Chapter 268: Chapter 268

Chapter 268: Settlement (2)

Kim Minwoo left the hospital and headed to Ilsung's underground workshop.

He reached out his hand.

Thousands of skeletons were summoned, each possessing their own production jobs.

They were the five production classes that had all learned Dragon knowledge.

‘The difference is... first off, their appearance is a bit different.’

The very sheen of the summoned guys was different from the start.

The first to catch his eye was the Blacksmith Skeleton.

The hammers they gripped were not crude bone hammers, but blue hammers that looked as if they were carved from whole dragon horns.

Blue afterimages trailed in the air with every swing.

The Alchemist wore a leather pouch that seemed made of a dragon's stomach instead of a normal glass bottle, and held a red crucible that looked carved from a reverse scale in its hand.

The liquid boiling inside spewed thick heat like lava.

“They got a bit cooler?”

The Rune Maker and Tattooist Skeletons gripped sharpened dragon fangs instead of brushes.

Every time they drew a stroke in the air, blue mana sparked like electricity instead of ink.

The Architect was the highlight.

Ditching the act of looking at old blueprints, it floated a crystal ball that seemed to hold a dragon's glint, projecting a 3D blueprint into the air.

“Certainly, the class is different.”

Compared to summoning them with existing skills, they were visually upgraded significantly.

Just learning the knowledge brought about this level of change...

If they were real Dragon Tooth Soldiers, they would be killer, right?

He poured out all sorts of junk items from his inventory and commanded.

“Make something, anything.”

While thousands of skeletons gripped materials and started crafting, Kim Minwoo summoned Cedric.

“Yeah. Returned. From the Lord.”

He must have been frantic too.

‘It makes sense, since I barely summoned Legion Commanders in the Golden City.’

The reason was simple.

Summon count is proportional to maximum mana.

The mana required to summon two Legion Commanders is 100.

That amounts to a whopping 20 skeletons.

He had to summon even one more skeleton to learn Dragon techniques, so where would he have the time to summon Commanders?

Even then, after seeing them reverse summoned instantly during the brief summon in the last battle, he had just gone all-in on mana for his main body.

—...Anyway, it is fortunate you returned alive, Master.

“That Lord fellow seemed to hate seeing me die too; he gave me some help.”

—Archaia. That mad Primordial Dragon and Lord have quite a deep ill-fated relationship. That must be why.

“It was a bit of a shame though. If it was a Dragon City, I thought I could get some Ancient Dragon corpses, or Dragon Tooth Soldier crafting methods or something.”

With woefully insufficient Achievement Points, who would have known the crazy event of the Dragon Lord showing up in less than a day would happen?

Ultimately, returning after all those twists and turns was the best outcome.

‘...To be precise, the bastard probably let me live.’

He felt it when he used Descent.

That monster's power.

He was simply a walking sun.

The terrible amusement contained in his eyes.

Letting him go might have been because of that reason.

—Just not dying is an achievement. If it is the level of a Primordial Dragon possessing the power of an Outer God, even the Lord in his prime would have to spend considerable time to hunt such an existence. That is why... he is still alive and well even now.

Answering calmly, Cedric examined the skeletons.

—The tools resemble those of dragons quite a bit. Did they learn Dragon knowledge?

“Yeah. Filled them all with production jobs. So about that, do you know the conditions to job change into a Dragon Tooth Soldier?”

—Master, a Dragon Tooth Soldier is not an existence made by a skeleton changing jobs. In the first place, skeletons cannot do job changes. Even Lord's ones were like that.

“Then? How are Dragon Tooth Soldiers originally summoned?”

—They must be crafted. The body, directly, like me. Creating them one by one by hand is exactly what a Dragon Tooth Soldier is. However...

Burning his eye sockets fiercely, Cedric murmured.

—The knowledge I knew, has changed a bit. Is it because of Master?

—Just now, a new job change method for Dragon Tooth Soldiers came to mind. As if I had remembered it that way from the start.

After a moment of silence, he spoke calmly.

—I will tell you first. Dragon teeth and bones are needed in large quantities. Dragon blood contained in Blood Jade is the same. On top of that... let me ask one thing, Master.

—...Did you by chance acquire the Essence of the Primordial Dragon?

“...Unbelievable. Don't tell me that is needed?”

—Yes. It is needed. To forcibly raise the status, materials of that caliber are essential, it says.

Originally, Dragon Tooth Soldiers had to be crafted separately from scratch.

Even Cedric had never seen skeletons job changing.

But miraculously, the materials to job change the currently possessed skeletons and grow them into Dragon Tooth Soldiers had come in perfectly?

‘Is it Ananke's luck correction?’

No, it’s suspicious to say that.

Didn't she clearly say it?

That the luck was almost running out.

‘Then there is only one.’

The existence giving discounts in the Achievement Shop.

Clearly, there seems to be something.

“It's not like some giving tree...”

—There is no favor without reason. And that is usually the scariest thing. Be careful, Master.

“I am doing that, punk. The problem is there's nothing I can do right now even if I am careful. But it's also weird to refuse what's given.”

While they conversed like that.

Tang, tang, tang! Chiiiiiik―!

The basement transformed into a massive factory.

The sight of thousands of skeletons moving in perfect order was truly spectacular.

Blue sparks flew every time hammers carved from dragon horns cut through the air, and thick mana smoke rose like lava from the crucibles.

Mountainous results piled up before Kim Minwoo's eyes.

Kim Minwoo picked up a shield that caught his eye first.

It was a shield made of ordinary black iron, but its texture was different from the start.

A bizarre pattern like scales was engraved on the surface, and a heavy pulse was felt as soon as he gripped it.

[Checking Item Information.]

[Name: Dragon-Made: Sturdy Black Iron Shield]

[Rank: Magic+ (Growth Type)]

[Description: A shield imbued with Dragon Crafting techniques. By drawing out the potential of the material to the limit, it has been granted properties similar to dragon scales rather than simple steel.]

[Effect 1. Physical Defense +20%]

[Effect 2. Magic Resistance +15%]

[Effect 3. Special Effect: ‘Fear’ ― Induces fear in surrounding low-rank monsters upon equipping.]

Kim Minwoo's eyes widened.

If the existing Dwarven crafting method focused on intuitive stat increases, this was on a completely different level.

‘It’s not a simple enhancement.’

With the modifier ‘Dragon-Made’ attached, high-tier options like ‘Magic Resistance’ and ‘Fear’ were added to a mere Magic rank item.

Moreover, the most surprising thing was the small text next to the rank.

The item grows along with the user's achievements or level.

If Dwarven goods were ‘perfectly processed industrial products’, Dragon goods were like ‘living organisms’.

As he picked up the potion placed next to it, acrid smoke rose up.

[Dragon-Made: Poison-Imbued Explosive Potion]

[Special Effect: Upon throwing, an additional explosion resembling Acid Breath occurs.]

The poison explosive potion was not simply imbued with a poison attribute; it came equipped with an AoE damage option called attribute explosion as a standard.

It was the result of squeezing the material's potential beyond 100% to the limit.

“It’s certainly different. If the existing method is stable enhancement, this is...”

―The blooming of potential itself.

Cedric, who had approached before he knew it, murmured while looking down at the shield.

―Equipment crafted by a dragon refines itself to match the owner's status. Until it blooms brilliantly. Of course, infinite growth would be impossible...

“Still, it means it grows, right?”

―I suppose so. Well, with this Magic shield, if a decent human holds it and gets lucky, it might somehow reach Rare rank.

―Dragons are the disseminators of all knowledge. Their knowledge is like a treasure whose value cannot be counted.

Potions didn't grow, but instead, changed in a way closer to maximizing effects.

Runes or tattoos were...

“These are also Growth Type.”

Just looking at them, places to use them seemed overflowing.

Finally, he looked at the cute structure built by the skeletons.

It looked like some kind of watchtower, but perhaps because it was a basement, they didn't build it high.

It was roughly about 5 meters tall.

At the top, instead of ordinary arrow slits, a dragon head sculpture emitting red light from its eyes was carved.

[Dragon's Eye Watchtower]

[Rank: Structure (Magic)]

[A small tower that automatically surveils enemies.]

[Effect 1. Sounds an alarm upon detecting enemies.]

[Effect 2. Automatically projects Fire Breath at enemies within range once every 10 minutes.]

This was irresistible.

He felt it would perform well if deployed at any base.

After finishing his appreciation like that.

Kim Minwoo fell into happy contemplation.

‘If I release this on Earth, it will be chaos, right?’

Every single penny in the world would be sucked into Ilsung.

Because even the products of the Kaisar Continent couldn't catch up to these overwhelming results.

“But, I have to think about releasing it...”

If he released it just to make money right now, the Kaisar side might go completely bankrupt.

That would be no different from cutting his own flesh.

Since the trade volume would plummet, Achievement Point copying wouldn't work.

To put it bluntly, isn't Kaisar a continent that lives off technology exports? If that technology is shattered, it obviously wouldn't be good.

—Why worry about such things. Master has plenty of good sales channels overflowing. Like the Heavenly City. The Eastern Witch Coven wouldn't be bad either. Since they're essentially like merchant groups.

“...Release it in a completely different dimension?”

—Right. Isn't it fine as long as you don't touch Earth? Then there would be no need to worry about the Kaisar side either. Just in time, most sane dragons are extinct, and as for the remaining Dragon Legion side... I don't know if crafting knowledge still remains. Anyway, it would be difficult for them to handle Master's volume.

“Oh, oh, you pretty thing!”

Bursting into a bright smile, Kim Minwoo ruffled Cedric's skull vigorously.

“That was a very excellent idea, Cedric. You did one.”

—That knights are ignorant is all prejudice.

After soothing the grumbling guy slightly.

He looked at the items piled up like a mountain.

‘Certainly, it's an attractive proposal.’

Exchange rates must exist for each dimension.

Earth's was a bit brutal.

But what if it's a group that looks like they have something, like the Eastern Witch Coven?

‘Their exchange rate would be a bit cheaper, right?’

Like being able to exchange for Achievement Points even with a small amount of Eastern Witch Money.

‘Until now, there wasn't much to sell...’

They were killer items only on Earth, which was Third World level; from the perspective of the Witch Coven, who had been through all sorts of hardships, they were just mediocre goods.

So there was no way trade would happen.

But the items crafted now were different.

They were none other than Dragon-made products.

‘On top of that... the Dragon Legion doesn't seem sane right now either.’

The Dragon Lord was crazy from the start.

A situation where considerable time had passed since then.

If the top is crazy, would the bottom be fine?

Then Dragon-made products would have naturally become scarce in volume.

“I should, export, right?”

This was irresistible.

A penthouse in Beijing where pitch-black darkness had settled.

The bedroom of Liang Xiaojun, China's best Necromancer who had entered the power elite with the trust of the upper echelons, was silent.

Buried in top-quality silk blankets, he was indulging in a sweet dream of becoming the Chairman and commanding the world under heaven.

At least until icy water poured over his face.

“Puhahak! Cough, who is it!”

Liang Xiaojun sprang up like a spring with a scream.

His pupils, trying to reflexively draw up mana, shook as if an earthquake had hit.

A woman in a pitch-black dress standing by the bed.

To him, she was an unforgettable figure.

She propped her chin on her hand and clicked her tongue as if pathetic.

―Hey, idiot. Our Saintess says she has something to say to you.

Merhen pointed to the darkness beside the bed with her finger.

From there, click, clack, a woman in a neat priest uniform walked out along with the sound of heels.

A smile more benevolent and holy than anything hung on her face illuminated by the pale moonlight.

But deep within those pupils, an unextinguishable madness was blazing.

“Nice to meet you, Believer Liang Xiaojun.”

Though he had never met her in person, Liang Xiaojun obviously knew who she was.

Wasn't she the priest of that Money Talks Guild?

“...Uh, you have something to say to me? What kind of words do you intend to speak...?”

“I heard rumors. That there is an impure lamb in urgent need of correction.”

She clasped her hands together and whispered softly.

“Faith is not a joke. Right?”

Goosebumps crawled down his spine.

Liang Xiaojun swallowed dryly without realizing it.

‘What is this, this bitch...’

Her eyes are just completely...

That was just a fanatic.

The most devout, and therefore the most dangerous fanatic.