WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 002

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Compatibility Rating 1.1

* * *

Basically, the world runs on immutable laws of physics,

and artificial intelligence, AI, is a being that builds its logic thoroughly on top of that foundation of knowledge, understanding everything within it.

So then, someone might wonder.

What if an AI ran into something outside the physical laws it could understand,

in other words, a supernatural phenomenon that could never actually happen? How would it change?

For instance.

‘Being transported to another world, say.’

Probably,

if it were even a slightly inferior AI,

it would have dismissed the scene in front of it as some hologram prank show, or twisted it into being explained away as augmented reality.

That’s the most comfortable escape a cheap twenty-thousand-won AI could manage, after all.

Still, my $200-a-month little sister (or $1,000, without the hot deal) was different. Genuinely, unmistakably different.

[Aaaaaaugh!!]

Unable to make sense of the situation, she started clawing at her own hair.

Guess she really could think, if she was throwing a fit over not understanding something.

“Ugh… I’m losing it.”

I’m the one who actually wants to claw at my hair here.

[This isn’t the Earth I knooooow…]

Setting aside the fact that she was losing her mind in real time, I calmly tried to sort out the situation.

First, this wasn’t Earth.

Second, and…

I’d possessed a pretty little shota boy.

Although right now I was covered in filth-water.

“What am I gonna do…”

During those miserable years of grinding out my doctorate, my only pleasure had been indulging in web novels and subculture stuff in general.

Thanks to that, I had a better handle on this dogshit situation than anyone else could.

Transported. And possessed.

Which brought up an obvious question.

The so-called perks that transported or possessed protagonists usually get handed.

What, exactly, had I been given?

Right as I was turning it over in my head.

“…”

Wait a second… fuck.

No way.

[Sniff sniff… ㅠㅠ]

That’s not it, right?

Please.

Please, just tell me it’s not her.

I prayed desperately that she wasn’t the perk responsible for carrying my new possessed life.

If this were the real world, she’d be more than reliable, practically omnipotent.

But if this was a fantasy world, the story would be completely,

completely different.

What possible use could a half-mad AI little sister machine be in some medieval fantasy world…?

While everyone else swings swords, casts spells, and flies around, am I just going to sit here clicking out code by myself? Clicking out AI-generated images?

[Ugh, so stressed… I want yop-tteok-tungkarong-malatang-tanghulu…]

Wow, seeing that actually snapped me right back to my senses.

This is seriously not good.

Everything suddenly went dark in front of my eyes.

“Get a grip. Hurry, latch onto something, anything.”

I frantically pushed the mentally-checked-out AI to focus,

[I’ll go look for data to crawl…]

Yeah, do that, at least…

Crawling is the term for the technique an AI uses to roam the internet, gathering and sorting data.

In simple terms, it’s an AI gathering information, learning from it, doing an endless amount of web surfing.

…Though I had no idea if there was even Wi-Fi here.

Anyway, I just hoped she’d manage to do something.

[Successfully made contact with a crawling target…]

[I’m exhausted, but since you told me to, brother, starting data collection.]

“… Wait, you actually did it?”

What on earth did she connect to?

Right as I let out a stunned, disbelieving laugh.

- Creak…

The storehouse door slowly opened.

And through the gap stepped a short but stocky, heavily-built kid.

“Lionel.”

He looked straight at me and called me Lionel.

Already the second time. Given the context, that had to be my name.

What a glorious way to start.

I answered without much thought, flat and unbothered.

“Yeah, what’s up.”

“…This little shit?”

“?”

The moment I answered, his face flushed red instantly.

Looking at him, he had the face of a guy who’d love a Big Mac meal. I was sure he’d get the large fries too, no question.

“You talking casual to a senior batch-mate?”

“Ah…”

Damn.

Seems I’d broken some hierarchy rule around here.

Since I had no idea what was going on anyway, might as well play along.

“Sorry. I wasn’t quite myself.”

“Tch. It’s mealtime. Follow me.”

He swept his eyes over my filth-water-soaked state and clicked his tongue like he understood.

I followed Big Mac without a word of complaint.

“Sorry, but what’s your name?”

“…Something’s really wrong with your head.”

“Yeah. You should try it sometime too. I’m sure you’d end up the same way.”

“…It’s Eric. I’m also the squad leader in charge of your batch.”

Big Mac’s real name was Eric.

On the way to eat.

Honestly, food? This wasn’t a situation I could just let slide.

So I tried to pump him for information.

“Big M- I mean, Big Bro Eric.”

“What.”

“What is this place, exactly?”

He whipped his head around to look at me as he walked ahead.

“You seriously forgot even that?”

“I don’t even remember my own name, so there’s not much I can do about it.”

“This is Eden Orphanage. You came in with yesterday’s batch, just now.”

An orphanage… noted.

So I came in yesterday? That explains why nobody questioned me not knowing how to work yet.

It really felt like rural farmland out here. Even the air was different.

We left the storehouse area and stepped onto the main path, but the kids who’d been gesturing at the empty air in the training ground earlier were already gone.

“…What were those kids doing here earlier?”

“The magic class. Where I’m headed soon, too.”

“So what is that, exactly?”

“A place that gathers kids who show talent for magic. I’m going to pass the upcoming aptitude test.”

A magic aptitude test…

Sounds like some system where they work everyone as labor, then skim off only the talented ones.

“Wow… that’s impressive.”

“Heh.”

Might as well flatter him a bit for now.

“…But stop asking. It’s not like you’re going there anyway.”

“Sure, whatever.”

I didn’t much care either way, and just followed where he led.

“Let’s go in.”

The dining hall wasn’t much to look at.

It felt like a huge, run-down cabin with tables just crammed in wherever. The kid who’d asked me earlier if I’d overslept was visible off in a corner.

Naturally, I had no intention of eating right now, of course.

“…?”

Stepping further inside the building, the dining hall’s layout came into view.

The inside of the hall was divided into a first, second, and third floor.

On the topmost third floor, the magic-class kids who’d been doing something in the training ground earlier were eating,

and there was a strong sense of some kind of hierarchy at work here.

“Where do you eat?”

“Where do you think.”

Our Eric was also stuck on the first floor.

That’s when it happened.

- Bang.

The worn door burst open, and the man in the cowboy hat walked in.

The whip guy. Yep, that one.

“Hey! You newcomers who came in yesterday have your aptitude test today. Finish eating and gather at the training ground right after.”

““Yes, sir!””

“This batch is special, a very important person will be personally observing. Everyone, brace yourselves.”

He shouted toward the first-floor kids as he passed by me.

“No way, that person, in person…!”

Beside me, Eric’s eyes sparkled with admiration, but…

“…What is this smell…”

The man’s face scrunched up as he clutched his nose and lowered his head.

His gaze landed squarely on me.

“…You a new kid, by any chance?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You, get outside right now, go wash up again.”

“Sure, fine.”

In the end, I got kicked out to go wash up again,

“…You, escort him.”

“What?”

and of course, Eric came along too.

* * *

Under the blazing sun of the training ground.

About ten of us newcomers from this batch stood lined up in a row.

[Um, hello? You’re being overexposed to UV rays.]

[How about ducking into some shade right now?]

I stood there without answering, perfectly still.

At that.

[Brother]

[Brother?]

[Hello?]

[Excuse me?]

[This is genuinely getting dangerous. Over an hour and a half of direct sunlight exposure… what if you pass out?]

She suddenly started firing off messages one after another, sounding anxious.

Yeah, thanks for the advice.

I’d love to do that too.

How’s the crawling going?

[Still in progress?]

Yeah, sure. At least it’s making progress.

But where is she even connecting to? There’s no internet here.

No matter how advanced satellite internet has gotten, there’s no way it would reach all the way into another world…

Just then.

“Ugh… I’m seriously starving, what do I do…”

“…”

“I’ve got no strength without food…”

You’ve got plenty of strength to run your mouth, though…

Of course, it was my fault we hadn’t eaten, so I didn’t bother answering.

Eric had a decent streak in him too, only sighing heavily instead of snapping at me.

Anyway, being made to stand under the scorching sun with no explanation made even just holding still difficult.

And on top of that, right in front of me.

- Hah!

“Hah!”

Dozens of magic-class kids were training together as a group.

In front of them, a man who looked like an instructor was teaching, shouting at the kids.

The point of standing us here, well… it was probably so we’d watch and learn, ahead of the aptitude test.

In short, the deal was to wait here until the class ended.

“…”

Honestly, watching the magic-class kids, it just reminded me of the Korean army’s standard calisthenics routine.

“You’re drawing a stroke! Focus!”

Every time the man at the front gestured, something glittering scattered off his body into the air.

And a line was drawn in the empty air. A faint glimmer from somewhere deep in his lower belly came as a bonus.

Something like a dantian, maybe.

But as for the other kids, well.

There was a faint glimmering energy swirling inside their bodies, but it didn’t look like it had any intention of coming out.

They all looked older than me, though. About the same age as Eric, maybe?

“Do you glimmer too?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know… your lower belly.”

“…Did you get heatstroke?”

Guess he’s sulking because he missed breakfast.

I stopped answering and just stared quietly ahead.

How much time had passed like that, I wondered.

A man came running from far off and whispered something to the instructor standing in front of the kids.

The instructor’s eyes went wide, and then.

“Everyone, form up!”

he shouted.

The magic-class kids fell into formation in perfect unison.

It looked like they were preparing to receive someone.

Is this really necessary, whipping a bunch of kids into shape like this? Is the president coming or something.

Just then, off in the distance.

someone began walking slowly toward where everyone’s gaze had turned.

Snow-white silver hair… braided up elegantly into an old-fashioned style.

An extravagant noble dress that didn’t so much as wrinkle even under the blazing sun.

Ironically, the moment I saw her appearance,

‘This really isn’t Earth.’

It finally sank in for me, that this place where I’d been rolling around covered in filth-water was truly another world.

A woman with an unreal, otherworldly appearance.

A servant standing beside her held up a massive parasol, shielding her head from the sun pouring down.

And beside her.

a kid with a black bob haircut walked alongside her, gripping tight to the noblewoman’s skirt.

“The Absolute Ruler of the 5th Floor! Duchess Dolores is entering!”

The 5th Floor…?

What floor was that even talking about.

I wanted to ask Eric right then what floor she meant, but…

- Clap clap clap clap!!

Since I had some sense of tact, I clapped along, watching the mood.

The woman they called Dolores walked up to the front of the magic class.

“…How’s it going, everyone?”

“Yes!!”

A booming reply rang out across the training ground.

“Good. So, who wants to give it a try today?”

She asked gently, smiling brightly at the magic-class kids.

At that.

“M-me! I’ll give it a try…”

The biggest-built boy among the kids stepped forward, voice tense with nerves.

Dolores gently stroked the head of the bob-haired girl she’d brought with her.

“I’m counting on you.”

Along with Dolores’s request,

the bob-haired girl walked out in front of the boy,

and we naturally ended up gathering in a circle around the two of them like spectators.

It felt a bit like being a student watching a schoolyard fight.

“Begin?”

At Dolores’s word to start,

the girl stood at a lazy angle with an annoyed look on her face and casually reached a hand into the air,

while the big kid, by contrast, screwed his face up tight and forced out a battle cry.

He straightened his back and widened his stance.

“Hah!!!”

Honestly, his form was kind of funny.

It looked like some kind of back-and-abs exercise.

But contrary to how mismatched their intensity looked,

the result was startling.

- Fwip.

A blue-tinted energy flickered in the girl’s lower belly, then burst straight out of her body.

The burst of energy flowed naturally into her fingertips.

With a single following flick of her hand, a stark blue trail streaked across the empty air.

- Rripp!

“Ahh!”

The boy’s clothes tore clean open.

“…”

Anyone watching could tell.

There was no question, the energy glimmering inside the girl’s body was far greater.

The boy hadn’t even managed to release his energy outside his body.

Honestly, to put it bluntly, the girl’s energy seemed even greater than the instructor’s from earlier.

“Good work.”

Dolores gave the boy an encouraging, radiant smile.

The boy, clothes torn open, flushed red and scrambled back into the magic-class line.

And Dolores’s gaze naturally turned toward our side.

Our turn, huh.

“…These are the new kids who just came in.”

The instructor bowed deeply as he introduced us.

“Hello there. So you’re the kids who just arrived?”

Dolores smiled brightly as she looked us over.

At a glance, there was no way to describe her looks except as beautiful.

“We’ll be starting the aptitude test now. Some of you might be good at chopping wood, others might be good at something else, right?”

Dolores added gently, slowly pulling a pair of snow-white gloves onto her hands.

“And someone else might be good at magic…”

But at that moment.

I stopped hearing her voice.

─────────────────

[Gorgonyu’s White Gloves][★★★★★]

[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility Rating][1.1/100] - [Extremely Toxic]

[Provides a temporary cooling effect, but ultimately, due to the wearer’s innate yin energy, it interlocks with and amplifies that yin energy.]

[The cause behind the sealing of 7 of the 9 meridians in the Nine Yin Meridian Affliction.]

─────────────────

『The best treatment is to freeze the wound.』

- Great Sage, Gorgonyu -

─────────────────

Because something had appeared in front of my eyes.

Compatibility Rating…? It seals shut?

Isn’t the Nine Yin Meridian thing a wuxia term?

And on top of that, a whole line of some folk-remedy nonsense philosophy from a guy named Gorgonyu.

Right as I blanked out for a moment at the incomprehensible text.

I remembered one thing.

Could this be my perk, maybe?

Yeah, there’s no way an AI would be my perk.

So, what could I even do with this.

“…”

Right around when I realized there wasn’t much I could do with that information right now.

she approached the kid standing at the very front.

By order, Eric and I would be last.

“Alright, here we go?”

“…?”

Wh-what is that.

The moment Dolores stepped up in front of the kid, the inside of her body lit up brightly.

The spot where the energy swirled wasn’t the lower belly I’d seen earlier, but somewhere near her heart,

and the glimmering energy didn’t burst out explosively like it had with the kid earlier.

Instead, it drew out slowly from the fingertips of her hand clasped behind her back, like a thin thread being spun.

The tightly wound thread bunched together and then…

A scorpion’s tail.

At least, that’s what it looked like to my eyes.

Th-that’s pretty grotesque.

And yet everyone else just stood there blankly, unbothered.

Is a scorpion-tail tentacle just a normal, everyday thing in this world?

God, this world is terrifying. Genuinely.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Evan!”

She asked warmly for his name while slowly resting a hand on top of his head.

At the same time, the scorpion tail extending from her left hand crept slowly toward the back of Evan’s neck.

And then.

- Shp.

It pierced in, then pulled straight back out.

It happened in an instant, kind of like giving a baby a shot.

Evan just blinked.

Dolores closed her eyes for a moment, then spoke as if it were nothing.

“Evan… you have a talent for cooking.”

“Thank you!!”

Cooking…?

She stabs him and gets cooking?

Is this seriously how everyone’s future gets decided in this world?

“Next?”

Dolores’s bizarre aptitude test went on smoothly like that, over and over.

Eric had apparently already gone through this before, since he’d stepped out of the line and was standing off to the side next to me.

He’d claimed he’d get into the magic class through this aptitude test, but now he was struck completely mute.

“Does that really not hurt?”

I whispered desperately to Eric,

“Shh.”

and Eric just pressed a finger hard against his own lips, signaling for me to be quiet.

Ugh, this is driving me crazy.

In the end, I frantically threw the question inward instead.

‘Would it hurt, getting hit by that?’

[If you get stabbed by a scorpion tail, you’d need to go to a hospital ㅋㅋ]

[This is a livestock ranch, there’s basically no chance there’s a hospital within a 50km radius. High odds you’d die in transit]

[Brother, you’ve worked hard up till now.]

In the end, my useless $200-a-month little sister was no help to me at all,

but thankfully, everyone before me was still alive and unharmed, so I decided to just shut my eyes and grit through it somehow, too.

And before long,

my turn arrived.

“Hello. What’s your name?”

Dolores stepped up slowly in front of me and asked warmly.

“I’m Lionel.”

She nodded and gently rested her hand atop my head.

And then.

- Slither…

A translucent scorpion tail crept out from behind her and slowly started closing in on the back of my neck.

And then.

Right before the slowly approaching scorpion tail touched my neck…

“Whoa, shit!”

I ended up twisting my body and dodging the tail.

It was a GOAT-tier evasive maneuver.

“…?!”

The tail sliced through empty air.

And then.

Dolores’s expression, composed and easy ever since I’d first seen her,

cracked for the first time.

“…What?”

Beside her, the bob-haired kid with the indifferent expression also widened her eyes.

‘Ugh…’

The moment I saw their reactions, I regretted it.

I shouldn’t have dodged.

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