Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 42

42. Limit Level (2)

Hyun-woo smirked.

‘Indeed.’

‘It doesn’t just appear by breaking things; it only appears through the Disassembly skill.’

It seemed to be a byproduct from the last quest when he was distracted by Kirson.

At that time, Hyun-woo made and disassembled all sorts of things to find a way to kill Kirson. He kept most weapons just in case, but honestly, it was hard to distinguish them from trash just by looking at them.

The crystal stone was likely a byproduct of something he accidentally disassembled. Hyun-woo’s heart raced.

“Lenian, do you know what this is?”

Hyun-woo asked, holding up the crystal stone. Lenian tilted her head.

“Isn’t it made by refining crystal moss? They say if you put it by your head and sleep, it improves blood circulation and wards off bad energy.”

The effects sounded like a tourmaline nano loess mat advertisement [a type of Korean health product]. But Hyun-woo intuitively knew its value was enormous.

Crystal moss, and the highest grade crystal moss that only grows in hell, refined. It’s impossible to just mine it; you can only get it by making it into a rare item and then disassembling it with a skill.

‘It might not even have been discovered in reality.’

Hyun-woo was already making a lot of money just from the crystal moss he was mining in hell. Hyun-woo himself couldn’t estimate the value of this item. Just adding crystal moss to an item during crafting could create a rare item. If that’s the case, then a refined crystal stone could potentially create even higher-grade items.

Hyun-woo turned his head and looked at the items scattered around the room. There were plenty of items to disassemble. And he had hands to help him.

“Subordinate, Kirson.”

The mark engraved on Hyun-woo’s right hand began to glow brightly, creating a distinct shadow. Kirson squeezed out from within the deep shadows.

The goblin Kirson, who was said to have been killed by Noh-eul, was alive and well.

He glared at Hyun-woo with an unpleasant expression, but he knew he couldn’t do anything about it right now.

“Kireuk, what is it?”

“Bring half of the rare-grade equipment you have.”

Kirson’s face contorted. To suddenly ask him to bring the equipment he had—what kind of tyranny was this?

“Why that…”

“Half of you are dead anyway. Half of the equipment will be left, so bring that.”

The words ‘Aren’t you the one who killed them?’ almost escaped Kirson’s throat. But he couldn’t resist any further.

It was Hyun-woo who had resurrected Kirson and made him a subordinate, saving the remaining half of his tribe, the survivors.

“Kireuk, I understand.”

Kirson was about to move but cautiously looked back at Hyun-woo.

“Why?”

“…The promise you made last time…”

Hyun-woo wore an expression that said, ‘What promise did I make?’ but recalled it upon seeing Kirson’s fearsome face.

He had promised to spare his tribesmen in exchange for saving Kirson, making him a subordinate, and having him obey.

There would be no point in making Kirson a subordinate if he harmed the tribesmen even after that.

Naturally, Hyun-woo’s first reaction was, ‘Oh, look at this. He’s trying to bargain with me?’ but he readily accepted. Hyun-woo answered indifferently.

“Don’t worry. Once I’m sure you’re on my side, there’s no reason to betray me.”

It meant he would have nothing if he showed any signs of betrayal. Kirson grumbled something as if dissatisfied but obediently left. Hyun-woo began to loosen his shoulders.

There were a lot of things to disassemble.

***

[Howling Stone Axe (Rare)]

“Disassemble.”

[Ancient’s Sharp Spear (Rare)]

“Disassemble.”

[Convulsing Arrow (Rare)]

“Disassemble.”

[Successfully acquired Crystal Stone (Rare)]

He thought he had a mountain of useless weapons, but once he started disassembling, it was over in an instant.

He could feel the mana draining away, but because his level was low and his mana pool was small, it quickly filled up after a short rest.

The room soon became filled with round grains, and crystal moss and crystal stones were neatly piled up. Compared to the amount of crystal moss, the quantity was overwhelmingly small, but each one was a precious item that made him feel proud.

Before long, Hyun-woo had completely cleared out all the rare items scattered around the room. Then, he put the crystal stones in his inventory to gauge their weight.

[Crystal Stone (Rare) 2.8kg]

It seemed to come out at a ratio of about 1 per 100 crystal moss, so he had roughly consumed about 280kg of crystal moss to create them.

‘How much is this worth?’

If he calculated not just the crystal moss but also the value of the disassembled rare items, the value would jump several times over.

It was something that couldn’t be done without hell, where crystal moss was piled up like a mountain. But the really important thing was from now on.

‘Now that the materials are ready, I need to do the first experiment.’

Hyun-woo swallowed and displayed the crystal stones in front of him. These were precious crystal stones made by plundering all the rare items he had scraped together so far.

He was hesitant to recklessly try like when he made items using crystal moss, but he had no choice but to try.

“Lenian.”

“Yes?”

“Pray for me.”

Lenian made a thoughtful expression, then flew to the crystal stones and tapped them with her hand.

“In the name of the beast promised at the end, I pray that it becomes a great weapon that brings sorrow, disappointment, chills, lamentation, wailing, pain, screams, despair, frustration, and death to the enemies.”

A suitable prayer for a weapon.

Hyun-woo decided to be satisfied. He had an idea of what the blueprint for the weapon would be. In front of him were the crystal stones and a disassembled goblin dagger.

Even if he could only make a legendary weapon like the Black Hand Dagger with this, the experiment would be a success.

Hyun-woo took a deep breath, gathered the materials in his hand, and activated the skill.

“Craft.”

At that moment, Hyun-woo suddenly felt his mana draining away rapidly. It was a different level of mana consumption than when he had been crafting or disassembling until now. Hyun-woo realized.

He had been using the Disassembly and Craft skills so routinely that he hadn’t realized that the mana consumption would naturally increase when trying to craft higher-grade items.

“Keuk!”

He staggered and his knees buckled. Hyun-woo almost let go for a moment but barely managed to hold on. Crafting was in progress in his hand.

He already knew from experience that a failure would result if he stopped the skill midway.

“Butler!”

Lenian rushed towards Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo barely opened his trembling lips.

“S, S…”

His lips turned blue, and his whole body trembled. It was a symptom of mana being completely depleted. Even if he resurrected if he died like this, the experiment would fail.

But Lenian immediately understood Hyun-woo’s words and ran to the pile of crystal moss. Then, she frantically stuffed crystal moss into Hyun-woo’s mouth. Hyun-woo forcibly chewed and swallowed the crystal moss.

It was a crude method, but he had no choice if he wanted to replenish his mana immediately. But the rate at which his body was collapsing due to mana depletion was faster than the rate at which the crystal moss was dissolving into his body. Hyun-woo felt the ends of his body drying up.

[Health has dropped below 10%. Regeneration begins with the ‘Last Man Standing’ title perk.]

‘Already?’

That meant the rate at which his body was collapsing was incredibly fast. Generally, if you use a skill that exceeds your abilities, you immediately stop, even if it means enduring the feedback.

Because it’s better than losing your life.

But Hyun-woo couldn’t do that because the crystal stones were too precious.

“G, Guh!”

Even though his body had started regenerating, it didn’t seem to be getting any better. At best, it was maintaining the status quo.

Due to the pain, a bizarre groan escaped from Hyun-woo’s mouth. His whole body was stiff, and even his jaw wouldn’t drop.

Lenian, unable to put any more crystal moss in, hovered around, not knowing what to do.

But regardless of Hyun-woo’s condition, crafting was steadily progressing in his hand. He could feel the intense heat. It was as if he was holding a furnace in his hand. Hyun-woo felt his vision gradually blurring.

‘Damn it, do I have to start all over again?’

He never thought he would die while crafting an item, not even fighting.

That’s when it happened. Suddenly, something sharply pierced his cheek.

As the jaw muscles were cut off, his mouth opened on its own. He felt something pouring into his opened mouth. He thought Lenian had put another crystal moss in, but this time it was a liquid.

As soon as the liquid flowed down his throat, Hyun-woo’s body, which was collapsing, began to recover rapidly. At the same time, the crystal moss melted and steadily filled his mana.

“Keu, Keuheo.”

He looked to the side and saw Kirson with a distorted face. He was holding a blood-stained dagger in his hand.

Next to him, Lenian was holding a potion. It was clearly a high-grade health recovery potion that should have been in his inventory.

It seemed that Kirson had forcibly opened Hyun-woo’s jaw and Lenian had poured the potion into it.

Meanwhile, crafting had reached its peak. The heat in his hand reached its highest point. Hyun-woo worried that his hand would burn to ashes, but all that was escaping from between his fingers was bright light.

‘Please, let it be something useful.’

Hyun-woo tried to bite his lip desperately. But because of the severed jaw muscles, his mouth wouldn’t close. While drooling, the crafting was finally completed.

[General Achievement Achieved!]

[You have successfully crafted a legendary item.]

[You have acquired the ‘Artisan’ title.]

[The reward is increased due to level-to-difficulty compensation.]

[The probability of crafting rare items is greatly increased as a reward.]

[Successfully crafted the Bleeding Dagger (Legendary).]

[The ‘Smelting’ trait has been added to the Crafting (General) skill.]

[It is now possible to craft general metal items.]

[Mana capacity has been greatly increased.]

“Huk! Hureok, huk.”

Hyun-woo released his hand as if bouncing away. Thanks to the potion’s effect, the severed jaw muscles were reattached. The newly crafted dagger rolled around with a clanging sound.

The desk was blackened, but it wasn’t burned enough to be damaged. The same was true for Hyun-woo’s palm.

He succeeded.

He could tell just from the messages he heard. Hyun-woo stood up on his trembling legs and looked at the dagger. The dagger had completely melted and been remade, so it had changed so much that it was hard to find its original form. It had become very neat.

A red core was engraved in the center, but unlike its name, it didn’t bleed.

‘To create a legendary weapon.’

That meant that he could make as many as he wanted as long as he had the materials, even if he didn’t farm.

Hyun-woo checked the amount of crystal stones he had left. 1.6kg. Perhaps because it was a dagger, not a large amount was consumed, and only 1.2kg was used. That meant he had enough left to make one more legendary weapon.

“…Ha. But I can’t make any more today.”

Hyun-woo muttered with a dying expression and slumped down. He had been using skills without much thought until now, but now he realized he really needed to be careful.

The mana consumption wasn’t that great even for rare items, but it was this much at the legendary stage.

When he thought about it, it seemed that the mana recovery rate was able to keep up when he was crafting rare items. So much mana was drained for legendary that he couldn’t keep up at all.

Hyun-woo wanted to lie down and sleep, but he also wanted to test the performance of the legendary weapon he had created as soon as possible.

At that moment, Kirson approached Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo found it ironic that Kirson had saved his life.

Kirson could have cut his throat instead of his cheek. Just as Hyun-woo was about to weakly raise the corners of his mouth and thank him, Kirson passed by Hyun-woo.

Kirson picked up the Bleeding Dagger that was on the desk.