“I thought the interview had that kind of nuance… was I wrong?”
“Uh… um…”
The impression of Hyeon Joong-gil from Ilseom Guild was quite strong. So, it seems I tend to think of the guild itself in terms of justice and righteousness.
“The second son has a cute side. He’s more human than Hyeon Il-hwan.”
“Y-yes, it’s true that he handled the situation… We just played the role of delaying the main force…”
“Haha! Is it that easy! The main force should all be higher ranked than you, right? Even a one-rank difference feels like comparing an adult to a kindergarten kid! You’ve taken on quite a remarkable client here!”
“It’s not that great… Hehe…”
Yeon-hee awkwardly smiled and asked how long it would take to make the great sword.
“It’ll take about two weeks. We have some delayed tasks to handle.”
“Does it really take that long?”
“What do you mean? Anywhere else would take at least a month. We’re just fast.”
“I see…”
“Ahem – Well, if you can supply us with more Kadinite, we could speed up the schedule.”
The man glanced at Yeon-hee before subtly testing her. But she firmly refused, which made the blacksmith click his tongue in regret.
“And this… please use it to make a shield. I mentioned it over the phone earlier.”
Yeon-hee pulled out 30 Mana Stones from her inventory and handed them to the man.
She planned to make iron shields for Lizardman 1, Orc Warriors, and Zombies using the 30 Mana Stones from the Lesser Dire Wolf. She didn’t know if the Zombie could lift something heavy…
“Um, I took it because you said it wasn’t urgent, but can you really make it at that level? It might be disappointing once we use it.”
“It’s fine. It can be a bit heavy and clunky… just make it sturdy. It doesn’t have to be perfectly shaped… If it works well, I plan to come back for more orders.”
“I can guarantee it will last long. Our products have better durability compared to others. We’re not like those who only show off without substance. So don’t worry.”
“Yes, I transferred the payment to your account, did you confirm it?”
“I did.”
“Then… I’ll be heading out now. See you next time.”
“Haha, let’s do that! It seems I’ll be seeing you often! Don’t think about going anywhere else. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better blacksmith than me, apart from the veterans stationed at ‘Bulkanus’.”
His boundless confidence was bizarrely reassuring.
Yeon-hee smiled brightly and greeted the blacksmith.
“Yes… then.”
“Be careful!!”
With the blacksmith’s energetic farewell behind us, we stepped outside the shop. The outside felt warmer than inside, as expected. Damn dwarves…
The sun in the sky had already vacated its place, and it was that time when darkness extended its domain.
“First, let’s get used to the shield, and then we will change one weapon at a time.”
Nod nod-
Just looking at the battles that occurred early this morning, what summoned creatures needed was the strength to endure. It was right to postpone getting weapons. Instead, let’s make a higher-grade mana stone when we do get weapons.
After fulfilling all our outing goals, we stopped by the supermarket for a quick shopping trip.
It was just buying bread, milk, ramen, and some meal kits. Even though Yeon-hee claimed she was tired of ramen since she ate it too much, it was her habit to always stock up on it at home.
“I really shouldn’t be eating like this… But I can’t cook either, ugh.”
It was astounding how she maintained her curvy figure even while eating like this.
“Hmph, hum~ mmm~”
When her mood hit its peak, her humming was an inevitable bonus.
She kept changing the way she held my hand while wandering around the supermarket.
She loved to interlock her fingers, but she also enjoyed balancing her hand on the back of my hand, or curling her fingers to hold it, having fun with various ways to hold hands while shopping.
‘Tension is rising… it’s like feeling newlyweds.’
Even in a skeleton’s body, being with Yeon-hee while shopping sent a rush through me.
Surprisingly, Trait [Calm] seemed to allow such feelings without a fuss. Wow, I’m tearfully grateful…
Once we returned home after shopping, we spent our usual relaxation time.
First, Wang-wang, who was summoned again, dashed around the living room before cuddling with Yeon-hee and showing off.
The Lizardman 1 and Dotti 1 immediately came to me and discussed how to shape formation to avoid bottlenecking during battles.
(So, charging recklessly against a powerful enemy like the one with tentacles is the worst idea. Those guys usually have a strong technique! You know that from firsthand experience, right? But fighting one-on-one is also stupid. That’s even more pointless.)
(Skeleton master, your words are difficult.)
(I don’t care. Charge and destroy. When’s the battle?)
(It’s always you that gets destroyed while saying “I’ll destroy.” Ugh…)
It was hard to communicate. I wish we had a warrior with at least the intelligence of Ran.
(You’ve got it tough, Il-wol.)
(……)
Hearing that from Ran didn’t comfort me. I steadied myself and continued speaking.
(… So – we always base everything on four of you. Pestering your opponents group by group until their health drops. Got it? Just remember that. Dotti 1 and 2, you two will group with those zombies for a while.)
(I don’t want to. Zombies are slow. Stupid.)
(Is the battle far off?)
(What else could happen if you guys reject zombies? Just get along together.)
(I don’t care! I’m training!)
(Cowardly. I’ll train too!)
Suddenly, the 1st brothers lay on the ground and started doing push-ups.
‘Ha… damn it… they won’t even listen to me. I’ve got 96 lives and yet they’ll drive me to madness.’
Thinking back to when Lizardman 1 was first summoned, their growth was incredible, but they still remained stupid. Who’s calling whom stupid…
In the end, I was only able to deepen their understanding by getting Yeon-hee’s help once more.
It seems what Yeon-hee says sticks better than what I say. Or should I catch them and beat them senseless as a form of mental training…?
“The place we’re entering tomorrow is going to be challenging for you. Ghosts are immune to physical attacks, you know. They don’t even solidify like ‘Chehwa’. You need to cover your weapon with highly trained mana to strike them, but… we’re still a bit weak for that.”
I can use magic and my mana control skills have already surpassed a certain level, so it’s possible for me, but it was still far from our summoned creatures being able to hit incorporeal monsters.
(Attacks don’t work?!)
(That’s—!!)
The summoned creatures seemed shocked by the news that their attacks wouldn’t work.
“But we can’t do nothing, so I’m thinking of adding training for you to hit ‘Chehwa’. I’ll provide a weapon for the first one who succeeds.”
—-!!
(Chehwa’s extending its head.)
(Chehwa’s running away!)
(Wooaaaaah—!!)
Chehwa didn’t seem too thrilled about becoming a training dummy.
“Chehwa, could you help out?”
(Wooaaah…)
Ultimately, at Yeon-hee’s request, it finally floated down like a fallen leaf and landed on the floor, at which point the summoned creatures began to attack Chehwa with 30cm-long wooden sticks.
“The space is small, so we’ll summon three at a time every 10 minutes. Focus.”
“…!”
The summoned creatures had certainly been trained to behave quietly at home, so they raised their arms in clear response to Yeon-hee’s command.
Swish- swoosh-
The training started with Lizardman 1, Dotti 1, and Kobold Ddung-i.
‘How long can we keep this up… They’ll need at least to reach C-rank to have a chance, right?’
To inflict damage on incorporeal beings, the quality of mana needs to improve, and it has to be applied to fists or weapons.
Just like Maeng Seong-yong casually dealt with Chehwa during the promotion exam. So, it’s not something that can happen overnight.
“Alright, we should head out early then. Yeah, I’m fine.”
Yeon-hee received a message from Baek Ah-rin suggesting they enter the dungeon a bit earlier than usual. Given the nature of dungeons, that seemed reasonable.
The place we were to enter tomorrow is called ‘Abandoned School No. 1’.
There, the fog that blankets the area lingers throughout the day like a stubborn ghost.
Perhaps because of that, the monsters get stronger at night about two hours earlier compared to other dungeons, and it’s essential to strike quickly. Hence the need for an earlier starting time.
The dungeon’s main feature was the incorporeal monster ‘Ghost’, which could occasionally be found in the Wolf Cave dungeon’s forest, and there were also the somewhat trickier ‘Wraith’ like the ghosts.
Other monsters seen in the Wolf Cave dungeon do appear, but most of them are in a stagnant state, making them relatively easy to deal with.
The boss battle features Dread Ghost along with a number of ghosts. If you have area-clearing skills like Ham Eun-young or skills like [Skill Enhancement], you shouldn’t have major worries. However, since many ghosts tend to swarm at once right from the start, individual application skills like [Restoration] struggle to be effective.
After finishing the bomb manufacturing and watching the summoned creatures’ training, morning light began to break.
Yeon-hee quickly had breakfast with milk and cereal before putting the sandwich we bought yesterday into her inventory, completing her preparations.
“It’ll be faster to take the bus there.”
Nod-
Since there was a direct bus to the dungeon near our home, we hopped on and headed out.
Upon arriving, the dungeon appeared quite desolate. Compared to the Wolf Cave, the number of hunters was less than half, and there were only about as many staff as there were hunters.
The thick fog significantly reduced visibility, and the high humidity felt like the water had soaked my body, activating Irmana’s blessing.
Anyone would prefer not to operate in a dungeon under such conditions. Thankfully, the management office elevates loot prices by 1.2 times compared to other dungeons to keep things running.
However, the world draped in gray only weighed heavy on one’s shoulders, and the eerie screams echoing from somewhere seemed to warn us to leave this place as soon as possible.
And as soon as I entered the dungeon, I was gripped by an unfamiliar sensation.
“Hmm— this feels strange… It’s the first time I’m sensing this as I enter a dungeon… What is this tingling feeling?”
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