I Transferred to the SSS-rank Crafting Field - Chapter 15 - The Sword that Cleaves Heaven and Earth (2)

Chapter 15

04 – The Sword that Cleaves Heaven and Earth (2)

“I don’t know how to do any of that, though?” I said.

“You’ll need to learn from now on,” Carlos said.

“Come to think of it, when Hunter Yoon Gaho appeared, earlier, you called for your Master.” Choi Kwon-young said.

“Ah, yes. I became Carlos’s disciple by chance.”

A meaningful smile formed on Choi Kwon-young’s face. “Chance? In the World’s Towers? What a strange coincidence, hmm?”

A red warning light blared in my head. Attracting the attention of someone like that–a human who wholeheartedly pursued his own pleasures and interests–would be quite troublesome. Even the other guild members advised people to run away if the guild leader were to talk to them for seemingly no reason.

His smile already informed me that something was wrong. An ominous foreboding settled over my back.

When I came to my senses, Choi Kwon-young, grinning from ear to ear as if he were posing for a pictorial, sat opposite me. “How fortunate that Hunter Yoon Gaho is the key to solving my situation.”

“She’ll have to learn more from me, though. It’s impossible with her current skills.”

“…Is no one interested in my opinion?” I mumbled.

Choi Kwon-young’s silence confirmed what I had already realized.

Anyone who was a stranger to our circumstances would have been fascinated by the mere sight of Choi Kwon-young. He made a handsome sight with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees. However, I knew I was in trouble.

I looked at Carlos for any possible help, but he just ignored me.

“Hunter Yoon Gaho, what do you know about the 76th floor?”

“All I know is that it’s currently being raided.”

One day, out of the blue, the World’s Towers suddenly appeared in the capitals of all nations in the world. Each country’s raid teams were scrambling to climb the tower, as high as they could, before any other team.

The biggest motivator for that scramble was the huge reward awarded to the team that cleared each floor for the first time. But, that wasn’t the only reason.

At some point, clearing the World’s Towers became directly linked to a country’s national pride. The World’s Tower became a venue to show off their strategic knowledge and force. As the years went by, the competition intensified.

As befitting its fast-paced culture, the Republic of Korea had been at the forefront of the competition, overtaking the superpowers of the USA, Japan, France, and China.

The 76th floor, however, was one that no country had yet to clear. Currently, several countries have been stranded on the 76th floor for months.

Information about floors that are being currently raided was handled in strict secrecy, so that was all I knew.

“Is the object you’re asking Master to make related to the 76th floor’s raid?” I asked.

“It’s great to see that you’re fast on the uptake. The story is a little long, but I’ll be as concise as possible.” Choi Kwon-young, in between crunching the cookie in his mouth, began to explain. “I suppose I’ll have to talk about the ‘alliance’ first.”

“Cooperation…?”

“After five raid teams from different guilds failed to clear the target, South Korea’s raid teams changed their policy. An unusual team, united from different guilds, was formed. ‘Wastelands’ teamed up with ‘Midnight Sun.’

As he swept back his hair, Choi Kwon-young added that they found a clue that no other team had discovered yet. He then started to tell us about how he had earned the clue that would prove essential for clearing the floor.

***

The cold wind seemed to slice into flesh.

Beyond the horizon, a powerful shroud of storming mana, which was strong enough to grind steel into powder, approached.

This was the 76th floor.

A realm where disasters and humans coexisted.

Eight new beings appeared in this field where only the wind and the wreckage of old civilizations existed.

Unable to resist the suffocating atmosphere, Gyun Jiwoon took off his hood. Only for a moment. He wore the hood again after being disgusted with the dirt and dust that blew into his face. “I’m going to become ill at this rate. How many times do I have to go through this?”

This scenario was one that took exorbitant amounts of time, but, even so, those raids usually only took two months to complete. This stagnation was unprecedented.

Nevertheless, Choi Kwon-young was happy. Though he wasn’t overjoyed by the cooperative arrangement with ‘Midnight Sun’, thanks to them he had obtained a clue.

From Han Cha-hyun’s ability to read into vestiges from ages past to Kyun Jiwoon, who could steal and view the dead’s memories, the team’s skills harmonized well with each other. Especially in this location.

“It’s about time for us to stumble upon a seedtown.”

After the apocalypse swept through the world, the survivors built high walls and constructed cities within them.

The NPCs here called them seedtowns.

Finding one of these seedtowns was harder than finding a needle in the sand dunes, as the population here shrank to a devastatingly low level after the onslaught of disasters.

“I can’t believe we haven’t even received the main quest yet.”

“I bet we’re one of the lucky ones too.”

“We’ve benefited a lot from our guild leader’s eccentricity.”

They had learned about the seed vault when they were searching for the second seedtown. When the setting of this floor was still in flux, there were many human bones lying about underfoot. Kyun Jiwoon simply picked these up and used his skill.

Even in the cave they had camped in all night, he habitually picked up a human sacrum that had been rolling around the floor.

The bone had belonged to a descendant of a key governmental figure in the past. He had died while traveling to find a seed vault he had heard about from his father.

“I suppose the seed vault is the last hope of this world. Aren’t the rest of you feeling that?”

A Hunter’s hunch was absolute.

From then on, the team began to inquire about seed vaults, storages, or even warehouses.

And, it was around this time that Han Cha-hyun had joined the team. He was a B-class hunter–which originally wouldn’t be good enough to join the raid team–but he became a member due to Choi Kwon-young’s strong recommendation.

Soon after, Choi Kwon-young’s judgment was proven correct.

After the catastrophe, most written data was lost. Extremely poor conditions had led people to neglect anything that wasn’t necessary for survival. However, with Han Cha-hyun, even in this world such data could be collected.

***

“Ah! This is it! It’s a document about the seed vault.” Han Cha-hyun said.

“The end is finally near.”

“It seems the seed vault is in a snowfield far out of human reach. A specially designed android is guarding the entrance to prevent intrusion by those who don’t carry the code…”

“What? A snowfield?”

“The whole world has been devastated–there’s no way the android will be fine and intact, right?”

But, ominous hunches always hold true.

The android, which moved swiftly as if it were newly constructed, defended the door to the seed vault.

“We haven’t even encountered the main quest, and there’s already a raid battle?”

“Excuse me… Is it just me or is the cold debuffing your abilities as well?”

“I can’t believe I’m getting a debuff even if I have an A-rank cold resistance? Just what kind of difficulty is this quest meant to have?”

“For now, let’s put a save point in this area and return later.” Choi Kwon-young ordered.

All personnel, except for Choi Kwon-young who had an S-rank cold-resistance skill, were debuffed.

Though the seed vault was right in front of their eyes, the raid team had to retreat. It would take a long time to parse out the correct tactics and arrange the necessary items, but Choi Kwon-young was willing to persevere.

The other guild coalitions still had no idea about the seed vault, let alone the android battle. If they hurried, the team may suffer casualties–each member was irreplaceable in their roles. It was better to avoid such troublesome outcomes.

That was Choi Kwon-young’s specialty, after all: an overwhelming victory that followed thorough preparation.

[Intruder Detected. Eliminate. Eliminate. Eliminate.]

“This floor only allows a limited amount of people–this is just too much for that kind of restriction!”

“Instead of talking–Nngh! Just focus on defending yourself properly.”

“Just 30 seconds left for my area-of-effect skill!”

Although they struggled somewhat, the raid team defeated the android successfully and safely.

However, even after entering the seed vault, the main quest did not begin.

“Honestly–this is supposedly a world-changing hoard. There are only seeds here!”

“I see the World’s Towers truly live up to their reputation.”

“We didn’t chase some red herring, did we?”

Choi Kwon-young was sure, though. This was the place.

“This should be the right place.” Kyun Jiwoon agreed with him. The raid team stayed in the seed vault and searched inside.

After three days of searching, Na Jung-won, a member of the ‘Midnight Sun’ guild, found a secret passage down to the basement. And, at the bottom, was a golden vault that shone brilliantly alongside a marble altar.

“It’s like it’s just calling out for people to open that safe, right?”

“It’s so blatant that it’s almost offensive.”

“The keyhole…there’s none there.”

While everyone was stumped, Han Cha-hyun stepped up. A light indicating an active skill emanated from his hand as he touched the vault. “I thought it might be worth checking since it was made before the Great Cataclysm… As expected–”

It appeared as if Han Cha-hyun could see something through his skills as he placed his palm on the altar.

Then, at that moment, all the mana circuits installed in the room, including those on the ceiling and floor, became visible. The vivid blue of the circuits shone for a long while; the end of the circuits all connected to the safe. Soon, the white altar turned into a monitor.

CHOICE. Han Cha-hyun groped through his memory and entered the password.

Alongside the sound of the pages turning, the mana circuit emitted a white light. After a while, a vertical groove appeared on the safe.

The eager party crowded around the safe and observed the groove.

“It’s a keyhole!”

“Can Hunter Han Cha-hyun’s skill also find out where the key is?”

“There’s no way the World’s Towers would give us a key that easily.”

Choi Kwon-young stood at a distance, looking at the safe, while the rest of the team members discussed the key.

A plain hole without any irregularities.

He thought it might be better to insert a sword rather than a key.

Choi Kwon-young did not ignore that sudden thought, “A Hunter’s intuition is absolute.”

Choi Kwon-young immediately took a sword from Ma Ji-young, who stood next to him. Then, without any hesitation, he pushed the sword into the middle of the groove.

“Guild leader-nim! Are you crazy?! Why would you put that there?!”

“Guild leader Choi Kwon-young, I see you’ve finally gone insane.”

Startled, Ma Ji-young took her sword back. Then, when Kyun Jiwoon was about to reprimand Choi Kwon-young, a system message popped up for all party members.

“Huh? Guild leader-nim, Guild leader-nim! Look at this!”

“Things just got interesting.”

Choi Kwon-young’s lips drew a line.

The highest grade of equipment that existed was SS-rank. There weren’t many of those either.

Choi Kwon-young glanced at Kyun Jiwoon’s and briefly considered whether he should share the information he received with ‘Midnight Sun.’

“Get Along with Jiwoon-ie, alright?”

However, when he recalled Kim Jihwa’s advice, he was compelled to tell the other team members about the system message.

“What? L-rank equipment?”

“Guild leader Kyun Jiwoon-nim–What floor did that equipment drop from?”

“69th Floor.”

“It might have been something you can get with a special skill.”

After their initial shock, as befitting their elite status, the raid team members quickly calculated the cases that led to equipment drops.

Hunters usually obtained equipment through monster hunting or crafting, but, rarely, high-rank equipment was offered as a reward for hidden quests.

Wastleland and Midnight Sun began to secretly comb through the rumors.

Among them, Choi Kwon-young was the busiest. He raked through all the floors with a fine-toothed comb, from the 1st to the 75th floors.

Countless result-less days passed, but he was confident that the answer lied in the World’s Towers.

And, one day, Choi Kwon-young recalled something during his raid on the 33rd floor.

“The Sword that Cleaves Heaven and Earth.”

TL: Hello! Hopefully these message boxes come out pretty clear. Also! as an anthropologist, Han Cha-hyun is near and dear to my heart.

Also, I’ve retconned the name of the guild from ‘Wilderness’ to ‘Wastelands.’ The nuance invokes the wild wild west, which is why I originally chose Wilderness… but the barren-nature of the term isn’t there. Thus: Wastelands.