Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 77
Episode 77 [ Magic Engineering City, Laputa – 1 ]
—————————=
Lee Hyun-wook was standing in front of the first ‘safe’ of the huge door.
“Team Leader Lee, that key is the key that opens this door here, right?”
Jeongjun Lee asked and Hyunwook Lee nodded.
Then, expectations grew in everyone’s eyes.
“Oh, as expected…”
Lee Hyun-wook grabbed the ruins guardian and inserted the silver key into the huge door on the left – safe number 1.
Slam!
Within a precise fit, the huge door slowly opened.
Coo coo coo——
“Oh!”
A soft light streamed from within.
Lee Hyun-wook was the first to walk into it.
It was a pure white space.
It was a corridor-like structure that did not fit the name of a safe, and all kinds of items were displayed on the left and right, but it felt like it was on display in an art museum rather than being stored in a safe.
The members of the Hope Guild looked at them and couldn’t help but admire them.
“Wow, just looking at those over there, doesn’t every single one of them look like expensive items?”
“So it looks like it’s at least a rare grade. Maybe there’s a hero grade as well?”
Since it is difficult for ordinary players to even have ‘rare grade’ items, it was natural for their eyes to widen and saliva to flow from the corners of their mouths.
However, the members of the Cheonghwa guild had no choice but to relish their appetites.
“Huh… It’s dazzling. But nothing will fall on us, right?”
“Ugh, how much do you want if you add up everything here…”
These items will be distributed after the dungeon is conquered, and since Lee Hyun-wook’s ‘contribution’ is overwhelming, most of them will be owned by the Hope Guild. In fact, these are items that Lee Hyun-wook can have as he pleases. I could see it as,
‘Every single item here is pretty good, but the only thing that’s really important is at the end.’
Lee Hyun-wook reached the end of the room in front of something that looked like a huge glass box.
However, upon closer inspection, he found that the box surrounding the box was not glass, but a translucent ‘barrier’, and inside was a wide eye-shaped metal sculpture the size of two palms. – Caution
! Only those who have access to the safe can access it!
Here, the ‘secure access right’ refers to the key to this room held by Lee Hyun-wook.
That means that Lee Hyun-wook can pass through this barrier. He boldly puts his hand in and retrieves the item. I grabbed it.
Ugh——
[Item Information]
– Name: Piece No. 3 of the Eye of Horus (Legendary)
– Effect: Allows you to see things that cannot be seen through ordinary means.
* Collecting all ‘pieces’ unlocks true power. ‘
…I never thought I would get this so early.’
Lee Hyun-wook felt that he was becoming stronger faster than expected.
Horus is the god of the sun in Egyptian mythology, and his eyes are considered a kind of amulet with various symbolism and are called ‘the eyes of the king’ that see through everything. That’s the background
. As expected, it is a legendary item with an incomplete ‘piece’ theme, and like ‘Hugin’, it was implemented as an item specialized for ‘information acquisition’. However, if Hugin actually senses ‘existence’, this ‘non-existence
‘. To put it
simply, by gaining the ability of an ‘analyst’ type player, you can see the detailed information of the hidden information gate of the monster’s level item, etc. ‘
And that is a huge advantage today.’
Most large powers, such as national guilds and corporations, operate multiple ‘analyst parties’ and make every effort to raise their level. ‘
That is natural. Information is power in any world….’
Only analysts can see. The ‘information of the game’ that can be obtained is power, and
power leads to opportunity.
‘And when I absorb this… this time, my eyes change.’
Lee Hyun-wook put the Eye of Horus deep in his inner pocket.
As he had experience collapsing when the ‘Ether Engine’ was formed, it was right to absorb it in a safe situation after the dungeon attack was completed. Now, this was a
scenario that Lee Hyun-wook knew all about.
‘Now… it’s time to open the next room.’
Lee Hyun-wook left safe number 1 and stood in front of safe number 2.
This was an unknown space that even Lee Hyun-wook did not know about.
“Surely you can open that too?”
Park Moo-han asked with a puzzled expression.
“Yes, I got it as a hidden quest reward.”
“Oh, I see…”
Lee Hyun-wook gave a plausible reason for opening this place, then took out the ‘Ancient Heritage Master Key’ and put it in the key hole of the door. With a bang, the inside of safe number
2
opened like that,
and there was more inside than safe number 1. It was a space several times larger.
“Hmm…”
But unlike Safe No. 1, the landscape was empty, and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find anything that could be called an ‘item’.
“That’s strange. “It seems like there’s… nothing?”
“That’s right. I thought this was a better safe…”
The Hope Guild members who followed behind couldn’t hide their disappointment.
What was noticeable was that there were two huge tunnels to the right. And there was some kind of magic circuit engraved on the floor.
‘That looks like an ejection port…’
The ejection port looked like a way to send something huge outward. And there was a square ‘platform’ in front of it, which looked like a fighter jet or spaceship would be docked there… but there was only one small object placed on that wide platform.
That’s…
“Oh, there’s something over there!”
“Hmm? Shield… isn’t it?”
Yes, it was a shield.
But it was a scene where it was difficult to understand why that small shield was placed on such a large platform.
‘…Something was strange.’
There was a high possibility that there was a trap hidden in this strange scene.
“Everyone, wait there.”
At Lee Hyun-wook’s words, everyone stopped near the entrance.
Blah blah blah——
He put a rigid body on his entire body and even wrapped it with a mana shield.
Then he slowly approached and dropped an iron ball on the platform.
Tuk—
Then it slowly rolled to where the shield was.
“…….”
But no reaction occurred.
‘…There is no such thing as a trap.’
Lee Hyun-wook climbed onto the platform, approached the white shield, and
placed his hand on it.
– You have obtained Freedwen (Legendary).
‘What? It’s just a shield, right?’
Lee Hyun-wook looked around once again.
No matter how much I thought about it, the location of this was strange.
But nothing else was visible.
‘Anyway, since it’s a legend, was the myth level really greedy?’
Of course, even a legendary grade item alone was of enormous value, but since it was a door that could not be opened even in a previous life, I had some expectations.
Lee Hyun-wook put his disappointment behind and checked the item information.
And at that moment, I couldn’t help but frown.
[Item Information]
– Name: Pridwen (Legendary)
– Effect
1) King’s Shield: Significantly improves the defense of all ‘affiliated members’ for 5 minutes. (+50%) * Cooldown: 30 minutes
2) Shape Conversion: You can ‘shape change’ into a small airship.
It was the second skill that caught his attention.
‘…what? ‘This is going to be airborne?’
An airship is a means of transportation that flies with magical power.
“Why and how is the shield not airborne?…”
Freedwen Lee Hyun-wook didn’t know much about the story related to this item.
It appears interchangeably with King Arthur’s ‘shield’ or ‘ship’ in the Arthurian legend.
That’s why in this game, it is used interchangeably with King Arthur’s ‘shield’ and ‘ship’ Both versions were implemented in one item.
‘Anyway, this is… awesome, right?’
In modern times, there were only a few true ‘airships’ in the world:
the ‘Ship of Theseus’ of the Republic of Chad, the ‘
Five Dragons’ of the KOR AMT Holy Knights, and the
‘Geunduun’ of the Chinese [Jecheon Daeseong] Guild.
However, the fourth generation has just arrived. ‘ But
I can’t test this function here and now.’
There are too many eyes watching to introduce a new item.
It would be a headache if this fact became known to the world.
So, we had no choice but to hide it for now…
And the moment you find this item, the quest is completed.
– Congratulations. ! You have successfully completed the Hidden Quest [The Path of the Ancient Civilization Inheritor]!
* One ‘Master Authority’ for the ancient ruins of Laputa is unlocked.
‘Hmm? Master Authority…’
[Laputa: Master Authority]
1) Emergency Return: Return to Laputa’s ‘Order Tower’.
* To use this function, you need ‘Fridwen’. (Cooldown: 1 hour)
You will probably be able to obtain some authority regarding ‘Laputa’ through this hidden quest. It seemed like it was possible. Having the ‘master key’ seemed to provide an opportunity to obtain everything one at a time. ‘…
Now I can finally reveal that I am the administrator of Laputa.’
When I first met Woo Seong-moon after the Wave, he approached me secretly and asked if I had gained anything related to Laputa. ‘
But at the time, I pretended that I didn’t know.’
This is because, at the time, Lee Hyun-wook had little authority, so if he became closely involved with the government, there was a high possibility that he would be manipulated in various ways. Of course, Woo Seong-moon would have been keeping a close eye on Lee Hyun-wook, not forgetting that he had something.
But now the situation has changed quite a bit.
Lee Hyun-wook can now properly exercise his authority as ‘Laputa Manager’ because he has accumulated achievements that will not allow him to be swayed by government power.
Lee Hyun-wook looked back at the players.
“…Now, let’s continue with the dungeon raid . “Let’s do it.”
Of course, the priority was to conquer this dungeon.
***
49 hours after entering the gate, the dungeon raid was completed.
All returned safely without a single casualty.
“…Now here is the World Stone.”
Park Moo-han held out the World Stone to the analyst player of the Cheonghwa Guild. Now, by analyzing this, we can measure the ‘contribution’.
“Let’s see what the contribution is…”
But the moment he analyzed it, the analyst player’s face hardened.
“Team Leader Bar Park, what is the contribution… how…”
“Yes, that’s right. We were actually bridesmaids.”
He admitted so clearly and laughed.
The fact that the total contribution of the Cheonghwa guild, which was attacking with a whopping 51 people, three times the number of the desired guild, was only 21%. ‘Lee Hyun-wook… I will do whatever it takes to follow them
. ‘I couldn’t catch it.’
Still, Park Moo-han had a sense of challenge and did his best. However, Lee Hyun-wook was dominant until the moment the boss monster stopped breathing.
Thus, the Hope Guild took almost all the rewards.
Among them, there was a ‘latent item’ that Lee Hyun-wook was aiming for.
[Item Information]
– Name: Hammer imbued with strange power
– Effect: Increases the probability of a ‘skill’ being granted to a crafted item.
‘It’s a potential item, so it still seems insignificant, but once its potential is released, it will be reborn as a legendary item.’
Thus, if the deceptive effect of giving ‘skills’ to crafted items was achieved, the power created by Lee Hyun-wook would become a tremendous force.
But then a commotion was heard from somewhere.
“—uh =! There it is!”
There were a lot of reporters gathered near the entrance to the area where the gate occurred.
‘……’
Apparently, as he was moving with the Cheonghwa guild, the fact that Lee Hyun-wook was participating in this attack operation was leaked.
‘Oh my.’ I should have asked a little more to not reveal my identity…’
Cheonghwa Guild officials tried to stop the reporters, but because Lee Hyun-wook was not a member of the Cheonghwa Guild, they just hesitated and
eventually reporters came rushing towards him.
“—Lee Hyun-wook . Mr. Please interview me!”
Lee Hyun-wook had been trying to ignore it until now, but his name and actions were still becoming a hot topic in the public eye. Since
Lee Hyun-wook has no contact with the outside world, it would literally be a jackpot to get an interview first, so the competition for coverage was fierce.
“Not yet . “I know you belong to AMT, but why did you go on an attack with the Cheonghwa Guild this time?”
“Ah! Are you going to transfer to the Cheonghwa Guild after being discharged? Lee Hyun-wook! Please tell me something!”
Anyway, the exposure to the media is not good. He is even misunderstood…
“There is a story about him making steel rain during his famous activities. Is that the name of a skill?”
“And Mr. Lee Hyun-wook is known to be F grade. How is it possible for him to be so active?”
However, Lee Hyun-wook got into the car without saying a single word.
“Hehe—I’ll leave right away!”
“Yes, please go.”
As the car started, Lee Jeong-jun, sitting next to me, suddenly spoke up.
“Team leader Lee, do you know that?”
“…yes?”
“The team leader has a lot of fans. He even just opened a fan cafe.”
“yes? I’m a fan…”
“What can I say? I think I’ve developed a mystical image because I don’t reveal it too much. A true hero who doesn’t argue even after saving Seoul! That’s how the public sees it. Haha… Team leader, you don’t check the internet, right?”
“…Yeah, I hardly ever see it.”
“Look at this. The popularity of the team leader is greater than expected. It is mentioned much more than most popular rankers these days.”
Lee Jeong-jun showed reactions to articles related to Lee Hyun-wook posted on the Internet.
Naturally, there was controversy, but the atmosphere was somewhat deified in that he saved Seoul.
‘If this is enough… the rankers are against me. ‘It’s not even worth it…’
And on the news that day, there was a story related to Lee Hyun-wook.
– …There are many people who doubt Lee Hyun-wook. I was like that too. But I saw it with my own eyes. There are rumors about him. It’s all true… and maybe even more. Yes, that’s right. The person
who gave that interview was Park Moo-han, head of Chunghwa’s strategy team. He was ranked 151st in the country, so it was a credible testimony. As a result, the rumors
about Lee Hyun-wook grew stronger once again. It has begun.
– The mystical savior of Seoul begins to prove his skills!
– [Planning] F-grade player Lee Hyun-wook How on earth did he become the best hero?
But Lee Hyun-wook didn’t care about such things.
That night, Lee Hyun-wook was in the night sky of Seoul. I looked up at the huge object ‘Laputa’ shining there.
‘Before informing Woo Seong-moon of my administrator rights, I have to go to Laputa first. And it just so happens that I have a way to get to that place in Friedwen…’ Finally,
that secret secret. It seemed like the time had come to take the first step into the floating city.