Chapter 48
“Oh, by the way, Hye-rim. You should also start looking for a signature skill for yourself.”
“A signature skill?”
“Yes.”
I nodded and explained.
“Hye-rim, you’re going to be a mid-tier collector soon. It’s unprecedented how fast you’ve grown, but there’s one thing you need to know. There’s a big difference between low-tier and mid-tier collectors.”
People usually pay attention to the high-tier collectors, but in fact, the mid-tier collectors are not pushovers either.
Especially those who have reached the mid-tier level are in the process of developing and refining their own [Stories], so they show a significant gap from the low-tier ones.
“Hye-rim, you use a sword. But you don’t have many skills related to swordsmanship. Am I right?”
“Yes, um. I think so.”
Kang Hye-rim had inherited the trait of Cheok Jun-gyeong, [Sword Master of the Goryeo Era].
The moment she held a sword, she literally gained tremendous combat power.
And she used the swordsmanship that Cheok Jun-gyeong had, which was now called [Great Yeojin Sword Technique], but it was nothing compared to the power she possessed.
“Hye-rim, you’ve definitely mastered the basics by now. You probably won’t be lacking even if you compare your pure physical abilities with other mid-tier collectors.”
“Heh, hehe. What are you talking about?”
“Don’t be happy about it. That’s all it is. Hye-rim, you’ve grown too fast. You skipped several steps that others had taken slowly. Your physical specs are great and your combat sense is good, but you don’t have enough skills or stories to back them up.”
Of course, she had a title that no one else had and a hidden piece weapon, but that wasn’t enough.
“Now you need a story that can be classified as intermediate or higher.”
The low-tier stories she had so far were nothing more than basics.
She needed some advanced skills for experts.
She agreed with my words but hesitated.
“But aren’t those stories expensive?”
“They’re very expensive.”
Low-tier story skills cost only 100TP to 2000TP at most. But as soon as they reach the intermediate level, the price jumps up.
The cheapest intermediate-level skill would cost at least 20,000TP. If she wanted to get what she needed, 100,000TP might not be enough.
Kang Hye-rim could afford to buy them now, but if she bought four of them, she would spend all her fortune.
But.
“You don’t have to spend a lot of points. I know how to get them cheaply.”
Just like this Salio Ancient Artifact Longsword that I’m working on right now, there are still many hidden pieces in the [Dimensional Shop] that haven’t been revealed.
To be precise, they are hidden recipes.
I was planning to tell her one of them that would help her today.
“I would have preferred to show off in front of the spirits, but I think there might be some controversy.”
The spirits would love it if I showed them hidden pieces.
They would be thrilled by the fact that there are new stories hidden in the dimensional shop.
But if I did something wrong, the damage that could come back to me might outweigh what I gained.
‘What if someone raises suspicion? How did he know about such hidden pieces? As soon as someone questions and points it out, the suspicion will spread uncontrollably.’
‘I can’t just say I knew it.’ And it was hard to come up with a plausible excuse because this hidden piece was too valuable.
Those who had no idea would brag about their knowledge without thinking.
But they should know this. Not everyone is enthusiastic about their actions.
Sometimes they doubt and guard against them.
That’s what hidden pieces are.
They can arouse suspicion and wariness more than someone’s expectation or curiosity.
So I decided to tell her separately while closing the library.
“Hye-rim. Open the dimensional shop.”
“Ah, yes.”
Kang Hye-rim followed my instructions well.
“Hye-rim, you show off your skills with a sword. You focus more on speed and technique than strength. Right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Naturally, you’ll have trouble when fighting strong phantasms.”
“Ah! That’s true. I feel that too.”
It was like that when she fought the Minotaur in Labyrinthos.
She managed to knock it down by raising her sword qi then, but until then her attacks didn’t do much damage.
“Sooner or later, you’ll face phantasms that you can’t handle with just sword qi. What do you think will happen if you fight the same way then?”
Kang Hye-rim also realized the seriousness of the situation and her expression hardened.
“Don’t worry. That’s why I’m going to tell you.”
“Uh, um. It’s not a scam, right?”
She asked me suspiciously, having been fooled by me before.
Well, I get more points when she spends points in the dimensional shop.
This is inevitable.
“When did I ever scam you?”
“Well, the first time too…”
“Yes? What did you say?”
“No, nothing. Nothing. Yes.”
Sigh. This is really. I’m doing this out of pure kindness, but why is she like this?
Anyway.
“Look for a low-tier story skill called Lightning Flash Technique among the sword techniques. Do you see it?”
“Yes.”
“That and an intermediate story skill called Lightning Essence Technique. The price is very cheap for an intermediate level, so you should be able to afford it.”
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“Oh. Really.”
[Dimensional Shop] confirmed Kang Hye-rim’s eyes widened.
“And finally, swordsmanship. There should be a low-tier story skill called ‘Thunderstorm’.”
“Yes. I found it.”
“Buy those three and learn them at the same time.”
Lightning Flash Technique.
Lightning Essence Technique.
And Thunderstorm.
These three might seem impressive by their names alone, but in fact, they are garbage stories that are useless if learned individually.
Lightning Flash Technique is fast, but the user can’t control the speed.
And there’s a slight electric shock that burns the body while moving.
Lightning Essence Technique allows the user to store lightning qi in the body.
The power of lightning is powerful in itself, but this lightning qi is too strong and often causes seizures in the body.
Most collectors have a hard time controlling it. It’s not to mention the inconvenience in daily life.
And lastly, Thunderstorm.
This is a disaster. It belongs to swordsmanship, but it doesn’t have any general formula. Even if you learn it, you don’t know how to use it.
It sounds like it could cause a natural disaster, but in reality, there’s nowhere to use it even if you learn it.
It would be more helpful to have a story that helps you breathe better than this.
So this is what people call us, the three worthless brothers with only cool names.
But, when these three worthless brothers join forces, the story changes.
‘No. Joining forces is a wrong expression. To be precise, it’s more like one thing split into three.’
Island Lightning Technique, Brain Flash Mind Technique, Thunderstorm Sword Technique.
In fact, these three stories have the same root if you look at their origin.
The reason why they couldn’t use them properly even though they had their own stories was simple.
It’s impossible to unleash the full power without completing the puzzle pieces.
“Buy all three of them and learn them.”
“Is that okay?”
“You have to.”
Kang Hyerim followed my words with a little suspicion.
She followed me without doubting what others would have doubted, which made me think, ‘I raised a good collector.’
Kang Hyerim held the three stories she bought from [Dimensional Shop] in her hand.
They were clusters of text that looked like white eggs.
She looked at them with a slightly nervous gaze, then put them into her body.
Crackle!
And at the same time, electricity flowed out of her body.
“Ack!”
Baek Seoryeon screamed without realizing it, and Baek Hyo, who was standing on my shoulder, flapped his wings with his round eyes widened.
I calmly watched the scene.
The electricity flowing out of Kang Hyerim’s body got stronger.
It soon began to overflow around her.
‘Now.’
I immediately pushed the [Salio Ancient Artifact Sword] that I held in my hand toward Kang Hyerim.
The electricity that was splashing around was sucked into the tip of the sword like a lightning rod.
“Yu-hyun!”
“It’s okay.”
Baek Seoryeon shouted with a worried voice, but I waved my hand instead.
She might think that I was swept away by the current, but no way. All that electricity was being absorbed by this sword.
To be exact, the [Lefra Sap] that I applied to the sword increased its conductivity and helped the sword absorb the electricity.
Zap!
The electricity flowing out of Kang Hyerim reached its peak, and so did the electricity absorbed by the artifact sword. The rust on the blade scattered like powder, revealing its true appearance.
“What is that…”
“This is what the real artifact sword looks like.”
The Salio sword emitted a beautiful appearance as if it had just been made.
There were very precise circuits on the blade, and currents were flowing crazily along them.
Zing.
The moment the artifact sword trembled slightly, the electricity that flowed out of Kang Hyerim stopped as if it was a lie.
The electricity that was absorbed by the sword also disappeared, and the sword lost its light as if it was sorry and fell asleep.
Baek Seoryeon, who watched this process, pinched her cheek as if she couldn’t believe it.
“It seems to be over.”
As soon as I said that, Kang Hyerim opened her eyes.
As soon as she opened her eyes, I saw a faint blue electricity flickering near her pupils.
But there was no sign of energy outside. She was controlling it properly.
“Hyerim. How do you feel?”
“Uh, um.”
Kang Hyerim looked at her body condition that was surprisingly light with a puzzled expression.
I decided to kindly tell her about her condition.
“Look at your status window. You should have a new skill.”
“…It’s true.”
“What does it say?”
“The three stories that I absorbed before are gone, and instead I have a skill called Heavenly Thunder Sword.”
[Heavenly Thunder Sword]
This was what I thought suited Kang Hyerim best among the hidden pieces.
It was one of the forgotten martial arts that no one could find even traces of those who learned it.
This fearsome hidden piece that could manipulate the lightning of heaven surpassed even the high rank if you looked at its level of story.
“That will be your power from now on.”
“Ah.”
Kang Hyerim felt an indescribable emotion and tried to hug me as soon as she came to me.
“Thank you!”
“Hey.”
I immediately avoided her hug. Kang Hyerim fell on the sofa as it was.
“Hmph. You’re so mean.”
“Where are you trying to hug? Don’t you know that I’ll get electrocuted if you hug me when you haven’t fully controlled your electricity?”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Hold this.”
I handed her the Salio ancient artifact sword that had been completely peeled off its rust.
“Huh?”
“Hold it. It’s not right now, but some of the electricity that you can’t control will leak out. The sword will absorb it, so don’t worry.”
In fact, this was also a way of saying that, but Kang Hyerim had to act as a kind of battery to wake up this sword.
The reason why I told her this was also to get the process of awakening the sword while doing her a favor.
“Yu-hyun…”
“Shh.”
Did Baek Seoryeon notice that? She looked at me like someone who couldn’t express something with words.
‘What’s wrong with that?’
‘No, how can you make a person like a battery!’
‘It’s all for her benefit. You know that. Don’t you know what mutual benefit is? Mutual benefit.’
‘I almost burned my office down!’
‘…Is that why you’re angry?’
Is that it?
‘Please give me a heads-up if something like this happens again.’
‘Okay.’
Now that I think about it, this lady is not normal either.
I thought she was extraordinary when I saw her after the apocalypse, but was it not because of the environment, but because her personality was like that from the beginning?
Anyway, I already got two hidden pieces.
There are a few more that I know, but they are not something I can get right away.
‘Heavenly Thunder Sword is a pity, but it wasn’t for me in the first place.’
It was a martial art specialized for women in the first place.
And it was a martial art that used swords as the main weapon.
I can’t use it to its full potential even if I learn it, since I use anything and everything. In a way, it was perfect for Kang Hyerim.
‘I’m satisfied with getting this Salio sword for now.’
I was happy with that when it happened.
[You have received a message.]
A text message came to me through the Genesis Network.
There weren’t many people who could send me something like this directly. Who is it?
[Sender-Choi Jungmo]
I opened my eyes wide at the name of the sender, and my expression hardened as soon as I saw the content.
[I found out what you asked me before.]
He found out Choi Doyoon’s whereabouts.
