I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over - Chapter 49

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈

Chapter 49: Project Jellykko

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The gray jelly poop wriggled as it spoke.

[ ......Essence, you say.... ]

“Yeah.”

Whether they had essence or not was a pretty important question.

The beings targeting this world were obviously beyond our understanding.

Wasn't it highly likely that they were behind the appearance of the Gates themselves?

Still, rather than simply fearing them, I needed to see their outlines more clearly.

Fear came from ignorance. To someone walking blindfolded, even a flower petal beside the road could feel like a blade.

If an invader was something whose essence could be extracted through Magic Beast Alchemy, then it was a being I could understand and one within the reach of my ability.

Were the beings beyond the Gates an irresistible calamity, or threats that could be understood and confronted?

The gray jelly poop wriggled as it answered my question.

Brrr-

[ I don't know. ]

“Why don't you know? You're a priest. How do you know nothing about your own god? Are you kidding me? Want to find out what preservation treatment feels like?”

[ ...Mad human, who would ever think of extracting essence from Transcendents? I've never heard of such a precedent. ]

Hmm, fair enough.

“Then give me your opinion.”

Amon, the jelly poop, hesitated, then opened Amon's mouth when I quietly raised a vial of chemicals.

[ ......It may be possible. The Lord possesses a physical body.... ]

“I see... So your Lord has a body?”

Did having a physical body mean the concept of death existed?

I asked Amon about that.

[ To a Transcendent... death is only one state of being... Even I have prolonged my existence by moving from body to body.... ]

“Is that why you kept asking me to kill you?”

[ ...... ]

I got the general idea.

These creatures needed to be dealt with differently from mortals, for whom death was the final destination.

“Then should I turn your master into Haengbok's jelly poop and seal your master away too?”

“Pant pant...”

Haengbok had a seriously important role here, huh?

Squish, squish-

[ You're out of your mind.... ]

“Just a joke. A joke. We'll have to find another way. We might not even need to defeat your master.”

Charging headfirst at an enemy whose scale I couldn't even measure would be insane.

“Other Transcendents besides your master are targeting this world too, right?”

[ Correct. ]

I was only asking to confirm it.

Every Gate had a completely different theme, and the artifacts found in them varied too.

There had to be other factions involved.

“So what's the purpose of the invasion?”

Amon had tried to cover the Japanese archipelago in mist.

Amon had tried to destroy the humanity of the people within the mist and turn them into monsters.

I couldn't understand the method, but there had to be a clear purpose behind it.

[ ......To secure more causality. ]

“Explain it so I can understand.”

[ It is a resource... Transcendents can raise their standing by exerting influence over more worlds. ]

Influence... Sure, if they literally fucked this world up, that would count as exerting influence.

There were probably plenty of other methods too.

“Alright, my next question... Do you know a way to obtain energy like Spiritual Energy, Demonic Energy, or Divine Power?”

[ An interesting question... Are you searching for a power source beyond mana? Then... you have already begun to surpass the first-tier technological level. ]

“Enough!!! Stop dangling cryptic hints and answer the question, you mass-murdering jelly poop.”

Amon fell silent for a moment after my shout, then answered.

[ ......You can extract it from the items recovered from the temple. ]

Was Amon talking about artifacts?

“What extraction method can I use right now?”

[ Those objects contain the mist's mystic power, and they likely also serve as offerings of causality meant to influence this world... They can function as power sources beyond mana by themselves. You could easily obtain power by making offerings to another Transcendent. ]

Tch... Wasn't that basically telling me to offer artifacts to other bastards in exchange for power? That felt pretty gross.

“Is there another way?”

[ I don't know. The other methods I know require one to be a sorcerer. ]

Well... Amon probably didn't know much outside Amon's own field.

“Fine. Got it.”

I placed the jelly poop in a test tube and gently set it inside a box with several layers of locks...

[ Wait...!! What about your promise to give me a new body!? ]

Hmm... I did say that.

“I said I'd give you one, but I didn't set a deadline... Strictly speaking, it wasn't really a promise. Besides, I think you'd stab me in the back.”

Wouldn't it be more efficient to keep Amon stored away and take Amon out whenever I needed information?

Though I wasn't sure Amon would cooperate after I broke my word.

[ Damn it...!! I swear upon my existence!!! I will never harm you!!! So you must also do your utmost to provide me with the finest body...!!! This is a contract of existence that even Transcendents must fulfill!!! What do you say!!! ]

Amon was strangely terrified of being sealed away.

“Not just no harm. Cooperate with me completely.”

[ Fine!!! ]

Good.

“Cultivation, begin.”

* * *

A few days passed.

The facilities in Ars Magna were gradually being repaired, and in the meantime, I finished my papers and patent applications.

Japan had so many of my test subjects that my technology patents were approved right away.

Submitting the papers wasn't a problem either.

[ Breaking ] Yoo Hyun's paper on the world's first “S-Rank Magical Beast Seed Synthesis” published... Upheaval in the magical-beast academic world

[ Technology ] “The Complete Fusion of Bipolarity”... Yoo Hyun registers patent for Duality, the key to next-generation magical-beast production

[ Exclusive ] “Magna Rider,” which saved Saitama, signs exclusive supply contract with Japanese government and association

[ Industry ] “The Golden Age of Tanks Has Arrived”... Yoo Hyun secures astronomical royalties through Japan-exclusive contract for Attachment-Type Magical Beast “Magna Rider”

[ General ] Yoo Hyun opens magical beast engineering technology... Leading global companies begin magical-beast production based on “Yoo Hyun licenses”

“I'm making money like crazy.”

I felt like it was about time to move on to the next step...

Bubble bubble-

Something wriggled inside the cultivation tank.

I stopped the tank and took the being inside out.

“Amon, that's your new prison.”

[ ...... ]

Amon rose onto two legs and started walking.

Squish, squish-

Amon looked down at one hand... no, forepaw, then stared blankly for a while before looking up at me.

[ ...Are you kidding me right now? ]

Amon had become a Jelly Dog.

* * *

This Jelly Dog's appearance was extremely bizarre.

Amon had presumably been cultivated from Haengbok's waste, gray jelly poop, and had become a gray Jelly Dog.

So far, that was exactly as expected.

I couldn't transfer souls, so I had cultivated Haengbok's jelly to make Amon a body.

The problem was Amon's appearance.

A skull with an entire rib cage growing from it was stuck to the back of Amon's head like a helmet.

That's right...

Amon was a Jelly Dog with bones, violating the unspoken rule of Jelly Dogs.

Not a boneless Jelly Dog, but a bone-in Jelly Dog.

What an affront.

I couldn't take it anymore and grabbed Amon's head.

[ You... What do you... intend to do.... ]

“Break it.”

Crack-

The bones shattered under my grip.

[ Kyaaaaaah-!!! ]

“Don't be dramatic!!! You can't feel pain!!!!”

The bones were so brittle that even an ordinary person could have broken them easily.

“Feels better than I expected.”

This Jelly Dog had that wax-cracking squishiness.

Squish, squish-

[ Gyaaaaaah-!!!! Stop kneading me!!!!!!! ]

For a while, I enjoyed the feel of this new breed of Jelly Dog.

Not long after Amon's bones shattered, they returned to normal.

“...Hmm, then removing the bones is impossible.”

Oh, and I noticed while kneading Amon that the jelly around Amon's belly was split open like an incision.

Since Amon was a slime, I thought it would heal if I pushed the separated jelly back together...

Riiip-

“Haah... Why does your belly jelly keep opening on its own? It's not like you have any guts to spill out.”

[ I don't know... More importantly, is this body truly the best you could do? Are you trying to humiliate me by turning me into some lowly beast? ]

“It's not like that. That's genuinely the limit of my ability... I can't transfer souls. More importantly, get up here. I'll keep your belly from opening.”

In the end, I stitched Amon's belly jelly together with thread.

The skeleton Jelly Dog Amon, belly jelly stitched shut, asked me a question.

[ What will you do now? ]

Amon was probably curious about my plans now that Amon had agreed to cooperate with me.

Changes continued to occur around the world even while I spent time in Ars Magna.

A Gate said to lead to El Dorado had appeared in France...

An anomaly where insects around a certain Gate rapidly grew gigantic had occurred...

There were even reports of Hunters sucked into Anomalous Gates gaining fortuitous opportunities and suddenly becoming much stronger...

The Gates, which I had thought were somewhat explained, were becoming shrouded in mystery again.

Gates were no longer simple places where Hunters entered to make money and hunt monsters.

With Anomalous Gates, fundamentally different from existing Gates, beginning to emerge all over the world, it would not be an exaggeration to say the Hunter world was undergoing a major upheaval.

And all of it was likely the aftermath of invaders interfering with this world.

The scale had gotten way too big, but I would do what I could right now.

“I... will make magical beasts, Amon.”

Unexpected beings had appeared, but my desire to see the end of this EX-rank ability and create the ultimate magical beast had only grown stronger.

The goal had simply become more specific.

If the enemy standing in my way someday was a Transcendent─

“I'll create an ultimate magical beast that can devour even a Transcendent.”

There were magical beasts whose forms had started taking vague shape deep in my mind.

A shadow vast enough to devour the world. A radiance brilliant enough to dim even the sun. Afterimages that crossed dimensions beyond this world. A form moving through an endless cycle.

I wanted to create them.

I wanted to make them with my own hands.

I wanted to bring into existence a being that surpassed even the divine realm itself.

It felt as though an instinct sleeping within me was slowly raising its head.

The skeleton Jelly Dog listened carefully, then spoke.

[ ......As your collaborator, I will offer one piece of advice. Regardless of their lineage, all abilities possess the potential to reach transcendence. ]

It should have sounded absurd, yet Amon took my words seriously.

[ But do not grow arrogant, believing your ability has reached even a fragment of transcendence. If you become intoxicated with your own talent, that thing in the mental space may become your end. ]

There was a strange weight to Amon's words.

“Don't worry about that. I'm planning to mass-produce things that will keep my ego in check.”

I looked at the email window on my monitor.

[ Subject: This is Cheon Sanha of Cheonseong Guild. Our Cheonseong Group would like to form a partnership with Mr. Yoo Hyun... ]

......

Therefore... we intend to mass-produce the Jellykko model and revitalize Korea's household magical-beast market.

......

We had been planning this since before Mr. Yoo Hyun went to Japan......

......

Furthermore, we are considering a Jellykko-themed amusement park, cafes, animation, and more...

......

I smiled as I read the email.

“Finally, someone who's making a realistic proposal.”

When I dug through his emails, they were all about Jellykko...

Until now, ninety-nine percent of the inquiries from Korean guilds had concerned combat magical beasts, so I'd skimmed past them and only noticed this now.

Anyway-

I would make Jellykko using the infrastructure of Cheonseong Group, one of Korea's conglomerates.

They probably had solid systems in place, so they would handle the little details well too.

“Not bad... I should make a quick trip to Korea while I'm at it.”

“Pant pant...”

[ Exclusive ] “Hunters who used to beat magical beasts to death are buying snorkeling gear”... Korean Hunter world gripped by unexpected treasure-hunting frenzy

Something had appeared in Korea too.

* * *

Inside an Anomalous Gate in Shinan County, South Jeolla Province.

Two groups faced one another in a jungle that resembled some remote wilderness.

“...Take it back... What you just said...!!!”

Hunter Yoo Dusik held the limp Rune Turtle Rodin in his arms and glared at the other side as if he wanted to kill them.

The man had pale skin and blond hair.

He was obviously a foreigner.

“Was I wrong? The artifacts you can obtain from Anomalous Gates have already made existing technology obsolete. Yoo Hyun's magical-beast production technology will inevitably fall behind the times too. Just like that pathetic turtle of yours.”

Tremble, tremble-

Yoo Dusik wanted to burn those foreign Hunters on the spot.

They had interfered with Gamma Team's exploration at every turn.

Then they claimed they had attacked Rune Turtle Rodin because they thought Rodin was a monster, but anyone could see the attack had been deliberate.

“Hunter Yoo Dusik...! Hold back...!!”

Hunter Lee Yujin grabbed Yoo Dusik's arm. She was biting her lip hard with anger too.

It would be dangerous if a fight broke out here.

As team leader, Yoo Dusik was responsible for the team's safety.

Gamma Team was B-rank, while the other side consisted of Hunters who were at least A-rank... If a fight broke out, Gamma Team would be at a disadvantage.

“Hahaha! Keep better watch over your magical beasts from now on!”

The foreign Hunters laughed at them as they walked away, and Yoo Dusik looked down at Rodin, who was struggling to breathe.

“......Rodin.”

“......Hissss.”

Hunter Lee Yujin looked at both of them with a gloomy expression.

“Let's... return for now. Rodin's condition is too bad.”

Gamma Team left the Shinan Gate.

“Ha... I wish someone would take those bastards out....”

“What about Rodin? Boss Yoo Hyun isn't here either....”

“For now, maybe a magical beast pet shop or even an animal hospital....”

Ding!

Then one of the team members looked at their phone and spoke with a startled expression.