The S-Classes That I Raised - Chapter 37

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 37: Magical Beast Breeder (2)

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I drained my glass as I sorted out what needed to happen next.

I decided to cooperate with Haeyeon on raising mounts. Negotiating with the major guilds would be difficult to handle alone.

And it would be a pain. Why go looking for trouble when there were competent people available to do the work?

“You’ll still remain independent as a Hunter, right?”

I nodded at Yoohyun’s question.

“If I sign a Hunter contract with Haeyeon too, there’ll only be more people wary of me. Even if the chance is slim, there’s a difference between having an opportunity and not having one.”

I was already family to Haeyeon Guild’s leader. If I sealed it with a contract too, they might try to crush me before I got any bigger.

The world was full of bastards who spat on rice cakes they could not eat.

“I should at least look impartial. Once Haeyeon has a firm grip on Korea’s Hunter scene, I’ll sign with you then.”

“It won’t take long.”

Yoohyun said it confidently. He had already conquered the scene before my regression, so with Yerim and Myeongu added in, it would be even faster than before. Kim Seonghan could grow into an S-Class too.

...Would Seok Hayan join Haeyeon as well? She was Seok Simyeong’s niece.

I felt like I was giving away more than I had expected.

Eh, whatever. It was good if Haeyeon grew quickly. Yoohyun was not the kind of guy who would betray me. I didn’t know about anyone else, but I could trust my little brother.

“As we discussed, the price of Haeyeon’s support will be raising Peace. We can go over the contract details after we clear the new A-Rank dungeon. You said the raid starts in three days, right?”

“Yeah. I should send people to the auction house and have them sweep up monster cubs and eggs.”

“We don’t need low or mid-grade ones, and would any high-grade ones even be listed?”

“If we check overseas, there should be a few dead-stock items. They’re expensive but not very useful. I should sign a contract with a tamer in advance too.”

...He wasn’t planning to dump fifteen or so on me at once, right? I’d spend all day feeding the kids.

“I can’t raise too many at once.”

I said it in advance, just in case. There really was a limit. Influencing them took time, and they could only grow quickly if I personally handled their training.

Three or four at a time would be appropriate.

“Really? How many can you handle?”

“Three would be best, five at most. The more there are, the slower they grow.”

“You’ll allocate some to Haeyeon, right? Even if two or three people share one, an S-Class team needs at least ten.”

“...Ten?”

“Yeah. An S-Class raid team has at least twenty people.”

Uh... It felt like a warning light had just come on, telling me I was about to become a laborer.

I’d only wanted to raise a reasonable number without getting greedy, then live well. How long would it take to raise ten?

Even if high-grade monsters grew more than twice as quickly as Peace, and I raised five at a time, it would still take at least three or four months.

More importantly, ten was only the start. For Haeyeon alone. And judging by the look of things, he wanted to give one to each person if possible.

“...This is already becoming a pain.”

I hugged Peace and sank into the sofa. I had thought about this too easily. Even if I only trained top-grade monsters and merely used the skill on high-grade ones, I still had to feed and care for them until they were influenced.

With devotion and affection.

I hadn’t even dated, and I was starting with parenting hell?

“Mounts aren’t essential for dungeon raids, so couldn’t we raise them slowly?”

“They aren’t essential, but having them makes raids much faster.”

“How much faster?”

“For S-Class dungeons, it can cut the time by more than half.”

“What? By half?”

“Even in the D-Rank dungeon we went to today, we had to walk a long way. S-Class dungeons are worse. Running yourself is a problem for stamina conservation, and you’re much slower than a four-legged monster of the same rank. So naturally, it speeds things up in every way.”

Ah, damn it. This was a bigger deal than I had thought.

I hadn’t expected the difference to be that huge. Was this the difference between someone with practical experience and someone who only knew theory? After hearing that, I couldn’t exactly say I would slack off.

Cutting the raid time of a high-grade dungeon in half was the same as doubling its safety. There were still few high-grade dungeons now, but in two or three years, the number of Awakened would start becoming insufficient to cover the number of dungeons.

Naturally, the danger of dungeon breaks would grow.

But once mounts were widely available, it would be a completely different story.

‘Even if raid times are cut by just 30%, it’s like increasing the number of S-Class raid teams by 30%... Ugh.’

A world that was over 30% safer...

My conscience... My morals... My ethics...

I’ll just work hard. Yes. There weren’t that many S-Class raid teams, and it would end someday.

I would like to retire as a happy rich man before forty.

“...First, get me a training room right away. I used the skill on Peace, so there are only two and a half days left on the effect. I need to raise it as much as possible so we have proof to put on the negotiating table.”

“Now? It’s late.”

“Pulling an all-nighter is no big deal. Peace needs rest too, so I’ll catch some sleep here and there.”

“Still, don’t push yourself too hard. We’ll need recording equipment for documentation too, right?”

“Yeah.”

While Yoohyun made calls, I sprawled out completely on the sofa. How long had it been since I resolved to become one with the sofa and relax? My bruised back started aching again.

‘Whoever made the system, I’ll be busy for a while, so please don’t contact me.’

I have kids to raise. I’m taking parental leave.

* * *

The place Yoohyun gave me was the rookie Hunter training room.

It was a broad space, large enough for a young Flame-Horned Lion to run freely, with various training machines set up inside.

And on top of that...

“There are ten Fanged Moles.”

They even provided monsters.

“They have been weakened enough for F-Ranks to handle for rookie training and skill experiments, but do not release more than two at once.”

The training room manager spoke while indicating the monsters. Unlike the staff elsewhere, this manager was an Awakened, perhaps because they handled monsters. Their stats were D-Rank, and judging by their optimized skills, they specialized in defense.

“In an emergency, press the emergency call button immediately. Please refer to this manual for instructions on using the training equipment.”

After finishing the explanation, the manager gave me a doubtful look and left.

Until negotiations with the major guilds began, magical beast rearing had to remain secret. So I borrowed the training room under the pretense that I, not Peace, would be training.

An F-Rank using his little brother as backing to take over the guild training room. I was going to catch some flak for this.

“Okay, Peace. Sit nicely here.”

First, I sat Peace beside the Fanged Mole cage to record its current condition. The front of the cage was transparent, making it easy to compare the two monsters’ sizes.

Grrr.

Peace bared its fangs with interest at the Fanged Mole. The Fanged Mole waved its long-clawed forepaws back at it.

Maybe it was because it was a low-grade monster, but it sure was stupid. It couldn’t even recognize its opponent.

“No. Sit again. Good.”

I switched on the camcorder fixed to the tripod and recorded Peace.

“Class-2 Unicorn Subspecies, Flame-Horned Lion juvenile. It has not grown in the two months since capture. Body length: 41 centimeters. Weight: 2.8 kilograms. It is currently 11:21 p.m. on the first day of Magical Beast Rearing skill application.”

After the explanation, I turned off the recording function. Then I placed a large clock with a timer on the table and wrote down the current time and Peace’s remaining growth time in my notebook.

“What should we start with?”

First, I needed to try each training device and check its efficiency and how well Peace responded. I started by loading balls into a pitching machine.

‘Not sure if a machine will work.’

When I had thrown balls directly to Peace, its growth time was reduced by around eighteen minutes for every ten minutes of training. That meant an hour of throwing reduced it by an additional forty-eight minutes, which was quite efficient.

As long as my shoulder held out.

“Peace, look over here!”

Yip?

Peace sprang up from where it was sitting and came toward me.

No, don’t come over here.

I operated the pitching machine and lightly sent out a ball.

Hmph.

Peace glanced at the ball for a moment, then ignored it.

Hey. You chased them just fine when I threw them.

I sent another one, but this time he didn’t even look at it. He came straight to my feet and flopped onto his back.

Grrrr.

“...Peace.”

Did personally training him mean this? My stamina, my strength...

I swallowed a sigh and called the training room management office.

“I need equipment focused on the stamina stat, including strength boosts. For every equipment slot. Do I need separate permission from the guildmaster?”

[No. We were instructed to provide you with anything you require.]

“Then please send equipment with flat stat increases.”

The manager on the other end of the phone sounded slightly flustered.

[We only have low-rank equipment with flat stat increases.]

“I know.”

This guild was full of people with absurdly high stats. I had to use what was available.

Soon, the equipment I requested was delivered. After putting on every piece, my stamina stat barely reached 100.

That was around the level of a level 2 S-Class. Wow.

My strength didn’t quite reach 50, but Peace was still around C-Rank, so it should be fine. It had no combat experience, so it was probably level 1 too.

“I already tested throwing balls, so this time, let’s hit a sandbag.”

I took Peace over to a sandbag hanging in one corner. Of course, it wasn’t an ordinary sandbag. It was an extremely sturdy attack-training tool that automatically measured damage.

“Look, Peace. I’ll hold it for you. Jump and hit it like this. You can scratch or bite it too. It’s tough.”

When I demonstrated, Peace copied me, hopping up and down as it jabbed the sandbag with the horn on its head and swiped it with its forepaws.

He was pretty strong.

“Good, well done! That’s it! Hit it as much as you want!”

Grr, grrr!

When I occasionally shook the sandbag, Peace became even more excited and pounced on it.

This felt promising. I had a strong feeling this would be quite efficient training.

After exactly thirty minutes of training, I checked Peace’s remaining growth time.

‘Oh, it dropped by over an hour!’

His growth rate was around 2.3 times faster during training. At this rate, he could become an adult on the third application of the skill.

If I trained all night for three days, I could reduce fifteen days to under seven. That would be too much, though, so if I allowed nine days, it would take exactly two months.

“Good, let’s try something else!”

Yip!

Peace hopped around excitedly, apparently having enjoyed playing with the sandbag. My Peace had good stamina too.

For the next five hours, I trained him continuously with all sorts of equipment. The most efficient was simulated combat, at a full three times the normal rate. The thing that saved my life was moving a laser pointer around, which gave a 1.7-times rate.

“...I’m dying.”

Grrr?

Peace tilted its head as it looked up at me sprawled across a bench.

My stamina stat should be higher than his, so why wasn’t he tired at all? Did he recover quickly because he was young? Or was this the difference between someone born to become an S-Class despite currently being C-Rank and an F-Rank pretending to be higher-ranked through gear?

An Awakened’s stats were not limited to the five displayed ones.

Awakened researchers all agreed that there had to be hidden stats, such as recovery, endurance, durability, intelligence, luck, and various senses.

The evidence was that tests had shown differences in ability even after matching stats with equipment and not using skills. Even with equal stats, the person with the originally higher rank was superior in every way.

That was why there was a limit to what gear could do.

Sadly.

“Even so, my stamina stat is three times higher right now. They say monsters have strong recovery, but is it really true?”

Yip, yip!

“No. I can’t play anymore. Let’s rest a little.”

It would have been nice to have a stamina potion, but it would take at least another year before those were developed. The dungeon that produced the ingredients wouldn’t appear for another year.

It would be nice to claim that dungeon too, but it was overseas.

‘Japan, right?’

Why did it have to be there? If Haeyeon established itself quickly, should we go after Japan? Kill two birds with one stone. Nice.

Grrr, grrr!

Peace kept begging me to play, then finally began biting and tugging at my pant leg.

Hey, brat.

“Have you been cooped up indoors so long that you have a lot of energy built up? Peace, want to play with those moles over there?”

I needed to test training with them too. I forced up my body, which felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton, and walked toward the cages.

The Fanged Mole bared its sharp front teeth ferociously at me.

Even without equipment, it was weaker than me, so what was it acting up for...

Raaawr!

Suddenly, Peace puffed up its fur and let out an angry cry.