Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 44

44. Fully Prepared (1)

After days engrossed in crafting and dismantling, Hyun-woo abruptly decided to visit the old gym.

The gym looked eerie and dilapidated.

The sight of withered trees and tangled alleys, which made the narrow alleyways even more cramped, was desolate. Even from a realistic perspective, this gym probably wasn’t very popular.

Hyun-woo headed to the gym’s basement, where the beginner scarecrows awaited.

The beginner scarecrows still stood silently in the middle of the basement, looking grotesque. But Hyun-woo hadn’t come for them; he was there for the skeleton at the back of the gym.

Though its posture was broken and it lay rolling on the floor, the skeleton was still there.

“……Hmm, leaving it like this isn’t really an option.”

Hyun-woo began to collect the bones and put them in a box. Some parts were so brittle they crumbled at the touch, but he managed to gather them. Hyun-woo also put in any tattered clothes that seemed unnecessary.

It was a pathetic and meager sight.

If there had been even one item that could identify who this person was in life, he would have erected a tombstone, but there was nothing of the sort.

However, considering the contents of the letter he’d left behind, it was clear that he was one of the last survivors when humanity was on the verge of extinction.

‘Then he must have been an ability user, maybe even a Ranker [a player ranked among the top players].’

He might have been one of the current Ranker-level Hunters. In fact, unless latecomers were as unique as Hyun-woo, it was hard for them to catch up with the early starters.

A hero who never gave up until the end and devoted his whole being to humanity, fighting against destruction. But his end was so pathetic.

As he stated in the letter, it was because he had failed.

But this wasn’t a body to be left unattended.

Of course, the reason Hyun-woo came back to this place wasn’t just to hold a funeral for this person.

‘If he was such a legendary hero…….’

Hyun-woo wasn’t that warm-hearted.

‘Surely he must have hidden some relics?’

If he was a human who had endured until the very end, he would definitely have plenty of items.

Moreover, the time of his death was close to Difficulty: Hell. It would be different from the time when Legend-grade items dropped like candy.

‘If I’m lucky, I might be able to gain some profit without much trouble.’

He had searched for useful items when he came last time, but to no avail. He searched while collecting the remains, but it was the same.

‘It would be a problem if they fell into the wrong hands, so he might have hidden them somewhere.’

But the most likely scenario was that he died with the items in his inventory.

Since the concept of inventory hasn’t yet appeared in the current timeline, it’s unknown what happens when you die with items in your inventory. Hyun-woo comes back to life even if he dies.

If other people die, what happens to the items in their inventory?

Possibility 1. They disappear.

This can’t be helped.

Possibility 2. They remain in the inventory.

This is possible. Hyun-woo does, after all.

It isn’t certain that there will be no skills to revive the dead among the skills that will be obtained in the future, although it isn’t yet known now.

Even the Familiars are like reviving dead monsters and using them as servants, so it’s not impossible. But for Hyun-woo right now, it’s no different from possibility number 1.

Possibility 3. They fall around.

But there were no items visible around. The most optimistic thought was number 3, but not seeing them meant that he had taken them out in advance and hid them somewhere.

But after searching around for a while, all he found were a few dusty books, and no useful items emerged.

“Tch, can’t be helped.”

He had hoped for unearned income, but it didn’t seem to be that easy. Still, he had no intention of handling the remains carelessly.

Hyun-woo lifted the box containing the remains to hold even a simple funeral. At that moment, he heard a faint scratching sound.

“Huh?”

It was different from the sound of bones scraping against bones. Hyun-woo wondered if something had gotten mixed in and searched between the bones. But no suspicious objects were found. When he shook the box again, he heard the same sound.

It was coming from the skull.

Hyun-woo lifted the skull and turned it upside down. He heard something rattling and falling out from the inside. When he shook it towards the jaw, something round fell out with a thud.

It was an artificial eye. Apparently, one of his eyes was blind.

Hyun-woo brushed off the dust from the artificial eye. Strangely enough, even though it was clearly an artificial eye, there was something like a gold-rimmed lens attached to the pupil.

Hyun-woo tried to remove it. It wasn’t a lens, but a monocle from the beginning.

[Admiral Ren’s Monocle (Legendary)]

The moment he saw the identity of the item, Hyun-woo couldn’t help but laugh.

“Haha…….”

After all, free loot is the best.

***

Whether Admiral Ren was a person, or if it was the name of this skeleton, the function of the monocle was ‘Analysis’.

By consuming the wearer’s mana, it could reveal the item’s performance and abilities, as well as detailed annotations and background information left by someone named Admiral Ren. The more mana consumed and the longer the observation time, the more information could be obtained.

This was like welcome rain to Hyun-woo, who had been suffering from a lack of clear explanations. But up to this point, it could have been a normal analysis item.

The real value of a Legendary item was revealed next.

This analysis applied not only to oneself but also to others.

“This is a scam [something too good to be true].”

Hyun-woo muttered, observing the beginner scarecrows with the analysis monocle on his right eye as a test. The limits of the beginner scarecrows’ combat abilities, built-in functions, and the maximum level they could handle were revealed.

The more detailed the information, the more mana was consumed and the slower the information was added, so there were limits to using it in battle, but it was already enough.

Knowing the enemy’s stats, skills, and equipment before fighting is an unspeakable advantage.

For example, if he had known about the value of the Black Hand and the Legendary Dagger before fighting Kirson, he could have prepared for it. The skeleton seemed to have implanted it in his blind eye to do that on a daily basis.

‘I don’t think I’ll go that far.’

Putting something in my eye. It sounds painful.

Anyway, he got two Legendary items in just one day. Both were items that Hyun-woo needed, perfect for the situation.

Hyun-woo felt like he knew how inefficiently he had been wasting his time.

Of course, training himself is also important. But…….

‘The best thing is to get stronger without suffering!’

Of course, problems still remained.

[Bleeding Dagger (Legendary)]

[Classification: Sword]

[Physical Attack: Low, Magic Attack: Low-Mid, Penetration: Mid]

[Special Ability: Can inject the wielder’s blood into the opponent. When injected into the enemy, it acts as a poison, but when injected into an ally, it can heal them.]

[Annotation: It is fortunate that the person who made this dagger had knowledge of antigens, antibodies, and immunity. It is made with a simple mechanism of consuming the wielder’s blood to attack enemies and heal allies, but the magic formulas used within are not simple. However, since it has no more meaning than a blood transfusion, I give it an overall rating of a well-made piece of trash.]

This was the stats of the Bleeding Dagger he had.

Here, the annotation seemed to be from that Admiral Ren guy. It was a great leap compared to the simple stat display that was previously displayed.

But the problem was that the stats were still vaguely lumped together. There were two assumptions as to why this was the case.

One. This is how the original stats are displayed.

Two. It is determined according to the standards of that Admiral Ren guy.

Looking at the annotations, it seemed possible enough.

Hyun-woo didn’t like the Bleeding Dagger being evaluated as a well-made piece of trash, but he just lacked imagination. He probably didn’t know that a Poison Blood skill holder would use it.

Anyway, it is more advantageous to make as many wounds as possible and let out a lot of blood, rather than ending it in one blow with the Bleeding Dagger.

‘The problem is, how do I replenish the consumed blood?’

Unlike mana or stamina, blood isn’t replenished quickly. Until now, Hyun-woo had been running with the mindset of catching one and dying, so blood shortage wasn’t a big problem. But he couldn’t fight like that in the future.

However, he couldn’t see his own stats.

[Kang Hyun-woo (LV 20)]

[Skills: Poison Blood (Contagious), Battle Helper (Aura), Domination]

Only the skills and level were displayed. It could simply be that the status window displaying monsters and humans is different, but Hyun-woo thought that this was probably related to that Admiral Ren guy as well.

Looking at the annotations, he observed the target and added explanations. But Hyun-woo had never met that Admiral Ren guy.

In other words, detailed explanations or annotations aren’t added to what he hasn’t seen. It would be better to understand the monocle as an encyclopedia rather than a perfect analysis device.

But Hyun-woo, who was thirsty for information, was satisfied with that.

Hyun-woo was excited at the thought of taking the monocle and finding out about various things. At that moment, a tingling pain was transmitted around the eye wearing the monocle.

It was a mana depletion symptom.

Hyun-woo remembered that he had been observing for too long and took off the monocle.

‘I should rest a bit.’

[The Starving Star, Yog-Gulem is watching you.]

The voyeurs are still there. But somehow, this time, there seemed to be more eyes watching. He hasn’t been doing anything particularly active. Considering that it only appeared when he killed something or achieved something great before, it was quite strange.

‘I should be careful because they might be planning something again.’

***

One week.

For a week, Hyun-woo devoted himself to crafting and dismantling without rest.

Almost all of the items brought by the goblins were dismantled. He repeatedly combined the pouring crystal moss and materials to create rare items.

And he repeatedly used crystal stones to create Legendary items about once every three days.

“Ugh, eughghgh!”

Hyun-woo groaned, placing his hand on the white-hot weapon on the floor.

The crafting skill squeezed the mana in Hyun-woo’s body like a rag and poured it into the weapon. Blood vessels burst in his eyes, and bloody tears flowed down.

It was painful, but the aspect was different from before. Even before symptoms of body collapse appeared, the white-hot weapon emitted light and was finally completed.

[Successfully crafted Oshet’s Left Gauntlet (Legendary).]

[Manufacturing skill has increased.]

[Mana capacity has greatly increased.]

“Keuh, heueoeoe…….”

Hyun-woo collapsed as if falling down. Renian poured a potion into Hyun-woo’s mouth. As he swallowed the potion, he felt his energy barely returning. This time, there was no near-death experience.

Not to mention the first time he made it, and even the second time he was fully prepared, he barely survived with the Last Man Standing title perk. But the third time, he succeeded before his body was so damaged.

‘Is it because the mana capacity has increased?’

He didn’t know the specifics, but he definitely felt that the mana consumption was becoming more bearable each time he used the skill. The mana capacity also seemed to be greatly increased by the ‘I am Legend’ title perk, like experience points.

‘Then the rate of increase will soon decrease.’

Just like receiving a lot of experience when approaching the limit, the rate of increase will inevitably decrease as he gets used to it.

But Hyun-woo was more satisfied than just being able to create Legendary items so easily.

That’s not to say he could make them every day. He couldn’t waste crystal stones carelessly, and after making such a Legendary item, he had to lie down for at least three days. If he tried carelessly with a tired body, he could really fail and waste precious materials.

This time, he made armor based on the blueprint of the Spore Infiltrator Tosi.

As materials, he put in the crystal stone, the Spore Infiltrator Tosi, and the tough gauntlets he received from the Scarlet Butterfly. It was the first time he had put in rare gloves as a material. He felt the need to increase his survivability.

“Let’s see, what did I make…….”

Hyun-woo staggered up, put on Admiral Ren’s monocle, and checked the weapon he had created.

It was a pure white glove that came up to the elbow. The surface was covered with something like fur, but it was not soft due to its strong repulsion.

[Oshet’s Left Gauntlet (Legendary)]

[Classification: Gloves]

[Physical Defense: Mid, Magic Defense: Low-Mid, Evasion Rate: Low]

[Special Ability: Doubles the grip strength of the hand wearing this glove. Also, it never lets go of the target it has gripped until the user wants it to or the glove is destroyed.]

[Annotation: Oshet was a decent magistrate of Nuart until he became a one-armed man. And after becoming a one-armed man, he became the most dangerous and insane magistrate in the world. The criminals caught by him had to become one-armed due to the cold national law and Oshet’s personal feelings that a magistrate should not have.]

[P.S.: Oshet was right-handed.]

Here, the annotation seemed to be from that Admiral Ren guy. It was uncertain whether this guy was a real person, but since Kirson also exists and there is a dagger with his name, it wouldn’t be strange if he really existed.

“This also seems pretty good…….”

The defense doesn’t seem as high as expected, but the option of never letting go once you grab it seemed good.

Until the user cancels it or the glove is destroyed.

Perhaps the situation where the user’s arm is destroyed should also be taken into account, but anyway, you never know where you might use this ‘absolute’ option.

“……The problem is that there is only a glove on the left.”

Hyun-woo is right-handed. In other words, he was worried about whether he could handle it delicately at the desired timing even if he wore the glove.

But if he thought of it as armor and used it like a shield, it didn’t seem bad. When Hyun-woo wore Oshet’s Left Gauntlet, the glove, which seemed a little big, clung to his skin as if it were attached. The fit was quite good.

‘All Legendary-grade items seem to be worth it.’

If the general grade is just a feeling that attack power or defense exists, special options are attached from the rare grade.

It strongly enhances certain stats or corrects hit or speed.

And from Legendary-grade items, powerful options are attached to the point where you can almost think of it as another skill.

But the better the items, the more uncomfortable he felt.

‘Now I have things to lose.’

When he was at the bottom, he could try everything. But if he died in an unsafe place and had his weapon taken away, it would be a problem.

He could make it again, but the lost item would not come back. Feeling that there was no other way, Hyun-woo decided to eat as much as possible and drink a lot of water.

‘If the toxicity gets a little stronger, it will have a better effect with less fatigue.’

No more messages about the poison getting stronger came up. There was a limit to the poison of mosquitoes and fine dust.

Hyun-woo thought so and put Oshet’s Left Gauntlet in his inventory.

At that moment, something caught Hyun-woo’s eye.

[Enhanced Acid Potion (Rare)]