WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 54: Peep (3)

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Skree!

Thud!

The Moss Monkey whose head had been crushed fell straight from the tree. At the same time, Peep fluttered its wings atop my head.

Peep! Peep!

It was signaling that the monkey I had just killed had a mana stone.

After I found two F-Class mana stones and fed them to this tiny baby bird, it started chirping for one whenever I caught a monkey with a mana stone. It seemed able to sense whether they had one.

“Peep, you’re a bigger eater than you look.”

This made six already, yet it was still flapping its wings to demand more. Unlike Peace, it would not even touch meat. It only ate mana stones.

Peep! Peep!

“Okay, okay.”

It had not even been thirty minutes since we met. Yet it had clung to me and was already demanding food. This kid was kind of shameless. Was it too young to tell friend from foe? Maybe it considered anyone who fed it a parent.

The Moss Monkey’s mana stone was usually located below the nape. When I took out my knife and cut through the hide, it practically tap-danced on my head.

Peep peep peep! Peep!

Ugh, blood splashed. No matter how careful I was, my hands and the sleeves up to my elbows ended up streaked with blood. I would have to wash up at the pond before leaving.

I gave the mana stone to Peep, which had climbed down to my shoulder. It was a small mana stone from an ordinary F-Class monster, but even so, it was difficult to swallow in one bite. Yet it somehow gulped it down.

Peep!

“Want more?”

Peep!

I did not know what it was saying, but it definitely did not seem full. Fine. Let’s see how much you can eat.

I searched the small forest from end to end and killed every Moss Monkey I found. When clearing a dungeon, there was no need to kill every ordinary monster. As long as you hunted at least half and killed the boss monster, that was enough. However, the more monsters you killed, the longer the dungeon remained stabilized, so the Association recommended wiping them out whenever possible.

Technology to determine a dungeon’s saturation level precisely had not been developed yet, so you had to file a separate report if you left after killing only half.

Skree!

“Looks like this is the last one.”

Peep!

Peep was being quiet, so it probably did not have a mana stone. I could no longer sense any Moss Monkeys, so I headed toward the pond. Peep had devoured every mana stone as soon as it came out and was humming softly to itself in a good mood.

“If mana stones were ordinary food, your stomach would’ve burst by now.”

It had accepted every single one I gave it and ended up eating more than its own body size. Mana stones still had to pass through its stomach, so it must have absorbed them quickly.

Peep peep peep, peeeep.

“You really are a little glutton.”

This little guy would cost a fortune to feed, too. Even if they were F-Class, how much had it eaten? Maybe I had fed it too much. I should cut back from now on. Baby animals could keep eating because they did not know when they were full.

The pond at the edge of the forest was quite large. In the clear water, dotted with things like lily pads, sat a small green island.

Rumble.

With a deep rumble, a massive head rose from beneath the water. It was a Giant Moss Turtle. Other than the pair of long fangs sticking out, it looked like an ordinary oversized turtle.

Peep! Peep! Peep peep! Peep! Peep!

“You’re making my head ring. Calm down.”

The moment it saw the turtle, Peep began raising hell. It did not seem frightened. Did it want me to catch it? It had only begged for the monkeys’ mana stones after I caught them, but apparently the turtle’s mana stone seemed especially delicious.

Peep peep peep!

“Not this time, you little brat. Your stomach will burst.”

Peeep!

Whether it understood or was just excited, Peep fluttered even harder. Worried it might fall, I took it off my head and held it against my chest.

Meanwhile, the giant turtle slowly swam toward me, parting the water. Nice of it to come to me.

Rooaar!

“What kind of roar was that?”

I lightly flicked my wrist toward it. A long tentacle shot out and, in an instant, wrapped around the turtle’s neck.

Gack!

The choking turtle struggled as it tried to swim backward. If my stats had been F-Class, I would have been dragged straight into the water with a splash. But that was not the case now.

I braced myself with one foot forward and yanked the tentacle hard, like I was fishing. The turtle flew through the air, scattering droplets of water.

Thud!

It was flung outside the pond. It struggled helplessly on its back, which made me feel just a tiny bit sorry for it.

I held a three-second moment of silence for it, then cut off its broken neck with my knife.

Peep peep peep! Peep!

“I said no. You’ll get an upset stomach if you’re so greedy. Hey, where do you think you’re jumping down to? Peep, you…”

[An amazing achievement! You have successfully cleared an F-Class dungeon solo using F-Class stats, F-Class or lower attack skills, and three or fewer items!]

...Huh? What was this achievement message all of a sudden...?

[You have been awarded the S-Class title, ‘Miracle Rookie’!]

Then a bunch of miscellaneous item acquisition windows appeared. No, more importantly, what was this?

“Miracle Rookie?”

Was this a title you could get by clearing a dungeon alone with F-Class stats and F-Class or lower attack skills while using few items? The conditions were ridiculously harsh. How was anyone supposed to get it? At least let them wear a full set of gear.

Though I had gotten it.

‘Do skills and stats gained through Final Grace not count?’

Someone with a special skill like mine, or someone who got several pieces of equipment with high stats and attack skills, might have a chance of getting it. Not that anyone would do something so strange. If you had enough gear to clear an F-Class dungeon alone, you would form a team and go to a D-Class dungeon instead. And if you could do that, it meant you were incredibly rich. The equipment alone would cost at least a billion won.

Peep peep! Peep peep!

While I was distracted checking the message windows, Peep finally escaped my arms and jumped down. You little brat! It was in such a hurry that it flapped its wings hard as it ran toward the Giant Moss Turtle’s corpse.

Peep!

Good grief, what a glutton. Its fluff was covered in blood now. First, I cut open the turtle’s belly and took out its mana stone. It was F-Class, but it was a boss monster’s mana stone, so it was quite large. It was about two finger joints long, too big for Peep to swallow.

Peep! Peep!

“Okay, okay. Wait. I’ll break it for you. You only get half, and then you’re done for today, understand?”

Peeep! Peep!

When I merely held the mana stone, it clamped its tiny beak onto my pant leg and tugged. Why were you so greedy for food? Clicking my tongue, I held the mana stone out in front of Peep.

“Look, it’s too big.”

Peep!

Peep chirped happily at the sight of the mana stone, then immediately bit down on it.

Pfft, pfft, pfft.

It struggled to swallow it somehow, making little deflating noises. Hey, did it think that would fit? You might as well try shoving a camel through the eye of a needle.

“You’ll choke. Give it to me.”

Worried it would get sick trying to force it down, I took the mana stone away. Peep froze as though shocked, then plopped down on the ground.

Then, a moment later,

Peeeeep! Peeep, peeeep!

Its little beak stretched wide as it began crying at the top of its lungs. Oh, how pitiful. It was crying its heart out because I had taken its food. It was ridiculous and cute at the same time. Where had this little pig come from?

I quickly broke the mana stone and scattered the pieces on the ground. Peep immediately began pecking at them happily, as if it had never cried.

I watched it for a moment, then opened my status window. The newly registered title caught my eye.

[Miracle Rookie (S)

An impressive rookie Hunter who cleared an F-Class dungeon solo with weak abilities.

Dungeon item rewards doubled]

...Wow, doubled item rewards. It was good. Really good, except I had no reason to clear dungeons.

‘Why give me such a useless title?’

Something like this would only be a jackpot if an A-Class Hunter or higher got it. Especially in an S-Class dungeon, where two S-Class mana stones would drop, S-Class items would be doubled, and even special first-clear reward items would drop twice. That would be an incredible haul.

Why give such a title to someone with F-Class stats? Were they making fun of people?

‘Still, it’s much better than nothing, even for a low-rank Hunter.’

Simply put, it doubled your income, and it would also make it much easier to find a team. If things went well, you might even get carried through a C-Class dungeon.

Still, it did not seem worthy of being S-Class for a low-rank Hunter.

Maybe it would be useful someday if Final Grace activated.

The other items were nothing special. They were good for an F-Class dungeon, perhaps because I had cleared it alone, almost on par with D-Class dungeon rewards, but they were common items.

‘But would clearing other-ranked dungeons solo also give titles?’

That was tempting. With my current abilities, I could clear up to D-Class alone. I could probably do C-Class too, but from that point on, the dungeons became too large. If I tried to clear one alone, I would not finish in a day or two. The duration of Final Grace was not long now, so it would be safer to try up to D-Class.

‘Sorry, Peace, but I’ll say I need to rest at home a little longer...’

The problem was an exclusive entry pass. Still, one for up to D-Class should not be hard to get. If I could not get one, then so be it. I would try first.

“Once you’re done eating, let’s wash up and go home.”

I washed my hands first, then took off my shirt and soaked it in the water. Blood seeped out and spread over the surface before fading away. It would be hard to remove it completely, so it would be better to wash it roughly and buy new clothes on the way back.

I caught Peep and dipped it in the water too. Once wet, it shrank to a quarter of its size. So it had all been fluff.

Peep!

I wondered if I had gotten the baby bird too wet, but it gave itself one shake and was fluffy again in no time. Convenient.

There might have been blood droplets on my face too, so I washed it. The cold water splashing over me made my mind feel clearer.

At the same time, I remembered the message I had set aside for a while.

‘Should I act more actively?’

I had assumed that the difficulty and number of dungeons would naturally increase at the same rate as before my regression.

But apparently not.

They were delaying the progression, but it seemed unavoidable that it would still move faster than before.

‘Mounts can cover some of that, at least... but should I pay attention to people as well as monsters?’

The person who made the system, no, people, since they had called themselves "we," had given me a quest to fill fifty S-Class slots. It seemed they meant for me to prepare by raising S-Classes. If I found and raised Hunters like Yerim or Yu Myeongu, people who originally could not reach S-Class or did not have special skills, it would be a huge help to our strength.

Of course, I could not use optimized Awakening often because of its thirty-day limit. But there was one more thing I could do.

‘A special-skill Awakening Center.’

It was something I had considered making briefly before deciding against it.

A facility where I could use Sprout to check optimized skills, then provide the environment needed to Awaken them.

If people who would otherwise gain mediocre combat-related skills could Awaken according to their aptitudes, it would surely help in many ways. Even if they failed to get their optimized skills, I could still raise the ones who seemed promising by applying a Keyword, like Myeongu.

“...The problem is that there’s only one of me.”

Peep.

I grumbled as I wrung the water out of my clothes. Fuck, how was I supposed to do all that alone? Raise monsters, check people’s aptitudes, help them Awaken, apply Keywords to raise their skills, and find time to connect Goblin with Seok Hayan.

Was I supposed to balance childcare and work?

“Still, I’m worried about the future if I just sit back and do nothing.”

What use was a building? If an S-Class dungeon broke nearby, it would be smashed to pieces. If something like a first-class dragon species came out, it would turn into a sandcastle. Even the Awakening Center that would be established soon was not trustworthy. It might even be another problem.

Sigh. I thought I could live without worries for at least five years. Why was my life so harsh?

Flap, flap.

I shook most of the water out of my clothes and put them back on. I washed off my shoe soles too. I put on sunglasses and covered my mouth with cloth, then placed Peep inside an upside-down cap and covered it with the remaining cloth.

“You absolutely cannot come out.”

Peep!

It sounded like an ordinary chick, so people would probably just think I had a bird in there. If they did not know its appearance well, they would assume it was the chick of some large bird.

After reminding Peep once more not to come out, I left through the gate beside the pond.

The first thing I did after leaving the dungeon management building was check my phone. Calls would not have worked while I was inside the dungeon, and the accumulated texts were all from unknown numbers. If they had noticed I was gone, my phone would have been blowing up the instant I left the dungeon.

Before returning to Haeyeon Guild, I stopped at a clothing store and bought new clothes. I deliberately chose a slightly loose shirt, tucked Peep inside it, and used Lizard on the Wall on the clerk. Fortunately, the clerk did not notice either me or Peep.

‘Peep, please stay quiet.’

All it had to do was not make noise.

Fortunately, it was half asleep after eating the turtle’s mana stone and seemed fairly full.

Using a method similar to the one I had used to leave the building, I made it safely up to the dormitory floor. The Hunter at the entrance had put down their book and was knitting something. Perhaps because of their high stats, their hands moved incredibly fast.

When I reached my door, I checked my surroundings and released the skill. I took off my cap and sunglasses, then moved Peep back into the cap.

Now I only had to go inside.

‘...Will it be okay to leave a baby bird and a cat together?’

A sudden worry struck me. Peace was a unicorn subspecies, but it was still lion-like, a carnivore closer to the cat family, while Peep looked like nothing but a baby bird.

...Would bloodshed break out if I went in like this? No, could I even raise them together? Would Peace understand if I told it not to hurt Peep?

‘Not all monsters are carnivores, and some must be natural enemies.’

If I was going to raise multiple monsters at once, that was something I had to consider too. It would be awkward if Peace was gnawing on dragon wing bones in front of the dragon hatchling Sesung would entrust to me.

“What should I do?”

It did not seem safe to go in defenseless. With my current stats, stopping Peace would be easy, but I only had one body. I could not hold Peep on one side and Peace on the other while soothing or teaching them. Should I ask the Hunter at the entrance for help?

No, it would be better if someone Peace knew helped. When would Yerim return? I took out my phone to contact her when I sensed an approaching S-Class.

“Hyung? You said you were going to sleep because you felt a cold coming on. What are you doing outside your door?”

“...And why are you here? I told you not to come.”

“I wasn’t planning to wake you. I just...”

Peep.

Peep chirped. Yoohyun looked at me, then at the cap I was holding. Hmm, I had been caught sooner than expected.

“...A chick?”

“I found it.”

That was not a lie. I had just found it in a dungeon.

Peep peep.

“You found it?”

“Someone abandoned it in the hallway. Maybe it wandered in from somewhere. Anyway, I found it.”

“Is it really a chick?”

My little brother gave me a suspicious look.

“It’s not an ordinary chick...”

Well, I had to tell him anyway. I lifted the cloth from the cap and showed Peep as I spoke.

“It’s a baby monster.”

“What?”

“F-Class. It’s weak. Maybe someone found it but could not kill it or raise it, so they left it behind. I raise monsters, after all.”

Like people who abandoned dogs at animal shelters or pet cafes. Do not abandon pets.

“...”

“Just go along with it.”

Yoohyun sighed quietly. I was the one raising it, so why was he sighing?

“Even if it’s F-Class, it’s still a monster, so have it undergo taming. I’ll call someone tomorrow.”

“Okay. More importantly, help me convince Peace while you’re here.”

“Convince it of what?”

“If I just walk in, it might mistake Peep for live prey I brought home.”

After I roughly explained the situation, wrapped Peep in the cloth again, and opened the door, I could hear quick footsteps pacing back and forth beyond the inner door. It seemed Peace had already noticed I was back.

“Peace, have you been good, um, be good.”

I had almost asked if it had behaved itself, then quickly changed my words.

Yip!

I ignored it as it jumped up asking to be held and went to the living room. A wider space would be better.

“Now, Peace. You must not attack.”

I held up the cap as I spoke. Peace seemed to have noticed something too, because it had been staring at the cap the whole time. Its ears stood alert and its eyes sparkled.

“It’s not food. It’s your little sibling. Your sibling.”

I slowly removed the cloth covering Peep.

Peep!

A white, round head popped out. When it chirped once more, Peace’s eyes widened into circles.

“Your sibling...”

Grrr.

Hmm, it did not seem to see Peep as a sibling after all. The species difference was rather extreme. Peace bared its teeth fiercely and kicked off the floor in a single leap. Just before its sharp fangs reached the cap,

Snap.

Yoohyun grabbed Peace by the scruff of its neck.

Then,

Whoosh!

He threw it?!

What, what?

...That bastard Han Yoohyun?!

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