abcnovels
Chapter 41: Under Root
Chapter 41: Under Root
< Chapter 41: Under Root (2) >
Dragon’s Relic.
It is an ancient relic that the superpower nation of America regards as its ancestor, and it has a premium attached to it as befitting the strongest hybrid race.
The number itself is not very large, and most of the relics have been bought up by America with huge capital, so it is not something that can be bought with money.
Not only that.
Collecting dragon relics is not only done by the American government.
Collector.
That eccentric collector also has a passion for collecting dragon relics.
As a result, dragon relics are scarce in both regular and under routes.
There is a dragon relic in front of my eyes right now.
“How much is it?”
It was only natural that my eyes were filled with greed.
“It’s expensive. How much did you take out?”
“…”
I was speechless for a moment.
I felt like I was in Yongsan. Is this a rip-off?
“Just kidding. Kidding. Don’t look at me like that. Haha.”
The owner laughed heartily.
“The price is just right, neither more nor less than 2 billion.”
“?”
2 billion?
Is that all a dragon relic costs?
…Is it fake?
“Wow. Calm down. It’s not a scam, so don’t look at me like that. Do you think I’m crazy enough to cheat in front of Mr. Jang?”
The owner spread his hands and gestured for me to calm down.
“I’ll explain.”
He then sat down and opened his carrier and continued.
“The average price of ancient relics in the under route is between 1 billion and 2 billion. You know that, right?”
Maybe it’s for theft prevention.
The carrier had various security devices on it. It would take ages to open it.
“But dragon relics are different. Thanks to the competition between America and Collector.”
I know that dragon relics are worth at least 10 billion.
The real money game of the rich…
“But why is this one only 2 billion?”
The owner pressed the last seal release button and smiled meaningfully.
“Who knows?”
“It’s simple. It looks a bit weird.”
The carrier opened with a mechanical sound.
“…A stone?”
There was a stone inside. It looked like something that would be lying around anywhere in a valley.
“This is a dragon relic?”
Choi Ji-hoon looked at the man with a meaningful eye.
“Yeah. If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself. The information disclosure is set to open.”
Choi Ji-hoon and Secretary Jang looked at the stone with sharp eyes.
Of course, I just pretended to look.
I don’t know anything about status windows.
“…It definitely has a dragon race restriction on it.”
“Yes. It’s genuine.”
It seems to be genuine, judging by the nodding of Secretary Jang, who knows more than Choi Ji-hoon.
“But I don’t see anything else besides the wear restriction. What’s the reason?”
The owner shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s not that you can’t see it. It just doesn’t have any effect.”
“No effect?”
“That’s right. That’s why it’s only 2 billion.”
The owner sighed.
“It looks like crap, and it has no effect. Neither the American government nor Collector Nari seems to want to buy it.”
That made sense.
America probably refused because it would lower the dignity of the country.
Collector probably refused because it had no aesthetic sense at all.
“Well, I said it was provisional earlier because of that. There’s no way anyone would buy this worthless trash that has no value as an antique…”
“I’ll buy it.”
Oh, I have to buy this one.
“…You’ll buy it?”
“Yes.”
“This trash?”
“Yes.”
Trash?
It’s a treasure-like item for me.
I don’t care about the appearance or performance.
It’s important that it says ‘dragon race’ on the wear restriction.
I don’t need anything else.
I turned my head and looked at Choi Ji-hoon, who had a blank expression on his face.
“You said anything under 2 billion is fine, right?”
“You, don’t tell me?”
I smiled sweetly.
“Yeah. Buy me that one.”
“…Are you serious?”
Choi Ji-hoon’s eyes trembled.
* * *
“…I never thought I’d spend 2 billion on a piece of rock like that.”
Choi Ji-hoon muttered in a dejected tone in the limousine on the way to the dormitory.
“Kang Seo-yul. There’s no debt between you and me with this.”
“Sure, sure.”
I was holding the carrier with the fang engraved with mana close to my chest. I can’t believe I got a relic of the dragon race. I couldn’t be happier.
I smiled naturally as I imagined what kind of trait I would get.
“…I can’t understand.”
Choi Ji-hoon sighed as if he wanted to disappear.
Woong-
It was then that the phone in my pocket vibrated.
[Yu Hwa]
What does Yu Hwa want at this time?
I put down the carrier and unlocked my phone.
[I made an appointment with the collector.]
They say good things come in pairs.
Yu Hwa seems to have done one thing.
[Good job.]
[Yeah… hard work…]
It was a ‘…’ with a lot of meaning.
[It’s at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. Is that okay?]
[Yes. Where should I go?]
[Well, the place is still undecided.]
Undecided?
[I’ll send you the address and location when it’s decided. This guy hasn’t given me a definite answer yet.]
I pictured Yu Hwa sighing in front of me.
She must be really struggling.
Well.
How easy would it be to deal with that weirdo?
[Then let me know when it’s decided.]
[Okay. See you tomorrow.]
The chat ended with that.
* * *
I arrived at the dormitory after midnight.
“Ugh.”
Maybe it’s because I didn’t exercise at all this afternoon. My blood is boiling.
I’ll have to work hard tomorrow morning.
I changed into my pajamas and walked toward the carrier that I had placed next to my bed.
I laid the carrier horizontally and unlocked the security of the carrier in the order that the owner had told me.
“…It’s easier than I thought.”
It looked very complicated when I saw it, but it was very easy since I just had to press the buttons in order.
Creak-
The carrier opened completely with a mechanical sound.
“Wow.”
The 2 billion won worth of stone inside revealed itself.
It looked like a very ordinary stone, but it looked more beautiful than any gold or treasure to me.
I knelt in front of it and clasped my hands together.
“…I won’t even ask for the master of mana. Please just give me something good.”
Dragons are the creators of mana.
They naturally have many traits related to mana.
My physical abilities are gradually increasing with the traits of the beastmen, but my magic is stagnant. The growth has completely stopped.
As a result, both the flame of engraving and the flame of spirits are useless to me like pearls on a pig’s neck.
“God, heaven and earth, spirits! Creator… I don’t need that! Anyway!”
I quickly changed my words as I was about to say, creator.
The creator of this world is Kim Shin.
Why should I pray to him?
He might get offended.
“Anyway, please give me a mana trait!”
I grabbed the stone with both hands.
That’s when it happened.
Crack-
“Huh?”
Crack-
The stone started to crack.
He said that nothing could scratch this stone no matter what he did.
The cracks grew bigger and bigger.
I wondered if there was a problem and was about to let go,
I suddenly remembered when I got the blessing of the world tree.
At that time, the blessing of the world tree that was sleeping in the world tree reacted to me, a heretic, and showed itself.
What if this phenomenon is similar to that?
What if the fang engraved with mana is regaining its original form?
It was a reasonable doubt.
Crack-
Meanwhile, the cracks grew bigger and bigger. When the cracks reached from end to end,
Ching-!
“Ugh!”
The stones shattered completely and scattered.
Fortunately, they turned into dust, so there was no problem with fragments sticking into my body.
But some dust got into my eyes and it stung.
“Uh.”
I shed tears and washed away the foreign substances in my pupils, then opened my eyes again.
“…Huh?”
The stone I was holding had turned into an ‘orb’.
And it was a dazzling golden orb, symbolizing the dragon race of abundance.
“Wow. Is this crazy?”
It was so beautiful that even I, who had no sense of aesthetics, could see it.
On a round golden background, elegant sentences were engraved and harmonized. And various jewels were embedded here and there.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful than this among the dragon relics that America has revealed.
“This is awesome, right?”
But what is this?
An orb-shaped relic.
I can’t tell because I can’t see the status window.
I don’t remember it either.
Then it’s a novel ancient relic that hasn’t appeared in the novel.
No way, this has such a good effect and it didn’t appear in the novel?
This is so cheating?
I could tell how cheating this item was by looking at the amount of mana swirling around me.
It must be at least [Ancient Relic/A+ Rank].
“…Eh.”
People are deceitful animals.
Something feels wasted.
This relic would be a great help in the future.
But I’m just throwing it away for trait acquisition.
I sighed as I thought about it.
Zzzz-!
That’s when one minute passed.
[Error!]
As soon as the error message popped up, I let go of my hand.
Now there will be pain somewhere in my body, and a tattoo will be engraved.
Where is it this time?
Zing!
Sure enough, I felt pain in my back.
Fortunately, it wasn’t engraved in a place where people could see clearly.
I put the fang engraved with mana back into the carrier and headed for the washbasin. I turned my head with my back to the mirror.
“Wow.”
There was a green dragon tattooed on my back.
But what kind of tattoo is this big?
It seems to be more than twice as big as the previous tattoos.
Is this the class of dragons?
“But if someone sees this, they’ll think you’re my brother.”
A dragon tattoo on your back.
Well, at least it’s better than having a fire spirit on your palm that everyone can see clearly.
I put on my top again and went back to bed.
I’ve figured out the location of the tattoo, now it’s time to figure out the trait.
“Please give me something good… Please!”
I recalled the traits of the dragon race one by one.
* * *
The next morning.
I was lying on my desk with a tired eye.
Last night.
I failed to figure out the trait.
I didn’t sleep at all and did all kinds of crazy things, but there was no response from the tattoo.
I really miss the status window at times like this.
It would say [Trait List], right?
“Sigh.”
The only certain thing is that it’s not the master of mana.
If I had the master of mana, the mana in the air would have reacted to me when I used magic yesterday.
For the same reason, I ruled out out-of-the-box traits like ‘Dragon Language’.
And all the other traits I knew were also incompatible.
Thinking rationally, the chances of getting a dud trait are high.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed.
But I had thought that this could happen.
It was rather lucky that it had been good until now.
And anyway, this ancient relic of the dragon race is like unearned income.
There’s no loss for me.
Maybe someday a useful trait like ‘Boiling Pure Blood’ or ‘Predator’s Flesh’ will pop out without me knowing.
It’s too early to be disappointed until I figure out the trait for sure.
And most importantly.
The value of the fang engraved with mana is not over with this.
“Hehe.”
My mouth curved into a smile.
* * *
That evening at 7:30 p.m.
“Did it end up being Okhwadang?”
The meeting place was Okhwadang.
I exchanged greetings with the familiar staff and was guided to the room where Yu Hwa was waiting.
Knock-
I knocked softly on the door.
“Come in.”
Inside the room, there was a British gentleman who looked at least 70 years old and Yu Hwa sitting.
Suddenly, the British gentleman’s face twisted.
“Eh. Is that the person who said he had something important to say? Just a piece of meat like that?”
Wow.
That weird personality.
It’s definitely the collector, Ail Chris.
“Sir, Ail… That’s not a nice thing to say…”
He’s very rude to someone he just met.
Well, I knew he had a weird personality, but he’s fluent in Korean.
He looks like a Korean.
“That’s what he is. A piece of meat. A good-looking piece of meat. He’d make a good host.”
Yu Hwa was restless.
The atmosphere of the place he had arranged was a mess, so I can understand why.
She’s having a hard time for nothing.
“Hmm. Fine. I’ll listen to you for the sake of my Yu Hwa’s face.”
He doesn’t look like he’s going to listen at all. He’s probably going to listen with one ear and let it go with the other.
“I’m a busy person. I’ll give you five minutes, so just tell me what you want.”
Wow.
He’s really shooting at me, who’s still standing at the door.
Even if I’m from a mild country, I feel a little offended.
“Are you sure?”
My voice dropped low.
“What?”
“What do you think I’m going to propose? I don’t understand.”
I walked leisurely and sat down next to Yu Hwa, opposite the collector.
“Hmph. You’re just a piece of meat that I’ve never heard of or seen before. I don’t need to listen to your proposal.”
The collector snorted.
He has a weird personality, but today he seems to have evolved even more.
Did something bad happen?
Just then, Yu Hwa whispered in my ear.
“Well, he had a bad negotiation with the Korean government today. And then he was a bit…”
“Ah.”
So that’s why he’s even more weird today. Well, that’s even better for me.
“There are only three minutes left.”
It doesn’t seem like even a minute has passed, but he says two minutes have passed already.
He looks like he’s throwing a tantrum. It’s cute.
“I…”
“It’s okay.”
I stopped Yu Hwa from trying to intervene.
“I don’t need three minutes. Ten seconds is enough.”
I put the carrier on the table with an easy gesture.
“…A equipment transport carrier?”
And I unlocked the security device with a familiar motion.
Creak-
The carrier opened with a familiar mechanical sound.
“Hurk!”
At the same time, a gasp of breath came from the collector’s mouth.
“This, this is. This is!”
His eyes trembled in all directions.
“How, how did you. How did you…”
He was speechless.
He’s crazy about dragon relics anyway.
What would happen if he saw such a beautiful relic?
“This too.”
The carrier contained ‘The Fang Engraved with Mana’, of course.
“Do you still think my proposal is worthless?”
“…Ugh.”
The roles of A and B were reversed in an instant.