WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 58: Pretending to Have Forgotten (1)

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A small lake lay in the middle of a lush plain. The scent of grass mingled with the scent of water on the gently blowing breeze.

Lake environments were popular because they had plenty of valuable resources, but that only applied to C-Class dungeons and above. D-Class dungeons and below did pay better, but underwater combat was too troublesome for low-rank Hunters to handle.

Without relevant skills, they also had to prepare separate gear and items, so they could end up losing money instead. Thanks to that, it had not been difficult to win the bid for this D-Class dungeon.

“Nice view.”

The bright blue sky reflected on the mirror-clear surface like a painting. Every time the breeze blew, the grass swayed softly and ripples trembled across the water as though singing.

Even before my regression, when I had been too busy saving my own life, dungeon scenery sometimes struck me as remarkable. Now that I had more room to breathe, I found myself wondering something else.

Wouldn't it take a god to make something like this, then reset it every time?

‘Though the system people didn't seem anywhere near omnipotent.’

Come to think of it, they were quiet today. Were they busy? Their nonsense was annoying, but I felt a little disappointed not to get so much as a greeting.

‘In a few days, I should be able to talk to them properly.’

Let's clear the dungeon and get out. This was already my third unauthorized outing. It would not be surprising if they started catching on soon. I shouldn't drag this out. I needed to finish quickly and head back.

I walked closer to the lake. Since I had Lizard on the Wall active, there was still no change in the water.

‘The regular monsters were monstrous fish species.’

They were eel-like monsters that could move around outside the water to some extent.

The items I would use today were mana-boosting earrings and mana potions. Just those two. I had no intention of entering the water myself.

Rolling up my sleeves, I knelt at the shore. I put my hand into the cool, clear water and used a skill.

Sticky Poison.

The already powerful C-Class poison had its effect doubled, then doubled again by Veteran. That terrifying poison slowly spread through the water. The flawlessly clear water began to take on a faint gray tint.

“This makes me feel a little guilty.”

This was a dungeon, my opponents were monsters, and everything would be faithfully reset after the raid ended.

Still, it felt like I was doing something I shouldn't be doing. Poison fishing is illegal. Electric shocks are forbidden too. Love nature. Protect the environment.

Grronk, grronk.

Not long after, a three-meter eel leaped high out of the water with a noise like a toad croaking.

A second and third eel followed, flopping at the lakeshore with their mouths opening and closing.

Splash!

Flop!

The eels that burst out of the lake one after another died before they could even flop around a few times. Near where the poison had first spread, dead eels floated to the surface.

This effect was really good. Too good. I felt like an illegal discharge pipe dumping toxic wastewater.

‘This should be enough.’

I pulled my hand from the water and waited a moment. Large and small eels continuously leaped out and floated up. The lake wasn't that big, but there were certainly a lot of them.

By the time the lake's surface was packed with eel corpses.

Rooaar!

A blue eel raised its head from a small island in the middle of the lake.

[Grade 5 Water Dragon Species: Blue Eel

Current Stat Rank: C

Potential Awakening Stat Rank: C

Optimized Initial Skills

Water Cannon (C) Acquired

Tail Wave (C) Acquired]

It called itself a dragon species, despite being an eel. With Grade 5 water dragon species and C-Class stats, it was on the weaker end among C-Class monsters. Still, as a dragon species, its corpse would be worth more than its mana stone. I deactivated Lizard on the Wall to lure it onto land.

Grrr.

The Blue Eel that spotted me narrowed its pitch-black eyes. The spines in the middle of its head stood stiff, and it slipped into the water by moving its long-clawed fins.

“That's it. Come on over.”

I would give the mana stone to Peace and the skin and bones to Myeongu. They were materials far too cheap for an SS-Class skill, but they would be fine for practice.

Grrk.

The Blue Eel, which had been swimming diligently through the water, gradually slowed down.

Grr...

Its blue scales slowly turned a muddy gray. Oh dear. It didn't look well at all. In the end, it couldn't even reach the shore where I stood.

Screech!

Glug.

...May it rest in peace.

The Blue Eel sank into the water with a dying cry. I had thought the poison would be fine because it had been diluted so much, but it really was potent. I considered fishing it out with my tentacles, then decided against it. Using something poisoned didn't feel right.

An exit gate then appeared at the lakeshore.

All right, what sort of title would I get this time?

...Hm. No message window appeared.

“Hello? System creators?”

Was it lagging? They had been so quiet. Had there been some communication issue?

[Outstanding Achievement! You have successfully cleared a D-Class dungeon alone with F-Class stats, attack skills of F-Class or below, and no more than five items used!]

Oh, finally, the achievement window...

It appeared, but.

‘They've gone silent again.’

After I waited a moment, another message window appeared.

[Please choose.

Sturdy (S)

Unfindable (S)

Swift-Footed (S)]

Why was I suddenly getting options? I had never heard of being able to choose an achievement reward title. Had they been late because they were preparing this?

‘Giving me options is nice, but they could at least let me see the descriptions too.’

Still, I could roughly guess just from the title names. They would be titles related to defense, Stealth, agility, or spatial movement. Had they deliberately named them that simply to make them easy to understand?

‘All three look like titles that would be good for protecting myself.’

I had wanted a special skill-effect doubling bonus, though. Besides, wasn't this a little stingy for solo-clearing a D-Class dungeon? It was S-Class again. I had expected at least SS-Class, so this was disappointing.

Anyway, I had to choose one of the three. What should I pick?

‘An S-Class defense skill would be nice. But if it's a stat increase, it's a dud.’

Of course, an S-Class title would raise it by a lot, but with my base stats at F-Class, it wouldn't be significant enough to matter. The earrings' barrier skill would probably be more useful.

‘Still, since the system people deliberately picked these for me, it has to be a skill title unless they're trying to screw me over.’

An S-Class defense skill would be ideal in a short fight. In a prolonged one, though, I would just become a turtle hiding in its shell. It wasn't as though I had any means of attack, and if I was indoors, I could just lock the door and stay put.

‘Other than monsters, no one would be trying to kill me anyway. Stealth or agility would be better.’

Swift-Footed didn't sound like spatial movement. It would probably be teleportation or something that increased movement speed. Even so, Stealth was better. Just look how useful Lizard on the Wall had been.

If it was a Stealth skill attached to an S-Class title, it would be at least A-Class. Still, maybe I should ask just in case.

“Unfindable has an A-Class or higher Stealth skill attached, right?”

[˙~˙;;;]

Ah, right. They couldn't tell me.

“If Swift-Footed is a spatial movement skill, send an emoticon.”

Silence. So it wasn't spatial movement after all. Then Stealth it was.

I selected Unfindable from the three titles.

[Unfindable (S)

Is the F-Class Hunter who solo-cleared a D-Class dungeon a master of Stealth?

Hidden Picture (A)

One More for the Road (S)]

The title description felt like it had been worked into the achievement by force. The other two probably had similar descriptions. Hidden Picture would be the Stealth skill, but what was One More for the Road? Its name made it sound like an extra bonus, but it was S-Class.

‘The other two probably had the same combination.’

Defense- and agility-related skills, plus One More for the Road. Something like that.

[Hidden Picture (A)

Makes the user difficult to notice even when one concentrates on finding them.]

Hidden Picture didn't seem to make me disappear entirely. It looked like a skill that made me hard to perceive, similar to Lizard on the Wall. Then there was One More for the Road.

[One More for the Road (S)

Share one title or skill of S-Class or below with one person you are touching.

Reapplication cooldown for each skill: 15 days.

※ Excludes this skill.]

...Whoa, hold on. Was this the main prize? I could share skills and titles? What did I have at S-Class or below?

“So you took notice when I grumbled that it was hardly worth having.”

I was a little moved.

Let's see. The S-Class titles I had acquired recently were Miracle and Veteran. Item doubling and attack skill-effect doubling. Damn it.

I should have picked the defense skill after all.

‘Since I have to be touching them, I could only accompany them into mid-level dungeons at best.’

I could use the B-Class barrier skill from my earrings. Stealth would be useless in a chaotic battle. If I had an A-Class or higher defense skill, I could even try entering high-grade dungeons! What a waste!

Still, if an S-Class dungeon ever broke, I could probably help resolve it quickly. Once dungeon difficulty began rising rapidly, this would become useful before long.

Other than that, I had Hidden Picture, two largely useless support skills, and Sprout.

‘The system people must have been aiming for the Sprout skill. They seem to want me to raise Hunters.’

Optimized Awakening had a thirty-day cooldown. With this, I might be able to use it up to three times a month. The bonus skill had a fifteen-day cooldown, after all.

The problem was that it was limited to targets affected by the Keyword. My Kid was L-Class, so it couldn't be shared. In the end, either I wouldn't be able to use it, or it would apply to someone I had affected with the Keyword. Since the system people had gone out of their way to include the bonus skill, the latter seemed more likely.

Then the remaining problem was who I would share the skill with.

‘Since I have to keep optimized Awakening hidden, I need someone trustworthy.’

If this got out, it would become a real hassle.

Mounts only had demand among large guilds and high-grade Hunters. But for optimized Awakening, non-Awakened people all over the world would surely come begging me to use it just once.

Was I actually an unscratched lottery ticket?

After Awakened people appeared, everyone had probably entertained that thought at least once. But what if someone could increase the odds and scratch the ticket for you? Of course you would want to find them and hand over your ticket.

There was even a limit on the number of times it could be used. Just imagining it gave me a headache. It would turn into a hellish free-for-all.

‘Excluding high-grade Hunters who have to enter dungeons for days at a time, Myeongu is the only option for now.’

There was no one who needed optimized Awakening immediately, so I would wait and see a little longer.

* * *

When I returned home, a package had arrived. It was the new phone I had bought.

My old one had been thrown around when I was abducted, cracking one corner. More importantly, the camera wasn't very good.

“All right, Peace. Look over here. No, don't come closer.”

Grrr.

How was I supposed to take a picture if Peace clung to my leg?

“Peep, are you in the kitchen again?”

Peep, peep!

I had fed it mana stones in the kitchen once, so now it kept crawling in there and chirping.

“Peep, come here.”

Peep!

“There's mana stone powder here.”

As soon as I set a bottle of C-Class mana stone powder on the table.

Tap tap tap tap.

Tiny running footsteps sounded out. The baby bird reached the table and began flapping and jumping beneath it.

Peep peep peep!

Did it like food that much? I took pictures of Peep struggling to climb onto the table. Maybe I should record a video too.

Peep!

After hopping around for a while, Peep suddenly stopped. Then it sharply turned to the side. Its eyes landed on Peace, sitting at my feet.

Peep, peep, peep.

Whatever it was thinking, Peep walked over to Peace. Then.

“Well, look at that.”

It began diligently climbing onto Peace's body. Peace looked up at me as if flustered.

Whine.

“Just bear with it for a moment.”

Peep wasn't completely stupid after all. What a good little thing.

Peep!

Peep finally climbed onto the top of Peace's head, flapped its tiny wings, and let out a victorious? cry. Peace gave me a look that clearly asked me to do something about this annoying little brat.

“Just a second, just a second.”

Cute. I absolutely had to get a picture of this.

Cheep, cheep.

Peep, settled on Peace's head, turned toward the table. It spread both its wings wide in what it presumably thought was a dignified pose. It was a bit of a distance. Would it be all right?

Peeep!

Peep jumped with a little boing!

Bounce, bounce.

It barely caught the edge of the table, bounced twice, then rolled before coming to a stop. Oh, it made it.

Peep!

“Our Peep has gotten a little smarter already.”

It felt like only the day before yesterday that it couldn't tell the TV apart from the real thing. It really had been the day before yesterday, though. I also filmed it clinging to the mana stone bottle and chirping, then crushed an F-Class mana stone for it.

Peep!

What was that? It didn't eat right away and even complained. This little thing was getting pickier and pickier about food.

“You're not eating it? I'll take it away.”

Peep!

When I reached toward the mana stone, Peep hurriedly gobbled it up before I could take it, then hugged the mana stone bottle again.

“Peace, look at your sibling. At this rate, it will try to swallow the whole bottle.”

Yip.

Peace tapped my leg with its front paw as if to say it was none of its business and I should pick it up. That was your food, you brat.

I left Peep to romance the mana stone bottle, picked up Peace, and sat on the sofa. I had already installed a social media app.

‘It has really been a long time.’

Not that I had ever used one properly. I had made an account because it was trendy, but I had nothing to post and stopped almost immediately. I used the pictures I had just taken of Peace and Peep as my profile image. So cute. Then I uploaded old photos of Peace as a baby, along with pictures of Peep rolling across the table and hugging the bottle.

Should I add tags or something?

‘Mm, I'll just do it roughly.’

First, I followed Haeyeon Guild, then Sesung, Breaker Guild, and Hanshin Guild. I should follow MKC too, for now. Then the Hunter Association. There was a separate market account as well.

While I spent a moment looking around.

2,155 Followers

My followers had instantly shot up from zero. What? Why was this so fast? The guild accounts had already followed me back. The comments were growing continuously too.

- Peace!!! Your big sis is here!!!! sob sob

- Ah, so damn cute sob What is that fluffball sob

- Is this really Han Yujin's account? Did he get another monster????

- I thought it was a rice cake I wanna put it in my mouth!!!!!!!

- I'm losing it... Look at baby Peace... Take me♡

Ahem. My kids were pretty cute. To follow Riette's account without raising suspicion, I should probably follow around a hundred more accounts. It would be strange to follow only Hunters, so should I look up some famous celebrities too? Who was popular these days?

I searched my memories as I checked the messages I had received. More than half asked whether I was really Han Yujin. Among them, one message caught my eye because of its obvious excitement.

- Hello!! This is Park Hayul, whom you met at the broadcasting station before! Sorry for messaging so suddenly, but I'm really happy to see you! Is Peep a new monster you adopted? It's seriously so cuuute sob

Broadcasting station? Park Hayul? Who was that again? The moment I opened Park Hayul's account, I remembered.

The guy with an optimized skill for good looks.

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