Level Up Monster
Chapter 21
In the middle of sorting out things to throw away and things to take with him, Sae-Jin's eyes are drawn towards the picture coming out of the old TV. It was news of the alleged reappearance of the Vampires.
"…."
He subconsciously held tightly to the picture frame in his hand after seeing the news. It contains the only family photo. Taken the day before she lost her mother, it is a memento now stuck on the border between nostalgia and an old, unhealed wound; a; this faded photo signifies the last day of her childhood that she shared with him.
When he thought back to that day, perhaps he must have felt his own death approaching. they packed it as an "unfortunate accident" . That day, which before them was wrapped up as a "misque of calamity". She remembered her unusually bright, yet somehow, extraordinarily sad face. She took the photo with her young son and made a frame, and the next morning, she left home to work – and never came back.
Officially, at least, they say it was a car accident. But even at her young age, Sae-Jin suspects something is wrong . If it was indeed a car collision, then his body would not be that clean, nor would it be that pale. When they placed him inside the coffin, he seemed to be sound asleep and at peace.
But whatever the case, there was nothing he could do at that moment. He was only 7 years old, an orphan at the time.
Since the government declared the "war on Vampires" 18 years ago, all Vampires had temporarily hidden from the world, but this incident serves as a proof that they still operate in underground societies… . – Since the government declared a "war on Vampires" 18 years ago, all Vampires have temporarily been hiding from the world, but this incident becomes proof that they are still operating in the underground society ….
Sae-Jin bites her lips without even realizing it. They are just smelly bats, or maybe just garbage, or something much worse than that, like pieces of dirt that have absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Since they live off of human blood as their only source of food, Vampires cannot coexist with the human race. In fact, it's not like humans act unconcerned towards them; not everything . But they are the ones who betrayed humanity on the grounds “blood animals are not worthy.” (TL: literally say “animal blood is not clean.” To think that in that context, it is not worth sounding more correct.)
And now, that damn bat is acting again …
Sae-Jin clenches her hand and stares at her reflection in the mirror.
The boy from 15 years ago who only knew how to cry was no more.
***
Orcs were truly special monsters because their individual way of life was very different depending on their rank.
Orcs and Orc Warriors found at the Lowest to Lowest Level Hunting grounds never formed a package. They live lonely lives, only meeting others because of the need to copulate and breed . So, they do not use any weapons, and if they do, it is only limited to holding – raw wooden objects .
But the story changes for Orcs found in the low or higher Mid Tier Hunting lands. They were similar to the way Goblins in that these Orcs gathered in large numbers to form a village, but the difference was that their roles had been clearly divided.
Orc Scouts with their quick feet, search for locations of drinking water and food; Orc Warriors and Orc Jaguars to hunt according to the intel gathered by the Scouts, or to fight with Monsters, Knights, or to hunt according to the intelligence gathered by the Scouts, and other Hunters; orc Great Warriors who protect the village after gaining experience and wisdom; and Orc Chieftains who rule the village itself.
"Hey, wait a minute, is that …?"
"Shh !! You're correct. This is the Orc village."
Unfortunately, compared to the level of danger posed, the remains of Orcs did not take a high price. Ignoring the rank, a lone Great Warrior Orc had enough strength to fight evenly against a Knight who at least had a Mid Tier rank above and above.
But even then, the Knight Order would still attack the Orc village with incomparable madness.
There is only one reason for this – "Orc's Forge."
"Today's luck was pretty good. Mark the position on the GPS and let's vamoose, pronto."
um?" "OKAY. But guys, it's almost a medium-sized village, so how much is it worth to them?"
Inside the Orc village, there were some rudimentary workshops.
One could say that the main occupation of the Orcs living in a village could be that of weapons experts, as they individually made their own weapons to use. That was the reason why the completion rate of the weapon differed from Orc Warrior, Jaguar Orc and to Great Orc Warrior.
However, as the Orc blacksmith skills became better the higher the rank, the creatures that lived without a village were underground the Lowest and Low-Level Hunt, as well as those in the villages found within the low Mid Tier hunting grounds where skill levels were not impressive, they did not garner much unwanted attention for themselves.
"I heard the boys in Dawn Knights Order paid the best; last time, they paid plus minus $ 440K."
But now, the Orc village these Hunters saw was on the Mid Tier Hunt ground. The weapons wielded by the Orc Jaguar were far superior to those made by ordinary blacksmiths, and items made by people like Great Warriors or Chieftains would be comparable to those made by expert craftsmen, or even surpass them in some cases.
acquire these weapons . So, the Knight Order raided the Orc villages to obtain these weapons. Clearly, it was because quality weapons were extremely important to Knights. Moreover, in the case of those with excellent Magic Power. But that's not a selfish, simple excuse about "better weapons make you stronger". If the quality of the weapon was not maximal compared to the Magic Power of a Knight, then the weapon would not be able to withstand the tension and instead be destroyed.
Currently, the number of top or higher Mid Tier ranked Knights present in South Korea was around 2,500, but weapons suitable for their levels were estimated to be less than 2000. That meant that, whenever 500 or so Knights went to fight with the Monsters, they would end up with heavy injuries after their weapons were rendered useless in the middle of the fight. It is also impossible to import weapons from abroad, as other countries are also in a similar situation.
So, most of the Knight Order put a large reward moolah to find Orc's Forges. Especially the Order of the Knights Dawn, as they were in quite a desperate position. They may be inundated with cash, but somehow, find themselves severely short of quality weapons.
"I'm done marking it on the GPS. Come on quick …"
But there was a definite reason why the Knight Order placed such a high bounty on finding the Orc's Forge.
The Orcs living in the Mid Tier hunting ground attach great importance to the security of their village, and can catch the slightest disturbance as if they were equipped with a high-tech radar.
Khwoererer!!" – " Khwoererer !!"
The side of the mountain looked faintly trembling hearing an angry roar.
"Fucking boy from … !!"
2 Hunters ran hard without even glancing back once. The roar most likely came from a Chieftain ordering the other Orcs around. If the Orcs are after them, then …
KwangKwangKwangKwang!! – KwangKwangKwangKwang !!
As expected, the foresight of the upper Middle Class Hunters proved to be correct. With clouds of dust and weeds flying everywhere, 4 angry Orcs leaped out of the village and started chasing them. Unfortunately, since Hunters could not utilize Mana, it was impossible to escape from their pursuit. (TL: the author uses the term " ⁇ " to describe the pursuing state of Orcs. It could mean "agitated", "boiling", etc., so I left furious. Incidentally, Google says it stands for "Bro, man. "I laughed out loud.)
"Don't stop!!"
The Hunters had never lost hope in the midst of this hopeless situation and kept running hard, but it seemed that heaven had abandoned them when they finally found an even greater source of despair.
"…. Huh."
The black shape in the tall grass – at first, it was opaque and hard to tell his identity. But once they were close enough, Hunters could see what it was.
It was a legendary creature that should not be here – Wolf Man. The two Hunters lost all strength in their legs and fell to the ground after seeing the bipedal Wolf monster.
"Truly a serious problem …"
Since this was a Mid Tier hunting ground, it seemed like the Hunters had invested heavily in their equipment, though, and there are more than a few people who use magical objects that eliminate all body odor – makes meetings like this a troublesome problem for Sae-Jin. Already, he met humans 3-4 times this week alone and as a result, rumors of Werewolves wandering the Mid Tier hunt had spread online in the Hunters Cafe like wildfire.
"…. F, f * ck. .. Why fucking Werewolf …"
But fortunately for him, those 4 Jaguar Orcs were enough to meet his daily hunting quota. Ignoring the Hunters who are drowning in a swamp of despair, Sae-Jin kicks with both feet and jumps into the air. The black beast soared high as if to block the blue sky above and then, descended towards the Jaguar Orc below.
From his sturdy body, evidence of the activated "Reversal Warrior" skill could be seen as a boiling red aura.
"Kkwe-Eck!!" – "Kkwe-Eck !!" (TL: it's SFX to scream pig. I try my best here ..)
First, using claws that were harder than steel, he pierced the neck of one of the Orcs. After his throat opened, the Orc died on the spot, but there were still 3 more left.
Sae-Jin takes a powerful sweep with her hand on the head of another Orc. The head is separated from the body and bounces like a basketball.
Not even afraid of seeing their 2 comrades fall in the blink of an eye, the remaining Orcs were only focusing on attacking him. Receiving the implied order "to eliminate all intruders" from the Chieftain, there is no other purpose in the life of this Jaguar Orc other than to carry it out. (TL: a little confused by this line. The author uses " ⁇ " here, which means "to offend, to imply." But in this line, it makes no sense to me.)
Kwoererer!!" – "Kwoererer !!"
An Orc roared and struck the beast's arm with a square iron hammer.
Honestly, Sae-Jin doesn't expect the blow to hurt her. Beast Mode's body was several degrees harder than steel.
"…. !! Gwoararar !!" (TL: seriously, this roaring SFX got me up the wall.)
However, contrary to his expectations, it was as painful as a madman. Enough to make her almost cry, even.
Riding his wave of anger, Sae-Jin grabs the offending Orc's neck. When the blood dried from the green face, the remaining Orcs tried to save his comrade and attack him.
Ppuck !!
Simple and powerful impact sound – Sae-Jin swung the body of the Orc in his hand and hit the head of the other, killing both of them at the same time.
'It still hurts so much. '
After finishing the fight, Sae-Jin turns around while rubbing the arm hit by the hammer. He half expected to see the 2 Hunters to sit there confusedly staring at him, but no, they had already made a hasty retreat from the scene, leaving only a cloud of dust behind.
"Oh?"
Not giving up on their lives even when struck by momentary terror. As expected, there was something different about the upper Middle Class Hunters. Admiring their intelligence, Sae-Jin walks towards the bodies of the Jaguar Orcs. And while frowning, he stuffed his claws into the heart of one of them. The sensation of penetrating the flesh and touching the heart remained somewhat disgusting.
[Complete Condition: Absorbing 20 Mana Jaguar Stone Orcs. ]
– Hosts can now use Orc's innate skills "Smithing Technique."
►Active Skills "Orc's Smithing Technique" [Skill Skills Level: F]
– By synchronizing Mana in the host body with certain metal, stone, and wood materials, the shape can be changed at will.
– Depending on the Skill Skill Skill Level, materials that have gone through the Smithing Technique process will acquire new hardness and light, and also depending on the amount of Mana used, desired characteristics can be added as well. (Right now, it is impossible to give magic effects that are not physical.)
– Skill effects will differ depending on the following Statistical values: Physical Strength and Magic Power.
– This skill can only be used during Orc Forms.
"Hmm?"
He learned a completely unexpected skill after the absorption was completed. His head remained upright as he tried very hard to understand what those words meant.
*
It's unknown how Orcs refine, manufacture, and forge metals even until now. The temperature of the flames found in the workshops in the villages measured, at most, around 1200 degrees Celsius, which was extremely low. And it was impossible to explain how the weapons produced by the Orcs were of such high quality by looking at those weak flames; even modern blacksmiths equipped with cutting-edge technology fail to explain this problem – thus, making this question perhaps THE unsolved mystery of this generation….
Sae-Jin watches the image projected onto one of the walls in the cave with great focus. It was a documentary titled "The World of Blacksmiths, Part 2: The Secret Wonders of Orcs". To get a better understanding of what it is, he even paid a total of 50 cents (USD) to rewet the program but hell, he said, he eventually realizes that humans know very little about the true nature of Monsters.
'Sync Mana in my body …? Let's go. '
Although both his stats of Mana Affinity and Magic Power had improved greatly, he could not grasp the idea of utilizing Mana at all. Totally equivalent to a course, really. To use Mana, rather than pure talent, the advanced education provided from the beginning plays an important role, after all.
However, even though he might use Mana, this was not a technique to use it, but a skill activated from the 'System'.
He changed to the Orc Form, retrieved a large stone from the surroundings, and activated the skill. Suddenly, the stone was dyed in Mana blue.
"Huh?"
It was the greatest sound of admiration possible spoken with the Orc mouth layout. fondled the rock wrapped in Mana . Sae-Jin caresses the stone wrapped in Mana. Mysteriously, the shape of the stone changed according to the movement of his hand. It became the tip of the spear when he formed his hand into a sharp triangle, and when he rubbed it between his hands, it became a thick rope.
On the stunning scenery of the stone that turned into a different shape like clay every time he manipulated it, Sae-Jin loses track of time and retreats back to a time of childish innocence and curiosity. Then, maybe three minutes had passed like that. The blue mana implanted in the stone disappeared, and its shape solidified into the last shape it made, a star.
[Smithing Technique has been completed. ]
[Hardness Level: E]
[Due to the trash quality of the finished goods, the Skill Skill Skill Skill Level has decreased to F-. ]
"…?"
He was really surprised by this announcement. What should be wrong with the star?
