Ranker's Return

NEW NOVEL: First and foremost, I'm delighted to announce that our long-time veteran translator littleshanks has finally launched his new novel, Rise!  Rise is a novel about the esports scene in Shanghai, the competitive gaming capital of China. It follows the story of Lin Feng, a boy who has just moved to the city for his last year of high school. He's a passionate gamer and dreams of being the best professional League of Legends player in the world. The twist? He almost achieved his dream, but failed at the...

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[The item information has been updated.]

[Broken Mysterious Sky Sword 1]

[The handle of the broken Mysterious Sky Sword.

It isn’t complete and is in a state of limited power.

It can be restored if there is the Mysterious Sky Sword 2.

Other than that, it is impossible to change its external appearance.

Rating: Unique

Restrictions: 600 strength, 400 physique.

Durability: 2,500/2,500

Attack Power: 1,200

Effect: Reduces magic power consumption by 20% and defense penetration is increased by 20%.]

‘Thank you, Yeongchan. I’ll buy you chicken today.’ Hyeonu expressed deep gratitude to Yeongchan when he saw the message. He would’ve just gone back to the West Continent straight away if it wasn’t for Yeongchan. The East Continent might be a land of opportunity, but the West Continent was also formidable. He had to enjoy the effects of joining New World nominally.

‘I will help out during the main scenario. I just need to get a bit of information on the main scenario. Then it is mutual aid.’

He wasn’t eating for free, so his conscience had no qualms about it.

It was a clear give and take.

‘East Continent, be well. I’ll come back soon.’

Hyeonu inhaled the air of Geomdan Mountain. Then he pulled a small piece of paper from his inventory and ripped it. The identity of the paper was the Return Book for Brigs.

*** 

Hyeonu appeared in Brigs and climbed straight to the Hejin Great Mountain Range. This time, he had a clear destination.

‘It is so comfortable to have a destination.’

Hyeonu smiled as he climbed the rugged Hejin Great Mountain Range and headed toward for Kali Falls inside the mountain range. He was looking for the dwarves there. It was the Red Anvil Tribe—the tribe containing Golden Hammer Edchan and his brother, Tresha.

Kali Falls was still letting out a strong stream of water. Hyeonu waited silently as he was splashed by the cold water.

‘No one is coming out...?’

It was inevitable that Hyeonu’s expression, which was covered by the mask, would be distorted. During Hyeonu’s last visit, Tresha was accidentally discovered by Hyeonu and Kim Seokjung, and he led them to the Red Anvil Tribe. However, there was no such thing today. For more than 30 minutes, Hyeonu just stared at the waterfall.

“You? What’s going on here?”  It was at this moment that Hyeonu heard a familiar voice behind him. He turned back and confirmed the owner of the voice. Short and full of muscles—it was Edchan, who was the chief of the Red Anvil Tribe and a Golden Hammer.

“I came to see you, Edchan. I feel lucky to meet you like this today,” Hyeonu greeted.

Hearing Hyeonu’s words, Edchan pointed at himself.  “Me? Why are you looking for me? Did you come to get a weapon? No! I can’t give it to you! Go back!” He declared firmly.

Edchan was so resolute that Hyeonu felt he had actually asked for a weapon. Hyeonu clarified, “No, I’m not asking for a weapon. I’m here to have one repaired. Wouldn’t a dwarf have better repair skills than a human?”

Edchan smiled slightly at Hyeonu’s praise.

Hyeonu saw it and drove in the nail. “There is also this, although it might be trivial. It is alcohol from the East Continent. You don’t have to feel pressured though. I will appreciate it if you just think of it as my sincerity.”

Hyeonu had purchased alcohol from the East Continent. It was a drink he wanted to offer to Qing Feng, but it wasn’t delivered because Hyeonu returned to the West Continent earlier than planned.

“A-Alcohol from the East Continent? This?” Edchan snatched the glass bottle from Hyeonu’s hand. Judging by the sound, it wasn’t a lie that there was alcohol inside it.

‘I will confirm it first. Didn’t he say it was a gift anyway?’ Edchan couldn’t resist and opened the bottle.

Then a slight scent flowed out from it. The smell was different from the beer he usually drank.

‘Should I take a sip? Just one sip?’ Edchan struggled while holding the bottle tightly. His shaking hands showed how severe his internal conflict was.

“Help yourself. I have more than one bottle.” Hyeonu drove in another nail.

At Hyeonu’s words, Edchan raised the bottle of alcohol to his mouth.

“Groan... It tastes as good as the smell. Come on in. I don’t know what you’re asking me to fix, but since you gave me such good alcohol, I’ll make it so there aren’t any blemishes.” As he said these words, Edchan reached out to Hyeonu.

Hyeonu smiled and pulled out another bottle of alcohol from his inventory.

*** 

“Yes, I’ll repair it. Take it out.” Edchan brought Hyeonu to his smithy.

It was to pay for the alcohol.

“Can you repair this broken weapon?” Hyeonu asked in a careful tone.

Then Edchan’s expression fell, and his face turned red. “Who am I? Do you think I can’t fix a broken weapon?! I am a Golden Hammer. Among the many dwarves, the title of Golden Hammer has been given to only five dwarves in the present age! Bring it out now. That trivial thing, I’ll fix it instantly.”

Faced with Edchan’s anger, Hyeonu smiled and pulled out the Broken Sky Sword. “How long will it take?”

“Hmm... Wait a minute. This is quite interesting.” Edchan grabbed the broken parts of the Mysterious Sky Sword and examined them.

Then he injected magic power into the broken Mysterious Sky Sword and beat it with a hammer.

A long time passed before he looked up. “I don’t know where you got this from, but you brought me something quite interesting. The same type of magic power has been injected in it for a long time, and the metal itself has been stained with magic power.”

“So can it be repaired?” Hyeonu urged Edchan who kept changing the topic. Could Edchan do it or not?  Hyeonu was annoyed by Edchan’s attitude of not getting straight to the point.

“Of course, I can. Do you think the Golden Hammer title was done by playing rock paper scissors? Wait an hour.” Edchan frowned at Hyeonu’s attitude but wasn’t harsh to him.

Edchan knew that humans placed the same value on weapons as he did on alcohol. He wouldn’t be able to withstand his anger either if someone showed him an ambiguous attitude while giving him alcohol.

“What form do you want? Do you want to preserve the original appearance? Or is there a specific form you want?” Edchan asked.

Hyeonu quietly contemplated Edchan’s question before pulling out Dark Star. ‘Should I change it? Or not?’

Dark Star showed a splendid appearance when it was pulled from the sheath.

“Just do it like this,” Hyeonu said.

“This appearance? Hmm... I’ll do what you want.” Edchan accepted Dark Star and examined it. It looked quite different from the Mysterious Sky Sword. Edchan returned Dark Star and questioned, “What are you doing? Aren’t you going outside? Are you planning to watch me?”

“Can I watch?”

“Sure,” Edchan answered like he didn’t care about Hyeonu’s presence and immediately started working. He started by lighting the center furnace. Hyeonu didn’t know the principles, but every time Edchan touched the furnace, the temperature went up like crazy. Once the temperature reached its peak, Edchan crushed the broken handle of the Mysterious Sky Sword and placed the metal part into the furnace.

5 minutes... and then 10 minutes...

As time passed, the Mysterious Sky Sword lost its form and became hot. Edchan picked up the red-hot lump of iron with tongs and started hammering it. The iron started to take shape with every hit. After that, it was cooled in cold water. This process was repeated dozens of times until Edchan held a weapon that looked like Dark Star. The only difference was that it wasn’t shining because the post-processing hadn’t been completed.

‘Amazing.’ Hyeonu watched the process without even breathing. Edchan’s process of making the single-edged sword was close to art. Then Edchan started to polish the sword with the whetstone he brought from somewhere. The foreign matter attached to the sword fell off, and the blade was sharpened, revealing its complete appearance.

“Now the blade is complete. I just need to make the handle. Would you like to see it?” Edchan spoke while wiping the sweat on his forehead.

Hyeonu nodded quickly. He quickly approached Edchan’s side and checked the information of the sword just before it was completed.

[Mysterious Sky Sword]

[Edchan, the chief of the Red Anvil Tribe has recreated the broken Mysterious Sky Sword.

The skill of a Golden Hammer has caused it to boast greater power than the original Mysterious Sky Sword.

The higher the achievements in the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art, the greater the power of the sword.

Rating: Epic

Durability: 6,300/6,300

Restrictions: One who has learned the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.

Attack Power: 2,500

Effect: All stats +250, penetration defense is increased by 25%, magic power consumption is decreased by 25%, and magic power is increased by 25%.]

‘It is perfect. Beautiful!’

Hyeonu couldn’t find a more perfect item. The damage was 900 higher than Dark Star. It increased all stats, increased defense penetration, and decreased magic power consumption. Additionally, it increased magic power. It was unfortunate that it didn’t add attribute damage, but the other effects were significant.

‘It is also a growth type.’

The Mysterious Sky Sword wasn’t an item with fixed values like Dark Star. Instead, its power increased depending on the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.

‘I will be in a different position if I gain this,’ Hyeonu thought. He was unable to take his eyes off the Mysterious Sky Sword.

Edchan grabbed a metal handle from somewhere. “I saved this for when I made a good work... I feel it can be used for this, so I brought it. Stop looking now and get out of the way.”

Edchan pulled hard at Hyeonu, who couldn’t leave the Mysterious Sky Sword. Then he started to connect the handle to the Mysterious Sky Sword. A short time later, Edchan gave the completed Mysterious Sky Sword to Hyeonu. “Now take it.” 

Hyeonu had already put Dark Star into his inventory, and he put the Mysterious Sky Sword in the place where Dark Star used to be. The Mysterious Sky Sword precisely entered the sheath with a smooth sound. This meant that the measurements of the Mysterious Sky Sword which Edchan had estimated with his eyes had the exact same shape as Dark Star.

“Thank you.” Hyeonu bowed sincerely to Edchan and said goodbye.

“Don’t just speak. Give me some more alcohol before you go,” Edchan demanded with a serious expression. It didn’t seem like empty talk. Hyeonu was overwhelmed by the pressure from Edchan and had to take out a few more bottles of alcohol from his inventory.

“Then go quickly. There are some people in the tribe who don’t like humans being around.” Edchan smiled and received the celebratory items. 

Now that Hyeonu had received what he wanted, he should go.

“Really, thank you so much.” Hyeonu had many places to visit, so he laughed at Edchan’s words.

‘I will go to the Balder Mountains first.’

He felt that he had to meet the dragon who fed him a big and beautiful yeot [1] first. 

Then he would ask. ‘Why did you do this to me?’

---

[1] Yeot is a snack and it also sounds like ‘fuck’

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