Chapter 207 - Chapter 207 (2/2)

'Beru?'

[Please bestow unto this lowly servant your wisdom, oh, my king.]

'There should come a time when you'll be free to test your limits as much as you want. So, there's no need to be rash.'

[This servant shall take it to heart, my king.]

'And also, you gotta stop watching those historical dramas on TV. Your speech has become really weird lately, you know?'

[This servant shall heed my liege's....]

'Just say 'Yes, I will', okay? Say, 'Yes'. Just 'Yes', nothing more.'

[Yes.]

Very good.

Now that he finally told Beru what was on his mind, Jin-Woo happily headed off to the meeting location with Thomas Andre.

***

"Oh, Mister Seong! You probably have no idea how long I waited for this moment."

Thomas Andre welcomed Jin-Woo into his hotel suite with open arms.

It was true that you'd feel great about receiving gifts, but the joy of giving itself shouldn't be underestimated, as well.

From the time Jin-Woo mentioned that he needed new shortswords to up until now – Thomas Andre had been counting the days he'd get to hand over the greatest weapons ever made, sleeping within his Guild's storage, to his new friend.

He didn't simply fly all the way to this distant foreign land for no reason at all.

How would the guy Thomas Andre personally acknowledged as the world's best Hunter react when he sees these two bad boys?

Along with a big bout of anticipation bubbling in his heart...

Snap!

...Thomas Andre snapped his fingers, prompting his 'bodyguards' to bring out a large box covered in a sheet of fabric.

Even if it was ostensibly a gift, Jin-Woo didn't really want anything, to begin with, so he stared at the box with disinterest, but then, as the bodyguards got closer and closer, his eyes became equally sharper and sharper as well.

'What's this....?'

Wuoong.... Wuuuuong...

Something inside that box was resonating with his magical energy.

Thomas Andre easily caught the changes in Jin-Woo's expression and inwardly punched the air.

'That's what I'm talking about!'

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo would recognise the weapons, while said weapons would recognise their new owner; Thomas Andre predicted that they would naturally recognise each other, and as expected, he was proven right, at this moment.

It was possible that these weapons had been hiding inside the Scavenger Guild's storage unit where not even a strand of outside light entered, biding their time just for this very moment.

Tack!

The box was placed on the coffee table between Thomas Andre and Jin-Woo.

"This here is my repayment for the favour you've shown to my Guild members and to myself."

Thomas Andre grasped the corner of the fabric and carefully pulled it away.

Shururuk....

The sheet slid off smoothly and revealed what it had been hiding all this time. It was a see-through case underneath. And within it were a pair of shortswords stabbed into a large reptilian scale.

No, hang on – could they even be called shortswords?

Jin-Woo grew doubtful almost immediately.

The blades of these weapons were definitely shorter than a longsword's, yes, but then again, they were so much longer than a regular shortsword's, too.

However, what caught his attention wasn't the puzzling length of the shortswords themselves. No, it was actually their ice-white blades.

Jin-Woo was familiar with the concept of crafting blades out of non-metallic materials. As a matter of fact, the very first weapon he acquired inside the first instant dungeon was the 'Poison Fang of Kasaka'.

Thanks to the memories of that time, Jin-Woo could guess just which monster's fang was used as raw material to craft this pair of shortswords. Besides, there was only one creature capable of emitting this kind of aura from a part of its remains.

"Kamish...."

Jin-Woo involuntarily whispered that name out, prompting Thomas Andre to shake his head while clapping his hands, feeling impressed.

"To think, you'd correctly guess the base material used for these guys just from one look."

Jin-Woo's guess was correct. But then, because he was right, he became puzzled about something else.

"Hang on, I thought Kamish's remains were in safekeeping with the Hunter Bureau....?"

"Because the American government wanted the intact corpse, we gave up on that monster completely. We got something else even more valuable than money from that deal, anyway."

Thomas Andre recalled the raid back then and grinned meaningfully.

"However, Kamish's biggest and sharpest fang…. When that thing tried to bite me, I yanked out one such fang, and it was given to me as a souvenir."

The problem was, there were no Awakened capable of crafting weapons out of stripped materials from a d*mn Dragon.

….Besides one single man, that was.

Thomas Andre added that, with the master craftsman responsible for the creation of these two genuine masterpieces having passed away due to old age, there would never be another weapon crafted out of the Dragon corpse in this world again.

"The fang's length wasn't nearly long enough to make a proper longsword, so they were made into shortswords back then. Who knew that decision would pay off now?"

Thomas Andre recounted the situation of all those years ago, his expression remaining bright and cheerful. He then leisurely took away the clear case and pushed the scale with the shortswords stabbed into it in Jin-Woo's direction.

"And now, these are yours."

Finally, the best weapons in the world had met the best owner in the world. Thomas Andre did his darnedest to calm his fluttering heart and studied Jin-Woo's response.

The latter pulled one of the shortswords out.

Shuwuk.

As if the weapon was waiting for it, it came off without any resistance whatsoever.

Tti-ring.

The mechanical beep went off in Jin-Woo's head as soon as he grasped the shortsword and he quickly swallowed his saliva. Shortly afterwards, the detailed explanations on the weapon popped up in his view.

'WHAT?!'

Jin-Woo doubted his own eyes right away.

This couldn't be real.

He was completely taken aback by the nonsensical attack value of this weapon and hurriedly summoned out his current main weapon, the 'Demon King's Shortsword'.

[Item: Demon King's Shortsword]

Rarity: S

Type: Shortsword

Attack: +220

A shortsword taken from the Demon King, Baran. Using two 'Demon King's Shortswords' will activate a set effect.

Set effect 'Two Becomes One': Extra attack power equal to the current Strength Stat will be added to each shortsword.

This blade's attack power would shoot way past the 500 mark when his current Strength Stat of over 300 was added on top. He had always thought that such a set effect would make this shortsword plenty useful for his cause.

But then, the attack value of the new shortsword in his hand was.....?!

Jin-Woo compared the stats for both shortswords and began freaking out inwardly.

'….How can this even be possible?!'

< Chapter 207 > Fin.