Chapter 63 – Episode 54. Alchemists Are Dangerous. (One)
Episode 54. Alchemists are dangerous. (One)
Entering Kang In-kyung’s shop, Lee Joon looked around her shop, rolling his head around.
She wasn’t the first to use her shop, but neither was she a regular.
‘Hmm. There are more things than I thought.’
In other words, this was the first time Lee Joon took a closer look at her shop.
Artifacts are generally difficult to see and have mysterious objects, so it was difficult to know what function they had when you were just looking at them.
In fact, no one would know that the bracelets had a danger detection function if they hadn’t told them just by looking at the bracelets that Lee Joon and Choi Min-seo were using.
“This looks strange again.”
While looking around blankly, he reached out and tried to touch an artifact.
It was a mask-shaped object made of wood.
“You can’t touch that!”
At that time, Kang In-kyung shouted and stopped him.
Her startled Joon Lee looked at her as he removed her hand.
“This mask is a dangerous thing to touch. The same goes for other artifacts. You must never touch it without my permission. Got it?”
“Ah yes. Sorry.”
Lee Joon nodded her head obediently, and she continued her words with a smile.
“Okay. You are a good boy.”
“By the way, what function does this mask have that makes it so dangerous?”
“This mask has the power to raise the sleeping power inside the person who uses it.”
“Isn’t that nice?”
“No. If you forcibly raise an unprepared power, it will only become dangerous.”
At Kang In-gyeong’s explanation, Lee Joon simply nodded her head.
She passed through such a dangerous mask and stepped inside.
“But why are you asking me to tell you about the Artifact? There must be some reason?”
“…I need the strength to protect my wife.”
“If it’s your wife, aren’t you talking about Minseo? Does she need to protect the child?”
Kang In-gyeong was one of the few acquaintances who knew the identity of the White Rabbit.
As such, when she was told that she needed the power to protect the White Rabbit, an S-class hero, she had doubts.
“Ugh. It’s a matter of a man’s ego.”
She couldn’t even say that it was to enjoy the four tora three games, and she was the one who just covered it up.
When she was told that she was a man’s pride, she nodded her head as if Kang In-kyung thought she could be like that too.
“Okay, then you can ask for an artifact to use. Why do you want to study about artifacts?”
Her question was a straight-forward question.
For example, if you want to run fast, you can ask for a good car.
However, Lee Joon was no different than asking for instructions on how to assemble a car.
“…Actually, I’ve disassembled an artifact a long time ago.”
Lee Joon started to explain things from the past.
Choi Min-seo, a class A hero in the past, was caught off guard and fell into danger.
He was kidnapped and imprisoned by the villain.
Then, Lee Joon risked her life and moved to save her.
Using her hacking ability, she tricked the eyes of the villains, checked her CCTV, and arrived at the place where she was imprisoned.
“At that time, Minseo was trapped in a blockade artifact.”
Originally, it was an item that could never be opened with his own power, but Lee Joon tried to use his ability on the artifact with the intention of doing whatever it was,
“Did that work?”
“Yes. It consumed a lot of stamina to the point that I was knocked out with just one use, but I knew that my ability also worked for artifacts.”
“But, how did the hacking ability work through the artifact?”
“I haven’t used it since then, but I think the Architect probably also moves with something like electrical signals.”
Lee Joon’s ability has now reached the point where he can manipulate electrical signals beyond system hacking.
And although the artifacts are based on the mysterious power of mana, when viewed as a whole, they operate in a similar structure to machines that operate with electrical signals.
To put it simply, it could be seen as the difference between a diesel engine and a gasoline engine.
“So I want to learn more about Artifact. If my prediction is correct, I should be able to push the Artifact’s performance to the limit with my abilities.”
“That interests me too.”
At Lee Joon’s explanation, Kang In-gyeong also looked at him with interest.
She is also an alchemist who creates artifacts, and if she can raise the performance of her artifacts with her own method, and if she knows how to do that, it will be of great help to her as well.
“Good. Come here.”
Kang In-gyeong began to teach Lee Joon the basic structure and operation method of artifacts.
No matter how smart Lee Joon was, he couldn’t understand the structure and operation method of the artifact he encountered for the first time at once, and it took him over a week to learn the basics.
Nevertheless, in Lee Joon’s case, learning was very fast.
It was so fast that Inkyung Kang stuck out her tongue.
“You learn very quickly.”
“Haha. Thank you.”
“Then shall we move on?”
Now that she knew the basic structure and operation of artifacts, it was time to see how his abilities applied to them.
“No matter how strong you want to be, suddenly touching multiple artifacts is a bad idea.”
“Yes. I think so.”
“So, let’s choose two artifacts for now and focus on using them.”
Kang In-kyung and Lee Joon decided to focus on two artifacts.
One was an offensive artifact and the other was a defensive artifact.
After much consideration, Lee Joon chose two artifacts.
One was a sword-shaped artifact, and the other was a shield-shaped artifact.
The artifact in the form of a shield was, of course, a defense artifact, a simple but powerful artifact that created a large barrier in front.
And attack artifacts.
Originally, I was going to choose an artifact in the shape of a gun.
Swords differed in performance depending on the person using them, but guns were weapons that anyone could achieve the same effect by simply pulling the trigger.
However, the structure of the gun-shaped artifact was too complicated.
On the other hand, the sword-type artifact was simple and suitable for Lee Joon to use his ability, so he chose the sword-type artifact.
To explain with Garage, the name of the defensive artifact was Aegis, and the name of the offensive eye effect was Gram.
“Aren’t both names too grandiose?”
“The original name should be given plausibly. Good. Would you like to try it then?”
After Kang In-kyung and Lee Joon took the artifacts, they headed to the hero association’s training ground.
In fact, the horse is a training ground, so few heroes use this facility because it is so outdated.
“Let’s check Aegis’ performance first, shall we?”
She pointed to one and said.
“Stand over there. Originally, it was a device to increase agility, but it should be enough to test Aegis.”
The equipment Kang In-kyung pointed out was a device that shoots rubber bullets the size of her fist.
Originally, the hero used it in a way to narrow the distance while avoiding the frightening bullets, but Lee Joon decided to test the power of Aegis in front of him.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes. Start!”
Kang In-kyung activated the remote control in her hand.
Tuquagagagagagang!!
Then, the rubber bullets flew terrifyingly!
“Ahhh!!”
Lee Joon used his hacking ability on Aegis.
I felt a mysterious power called mana flowing through Aegis, not electricity.
“If you accelerate like this!!”
The mana signal flowing through Aegis was repeated faster and stronger.
Wooooo!!
Then, the Aegis vibrated and the effect was activated.
A semi-transparent screen, imitating the shape of a shield, appeared in front of it.
Originally, the effect of Aegis was only one curtain, but with Lee Joon’s ability, three Aegis curtains were activated to the limit.
Tuong! Empty! Empty! Empty!
“So far.”
From this, it was possible to know that Lee Joon’s thoughts were not wrong.
By using Lee Joon’s power, the effect of the artifact can be raised.
“Then let’s check Gram this time.”
It was time to check Gram.
Again, as she adjusted her remote control, a large scarecrow appeared in front of her.
Unlike the straw scarecrow that is commonly thought of, it was a huge metal scarecrow.
“Hooup!!”
Lee Joon took a deep breath and swung Gram.
Like Aegis, the effect was activated as the mana moved inside Gram.
Mana stood on the blade and a very sharp blade was created.
Collision with Gram and Scarecrow.
Kaang!!
Lee Joon had only wielded a black cleaver so far, so his movements were very sloppy.
However, thanks to Gram’s effect, the blade showed the ability to cut half of the metal scarecrow.
“…I think I need to practice swinging my sword.”
“Iknow, right.”
Even to Kang In-gyeong, who had nothing to do with combat, the move was lame.
Lee Joon stuck out his tongue and pursed his lips in embarrassment.
“I’ll try using my ability this time.”
As he did when using Aegis, he used his hacking ability to wield the scarecrow.
Write!
He heard a sound that was incomparable to when he first swung it.
A sharp sound, like cutting through the wind.
A sharp sound that could not be thought of as the sound of cutting down a metal scarecrow.
Tuong!
The metal scarecrow cracked diagonally and fell down.
“…That’s amazing.”
“Yes? It’s an artifact I made.”
When Lee Joon genuinely admired him, Kang In-kyung pushed his chest out.
“Whoa. Whoa.”
“Are you okay? It looks very difficult.”
“Are you okay. I think it’s because I’m doing something I’m not used to yet.”
Lee Joon gasped for his drink as he exhaled heavily.
As expected, using abilities on artifacts required much more stamina than usual.
“Ruler. Let’s go back to my store and get some rest.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s what it should be.”
Lee Joon obediently went back to her shop with her.
Entering the store, Kang In-kyung got into the car and handed it over.
“Drink this. It will help you calm down.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
She brought her nose to the car and smelled her scent.
A very fragrant scent.
Slurp.
He stuck out her lips like a beak and sipped her tea.
A sweet scent drifted on the tip of her tongue.
“It smells so good.”
“So? It is a special tea.”
When Kang In-kyung said that she smelled good, she smiled as if she was satisfied.
“Ah. And the price of Aegis and Gram and the person who helped me, the amount of money… The payment… How…”
Lee Joon’s tongue stretched out while asking the amount for her artifact.
Her eyes half opened and her head rocked back and forth.
“…I won’t take any money for the artifact.”
“Ha, don’t do it, don’t do it.
In the end, Lee Joon lowered his head and fell asleep.
Kang In-kyung flicked her tongue as she looked at the sleeping man with a small groan.
“You have to pay the amount with your body.”
