Weathering through the tip of the staff.
“Crack!”
The mole mummy collapsed into sand in an instant.
“It’s a spear that absorbs moisture. We used the properties remaining in the whale bones.”
“Good heavens...”
A sigh of admiration escaped me before I knew it.
Weathering and Desertification, two of my main skills, had the drawback of being inefficient against living creatures.
The definition of a living creature was fairly fuzzy, with oddities like trees being fine but treants not.
At the very least, it absolutely didn’t work on enemies like goblins.
“With this spear...”
This spear had laid a staircase between sand and living beings.
In the first place, most enemies would die instantly in the process of becoming mummies, without even needing Weathering.
The fact that it still required contact was a drawback, but since I could also control its size, I felt like I wouldn’t lose in a ranged fight either.
“I couldn’t test its limits because there wasn’t anything bigger. But most enemies should still be helpless against it.”
“Thank you. This is seriously amazing!”
I thanked him while affectionately stroking the spear.
“Haha, glad you like it. But this isn’t the end.”
The Dwarf King took out a pouch.
A deep brown pouch, about the size of my fist.
“What is this?”
“Among the hides was one with particularly unusual properties. Turns out it was its stomach.”
“Its stomach?”
The stomach that digests food?
You could make leather out of a stomach?
I suddenly felt nauseous.
“Take a good look.”
The king opened the mouth of the pouch and held it up to a nearby anvil.
An anvil about half a dwarf in size.
Normally, there was no way something that large could fit inside the pouch.
But as the pouch got closer, with a whooshing sound, the anvil was sucked inside in an instant.
“A subspace pouch!”
The item I had needed for so long had finally appeared.
Now I’d be done forcing cargo into the sandworm’s belly.
“Ahem, don’t get too excited. It’s not as amazing as you think.”
“Huh?”
“There are a few drawbacks. First of all, the capacity isn’t infinite.”
“How much can it hold?”
“About two carts, maybe? If we find similar materials later, I think we can make it bigger.”
I thought of the little handcart I sometimes saw.
At that size, it seemed like it could fit a compact car.
“That’s enough for me.”
“And there’s one more thing, and this is the fatal flaw...”
The Dwarf King paused for effect.
“This pouch only works on a last-in, first-out basis.”
“Last-in, first-out?”
“It means the reverse order of insertion. If you want to take out the first thing you put in, you have to take out everything you put in after it.”
“Ah...”
That was definitely a pretty annoying problem.
What if I needed something buried at the very bottom during a frantic battle?
That would be a complete disaster.
“Still, even so, that’s pretty good. If I just pay attention to organization, it’ll be fine.”
Just put the things I use often in last, and the things I don’t use often in first.
It would take some thinking, but it was far better than not having one at all.
“Is there anything I can put in it...”
I looked around, searching for something to store in the pouch.
Seeing that, the Dwarf King laughed and stopped me.
“Heh heh, I’ve already packed several minerals inside it.”
“Sniff, to shower me with gifts like this...”
“Compared to what you have done for us, this is nothing.”
I felt like I might burst into tears.
I carefully gathered up the items.
Then it happened.
A status window that had been invisible until just moments ago suddenly appeared before my eyes.
[White Whale Bone Staff]
[Legendary]
[It removes moisture and keeps it in a dry, fluffy state.]
[Stomach Pouch]
[Unique]
[A basic subspace pouch.]
[Its capacity is not large.]
“So it really was legendary.”
Come to think of it, it had to be at that level if it could instantly kill most living things.
And the stomach pouch was a very high rank too, Unique.
But the alerts didn’t end there.
[A mythical item that did not previously exist!]
[Achievement unlocked!]
[The One Who Carved the Legend.]
[Your feat will be engraved across all dimensions.]
[Those qualified will be able to view your feat.]
[The Tower’s system registers the item you created as the <Original>.]
[From now on, there is a chance for a <degraded replica> of that item to appear in the Tower.]
“What?”
I looked at the spear, a little flustered.
Strictly speaking, the dwarves had made the weapon, not me.
But for some reason, the Tower seemed to have decided that I owned the rights.
[Bonus for The One Who Carved the Legend]
[Mana +500]
[Your Handicraft skill level has increased.]
“Insane...”
The stats were nice, but more than that, the fact that my actions had affected the world thrilled me even more.
My item’s replicas being registered as official items in the Tower?
In other words, other hunters could now obtain similar lower-tier items while climbing.
It meant someone else could have an item like mine, but I didn’t feel bad about it at all.
No, I was happy about it.
“Please, let someone pull one...”
If possible, I wanted some Korean guy I could easily run into to pull it.
A legendary item, after all.
Of course anyone who got it would brag about it.
And the place to brag would naturally be none other than Hunter Gallery.
No matter who pulled it, it would definitely end up posted in the gallery. Could they resist? No, people can never resist bragging.
“And then I’d immediately follow up by revealing the original.”
Just thinking about it made me so excited I felt numb.
I couldn’t contain my excitement and twirled the staff through the air.
“I’m glad you seem satisfied.”
“Satisfied doesn’t even begin to cover it!”
I wanted to hug the king right then and there.
“But this still isn’t the end.”
“Huh? There’s still more?”
By now, I was ready to start calling the king Dad.
“That just now was a one-of-a-kind item made only for you. But there’s still plenty of material left, isn’t there?”
“That’s right. There’s still some left in my warehouse.”
“I thought about it, and I figured it’d be better to make some decent lower-grade items out of the remaining leather and bones.”
“Hmm... that doesn’t sound bad.”
I happened to own a company that sold hunter equipment.
After unloading the shield last time, I’d been taking a break until the next lineup came out.
If something at an appropriate level came out, I could release it as the next tier down.
“I made some clothes.”
“Clothes?”
“I made one prototype for now, so if you go to the sea, try wearing it. We’ve never seen the sea, so we couldn’t even test it.”
“Oh dear... Should I drill a path to the surface for you sometime?”
I didn’t know how far it was from here to the surface.
But there was no way this place was 100 kilometers deep.
If I sent the sandworm, which could go back and forth between Seoul and Daejeon in no time, it’d probably be done in a day.
“Haha! If we ever finish preparing to conquer the surface, then I’ll take you up on that.”
“Uh, um... can I take that back?”
“I’m joking, joking!”
The Dwarf King slapped my back and laughed heartily.
Of course, I couldn’t laugh along.
“Can I try on the clothes right now?”
“Go ahead.”
Carefully, I picked up the garment.
It was pure white, apparently made from the outer hide of the white whale.
“Let’s see... hold on.”
But the moment I unfolded it, my expression stiffened.
The true form of the dwarf-made prototype.
It was a white one-piece swimsuit.
It even had an absurdly open back.
“How am I supposed to wear this!”
Before I knew it, I had flung the clothes away.
“Scrap this! I absolutely can’t wear it, so make me a men’s version instead!”
“Hmm? That already is unisex, though?”
“What?”
“In fact, women would probably have a harder time wearing it. It’d put quite a lot of pressure on the chest.”
“...”
“Of course, it probably doesn’t matter much for you. Good. You can wear men’s clothes too. Efficient.”
“What?”
For some reason, I suddenly felt offended.
“No, why would a man wear something like this... sigh...”
I suddenly pictured dwarves in this swimsuit and nearly vomited.
“For now... I’ll take it.”
I’ll have to test it on a woman with a small chest.
If I made a man wear it, I’d be worried about the health of my optic nerves, so I’ll pass for now.
“Then I should get going soon. If the prototype is good, I’ll bring more materials.”
“Yeah, and bring even more liquor next time!”
I exchanged warm farewells with the Dwarf King and returned home with the sandworm, now shrunk back down.
“Ugh, I’m exhausted...”
Dragging my tired body along, I headed for the computer.
Time to brag about everything that happened today.
But before I could even start bragging, the board was already in an uproar.
[Title: What the hell is this real-time world notice?]