chapter 216 – Building a Castle (4)
Though he was well aware that the Hero Universe members were unique characters, Kang Shin-hyuk also knew that there were people who shared quests with members of other dimensions.
“Wow, my grandpa was handsome all this time…”
“Thank you.” Kang Shin-hyuk smiled bitterly as the girl standing before him looked up towards his face. She looked young, probably no more than ten years old.
“Oh, you just thought of asking about my age. Prohibited, that’s not possible. An absolute no-no.” He didn’t even want to ask, but the girl slammed her hand down. She had blue hair like Oh Hye-na, but her eyes had bright red irises.
“Just call meShu.”
“You got that from Super Ultra GalaxyFist?”
“Yes. What about the gloves? Grandpa’s gloves.” As soon as Shu confirmed he was Anvil, she murmured like a child and hung to his waist. The administrator had no comment, for once.
“Here.”
“Wow, finally! The Anvil made products the others are boasting about!”
“Ah.” Taking the gloves he offered, Shu’s eyes sparkled as she rubbed them against her cheek. It was the object she had requested, but when he told her they were complete, she asked him to do a quest with her. Perhaps he wouldn’t be active, but observing the power of other members would be of great help to his training, and it wasn’t bad to build friendships, so he agreed,but…
‘It was good to meet her for sure.’ The members of the Hero Universe always surprised him. Meanwhile, Shu was experimenting with the gloves’ durability as hethought.
“It’ll stretch out? Nottear?”
“Well, it should go up to maybe the X-rank?”
“Oooooh, after all, grandpa has different standards! The current limit was easily exceeded!” That meant the limit of a mortal. Kang Shin-hyuk tilted his head.
“Isn’t the expression’ current limit’ not suitable for people that transcend it? Right now, most of my statuses have reached that limit.”
“Oh, that’s the standard. I call less than X the current limit.”
“Indeed.” It was an area that Kang Shin-hyuk hadn’t even recognized until a little while ago. The SSS-rank was hardly one people would imagine to those on Earth, but the standards of those in the Hero Universe were undoubtedly very different.
‘So, how is she actually,administrator?’
-Please consider the fact that she is a VIP member. But… for someone like you, the current limit is a correct way to refer to the SSS-rank.
‘SSS+ rank is a turning point… it’s the VIP standard.’ Kang Shin-hyuk laughed at the feeling he was only a frog in a well, and suddenly caught sight of her hands; her bare hands that were covered in scars. Maybe they were old wounds that were impossible to heal, but he had heard that there were definitely elixirs on the trading board…
“Do you care? But it’s okay; it’s like a medal.”
“Have you been fighting without gloves so far?”
“Yes. There was nothing that suited me.” The girl spoke lightly as she put on the black gloves. The gloves shrunk to fit her small hands the moment she put them on.
“Ooh, they fitperfectly.”
“Check thestatus.”
“I won’t. I can’t believe it until I try it myself. Ah! I’m not saying I don’t believe you! I don’t believe in Gaia, you know? Grandpa, you know?”
“Yes, yes.” The idea of not believing in the Gaia system was so foreign to Kang Shin-hyuk he didn’t really know what to think of it. Shu grabbed his waist as he began to feel a strange distance between them.
“So, let’s go now. This place is a little safe. The location of the quest is right over there.”
“Yes, I’ll follow, so let go of…?!” Shu hit the floor. At that moment, Kang Shin-hyuk felt like his body was being shattered. The landscape in front of him changed so quickly that he barely noticed he was moving. Apart from the sheer shock of moving that fast, he suffered no wounds.
“We’ve arrived!” Shu let go of him and vigorously shouted as they came to a stop. They were at a very large basin below a lush mountain. Kang Shin-hyuk put aside the feeling that he wanted to throw up and looked around. The mountains spread magnificently before them. This place was very different in size from what he was familiar with, but assuming it was maybe a hundredth of the size, this place looked like…
“A volcaniccrater?”
“That’s what it is. Those kids live here.” In addition to the two of them, there were several humans in the basin. Or rather, human-like creatures with red skin and hair that burned withsparks.
“They are the salted people, the Yeomin. To make good armaments, you need good iron and a good fire. They make a good fire, so I brought them.”
“Isn’t that fire considered as a worthy reward?”
“Before that, we have to stop them. See them, Grandpa?” He couldn’t see them, but he could feel it. He could feel the signs of countless entities steadily climbing up from the bottom of the mountain.
“Yes, I can feel it roughly.”
“Wow, you feel it, not see it? People who craft have different senses. Oh, let me introduce them to you. Hey!”
“Ah.” Shu grabbed Kang Shin-hyuk and ran once more. It wasn’t as big of a shock as their destination was closer, but the scenery in front of him changed so fast it was like they teleported. It was like they had moved through space as he thought that, a message appeared.
-Spatial Coordination (SSS) skill proficiency has increased toD-rank!
-Did you have some insight into spatial movement?
‘Wouldn’t the body adapt to something that dangerous?’ Well, he had to thank Shu now that she helped his skill grow.
“Fireball, say hello!” When he opened his eyes, a woman called Yeomin stood before him. At a distance, he only noticed the burning hair, but now that he was closer, he could see her vital spots were covered with a thin red rock in place of clothes. Excluding that, however, she was a beautiful woman by humanstandards.
[Grandpa? I heard that it was easy to know a human’s age by appearance, but he looks young.]
Kang Shin-hyuk smiled awkwardly ather.
“It’s a complicated situation. Call me,Anvil.”
[So I see. Anvil, I’m sorry, but we’re still busy. You look weak, so why should I be talking toyou?]
“Fireball, if you ignore grandpa, you will die by my hand.”
[That’s why I am asking for an explanation.]
It seemed that the Yeomin were the ones who ordered the quest, but it didn’t seem that the two were on very good terms. Furthermore, he recognized his status was weak compared to them.
‘I thought I had gotten a little stronger.’
-Spiritual power is not something easily revealed. She is ignorant and doesn’t know. If you show your maximum power, you will be seen as one of the best among the people living in this world.
‘But I can’t do anything about it now.’
-That’s right. But now, that resentment will drive your growth. 500,000HP bonus!
No, then why wasn’t this girl a member of the Hero Universe if she was thisstrong?
“It won’t matter anyway. Grandpa didn’t come here to fight, but to build a wall.”
[You’ll block those things with a wall?]
“Really, if grandpa doesn’t show his skills, you’ll grumble like that to the end. Okay, look. This was made by him.”
[What?]
When Shu put her gloved hands forward, the Yeomin looked surprised. Honestly, Kang Shin-hyuk was the one who was the most surprised. How could a person who couldn’t even recognize his spiritual power recognize this artifact at aglance?
[You mean to fight with that? With the abilities you showed offbefore?]
“Yep.”
[Are you serious? It looks like it would get torn apart at once.]
“I believe in my grandpa. So, look carefully. If it doesn’t tear, leave it to my grandpa.” It didn’t seem as simple as he had first anticipated joining another’s quest.
[Okay, then let’swatch.]
“Let’s go to a place you can see. Yes, that will be nice.” This time, Shu grabbed onto Yeomin and Kang Shin-hyuk. Resigned, he closed his eyes. When they opened a moment later, they were already at the steep mountain slopes at the edge of the basin. Now he could confirm the attacker’s appearance with his eyes. Lizards were crawling up through thedarkness.
[Fire lizards.]
The Yeomin spoke up.
[They eat fire. They cannot coexist with us.]
“But why are they… oh, Jormungand.”
[Jormungand? What is that…]
“Well, it means a bigsnake.”
[Snake. How perfect because it’s a snake that carries those lizards.]
Yeomin ground her teeth. At that moment, Shu nodded and extended her right hand forward. Then, raising her left hand, she grabbed her wrist and criedout.
“Galaxy Rocket Punch…!” At the moment, he was about to lament at the horrible naming sense that was worse than Claire’s, her tightly clenched right fist disappeared as if it had been cut off at thewrist.
“Eh?” Suddenly, a very large dark mass fell over the heads of the lizards climbing the mountain. With a terrible roar, thousands of them were crushed atonce.
“Hit! Wow, look at the gloves!”
[To really hold up to your fist…!]
“Wow!” Kang Shin-hyuk realized belatedly that it was Shu’s fist.
…Was it really a rocket punch?!