Chapter 82
Lina Ahn turned the knob of her D Weapon, Microscope of Truth, shining with blue mana in a dark room. She had black hair and eyes, and wore a white gown and purple frame glasses—no different from when she first met Seong-Hwi.
“Not yet... not yet. Just a little more... more... now!”
She dropped an Inferior Orc Gene with a dropper on the drop of blood on a microscope slide as she looked into the eyepiece. The red blood slowly turned yellow. Lina stared fixedly into the eyepiece without blinking. The two genes began to combine like the links of a chain coming together.
More... Just a little more... Ah!
However, the chain links came undone, and the two genes evaporated, leaving behind black smoke.
“Huuu... this one failed too. I can’t get them to stabilize,” Lina mumbled as she removed her glasses and rubbed the area above the bridge of her nose.
She had stayed up for several nights. Since she had bought a topor leaf, an ingredient for a powerful anesthetic, a week ago, that was how long she had gone sleepless.
Lina had planned to relax Seong-Hwi’s genes with the topor leaf since its anesthetic properties could suppress blood components. She had tried various things with the leaf, but it all failed.
She put her glasses back on and stared at the glass vial next to her table. It used to contain the blood of Cheon Seong-Hwi, the match, but there was nothing left but a red stain.
“I can’t do more trials even if I wanted to,” Lina said to herself as she closed her eyes.
She had a slight fever. Although the Health stat could allow humans to transcend their limits, they still required rest and sleep. Humans dreamed while they slept to organize all the information they gathered during the day and determine which to keep.
Dreams were also a mechanism for rewarding desires they had suppressed in reality. If one did not sleep, their mood fluctuated, their memory capacity dropped, and they even hallucinated.
I should... get some rest. Haaa... Why am I so absorbed in this project?
Lina initially began the Ubermensch Project for humanity, whose terrible starting conditions couldn’t be compared to those of the other races. It was a magnificent objective, but it had been more to satiate her curiosity than a sense of duty for her kind.
Yeah... It all started after I met Cheon Seong-Hwi.
However, her feelings shifted once she met Cheon Seong-Hwi, the perfect match. One could say she developed a sense of duty.
“I want to become one of the Ten Lords and Fiends first. My goal isn’t to catch up to the superior races but to surpass them.”
Seong-Hwi’s voice echoed in Lina’s head. The first time she heard it, she considered it a newbie’s immature comment or shamanistic feelings in hopes of reaching high aspirations. However, his words refused to leave her head.
The Ten Lords and Fiends... Surpassing the superior races, huh?
Lina chuckled. From examining the genes of many races through her Microscope of Truth, she knew how different humans, an inferior race, were from the superior races. Planting beans using different agricultural methods and under different environments would affect their growth speed, but the fact that they had budded from a bean did not change.
But there is a way, Lina thought.
For example, a branch from an apple tree could be grafted onto a pear tree. The tree itself was a pear tree, but apples could now grow from it. Genetic modifications could also create produce that looked like sweet potatoes but tasted like potatoes. Lina’s role was to graft and genetically modify, surpassing simple pruning.
And if Seong-Hwi becomes an Ubermensch as he wishes and becomes one of the Ten Lords and Fiends... Lina trailed off in her thoughts.
Lina’s heart pounded rapidly. This high, as if she were on drugs, was why she had been experimenting while skipping sleep altogether.
“First, I need an immunosuppressant, but... Will I ever find the right one? There’s nothing like it on the Black Market catalogue.” Lina sighed and mumbled blankly, “Huuu... It’d be great if Seong-Hwi got it for me, but I doubt he could. Unless he’s the enchanted bean in Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Just then, someone answered her monologue, “Who are you calling a bean?”
“What?”
Lina opened her heavy eyelids and looked across her desk. Seong-Hwi was standing there.
“Were you sleeping? I knocked several times, but just entered because you weren’t answering,” Seong-Hwi remarked.
“Hah... Looks like I’m seriously sleep-deprived if I’m seeing hallucinations.”
“What?”
“Dammit. Why do I have to see hallucinations of him, of all people? It’s not like he’s my boyfriend.”
Seong-Hwi stared dumbfoundedly at the disheveled Lina with thick dark circles and said, “Have you finally gone insane, Lina? I knew you would one day, but I can’t afford to have you go insane now.”
“You’re quite rude for a mere hallucination. Shut up and go away,” Lina said as she closed her eyes.
“What the hell?”
Seong-Hwi took over an hour to convince Lina that he was not a hallucination.
***
“Okay. Since you’re going this far, I’ll entertain the possibility that you’re the real Cheon Seong-Hwi. Where have you been?” Lina asked.
Seong-Hwi said inwardly, It looks like I’m not that well-known yet. I need a certain level of fame for what I have planned next.
His name was currently being spread throughout human society via word of mouth. Jurie was an exception since she was the Database. Lina’s reaction was normal—no, perhaps not since she was practically a hikikomori.
“Didn’t you read my letter? I said I’d bring you something good,” Seong-Hwi replied.
“Oh, right. What did you bring?”
“First, take these.”
Seong-Hwi placed the two heads attached to his waist on Lina’s table, treating them like watermelons he brought to his friend’s house in the summer. Lina glanced at Seong-Hwi and removed the black cloth, revealing the heads of Tutobure and Illechebra.
“What are these?” Lina asked, unfazed.
She grabbed the heads and examined them thoroughly. Her eyes widened once she noticed the blue horns protruding from Illechebra’s temples.
“This is... a dragon’s head!”
“Yeah, the head of a royal dragon—well, I suppose it’s a hatchling’s head since he wasn’t a mature dragon,” Seong-Hwi replied.
“Holy crap!”
The fatigue in Lina’s eyes vanished.
Seong-Hwi continued, “And the one next to it is the head of the goblin High Ranker, Tutobure. Could you extract their genes from these?”
“Of course, I can! The higher their caliber, the more intact the extracted genes! This is... the best!” Lina said as she caressed the heads as if they were gems.
“There’s one other thing,” Seong-Hwi remarked.
“What? The skin of a giant? The wings of an angel? Give it here! You’re making me dizzy!”
Seong-Hwi focused on the nerves of his back. An iridescent wing shaped like a pointed oval sprouted from his back, along with an itchy feeling, looming over his right shoulder. It was one wing of the Ancient Fairy Queen’s Wings, which he had gone through much trouble to obtain.
“What’s... that?” Lina asked.
“You told me you need an immunosuppressant, didn’t you?”
Seong-Hwi handed Lina a piece of paper on which he had written the description of the Ancient Fairy Queen’s Wings in advance.
Ancient Fairy Queen’s Wings (Artifact)
Rank: D(99)
Description: Twelve pairs of wings holding the power of the Harmony Stone. They are the wings of the Ancient Fairy Queen Dryas, who lived for a millennium. They harmoniously embrace various qualities. They have currently lost most of their power.
Lina’s hands holding the paper shook. She mumbled, “The Harmony Stone? Harmoniously embrace various qualities? This is—”
“Is it possible?” Seong-Hwi interjected.
Lina’s cheeks turned bright red as she panted heavily and asked, “Huff! Are you sure you’re not a hallucination? Huff! If I wake up and it turns out this was all a dream... Huff! I can tell you I’ll go insane without a doubt.”
“You look plenty insane already.”
“Holy crap, holy crap! What a day! What an item! First...” Lina trailed off.
She mumbled incomprehensibly for several minutes like a cult fanatic. The language center in her brain was falling behind her thought processes, making her look like a mad scientist.
Seong-Hwi asked worryingly, “Hey, are you all r—”
Lina suddenly raised her head with a smile, shouting, “YOU REDUCED WHAT WOULD’VE TAKEN THREE YEARS TO ACCOMPLISH TO THREE MONTHS! YOU’RE THE BEST!”
***
The Milano street in East Earth was filled with a beautiful harmony of ancient ruins and modern architecture. Among them was a smithy next to Naviglio Grande.
“The real estate alone is probably a million Coins,” Seong-Hwi remarked as he looked around the smithy he belatedly arrived at.
The smithy was rather small; before it went bankrupt, it appeared to have been run by one person and possibly two to three employees. However, it had everything a smithy needed. Flames blazed from the circular blast furnace in the middle of the smithy.
[Zetu’s Subpar Blast Furnace (Item)
Rank: D
Description: A blast furnace installed by the artisan Zetu of the Blue Anvil tribe. The arcane art of the Blue Anvil tribe is partially applied to it. It uses mana as fuel, allowing a mystical power to be infused into it.]
The item had a defined potential limit, hence stat points could not be invested in it. Muka, clearly dissatisfied, twisted his beard irritably as he stared at the blast furnace.
“Hmph! Blue Anvil sure has fallen. It’s up to them whether they want to sell blast furnaces to humans for Coins, but I can’t believe they intentionally reduced the item’s potential. They don’t deserve to be called artisans!”
“What’s wrong? Is it not good enough?” Seong-Hwi asked.
From what he knew, blast furnaces made by dwarves were almost impossible to get. Each contained an arcane art, which imbued the metal refined in them with various effects a normal blast furnace couldn’t. After seeing the blast furnace, Seong-Hwi thought Jurie had gotten them the best possible smithy. However, Muka begged to differ.
“Not even close! Most of all, this blast furnace is missing an Artisan’s Soul! Without that, this thing is nothing but an empty husk. Forget janateel, it couldn’t even refine shizteel!” Muka shouted, his brows scrunching.
“Artisan’s Soul? Where can you get that?” Seong-Hwi asked.
“Are there dwarves in the Capital?”
“Yeah, a lot. They’re mainly from Blue Anvil, Steel Hawk, and Red Hammer.”
”Red Hammer?” Muka remarked, his expression relaxing. He continued, “I’m from the Red Hammer tribe. Since we also name our clan by our tribe name, like the orcs do, it's probably right. I should request an Artisan’s Soul from them.”
Muka pounded the hot blast furnace with his bare hand and said confidently, “The key material is missing, but it’s rather well-made. I should be able to raise its potential if I repair it with my arcane art.”
Seong-Hwi asked, “Muka, aren’t you... a C-rank artisan?”
”Huh? Who told you that?”
”Are you not?”
Seong-Hwi naturally expected Muka to be a C-rank artisan. The ranks of artisans were based on the potential of the items they created. Since investing Karma into an item was the only way to check its potential, people usually bought items from verified artisans. Otherwise, they would be wasting Karma.
The dwarf society Faber held an annual exam to assess artisans’ abilities in their capital, Ferrum. Because the only qualification required to take the exam was to be an artisan, races besides dwarves also took the exam. Artisans acknowledged with high ranks were not only showered with recruitment offers but item orders. Hence, it was the perfect way to turn one’s life around.
Three A-ranks, a hundred B-ranks, a thousand C-ranks, and ten thousand D-ranks were awarded per year. It was less than that in years where the participants were subpar, and ranks E and F were not even awarded.
Based on Muka’s attitude of having no worries about Coins and his confidence, Seong-Hwi guessed he was around C-rank because it was from there that an artisan became truly known for their skill. Not only that, but C-rank artisans could practically swim in their Coin profits.
“A C-rank artisan, huh? Dammit! I hate those classifications. An artisan is an artisan; why must we divide them into different ranks? I know the Ferrum Festival is a huge help to our society, but I can’t believe my master would do something like this!”
”Master?”
“Steel King Bafor! I’m only his three hundred sixty-second disciple, though. Sheesh, artisan or merchant; pick one, damn geezer!”
“What?” Seong-Hwi asked dumbfoundedly.
Steel King Bafor was a master craftsman revered in Faber as a god because he was the only person in the Mirror World who could create items with S-rank potential. On top of that, he was thirty-fifth in the World Ranking—a monster.
Muka is the Steel King’s disciple? Why was he confined by the likes of Trophy, then? Seong-Hwi wondered.
Muka scratched his head, noticing Seong-Hwi’s disbelief. He clarified, “Ahem. I was vehemently against the Ferrum Festival, but... he didn’t care and proceeded with it anyway. That’s why I left in rage. It’s also why I don’t have an artisan certificate issued by Faber, but don’t let that mislead you into thinking I’m unskilled!”
Muka puffed out his chest and boasted even more proudly, worried Seong-Hwi would doubt his ability.
That’s not the issue. Wait... If that’s the case... Seong-Hwi trailed off as he reconfigured various thoughts and plans in his head.