Chapter 37
The platinum skill I’d just obtained: Sand Barrier.
A simple skill that creates a barrier to protect the user.
But its scale was beyond anything I’d imagined.
“Is it because my mana is too high?”
Considering that the power of most magic skills is affected by mana, it was a reasonable assumption.
In any case, I couldn’t use it like this.
It was draining far too much mana, and more importantly, it blocked my entire field of vision.
“But if I have to adjust my mana output every time I activate it, the timing’ll be off.”
This needed to be a skill that could defend against ambushes.
If I had to calculate the mana required every time I was suddenly attacked, I’d definitely miss the timing.
It had become closer to a construction skill now, so I might be able to use it in all sorts of ways later, but what I needed right now was a skill that could stop surprise attacks.
“Still, if I built it properly, I think I could make it work…?”
I took out the legendary robe I’d stolen from the magic-cutting young man and put it on.
It was still way too big for a child.
The hem dragging along the floor was a nuisance, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
I applied the robe’s only skill to Sand Barrier.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
I concentrated.
I could feel the robe’s skill, Artificial Mana Core, merging with Sand Barrier.
It wasn’t creating a giant wall anymore.
It felt like wrapping a thin, transparent layer of sand around my body.
Once the skill was applied, the giant wall in front of me collapsed on its own.
Just then, the invisible Dark Elf from earlier was drawing its bow again.
The bastard’s fingers left the string.
Swish-!
With a sharp sound, the arrow flew.
I didn’t dodge.
There was no need to.
Swish-swish!
From the floor, the invisible sand barrier rose on its own.
Automatically, even though I hadn’t given it any command.
It was much thinner than the massive barrier from before.
But it was more than enough to block a light arrow.
Above all, its activation speed was unmatched.
Ting-!
The arrow struck the thin sand barrier and bounced off uselessly.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Success.
Just as expected. The perfect automatic defense system was complete.
“…Should I try being a little bolder?”
I closed my eyes.
I entrusted my body completely to this automatic defense skill.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
My heart was pounding like crazy.
Even with my eyes closed, I could sense the enemy’s movements through Insight Eye.
After confirming that its arrow hadn’t worked, the Dark Elf watched me for a long while.
Only when it saw that my eyes were closed and I hadn’t moved a muscle did it begin to creep forward.
The Dark Elf approached quickly while maintaining its stealth.
The presence of its mana drew closer and closer.
I felt the hairs all over my body standing on end.
‘This is a little nerve-racking….’
I could feel the enemy right in front of me.
I swallowed hard.
And at last, the bastard thrust in its blade.
A sharp dagger drove toward my back.
That was the moment.
Kakang!
Once again, the sand barrier blocked the attack.
This time I felt a much stronger impact than before, but the barrier still didn’t break.
Magic that activated regardless of my will.
I was now completely convinced.
“Good. Perfect.”
I slowly opened my eyes.
In front of me stood the Dark Elf, its stealth broken and its face twisted in shock.
Its expression said it couldn’t believe its ambush had been stopped.
I grinned at it.
“Can it do that too?”
I continued controlling the sand barrier surrounding me.
At my will, part of the barrier transformed into sharp spikes.
Then I launched them forward as they were.
Pshk!
Before the Dark Elf could react, a sand spike pierced its chest.
It collapsed without even managing a scream.
It seemed the shape of the sand barrier could be customized quite freely.
“Hmm, yeah. Platinum really is worth the price.”
I nodded in satisfaction.
Now all that remained was testing the barrier’s durability.
I set the automatic sand barrier skill to protect Chohogi, not me.
Another clone filmed everything with a camera.
I suspended one sand bullet in the air.
The bullet was fired toward the clone.
Ting-!
The barrier that sprang up easily blocked the bullet.
Its defensive power was about as expected.
Then what about my maximum attack power?
I transformed my entire right arm into a gigantic sand stake.
My strongest attack at the moment.
I fired the completed stake toward the barrier.
With a thunderous roar that tore through the air, the huge stake shot forward at terrifying speed.
Kwaaaang-!
The moment it struck the sand barrier, a massive shockwave erupted.
A gust of sand whipped up, obscuring my vision.
“Ngh…!”
The next moment.
Crack-!
The barrier shattered like glass and collapsed.
But at the same time, the sand stake containing my maximum attack power also lost its shape and scattered into a handful of sand.
“Tsk, so it can’t withstand even that much?”
Still, I was more than satisfied.
After all, this was a technique meant to guard against assassins and surprise attacks.
If an attack this huge was coming, there’d have to be warning signs.
By then I’d have plenty of time to prepare, and all I’d need to do was raise a thicker barrier.
Time to leave the tower.
I slowly had my clones hunt down the trash mobs and collect the Trent fruit too.
My now-familiar routine on the teen floors.
I fed the Trent fruit to the World Tree seed and ate the leftover pulp myself.
Eating the fruit didn’t make me feel like I was growing the way it used to, but it’d still be a waste to throw it away.
“But this…. Is it fully grown now?”
I stared at the World Tree seed with a puzzled expression.
The seed was now about the size of a pumpkin.
It was so big I was starting to doubt it was even a seed anymore.
It was getting hard to hide, too.
Fortunately, the seed was no longer growing any larger.
Since when had that been? Probably around the 16th floor? It seemed to have stopped growing around then.
“He said the Hidden Piece wouldn’t be satisfied unless I got it fully grown before the 20th floor….”
I was looking forward to the 20th floor.
I picked up the seed with both hands and headed home.
***
Today’s experiment was a complete success.
It felt like I’d gained one sturdy insurance policy.
The 20th floor was just around the corner now.
Now only the 18th, 19th, and 20th floors remained.
Only three floors remained.
Once I got past them, I’d join the ranks of the A-rank hunters—just ten people in all of Korea.
“Well, I heard that just clearing the floors doesn’t immediately make you A-rank…”
But I was confident.
With my abilities, A-rank should be more than possible.
But one problem still remained.
My identity.
As a woman now, I was practically a ghost.
It was obvious I wouldn’t be able to register as a hunter in this state.
“How am I supposed to solve this….”
Should I go see a broker? Or maybe tell 풍뎅이 about it?
But there wasn’t anything I could do by thinking about it right this second.
My head starting to hurt, I decided to brag about today’s results to the gallery instead.
The moment I got home, I opened the gallery like it was second nature.
I lightly edited the earlier experiment video.
I uploaded the short edit to the gallery.
[Title: Made a skill to counter assassins. How’s it look?]
Author: ㅇㅇ(G11.111)
The thrill of defeating assassins as a mage~
(Auto-generating barrier GIF.wedp)
The reaction to my post was slower than usual.
Since the views were still climbing, it seemed everyone was replaying the video several times.
It wasn’t until more than five minutes had passed that comments finally started appearing.
ㄴ 마법은화력 : What kind of broken skill is this now? Did you eat another Rainbow or something?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(G11.111) : No, it’s platinum. I just kind of hacked it together.
ㄴ 마법은화력 : Ugh, how do you always get stuff like this by just “kind of messing around”?
ㄴ 냉장고 : I just analyzed the video in detail, and it’s interesting.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(G11.111) : Oh…. So what’s the verdict from the self-proclaimed super-genius researcher?
ㄴ 냉장고 : Hey, I told you not to call me that on the gallery.
“Shouldn’t people normally hate being called that even more in real life…?”
Anyway, this guy wasn’t normal either.
Was I the only normal mage?
While I was worrying about the country’s future, 냉장고 left an analysis post.
ㄴ 냉장고 : The limit of an ordinary person’s reaction speed is 0.2 seconds. But this skill’s reaction speed is approaching 0.1 seconds.
ㄴ 냉장고 : That means the delay is approaching zero. In other words, it’s literal automatic defense.
ㄴ 풍뎅이 : So it’s a constantly active skill? Then does that mean it works even when you’re asleep or unconscious?
ㄴ 마법은화력 : I wish a skill like that would drop for me too….
I felt my shoulders lift with pride at the flood of praise.
But their admiration didn’t end there.
After thinking it through, 냉장고 left another comment.
ㄴ 냉장고 : You’re all missing the point. Right now it’s just defense, but what happens if we apply that principle?
ㄴ 냉장고 : If skill automation is possible in the future…. Doesn’t that mean things like automatically attacking when an enemy appears, or automatically using a potion when you get hurt could be possible too?
The gallery fell silent at 냉장고’s analysis.
Everyone seemed overwhelmed by that incredible possibility.
Even I was.
“R-really?”
A comment from 냉장고 pointing out something I hadn’t even thought of.
I was beyond satisfied.
I grinned and tapped away at the keyboard.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(G11.111) : lol, isn’t this kind of stuff just basic for me???
ㄴ 마법은화력 : (meme of alternating punches to the face)
ㄴ 냉장고 : Seriously, you can’t let this guy get even a little praise.
And so, the humblebragging went on for quite a while.
Then p깟쮸 left a comment that felt different from usual.
A dry comment with none of the usual playful tone.
ㄴ p깟쮸 : Can this be used on allies too?
Feeling puzzled by the change, I replied.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(A55.555) : Hmm, I used it on a sand clone…. Not sure about people. The sand clone is basically part of my body, after all.
Even with my vague answer, p깟쮸 kept pressing the point.
ㄴ p깟쮸 : That’s okay. Please tell me how to do it. I need this skill desperately.
There wasn’t a trace of p깟쮸’s usual playfulness in that comment.
If anything, I could even feel a slight sense of urgency.
After thinking for a moment, I told the truth.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(A55.555) : To be honest, it’s just item power. I happened to get a legendary robe.
ㄴ p깟쮸 : You mean the one from last time? The one you can only get in Extreme?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(A55.555) : Yep….
After my comment, p깟쮸 didn’t say anything else.
p깟쮸’s reply came only much later.
ㄴ p깟쮸: Ah. A legendary item…. I see. Then I can’t do it….
ㄴ p깟쮸: Got it. Sorry for bothering you.
“What’s wrong with this person?”
I tilted my head as I looked at p깟쮸’s final comment.
If it had been the usual p깟쮸, they would’ve exploded with, “Humblebragging gets you killed!”
For the first time, I became curious about p깟쮸 on the other side of the monitor.