The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 39

“Why the sudden… broadcast?”

It was truly out of the blue. But the old fox across the table didn’t seem to think so.

“It’s to make your face known for sure.”

“…Wouldn’t the opposite be better for my personal safety?”

“No. Either way, your information will spread worldwide less than a day after the negotiation ends. There’s no use hiding it.”

I had expected it, but hearing it from someone else made me worry anew. Various crimes targeting Awakened people with low stat grades but useful special skills flashed through my mind.

How much would my head be worth?

“So, it’s safer to make sure many people recognize you. Approaching someone everyone is watching is much more difficult than the opposite.”

That made sense. Appearing on TV would mean more eyes watching.

“Even if you were kidnapped, there’s a higher chance a witness would contact us. Like, why is a Haeyeon Guild member with people from another guild in a strange place?”

“I’m not a guild member, I’m an employee. A regular employee.”

He was subtly trying to treat me like a guild member.

“Hahaha, you just feel so familiar, Yujin. Regular employees feel distant, don’t they?”

“You shouldn’t discriminate.”

“That’s right. Guild members and regular employees are all one family. Han Yujin is also our family.”

“…Please make the distinction.”

Dealing with this guy is exhausting as always.

“It’ll be easy to attract attention since it’s the first time a cute monster is on TV. Besides, Peace has a lot of charm, right?”

“He’s kind, cute, and lovable.”

He’s quite handsome now too. He still has a bit of a baby face, but his mane is fuller and his tail is longer. His horns are also sparkling gold.

Whose kid is so handsome?

I smiled unconsciously, and Seok Simyeong smiled along with me. Why are you smiling? And at me.

“We can only start preparing after the negotiation ends due to confidentiality, but I’ll make a thorough plan in advance. Trust me and leave it to me.”

“I only trust Team Leader Seok’s work processing skills. I’ll wait with peace of mind.”

Of course, I only trust his work ability.

My words made the old fox look like he was thinking of a golden calf carefully stored in his inner vault. I’m not curious about what you’re thinking.

“Please contact me anytime if you have any questions or need anything.”

“Haha, yes.”

I’ll probably be involved with Seok Simyeong often for a while. It’s better than when I was being sliced with his tongue, so let’s get along.

* * *

“Our Peace, were you a good boy?”

– Grrr.

Peace, who had been lying on my bed, jumped up and purred. Our place had become cramped, and I was keeping the mana beast breeding skill a secret from Yoohyun, so Peace moved his sleeping quarters to my bedroom, the widest in the house.

The bed is covered in fur. I’m glad I don’t have allergies.

“You’ll be able to roam freely soon, so hang in there.”

I said, holding Peace in my arms. He had become much heavier than before, making my arms feel heavy. Peace’s growth gradually slowed down, stopping at only 0.5kg more on the third day. This was a clear difference compared to the 2.8kg on the first day and 3.1kg on the second day.

His grade was still marked as C. His strength had become much stronger, so if he was at the level of a low-tier C-grade dungeon monster at first, he would now be at the level of a high-tier C-grade dungeon monster.

‘He’s supposed to molt into an adult, so does that mean he doesn’t grow any bigger after a certain point and then suddenly grows when the conditions are met?’

The time required for growth steadily decreased as much as he trained. At this rate, he’ll become an adult soon.

After playing with Peace for a while and feeding him, I went back outside. Now I have to take care of Yoohyun too. Why do I have so much to do?

I headed to the Haeyeon Guild’s equipment management team with the various blades Yoohyun had bought in advance. It was a department that each large guild had, where they maintained and repaired various items.

“Dungeon items can be repaired in ordinary ways if the damage rate is below a certain level. Of course, the materials must be dungeon byproducts.”

I explained to Yoohyun as we went down in the elevator.

“So there will be general repair tools too. It’s good to get close to the management team people if possible. If you get a related skill, there’s a high chance you’ll work there.”

It wasn’t just working, he was practically guaranteed to be a team leader. Or he could create a new department altogether. Even so, he would need an assistant with related skills, so it wouldn’t hurt to know in advance.

“I’d really like that. I honestly don’t want to raid dungeons.”

“Yeah. Dungeons are just for leveling up or doing low-level ones casually.”

Why would I make an SS-grade blacksmith do something dangerous? It would be a global loss if something went wrong in the dungeon. I have to safely put him on the bus [ensure his safety and success].

The equipment management team required another security check to enter. After passing through an ordinary office with desks, chairs, and computers, we opened a thick door, and a hot air flowed out.

That thing visible beyond the protective wall is a mana furnace. It looked similar to a small blast furnace, but it was a tool for melting various dungeon metals by boiling refined mana stones. It was essential equipment for item repair.

“Which one of you is the whetstone skill brat?”

A burly middle-aged man wearing protective gear approached and asked, throwing us each a blue towel. When I picked it up, it was as cool as an ice pack. The other people around were also wearing these blue towels around their necks or tied around their waists.

“This looks very useful. Unlike an ice pack, it’s thin and the temperature is just right.”

“It costs mana stones to maintain.”

That means it’s expensive. That’s why it’s hard for things developed with dungeon byproducts to become widespread. It was impossible until mana stones became cheaper.

“As you’ve heard, what we need is a machine to sharpen blades.”

It wasn’t necessary to carefully place the whetstone and sharpen each one with care. I should try it out just in case.

I opened my baby’s skill window and opened Yoohyun’s status window, who was the target of skill growth.

[Sharpen 10,000 Blades (Progress 71/10,000)]

While I was training Peace, Yoohyun was diligently sharpening knives in the kitchen. According to Yoohyun, sharpening the knives would apply the whetstone’s sharpness buff even without using the skill.

‘Sharpening the blade enough to automatically apply the skill means it’s recognized as one.’

It’s easy to check, which is good. Also, it was possible to resharpen knives whose skill effect had disappeared. The whetstone’s duration was 3 hours, so it didn’t actually require ten thousand blades. Yoohyun had only sharpened thirteen blades in three days.

“Here’s a special grinder. It smoothly sharpens dungeon metals too.”

The middle-aged man said, tapping a firmly fixed machine.

Come to think of it, are all the people here owners of special equipment-related skills? There are too many of them for that to be the case. Curious, I checked the status window of the man in front of me.

[Awakened – Lee Minseok

Current Stat Grade C

Awakening Possible Stat Grade D~C

Optimized Initial Skill

Delicate Soldering (B) Acquired

Hammering (C) Acquisition Failed

Stamina Up (D) Acquired]

Delicate Soldering, huh. It was a repair-related skill at first glance. Hammering was ambiguous to classify just by the name, but he failed to acquire it. It would be a shame if it was a C-grade special skill, but I don’t need to worry about a well-off uncle.

I continued to look at the others. Except for Lee Minseok, the remaining seven were all Awakened. However, four of them had stats of E-grade or higher, but the skills were common F-grades. Of course, they could acquire skills other than optimization, and good level 10 skills could come out, so I couldn’t be sure if they only had true F-grade skills.

Anyway, everyone’s stats were not at the level of ordinary people. Is it because it’s a job that requires strength?

“Yoojin?”

Yoohyun tapped my arm as I was just looking around.

“I was just looking around for a bit. Take out a knife, let’s sharpen it. How do you use this?”

“There’s a fixture there, right? Secure it tightly and press the button.”

“Aren’t you supposed to hold it by hand?”

“You said your stat is F, right? You’ll have an accident.”

It’s a special grinder, so it wasn’t made for ordinary people to use. I don’t think I’ll be recognized if the machine does everything.

Just in case, I told Yoohyun to fix the knife. The machine sharpened the blade with a loud noise, but even as the knife was being destroyed by the powerful machine, there was no change in the progress. It’s not working after all.

“Isn’t there a normal machine besides this?”

“A normal one? There’s one in the jewelry workshop over there. You can adjust the strength with the pressure of your foot, so it’s good for delicate work.”

That would be perfect.

“Thank you.”

I went into the jewelry workshop with Yoohyun. Among the scattered tools, there was a more modest-looking grinder machine. I hope it works this time.

Yoohyun sat on the chair in front of the grinder. He turned on the machine, took out a kitchen knife, and put his foot on the pedal.

The grinder started to turn.

Yoohyun hesitated a little and held out the blade. A piercing sound was heard briefly and then stopped repeatedly. The clumsy movements of a novice gradually began to become more skillful.

After a while,

[Sharpen 10,000 Blades (Progress 72/10,000)]

“It worked!”

It’s a success. Hooray for the benefits of civilization.

“That’s great. It’ll be over soon with this.”

“Yeah! I can sharpen over a hundred a day once I get used to it!”

How many minutes did that take? It doesn’t seem like much time has passed.

Yoohyun, who had been briefly excited, took out a new knife. The expression on his face as he settled in was different from usual. He can make that face too.

Then, the blade was sharpened again. This time it was faster. There was no hesitation like the first time at all.

Clang.

The sharpened knife fell on the opposite side of the chair, and a new knife was held in his hand. The old and faded blade, which had been bought in bulk from a junkyard, began to shine with light.

Does just sharpening it make it that good? Is it because of the skill?

While I was distracted, the fourth knife started to make noise. The movements of his hands, slightly changing the direction of the knife, became completely skillful. Even to my untrained eyes, it was an efficient movement that was neither too much nor too little.

It’s like a craftsman who has been sharpening knives for about ten years.

‘…It’s a scam [unbelievable].’

What’s wrong with him? How long has it been since he came in here?

‘Why did he only work in office jobs?’

He should have gone into a technical field. What was so great about graduating from the humanities department? If he had chosen his career well, he would have been on a smooth path without ever meeting me.

I lamented inwardly and watched the blade being sharpened. Even though it was a simple repetition of work, it was hard to take my eyes off it.

Like a flowing stream, accurately like a machine, and without a single deviation, the light is revived from the blade amidst the noise that now has a soft rhythm.

When the coolant is soaked and water droplets scatter, it feels artistic in harmony with the sparkle of the blade.

What can I say, the way he sharpens knives can look cool. Amazing. It’s a scam [unbelievable] after all.

Clang.

The machine stopped with the sound of the knife falling. Yoohyun put down his hand and looked back at me.

“You’re still here?”

“Yeah, I was just watching.”

Wait a minute, is it already all sharpened? I bought quite a lot, didn’t I?

[Sharpen 10,000 Blades (Progress 115/10,000)]

…He sharpened over forty, how much time has passed? I didn’t measure it, but it must be within an hour. It could be even faster than that. I thought it would take about 4-5 minutes per knife even with the machine shortening the time.

It wasn’t just roughly sharpened, all the piled-up blades were sparkling like new products. It might be because the skill was applied, but the fact that he activates the skill without even using it in the first place wouldn’t be an ordinary thing.

“You… aren’t you going to finish it in ten days at this rate?”

“I guess so. The machine is good.”

Yoohyun said nonchalantly. Scary guy. He pretended to be ordinary, but you’re also a possessor of SS-grade skill potential.

“Should I… buy about three hundred more knives?”

“Yeah. There’s still a lot of time left before the skill duration ends. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s totally okay. Don’t worry about it.”

I’ll invest as much as you want. Of course.